History of Sigma Pi

The Founders of Sigma Pi little dreamt the Fraternity would develop into anything beyond a local organization. It was not established to advance the selfish interests of its members, to dominate college politics or to compete with any rival group. It came into existence through the spontaneous desire of a few kindred souls to give expression to their sincere spirit of fraternalism.

Vincennes, Indiana, is among the oldest and most interesting points in America. It was founded about 1732, by French traders, soldiers and priests, to establish and maintain more effectually the title of their sovereign monarch, Louis XIV, to the Mississippi Valley. Following the fall of Quebec, after the French and Indian War, Vincennes passed under British control and so remained until the American Revolution.

The capture of Vincennes from British General Henry Hamilton in 1779, by the young Virginian, George Rogers Clark, is a dramatic page out of American history. The consequences of this battle along the Wabash River were of international importance. By this single stroke of military prowess, the western border of the new republic was extended from the Alleghenies to the Mississippi River. In recognition of this victory, the Federal Government established at Vincennes the finest national memorial outside of Washington, D.C.

In 1800, Vincennes became the capital of the Northwest Territory and the seat for the administration of Indian affairs in the West. For a time the vast domain extending from Ohio to the Rocky Mountains and from the Canadian Border to Louisiana was governed from Vincennes. The first newspaper, church, library, Masonic lodge and university in Indiana were at Vincennes. We are particularly interested in this old university, since it was the birthplace of Sigma Pi.

Vincennes University had its inception in the provisions of the famous Northwest Ordinance of 1787. Almost from the University’s establishment it suffered from a lack of adequate financial support. It became the victim of bitter partisanship and in 1820, the Indiana legislature undertook to deprive the college of the lands with which it had been endowed by Congress.

Vincennes University’s greatest era of prosperity was the period from 1890 - 98. During that time, Vincennes University raised the level of its academic standards giving it promise that it might yet attain the high rank that its founders had dreamed it would. In addition, military training had been established under the direction of a West Point officer detailed by the War Department.

The college year 1897 - 1898 proved Vincennes University was ready to grow. The attendance was the largest in the history of the institution until that time, the football team had completed a most successful season, a student publication had been successfully launched, and a literary society had been organized. The time and conditions were ripe for the birth of a fraternity at old Vincennes. The circumstances surrounding such a creation are most interesting

On January 26, 1897, Miss Charlotte N. Mallotte, the Professor of Latin and French, spoke to a student group at the chapel hour. She spoke on the subject of “College Fraternities” which sparked the interest of several students. Then, on the afternoon of February 26, a new fraternity had its first meeting. When, after a long session, the meeting adjourned, a literary society had been born, though it was yet unnamed.

The founders of the Fraternity, all cadets at the university, were William Raper Kennedy, James Thompson Kingsbury, George Martin Patterson, and Rolin Rosco James. The first three were seniors; James was a freshman. Samuel and Maurice Bayard were the first initiates. They were made members of the Fraternity before a name was selected or a constitution adopted. Many of the first meetings of the Fraternity were held at the old Bayard home. At the Bayard house, the constitution was written and the first ritual was developed and used in the loft of the family’s carriage house.

According to history, the mother of the first two initiates, Mrs. Bayard, took a deep interest in the organization and used her influence to steer Tau Phi Delta in the right direction. On one occasion she entered the library of her home to find a meeting of the Fraternity in progress. The business of the hour was the adoption of an appropriate motto. No satisfactory agreement on the subject had been reached. Taking a volume of Robert Browning’s poems from a shelf, she turned to “A Death In The Desert,” and read:

“Progress, man’s distinctive mark alone.

Not God’s, and not the beasts’;

God is, they are.

Man partly is and wholly hopes to be.”

“That,” Mrs. Bayard said, “would make an excellent motto for your organization.” With this remark she left the room, and her suggestion had accomplished its purpose. A motto had been found.

The preamble of the old Constitution also listed the ideals of the Fraternity, and it has been changed very little over the last 100 years:

“To the end that school fellowship may be cultivated, our general knowledge extended, the cause of education advanced, literary culture promoted, and a high degree of school excellence maintained, we, the undersigned students of Vincennes University, do ordain and establish this constitution for the Tau Phi Delta Society.”

Four more members were soon initiated, bringing the total membership to 10 by the end of the first year. Little is known about the activities of the organization during the fall and winter term of the year 1898. In the absence of complete records we rely upon the recollections of the members, to the effect that the Society was kept intact and it exercised great care in extending invitations for membership. In the spring came a succession of rapidly occurring events which had their effect not only upon the Society, but upon the University and the United States.

On April 23, 1898, President McKinley called for 123,000 volunteers for service in the Spanish-American War. Immediately the “V.U. Cadets” volunteered as a unit. The offer was promptly accepted by the Governor of Indiana, and the company was directed to remain ready to report for duty. On April 27, the mobilization order came, and the cadets entrained on the day following for Camp Mount at Indianapolis as Company L, 159th Indiana Volunteer Infantry. Among the members of the company were three members of Tau Phi Delta: First Lieutenant Lee B. Purcell, Quartermaster Sergeant William Raper Kennedy, and Sergeant Maurice F. Bayard.

The drastic effect of these events upon the free and natural student life of Vincennes University can hardly be pictured. What students did remain in college were more concerned in cable dispatches from Manila Bay and Santiago than in the history of the Crusades or in Caesar’s campaigns. The college was demoralized by all the losses caused by such a drastic war and took many years to recover.

Company L was mustered out of the service on November 23, 1898, but few of the former V.U. Cadets ever returned. Some entered careers of business, while others went to larger institutions of learning to complete their college training.

It was not until the fall of 1899 that normal conditions were restored at the University. By then, only one member of Tau Phi Delta, Brother Rolin Rosco James, was in attendance and to him must be given the sole credit of saving the Fraternity from an early and untimely death. Surrounding himself with four juniors, John K. Chappell, Ray Simpson, Will Willis and Herbert P. Holman, and one senior, Frank Hammitt, James reorganized the Society.

Some of his associates favored an altogether new society and proposed the name of Theta Gamma Psi, but James prevailed upon them to retain the old name of Tau Phi Delta. The first meeting of the year, of which mention is made in the records, was held on November 16, 1899. At the meeting following, a new constitution was modeled after the original drafted in 1897. The preamble and motto remained the same.

Among the many loyal friends of Tau Phi Delta during its formative period was Professor Clarence D. Stevens, who deserves special mention. He was an alumnus of Wabash College and a member of Beta Theta Pi Fraternity. He freely gave of his counsel and advice and was of assistance to the young Fraternity. As a token of appreciation he was made an honorary member and years later Professor Stevens paid the following tribute to the founders and their associates:

“The Society, I believe, was founded to organize the most worthy activities, social, athletic, and scholarly, of the male students, and to set a high standard of manliness and college loyalty. Its membership comprised the picked men of the institution, and initiation into it was considered by all of the students as a mark of distinction.”

It would be appropriate to say that Tau Phi Delta was hardly a fraternity chapter, as that term is now understood. It was rather a combination of the fraternity idea with that of the old style literary society, the like of which flourished in almost every college in the United States in the 19th Century. For several years the chapter met in a college building and regular meetings were usually held on Friday evenings. On these occasions, literary programs were carried out with the utmost seriousness and decorum. A typical program consisted of a song, a discussion of current events, a brief debate, and perhaps a reading or a speech. Members of the faculty were frequently in attendance and occasionally occupied places in the program. The members of the Society took wholesome interest in these literary exercises and, from time to time the more proficient presentations were repeated at a general convocation of the student body

In all its outward aspects, Tau Phi Delta possessed the characteristics of a fraternity chapter. It was strictly secret and possessed a password and a grip and included an initiation ritual. Its badge was a simple black shield, with a border of gold, upon which were displayed the Greek letters TFD. The colors were black and gold, and the red clover was the official flower.

Internal strife never at any time threatened the life or usefulness of the organization, though a few members did resign on account of grievances real or imaginary, and a few were expelled on account of conduct which the Fraternity could neither countenance nor ignore.

The Fraternity always enjoyed the respect and esteem of the members of the faculty. On one occasion a member of the faculty approached the officers and propositioned them to petition his fraternity, which was one of the leading national organizations of that time, for a charter. The members of Tau Phi Delta, though appreciating the compliment, concluded not to take this step.

In the winter of 1903-04 the Fraternity ceased to meet in the college building and rented a small cottage at 110 South Third Street. This building was occupied until the end of the college year and was considered the first chapter house occupied by the Fraternity. During the following year a large hall over a business house on Main Street was rented. This was given up about 1907 for a suite of rooms in the old colonial residence of Judge J.P.L. Weems, at 222 North Fourth Street.

The Niblack-Weems homestead is one of the landmarks of Vincennes. The boundary line between the state of Indiana and Illinois was projected from one corner of the house. It was here that the Fraternity was reorganized as Sigma Pi, and here the so-called first national congress was held.

Tau Phi Delta first began to show signs of expansion about 1904-05. The beginning of the college year found three members of the Fraternity attending the University of Illinois and seven at Indiana University. In May, 1905, the members at Indiana effected an organization and petitioned the mother chapter for authority to establish a second chapter there. The petition was denied. The members felt the proposed chapter would be unable to compete with the fraternities on the state university campus. During that year also, the organization first began to call itself officially a fraternity, and steps were taken toward incorporation under the laws of Indiana. A proposal of one of the members to expand the Fraternity into a national organization with chapters in junior colleges was also considered, and some correspondence with that end in view was had with groups of students at Union Christian College at Merom, Indiana, and Oakland City University at Oakland City, Indiana. Suitable material was not found, and the project was abandoned without formal action.

February 11, 1907, is a significant date in the Fraternity’s history. It was then the members last assembled as Tau Phi Delta and first assumed the name of Sigma Pi Fraternity of the United States. Tau Phi Delta had limited ambitions for expansion. Soon after the name change, Sigma Pi embarked on a program of establishing chapters on other campuses.

The person who hears about the change of name may wonder why it was made. If he reads The Sigma Pi Book — A History Of The Fraternity; 1923, he will be even more bewildered. The only explanation is:

“The circumstances which led to the selection of the name of Sigma Pi and the discarding of that of Tau Phi Delta were most unusual and are probably unprecedented in the annals of fraternity affairs.”

Such an explanation leaves much to be desired. Even the mildly curious would demand a fuller account of the event. It was not until 1978, that The Patterson Episode was recorded as part of the Fraternity’s history by Curtis G. Shake (Vincennes 1903) and Harold Gibson (Alpha, Vincennes and Sigma Pi Literary Society, Illinois College).

The Patterson Episode

The story of how Sigma Pi Fraternity received its name is an involved and fantastic tale. The leading characters in the drama are Robert George Patterson, then a freshman at Ohio State University (no relation to Founder George Martin Patterson); William Jennings Bryan, three-time Democratic nominee for president of the United States; and William Raimond Baird, a member of Beta Theta Pi and publisher of Baird’s Manual of American Fraternities (published periodically since 1879).

Patterson is solely responsible for influencing the members of Tau Phi Delta to change the name of their organization to Sigma Pi Fraternity. In 1896, as a lad of 11 years, he heard Bryan make a campaign speech. Thrilled by Bryan’s eloquence and striking appearance, he was convinced he had seen and heard the greatest American of his time. Bryan was to become the central figure in the drama that created Sigma Pi Fraternity.

Soon after the presidential election of 1896, Patterson’s father purchased a best seller of that day, The First Battle by William Jennings and Mary Baird Bryan. There, in a brief biographical sketch, he read: “Upon entering the academy (prep department of Illinois College), he joined Sigma Pi Literary Society, and was an undergraduate member for six years, profiting much by the training in essay, declamation, and debate.”

Soon the direction of Patterson’s early years was established. His hero was William Jennings Bryan. Patterson determined he would become a member of Sigma Pi Literary Society. Upon completion of his secondary education, he made a trip to Jacksonville, Illinois, where Illinois College is located. There he visited the Sigma Pi Hall where Bryan had perfected his speaking ability. It is located in Beecher Hall, the oldest college building in Illinois. Patterson, then and there, determined to enroll at Illinois College and to do everything possible to become a Sigma Pi.

Sigma Pi Literary Society of Illinois College was founded in 1843. Among its 14 founders were a number of outstanding men. One was destined to be one of the founders of the U.S. Office of Education, another a Congressman, a third, a pioneer missionary in South Africa. One was seriously considered for appointment at Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. In many ways, it was a college society very similar to Tau Phi Delta. Because of its greater age, it had produced a long list of distinguished alumni members. When Patterson visited the hall, the most distinguished members were: Bryan, Richard Yates, Governor of Illinois and honorary member Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States.

Returning to his home in Ohio, Patterson told his parents he was planning to enroll at Illinois College in the fall. This was not to be. His parents decreed he would attend nearby Ohio State University. Dutifully, he obeyed, but was still determined to become a Sigma Pi.

Freshman Patterson soon contacted Sigma Pi Literary Society at Illinois College. He proposed the Society join with him to expand Sigma Pi into a national fraternity. His proposal was rejected.

Patterson’s study of fraternities led him to discover an organization named Sigma Pi at the University of Toronto. It had been founded in 1901 and is unrelated to Eta-Omicron Chapter. We have circumstantial evidence, but not actual proof, that it, too, had been founded by admirers of Bryan who wished to carry on in the image of Sigma Pi Literary Society of Illinois College. Patterson invited the Toronto organization to join with him to found an international fraternity. Again his offer was declined. The Toronto group wished to remain exclusively a Canadian organization.

Undaunted, freshman Patterson decided to try to build a national fraternity — of course it would be named Sigma Pi.

Before the semester was over, Patterson learned there was an outstanding college organization at Vincennes University. Without even knowing its name, he sent a letter addressed to “The President of the Men’s Greek Letter Fraternity” at Vincennes University.

This letter asked if the Vincennes University group would be willing to “consolidate with us and become a chapter of the Sigma Pi Fraternity.” He continued: “the Sigma Pi Fraternity is, perhaps, the oldest and most exclusive fraternity in the United States, having been first founded as early as 1752, its charter having been granted at William and Mary by the King of England.” The letter was signed: Robert George Patterson, National Secretary.

At that moment, Sigma Pi Fraternity of the United States was nothing more than an idea in Patterson’s mind. He was its only member.

The letter offering consolidation fell on fertile ground. Tau Phi Delta had ambitions towards expansion. Within two months, the Vincennes group made plans to consolidate. By some persuasive method, they were able to become the Alpha Chapter of a Fraternity that was claimed to have been founded at William and Mary in 1752.

Now Patterson’s study of American History and of American Fraternities came into use. His imagination and flamboyant style of writing served him well. He explained Sigma Pi had indeed been founded at William and Mary in 1752. To some of the early members at Vincennes University he cautiously showed a crudely engrossed Charter which he claimed was granted by King George II. Later, those who did view the Charter wondered how they were taken in by it.

It is generally admitted the first American College Fraternity was Phi Beta Kappa founded at William and Mary in 1776. Patterson claimed his Sigma Pi predated it by almost a quarter of a century. He even maintained Phi Beta Kappa was actually founded by members of Sigma Pi. As proof, he turned to the reverse side of the Phi Beta Kappa key and pointed to the letters “SP” embossed thereon. Patterson maintained they stood for Sigma Pi and not Societas Philosophiae as claimed by the Fraternity. This made a convincing argument for the antiquity of Sigma Pi.

Patterson anticipated most of the needs of his fraternity. He claimed it had expanded to several colleges in the East and South before going out of existence during the Revolutionary War. It was easy to explain how a fraternity might die or become dormant during a war. Many fraternities ceased to exist during the Civil War. He also had an explanation of how it continued to exist. After the Revolutionary War, he claimed his Sigma Pi became an organization passed on from father to son in a manner similar to the First Families of Virginia. Among its early members he claimed Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, and Richard Henry Lee. Of the Civil War period, he claimed Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, and Henry Ward Beecher.

According to Patterson’s story, Sigma Pi was revived in 1801 through the efforts of Payne Todd, a stepson of James Madison. It was stated it had a successful existence until 1835 when it was suppressed through the pressures of adherents of the Anti-Masonic Party. From 1835, until Sigma Pi emerged under the leadership of the flamboyant Patterson, he maintained it had survived as a hereditary organization, membership having been handed down from father to son, somewhat in the manner of the Sons of the American Revolution and other patriotic societies.

To add to the aura of authenticity he hoped to create, Patterson wrote the words to a Sigma Pi hymn. It was set to the music of “My Country ’Tis of Thee” which is also the musical score for “God Save the King.” A pin designed by a jeweler was ready for use when new members wanted to purchase one. A shield was designed for letterhead that resembles the present one used by Sigma Pi. The only real difference was the crown at the top which was removed when the fraudulent nature of Patterson’s story was finally revealed.

In his continuing effort to establish Sigma Pi as the oldest American college fraternity, Patterson developed a list of early chapters. They were:

• Alpha William & Mary (1752)

• Beta Washington and Lee (1816)

• Gamma Lehigh (1823) (Note: Lehigh was founded in 1865)

• Delta Charlotte Hall (prep school — no date)

• Epsilon Illinois College (1843)

Exhaustive investigation at the first four institutions mentioned indicates no organization named Sigma Pi Fraternity ever existed on their campuses. Only Sigma Pi Literary Society of Illinois College was a reality.

Soon after Tau Phi Delta became the Alpha Chapter of Sigma Pi Fraternity of the United States, Patterson was listed as National Secretary on the Fraternity’s letterhead. The four other designated officers were his schoolmates at Charlotte Hall prep school. None of them ever belonged to Sigma Pi. The letterhead also claimed 1752 as the founding date.

Despite the incredible story concocted and defended by Patterson, all went well for a time. Several new chapters were established. Patterson, after less than one year of college, became a cub reporter. In this capacity, he met William Jennings Bryan several times. As some members of the new Sigma Pi began to question Patterson’s story, he leaned heavily upon his meetings with Bryan. It was clearly known that Bryan belonged to Sigma Pi Literary Society of Illinois College. Patterson was able to arrange a meeting in Columbus, between Bryan and all of the members of Gamma Chapter at Ohio State University. Patterson made Bryan an honorary member of Sigma Pi Fraternity. Bryan posed for a picture with the group. The use of the Bryan connection kept dissension down for a time.

Finally, in 1909, a series of events developed that brought down the house of cards Patterson had so carefully built. The trouble started when the World Almanac first mentioned Sigma Pi among its list of fraternities with a founding date of 1752. Listed as its two most famous living alumni were Bryan and Yates. Both were members of the Illinois College Society.

When Sigma Pi Literary Society of Illinois College learned the Fraternity was claiming to be a chapter and also claiming its alumni members, a spirited correspondence developed. Bryan was contacted and advised what had happened. Immediately he dispatched a number of letters stating there must be some mistake. He said he was a member of Sigma Pi Literary Society of Illinois College but had no connection with the Fraternity of the same name.

A crushing blow developed when Patterson submitted material regarding Sigma Pi Fraternity to Baird for inclusion in his upcoming (7th) edition of Baird’s Manual of American College Fraternities. Baird was quick to reply with a challenge to the claims of Patterson.

After a spirited correspondence, Baird said, “all the statements concerning the alleged ancient origin of this society are inherently incredible.” He then suggested the story seemed to “be the product of a rather sophomoric imagination.”

The claim of Sigma Pi as being the oldest American college Fraternity stimulated a deluge of inquiries from members of other such organizations. They appealed to Baird, the dean of authorities regarding American college fraternities. Finally, Baird wrote an article that was published in Beta Theta Pi Fraternity’s June 1909 magazine entitled: “A Ready Made Antiquity!” Sigma Pi Fraternity was ridiculed by the entire Greek establishment because of the fraudulent claims made by Robert George Patterson.

All of this was almost too much for the infant fraternity to bear. It is miraculous it survived. Within months, Patterson was expelled by Gamma Chapter, Ohio State. For nearly 70 years his name was never mentioned in the publications of Sigma Pi, the name he had given to the Fraternity.

Of the service of Robert George Patterson to Sigma Pi, we call on Judge Curtis G. Shake (Vincennes 1903) for an evaluation. He said: “Patterson cannot, in any sense, be regarded as the founder of the Fraternity; nor did the idea of developing it into a national organization originate with him. He was, however, solely responsible for Tau Phi Delta changing its name to Sigma Pi.”

While it was a relatively simple step for the members of Tau Phi Delta to change the society’s name and call themselves a “national” fraternity, it was quite another matter to create the actual organization as we now know it. In fact, more than a year passed between the day Alpha Chapter of the Sigma Pi Fraternity of the United States came into being and a second chapter was actually chartered.

The tendency towards expansion was first seen in the fraternity as early as 1905. However, the first real steps toward creating another chapter did not take place until the first national “Congress” on May 6, 7, and 8, 1908, held in Vincennes. At this meeting were representatives of the Sphinx Club at the University of Illinois and of Phi Kappa Phi at Ohio State University. The petitions to charter submitted by these two organizations were approved by the meeting’s delegates. The Sphinx Club had been organized by Byron R. Lewis (Vincennes 1902), a Tau Phi Delta alumnus, with the express purpose of becoming a chapter of Sigma Pi. On May 21, 1908, Lewis officially installed the Fraternity’s second chapter at Illinois as Phi Chapter. Two weeks later, on June 6, the Ohio State local became Gamma Chapter in a ceremony conducted by Francis L. Lisman (Vincennes 1903), newly elected national president.

The ritual used in these installations was known as “The Cryptic Art.” Over the following summer, however, a committee composed of Lewis, Shake, and Alba A. Jones (Illinois 1908) wrote a new ceremony referred to as “The English Chivalric Ritual.” It was put into use by the three chapters in September.

On March 13, 1910, the Fraternity’s fourth chapter was added: Sigma Delta local fraternity at Temple University was installed as Kappa Chapter of the fledgling fraternity.

Two months later, Sigma Pi held its first Biennial Convocation. Delegates from the four chapters were hosted by Gamma Chapter in Columbus, Ohio. Much discussion must have taken place, for the charade being played by Robert George Patterson had just begun to break apart. Minutes of the meeting were not fully kept, but the delegates did approve and accept the petition to charter from Sigma Omicron Pi, a local fraternity at the University of Pennsylvania.

The Columbus meeting was adjourned shortly thereafter, but its business was continued in a “special convocation” held on June 5 after the installation of Delta Chapter at the Pennsylvania campus.

In the summer and fall of 1909, the Patterson Episode fully exploded. Robert G. Patterson was finally expelled from the Fraternity in December, and a massive reordering of the Fraternity’s history and heraldry began. Both the badge and coat of arms were redesigned, eliminating the crown from the former’s upper arm and from the latter’s crest. It was replaced with the present radiant triangle. M. Atlee Ermold (Temple 1909) and Lewis were appointed to rewrite the initiation ritual. “The Golden Quest,” as it was to be called, was first used in April 1910, and has remained the ritual since. It was based upon the ceremony used by Kappa Chapter in its days as Sigma Delta local fraternity

So disturbing were the events fostered by Patterson that even the Fraternity’s history was redefined. The entire Patterson Episode was “written out” of it, and Sigma Pi established its legitimate founding as that of Tau Phi Delta in 1897. This refuted Patterson’s claim of a birth in 1752 at the College of William and Mary. Not until the late 1970s did this part of the history of Sigma Pi resurface.