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Address of the General Assembly to the Soldiers of Virginia. 1863 79 (1863.12)

handle is hein.slavery/ssactsva0837 and id is 1 raw text is: RESOLUTIONS. No. 1.-Address of the General Assembly to the Soldiers of Virginia. Adopted )[Breli 9, 186M. Soldiers of Virginia in the tlrmies of Ih@ Confederate States-it Address o(p- is now nearly three years since you left your homes and firesides, at neralassembly the call of your state, to 'repel the invasion of her soil. Before virgiuia taking up arms, every effort to obtain the peaceful enjoyment of your rights under the constitution had been exhausted, your appeals for justice spurned with contempt, and a war to subjugate our sister states of the south commenced by Abraham Lincoln. By this lawless proceeding, the federal administration threw off the mask it had hitherto worn. Ti such a contest Virginia could not remain an indiferent spectator. Bound by every tie of blood, sym- pathy, common interests and common wrongs to the states against whom this hostile preparation was set on foot, site withdrew at once from an association which no longer respected a written constitution, and resolved to receive on her own bosomn the threatened shock of invasion. $ho invoked you to rally to defend your homes, your altars and your honor; and this appeal was not made in vain. Promnptly and generously you responded to the call of duty. Most fitithfully have you performed it. In your long and arduous service you have shrunk from no toil, no danger and no sacrifice. DriniF your ab- sence in the field, your wives and little ones may have suffered want; your homes been ravaged, and the fruits of industry destroyed by a ruthless and barbarous enemy. But, in despite of every temptation, yu have never looked back. Your eyo has always been fixed on the Toe, and your ear waiting for the summons to battle. Amid the toil of the miach, the weary watch, the labor, the hunger, the cold, the privations of the camp,you have never complained, but have always rendered a clieerful obedience to the state which honors and cherishes you with a mother's love. You have been present in most of the important battles of the war, iid in all your valor has been conspicuous. It has made you the theme of praise by your heroic companions from other states, and by the whole civilized world. Many of your comrades have fallen in battle, or from disease con- tracted ii service; and been transferied from the roll of life to that of immortality. There are many more, whose mutilated forms attest their honorable devotion to their country. In your prolonged absence from home, your sacrifice of personal interests and of all the enjoy- ments of life, has indeed been great. The v'ar, forced upo: us by the malice of a people whom we had not injured, has entailed upon us all deep sorrow and cruel suffering. Its uuiivoidable calamities have been greatly augmentedhIy the refusal of the enemy torespect the laws of civilid warfare, and by their fieudish attempt towiest submission from us, by visiting the most rclentim barbarities upon women and children, the aged and the helpless. Unbridled license has been given to their cupidity. Untold millions of property have been wantonly destryed by their mwelled the coffers of tht pampered villains, who, unwhmipt of justice, have been openly re- warIed andpromoted for their crimes. Aged and unoffending men have been dragged from their beds to dreary prisons and solitary

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