March 3, 1863, The Charleston Mercury
It is meet that, as a people who acknowledge the supremacy of the living God, we should be ever mindful of our dependence on Him; should remember that, to Him alone can we trust for our deliverance; that to Him is due devout thankfulness for the signal mercies bestowed on us, and that by prayer alone can we hope to secure the continued manifestation of that protecting care which has hitherto shielded us in the midst of trials and dangers.
In obedience to His precepts, we have from time to time been gathered together with prayers and thanksgiving, and He has been graciously pleased to hear our supplications, and to grant abundant exhibitions of His favor to our armies and our people. Through many conflicts we have now attained a place among the nations which commands their respect; and to the enemies who encompass us around and seek our destruction, the Lord of Hosts has again taught the lesson of His inspired word: that the battle is not to the strong, but to whomsoever He willeth to exalt.
Again our enemy, with loud boasting of the power of their armed men and mailed ships, threaten us with subjugation, and, with evil machinations, seek, even in our own homes and at our own firesides, to pervert our men servants and our maid servants into accomplices of their wicked designs.
Under these circumstances it is my privilege to invite you once more to meet together and to prostrate yourselves in humble supplication to Him who has been our constant and never failing support in the past and to whose protection and guidance we trust for the future.
To this end I, JEFFERSON DAVIS, President of the Confederate States of America, do issue this, my Proclamation, setting apart Friday, the twenty-seventh day of March, as a day of fasting, humiliation and prayer; and I do invite the people of the said States to repair on that day to their usual places of public worship, and to join in prayer to Almighty God that He will continue His merciful protection over our cause; that He will scatter our enemies and set at naught their evil designs, and that He will graciously restore to our beloved country the blessings of peace and security.
In faith whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at the City of Richmond, on the twenty-seventh day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
JEFFERSON DAVIS.
By the President:
J. P. BENJAMIN, Secretary of State.