Provisions for First Ordeal

During the Treasure Island camping season in 1915, there were no provisions for an ordeal of any type. Inductees were selected publicly in front of the camp and inducted into membership during the rituals each Friday evening.

Following the meeting at Camp Morrell in November 1915, work was done under the leadership of William Spaeth, chairman of the Ceremonies Committee, to develop and write the First Degree ceremony with an ordeal included. The work of the Ceremonies Committee was accepted in 1916 at the June meeting.

During the 1916 Treasure Island summer camp season candidates for the Order spent Thursday night sleeping alone under the open sky and then their ordeal was carried out during the day on Friday off island away from camp. The families on the mainland cooperated with the Treasure Island honor camping program and provided work possibilities for the nominees.

While there is not complete detail about the ordeal in 1916, there is a diary that belonged to Edward Frazier Evans that shared his experience.

On a hot night in July 1917, Edward Frazier Evans, was isolated from his fellow scouts and is instructed by the Chief of the Fire to spend the night under the open sky. It was a clear night and scout Evans rested well.

- The contents of Sealed Order 1 are unknown and may have related to the night spent under the stars.

- In the morning Evans opened a sealed envelope – Sealed Order of the ordeal number 2, a set of instructions developed by Horace Kern. Order number two instructs him, among other things, to eat only that food which has been provided to him, and nothing more.

- Sealed Order 3 directs Evans to perform a morning of service, as a good Scout.

- Sealed Order 4 provides for Edward’s lunch break, sets a new location and admonishes him to be faithful.

- Sealed Order 5 instructs Evans to continue his day of service and to be thoughtful and prepared.

- The Chief of the Fire Goodman in both his given and Indian name signs the final Sealed Order of the ordeal, Order 6. Evans reflected on his journey through the ordeal as a staff member acting as a guide brought him into the ceremonial ring. He encountered two black-robed figures – Goodman and Howard Seideman. They led him through three tests – one for Brotherhood, another for Service, and a third for Cheerfulness.

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First Vigil Honor Ceremony

At end of the camping season in 1915, E. Urner Goodman held a vigil on the Devil's Tea Table. There was no real ritual ceremony that accompanied his experience, just Goodman alone with his thoughts through a night that he often referred to as life changing for him.

Carroll A. Edson recalls the following as the events that happened at the end of the Camping Season in 1916:

By the summer of 1916 a basic organization had been set up, and essentially the present First Honor, a First Degree, as we then called it, ritual developed, and the lodge functioned actively at camp.

At the end of that season, there was a universal feeling among the members that Urner’s leadership had been so splendid that they should do something to raise him above the rest.

I was running a Sea Scout camp that summer, but at the end of the season ran up to Treasure Island for a few days. A few of us got together, and planned out what is now the Vigil Honor, but which was then called “Second Degree”. We developed the essentials of the present ordeal and ritual, and put Urner through it.

There is not a consensus among Wimachtendienk historians on whether or not the above quote is accurate and whether or not Goodman kept a second vigil. No ceremony existed for the Second Degree prior to 1916. Whether or not Goodman went through a Second Degree ceremony as defined by the 1916 Constitution of the Wimachtendienk and whom the identities of any ceremonialists were is unknown. If Goodman was not the first Arrowman to go through the actual ceremony for the Second Degree (Vigil) – because he had already kept his vigil prior to the ceremony being written, then Carroll Edson was the first to receive the full ritual in 1917.

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First (White) Sash

There are no known examples or photographs of the original black sash with white bar or arrow on it.

The earliest photograph known showing a Wimachtendienk sash being worn is 1919. This photo was taken at Treasure Island at the Council Fire Ring during a Friday evening public First Degree induction ceremony. The photograph is black and white and shows a white background sash with a dark arrow on it. Because the colors red and black have the same value in black and white photography there is no way to know if the arrows on the sashes in this early photo are black or red.

There is one known example of a white sash with a black arrow that originated from Chicago and dates to the early 1920s. This was a locally made sash, likely an early example of Chicago doing its own thing. However there is no evidence that suggests that early Wimachtendienk at Treasure Island ever used a sash other than white with red arrow except for the first black sashes from 1915.

In the 1919 picture the sashes are worn over the right shoulder – First Degree (Pledge) and over the left shoulder – First Degree (full member).

The first mention of the Order’s sash is in the First Degree ceremony ca. (1917-1918). The First Degree ceremony at that time was where Pledges sealed their membership in the Order in a member’s only ceremony held back in the city (Philadelphia) following their public induction at Treasure Island.

The mention is by the Chief; Sakima who states just before the closing ceremony:

… Now, with the assistance of Pow-wow, I shall pin on your breasts the badge of the turtle, with the arrow pointing over your left shoulder, change your arrow bands to the left side, and giving you again the grip of the Order, declare you members of the second degree, and entitled to all the rights, privileges and immunities of the Order.

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"Service" Influences Formation

From 1914 – 1916 the Philadelphia Council led by Scout Executive Walter S. Cowing used “Service” as its watchword. In 1914 the council recognized deserving individuals with a special “Badge of Service” pin.

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Edson Influenced

In 1915 I joined the staff of the Philadelphia Council, the head of the Field Department being E. Urner Goodman, afterwards Scout Executive of Philadelphia, and then of Chicago, and now a department head at the National Office.

Urner was designated as Director, and I as Co-Director of Treasure Island, the Philadelphia Camp. I found they had an award called “Treasure Island Scout”, for which an emblem TIS, was presented. The award was based on a point system, similar to a troop contest, so many points for passing tests, identifying nature objects, etc., etc. It seemed to me there should be some recognition of the spirit of Scouting, as the TIS was of the mechanics.

It happened that about that time I attended a meeting where Ernest Thompson Seton was the speaker, and he gave a splendid presentation of the value he had found in using an idealization of the Indian, in his work with boys, and it seemed to me that that gave the answer to the problem I had been considering.

I accordingly suggested to Urner that we organize an Indian lodge as our highest camp award, selection to be based on the demonstration of living the Scout Oath and Law. He agreed.”

--- Excerpted from Col. Edson’s 1942 letter to Moqua Chapter for their 20^th Anniversary celebration

Edson was excited by his encounter with Ernest Thompson Seton and brought the idea back to Goodman and Treasure Island. The idea blossomed and became the Camp Honor Fraternity – Wimachtendienk.

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Woodcraft Indians

It would help bring together young people from various so-called stations, break down the barriers that society has foolishly placed upon them, and establish in their minds when they are young a finer kind of humanity, a real understanding that the important thing is the association of a human spirit.

--- from Ernest Thompson Seton about his development of the League of Woodcraft Indians

The League of Woodcraft Indians was an American youth program, established by Ernest Thompson Seton. It was later renamed the "Woodcraft League of America". The program was also utilized overseas, and many of these overseas programs still exist today.

In the United States, the first Woodcraft "Tribe" was established in 1902 at Cos Cob, Connecticut. Seton's property had been vandalized several times by a group of boys from the local school. Seton thought over his options and decided that sugar might be better than vinegar. So he invited the boys over to his property for a weekend. Surprised and a little apprehensive the boys came. Seton, the great storyteller that he was, regaled the boys stories about Native Americans and nature.

The result of his weekend was a group of boys who became interested in nature and Native American customs and traditions. The unique feature of his program was that the boys elected their own leaders: a "Chief," a "Second Chief", a "Keeper of the Tally" and a "Keeper of the Wampum."

Encouraged by the boys’ response and a dream of broadening his program to other communities, Seton wrote a series of seven articles for Ladies' Home Journal from May to November 1902 under the heading "Seton's Boys." Those articles later were published under the name Birch Bark Roll.

Looking for people interested in his outdoor organization. Seton traveled to England in 1906 to meet with Lord Robert Baden-Powell. He gave Baden-Powell a copy of the Birch Bark Roll. Seton and Baden-Powell bonded around the concept of a program for youth. In 1908, Seton received a letter from Baden-Powell stating that he was going ahead with his vision for Scouting, using as a base Seton’s program. Baden-Powell wrote Scouting for Boys and incorporated many of Seton’s ideas, honors and games into his book.

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