“I wrote to you, my dearest love, the 12th of September; the twelfth was the day after the eleventh, and I have a little tale to relate to you concerning that eleventh day. To render my action more meritorious, I might tell you that prudent reflections induced me to remain for some weeks in bed, safe sheltered from all danger; but I must acknowledge that I was encouraged to take this measure by a slight wound which I met with, I know not how, for I did not, in truth, expose myself to peril. It was the first conflict at which I had been present; so you see how very rare engagements are. It will be the last of this campaign, or, in all probability, at least, the last great battle; and if anything should occur, you see that I could not myself be present. “My first occupation was to write you the day after that affair; I told you that it was a mere trifle, and I was right; all I fear is, that you may not have received my letter. “As General Howe is giving, meanwhile, rather pompous details of his American exploits to the king his master, if he should write that I am wounded, he may also write that I am killed, which would not cost him anything; but I hope that my friends, and you especially, will not give faith to the reports of those persons who last year dared to publish that General Washington and all the general officers of his army, being in a boat together, had been upset, and every individual drowned. But let us speak about the wound: it is only a flesh wound, and has touched neither bone nor nerve. The surgeons are astonished at the rapidity with which it heals; they are in an ecstasy of joy each time they dress it, and pretend it is the finest thing in the world. For my part, I think it most disagreeable, painful, and wearisome; but tastes often differ. If a man, however, wished to be wounded for his amusement only, he should come and examine how I have been struck, that he might be struck precisely in the same manner. This, my dearest love, is what I pompously style my wound, to give myself airs and render myself interesting.