A Restitution Of The Union Has Been

It Is A Duty We Owe To Posterity To See That Our Children Shall Know The Virtues, And Rise Worthy Of Their Sires.

I Tried All In My Power To Avert This War. I Saw It Coming, For Twelve Years I Worked Night And Day To Prevent It, But I Could Not. The North Was Mad And Blind; It Would Not Let Us Govern Ourselves, And So The War Came, And Now It Must Go On Unless You Acknowledge Our Right To Self Government. We Are Not Fighting For Slavery. We Are Fighting For Independence.

It Is Not Differences Of Opinion; It Is Geographical Lines, Rivers, And Mountains Which Divide State From State, And Make Different Nations Of Mankind.

Your Little Army, 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 Now It Flies, Inglorious In Retreat Before Our Victorious Columns. We Have Taught Them A Lesson In Their Invasion Of The Sacred Soil Of Virginia.

It Is Our Duty To Keep The Memory Of Our Heroes Green. Yet They Belong To The Whole Country; They Belong To America.