Jefferson Davis' Proclamation of Thanksgiving
From the Official Record of the War of the Rebellion
Proclamation by the President, appointing a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer, with thanksgiving.
The Congress of the Confederate States have, by a joint resolution, invited me to appoint a day of public fasting, humiliation, anad prayer, with thanksgiving to Almighty God.
It is our solemn duty at all times, and more especially in a season of public trial and adversity, to acknowledge our dependence on His mercy, and to bow in humble submission before His footstool, confessing our manifold sins, supplicating His gracious pardon, imploring His divine help, and devoutly rendering thanks for the many and great blessings which He has vouchsafed to us.
Let the hearts of our people turn contritely and trustingly unto God; let us recognize in His chasteniing hand the correction of a Father, and submissively pray that the trials and sufferings which have so long borne heavily upon us may be turned away by His merciful love; that His sustaining grave be given to our people and His divine wisdom imparted to our rulers; that the Lord of Hosts will be with our armies and fight for us agaiinst our enemies, and that He will graciously take our cause into His own hand and mercifully establish for us a lasting, just, and Honorable peace and independence.
And let us not forget to render unto His holy name the thanks and praise which are so justly due for His great goodness and for the many mercies which He has extended to us amid the trials and suffering of protracted and bloody war.
Now, therefore I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America, do issue this my proclamation, appointing Friday, the 10th day of March next, as a day of public fasting, humiliation, and prayer (with thanksgiving) for "invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God," and I do earnestly invite all soldiers and citizens to observe the same in a spirit of reverence, penitence, and prayer.
Given under my hand and thefederate States, at Richmond, this 25th day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
JEFFERSON DAVIS.
By the President:
J. P. BENJAMIN,
Secretary of State.
RICHMOND, VA., January 25, 1865.
- Confederate President Jefferson Davis calls for March 27 to be a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer.
- Following the Underground Railroad Route By Bicycle
- March is Women's History Month! Read the fascinating accounts of women spies hiding coded messages in women's hair, conductors of the Underground Railroad, soldiers disguised as men, surgeons, and advisors to the President!
- Teachers tackle race, economic disparity and history
- The President's Hymn: 'Give Thanks All Ye People'
- Thanksgiving Day during the Civil War
- Lincoln’s Thanksgiving proclamation in a divided time: ‘one heart and one voice by the whole American People’
- What Abraham Lincoln found reading the Book of Job amid civil war
- Civil War stories on display at Lincoln Highway museum in Unity
- Who was Henry Benning, for whom Fort Benning in Columbus was named?
- Fort Gordon Army Base: Who was John Brown Gordon?
- From the Civil War to the football field, we have been celebrating the wrong values
- History and Healing: Removing Controversial Artifacts from the Civic Landscape
- How to Reframe the Civil War in the Classroom
- Man scores Abraham Lincoln autograph in box of trading cards
- Native Americans' role in the Civil War
- Abraham Lincoln Healed a Divided Nation. We Should Heed His Words Today.
- An escaped slave was the 'Florence Nightingale’ of Indiana's Civil War regiment
- A Southern Democrat survived impeachment trap and came to be in charge of Reconstruction
- New Statue Unveiled In Response To Richmond's Confederate Monuments