well-being, and which have been so gravely interrupted by the existence of this unnatural war in America.

But if our adversaries, or those whom they have placed in authority, deaf to the voice of reason and justice, settled against the dictates of both prudence and humanity by a presumptuous and delusive confidence in their own numbers, or those of their black and foreign mercenaries, shall determine upon an indefinite prolongation of the contest, upon them be the responsibility of a decision so ruinous to themselves and so injurious to the interests and repose of mankind.

For ourselves, we have no fear of the result. The wildest picture ever drawn of a disordered imagination comes short of the extravagance which could dream of the conquest of eight millions of people, resolved with one mind "to die freemen rather than live slaves," and forewarned by the savage and exterminating spirit in which this war has been waged upon them, and by the mad avowals of its patrons and supporters, of the worse than Egyptian bondage that awaits them in the event of their subjugation.

With these declarations of our dispositions, our principles, and our purposes, we commit our cause to the enlightened judgment of the world, to the sober reflections of our adversaries themselves, and to the solemn and righteous arbitrament of Heaven.

THE LAST PROCLAMATION OF PRESIDENT

DAVIS.

DANVILLE, VA., April 5, 1865.

THE General-in-Chief found it necessary to make such movements of his troops as to uncover the capital. It would be unwise to conceal the moral and material injury to our cause resulting from the occupation of our capital by the enemy. It is equally unwise and unworthy of us to allow our own energies to falter, and our efforts to become relaxed under reverses, however calamitous they may be. For many months the largest and finest army of the Confederacy, under a leader whose presence inspires equal confidence in the troops and the people, has been greatly trammelled by the necessity of keeping constant watch over the approaches to the capital, and has thus been forced to forego more than one opportunity for promising enterprise. It is for us,

my countrymen, to show by our bearing under reverses how wretched has been the self-deception of those who have believed us less able to endure misfortune with fortitude than to encounter dangers with courage.

We have now entered upon a new phase of the struggle. Relieved from the necessity of guarding particular points, our army will be free to move from point to point, to strike the enemy in detail far from his base. Let us but will it, and we are free.

Animated by that confidence in your spirit and fortitude which never yet failed me, I announce to you, fellow-countrymen, that it is my purpose to maintain your cause with my whole heart and soul; that I will never consent to abandon to the enemy one foot of the soil of any of the States of the Confederacy. That Virginia-noble State-whose ancient renown has been eclipsed by her still more glorious recent history; whose bosom has been bared to receive the main shock of this war; whose sons and daughters have exhibited heroism so sublime as to render her illustrious in all time to come-that Virginia, with the help of the people, and by the blessing of Providence, shall be held and defended, and no peace ever be made with the infamous invaders of her territory.

If by the stress of numbers we should ever be

compelled to a temporary withdrawal from her limits, or those of any other Border State, we will return until the baffled and exhausted enemy shall abandon in despair his endless and impossible task of making slaves of a people resolved to be free.

Let us, then, not despond, my countrymen, but, relying on God, meet the foe with fresh defiance, and with unconquered and unconquerable hearts.

JEFFERSON DAVIS.

GENERALS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY.*

GENERALS.

1. Samuel Cooper, Virginia, adjutant general. 2. Albert S. Johnston, Texas, commanding in Kentucky.

3. Joseph E. Johnston, Virginia, commanding Northern Virginia.

4. Robert E. Lee, Virginia, commanding South Atlantic coast.

5. P. G. T. Beauregard, Louisiana, commanding Army of Potomac.

6. Braxton Bragg, Louisiana, commanding at Pensacola.

* This list refers generally to the first period of the war. There were, of course, many shiftings of command, promotions, changes in the names of military departments, &c., that it is impossible to include. The early Confederate armies in Virginia were known as "the Army of the Potomac" and "the Army of the Shenandoah." Afterwards there were only known two great army organizations in the Confederacy, east of the Mississippi River-"the Army of Northern Virginia" and "the Army of Tennessee."