It has pleased Almighty God to hearken to the supplications and prayers
of an afflicted people, and to vouchsafe to the army and navy of the
United States victories on land and on the sea so signal and so
effective as to furnish reasonable grounds for augmented confidence
that the union of these States will be maintained, their Constitution
preserved, and their peace and prosperity permanently restored. But
these victories have been accorded not without sacrifices of life,
limb, health, and liberty, incurred by brave, loyal, and patriotic
citizens. Domestic affliction in every part of the country follows in
the train of these fearful bereavements. It is meet and right to
recognize and confess the presence of the Almighty Father, and the
power of His hand equally in these triumphs and in these sorrows.
Now, therefore, be it known that I do set apart Thursday, the 6th day
of August next, to be observed as a day for national thanksgiving,
praise, and prayer, and I invite the people of the United States to
assemble on that occasion in their customary places of worship, and, in
the forms approved by their own consciences, render the homage due to
the Divine Majesty for the wonderful things He has done in the nation's
behalf, and invoke the influence of His Holy Spirit to subdue the anger
which has produced and so long sustained a needless and cruel
rebellion, to change the hearts of the insurgents, to guide the
counsels of the government with wisdom, adequate to so great a national
emergency, and to visit with tender care and consolation throughout the
length and breadth of our land all those who, through the vicissitudes
of marches, voyages, battles, and sieges have been brought to suffer in
mind, body, or estate, and finally to lead the whole nation through the
paths of repentance and submission to the Divine Will back to the
perfect enjoyment of union and fraternal peace.