In today’s edition of the Georgia Baptist Christian Index, editor Samuel Boykin extols, with soaring rhetoric, the virtues of his fellow Southern whites — and the loyalty of African slaves — in the midst of the war, encouraging all to resist the enemy and remain faithful to the ideals of the Confederacy.
Our people, be it said to their honor, have gone into this great struggle with extraordinary unanimity and vigor. The rich have made magnificent donations to the army; the poor, with comparatively little at stake, have freely entered the ranks; the foreigners have fought bravely on many a field for the rights of their adopted land; and Northern born citizens have, in many instances, rivalled the natives in their zeal and devotion to the cause of Southern independence. Our servants have surpassed our most sanguine expectations in their good order and industrious habits; and those who were last at the Cross and first at the Sepulchre, have hallowed the whole movement by their benevolent services, ardent sympathies and continual prayers.
History does not present a more sublime spectacle than the seceded States have exhibited during this contest; in deeds of valor, in sacrifices and self-denials, and in devotedness and unanimity, the Confederates tower above other nations as Mount Blanc above the surrounding peaks.
But heavier sacrifices will still be required to rear the majestic column of Constitutional freedom–we are ready to make those sacrifices; and, as the demand for sacrifices increases, we believe that the spirit and determination of the South will rise in like proportion, until, if necessary, all we have and all we are will be laid upon the altar of our country’s honor and safety.
Whether the South did right or wrong in withdrawing from the Federal compact, is a question which it will do no good to agitate.–We have launched our ship upon the mighty flood, and is she fails to reach the port of peace and safety, all on board will share the same disaster. Anything is better than subjugation. Compared with it poverty is a fortune; and, on many accounts, death itself is preferable. The past has but too clearly proved that such kindness and protection only, under those circumstances, would be offered to us, as the wolf gives to the lamb, or the vulture bestows upon the dove.
If eight or ten millions of the noblest type of the Anglo-Saxon race, with ample resources at their command, will allow themselves to be subjugated, they do not deserve to be free; they would but prove themselves too degenerate to appreciate liberty, the possession of which they might enjoy.
If Southerners should allow party divisions to distract their counsels, or covetousness to paralize their energies, they will richly merit the contempt of the civilized world; and the children of those sons of the South who prove themselves unwilling in defence of their homes and their altars, to rush to glory or the grave, will rise up, and, with emphasis, execrate such unpatriotic conduct.
But, no such craven spirit exists in our land; we Southerners have the bravery to struggle for independence, and the faith to believe that we can breast the storm now beating upon us; and with this faith in our bosoms, independence is but a question of time. Hence, we believe that all attempts to fill the public mind with gloomy forebodings, is a positive injury to our cause. In this struggle the God of heaven says–“According to your faith be it unto you;” and this faith, the most powerful principle which operates on the mind of man, will bear us forward so loftily and defiantly, that opposition will be forced to yield.
The reply of the brave Hollanders, during a distressing siege, to a summons to surrender, was, that they would eat their left arms for food, and fight their enemies with their right. Let such a spirit animate all our hearts, and upon us tyranny shall never rivet its chains. Soon, then, will the bright skies of peace and happiness, which are now obscured by the clouds of war, beam smilingly upon our land; those mighty rivers which now bear hostile armaments upon their bosoms, and those rich valleys and broad plains which have been reddened by the blood of brave patriots, will soon again behold the banner of freedom floating proudly and triumphantly over a people who have staked their lives and fortunes and sacred honor in the glorious cause of Southern independence.
Have faith, then, fellow-countrymen, in the justness of your cause and the certainty of your success! But be true to yourselves and to your cause, and the wolves now howling around your country will be driven back in dismay–defeated, discomfited and despairing. With this abiding confidence animating your bosoms, let courage and endurance be your watchwords and victory will perch triumphantly on your banners.
Source: “According to Your Faith be it Unto You,” Christian Index, June 8, 1863
