To the officers and men of the Seventeenth Massachusetts
Regiment, who, through no fault of theirs, have only
lacked the opportunities to render their organization
as famous as that of any regiment from
the old Bay State: whose services have
been mostly of that passive character
—upon the outpost picket, and
performing arduous duty in
the midst of a malarial
country—that suffers
and endures much
without exciting
comment or adding
to the laurels, of which
every true soldier is so proud:
THIS HUMBLE WORK IS DEDICATED,
By one who, with them, has braved the "pestilence that walketh
abroad at noonday," the fatigues of the march,
and the dangers of the battle.