A THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION.
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��furnished two thirds or more of the men at Bennington. According to Wilkinson's return of the killed and wounded of the battle of Stillwater, September 19, a majority of one be- longed to our state. Whole number of killed and wounded was three hundred and twenty ; of these one hundred and sixty-one belonged to the New Hampshire regiments. We never had an accurate return of the 7th-of-Octo- ber battle. The account of the killed on that day was nearly equal to the. 19th of September.
Again we suffered at Hubbardston, in July, especially the Second Continental Regiment, commanded by Col. Hale ; and our soldiers suffered still more by sickness and death in the winter of 1777 and 1778 at Valley Forge, Penn.
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.
A PROCLAMATION" FOR A GENERAL THANKS- GIVING.
It being the united voice of reason and revelation that men should praise the Lord for his goodness and his wonderful works to the children of men, and the year now drawing to a close being distinguished by many great and signal favors of Divine Providence conferred on this and the other United States of America, amidst our deep distress ; now, in order that our Great and Bountiful Benefactor may have the praise and glory due for his mercies in the most conspicuous and solemn manner ascribed to Him,
The council and representatives of this state, in general court assembled, have appointed the 4th day of Decem- ber next to be a day of public thanks- giving throughout this state ; and we hereby solemnly exhort and require both ministers and people of every profession religiously to devote the said day to the purpose aforesaid, and with unfeigned gratitude to address the all- gracious Jehovah with their united ascriptions of praise for his great good- ness, and for his rich mercy he hath intermixed with his judgments, partic- ularly that He hath so far supported the great American cause, and defeat-
��ed the merciless counsels and efforts of our cruel oppressors ; that He hath smiled on our deliberations and arms, and crowned them with signal success, especially in the Northern Depart- ment, in turning the advantages the enemy seemed to have acquired against us, by possessing themselves of the fortress of Ticonderoga, to their own confusion, and giving one of the principal armies of Britain wholly into our hands with so little bloodshed, in which great event, so interesting to the important cause depending, the arm of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the Armies of Israel was conspicuously manifest, demanding the power, the glory, and victory to be ascribed to Him ; and inviting our further hope and confidence in this mercy, that He hath preserved our sea- coast in safety, preserved the inestimable precious life of our worthy general and commander-in-chief, and so many of our officers and soldiers ; and that the present campaign, prosecuted by our enemies with such direful breath- ings of cruelty and slaughter, and such strenuous exertions on one side and another hath not become more bloody ; that He is mercifully continuing the several American states firmly united in the common cause, and giving us such a promising, animating prospect of being able, by his further help, finally to support our liberty and inde- pendence against all the power and policy of Britain to subject and en- slave us ; that He hath blessed us with so much health in our camps, and in our habitations, whereby we have been able to carry on the necessary labors of the field, while so many were called off to arms ; that He hath blessed us with a very fruitful season, and given us in great plenty the pre- cious productions of the earth for food and clothing, peculiarly precious at a time when our imports from abroad are chiefly cut off, and, therefore, binding the duty of gratitude and praise upon us with increased obliga- tion : and above all, that, in the great- ness of his forbearance and long-suf-
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