guished from a Militia or State)
regiment.
b. Resignation with honor after a
minimum of three years of
service.
c. Being rendered supernumerary,
or honorably discharged after
three years of service.
About 2400 officers joined as Origi-
nal Members.
What are present membership
requirements?
Every Original Member, as well as
other officers who could have become
Original Members but for one reason
or another did not join the Society,
can be represented in the Society
today by a descendant. The Society
also accepts descendants of officers
who were killed in battle or died in
service. Vx/hile rules differ slightly
among the various State Societies,
generally membership passes to the
eldest son according to the rule of
primogeniture. Lacking such an indi-
vidual, a collateral male descendant,
if properly qualified, may take up the
membership.
How do the French enter the
picture?
A clear-cut victory could not have
been achieved in the Revolution
without French help, for which the
Original Members of the Society
were deeply grateful.
An invitation to join the Society
was accordingly extended to French
Officers in Rochambeau’s army and
deGrasse’s fleet. Many of these men
joined together to form the French
Society in 1784 under the patronage
of the King, Louis XVI. This Society
was destroyed by the French Revolu-
tion in 1792 and the subsequent
Reign of Terror in which a large
number of French Original Members
lost their lives. After nearly a century
and a half, the French Society was
again reconstituted and accepted as
the 14th State Society in 1925. It
now has more than 200
members.
Vi/hence comes the name?
Our ancestors were classical
scholars, much better versed
in Greek and Roman history
than we are today. As the army
was preparing to disband in 1783,
many were struck by the parallels
between George Washington, the
farmer of Mount Vernon, and the life
of the distinguished Roman Lucius
Quinctius Cincinnatus (born ca.
519 B. (1).
In ancient times, when Rome was
governed by Tribunes of the People,
war broke out with Rome’s enemies,
the Aequi and the Volsci, whose ar-
mies surrounded Rome’s forces and
threatened to force capitulation. The
Senate resolved to appoint a Dictator,
and a delegation was sent to Cincin-
natus, who had retired from public
life to his farm.
They found him at
the plow, dressed as
a peasant. Putting
on the robes of high
office, he returned to the
 city, routed Rome’s enemies,
distributed the spoils to his soldiers,
and retired to his life as a farmer,
refusing all honors and awards.

Later, other troubles broke out, D
civil commotion disturbed the
people, and Cincinnatus was invested
a second time as Dictator by the
Senate, but, quelling the outbreak, he
again returned to his farm.
The Society of the Cincinnati was
so called therefore to symbolize the
fact that not only Washmgton but all
his officers were about to put aside