With the coming of autumn, Churchill’s complaints of boredom in India ceased. While he had been fired upon without result during his 1895 excursion to Cuba, he had been there as an observer and a journalist, not as a soldier. Now, while still a journalist, he was also a soldier in the Malakand Field Force. Unlike his letters to his father, the young Churchill had always been remarkably candid in his letters to his mother. This did not change when he went into combat, although few mothers would want to receive from a son the type of letters Churchill sent Jennie during his adventures in the field. A sampling:
[5 September] As to fighting—we march tomorrow, and before a week is out, there will be a battle—probably the biggest yet fought on the frontier this year.
