revolutionary dog truce

british library flickr

Germantown, Pennsylvania, October 1777:  American and British troops face each other across the battlefield. They've been doing this since the 4th of October under the commands of Sir William Howe (British) and George Washington (American).  Washington's plan was to surround and entrap the British from all four sides.  Because the American forces weren't as experienced as their opponents, this didn't quite work, and resulted in a defeat for the American forces.
The Battle of Germantown may have been an overall loss, but there was one small win for the Colonies on October 6: a short cease fire was called so the Americans could return a small dog to his owner...his British owner, Sir William Howe.  A terrier with Howe's name on his collar had been found unharmed but grubby on the battlefield.  Washington had the little guy cleaned and fed, then escorted back to Howe under a flag of truce with a note:

General Washington's compliments to General Howe - He does himself the pleasure to return him a dog, which by its collar appears to belong to him accidentally fell into his hands, and by the inscription on the collar appears to belong to his Excellency Sir William General Howe.  

Strikeouts are as in original note (and the habit of addressing nobility obviously dies hard, it seems). Want to see it?  I found it here. 

PS: Your friendly Curator has been in the middle of a major move for a while now and that's not going to settle down quite yet.  Stay tuned, and I'll post as I can.