Paul Martin, with his Civil War era uniform and silver-auburn beard, attracted the attention of a family visiting St. Francisville. The kids were instantly impressed. Dad became an instant tour guide. “Hey girls, James, look at this guy and his war uniform jacket,” he said.
Paul Martin reflects Saturday, June 10, 2023, on his years portraying Confederate Capt. W.W. Leake during the annual Day the War Stopped Civil War reenactment and his years as a Mason in the Feliciana Lodge 31.
The boy felt the hot, wool jacket and ran his fingers right up to the soldier’s beard and gave it a huge tug. The young visitors discovered that history is told with very real people and not just props.
Martin has taken part in the famed Day the War Stopped re-enactment so long that he has earned a spot in its history and isn’t just playing a role. One Saturday in June for several years, Martin embodies Confederate Capt. W.W. Leake, the local man who helped facilitate a proper burial for Union Cmdr. John Hart during the Siege of Port Hudson.
Leake and Hart, enemies in war, share more than a hallowed resting spot and a legendary tale of the Day the War Stopped. Fighting ceased on that June 1863 day, but it marked a continuation of an age-old fraternal bond of Freemasonry.
The story has been told during the re-enactment for more than 25 years. The activities include re-enactments and ceremonies surrounding the funeral services of Hart of the U.S. Navy’s U.S.S. Albatross during hostilities of the Civil War. Hart’s last wishes were for a proper Masonic burial.
The Union officers came on shore just outside St. Francisville, home to the oldest Masonic Lodge in Louisiana: Feliciana Lodge 31, F & M. Leak was the group’s senior warden and served as a captain of a Confederate unit supporting nearby Port Hudson.
The re-enactment has taken on a life and history of its own after 160 years. It is a tourist attraction that appeals to all the senses — sight, sound, smell, and even taste. Before the burial, a play was added this year to bring the story to life.
Music and dance of the period was celebrated sheltered from the heat of the brutal June sun. Roxanne Struppeck, of the Vintage Dancers, taught dance routines to audience members of all ages. The dance group performed to the music of the band Kitchen Session who played period folk music.
Vintage Dancers leader Roxanne Struppeck teaches a routine to audience member Aubrey Brignac Saturday, June 10, 2023, during the Day that the War Stopped reenactment activities.
Masons from around the country take part each year and this year 11 lodges pitched tents around the courthouse and competed in the jambalaya cook-off. The cooks include Jimmy Sharp from Lodge 264 that competed from Pine in Washington Parish.
Martin has become part of the history of the event, but he speaks of family connections to the events of the era. “Well, yep, my great-great-grandfather and W.W. Leake were both members of this lodge,” he said. “I think they were really good friends.”
Martin said his great-great-grandfather who had the surname Brooks continued his association to Leake and the area after the war. The Leake family helped establish the Julius Freyhan School and Brooks oversaw the rebuilding of the school after it was destroyed by fire.
There was a break in tradition this year that Martin lamented. New York Mason Francis Karwowski, who often portrays Hart opposite Martin’s Leake, was unable to participate. Since 1999, it was only the second time, counting the year of COVID-19 closures, that Karwowski did not travel to St. Francisville for the re-enactment. Karwowski, lovingly called “Frank the Yank,” has participated on behalf of St. George’s Lodge No. 6 of Schenectady, New York, Hart’s home lodge at the time of his death.
Martin added that despite Karwowski’s absence, a contingency from Schenectady, took part in the 2023 activities.
Martin and his Masonic brothers from New York have found common ground for a quarter of a century and he said he feels there’s a great lesson to be learned. “I think the fact that Hart and Leake — with their two countries at war — shows that even when the worst happened, they were able to agree to stop the hostilities and perform a burial service for a deceased brother,” Martin said.
Hart’s men took a chance and reached out, Martin said. “If men could cease hostilities in the middle of a war, a lot of other arguments could end differently by just talking with one another and being friendly and respectful to one another.”
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