hope that my undertaking it is designed to
answer some good purpose. You might, and I suppose did,
perceive, from the tenor of my letters, that I was apprehensive
I could not avoid this appointment, as I did not pretend to
intimate when I should return. That was the case. It was
utterly out of my power to refuse this appointment without
exposing my character to such censures as would have reflected
dishonor upon myself and given pain to my friends. This I am
sure could not, and ought not, to be pleasing to you, and must
have lessened me considerably in my own esteem. I shall rely,
therefore, confidently on that Providence which has heretofore
preserved and been bountiful to me, not doubting but that I
shall return safe to you in the fall. I shall feel no pain from
the toil or the danger of the campaign; my unhappiness will flow
from the uneasiness I know you will feel from being left alone.
I therefore beg that you will summon your whole fortitude, and
pass your time as agreeably as possible. Nothing will give me so
much sincere satisfaction as to hear this, and to hear it from
your own pen. My earnest and ardent desire is, that you would
pursue any plan that is most likely to produce content and a
tolerable degree of tranquility; and it must add greatly to my
uneasy feelings to hear that you are dissatisfied or complaining
at what I really could not avoid.

As life is always uncertain, and common prudence dictates to
every man the necessity of settling his temporal concerns while
it is in his power, and while the mind is calm and undisturbed,
I have, since I came to this place (for I had not time to do it
before I left home), got Colonel Pendleton to draft a will for
me, by the directions I gave him, which will I now enclose.
The provisions made for you in case of my death will, I hope,
be agreeable. I shall add nothing more, as I have several
letters to write, but to desire that you will remember me to
your friends, and to assure you that I am, with the most
unfeigned regard, my dear Patsy,

Your affectionate husband.

The preparation of his will is expressive of his thoughts and feelings
at the time, and it magnifies, also, the sacrifice he was making for his
country.

It will be noticed that the letter to his wife is dated June 18, the day
after the battle of Bunker Hill.