Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1864-02-16
ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT TO
THE ARMY.
ADJT. Il INSP. G ENERAL'S OFFICE, 4
RICHMOND, Feb. 10th, 1864.
GENERAL. ORDERS No. 10.
The following address of the President is pub
lished for the information of the army.
By order.
a(Signed) s. COOPER,
AdI't and Insp'r General

CJ1tcF6 " tte 1JHteS " Lhe COIU et1cFUtc CttbtSS
In the long and bloody war in which your
country is engaged, you have achieved many no.
BILE triumphs.. You have won glorious victories
over vastly more numerous hosts. You have
cheerfuliy borne privations and toll to which
YOU were unused. You have readily submitted
Ito restraints upon your individual will, that the
citizen might better perform his duty to the State
as Soldier. To all these you have lately adj
ded another triumph, the noblest of human con-
quests--a victory over yourselves.
AS the time drew near when you who first en-.
tered the service light we'll have been expected
to claim relief from your arduous laborS and res
| toratiOn to the endearmentS OF home, you have
needed only the call of your suffering country.
! Again You come to tender your service for the
public defence-a free offering which only such
patriotism as yours could make "a triumph wo-.
thy of you and of the cause to which you are de-
voted.
| l would in vain attempt adequately to express
the emotions with which l received the testimo-
malls of confidence and regard which you have
recently addressed to me. 10 some Of those
first received, separate Acknowledgements were
returned. But it is now apparent that like
generous enthusiasm pervades the whole army,
and that the only exception to such magnan I'M
ons tender will be of those who, having originally
entered for the war, cannot display anew their
zeal in the public service. It is, therefore,
deemed appropriate, and, it ia hopad, will be
equally acceptable, to make general acknowl-
u
SEES. Would that it were possible to render my
thanks to you in person, and in the name OF our
common country, as we'll as in my own, while
pressing the hand of each war-worn veteran, to
recognize his title to love. gratitude aud ad-
mration.
Soldiers By your will FLOR you and the peo-
ple are but onelI have been placed in position
which debars me from sharing your dangers, your
suffarings and your priyations in the field With
pride and affection my heart has accompanied
YOU in every march with solIcltude 1t has sought
to minister to your every want ); with exuitation
il has mark ed your every heroic achievement
Yet, never in the toilsome march, nor the weary
watch, nor in the desperate assault, have you
rendered a service SO decisive in results as IN
this last display of the highest qualities OF deVo-
ton and self-sacrifce which can adorn the CHAR
acter of the warrior patriot.
Already the pulse of the wbolc people beats IN
unison with yours. Already they compare your
spontaneous and unanimous offer of your lives,
for the defence of your country, with the hating
and reluctant service of the mercenarles who
are purchased by the enemy at the price OF nigh
er bounties than have hitherto been known IN
war; Animated by this contrast, they exhibit
cheerful confidence and more raSolute bearing.
Even the murmurs of the weak and timid, who
shrink from the trials which make stronger ana
Grmer your noble natures ,are shamed into silence
by the spectacle which you present. Your brave
battle cry will ring loud aud clear through the
land of the enemy, as we'll as our own; will ST.
lence the vain. glorious boastings OF their cor
rupt partisans and their pensioned press and
will do justice to the scalumny by which they
seek to persuade deluded people that you are
ready to purchase dishcnorabe safety bJ degra-
ding Submission.
Soldiers TIE coming spring campaign will
open under auspices we'll calculated to sustain
your hopes. Your resolution needed nothing to
fortify it, With ranks replenshed under the
infueace of your example, and by the aid Of
your representatives, who give earnest OF their
purpose to add by legislation, largely to your
strength, you may welcome the invader with a
confidence justified by the memory of past VIC
tories On the other hand, debt, taxation, re-
petition Of heavy drafts, dissensions, occasloned
by the strife for power, by the pursuit or the
spols of office, by the thirst for the plumber of
the public treasury, and, above all the conscious
ness of bad cause. must tell with fearful force
upon the oyer-straiied energies OF the enemy
His campaign in 1864 must, from the exhaus-
ton Of his resources both in men and money,
be far less formidable than those of the last two
years, when unimpaired means We're used with
bound.ess IrodigalHy, and with results which
are suggested by the mention of the glorious
names of Shiloh and Perryville, and Murfrees-
boro' and Chickamauga, and the Chickahomlny,
and Manassas, and Fredericksburg and ChaRcel-
lorsville.
Soldiers Assured success awaits US in our
holy struggle for liberty and Independence, and
for the preservation of all that renders life desi
rable to honorable men. When that success
shall be reached, to you, your country's hope
and pride, under Divine Providence, will itsbe
due. The fruits of that success will not be reap
ed by you alone, but your children and your
children's children in long generations to come,
will enjoy blessings derived from you that will
preserve your memory everything in their hearts.
| Citizen-defenders of the homes, the liberties
and the altars'of the Confedsracy! That the God
whom we all humbly worship may shield you
with his Fatherly care, and preserve YOU for safe
return to the peaceful enjoyment of ourfriends
and the ASSOCIATION OF those you most love, is
the earnest prayer of your Commandment in Chief.
JEFFERSON DAVIS.
/ RICHMoND, Feb. 9th, 1861.