Year: 1863

To THE SoLDIERs OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES. |
A FTER two years of warfare scarcely equaed
IA in number, magnitude and fearful carnage OF
its battles; a warfare in which your courage and
torttude have illustrated your country and at
trdcted not only gratitude at home but admiration
abroad your enemies continue struggle in which
our final triumph must be inevitable. Unduly
eated with their recent success, they imagine
that temporary reverses can quell your spirit or
shake your determination, and they are now
gathering heavy masses for general invasion, in
the vain hope that by desperate effort success
may at length be reached.
You know too well, my countrymen, what they
mean by success. Their malignant rage aims at
nothing less than the extermnaton of yourselves
your wives and children. They seek TO destroy
what they cannot plunder They propose as the
spoils of victory that your homes shall be por-
toned among the wretches whose atrocious cruel
ties have stamped infamy on their government
They design to incite servile insurrection and
light the fires Of lncendarism whenever they can
reach your homes and they debauch the inferior
race hitherto doclle and contented, by promising
indulgence Of the vilest passions as the price Of
treachery. Conscious of theirinability to prevail
by legitimate warfare, not daring to make peace
lest they should be hurled from their seats of
power, the men who now rule IN Washington
refuse even to confer on the subject Of putting an
end to outrages which disgrace our age or to lis
ten to suggestionf for conducting the war accord
ing to the usages of civilisation.


Fellow citizens, no alternative is left you but
victory or subiugation, slavery and utter ruin Of
ourselves, your families and your country The
victory is within your reach. You need but
stretch forth your hands to grasp it. For this ard
all that is necessary is that those who are called
to the field by every motive that can move the
human heart should promptly repair to the post
of duty, should stand by their comrades now in
front OF the foe, and thus streng gthen the armies
of the Confederacy as 10 ensure success. The men
now absent from their posts would if present IN
the field suffice to create numerical equality be-
tween our force and that Of the invaders-and
when with any approach to such equality have We
failed to be victorious? | believe that but few Of
those abs ent are actuated by unwillingness to
serve the country but that many have found it
difficult to resist the temptation of visit to their
homes and the loved ones from whom they have
been so long separated; that others have left for
temporary attention to their affairs with the IN
tention of returning, and then have shrunk from
the consequences of their violation of duty; that
others again have left their post from mere rest
Iessness and desire Of change, each quetng the
upraiding OF his conscience by persuading him
self that his individual services could have no
influence on the general result.


These and other causes, (although far less dis
graceful than the desire to avoid danger or to
escape from the sacrifices required by patriotlsm)
are nevertheless, grieyous faults, and place the
cause of our beloved country and Of every thing
we hold dear, in imminent peril / repeat that the





have been called out and have not vet reported
for duty or who have abSenced themselves from
their posts, are sufficient in number to secure us
victory in the struggle now impending.


call on you then, my countrymen, TO hasten
to your camps, in obedience to the dictates OF
honor and OF duty, and summon those who have
absented themselves without leave, who have
remained absent beyond the period allowed by
their furloughs, to repair without delay to their
respective commands, and | do hereby declare
that grant general pardon and amnesty to ali
officers and men within the Confederacy, now
absent without leave, who shall, with the least
possible delay, return 70 their proper pest of
duty but no excuse will be received from any
delay beyond twenty days after the first publica-
ton Of this proclamation in the State In which
the absentee may be at the date OF the pubhca-
ton This amnesty and pardon shall extend 10
all who have been convicted and are undergoing
sentence for absence without leave or desertion,
excepting only those who have been twice con-
victed Of desertion.


Finally, | conjure my countrywomen--the
wives mothers, sisters and daughters OF the Con-
federacy-to use their all pOwerfulnhuence IN aid
of this call TO add one crowning sacrifice to those
which their patriotism has freely and constant
Iy offered on their country's altar, and TO take
care that none who owe service IN the field shall
be sheltered at home from the disgrace of having
deserted their duty to their families to their coun-
try and to their Cod


- Given undermy hand and the seal of the
SEAL Confederate States, at Richmond, this


- ! st day of August, in the year of our
Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty three.


JEFFERSON DAVIS.


By the president


j. P. BENJAMIN, secretary of State.


THE ROY JES.