The topic started by @susangrosseyauthor reminded me of a question I had when reading the memoirs of Auguste Petiet ("Mémoires du général Auguste Petiet, hussard de l'empire", edited by Nicole Gotteri, S.P.M., Paris 1996, page 343).
During the battle of Gebora, the author, then at the rank of a captain, I believe, was wounded in the head during a cavalry fight, by a sabre cut. After a rather desperate struggle he's brought out of the danger zone:
I call my hussars of the 10th and the former children of Lassalle support me and lead me away from the battlefield. I met the marshal who asked me if the wound I had received in the head was from a gunshot. On learning that it was a sabre wound, he exclaimed: "Ah! that's so much better! [Ah! Tant mieux!]" - This "so much better" showed me his interest and I was touched by it.
Can somebody explain to me why Soult is so relieved on hearing it's "only" a sabre wound? Were gun wounds generally considered more dangerous (maybe due to infection risks)? Or is this rather some idea specific to Soult (who had suffered a rather bad leg wound in Genoa)?
Larrey commented in one of his memoir volumes, if I remember correctly, that slash wounds heal much better and faster than gunshot wounds. The soldiers, who were often wounded themselves or witnessed the healing process of their comrades, probably knew this too.