Sons of Hermann Hall

The Order of the Sons of Hermann was organized in New York City in 1840 by a small band of men of German descent. This marked the founding of the nation's oldest fraternal benefit society.

Hermann, for whom the order was named, was an early folk hero known as Hermann the Cherusker (the latter is the name of the ancient German tribe to which he belonged). He also was known historically by the name the Romans gave him - Arminius - and Webster's Biographical Dictionary lists him as Arminius.

His story is one of the great stories of all time. After his capture by the Romans, he was pressed into military service in the Roman Army and became a splendid military leader. However, when the Romans became particularly oppressive to his people, Arminius forsook the glories of Rome to organize German tribesman for a military victory that was to shake the ancient world.

Roman legions were considered invincible in those years, but Hermann's tribal forces defeated three Roman legions in the Battle of Teutoberger Forest in 9 A.D., when Hermann was only 27 years old. Historians say his victory was the beginning of the end of domination by the empire of the Ceasars over Germany as well as the British Isles.

Hermann's heroics for his people were not without extreme cost to him. In vengeance, the Romans captured his pregnant wife and took her off to slavery in Rome. A son was born to his wife in Rome and had to remain a slave for the rest of his life. Hermann never saw his wife again or his son. Hermann died 12 years after his great military victory.

Today a monument topped by his statue stands as tall as a 16-story building on a wooded hilltop near Detmold, Germany. There are also statues of Hermann in New Ulm, Minn. and at the entrance to the German village of Spassberg at Six Flags Fiesta Texas in San Antonio.

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