Duke University Libraries 
 
 Resolutions pas 
 Conf Pam #253 
 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Jan. 30, 1865.— Laid on 
 the table and ordered to be printed. 
 
 [By Mr. Dejarnette.] 
 
 RESOLUTIONS 
 
 Passed at a Meeting of the \\^th V'lrginm Infantry — January 24, 1 865. 
 
 At a meeting of the 14th Virginia Infantry, Stewart's brigade, 
 Pickett'» division, held at their camp, near Bermuda Hundreds, Janu- 
 ary 24th, 1865, the following preamble and resolutions were unani- 
 mously adopted : 
 
 Whereas the successes which have recently attended the armies of 
 our enemies, in their mad determination to subjugate an enlightened, 
 christian and independent people, have cast a gloom over our land : 
 And whereas a disposition of many wenk-hearted counselors to mag- 
 nily defeat into hopeless disaster, and to give current publicity to ru- 
 mors questioning the unabated fervor of the veterans of our armies, 
 in support of the sacred cause for which they have sacrificed every 
 comfort during four years of continuous warfare, and which they still 
 live to defend, has generated a degree of despondency in the breasts 
 of some, of whom we might have expected better things — and deem- 
 ing an unqualified expression of our opinion as a regiment, and a simi- 
 lar one on the part of our brothers in arms, will be sufficient to dispel 
 this gloom, and to check and extinguish forever the wild rumors which 
 have found too rich a repast in credulous minds, for the public good : 
 Therefore, 
 
 1. Resolved, that a southern soldier or citizen, who for any other 
 consideration than that of absolute freedom and eternal sejtnratioD 
 from that enemy who has spared no species of insult nor injury that 
 malice could devise, would Iny down iiis arms, and now submit, m 
 unworthy to breathe the air of freedom, and should, with his pos- 
 terity, be the serf of serfs, to the remotest generation. 
 
 2. Resolved, that we hereby pledge to the living, and to those who 
 Bhall come after us, in support of our own liberty, and their inusom 
 from worse than Egyptian boud.ige, as our fathers have done before 
 us, "our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred hotior," assuiing them 
 that it is better to die freemen than to live slaves. 
 
 3. Resolved, that we have unboun<led confidence in our ability, 
 under the guidance of an overruling Providence, to achieve a glori- 
 ous triumph in the present struggh?, directed by that great, good anj 
 gallant spirit that has so often led us to victory. 
 
4. Resolved, that the thanks of the army are due, and are hereby 
 tendered to the Congress of the Confederate States, for the energy 
 and vigor displayed in its recent legislation, and its evident determi- 
 nation to sustain our soldiery, through eveiy trial, to the rich reward 
 of peace and happiness. 
 
 6. Resolved, that we have watched, with grateful pleasure, the 
 j)roceedings of the Virginia legislature, and are proud to be repre- 
 sented by so patriotic a body. 
 
 6. Resolved, that we earnestly appeal to the citizens and soldiers, 
 to rededicato themselves, their lives and fortunes, upon the altar of 
 their country, and resolve that the graves of our fathers, our homes 
 and our firesides, shall still be ours, to transmit as heir-looms to the 
 free and happy generations yet unborn, who shall mark with emu- 
 lous pridC; our "foot-prints on the sands cf time." 
 
 7. Resolved, that a copy of these resolutions be forwarded to the 
 .Virginia legislature, the Congress of the Confederate States, and to 
 the papers of the city of Richmond, for publication. 
 
 R/3») 
 
Pennwupem 
 
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