Jeff Davis’ Private Circular

CAIRO, May 15.

Special to the Tribune.

The subjoined circular by Jeff. Davis explains itself:

(Private and confidential.)

CAPITOL C. S. A., RICHMOND,

April 18, 1862.

RUIN STARETH HIM IN THE FACE.

SIR:  It can no longer be denied that the prospects of success for the Southern cause are gloomy and forbidding on every hand.  Whether through the lack of skill or the open treachery of the officers of our army and navy it matters not, we meet with disasters and defeat.

HE BEWAILETH THE PROSPECTS.

With a continuance of such results, ere three months shall pass away, our boasted Confederacy will exist only in history. – The past abundantly shows that we need larger displays of patriotism, military skill, personal bravery, and a firm spirit of devotion to the just cause in which we have enlisted.  Unless these requisitions develop themselves soon, to a fitting extent, we fight in vain.

DISTRUSTETH THE GREAT HEART OF DIXIE.

Unless we have more clear indications that the great heart of the people is with us, our efforts will be futile, the Government is impotent to retrieve the disasters that have befallen us, and that yet stare us in the face on every hand, unless the people rally to its assistance.

A VISION OF JUDGMENT.

McClellan is already moving on the Potomac.  Halleck’s operations in the Northwest are at every step successful against us.  The Federal army and navy are already menacing the metropolis of the Southwest, and the key to our granaries, Florida, is overrun by the Northern invaders, while, wherever we look, we gaze upon an advancing army.

A VERY PITEOUS APPEAL.

In this trying emergency the Government appeals to the people – to the brave hearts and sturdy wills of the South.  It cries awake! your hands have been put to the plow – will you now look back and repent your past act?

You have struck out nobly for the independence, pledging your lives and fortunes to its procurement – will you submit quietly to invasion and desolation of your homes, the destruction or confiscation of your property, the abandonment of your cherished institutions, arise! And convince the world that the boasted chivalry of the south is more than a tradition.

AND HOW IT REACHES THE PEOPLE.

This appeal is made to the country.  We make the appeal to the people through the Governors of the States comprising the Confederacy, and the officers in command of our armies.  To these mediums of the circular is sent, with the very urgent request that its spirit and intent, if not its letter, be conveyed to every citizen of our struggling Republic.

A SHORT CHAPTER OF WANTS.

First of all we ask for material aid in money or such equivalent therefore as will enable us to maintain our army.

Clothing and provisions will be accepted as substitutes for money when the latter cannot be obtained.

WANTED – DEVOTION, ALSO MEN.

Second – We need men.  The ranks of our army in the field are constantly being thinned by the casualties of battle, the sickness incident to army life, and the expiration of enlistments.  We cannot close our eyes to the fact that the places of the men are not filled so promptly as they should be.  Let us see the devotion of the country to our cause by their willingness to fight its battles, and if need be pour out their blood in its support.

WANTED PATRITOTISM.

Then we need the encouragement of the people by a more liberal display of patriotism that has yet been shown.

HE DEPRECATES CERTAIN THINGS.

The tame submission yielded to the invader, wherever he appears, is in striking contrast to the boast we have hitherto heard – of the readiness that prevailed on every hand to welcome the hirelings with bonfires composed of the swellings and property of the people.

A VERY PLEASANT SUGGESTION.

If our land is to be overrun, and our people subjugated, let us leave our conquerors a smouldering waste to reward them for their toil and pains.  Burn every hamlet, village and city – give the torch freely to your cotton houses, and let the product of your toil be laid waste.

THE COMPLETE SOUTHERN PATRIOT.

Fly yourselves before the invaders, where resistance shall no longer avail, and thus display a determination and spirit in the cause for which were are enlisted that will give us encouragement to continue the struggle.

BOOTLESS VICTORIES OVER SHOELESS ARMIES.

Wherever the enemy achieve a victory let it be a bootless one, so that their bands, now led on by hope of plunder, shall be disappointed and discouraged, and we shall be cheered by the manifestations of devotion and patriotism.

AWAKE, SHAKE, STRIKE, ETC.

Once more we exhort you to awake, shake off the lethargy that hangs over you, strike for freedom of yourselves, your families and your homes.  Strike promptly and boldly, and our Confederacy may yet be firmly established.

THE LAST AND ONLY RECOURSE.

This is our last and only recourse.  Those who receive this order will be commissioned as agents of the government, to advance the purposes indicated.  Full letters of instruction will be furnished them.

(Signed)

JEFFERSON DAVIS,

President, C. S. A.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Saturday Morning, May 17, 1862, p. 1