[Delivered at the Depot
of the Virginia Central Railroad,
Richmond, Virginia, Tuesday,
July 23, 1861.]
Fellow-citizens of the Confederate States:
I rejoice with you, this evening, in those better and
happier feelings which we all experience, as compared with the anxiety of three
days ago. Your little army — derided for its want of numbers — derided for its
want of arms — derided for its lack of all the essential material of war — has
met the grand army of the enemy, routed it at every point, and it now flies, in
inglorious retreat, before our victorious columns. We have taught them a lesson
in their invasion of the sacred soil of Virginia; we have taught them that the
grand old mother of Washington still nurtures a band of heroes; and a yet
bloodier and far more fatal lesson awaits them, unless they speedily
acknowledge that freedom to which you were born.
SOURCES: Frank H. Alfriend, The Life of Jefferson Davis, p. 306; William Edward Dodd, Jefferson Davis, p. 248; John Warwick
Daniel, Life and Reminscences of
Jefferson Davis, p. 37-8
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