Right in the middle of the Civil War in 1863, my mother's whole family, except the men off fighting in the army, all moved from North Carolina to Alabama to escape how the southerners were being abused by the Yankee troops.

They were also mostly Freemasons.

My great-aunt wrote in her diary that when they had to pass through Union lines, they would flash the secret Freemason sign and the Union sentries stopped harassing them and let them pass freely.