Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States

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 patriotic order, organized April 15, 1865, by officers of the Army, Navy, or Marine Corps of the United States who "had aided in maintaining the honor, integrity, and supremacy of the national movement" during the American Civil War. They stated as their purpose the cherishing the memories and associations of the war waged in defense of the unity and indivisibility of the Republic; the strengthening of the ties of fraternal fellowship and sympathy formed by companionship in arms;  the relief of the widows and children of dead companions of the order; and the advancement of the general welfare of the soldiers and sailors of the United States. The modern organization is generally composed of descendants of these officers (hereditary members), and non-officer descendants who share the ideals of the Order (associate members).

Origins
Following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 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; these three men, Brevet Lt. Col. Samuel Brown Wylie Mitchell, Lt. Col. Thomas Ellwood Zell, and Captain Peter Dirk Keyser, are considered the founders of the Order. To demonstrate their loyalty, they 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 (as well as during a mass meeting of Philadelphia war veterans on April 20), culminating in a meeting on May 31, 1865, in Independence Hall in Philadelphia, at which the name was chosen.

The society was composed of three classes of members:
 * Officers who had fought in the Army, Navy, or Marine Corps of the United States in the suppression of the Rebellion, or enlisted men who had so served and were subsequently commissioned in the regular forces of the United States, constituted the original members of the first class. Later, members who were hereditary members by virtue of their ancestor's service were admitted as members of the first class.


 * Members of the Second Class were elected from amongst the eldest male descendants of those eligible for the first class.

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 more than 8,000 Civil War veterans as active 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.
 * The Third Class comprised distinguished civilians who had rendered faithful and conspicuous service to the Union during the Civil War; no new elections to this class have been made since 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 (descendants of eligible officers) than as a functioning military order. There are now four categories of membership: Hereditary, Junior, Associate, and Honorary. Many Original Companions of MOLLUS were also members of the Grand Army of the Republic (the "GAR"), just as many current Hereditary Companions of MOLLUS are also members of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, the legal heir to the GAR.

Organizationally, the Loyal Legion is composed of a National Commandery-in-Chief and individual state Commanderies. There are currently 19 Commanderies and two Provisional Commanderies. Current national officers include Commander-in-Chief Jeffry Burden of Virginia; Senior Vice-Commander-in-Chief Waldron Post of New York, and Junior Vice-Commander-in-Chief James Simmons of Texas.

Each year, the Loyal Legion commemorates President Lincoln's birthday with a wreath-laying ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. In 2009, MOLLUS helped coordinate an extended tribute with the help of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission to celebrate the two-hundredth anniversary of Lincoln's birthday.

The Loyal Legion is the third oldest hereditary military society in the United States after the Society of the Cincinnati and the Aztec Club of 1847.

Presidents of the United States

 * Abraham Lincoln (Posthumously enrolled.)
 * Ulysses S. Grant (Veteran companion.)
 * Rutherford B. Hayes (Veteran companion and MOLLUS Commander in Chief.)
 * Chester A. Arthur (3rd Class companion.)
 * Benjamin Harrison (Veteran companion.)
 * William McKinley (Veteran companion.)
 * Herbert Hoover (Honorary companion.)
 * Dwight Eisenhower (Honorary companion.)

Note - Presidents Andrew Johnson and James Garfield were both Union officers during the Civil War, and were thus eligible for membership in MOLLUS, but did not join the Order.

United States Army

 * General of the Army Omar Bradley (Honorary companion and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.)
 * General William Tecumseh Sherman (Army Commanding General.)
 * General Philip H. Sheridan (Army Commanding General and MOLLUS Commander in Chief, 1886-1888.)
 * Lieutenant General John M. Schofield (Army Commanding General and MOLLUS Commander in Chief, 1899-1903.)
 * Lieutenant General Nelson A. Miles (Army Commanding General and MOLLUS Commander in Chief, 1919-1925.)
 * Lieutenant General John C. Bates (Army Chief of Staff and MOLLUS Commander in Chief, 1909-1911.)
 * Lieutenant General Adna R. Chaffee (First to hold office of Army Chief of Staff.)
 * Lieutenant General Samuel B.M. Young (Army Chief of Staff and MOLLUS Commander in Chief, 1915-1919.)
 * Lieutenant General Arthur MacArthur (Medal of Honor recipient and MOLLUS Commander in Chief, 1912.)
 * Brevet Lieutenant General Winfield Scott (Army Commanding General.)
 * Major General Thomas M. Anderson (Nephew of Brigadier General Robert Anderson.)
 * Major General Christopher C. Augur
 * Major General Nathaniel P. Banks (Governor of Massachusetts and Congressman.)
 * Major General Zenas Bliss (Medal of Honor recipient.)
 * Major General Joseph Cabell Breckinridge, Sr.
 * Major General John R. Brooke (MOLLUS Commander in Chief, 1905-1907.)
 * Major General Ambrose Burnside (Governor of Rhode Island and United States Senator.)
 * Major General George Cadwalader (First MOLLUS Commander and Chief, 1865-1879.)
 * Major General Silas Casey (Career Army Officer.)
 * Major General John Clem (Youngest Union soldier in the Civil War.)
 * Major General George Armstrong Custer (Legendary Cavalryman and cultural icon.)
 * Major General Napoleon J.T. Dana
 * Major General John A. Dix
 * Major General Grenville M. Dodge (MOLLUS Commander in Chief, 1907-1909.)
 * Major General James W. Forsyth
 * Major General John G. Foster
 * Major General William B. Franklin
 * Major General John Gibbon (MOLLUS Commander in Chief, 1895-1896.)
 * Major General George L. Gillespie (Medal of Honor recipient, Chief Engineer and Assistant Chief of Staff.)
 * Major General Adolphus Greely (Arctic explorer and Medal of Honor recipient.)
 * Major General George S. Greene (Hero of Culps Hill in the Battle of Gettysburg.)
 * Major General Winfield Scott Hancock (MOLLUS Commander in Chief, 1879-1886.)
 * Major General Oliver Otis Howard (Founder and namesake of Howard University.)
 * Major General Henry Jackson Hunt
 * Major General John A. Logan
 * Major General George B. McClellan (Army Commanding General.)
 * Major General Robert Patterson
 * Major General John Pope
 * Major General William S. Rosecrans
 * Major General Thomas H. Ruger
 * Major General William R. Shafter (Commander of V Corps in Cuba during the Spanish-American War.)
 * Major General Thomas W. Sherman
 * Major General Henry W. Slocum
 * Major General David S. Stanley (Medal of Honor recipient.)
 * Major General George H. Thomas (Hero of the Battles of Chikamagua, Chattanooga and Nashville.)
 * Brevet Major General Adelbert Ames (Governor of and Senator from Mississippi.)
 * Brevet Major General Russell A. Alger (Secretary of War.)
 * Brevet Major General Nicholas Longworth Anderson
 * Brevet Major General Absalom Baird (Medal of Honor recipient.)
 * Brevet Major General John G. Barnard (Distinguished military engineer.)
 * Brevet Major General George L. Beal (Treasurer of Maine.)
 * Brevet Major General Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (Hero of Little Round Top in the Battle of Gettysburg and Governor of Maine.)
 * Brevet Major General David McM. Gregg (Cavalry commander.)
 * Brevet Major General Albion P. Howe (Veteran of both the Mexican War and the Civil War.)
 * Brevet Major General George H. Nye (Commander of the 29th Maine Regiment.)
 * Brigadier General Robert Anderson (Hero of Fort Sumter.)
 * Brigadier General John Jacob Astor III (Philanthropist and socialite.)
 * Brigadier General Richard Napoleon Batchelder (Quartermaster General and Medal of Honor recipient.)
 * Brigadier General Thomas Lincoln Casey (Engineer who completed the Washington Monument.)
 * Brigadier General Thomas L. Crittenden
 * Brigadier General Edgar S. Dudley
 * Brigadier General Lucius Fairchild (MOLLUS Commander in Chief, 1893-1895; Governor of Wisconsin and Minister to Spain.)
 * Brigadier General Samuel W. Fountain (MOLLUS Commander in Chief, 1930.)
 * Brigadier General Lucius F. Hubbard (Governor of Minnesota. Veteran of both the Civil War and the Spanish-American War.)
 * Brigadier General Galusha Pennypacker (Yongest general in the Civil War.)
 * Brigadier General Alexander Cummings McWhorter Pennington, Jr. (Career Army officer.)
 * Brigadier General Elisha Hunt Rhodes (Diarist.)
 * Brigadier General Julius Stahel (Hungarian-American Medal of Honor recipient and diplomat)
 * Brigadier General Samuel Whitside
 * Brigadier General Horatio Gouverneur Wright
 * Brevet Brigadier General Charles Francis Adams, Jr.
 * Brevet Brigadier General Charles Brayton (Rhode Island postmaster and political boss.)
 * Brevet Brigadier General Hazard Stevens (Medal of Honor recipient.)
 * Brevet Brigadier General Stephen Minot Weld Jr.
 * Brevet Brigadier General Horace Porter (Medal of Honor recipient and Ambassador to France.)
 * Brevet Brigadier General Samuel Miller Quincy
 * Colonel Henry Wilson (Vice President of the United States).
 * Brevet Colonel Benjamin W. Crowninshield (Aide de camp to General Philip Sheridan.)
 * Brevet Colonel Johnston de Peyster (Raised first Union flag over Richmond in 1865.)
 * Brevet Colonel Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (Supreme Court Associate Justice.)
 * Brevet Colonel Washington A. Roebling (Engineer of the Brooklyn Bridge.)
 * Lieutenant Colonel Eli Lilly (Pharmaceutical chemist, industrialist and entrepreneur.)
 * Lieutenant Colonel T. Elwood Zell (Founder of MOLLUS.)
 * Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Robert Hale Ives Goddard (Businessman and politician.)
 * Major Augustus P. Davis (Founder of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.)
 * Major Asa Bird Gardiner (Lawyer and political figure.)
 * Brevet Major Rufus King, Jr. (Medal of Honor recipient.)
 * Brevet Major George Mason (MOLLUS Commander in Chief, 1930-1932.)
 * Captain Edward Lyon Buchwalter (Business executive.)
 * Captain and Governor Elisha Dyer (Governor of Rhode Island.)
 * Captain Prince Philippe, Count of Paris (Claimant to French throne.)
 * Captain Prince Robert, Duke of Chartres (Grandson of King Louis-Phillipe of France.)
 * Captain Henry A. du Pont (Medal of Honor recipient, industrialist and United States Senator.)
 * Captain Robert Todd Lincoln (Son of President Lincoln.)
 * 1st Lieutenant Charles A. Longfellow (Son of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.)
 * 1st Lieutenant John L. Mitchell (United States Senator and father of aviation prophet Billy Mitchell.)
 * 1st Lieutenant Amos Madden Thayer (Federal Judge.)
 * 2nd Lieutenant Marcus A. Hanna (U.S. Senator and political boss.)
 * Chaplain Charles Comfort Tiffany (Episcopal clergyman.)

United States Navy

 * Admiral of the Navy George Dewey (Hero of the Battle of Manila Bay. Senior Navy Admrial, 1898-1917.)
 * Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz (Honorary member, Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations.)
 * Admiral David G. Farragut (Hero of the Battle of Mobile Bay.  Senior Navy Admiral 1862-1870.)
 * Admiral David D. Porter (Senior Navy admiral from 1870 to 1891.)
 * Vice Admiral Stephen Clegg Rowan (Mexican War and Civil War veteran.)
 * Rear Admiral John J. Almy (MOLLUS Commander in Chief, 1893.)
 * Rear Admiral Cipriano Andrade (First U.S. Navy admiral born in Mexico.)
 * Rear Admiral Theodorus Bailey
 * Rear Admiral George E. Belknap
 * Rear Admiral and Brevet Major General Samuel P. Carter
 * Rear Admiral Silas Casey, III
 * Rear Admiral French Ensor Chadwick (President of the Naval War College.)
 * Rear Admiral Charles Edgar Clark (Captain of the USS Oregon during the Spanish-American War.)
 * Rear Admiral Charles Henry Davis
 * Rear Admiral Nehemiah Dyer (At both Battle of Mobile Bay and Battle of Manila Bay.)
 * Rear Admiral Robley D. Evans (Commander of the Great White Fleet.)
 * Rear Admiral Norman von Heldreich Farquhar
 * Rear Admiral William M. Folger
 * Rear Admiral Bancroft Gherardi (MOLLUS Commander in Chief, 1896-1899.)
 * Rear Admiral Caspar F. Goodrich (President of the Naval War College.)
 * Rear Admiral Purnell F. Harrington (MOLLUS Commander in Chief, 1925-1927.)
 * Rear Admiral Louis Kempff (MOLLUS Commander in Chief, 1915.)
 * Rear Admiral Lewis A. Kimberly
 * Rear Admiral Stephen B. Luce (Founder of the United States Naval War College.)
 * Rear Admiral Bowman H. McCalla (Captured Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.)
 * Rear Admiral Richard Worsam Meade
 * Rear Admiral George W. Melville (MOLLUS Commander in Chief, 1911-1912.)
 * Rear Admiral John Porter Merrell (President of the Naval War College.)
 * Rear Admiral William T. Sampson (Commander of Naval Forces at the Battle of Santiago.)
 * Rear Admiral Thomas O. Selfridge
 * Rear Admiral Thomas O. Selfridge, Jr.
 * Rear Admiral Winfield Scott Schley (Commanded cruiser USS Brooklyn at the Battle of Santiago.)
 * Rear Admiral Charles D. Sigsbee (Commanding officer of the USS Maine.)
 * Rear Admiral Charles Stewart (Hero of the War of 1812.)
 * Rear Admiral Charles H. Stockton (President of the Naval War College.)
 * Rear Admiral William T. Swinburne
 * Rear Admiral Henry Clay Taylor (President of the Naval War College.)
 * Rear Admiral Richard Wainwright
 * Rear Admiral John G. Walker
 * Rear Admiral John L. Worden (Commanding officer of the USS Monitor.)
 * Master Robert M. Thompson (MOLLUS Commander in Chief, 1927-1930.)

United States Marine Corps

 * Major General Charles Heywood (Commandant of the United States Marine Corps.)
 * Brigadier General Jacob Zeilin (Commandant of the United States Marine Corps.)
 * Colonel Jacob H. Jones
 * Colonel Charles Grymes McCawley (Commandant of the United States Marine Corps.)
 * Colonel William B. Remey

3rd Class Companions
From 1865 to 1890 a limited number of civilians who contributed outstanding service to the Union during the wars were elected into MOLLUS as 3rd Class Companions.


 * Alexander D. Bache (Topographical engineer.)
 * Salmon P. Chase (Secretary of the Treasury.)
 * John Watts de Peyster (General in the New York Militia.)
 * William C. Endicott (Secretary of War.)
 * Lafayette S. Foster (United States Senator from Connecticut.)
 * Edward Everett Hale (Unitarian clergyman and abolitionist.)
 * Hannibal Hamlin (Vice President of the United States.)
 * Benito Juarez (President of Mexico.)
 * Frederick Law Olmstead (Secretary of the US Sanitary Commission and designer of Central Park.)
 * John S. Pillsbury (Founder of the Pillsbury Company and Governor of Michigan.)
 * Alexander H. Rice (Mayor of Boston, Congressman and Governor of Massachusetts.)
 * Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. (Treasurer of the Union League Club and father of President Theodore Roosevelt.)
 * William H. Seward (Secretary of State.)
 * William Sprague (Governor of Rhode Island.)
 * Edwin M. Stanton (Secretary of War.)
 * John P. Usher (Secretary of the Interior.)
 * Gideon Welles (Secretary of the Navy.)

Hereditary Companions

 * Ambassador Larz Anderson (Diplomat and socialite.)
 * Henry L. P. Beckwith, Jr. (Historian and genealogist.)
 * Rear Admrial Reginald R. Belknap (MOLLUS Commander in Chief, 1947-1951.)
 * Zenas Work Bliss (Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island.)
 * Congressman Henry S. Boutell (Minister to Switzerland.)
 * John Nicholas Brown II (Philanthropist.)
 * Brigadier General Elisha Dyer, Jr. (Governor of Rhode Island.)
 * Major General Ulysses S. Grant III (MOLLUS Commander in Chief, 1957-1961.)
 * Captain Arthur MacArthur III, USN (Brother of General Douglas MacArthur.)
 * General of the Army Douglas MacArthur (Legendary general.)
 * Brigadier General Charles L. McCawley, USMC
 * Major General Billy Mitchell (Military air power prophet.)
 * Major General Clayton Barney Vogel
 * General Jonathan Wainwright (General and Medal of Honor recipient.)
 * Ambassador Henry L. Wilson

Associate Companions

 * Frank J. Williams (Retired Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court.)