The symbolism of milestone members 500 & 501.
Using the military’s growth framework, Captains are promoted to Major, more boys are made into Captains. As the Hartford club nears 500 members, Wide Awake chapters from New York City and nearby towns are invited to an “excursion” with Hartford to celebrate the Connecticut Governor’s victory. The Hartford boys invite two respected citizens to be ceremonial members 500 and 501. The small induction ceremony at their highly publicized gala can be understood as another prophecy for the future of the Republican Party. Investigating the politics of why these two men were chosen informs much about the nature of the Republican Party of 1860 and what would become of it in the subsequent decades. One man was a Connecticut banker and financier who would be later arrested for embezzlement. The other man was a Major-General of the State Militia, an ideologue, a hardcore liberal who would break from the GOP in ‘72 and join the short-lived Liberal Republican Party.