Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States

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This article is about the post-Civil War fraternity of loyal service members. See Legion of the United States for information on the early United States land force.

The Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, also known by its acronym MOLLUS or simply as the Loyal Legion, is a United States military order dating back originally to the end of the Civil War. Though it has never had official government sanction, at its height in the late 19th century, nearly all important military officers were members. It had its origins as a fraternity composed of former Union Army officers organized in the wake of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. The modern organization is composed of descendants of these officers.

1 Origins
2 Prominent original companions
3 External links

[edit] Origins

Following the assassination of President Lincoln in 1865, rumors spread that the act had been part of a wider conspiracy to overthrow the legally constituted government of the United States by assassinating its chief men. Many people at first gave credence to these rumors, including three of the officers assigned to the honor guard for Lincoln's body as it was transported to Springfield, Illinois, for burial. To demonstrate their loyalty, these officers decided to form a "Legion" modeled on the post-Revolutionary War Society of the Cincinnati. The Legion was organized largely during the same meetings that planned Lincoln's funeral, culminating in a meeting on May 31, 1865, in Philadelphia's Independence Hall at which the name was chosen, and a mass meeting of Philadelphia war veterans on April 20.

The society was composed of officers who had fought in the Union Army and Navy who, having proven their loyalty in battle, pledged to defend the country. The order grew rapidly and had members (called "Companions") in almost every state except those of the former Confederacy. At its height at the very end of the 19th century, the order had over 8,000 Civil War veterans as members, including nearly all notable general and flag officers and several future presidents—Ulysses S. Grant, William T. Sherman, Philip H. Sheridan, George B. McClellan, Rutherford B. Hayes, Chester A. Arthur, Benjamin Harrison, and William McKinley, among others. The Order's fame was great enough to inspire John Philip Sousa to compose the Loyal Legion March in its honor in 1890.

As the Civil War veterans aged and died, the Order opened hereditary membership to male descendants of the original members. Today, the Order serves more as an hereditary society than as a functioning military order.