[1][2] The mission statement of the organization is: "to unite in fellowship men and women of strong character and high ideals; to promote their mutual welfare and happiness; to render loyal service to Dartmouth College, and to aid and encourage one another in performing their duties to God and their fellow man.

[1][4] Albert J. Thomas had the idea of creating a senior society like those at Yale University and recruited Fordyce P. Cleaves and Wilder D.

[5] The founders decided to was to limit the society's membership or annual delegation to nineteen seniors.

[5] The first delegation and founding fathers of Casque and Gauntlet were:[3] Cleaves, Thomas, and especially Quint were inspired Alfred Lord Tennyson's "Idylls of the King" and the other members agreed on this concept.

[6][7] Its ritual was written by Quint, with the Holy Grail as "the focal point of their fraternal life".

[6] The group also develops its emblem, the profile of a knights helmet or casque with a glove or gauntlet.

[8][7] During World War II, the society stopped its activities and leased the house to the university.

[11] Once Dartmouth allowed female students C&G was criticized as a single-sex organization, especially after it voted to remain all-male in 1977-78.

[7] In 1915, the society installed a rear addition designed by architect Fred Wesley Wentworth, a founding member.

Tapping takes place at a time the College coordinates with the other senior societies, usually around Winter Carnival.

In the 1950s, the society discontinued its practice of blackballing, instead relying on a system of prospects receiving a 75% vote to be tapped.