BROTHERHOOD EXEMPLIFIED BY THE VIRGINIA CRAFTSMEN

               From the day of their inception in 1962 
         the Craftsmen have been praised by civic and 
         Masonic dignitaries wherever they have 
         traveled. States and cities have even 
         proclaimed the period of their visit as 
         "Freemasons' Day.

                             The Indiana Freemason, May 1979

    The late Walter K. Belt of Newport, Oregon, known as 
"The Poet By the Sea," honored the Virginia Craftsmen by 
writing a poem on December 19, 1977:

               To the Virginia Craftsmen

         This is "Masonry in Action,"
              These are Brothers at their best,
         And they are the main attraction,
              All who witness will attest.

         Those who see them at their labors
              With new feelings look ahead,
         And we all are better neighbors
              Through the influence they spread.

         Their first tenet: Love fraternal,
              Raises men above the clod.
         It is like the love supernal
              In the Fatherhood of God.

         They are Brothers, Comrades, Templars,
              Who would show the Master's plan;
         And they are supreme exemplars
              Of the Brotherhood of Man.

     In 1962 five Northerners led a move to form a Masonic 
traveling degree team to exemplify Freemasons First Tenet -- 
Brotherly Love. The result was the Virginia Craftsmen.
     During the nonsensical American Civil War every 
institution, north and south, was torn asunder. There was 
one exception, this was Freemasonry. Allen E. Roberts' book 
House Undivided tells the story of the Brotherly love shown 
by the Master Masons on both sides of this conflict. An 
untold number of times the war stood still while Brothers 
from opposing sides helped each other.
     To commemorate the Brotherhood shown by these men the 
members of the Virginia Craftsmen adopted a distinctive 
uniform. It is a Confederate cavalry-type uniform of gray 
and gold. It not only sets these Master Masons apart as 
Virginians by is designed to remind everyone that all of 
Freemasonry is, and always has been, united.
     The Craftsmen, composed of Freemasons from thirty 
Virginia Lodges, has traveled from Maine to California and 
many states in between. The Masons of several Provinces in 
Canada have witnessed the excellence of the Virginia ritual 
as portrayed by the team. It has been to Scotland twice. It 
was the first group of American Freemasons to work in 
Freemasons' Hall, London, England. It has been the only 
"foreign" degree team ever to work in Pennsylvania and 
Indiana.
     The sole purpose of the Virginia Craftsmen is to remind 
like-minded Master Masons to continually portray Brotherly 
Love, the first tenet of Freemasonry. They are reminded of 
the sacrifices made by their Brethren who wore the blue and 
gray in a cause they believed to be just. And, although 
enemies on the field of battle, remembered they were 
Brethren when the battle was over. Then they put into 
practice those valuable lessons they had learned within 
their Lodges.
     The Virginia Craftsmen believe a Freemason's first 
allegiance is to their Symbolic Lodge, because no structure 
can be stronger than its foundation. The group is controlled 
by the Grand Lodge and Grand Master of Virginia and by no 
appendant body. 
     Brotherly Love, or the Brotherhood of Man under the 
Fatherhood of God must be perpetuated. If it is not, all 
that Freemasonry teaches is for naught. The Virginia 
Craftsmen will continue to remind all Freemasons of this 
simple fact.