Colonel Fletcher Webster fell mortally wounded near here, leading his regiment in support of the cannon on Chinn Ridge. The colonel, son of the famous orator and statesman Daniel Webster, commanded the 12th Massachusetts Infantry - a regiment he organized at the outbreak of the war in 1861. The unit was forever called the "Webster Regiment" after his death.

Shot through the right arm and chest, Webster lay helpless as the Union position collapsed and Confederates overran the guns. A member of the 8th Virginia Infantry stopped to offer water to the fallen colonel. Webster asked the enemy soldier to return his wallet to his family. The southern soldier survived the war and honored his request.

"If a fight comes off, it will be today or tomorrow & will be a most dreadful & decisive one. This may be my last letter, dear love, for I shall not spare myself..."
- Colonel Fletcher Webster in a letter to his wife, written on the morning of his death.

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Show me all markers in:  Manassas, VA  |  Prince William County  |  20109  |  Virginia  |  United States of America

Death of Fletcher Webster
Third Brigade
Texas
Colonel Fletcher Webster
Defending the Cannon
Defending the Cannon
Kemper's Brigade
Second Brigade
Fight at the Fence Line
73rd Ohio Infantry

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