History of its Founding

Genesis
Over the next thirty years, the Aztec Club experienced a long and remarkable two-phased evolution: from a social club to a military society, then a military society to hereditary society.  When the original Constitution was adopted there had been no provision for how this new association would function once the war had ended.  The resolutions passed in May, 1848 provided for the orderly closure of the facility, the maintenance of the Club's treasury and the anticipation of a meeting in 1852, but little guidance for how the Club would be operated and maintained thereafter.  The provision for new members remained as originally written, an obviously impractical procedure given the change in the very structure of the organization. As a consequence, no new members were sought, and none could be elected.

Yet, the desire to associate with fellow veterans was strong, as were the friendships and bonds forged between them in their common experiences of the war.  In the mid-1850's reunions of officers were held in various places at various times, but the Aztec Club as a whole did not meet.  Communication in that era was often slow and difficult and the Club's membership was scattered around the nation.  Even its officers were not proximate to one another.  No doubt distance, and remote duty stations, only exacerbated the situation.

While the very Constitution that was the basis of the founding of the Aztec Club, the first Mexican War veterans' association, had become out-dated and ineffective, the desire to perpetuate these friendships remained strong.  Reunions were dominated by the Club's members.  In his biography of John A. Quitman, Robert May writes:

". . .The Mexican War, whatever its frustrations and tribulations, had already fulfilled the emotional needs which had initially brought Quitman to put his name forward for army service, and for the rest of his life, he would cling tenaciously to the associations he had formed during his campaigns.  Following the war, he traveled to soldiers' reunions and put up many a wartime comrade at Monmouth [Plantation, his home]."

The organizational structure then in place was not well suited for the transition from an association operating a social club to a military society composed of members scattered  about the nation.  Its rules and procedures, as then "on the books", were weak and ineffective causing the Aztec Club, as an organizational structure, to become paralyzed.  Hampered by a constitution that did not contemplate the challenges that then existed, for a time it seemed only an entirely new society could succeed.

The same individuals who provided leadership in the founding of the Aztec Club were again pressed into service.  Gen. Quitman, a former President of the Aztec Club, traveled to New York City where, on September 14, 1855, a group of officers who served in the Mexican War, including several members and former officers of the Aztec Club, assembled at Delmonico's Restaurant with a view toward organizing a new association similar to the Aztec Club, to be called the Montezuma Society.

The Montezuma Society was formed by officers:

". . . desirous of perpetuating the remembrance of a period so interesting to ourselves, and of renewing and strengthening the ties of our social intercourse. . ."

In its first Annual Circular, the Executive Committee of the newly formed Montezuma Society stated:

"The Executive Committee consider it proper to state that ‘The Montezuma Society' has been organized solely and entirely for the purpose of renewing and cultivating those ties of fellowship and sympathy, which are naturally so prone to exist between men who have served together in War ."

The Montezuma Society was the mechanism chosen to evolve the Aztec Club into a workable body.  The paralysis in the organizational structure of the Aztec Club, engendered by its outdated Constitution, was a major factor in the establishment of this new entity.  The Montezuma Society's circular stated:

". . .It is believed that the 3d and 4th Articles of the Constitution will supply those important omissions which have been so detrimental to the vitality of the Aztec Club, by providing a central point of meeting for what may be termed the parent society; for the filling of vacancies in the Executive Committee, and for keeping each member annually advised of the actual condition of the affairs of the association ."

It's founding officers, elected in 1855, included:

President
Commodore M. C. PERRY, U. S. Navy

Vice Presidents.
General ROBERT PATTERSON, Philadelphia
Lieut.-Colonel JOHN J. ABERCROMBIE, U. S. Army
General WARD B. BURNETT, New York
Commander HENRY EAGLE, U. S. Navy

Secretary.
MANSFIELD LOVELL, New York

Treasurer.
Chief Engineer JESSE GAY, U. S. Navy.

While in Philadelphia with her father, Antonio Quitman, Gen. Quitman's daughter, wrote her sister, Annie Rosalie:

"Com. Perry was here this morning to see us," reported Quitman's daughter Antonia during the 1856 reunion.  "He with fifty or sixty officers of the Army and Navy will dine together tomorrow to commemorate the taking of Mexico.  Father, of course, will be one of them.  Capt. Lovell almost lives in our parlor." Already, she noted, the officers were busy rehashing "the old times in the war."

The Montezuma Society lasted only about four years.  In 1858, Gen. Quitman died.  By 1859 Gen. Robert Patterson was President.  The nation had become distracted, then divided, as it moved closer to war.  Though its members still had fond feelings toward one another conviviality seemed out of place.  Not until 1867 would they again meet under such circumstances.  Two parchment membership diplomas issued by the Montezuma Society were discovered in 1997, both dated September 14, 1859, including one for Brig. Gen. Franklin Pierce, bear the signatures of Robert Patterson, President, and Mansfield Lovell, Secretary.

Next Page |Original Members | Index of Biographies | Return to Main Menu

Copyright Notice
Copyright © 2020. All Rights Reserved.