John D. O'Connell brevetted to lieutenant colonel on 13 December 1862 for gallant and meritorious services at the battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia. [Washington, D.C.], 10 September 1866. 1 page. With original blue wafer seal and docketing in red to upper left. This document bears the stamped signature of Andrew Johnson, as President of the United States of America, and Edwin Stanton, as Secretary of War.

John Dawes O'Connell (d. 1867), was a graduate of the United States Military Academy in 1852 and enlisted as a captain on the out break of war on 14 May 1851, receiving a commission into the 14th U.S. Infantry. The regiment was organized into 2 battalions and was quickly were deployed into the action of the Peninsula Campaign. O'Connell was shortly thereafter promoted to major on 27 June 1862 after the Battle of Gaines' Mill, and was brevetted lieutenant colonel after the Battle of Fredericksburg, as is commemorated here. They would wee further action in the Eastern Theater, including Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, The Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, and the Siege of Petersburg. He was promoted by brevet again to colonel on 13 March 1864. It appears that O'Connell continued to serve with the 14th Infantry when the transitioned to western service after the war, where he died from Yellow Fever in Houston, Texas in 1867.

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