Editing Hunters' Lodges (section)

== Lodge organization ==
The Hunters Lodges were modelled on masonic lodges, and adopted similar secret signs, hierarchical orders, and rituals. The four degrees of the Lodge were: Snowshoe, Beaver, Grand Hunter and Patriot Hunter. Soldiers without rank were of the first degree, [[commissioned officers]] of the second, [[field officers]] of the third, and the highest ranking commissioned officers of the fourth degree.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kinchen|first=Oscar|title=The Rise and Fall of the Patriot Hunters|url=https://archive.org/details/risefallofpatrio0000kinc|url-access=registration|year=1956|publisher=Bookman Associates|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/risefallofpatrio0000kinc/page/55 55–58]}}</ref>

They also utilized a secret code, sometimes printed in newspapers like the ''Buffalonian'', to communicate orders.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Documents: The Hunters Lodges of 1838|journal=New York History|year=1938|volume=19|issue=1|pages=67–70}}</ref>

Lodges existed across Vermont, western New York, Ohio and Michigan with particularly active sites being Watertown, [[Oswego (town), New York|Oswego]], Salina (now Syracuse), Rochester, Buffalo, Cleveland, and Detroit.