President Davis last Proclamation

On April 4, 1865 President Davis issued his last proclamation to the Confederate Nation. He announced "A struggle the memory of which is to endure for all ages" and proposed the war to continue on a different basis and encouraged the people to make "an exhibition of unquenchable resolve to render the final triumph certain. Let us but will it, and we are free."

Davis full quote in Dunbar D. Rowland (editor), Jefferson Davis, Constitutionalist: His Letters, Papers and Speeches, Vol. VI, reed. AMS Press, 1973, p. 531.

Of course, at the moment of this proclamation the Confederacy was in the last days of existence and the President was thinking about a nationwide uprising of Guerrilla warfare. Every Confederate soldier, every citizen of the South, shall became a Bushwhacker. At first view, this idea seemed to be a realistic option, it was less than half a century ago in time that Spain had successfully expelled the Napoleonic Army from national territory by involving the entire people in Partisan warfare (in 1940 Winston Churchill encouraged the British people to fight in the beaches, woods and streets in the case of a Nazi invasion). But the situation of the South in 1865 was very different. With great wisdom, based on his lifetime military experience and the last 4 years of bloody war, General Lee rejected the entire project.

Anyway, the Confederate Government never surrendered, and the States never dissolved the Confederacy. And there is a Heritage to defend, a Culture, a Faith and the good name of all those who gave it all, sacrificed it all and died to preserve it. And today the struggle goes on. Of course there are no longer cities or railroads to defend, no marching armies, no battles to fight with bayonets and muskets, but we need day and night awareness about the menace coming over us: the cultural genocide of the entire Southland. The well-planned and executed extermination of Confederate Heritage within the next few decades. Thus, the "exhibition of unquenchable resolve to render our final triumph certain" as demanded by President Davis is still valid and committing in every matter concerning defense of Southern Heritage and the truth in History.

Satan is the king of the liars, and historical lies are the main weapons of our enemies. Every man and woman in the South shall get more and more involved in taking the pen like the bayonet, using a computer keyboard to launch a flood of protest letters, like a cavalry charge, fearless display of flags in pride, like the infantry advancing in Gettysburg or Franklin, looking to recruit more members into the ranks of the SCV and UDC and, at the same time, telling the message that the American Confederacy stood for Liberty and Constitution, as desired and intended by the Founding Fathers 1776. The last official proclamation of President Davis brings this all to our memory in our modern days.

The Battle Flag stood for the fighting South in past times, so we must fly the banner in our times and make sure America will recognise in the future the real values of everything what stands behind these colors. Looking forward to this day to come, my dear comrades-in-arms, we must continue the fight as the brave men in gray and butternut did 140 years ago. The menace over the Southland is still growing, but God and many friends around the world will be always there with you.

Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, wherein is the good way, and walk therein. (Jeremiah 6:16)

Raphael Waldburg Zeil
Madrid, Spain
Associate overseas member SCV, General Samuel McGowan Camp 0040
rwaldburg2@swissinfo.org