Shortly after Dettingen Wolfe was appointed adjutant and
promoted to a lieutenancy. In the next year he was made
a captain in the 4th Foot while his brother became a
lieutenant in the 12th. After this they had very few
chances of meeting; and Edward, who had caught a deadly
chill, died alone in Flanders, not yet seventeen years
old. Wolfe wrote home to his mother:

Poor Ned wanted nothing but the satisfaction of seeing
his dearest friends to leave the world with the greatest
tranquillity. It gives me many uneasy hours when I
reflect on the possibility there was of my being with
him before he died. God knows it was not apprehending
the danger the poor fellow was in; and even that would
not have hindered it had I received the physician's
first letter. I know you won't be able to read this
without shedding tears, as I do writing it. Though it
is the custom of the army to sell the deceased's
effects, I could not suffer it. We none of us want,
and I thought the best way would be to bestow them on
the deserving whom he had an esteem for in his lifetime.
To his servant--the most honest and faithful man I
ever knew--I gave all his clothes. I gave his horse
to his friend Parry. I know he loved Parry; and for
that reason the horse will be taken care of. His other
horse I keep myself. I have his watch, sash, gorget,
books, and maps, which I shall preserve to his memory.
He was an honest and good lad, had lived very well,
and always discharged his duty with the cheerfulness