the initiate down a slanted ladder in a wheelbarrow, hoisting him into the air and leaving him there, or dropping him into a vat of water. Afterwards, the initiate had to buy the other members a round of drinks. Bee felt that an organization was needed that was less exclusive than the other organizations of the day, such as the Masons, Elks and Odd Fellows. In addition, nativism was rising in the United States, as evidenced by such political organizations as the Know-Nothing Party. Bee opened membership in ECV to any "upstanding" man who had come of age. There were E Clampus Vitus chapters in Bedford, Pennsylvania; Metropolis, Illinois; Bowling Green, Missouri; and Dahlonega, Georgia. (It has been rumored that ECV brethren within the U.S. Army even attempted to bring the order as far south as Mexico City following the Mexican–American War, as a gesture of brotherhood and reconciliation, but all record has vanished of the well-intentioned Chapultepec chapter.) The organization's leader was known as the Noble Grand Humbug, a title carried over into the later incarnation, and other "officials" included the Clampatriarch. Ephraim Bee, an early leader of the group, was styled Grand Gyascutis and later the Grand Lama. A move to greater seriousness was shown during the Civil War, when the Order changed its parade day from the first Sunday after the snows to the Fourth of July. The history of E Clampus Vitus is steeped in mythology. The early history of the organization is unclear. Historian Lois Rather suggests that the order originally came from the Southern states before being carried to California during the Gold Rush. The Sons of Malta, a fraternal society given to pranks and parody initiation rites, has been cited as an influence, even though the Sons of Malta do not seem to have existed until 1854 (though ECV may have inspired the Sons of Malta, as there were many disappointed by the California gold rush who returned East). Others maintain that the group is a native Californian institution, founded by one Joel Henry Zumwalt in Mokelumne Hill. Both legend and scholars agree that the group was founded in West Union, Virginia (now West Virginia) in 1845. The organization is said to have been brought to California by a pioneer named Joel Henry Zumwalt, who encountered it in Missouri. Zumwalt organized an ECV lodge in Mokelumne Hill in 1851, when Mokelumne Hill Lodge