Our History

Other meetings followed in Mr. Constant’s office at 120 Broadway, at which the purposes and objectives of a “Society of Colonial Wars” were  formulated, and at which a certificate of incorporation together with proposals for a Constitution and By-Laws were drafted. Finally, a formal meeting for organization was called to be held at Mr. Constant’s office,  and to which other interested friends were invited. Among these was  Charles Henry Murray, Esq., a member of several patriotic societies, who  had previously suggested to Mr. Trenchard the formation of a “Society of  French and Indian Wars.”

Altogether, those attending this historic meeting, which took place on August 18, 1892, were: Messrs. Samuel Victor Constant, Frederick Everest Haight, Charles Henry Murray and Colonel Thomas WaIn­Morgan Draper, representing New York; Messrs. Edward Clarence Miller  and Charles Benjamin Miller, representing New Jersey; and Messrs. Nathan Gillette Pond and Satterlee Swartwout representing Connecticut.  At this meeting, over which Mr. Constant presided as the organizing  founder, the Certificate of Incorporation was approved. Subsequently, on  October 17th, it was filed in New York County. All of the foregoing  gentlemen together with Messrs. George Miles Gunn of Connecticut and Howard Randolph Bayne of Virginia were named as Incorporators.

The Incorporators, with the exception of Edward C. Miller, Esq., then became members of the organizing Board of Governors of the new Society, and the following temporary Officers were elected: Charles H. Murray, Esq., Chairman; Col. T. WaIn-Morgan Draper, Secretary; S. Victor Constant, Esq., Treasurer; and Frederick E. Haight, Esq., Histo­rian.

The Board of Governors met at the office of Chairman Murray at 115 Broadway, New York on October 18, 1892, and again at the same place on November 10th. At the latter meeting the Committee on Member­ship, composed of Colonel Draper, Mr. Murray, and Mr. Haight, Chairman, reported that the application papers of twenty-seven candidates had been approved. Those candidates were thereupon elected, and the Society was “in business” with dues-paying members. Mr. Constant was the first member elected, receiving Society Registration “No. 1.”  

It was at this time that the first insigne was approved, a small bowknot of British scarlet, to be worn in the left lapel of the coat. A quantity of these bowknots of ribbon one-eighth of an inch wide in a one-inch bow were made by Mrs. Thomas WaIn-Morgan Draper, and these decorations were worn by members until the present rosettes and insignia were adopted. The colors of the Society as later adopted, were the scarlet and white of the Colonial uniform.

At the next three meetings of the Board of Governors, eligibility qualifications were worked out, details as to Staff Officers and a Council to replace the Board of Governors were agreed upon, and a Constitution and By-Laws were adopted. Fifty-seven additional members were elected. When the first General Court met under the new Constitution on December 19, 1892, the anniversary date of the Great Swamp Fight of King Philip’s War in 1675, it was announced that the Society had one hundred and five members.

This General Court, in conjunction with a Banquet, was held at Delmonico’s famous restaurant at 26th Street and Fifth Avenue. At this meeting forty voting members elected the first permanent Officers of the Society of Colonial Wars, Frederic James de Peyster, Esq., becoming the first Governor, and Howland Pell, Esq., becoming the first Secretary. Both of these New York gentlemen were to serve the Society for many years with high devotion and competence.

It was in 1893 that the inauguration of a General Society of Colonial Wars was first discussed and carried out. As early as January 20th the Council approved a request from a group of Pennsylvania members to form a State Society there, and all the members from that State were thereupon transferred out of the New York Society. Similar action was taken on March 15th when State Societies were formed in Massachusetts and Maryland. This led to the formation of the General Society of Colonial Wars whose first General Assembly was held in New York City on May 9th and 10th, 1893, and whose membership then included New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Maryland, Connecticut and the District of Columbia. The name of the New York Society was changed by the Council to “Society of Colonial Wars in the State of New York.” Twenty-nine State Societies and the District of Columbia now comprise the General Society. It holds a General Assembly every three years rotated among these Societies, at which the General Officers are elected.

The first Annual Banquet, which was also the occasion of the second General Court of the New York Society, was held at the Hotel Waldorf on December 19th, 1893.

Up to the date of this first Banquet of the Society and in a period of twelve months, 311 members had joined. Since then the Society has held an Annual Banquet each year (except 1894, 1917, 1918, 1933 and 1937). Many eminent men have addressed the members, and various prominent patriotic and military societies, as well as the Army, Navy and Air Force, have been represented among the distinguished guests.

During the first formative months of the Society’s existence there had been some lively discussion concerning the beginning date of the Colonial period to be commemorated. Some contended for 1620, the year of the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, and this had been included in the original Constitution; others for 1607, the year of the founding of Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the western hemisphere. There was also some agitation to make the date earlier, 1565, when the first permanent European settlement in the future United States was established at Sr. Augustine, Florida. Even earlier dates were proposed, such as 1541, which was the year of the arrival of the Coronado Expedition on the Arkansas River.

However, it was finally voted to adopt the period from the settlement of Jamestown, Virginia on May 13, 1607, to the Battle of Lexington on April 19, 1775, and to limit qualifying ancestral service to those ancestors who served under the authority of the Colonies, which afterward formed the United States of America, or with participating British forces. 

History continued...