The
Hunters' Lodge was the last of a series of secret organizations formed in 1838 in the United States in the
Rebellions in the Canadas. The organization arose in Vermont among
Lower Canadian refugees (the eastern division or
Frères chasseurs) and spread westward under the influence of Dr
Charles Duncombe and Donald McLeod, leaders of the short lived Canadian Refugee Relief Association, and Scotland native
William Lyon Mackenzie, drawing in support from many different areas in North America and Europe. They also absorbed Henry S. Handy's 'Secret Order of the Sons of Liberty' in Detroit, into a Grand lodge in Cleveland.