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Washington D.C. Feb 22nd 83
To the Members of the Military Committee U.S.
Senators
Mortifying less than a strong conviction of duty owed to one of the brave defenders of our Nation's honor could induce me to intrude for a moment upon the already burdened, and limited time of action yet remaining to your Honorable Body.
During the late Battle of Fredericktown the 21st Massachusetts Regiment of Militia were ordered to charge upon a Battery across an open field; in the terrible fire which assailed them the color were three times in quick succession bereft of their Support; the third time they were seized by Sergeant Thomas Plunkett of Co. E, and borne on some three hundred yards of open space when a shell from the Enemy Battery in its murderous course killed three men of the regiment and shattered both arms.