On this day in 1864, Mason and General John C. Breckinridge takes control of Confederate forces in the Appalachian Mountains of western Virginia. The native Kentuckian was a former U.S. senator, U.S. vice president and runner-up to Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 presidential election. Breckinridge took over the obscure Western Department of Virginia, where he managed forces until he was elevated to the Confederacy’s secretary of war in the closing weeks of the Civil War.
In one of the most famous orations of the Cold War period, Mason and former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill condemns the Soviet Union’s policies in Europe and declares, "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent." Churchill’s speech is considered one of the opening volleys announcing the beginning of the Cold War.
Mason, Churchill, who had been defeated for re-election as prime minister in 1945, was invited to Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri where he gave this speech. Mason and President Harry S. Truman joined Mason Churchill on the platform and listened intently to his speech. Churchill began by praising the United States, which he declared stood “at the pinnacle of world power." It soon became clear that a primary purpose of his talk was to argue for an even closer "special relationship" between the United States and Great Britain—the great powers of the "English-speaking world"—in organizing and policing the postwar world. In particular, he warned against the expansionistic policies of the Soviet Union. In addition to the "iron curtain" that had descended across Eastern Europe, Churchill spoke of "communist fifth columns" that were operating throughout western and southern Europe. Drawing parallels with the disastrous appeasement of Hitler prior to World War II, Churchill advised that in dealing with the Soviets there was "nothing which they admire so much as strength, and there is nothing for which they have less respect than for military weakness."
The Boston Massacre, on the cold, snowy night of March 5, 1770, a mob of American colonists gathers at the Customs House in Boston and begins taunting the British soldiers guarding the building. The protesters, who called themselves Patriots, were protesting the occupation of their city by British troops, who were sent to Boston in 1768 to enforce unpopular taxation measures passed by a British parliament that lacked American representation.
British Captain Thomas Preston, the commanding officer at the Customs House, ordered his men to fix their bayonets and join the guard outside the building. The colonists responded by throwing snowballs and other objects at the British regulars, and Private Hugh Montgomery was hit, leading him to discharge his rifle at the crowd. The other soldiers began firing a moment later, and when the smoke cleared, five colonists were dead or dying—Crispus Attucks, Patrick Carr, Samuel Gray, Samuel Maverick, and James Caldwell—and three more were injured. Although it is unclear whether Crispus Attucks, an African American, was the first to fall as is commonly believed, the deaths of the five men are regarded by some historians as the first fatalities in the American Revolutionary War.
On this day in 1821, Mason, James Monroe becomes the first president to be inaugurated on March 5, only because the 4th was a Sunday.
On this day in 1933, Newly inaugurated Mason and President Franklin D. Roosevelt halts the trading of gold and declares a bank holiday.
On this day in 1836, Mason and Inventor Samuel Colt's Patent Arms Manufacturing of Paterson, New Jersey, was chartered by the New Jersey legislature. Samuel Colt Inventor of the Colt firearms He was born on July 19, 1814 at Hartford, Conn. Apprenticed in his father's factory, but ran away in 1827 for an East India voyage, returning to his father's factory in the dyeing department. He again left home to seek his fortune at age of 17 and toured the continent under the name of "Dr. Coult," giving lectures on chemistry and making a considerable profit from them. The first model of his pistol was made of wood in 1829. In 1835, when but 21, he took out his first patent for revolving firearms. He established the Patent Arms Company and supplied the government with revolvers for the Seminole War and for the Texas and Indian frontiers. Colt was a member of St. John's Lodge No. 4; Pythagoras Chapter No. 17 and Washington Commandery No. 1, all of Hartford, Connecticut. Brother Sam entered the Celestial Lodge on January 10, 1862.
On this day in 1868, the U.S. Senate was organized into a court of impeachment to decide charges against Mason and President Andrew Johnson.
On this day in 1933, Mason and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered a four-day bank holiday in order to stop large amounts of money from being withdrawn from banks.
John Cabell Breckinridge (1821-1875) 14th Vice President of the United States, U.S. Senator, major general in Confederate army and secretary of war of the Confederate states. He was born on January 21, 1821 near Lexington, Kentucky. A grandson of John Breckinridge, U.S. Senator and attorney general. Educated at Centre College and Transylvania Institute, he resided in Burlington, Iowa for a short time before settling at Lexington, Ky. where he practiced law. While in Burlington he petitioned Des Moines Lodge No. 41 (now 1) on Feb. 7, 1842 and on Dec. 5, 1842 was elected senior warden of the lodge, and re-elected on June 5, 1843. Served as a major in the war with Mexico in 1847, returning to Kentucky to be elected first to the house of representatives and then to the U.S. Congress in 1851 and again in 1853. Elected vice president of the U.S. in 1856, serving from 1857-1861. As a presidential candidate in 1860 he received 72 electoral votes. The same year he was elected U.S. Senator from Kentucky to succeed John J. Crittenden. At the beginning of the Civil War, he defended the south in the Senate and soon entered the Confederate service for which he was expelled from the senate on December 04, 1861. On August 05, 1862 he was made major general and for the next two years fought in many battles. He was secretary of war in Jefferson Davis's cabinet from Jan. 1865 until the close of the conflict when he fled to Cuba and then to Europe. He returned to the states in 1868 determined to have no further part in politics. He became a member of Good Samaritan Lodge No. 174 at Lexington, Ky. by affiliation; was suspended in 1861 and reinstated on November 16, 1871. He was a member of Temple Chapter No. 19, R.A.M., Webb Commandery No. 2, K.T., both of Lexington and received the 33rd AASR (SJ) on March 28, 1860. he entered the CEllestial lodge on May 17, 1875 at Lexington, Ky. and was buried with Knight Templar services.