into communication with Herwarth and Steinmetz, but know that they are
both well. G----- quietly leads his squadron with his arm in a sling.
Good-bye, I must go on duty.

YOUR MOST TRUE V.B.

TO HIS WIFE

Note.--This letter did not reach its destination, but, together with the
entire post, was captured by franc-tireurs and published by a French
newspaper.

VENDRESSE, 3 September [1870].

_My Dear Heart_:

I left my present quarters before early dawn the day before
yesterday, came back to-day, and have in the mean time
witnessed the great battle of Sedan, in which we made about
thirty thousand prisoners, and threw the remainder of the
French army, which we have been pursuing since Bar-le-Duc,
into the fortress, where they had to surrender themselves,
along with the Emperor, prisoners of war. Yesterday morning
at five o'clock, after I had been negotiating until one
o'clock A.M. with Moltke and the French generals about the
capitulation to be concluded, I was awakened by General
Reille, with whom I am acquainted, to tell me that Napoleon
wished to speak with me. Unwashed and unbreakfasted, I rode
towards Sedan, found the Emperor in an open carriage, with
three aides-de-camp and three in attendance on horseback,
halted on the road before Sedan. I dismounted, saluted him
just as politely as at the Tuileries, and asked for his
commands. He wished to see the King; I told him, as the truth
was, that his Majesty had his quarters fifteen miles away, at
the spot where I am now writing. In answer to Napoleon's
question where he should go to, I offered him, as I was not
acquainted with the country, my own quarters at Donchery, a
small place in the neighborhood, close by Sedan. He accepted,
and drove, accompanied by his six Frenchmen, by me and by
Carl (who in the mean time had ridden after me) through the
lonely morning towards our lines. Before coming to the spot,
he began to hesitate on account of the possible crowd, and he
asked me if he could alight in a lonely cottage by the
wayside; I had it inspected by Carl, who brought word that it
was mean and dirty. "N'importe," said N., and I ascended with
him a rickety, narrow staircase. In an apartment of ten
feet square, with a deal table and two rush-bottomed chairs,
we sat for an hour; the others were be