Whose Crest Is This?

Our next armorial memorial contains a conundrum. It contains at the top a very prominent crest (at least I am assuming it is a crest, as it sits above a torse of six twists), but I have been unable to locate this crest anywhere.

The inscription on the memorial reads:

In Memory Of

William Endicott

1826-1914

A Gentleman in civil life

distinguished for

conspicuous loyalty in the War

which preserved the Union

and destroyed slavery

His Companions

of the Commandery

of the State of Massachusetts

of the

Military Order of the Loyal Legion

of the United States

Have here placed this tablet

Lex regit arma tuentur

The Latin at the bottom translates as: The law governs, weapons protect.

The dates match, but I don’t know if this is the same William Endicott: “William Endicott, Jr. was born on 4 January 1826, in Beverly, Massachusetts, to his father, William Endicott and his mother, Joanna L. Rantoul Endicott. He married Annie Thorndike Rand on 31 March 1857, in Boston, Massachusetts. They were the parents of at least 1 son and 2 daughters. He died on 7 November 1914, in Boston, Massachusetts, at the age of 88, and was buried in Central Cemetery, Beverly, Massachusetts.”

The Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS), is a military fraternity organized on April 15, 1865, by three veteran officers of the Union Army. The original membership was consisted of commissioned officers of the Regular or Volunteer Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, or the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service who served during the American Civil War or who had served and thereafter been commissioned and who thereby had aided in maintaining the honor, integrity, and supremacy of the national movement during the Civil War. Today, the Order serves as a hereditary society (male relatives of eligible officers) rather than as a functioning military order (though many Companions are either military veterans or on active military duty). (Wikipedia)*

You will notice the medal of MOLLUS at the base of the tablet.

Because the tablet was erected by MOLLUS, made plain both in the text and by the use of the medal, I have to assume that William Endicott was a commissioned officer in the Union forces during the Civil War, but I have been unable to find a record of his service in that conflict.

Be that as it may, we are here to look at the heraldry at the top of the tablet:

This crest, as nearly as I can make it out: Above a torse, an eagle standing on a shield wings elevated and addorsed maintaining in its dexter talons a laurel branch and in its sinister a sheaf of arrows above the word “America” all within an arch of 13 mullets.

I can find no information on this crest. The emblem is not that of MOLLUS, which uses an eagle displayed holding arrows and laurel, as on their medal here:

The posture of the eagle standing on a shield with wings elevated and addorsed reminds me of, but isn't, the coat of arms of the State of Illinois:

I can find no Endicott/Endecott in Burke’s General Armory, nor in Fairbairn’s Crests, so I can only assume it is not a crest belonging to the family.

Given the patriotic look of it, my best guess for this crest is that it was something used by the Massachusetts Commandery of MOLLUS at some time. However, it does not appear on their website, and so I cannot confirm that speculation. But it's the leading hypothesis I have at this time.

* I don’t get to join, except perhaps as an associate rather than an hereditary member; none of my ancestors ever achieved a rank higher than Sergeant, though a second cousin, six times removed was Brevet Major General Rufus Ingalls, Chief Quartermaster of the Army of the Potomac from August 1862.