diff options
Diffstat (limited to '16462.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 16462.txt | 6128 |
1 files changed, 6128 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/16462.txt b/16462.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..eaac190 --- /dev/null +++ b/16462.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6128 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of With the Boer Forces, by Howard C. Hillegas + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: With the Boer Forces + +Author: Howard C. Hillegas + +Release Date: August 7, 2005 [EBook #16462] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH THE BOER FORCES *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Dainis Millers and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +WITH +THE BOER FORCES + +BY + +HOWARD C. HILLEGAS + + +AUTHOR OF "OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE," AND CORRESPONDENT OF +"THE NEW YORK WORLD" + + +WITH TWENTY-THREE ILLUSTRATIONS AND A PLAN + + +METHUEN & CO. +36 ESSEX STREET W.C. +LONDON +1900 + + +[Illustration: COMMANDANT-GENERAL LOUIS BOTHA] + + + + +PREFACE + + +In the following pages I have endeavoured to present an accurate picture +of the Boers in war-time. My duties as a newspaper correspondent carried +me to the Boer side, and herein I depict all that I saw. Some parts of my +narrative may not be pleasing to the British reader; others may offend the +sensibilities of the Boer sympathisers. I have written truthfully, but +with a kindly spirit and with the intention of presenting an unbiased +account of the struggle as it was unfolded to the view from the Boer side. +I shall be criticised, no doubt, for extolling certain virtues of the +Boers, but it must be noticed that their shortcomings are not neglected in +these lines. + +In referring to Boer deeds of bravery I do not mean to insinuate that all +British soldiers were cowards any more than I mean to imply that all Boers +were brave, but any man who has been with armies will acknowledge that +bravery is not the exclusive property of the peoples of one nation. The +Boers themselves had thousands of examples of the bravery of their +opponents, and it was not an extraordinary matter to hear burghers express +their admiration of deeds of valour by the soldiers of the Queen. The +burghers, it may be added, were not bitter enemies of the British soldiers, +and upon hundreds of occasions they displayed the most friendly feeling +toward members of the Imperial forces. The Boer respected the British +soldier's ability, but the same respect was not vouchsafed to the British +officer, and it was not unreasonable that a burgher should form such an +opinion of the leaders of his enemy, for the mistakes of many of the +British officers were so frequent and costly that the most unmilitary man +could easily discern them. On that account the Boers' respect for the +British soldier was not without its mixture of pity. + +There are those who will assert that there was no goodness in the Boers and +that they conducted the war unfairly, but I shall make no attempt to deny +any of the statements on those subjects. My sympathies were with the Boers, +but they were not so strong that I should tell untruths in order to whiten +the Boer character. There were thieves among them--I had a horse and a pair +of field-glasses stolen from me on my first journey to the front--but that +does not prove that all the Boers were wicked. I spent many weeks with +them, in their laagers, commandos, and homes, and I have none but the +happiest recollections of my sojourn in the Boer country. The generals and +burghers, from the late Commandant-General Joubert to the veriest Takhaar, +were extremely courteous and agreeable to me, and I have nothing but praise +for their actions. In all my experiences with them I never saw one maltreat +a prisoner or a wounded man, but, on the contrary, I observed many of their +acts of kindness and mercy to their opponents. + +I have sought to eliminate everything which might have had a bearing on +the causes of the war, and in that I think I have succeeded. In my former +book, dealing with the Boers in peaceful times, I gave my impressions of +the political affairs of the country, and a closer study of the subject +has not caused me to alter my opinions. Three years before the war began, +I wrote what has been almost verified since-- + + "The Boers will be able to resist and to prolong the campaign for + perhaps eight months or a year, but they will finally be obliterated + from among the nations of the earth. It will cost the British Empire + much treasure and many lives, but it will satisfy those who caused it, + the South African politicians and speculators." + +The first part of the prediction has been realised, but at the present +time there is no indication that the Boer nation will be extinguished so +completely or so suddenly, unless the leaders of the burghers yield to +their enemy's forces before all their powers and means of resistance have +been exhausted. If they will continue to fight as men who struggle for the +continued existence of their country and government should fight, and as +they have declared they will go on with the war, then it will be three +times eight months or three times a year before peace comes to South +Africa. Presidents Kruger and Steyn have declared that they will continue +the struggle for three years, and longer if necessary. De Wet will never +yield as long as he has fifty burghers in his commando, and Botha will +fight until every British soldier has been driven from South African soil. +Hundreds of the burghers have made even firmer resolutions to continue the +war until their cause is crowned with victory. There may be some among +them who fought and are fighting because they despise Britons and British +rule, but the vast majority are on commando because they firmly believe +that Great Britain is attempting to take their country and their +government from them by the process of theft which we enlightened +Anglo-Saxons of America and England are wont to style "benevolent +assimilation." They feel that they have the right to govern their country +in accordance with their own ideas of justice and equality, and, +naturally, they will continue to fight until they are victorious, or might +asserts itself over their conception of right. If they have the power to +make Great Britain feel that their cause is just, as our forefathers in +America did a hundred years ago, then the Boers have vindicated themselves +and their actions in their own eyes and in the eyes of the world. If they +lack in the patriotism which men who fight for the life of their country +usually possess, then the Boers of South Africa will be exterminated from +among the nations of the world and no one will offer any sympathy to them. + +We Anglo-Saxons of America and Great Britain have a habit of calling our +enemies by names which would arouse the fighting blood of the most +peaceable individual, and when there is a Venezuelan question to be +discussed we do not hesitate to practice this custom, born of our +blood-alliance, by making each other the subjects of the vituperative +attacks. During the Spanish-American war we made most uncomplimentary +remarks concerning our short-lived enemy, and more recently we have been +emphasising the vices of our _proteges_, the Filipinos, with a scornful +disregard of their virtues. The Boers, however, have had a greater burden +to bear. They have had cast at them the shafts of British vituperation and +the lyddite of American venom. In a few instances the lyddite was far more +harrowing than the shafts, and in the vast majority of instances both were +born of ignorance. There are unclean, uncouth, and unregenerate Boers, and +I doubt whether any one will stultify himself by declaring that there are +none such of Britons and Americans. I have been among the Boers in times +of peace and in times of war, and I have always failed to see that they +were in any degree lower than the men of like rank or occupation in +America or England. The farmers in Rustenburg probably never saw a dress +suit or a _decollete_ gown, but there are innumerable regions in America +and Great Britain where similarly dense ignorance prevails. I have been in +scores of American and British homes which were not more spotlessly clean +than some of the houses on the veld in which it was my pleasure to find a +night's entertainment, and nowhere, except in my own home, have I ever +been treated with more courtesy than that which was extended to me, a +perfect stranger, in scores of daub and wattle cottages in the Free State +and the Transvaal. I will not declare that every Boer is a saint, or that +every one is a model of cleanliness or virtue, but I make bold to say that +the majority of the Boers are not a fraction less moral, cleanly, or +virtuous than the majority of Americans or Englishmen, albeit they may be +less progressive and less handsome in appearance than we imagine ourselves +to be. + +As I have stated, the politics of the war has found no part in the +following pages, and an honest effort has been made to give an impartial +account of the proceedings as they unfolded themselves before the eyes of +an American. The struggle is one which was brought about by the +politicians, but it will probably be ended by the layman who wields a +sword, and who knows nothing of the intricacies of diplomacy. The Boers +desire to gain nothing but their countries' independence; the British have +naught to lose except thousands of valuable lives if they continue in +their determination to erase the two nations. Unless the Boers soon decide +to end the war voluntarily, the real struggle will only begin when the +Imperial forces enter the mountainous region in the north-eastern part of +the Transvaal, and then General Lucas Meyer's prophecy that the bones of +one hundred thousand British soldiers will lay bleaching on the South +African veld before the British are victorious may be more than realised. + +One word more. The English public is generous, and will not forget that +the Boers are fighting in the noblest of all causes--the independence of +their country. If Englishmen will for a moment place themselves in the +position of the Boers, if they will imagine their own country overrun by +hordes of foreign soldiers, their own inferior forces gradually driven +back to the wilds of Wales and Scotland, they will be able to picture to +themselves the feelings of the men whom they are hunting to death. Would +Englishmen in these circumstances give up the struggle? They would not; +they would fight to the end. + + HOWARD C. HILLEGAS. +NEW YORK CITY, + August 1, 1900. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE WAY TO THE BOER COUNTRY + +The Blockade at Delagoa Bay--Lorenzo Marques in war-time--Portuguese +tax-raising methods--The way to the Transvaal--Koomatipoort, the Boer +threshold--The low-veld or fever country--Old-time battlefields--The Boer +capital and its scenes--The city of peace and its inhabitants. + + +CHAPTER II. + +FROM FARM TO BATTLEFIELD + +The old-time lions and lion-hunters and the modern types--Lion-hunting +expeditions of the Boers--The conference between the hunters and the +lions--The great lion-hunt of 1899-1900--Departure to the hunting-grounds. + + +CHAPTER III. + +COMPOSITION OF THE ARMY + +Burghers, not soldiers--Home-sickness in the laagers--Boys in +commandos--The Penkop Regiment--Great-grandfathers in battles--The Takhaar +burghers--Boers' unfitness for soldiering--Their uniforms--Comfort in the +laagers--Prayers and religious fervour in the army. + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE ARMY ORGANISATION + +The election of officers--Influences which assert themselves--Civil +officials the leaders in war--The Krijgsraad and its verdicts--Lack of +discipline among the burghers--Generals calling for volunteers to go into +battle--Boers' scouting and intelligence departments. + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE BOER MILITARY SYSTEM + +The disparity between the forces--A national and natural system of +fighting--Every burgher a general--The Boers' mobility--The retreat of the +three generals from Cape Colony--Difference in Boer and British +equipment--Boer courage exemplified. + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE BOERS IN BATTLE + +Fighting against forces numerically superior--The battle at +Sannaspost--The trek towards the enemy--The scenes along the route--The +night trek--Finding the enemy, and the disposition of the forces in the +spruit and on the hills--The dawn of day and the preparation for +battle--The Commandant-General fires the first shot--The battle in +detail--Friend and foe sing "Soldiers of the Queen." + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE GENERALS OF THE WAR + +Farmer-generals who were without military experience--A few who studied +military matters--Leaders chosen by the Volksraad--Operating in familiar +territory--Joubert's part in the campaign--His failure in Natal--His death +and its influence--General Cronje, the Lion of Pochefstroom, and his +career--General Botha and his work as successor of Joubert--Generals +Meyer, De Wet, and De la Rey, with narratives concerning each. + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE WAR PRESIDENTS + +The Boers' real leader in peace and in war--Bismarck's opinion of +Kruger--The President's duties in Pretoria--His visits to the laagers and +the influence he exerted over the disheartened burghers--His oration over +Joubert's body--His opinion of the British, and of those whom he blamed +for the war--His departure from Pretoria--President Steyn and his work +during the war. + + +CHAPTER IX. + +FOREIGNERS IN THE WAR + +The soldier of fortune in every war--The fascination which attracts men to +fight--The Boers' view of foreigners--The influx of foreigners into the +Boer country in search of loot, commissions, fame, and experience--Few +foreigners were of great assistance--The oath of allegiance--Number of +foreigners in the Boer army--The various legions and their careers. + + +CHAPTER X. + +BOER WOMEN IN THE WAR + +Boer women's glorious heritage--Their part in the political arena before +the war--Urged the men to fight for their independence--Assisting their +embarrassed government in furnishing supplies to the army--Helping the +poor, the wounded, and the prisoners--Sending relatives back to the +ranks--Women taking part in battles--Asking the Government for permission +to fight. + + +CHAPTER XI. + +INCIDENTS OF THE WAR + +Amusing tales told and retold by the burghers--Boy-burghers at +Magersfontein capture Highlanders' rifles--The Takhaar at Colenso, who +belonged to "Rhodes' Uncivilised Boer Regiment"--Photographers in +battle--The heliographers at the Tugela amusing themselves--Joubert's +story of the Irishman who wanted to be sent to Pretoria--The value of +credentials in warfare as shown by an American burgher's escapade--The +amusing flight after the fall of Bloemfontein. + + +APPENDIX. + +THE STRENGTH OF THE BOER ARMY + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +COMMANDANT-GENERAL LOUIS BOTHA +(_Photograph by R. Steger, Pretoria._) + + +GENERAL LUCAS J. MEYER + (_Photograph by Leo Weinthal, Pretoria._) + + +BATTLEFIELD OF COLENSO, DECEMBER 15, 1899 + (_Photograph by R. Steger, Pretoria._) + + +BOERS WATCHING THE FIGHT AT DUNDEE + (_Photograph by Reginald Sheppard, Pretoria._) + + +ELECTING A FIELD-CORNET + (_Photograph by the Author._) + + +KRIJGSRAAD, NEAR THABA N'CHU + (_Photograph by the Author._) + + +BOER COMMANDANTS READING MESSAGE FROM BRITISH OFFICERS AFTER THE BATTLE OF +DUNDEE + (_Photograph by Reginald Sheppard._) + + +GENERAL GROBLER + (_Photograph by the Author._) + + +SPION KOP, WHERE BOERS CHARGED UP THE HILLSIDE + (_Photograph by Reginald Sheppard._) + + +PLAN OF BATTLEFIELD OF SANNASPOST + (_Drawn by the Author under supervision of General Christian De Wet._) + + +VILLAGE AND MOUNTAIN OF THABA N'CHU + (_Photograph by the Author._) + + +THE AUTHOR, AND A BASUTO PONY WHICH ASSISTED IN THE FIGHT AT SANNASPOST + (_Photograph by T.F. Millard, New York._) + + +CALLING FOR VOLUNTEERS TO MAN CAPTURED CANNON AFTER SANNASPOST + (_Photograph by the Author._) + + +COMMANDANT-GENERAL CHRISTIAN H. DE WET + (_With Facsimile of his Signature._) + + +GENERAL PETER DE WET + (_Photograph by the Author._) + + +GENERAL JOHN DE LA REY + (_Photograph by the Author._) + + +PRESIDENT KRUGER ADDRESSING AMERICAN VOLUNTEERS + (_Photograph by R. Steger._) + + +BATTLEFIELD OF ELANDSLAAGTE + (_Photograph by Van Hoepen._) + + +COLONEL JOHN E. BLAKE, OF THE IRISH BRIGADE + (_Photograph by Leo Weinthal._) + + +MRS. GENERAL LUCAS J. MEYER + (_Photograph by Leo Weinthal._) + + +MRS. OTTO KRANTZ, A BOER AMAZON + (_Photograph by R. Steger._) + + +MRS. COMMANDANT-GENERAL LOUIS BOTHA + (_Photograph by Leo Weinthal, Pretoria._) + + +GENERAL HENDRIK SNYMAN + + +FIRST BRITISH PRISONERS OF WAR CAPTURED NEAR DUNDEE + (_Photograph by Reginald Sheppard._) + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE WAY TO THE BOER COUNTRY + + +Immediately after war was declared between Great Britain and the Boers of +the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, the two South African republics +became ostracised, in a great measure, from the rest of the civilised +world. The cables and the great ocean steamship lines, which connected +South Africa with Europe and America, were owned by British companies, and +naturally they were employed by the British Government for its own +purposes. Nothing which might in any way benefit the Boers was allowed to +pass over these lines and, so far as it was possible, the British +Government attempted to isolate the republics so that the outside world +could have no communication of any sort with them. With the exception of a +small strip of coast-land on the Indian ocean, the two republics were +completely surrounded by British territory, and consequently it was not a +difficult matter for the great Empire to curtail the liberties of the +Boers to as great an extent as it was pleasing to the men who conducted +the campaign. The small strip of coast-land, however, was the property of +a neutral nation, and, therefore, could not be used for British purposes +of stifling the Boer countries, but the nation which "rules the waves" +exhausted every means to make the Boers' air-hole as small as possible by +placing a number of warships outside the entrance of Delagoa Bay, and by +establishing a blockade of the port of Lorenzo Marques. + +Lorenzo Marques, in itself, was valueless to the Boers, for it had always +been nothing more than a vampire feeding upon the Transvaal, but as an +outlet to the sea and as a haven for foreign ships bearing men, arms, and +encouragement it was invaluable. In the hands of the Boers Delagoa Bay +would have been worse than useless, for the warships could have taken +possession of it and sealed it tightly on the first day of the war, but as +a Portuguese possession it was the only friend that the Boers were able to +find during their long period of need. Without it, the Boers would have +been unable to hold any intercourse with foreign countries, no envoys +could have been despatched, no volunteers could have entered the country, +and they would have been ignorant of the opinion of the world--a factor in +the brave resistance against their enemy which was by no means +infinitesimal. Delagoa Bay was the Boers' one window through which they +could look at the world, and through which the world could watch the brave +struggle of the farmer-citizens of the veld-republics. + +The Portuguese authorities at Delagoa Bay long ago established a +reputation for adroitness in extracting revenues whenever and wherever it +was possible to find a stranger within their gates, but the war afforded +them such excellent opportunities as they had never enjoyed before. Being +the gate of the Boer country was a humanitarian privilege, but it also was +a remunerative business, and never since Vasco de Gama discovered the port +were so many choice facilities afforded for increasing the revenue of the +colony. Nor was the Latin's mind wanting in concocting schemes for filling +the Portuguese coffers when the laws were lax on the subject, for it was +the simplest arrangement to frame a regulation suitable for every new +condition that arose. The Portuguese were willing to be the medium between +the Boers and the people of other parts of the earth, but they asked for +and received a large percentage of the profits. + +When the mines of the Johannesburg gold district were closed down, and the +Portuguese heard that they would no longer receive a compulsory +contribution of four shillings from every native who crossed the border to +work in the mines, the officials felt uneasy on account of the great +decrease in the amount of public revenues, but it did not worry them for +any great length of time. They met the situation by imposing a tax of +eight shillings upon every one of the thousands of natives who returned +from the mines to their homes in Portuguese territory. About the same time +the Uitlanders from the Transvaal reached Lorenzo Marques, and, in order +to calm the Portuguese mind, every one of the thousands of men and women +who took part in that exodus was compelled to pay a transit tax, ranging +from eight shillings to a sovereign, according to the size of the tip +tendered to the official. + +When the van of the foreign volunteers reached the port there was a new +situation to be dealt with, and again the principle of "When in doubt +impose a tax" was satisfactorily employed. Men who had just arrived in +steamers, and who had never seen Portuguese territory, were obliged to +secure a certificate, indicating that they had not been inhabitants of the +local jail during the preceding six months; a certificate from the +consular representative of their country, showing that they possessed good +characters; another from the Governor-General to show that they did not +purpose going into the Transvaal to carry arms; a fourth from the local +Transvaal consul to indicate that he held no objections to the traveller's +desire to enter the Boer country; and one or two other passports equally +weighty in their bearing on the subject were necessary before a person was +able to leave the town. Each one of these certificates was to be secured +only upon the payment of a certain number of thousand reis and at an +additional expenditure of time and nervous energy, for none of the +officials could speak a word of any language except Portuguese, and all +the applicants were men of other nationalities and tongues. The +expenditure in connection with the certificates was more than a sovereign +for every person, and as there were thousands of travellers into the Boer +countries while the war continued the revenues of the Government were +correspondingly great. To crown it all, the Portuguese imposed the same +tax upon all travellers who came into the country from the Transvaal with +the intention of sailing to other ports. The Government could not be +charged with favouritism in the matter of taxation, for every man, woman, +and child who stepped on Portuguese soil was similarly treated. There was +no charge for entering the country, but the jail yawned for him who +refused to pay when leaving it. + +Not unlike the patriots in Cape Town and Durban, the hotel and shopkeepers +of Lorenzo Marques took advantage of the presence of many strangers and +made extraordinary efforts to secure the residue of the money which did +not fall into the coffers of the Government. At the Cardoza Hotel, the +only establishment worthy of the name, a tax of a sovereign was levied for +sleeping on a bare floor; drivers of street cabs scorned any amount less +than a golden sovereign for carrying one passenger to the consulates; +lemonades were two shillings each at the kiosks; and physicians charged +three pounds a call when travellers remained in the town several days and +contracted the deadly coast-fever. At the Custom House duties of ten +shillings were levied upon foreign flags, unless the officer was liberally +tipped, in which event it was not necessary to open the luggage. It was a +veritable harvest for every one who chose to take advantage of the +opportunities offered, and there were but few who did not make the +foreigners their victims. + +The blockade by the British warships placed a premium upon dishonesty, and +of those who gained most by it the majority were British subjects. The +vessels which succeeded in passing the blockading warships were invariably +consigned to Englishmen, and without exception these were unpatriotic +enough to sell the supplies to agents employed by the Transvaal +Government. Just as Britons sold guns and ammunition to the Boers before +the war, these men of the same nation made exorbitant profits on supplies +which were necessary to the burgher army. Lorenzo Marques was filled with +men who were taking advantage of the state of affairs to grow wealthy by +means which were not legitimate, and the leaders in almost every +enterprise of that nature were British subjects, although there were not a +few Germans, Americans, and Frenchmen who succeeded in making the fortunes +they deserved for remaining in such a horrible pest-hole as Lorenzo +Marques. + +The railroad from Lorenzo Marques to Ressana Garcia, at the Transvaal +border, was interesting only from the fact that it was more historical +than comfortable for travelling purposes. As the train passed through the +dry, dusty, and uninteresting country, which was even too poor and +unhealthy for the blacks, the mind speculated upon the proposition whether +the Swiss judges who decided the litigation concerning the road would have +spent ten years in making a decision if they had been compelled to conduct +their deliberation within sight of the railway. The land adjoining the +railroad was level, well timbered and well watered, and the vast tracts of +fine grass give the impression that it might be an excellent country for +farming, but it was in the belt known as the fever district, and white men +avoided it as they would a cholera-infested city. Shortly before the train +arrived at the English river several lofty white-stone pyramids on either +side of the railway were passed, and the Transvaal was reached. A long +iron bridge spanning the river was crossed, and the train reached the +first station in the Boer country, Koomatipoort. + +Courteous Boer officials entered the train and requested the passengers to +disembark with all their luggage, for the purpose of custom-examination. +No gratuities were accepted there, as at Lorenzo Marques, and nothing +escaped the vigilance of the bearded inspectors. Trunks and luggage were +carefully scrutinised, letters read line by line and word for word; +revolvers and ammunition promptly confiscated if not declared; and even +the clothing of the passengers was faithfully examined. Passports were +closely investigated, and, when all appeared to be thoroughly +satisfactory, a white cross was chalked on the boots of the passengers, +and they were free to proceed farther inland. The field-cornet of the +district was one of the few Boers at the station, and he performed the +duties of his office by introducing himself to certain passengers whom he +believed to be foreign volunteers, and offering them gratuitous railway +tickets to Pretoria. No effort was made to conceal the fact that the +volunteers were welcome in the country, and nothing was left undone to +make the foreigners realise that their presence was appreciated. + +After Koomatipoort was passed the train crept slowly into the mountainous +district, where huge peaks pierced the clouds and gigantic boulders +overhung the tracks. Narrow defiles stretched away in all directions and +the sounds of cataracts in the Crocodile River flowing alongside the iron +path drowned the roar of the train. Flowering, vari-coloured plants, huge +cacti, and thick tropical vegetation lined the banks of the river, and +occasionally the thatched roof of a negro's hut peered out over the +undergrowth, to indicate that a few human beings chose that wild region +for their abode. Hour after hour the train crept along narrow ledges up +the mountains' sides, then dashed down declines and out upon small level +plains which, with their surrounding and towering eminences, had the +appearance of vast green bowls. In that impregnable region lay the small +town of Machadodorp, which, later, became the capital of the Transvaal. A +few houses of corrugated iron, a pretty railway-station, and much scenery, +serves as a worthy description of the town at the junction of the purposed +railway to the gold-fields of Lydenberg. + +After a journey of twelve hours through the fever country the train +reached the western limit of that belt and rested for the night in a +small, green, cup-shaped valley bearing the descriptive name of Waterval +Onder--"under the waterfall." The weary passengers found more corrugated +iron buildings and the best hotel in South Africa. The host, Monsieur +Mathis, a French Boer, and his excellent establishment came as a breath of +fresh air to a stifling traveller on the desert, and long will they live +in the memories of the thousands of persons who journeyed over the +railroad during the war. After the monotonous fare of an east-coast +steamer and the mythical meals of a Lorenzo Marques hotel, the roast +venison, the fresh milk and eggs of Mathis were as welcome as the odour of +the roses that filled the valley. + +The beginning of the second day's journey was characterised by a ride up +and along the sides of a magnificent gorge through which the waters of the +Crocodile River rushed from the lofty plateau of the high veld to the +wildernesses of the fever country and filled that miniature South African +Switzerland with myriads of rainbows. A long, curved, and inclined tunnel +near the top of the mountain led to the undulating plains of the +Transvaal--a marvellously rapid transition from a region filled with +nature's wildest panoramas to one that contained not even a tree or rock +or cliff to relieve the monotony of the landscape. On the one side of this +natural boundary line was an immense territory every square mile of which +contained mountain passes which a handful of Boers could hold against an +invading army; on the other side there was hardly a rock behind which a +burgher rifleman could conceal himself. Here herds of cattle and flocks of +sheep, instead of wild beasts, sped away from the roar of the train; here +there was the daub and wattle cottage of the farmer instead of the +thatched hut of the native savage. + +Small towns of corrugated iron and mud-brick homes and shops appeared at +long intervals on the veld; grass-fires displayed the presence of the Boer +farmer with his herds, and the long ox-teams slowly rolling over the plain +signified that not all the peaceful pursuits of a small people at war with +a great nation had been abandoned. The coal-mines at Belfast, with their +towering stacks and clouds of smoke, gave the first evidence of the +country's wondrous underground wealth, and then farther on in the journey +came the small city of Middleburg with its slate-coloured corrugated iron +roofs in marked contrast to the green veld grass surrounding it. There +appeared armed and bandoliered Boers, prepared to join their countrymen in +the field, with wounded friends and sad-faced women to bid farewell to +them. While the train lay waiting at the station small commandos of +burghers came dashing through the dusty streets, bustled their horses into +trucks at the rear end of the passenger train, and in a few moments they +were mingling with the foreign volunteers in the coaches. Grey-haired +Boers gravely bade adieu to their wives and children, lovers embraced +their weeping sweethearts, and the train moved on toward Pretoria and the +battlefields where these men were to risk their lives for the life of +their country. + +Historic ground, where Briton and Boer had fought before, came in view. +Bronkhorst Spruit, where a British commander led more than one hundred of +his men to death in 1880, lay to the left of the road in a little wooded +ravine. Farther on toward Pretoria appeared rocky kopjes, where afterwards +the Boers, retreating from the capital city, gathered their disheartened +forces, and resisted the advance of the enemy. Eerste Fabriken was a +hamlet hardly large enough to make an impression upon the memory, but it +marked a battlefield where the burghers fought desperately. Children were +then gathering peaches from the trees, whose roots drank the blood of +heroes months afterwards. Several miles farther on were the hills on the +outskirts of Pretoria, where, in the war of 1881, the Boer laagers sent +forth men to encompass the city and to prevent the British besieged in it +from escaping. It was ground hallowed in Boer history since the early +voortrekkers crossed the ridges of the Magaliesberg and sought protection +from the savage hordes of Moselekatse in the fertile valley of the Aapjes +River. + +Pretoria in war-time was most peaceful. In the days before the +commencement of hostilities it was a city of peace as contrasted with the +metropolis, Johannesburg, and its warring citizens, but when cannon were +roaring on the frontier, Pretoria itself seemed to escape even the echoes. +After the first commandos had departed the city streets were deserted, and +only women and children gathered at the bulletin boards to learn the fate +of the burgher armies. The stoeps of houses and cottages were deserted of +the bearded yeomanry, and the halls of the Government buildings resounded +only with the tread of those who were not old or strong enough to bear +arms. The long ox-waggons which in former times were so common in the +streets were not so frequently to be seen, but whenever one of them rolled +toward the market square, it was a Boer woman who cracked the raw-hide +whip over the heads of the oxen. Pretoria was the same quaint city as of +old, but it lacked the men who were its most distinguishing feature. The +black-garbed Volksraad members, the officials, and the old retired +farmers, who were wont to discuss politics on the stoeps of the capitol +and the Transvaal Hotel were absent. Inquiries concerning them could be +addressed only to women and children, and the replies invariably were: +"They are on commando," or, "They were killed in battle." + +The scenes of activity in the city were few in number, and they were +chiefly in connection with the arrival of foreign volunteers and the +transit of burgher commandos on the way to the field. The Grand Hotel and +the Transvaal Hotel, the latter of which was conducted by the Government +for the temporary entertainment of the volunteers, were constantly filled +with throngs of foreigners, comprising soldiers of fortune, Red Cross +delegations, visitors, correspondents, and contractors, and almost every +language except that of the Boers could be heard in the corridors. +Occasionally a Boer burgher on leave of absence from the front appeared at +the hotels for a respite from army rations, or to attend the funeral of a +comrade in arms, but the foreigners were always predominant. Across the +street, in the War Department, there were busy scenes when the volunteers +applied for their equipments, and frequently there were stormy actions +when the European tastes of the men were offended by the equipment offered +by the Department officials. Men who desired swords and artistic +paraphernalia for themselves and their horses felt slighted when the scant +but serviceable equipment of a Boer burgher was offered to them, but +sulking could not remedy the matter, and usually they were content to +accept whatever was given to them. Former officers in European armies, +noblemen and even professional men were constantly arriving in the city, +and all seemed to be of the same opinion that commissions in the Boer army +could be had for the asking. Some of these had their minds disabused with +good grace, and went to the field as common burghers; others sulked for +several weeks, but finally joined a commando, and a few returned to their +homes without having heard the report of a gun. For those who chose to +remain behind and enjoy the peacefulness of Pretoria, there was always +enough of novelty and excitement among the foreigners to compensate partly +for missing the events in the field. + +The army contractors make their presence felt in all countries which are +engaged in war, and Pretoria was filled with them. They were in the +railway trains running to and from Lorenzo Marques; in the hotel +corridors, in all the Government departments, and everywhere in the city. +A few of the naturalised Boers, who were most denunciatory of the British +before the war and urged their fellow-countrymen to resort to arms, +succeeded in evading the call to the field and were most energetic in +supplying bread and supplies to the Government. Nor was their patriotism +dimmed by many reverses of the army, and they selfishly demanded that the +war should be continued indefinitely. Europeans and Americans who partook +of the protection of the Government in times of peace, were transformed by +war into grasping, insinuating contractors who revelled in the country's +misfortune. Englishmen, unworthy of the name, enriched themselves by +furnishing sinews of war to their country's enemy, and in order to secure +greater wealth sought to prolong the war by cheering disheartened Boers +and expressing faith in their final success. The chambers of the +Government building were filled with men who had horses, waggons, flour, +forage and clothing to offer at exorbitant prices, and in thousands of +instances the embarrassed Government was obliged to pay whatever sums were +demanded. Hand-in-hand with the contractors were the speculators who were +taking advantage of the absence of the leading officials to secure +valuable concessions, mining claims, and even gold mines. Before the war, +when hordes of speculators and concession-seekers thronged the city, the +scene was pathetic enough, but when all shrewd Raad members were at the +front and unable to guard their country's interests the picture was dark +and pitiful. + +Pretoria seemed to have but one mood during the war. It was never deeply +despondent nor gay. There was a sort of funereal atmosphere throughout the +city, whether its residents were rejoicing over a Spion Kop or suffering +from the dejection of a Paardeberg. It was the same grim throng of old +men, women, and children who watched the processions of prisoners of war +and attended the funerals at the quaint little Dutch church in the centre +of the city. The finest victories of the army never changed the appearance +of the city nor the mood of its inhabitants. There were no parades nor +shouting when a victory was announced, and there was the same stoical +indifference when the news of a bitter defeat was received. A victory was +celebrated in the Dutch church by the singing of psalms, and a defeat by +the offering of prayers for the success of the army. + +The thousands of British subjects who were allowed to remain in the +Transvaal, being of a less phlegmatic race, were not so calm when a +victory of their nation's army was announced, and when the news of +Cronje's surrender reached them they celebrated the event with almost as +much gusto as if they had not been in the enemy's country. A fancy dress +ball was held in Johannesburg in honour of the event, and a champagne +dinner was given within a few yards of the Government buildings in +Pretoria, but a few days later all the celebrants were transported across +the border by order of the Government. + +One of the pathetic features of Pretoria was the Boers' expression of +faith in foreign mediation or intervention. At the outset of hostilities +it seemed unreasonable that any European nation or America would risk a +war with Great Britain for the purpose of assisting the Boers, yet there +was hardly one burgher who did not cling steadfastly to the opinion that +the war would be ended in such a manner. The idea had evidently been +rooted in their mind that Russia would take advantage of Great Britain's +entanglement in South Africa to occupy Herat and Northern India, and when +a newspaper item to that effect appeared it was gravely presumed to +indicate the beginning of the end. Some over-zealous Irishmen assured the +Boers that, in the event of a South African war, their fellow-countrymen +in the United States would invade Canada and involve Great Britain in an +imbroglio over the Atlantic in order to save British America. For a few +weeks the chimera buoyed up the Boers, but when nothing more than an +occasional newspaper rumour was heard concerning it the rising in Ashanti +was then looked upon as being the hoped-for boon. The departure of the +three delegates to Europe and America was an encouraging sign to them, and +it was firmly believed that they would be able to induce France, Russia, +or America to offer mediation or intervention. The two Boer newspapers, +the Pretoria _Volksstem_ and the Johannesburg _Standard and Diggers' +News_, dwelt at length upon every favourable token of foreign assistance, +however trifling, and attempted to strengthen hopes which at hardly any +time seemed capable of realisation. It was not until after the war had +been in progress for more than six months that the Boers saw the futility +of placing faith in foreign aid, and afterwards they fought like stronger +men. + +The consuls who represented the foreign Governments at Pretoria, and +through whom the Boers made representations for peace, were an +exceptionally able body of men, and their duties were as varied as they +were arduous. The French and German consuls were busied with the care of +the vast mining interests of their countrymen, besides the partial +guardianship of the hundreds of French and German volunteers in the Boer +army. They were called upon to entertain noblemen as well as bankrupts; to +bandage wounds and to bury the dead; to find lost relatives and to care +for widows and orphans. In times of peace the duties of a consul in +Pretoria were not light, but during hostilities they were tenfold heavier. +To the American consul, Adelbert S. Hay, and his associate, John G. +Coolidge, fell more work than to all the others combined. Besides caring +for the American interests in the country, Consul Hay was charged with the +guardianship of the six thousand British prisoners of war in the city as +well as with the care of the financial interests of British citizens. +Every one of the thousands of letters to and from the prisoners was +examined in the American Consulate so that they might carry with them no +breach of neutrality; almost twenty thousand pounds, as well as tons of +luxuries, were distributed by him to the prisoners; while the letters and +cablegrams concerning the health and whereabouts of soldiers which reached +him every week were far in excess of the number of communications which +arrived at the Consulate in a year of peaceful times. Consul Hay was in +good favour with the Boer Government notwithstanding his earnest efforts +to perform his duties with regard to the British prisoners and interests, +and of the many consuls who have represented the United States in South +Africa none performed his duties more intelligently or with more credit to +his country. + +One of the most interesting and important events in Pretoria before the +British occupation of the city was the meeting of the Volksraads on May +7th. It was a gathering of the warriors who survived the war which they +themselves had brought about seven months before, and, although the enemy +to whom they had thrown down the gauntlet was at their gates, they were as +resolute and determined as on that October day when they voted to pit the +Boer farmer against the British lion. The seats of many of those who took +part in that memorable meeting were filled with palms and evergreens to +mark the patriots' deaths, but the vierkleur and the cause remained to +spur the living. Generals, commandants, and burghers, no longer in the +grimy costumes of the battlefield, but in the black garb of the +legislator, filled the circles of chairs; bandoliered burghers, consuls +and military attaches in spectacular uniform, business men, and women with +tear-stained cheeks filled the auditorium; while on the official benches +were the heads of departments and the Executive Council, State Secretary +Reitz and General Schalk Burger. The Chairman of the Raad, General Lucas +Meyer, fresh from the battlefield, attracted the attention of the throng +by announcing the arrival of the President. Spectators, Raad members, +officials, all rose to their feet, and Paul Kruger, the Lion of +Rustenberg, the Afrikander captain, entered the Chamber and occupied a +seat of honour. + +[Illustration: GENERAL LUCAS J. MEYER] + +Grave affairs occupied the attention of the country and there were many +pressing matters to be adjusted, was the burden of the meeting, but the +most important work was the defence of the country, and all the members +were as a unit that their proper places were to be found with the burghers +in the field. There was no talk of ending the war, or of surrender; the +President leading in the proposition to continue hostilities until a +conclusion successful to the Boer cause was attained. "Shall we lose +courage?" he demanded. "Never! Never!! Never!!!" and then added +reverently: "May the people and the officers, animated and inspired by a +Higher Power, realising their duty, not only to those brave ones who have +already sacrificed their lives for their Fatherland, but also to posterity +that expects a free country, continue and persevere in this war to the +end." With these words of their aged chieftain engraved on their hearts to +strengthen their resolution the members of the Volksraads doffed the garb +of legislators and returned to their commandos to inspire them with new +zeal and determination. + +After that memorable meeting of the Volksraads Pretoria again assumed the +appearance of a city of peace, but the rapid approach of the forces of the +enemy soon transformed it into a scene of desperation and panic. Men with +drawn faces dashed through the city to assist their hard-pressed +countrymen in the field; tearful women with children on their arms filled +the churches with their moans and prayers; deserters fleeing homeward +exaggerated fresh disasters and increased the tension of the +populace--tears and terror prevailed almost everywhere. Railway stations +were filled with throngs intent on escaping from the coming disaster, +commandos of breathless and blood-stained burghers entered the city, and +soon the voice of the conquerors' cannon reverberated among the hills and +valleys of the capital. Above the noise and din of the threatened city +rose the calm assurance of Paul Kruger: "Have good cheer, God will be with +our people in the end." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +FROM FARM TO BATTLEFIELD + + +In the olden days, before men with strange languages and customs entered +their country and disturbed the serenity of their life, the Boers were +accustomed to make annual trips to the north in search of game, and to +exterminate the lions which periodically attacked their flocks and herds. +It was customary for relatives to form parties, and these trekked with +their long ox-waggons far into the northern Transvaal, and oftentimes into +the wilderness beyond the Zambesi. Women and children accompanied the +expeditions and remained behind in the ox-waggons while the men rode away +into the bush to search for buck, giraffe, and lion. Hardy men and women +these were who braved the dangers of wild beasts and the terrors of the +fever country, yet these treks to the north were as certain annual +functions as the Nachtmaals in the churches. Men who went into the wild +bush to hunt for the lions, which had been their only unconquerable enemy +for years, learned to know no fear, and with their wives and children +formed as hardy a race as virgin soil ever produced. With these pioneers +it was not a matter of great pride to have shot a lion, but it was +considered a disgrace to have missed one. To husband their sparse supplies +of ammunition was their chief object, and to waste a shot by missing the +target was to become the subject of good-natured derision and ridicule. +Fathers, sons, and grandsons entered the bush together, and when there was +a lion or other wild beast to be stalked the amateur hunter was initiated +into the mysteries of backwoodsmanship by his experienced elders. +Consequently the Boers became a nation of proficient lion-hunters, and +efficiently ridded their country of the pest which continually threatened +their safety, the safety of their families and that of their possessions +of live-stock. + +In later years, when the foreigner who bought his farms and searched for +the wealth hidden on them became so numerous that the Boer appeared to be +an unwelcome guest in his own house, the old-time lion-hunter had +foundation for believing that a new enemy had suddenly arisen. The Boer +attempted to placate the new enemy by means which failed. Afterward a bold +but unsuccessful inroad was made into the country for the purpose of +relieving him of the necessity of ruling it. Thereupon the old-time +lion-fighting spirit arose within the Boer, and he began to prepare for +future hunting expeditions. He stocked his arsenals with the best guns and +ammunition the world produced, and he secured instructors to teach him the +most modern and approved methods of fighting the new-style lion. He +erected forts and stockades in which he might take refuge in the event +that the lions should prove too strong and numerous, and he made laws and +regulations so that there might be no delay when the proper moment arrived +for attacking the enemy. While these matters were being perfected further +efforts were made to conciliate the enemy, but they proved futile, and it +became evident that the farmer and the lion of 1899 were as implacable +enemies as the farmer and lion of 1850. The lion of 1899 believed his +cause to be as just as did the lion of half a century before, while the +farmer felt that the lion, having been created by Nature, had a just claim +upon Nature and her works for support, but desired that sustenance should +be sought from other parts of Nature's stores. He insisted, moreover, if +the lion wished to remain on the plantation that he should not question +the farmer's ownership nor assume that the lion was an animal of a higher +and finer grade than the farmer. + +A meeting between the representatives of the lions and the farmers led to +no better understanding; in fact when, several days afterward, all the +farmers gathered at the historic Paardekraal monument, they were +unanimously of the opinion that the lion should be driven out of the +country, or at least subdued to such an extent that peace might come and +remain. Not since the days of 1877, when, at the same spot, each Boer, +holding a stone above his head, vowed to shed his last drop of blood in +defence of his country, was the community of farmers so indignant and +excited. The aged President himself, fresh from the conference with the +lions, urged his countrymen to prevent a conflict but to fight valiantly +for their independence and rights if the necessity arose. Piet Joubert, +who bore marks of a former conflict with the enemy, wept as he narrated +the efforts which had been made to pacify the lions, and finally expressed +the belief that every farmer in the country would yield his life's blood +rather than surrender the rights for which their fathers had bled and +died. When other leaders had spoken, the picturesque custom of renewing +the oath of fealty to the country's flag was observed, as it had been +every fifth year since the days of Majuba Hill. Ten thousand farmers +uncovered their heads, raised their eyes toward the sky and repeated the +Boer oath:-- + + "In the presence of God Almighty, who searcheth the hearts of + men, from our homes in the Transvaal we have journeyed to + meet again, Free burghers, we ask His mercy and trust in + His grace and bind ourselves and our children in a solemn + oath to be faithful to one another and to stand by one + another in repelling our enemy with our last drop of + life-blood. So truly help us, God Almighty." + +Ten thousand voices then joined in singing the national anthem and a +psalm, and the memorable meeting at this fount of patriotism was closed +with a prayer and a benediction. + +After this meeting it was uncertain for some months which should attack +first; both were preparing as rapidly as possible for the conflict, and +the advantage seemed to lie with the one who would strike first. The +leaders of the lions seemed to have forgotten that they had lion-hunters +as their opponents, and the farmers neglected to take into account the +fact that the lion tribe was exceedingly numerous and spread over the +whole earth. When the leading farmers met in conclave at Pretoria and +heard the demands of the lions they laughed at them, sent an ultimatum in +reply, and started for the frontier to join those of their countrymen who +had gone there days before to watch that no body of lions should make +another surreptitious attack upon their country. Another community of +farmers living to the south, who had also been harassed by the lions for +many years and felt that their future safety lay in the subjugation of the +lion tribe, joined their neighbours in arms and went forth with them to +the greatest lion-hunt that South Africa has ever had. + +The enemy and all other men called it war, but to the Boers it was merely +a hunt for lions such as they had engaged in oftentimes before. + +The old Boer farmer hardly needed the proclamation from Pretoria to tell +him that there was to be a lion-hunt, and that he should prepare for it +immediately. He had known that the hunt was inevitable long before October +11, 1899, and he had made preparations for it months and even years +before. When the official notification from the Commandant-General reached +him through the field-cornet of the district in which he lived, he was +prepared in a few minutes to start for the frontier where the British +lions were to be found. The new Mauser rifle, which the Government had +given him a year or two before, was freshly oiled and its working order +inspected. The bandolier, filled with bright new cartridges, was swung +over his shoulder, and then, after putting a Testament into his coat +pocket, he was ready to proceed. He despised a uniform of any kind as +smacking of anti-republican ideas and likely to attract the attention of +the enemy. The same corduroy or mole-skin trousers, dark coat, +wide-brimmed hat, and home-made shoes which he was accustomed to wear in +every-day life on the farm were good enough for a hunting expedition, and +he needed and yearned for nothing better. A uniform would have caused him +to feel uneasy and out of place, and when lions were the game he wanted to +be thoroughly comfortable so that his arm and aim might be steady. His +vrouw, who was filling a linen sack with bread, biltong, and coffee to be +consumed on his journey to the hunting grounds, may have taken the +opportunity while he was cleaning his rifle to sew a rosette of the +vierkleur of the Republic on his hat, or, remembering the custom observed +in the old-time wars against the natives, may have found the fluffy brown +tail of a meerkatz and fixed it on the upturned brim of his grimy hat. +When these few preparations were concluded the Kafir servant brought his +master's horse and fixed to the front of the saddle a small roll +containing a blanket and a mackintosh. To another part of the saddle he +strapped a small black kettle to be used for the preparation of the +lion-hunter's only luxury, coffee, and then the list of impedimenta was +complete. The horseman who brought the summons to go to the frontier had +hardly reached the neighbouring farmhouse when the Boer lion-hunter, +uniformed, outfitted, and armed, was on his horse's back and ready for any +duty at any place. With a rifle, bandolier, and a horse the Boer felt as +if he were among kindred spirits, and nothing more was necessary to +complete his temporal happiness. The horse is a part of the Boer hunter, +and he might as well have gone to the frontier without a rifle as to go in +the capacity of a foot soldier. The Boer is the modern Centaur, and +therein is found an explanation for part of his success in hunting. + +When once the Boer left his home he became an army unto himself. He needed +no one to care for himself and his horse, nor were the leaders of the army +obliged to issue myriads of orders for his guidance. He had learned long +before that he should meet the other hunters of his ward at a certain spot +in case there was a call to arms, and thither he went as rapidly as his +pony could carry him. When he arrived at the meeting-place he found all +his neighbours and friends gathered in groups and discussing the +situation. Certain ones of them had brought with them big white-tented +ox-waggons for conveying ammunition, commissariat stores, and such extra +luggage as some might wish to carry; and these were sent ahead as soon as +the field-cornet, the military leader of the ward, learned that all his +men had arrived from their homes. The individual hunters then formed what +was called a commando, whether it consisted of fifteen or fifty men, and +proceeded in a body to a second pre-arranged meeting-place, where all the +ward-commandos of a certain district were asked to congregate. When all +these commandos had arrived in one locality, they fell under the authority +of the commandant who had been elected to that post by the burghers at the +preceding election. This official had received his orders directly from +the Commandant-General, and but little time was consumed in disseminating +them to the burghers through the various field-cornets. After all the +ward-commandos had arrived, the district-commando was set in motion toward +that part of the frontier where its services were required; and a most +unwarlike spectacle it presented as it rolled along over the muddy, +slippery veld. In the van were the huge, lumbering waggons with hordes of +hullabalooing natives cracking their long raw-hide whips and urging the +sleek, long-horned oxen forward through the mud. Following the +waggon-train came the cavalcade of armed lion-hunters, grim and +determined-looking enough from a distance, but most peaceful and +inoffensive when once they understood the stranger's motives. No order or +discipline was visible in the commando on the march, and if the rifles and +bandoliers had not appeared so prominently it might readily have been +mistaken for a party of Nachtmaal celebrants on the way to Pretoria. Now +and then some youths emerged from the crowd and indulged in an impromptu +horse-race, only to return and receive a chiding from their elders for +wasting their horses' strength unnecessarily. Occasionally the keen eyes +of a rider spied a buck in the distance, and then several of the +lion-hunters sped obliquely off the track and replenished the commando +larder with much smaller game than was the object of their expedition. + +If the commando came from a district far from the frontier, it proceeded +to the railway station nearest to the central meeting-place, and then +embarked for the front. No extraordinary preparations were necessary for +the embarking of a large commando, nor was much time lost before the +hunters were speeding towards their destination. Every man placed his own +horse in a cattle-car, his saddle, bridle, and haversack in the +passenger-coach, and then assisted in hoisting the cumbersome ox-waggons +on flat-top trucks. There were no specially deputised men to entrain the +horses, others to load the waggons, and still others to be subtracted from +the fighting strength of the nation by attending to such detail duties as +require the services of hundreds of men in other armies. + +After the burghers were entrained and the long commando train was set in +motion the most fatiguing part of the campaign was before them. To ride on +a South African railway is a disagreeable duty in times of peace, but in +war-times, when trains were long and overcrowded, and the rate of progress +never higher than fifteen miles an hour, then all other campaigning duties +were pleasurable enjoyments. The majority of burghers, unaccustomed to +journeying in railway trains, relished the innovation and managed to make +merry even though six of them, together with all their saddles and +personal luggage, were crowded into one compartment. The singing of hymns +occupied much of their time on the journey, and when they tired of this +they played practical jokes upon one another and amused themselves by +leaning out of the windows and jeering at the men who were guarding the +railway bridges and culverts. At the stations they grasped their +coffee-pots and rushed to the locomotive to secure hot water with which to +prepare their beverage. It seldom happened that any Boer going to the +front carried any liquor with him and, although the delays and vexations +of the journey were sufficiently irritating to serve as an excuse, +drunkenness practically never occurred. Genuine good-fellowship prevailed +among them, and no quarrelling was to be observed. It seemed as if every +one of them was striving to live the ideal life portrayed in the Testament +which they read assiduously scores of times every day. Whether a train was +delayed an hour at a siding or whether it stopped so suddenly that all +were thrown from their seats, there was no profane language, but usually +jesting and joking instead. Little discomforts which would cause an +ordinary American or European soldier to use volumes of profanity were +passed by without notice or comment by these psalm-singing Boers, and +inconveniences of greater moment, like the disarrangement of the +commissariat along the route, caused only slight remonstrances from them. +An angry man was as rarely seen as one who cursed, and more rare than +either was an intoxicated one. + +Few of the men were given to boasting of the valour they would display in +warfare or of their abilities in marksmanship. They had no battle-cry of +revenge like "Remember the _Maine!_" or "Avenge Majuba!" except it was the +motto: "For God, Country, and Independence!" which many bore on the bands +of their hats and on the stocks of their rifles. Very occasionally one +boasted of the superiority of the Boer, and still more rarely would one be +heard to set three months as the limit required to conquer the British +army. The name of Jameson, the raider, was frequently heard, but always in +a manner which might have led one unacquainted with recent Transvaal +history to believe that he was a patron-saint of the Republic. It was not +a cry of "Remember Jameson" for the wrongs he committed but rather a plea +to honour him for having placed the Republic on its guard against the +dangers which they believed threatened it from beyond its borders. It was +frequently suggested, when his name was mentioned, that after the war a +monument should be erected to him because he had given them warning and +that they had profited by the warning to the extent that they had armed +themselves thoroughly. Seldom was any boasting concerning the number of +the enemy that would fall to Boer bullets; instead there was a tone of +sorrow when they spoke of the soldiers of the Queen who would die on the +field of battle while fighting for a cause concerning the justice or +injustice of which the British soldier could not speak. + +After the commando-train reached its destination the burghers again took +charge of their own horses and conveyances, and in even less time than it +required to place them on the train they were unloaded and ready to +proceed to the point where the generals needed their assistance. The Boer +was always considerate of his horse, and it became a custom to delay for +several hours after leaving the train, in order that the animals might +feed and recover from the fatigues of the journey before starting out on a +trek over the veld. After the horses had been given an opportunity to +rest, the order to "upsaddle" came from the commandant, and then the +procession, with the ox-waggons in the van, was again formed. The regular +army order was then established, scouts were sent ahead to determine the +location of the enemy, and the officers for the first time appeared to +lead their men in concerted action against the opposing forces. To call +the Boer force an army was to add unwarranted elasticity to the word, for +it had but one quality in common with such armed forces as Americans or +Europeans are accustomed to call by that name. The Boer army fought with +guns and gunpowder, but it had no discipline, no drills, no forms, no +standards, and not even a roll-call. It was an enlarged edition of the +hunting parties which a quarter-century ago went into the Zoutpansberg in +search of game--it was a massive aggregation of lion-hunters. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE COMPOSITION OF THE BOER ARMY + + +A visitor in one of the laagers in Natal once spoke of a Boer burgher as a +"soldier." A Boer from the Wakkerstroom district interrupted his speech +and said there were no Boer soldiers. "If you want us to understand +concerning whom you are talking," he continued, "you must call us burghers +or farmers. Only the English have soldiers." It was so with all the Boers; +none understood the term soldier as applying to anybody except their +enemy, while many considered it an insult to be called a soldier, as it +implied, to a certain extent, that they were fighting for hire. In times +of peace the citizen of the Boer republics was called a burgher, and when +he took up arms and went to war he received no special title to +distinguish him from the man who remained at home. "My burghers," Paul +Kruger was wont to call them before the war, and when they came forth from +battle they were content when he said, "My burghers are doing well." The +Boers were proud of their citizenship, and when their country was in +danger they went forth as private citizens and not as bold warriors to +protect it. + +There was a law in the two republics which made it incumbent upon all +burghers between the ages of sixteen and sixty to join a commando and to +go to war when it was necessary. There was no law, however, which +prevented a man, of whatever youthfulness or age, to assist in the defence +of his country, and in consequence the Boer commandos contained almost the +entire male population between the ages of thirteen and eighty years. In +peaceful times the Boer farmer rarely travelled away from his home unless +he was accompanied by his family, and he would have felt the pangs of +homesickness if he had not been continually surrounded by his wife and +children. When the war began it was not an easy matter for the burgher to +leave his home for an indefinite period, and in order that he might not be +lonely he took with him all his sons who were strong enough to carry +rifles. The Boer youth develops into manhood early in life in the mild +South African climate, and the boy of twelve and thirteen years is the +equal in physical development of the American or European youth of sixteen +or seventeen. He was accustomed to live on the open veld and hunting with +his elders, and, when he saw that all his former companions were going to +war, he begged for permission to accompany the commando. The Boer boy of +twelve does not wear knickerbocker trousers as the youth of like age in +many other countries, but he is clothed exactly like his father, and, +being almost as tall, his youthful appearance is not so noticeable when he +is among a large number of his countrymen. Scores of boys not more than +twelve years were in the laagers in Natal, and hundreds of less age than +the minimum prescribed by the military law were in every commando in the +country. When Ladysmith was still besieged one youth of eleven years was +conspicuous in the Standerton laager. He seemed to be a mere child, yet he +had the patriotism of ten men. He followed his father everywhere, whether +into battle or to the spring for water. + +[Illustration: BATTLEFIELD OF COLENSO, DECEMBER 15, 1899 + 1 GENERAL LOUIS BOTHA'S COMMANDO + 2 BOKSBURG COMMANDO + 3 COLENSO + 4 KRUGERSDORP COMMANDO + 5 WAKKERSTROM COMMANDO + 6 ERMELO COMMANDO + 7 SWAZILAND POLICE + 8 ERMELO COMMANDO + 9 BRITISH CAMP, CHIEVELY +10 TUGELA RIVER] + +"When my father is injured or killed, I will take his rifle," was his +excuse for being away from home. When General De Wet captured seven cannon +from the enemy at the battle of Sannaspost two of the volunteers to +operate them were boys aged respectively fourteen and fifteen years. +Pieter J. Henning, of the Potchefstroom commando, who was injured in the +battle of Scholtznek on December 11th, was less than fifteen years old, +yet his valour in battle was as conspicuous as that of any of the burghers +who took part in the engagement. Teunis H.C. Mulder, of the Pretoria +commando, celebrated his sixteenth birthday only a few days before he was +twice wounded at Ladysmith on November 9th, and Willem Francois Joubert, a +relative of the Commandant-General, was only fifteen years old when he was +wounded at Ladysmith on October 30th. At the battle of Koedoesrand, +fifteen-year-old Pieter de Jager, of the Bethlehem commando, was seriously +injured by a shell while he was conveying his injured father from the +field. With the army of General Cronje captured at Paardeberg were no less +than a hundred burghers who had not reached the sixteenth year, and among +those who escaped from the laager in the river-bed were two Bloemfontein +boys named Roux, aged twelve and fourteen years. At Colenso a Wakkerstroom +youth of twelve years captured three English scouts and compelled them to +march ahead of him to the commandant's tent. During one of the lulls in +the fighting at Magersfontein a burgher of fifteen years crept up to +within twenty yards of three British soldiers and shouted "Hands up!" +Thinking that there were other Boers in the vicinity the men dropped their +guns and became prisoners of the boy, who took them to General De la Rey's +tent. When the General asked the boy how he secured the prisoners the lad +replied, nonchalantly, "Oh, I surrounded them." These youths who +accompanied the commando were known as the "Penkop Regiment"--a regiment +composed of school children--and in their connection an amusing story has +been current in the Boer country ever since the war of 1881, when large +numbers of children less than fifteen years old went with their fathers to +battle. The story is that after the fight at Majuba Hill, while the peace +negotiations were in progress, Sir Evelyn Wood, the Commander of the +British forces, asked General Joubert to see the famous Penkop +Regiment. The Boer General gave an order that the regiment should be drawn +up in a line before his tent, and when this had been done General Joubert +led General Wood into the open and introduced him to the corps. Sir Evelyn +was sceptical for some time, and imagined that General Joubert was joking, +but when it was explained to him that the youths really were the +much-vaunted Penkop Regiment he advised them to return to their +school-books. + +When a man has reached the age of sixty it may be assumed that he has +outlived his usefulness as a soldier; but not so with the Boer. There was +not one man, but hundreds, who had passed the Biblical threescore years +and ten but were fighting valiantly in defence of their country. +Grey-haired men who, in another country, might be expected to be found at +their homes reading the accounts of their grandsons' deeds in the war, +went out on scouting duty and scaled hills with almost as much alacrity as +the burghers only half their age. Men who could boast of being +grandfathers were innumerable, and in almost any laager there could be +seen father, sons, and grandsons, all fighting with equal vigour and +enthusiasm. Paul Kruger is seventy-five years old, but there were many of +his burghers several years older than he who went to the frontier with +their commandos and remained there for several months at a time. A +great-grandfather serving in the capacity of a private soldier, may appear +like a mythical tale, but there were several such. Old Jan van der +Westhuizen, of the Middleberg laager, was active and enthusiastic at +eighty-two years, and felt more than proud of four great-grand-children. +Piet Kruger, a relative of the President, and four years his senior, was +an active participant in every battle in which the Rustenburg commando was +engaged while it was in Natal, and he never once referred to the fact that +he fought in the 1881 war and in the attack upon Jameson's men. Four of +Kruger's sons shared the same tent and fare with him, and ten of his +grandsons were burghers in different commandos. Jan C. ven [Transcriber's +note: sic] Tander, of Boshof, exceeded the maximum of the military age +by eight years, but he was early in the field, and was seriously wounded +at the battle of Scholtznek on December 11th. General Joubert himself +was almost seventy years old but as far as physical activity was +concerned there were a score of burghers in his commando, each from five +to ten years older, who exhibited more energy in one battle than he did +during the entire Natal campaign. The hundreds of bridges and culverts +along the railway lines in the Transvaal, the Orange Free State, and +Upper Natal were guarded day and night by Boers more than sixty years +old, who had volunteered to do the work in order that younger men might +be sent to localities where their services might be more necessary. +Other old Boers and cripples attended to the commissariat arrangements +along the railways, conducted commissariat waggons, gathered forage for +the horses at the front, and arranged the thousands of details which +are necessary to the well-being and comfort of every army, however +simple its organisation. + +Among the Boers were many burghers who had assisted Great Britain in her +former wars in South Africa--men who had fought under the British flag, +but were now fighting against it. Colonel Ignace Ferreira, a member of one +of the oldest Boer families, fought under Lord Wolseley in the Zulu war, +and had the Order of the Commander of the Bath conferred upon him by the +Queen. Colonel Ferreira was at the head of a commando at Mafeking. Paul +Dietzch, the military secretary of General Meyer, fought under the British +flag in the Gaika and several other native wars. + +It was not only the extremely old and the extremely young who went to war; +it was a transfer of the entire population of the two Republics to the +frontiers, and no condition or position was sufficient excuse to remain +behind. The professional man of Pretoria and Johannesburg was in a laager +which was adjacent to a laager of farthest-back veld-farmers. Lawyers and +physicians, photographers and grocers, speculators and sextons, judges and +schoolmasters, schoolboys and barkeepers--all who were burghers locked +their desks and offices and journeyed to the front. Even clergymen closed +their houses of worship in the towns and remained among the commandos to +pray and preach for those who did the fighting. The members of the +Volksraads, who brought on the war by their ultimatum, were among the +first in the field, and foremost in attacking the soldiers of their enemy. +Students in European universities, who hastened home when war-clouds were +gathering, went shoulder to shoulder into battle with the backwoodsman, +the Boer takhaar. There was no pride among them; no class distinction +which prevented a farmer from speaking to a millionaire. A graduate of +Cambridge had as his boon companion for five months a farmer who thought +the earth a square, and imagined the United States to be a political +division of Australia. + +[Illustration: BOERS WATCHING THE FIGHT AT DUNDEE] + +The Boer who was bred in a city or town good-naturedly referred to his +country cousin as a "takhaar"--a man with grizzly beard and unkempt hair. +It was a good descriptive term, and the takhaar was not offended when it +was applied to him. The takhaar was the modern type of the old voortrekker +Boer who, almost a hundred years ago, trekked north from Cape Colony, and +after overcoming thousands of difficulties settled in the present Boer +country. He was a religious, big-hearted countryman of the kind who would +suspect a stranger until he proved himself worthy of trust. After that +period was passed the takhaar would walk the veld in order that you might +ride his horse. If he could not speak your language he would repeat a +dozen times such words as he knew, meanwhile offering to you coffee, +mutton, bread, and all the best that his laager larder afforded. He +offered to exchange a pipe-load of tobacco with you, and when that +occurred you could take it for granted that he was your friend for life. +The takhaar was the man who went to the frontiers on his own +responsibility weeks before the ultimatum was sent, and watched day and +night lest the enemy might trample a rod beyond the bounds. He was the man +who stopped Jameson, who climbed Majuba, and who fought the natives. The +takhaar was the Boer before gold brought restlessness into the country, +and he was proud of his title. The fighting ability of the takhaar is best +illustrated by repeating an incident which occurred after the battle of +Dundee when a large number of Hussars were captured. One of the Hussar +officers asked for the name of the regiment he had been fighting against. +A fun-loving Boer replied that the Boers had no regiments; that their men +were divided into three brigades--the Afrikanders, the Boers, and the +Takhaars--a distinction which carried with it but a slight difference. +"The Afrikander brigade," the Boer explained, "is fighting now. They fight +like demons. When they are killed, then the Boers take the field. The +Boers fight about twice as well and hard as the Afrikanders. As soon as +all the Boers are killed, then come the takhaars, and they would rather +fight than eat." The officer remained silent for a moment, then sighed and +said, "Well, if that is correct, then our job is bigger than I thought it +was." + +The ideal Boer is a man with a bearded face and a flowing moustache, and +in order to appear idyllic almost every Boer burgher, who was not thus +favoured before war was began, engaged in the peaceful process of growing +a beard. Young men who, in times of peace, detested hirsute adornments of +the face allowed their beards and moustaches to grow, and after a month or +two it was almost impossible to find one burgher who was without a growth +of hair on his face. The wearing of a beard was almost equal to a badge of +Boer citizenship, and for the time being every Boer was a takhaar in +appearance if not in fact. The adoption of beards was not so much fancy as +it was a matter of discretion. The Boer was aware of the fact that few of +the enemy wore beards, and so it was thought quite ingenious for all +burghers to wear facial adornments of that kind in order that friend and +foe might be distinguished more readily at a distance. + +Notwithstanding their ability to fight when it is necessary, it is +doubtful whether twenty per cent of the Boer burghers in the commandos +would be accepted for service in any continental or American army. The +rigid physical examinations of many of the armies would debar thousands +from becoming regular soldiers. There were men in the Boer forces who had +only one arm, some with only one leg, others with only one eye; some were +almost totally blind, while others would have felt happy if they could +have heard the reports of their rifles. Men who were suffering from +various kinds of illnesses, and who should have been in a physician's +care, were to be seen in every laager. Men who wore spectacles were +numerous, while those who suffered from diseases which debar a man from a +regular army were without number. The high percentage of men unfit for +military duty was not due to the Boer's unhealthfulness, for he is as +healthy as farmers are in other parts of the earth. Take the entire male +population of any district in Europe and America and compare the +individuals with the standard required by army rules, and the result will +not differ greatly from the result of the Boer examination. If all the +youths and old men, the sick and maimed, could have been eliminated from +the Boer forces, eighty per cent, would probably have been found to be a +low estimate of the number thus subtracted from the total force. It would +have been heartrending to many a continental or American general to see +the unmilitary appearance of the Boer burgher, and in what manner an army +of children, great-grandfathers, invalids, and blind men, with a handful +of good men to leaven it, could be of any service whatever would have been +quite beyond his conception. It was such a mixed force that a Russian +officer, who at the outset of the war entered the Transvaal to fight, +became disgusted with its unmilitary appearance and returned to his own +country. + +The accoutrement of the Boer burgher was none the less incongruous than +the physical appearance of the majority of them, although no expensive +uniform and trappings could have been of more practical value. The men of +the Pretoria and Johannesburg commandos had the unique honor of going to +the war in uniforms specially made for the purpose, but there was no +regulation or law which compelled them to wear certain kinds of clothing. +When these commandos went to the frontier several days before the actual +warfare had begun they were clothed in khaki-coloured cloth of almost the +same description as that worn by the soldiers whom they intended to fight. +These two commandos were composed of town-folk who had absorbed many of +the customs and habits of the foreigners who were in the country, and they +felt that it would be more warlike if they should wear uniforms made +specially for camp and field. The old Boers of the towns and the takhaars +looked askance at the youth of Pretoria and Johannesburg in their +uniforms, and shook their heads at the innovation as smacking too much of +an anti-republican spirit. + +Like Cincinnatus, the majority of the old Boers went directly from their +farms to the battlefields, and they wore the same clothing in the laagers +as they used when shearing their sheep or herding their cattle. When they +started for the frontier the Boer farmers arranged matters so that they +might be comfortable while the campaign continued. Many, it is true, +dashed away from home at the first call to arms and carried with them, +besides a rifle and bandolier, nothing but a mackintosh, blanket, and +haversack of food. The majority of them, however, were solicitous of their +future comfort and loaded themselves down with all kinds of luggage. Some +went to the frontier with the big, four-wheeled ox-waggons and in these +they conveyed cooking utensils, trunks, boxes with food and flour, +mattresses, and even stoves. The Rustenburg farmers were specially +solicitous about their comfort, and those patriotic old takhaars +practically moved their families and household furniture to the camps. +Some of the burghers took two or three horses each in order that there +might be no delay or annoyance in case of misfortune by death or accident, +and frequently a burgher could be seen who had one horse for himself, +another for his camp utensils and extra clothing, and a third and fourth +for native servants who cooked his meals and watched the horses while they +grazed. + +Without his horse the Boer would be of little account as a fighting man, +and those magnificent little ponies deserve almost as much credit for such +success as attended the campaign as their riders. If some South African +does not frame a eulogy of the little beasts it will not be because they +do not deserve it. The horse was half the Centaur and quite the life of +him. Small and wiry, he was able to jog along fifty and sixty miles a day +for several days in succession, and when the occasion demanded it, he was +able to attain a rate of speed that equalled that of the ordinary South +African railway train which, however, makes no claims to lightning-like +velocity. He bore all kinds of weather, was not liable to sickness except +in one season of the year, and he was able to work two and even three days +without more than a blade of grass. He was able to thrive on the grass of +the veld, and when winter killed that product he needed but a few bundles +of forage a day to keep him in good condition. He climbed rocky +mountain-sides as readily as a buck, and never wandered from a path by +darkest night. He drank and apparently relished the murky water of +mud-pools and needed but little attention with the currycomb and brush. +He was trained to obey the slightest turn of the reins, and a slight +whistle brought him to a full stop. When his master left him and went +forward into battle the Boer pony remained in the exact position where he +was placed, and when perchance a shell or bullet ended his existence, then +the Boer paid a tribute to the value of his dead servant by refusing to +continue the fight and by beating a hasty retreat. + +In the early part of the campaign in Natal the laagers were filled with +ox-waggons, and, in the absence of tents which were sadly wanted during +that season of heavy rains, they stood in great stead to the burghers. The +rear half of the waggons were tented with an arched roof, as all the +trek-waggons are, and under these shelters the burghers lived. Many of the +burghers who left their ox-waggons at home took small, light, four-wheeled +carriages, locally called spiders, or the huge two-wheelers or Cape-carts +so serviceable and common throughout the country. These were readily +transformed into tents, and made excellent sleeping accommodations by +night and transport-waggons for the luggage when the commandos moved from +one place to another. When a rapid march was contemplated all the heavy +waggons were left behind in charge of native servants with which every +burgher was provided. + +It was quite in keeping with their other ideas of personal comfort for +many Boer burghers to carry a coloured parasol or an umbrella to protect +them from the rays of the sun, and it was not considered beneath their +dignity to wear a woman's shawl around their shoulders or head when the +morning air was chilly. At first sight of these unique spectacles the +stranger in the Boer country felt amused, but if he cared to smile at +every unmilitary scene he would have had little time for other things. It +was a republican army composed of republicans, and anything that smacked +of the opposite was abhorred. There were no flags or insignia of any kind +to lead the burghers on. What mottoes there were that expressed their +cause were embroidered on the bands of their slouch-hats and cut on the +stocks of their rifles. "For God and Freedom," "For Freedom, Land, and +People," and "For God, Country, and Justice," were among the sentiments +which some of the burghers carried into battle on their hats and rifles. +Others had vierkleur ribbons as bands for their hats, while many carried +on the upturned brim of their hats miniatures containing the photographs +of the Presidents. + +Aside from the dangers arising from a contact with the enemy and the +heart-burns resulting from a long absence from his home, the Boer +burgher's experiences at the front were not arduous. First and foremost he +had a horse and rifle, and with these he was always more or less happy. He +had fresh meat provided to him daily, and he had native servants to +prepare and serve his meals for him. He was under no discipline whatever, +and he could be his own master at all times. He generally had his sons or +brothers with him in the same laager, and to a Boer there was always much +joy in this. He could go on picket duty and have a brush with the enemy +whenever he felt inclined to do so, or he could remain in his laager and +never have a glimpse of the enemy. Every two months he was entitled to a +ten days' leave of absence to visit his home, and at other times during +the first five months of the war, his wife and children were allowed to +visit him in his laager. If he was stationed along the northern or western +frontiers of the Transvaal he was in the game country, and he was able to +go on buck-shooting expeditions as frequently as he cared. He was not +compelled to rise at a certain hour in the morning, and he could go to bed +whenever he wished. There was no drill, no roll-calls, nor any of the +thousands of petty details which the soldiers of even the Portuguese army +are compelled to perform. As a result of a special law there was no work +on Sundays or Church-holidays unless the enemy brought it about, and then, +if he was a stickler for the observance of the Sabbath, he was not +compelled to move a muscle. The Boer burgher could eat, sleep, or fight +whenever he wished, and inasmuch as he was a law unto himself, there was +no one who could compel him to change his habits. It was an ideal +idle-man's mode of living and the foreign volunteers who had leaves of +absence from their own armies made the most of their holiday, but in that +respect they did not surpass their companion, the Boer burgher. + +The most conspicuous feature of the Boer forces was the equality of the +officers and the men, and the entire absence of any assumption of +superiority by the leaders of the burghers. None of the generals or +commandants wore any uniform of a distinctive type, and it was one of the +most difficult problems to distinguish an officer from the burghers. All +the officers, from the Commandant-General down to the corporal, carried +rifles and bandoliers, and all wore the ordinary garb of a civilian, so +that there was nothing to indicate the man's military standing. The +officers associated with their men every hour of the day, and, in most +instances, were able to call the majority of them by their Christian +names. With one or two exceptions, all the generals were farmers before +the war started, and consequently they were unable to assume any great +degree of superiority over their farmer-burghers if they had wished to do +so. General Meyer pitched quoits with his men, General Botha swapped +tobacco with any one of his burghers, and General Smuts and one of his +officers held the whist championship of their laager. Rarely a burgher +touched his hat before speaking to an officer, but he invariably shook +hands with him at meeting and parting. It is a Boer custom to shake hands +with friends or strangers, and whenever a general visited a laager +adjoining his own, the hand-shaking reminded one of the President's public +reception days at Washington. When General Joubert went from camp to camp +he greeted all the burghers who came near him with a grasp of the hand, +and it was the same with all the other generals and officers. Whenever +Presidents Kruger and Steyn went to the commandos, they held out their +right hands to all the burghers who approached them, and one might have +imagined that every Boer was personally acquainted with every other one in +the republics. It was the same with strangers who visited the laagers, and +many a sore wrist testified to the Boer's republicanism. Some one called +it the "hand-shaking army," and it was a most descriptive title. Many of +the burghers could not restrain from exercising their habit, and shook +hands with British prisoners, much to the astonishment of the captured. + +Another striking feature of life in the Boer laagers was the deep +religious feeling which manifested itself in a thousand different ways. It +is an easy matter for an irreligious person to scoff at men who pass +through a campaign with prayer and hymn-singing, and it is just as easy to +laugh at the man who reads his Testament at intervals of shooting at the +enemy. The Boer was a religious man always, and when he went to war he +placed as much faith in prayer and in his Testament as in his rifle. He +believed that his cause was just, and that the Lord would favour those +fighting for a righteous cause in a righteous spirit. On October 11th, +before the burghers crossed the frontier at Laing's Nek, a religious +service was conducted. Every burgher in the commandos knelt on the ground +and uttered a prayer for the success and the speedy ending of the +campaign. Hymns were sung, and for a full hour the hills, whereon almost +twenty years before many of the same burghers sang and prayed after the +victory at Majuba, were resounding with the religious and patriotic songs +of men going forward to kill and to be killed. In their laagers the Boers +had religious services at daybreak and after sunset every day, whether +they were near to the enemy or far away. At first the novelty of being +awakened early in the morning by the voices of a large commando of +burghers was not conducive to a religious feeling in the mind of the +stranger, but a short stay in the laagers caused anger to turn to +admiration. After sunset the burghers again gathered in groups around +camp-fires, and made the countryside re-echo with the sound of their deep, +bass voices united in Dutch hymns and psalms of praise and thanksgiving. + +Whether they ate a big meal from a well-equipped table, or whether they +leaped from their horses to make a hasty meal of biltong and bread, they +reverently bowed their heads and asked a blessing before and after eating. +Before they went into battle they gathered around their general and were +led in prayer by the man who afterwards led them against the enemy. When +the battle was concluded, and whether the field was won or lost, prayers +were offered to the God of battles. In the reports which generals and +commandants made to the war departments, victories and defeats were +invariably ascribed to the will of God, and such phrases as "All the glory +belongs to the Lord of Hosts who led us," and "God gave us the victory," +and "Divine favour guided our footsteps," were frequent. When one is a +stranger of the Boers and unacquainted with the simple faith which they +place in Divine guidance, these religious manifestations may appear +inopportune in warfare, but it is necessary to observe the Boer burgher in +all his various actions and emotions to know that he is sincere in his +religious beliefs and that he endeavours to be a Christian in deed as well +as in word. + +The Boer army, like Cromwell's troopers, could fight as well as pray, but +in reality it was not a fighting organisation in the sense that warfare +was agreeable to the burghers. The Boer proved that he could fight when +there was a necessity for it, but to the great majority of them it was +heartrending to slay their fellow human beings. The Boer's hand was better +adapted to the stem of a pipe than to the stock of an army rifle, and he +would rather have been engaged in the former peaceful pursuit had he not +believed that it was a holy war in which he was engaged. That he was not +eager for fighting was displayed in a hundred different ways. He loved his +home more than the laagers at the front, and he took advantage of every +opportunity to return to his home and family. He lusted not for battle, +and he seldom engaged in one unless he firmly believed that success +depended partly upon his individual presence. He did not go into battle +because he had the lust of blood, for he abhorred the slaughter of men, +and it was not an extraordinary spectacle to see a Boer weeping beside the +corpse of a British soldier. On the field, after the Spion Kop battle, +where Boer guns did their greatest execution, there were scores of +bare-headed Boers who deplored the war, and amidst ejaculations of "Poor +Tommy," and "This useless slaughter," brushed away the tears that rolled +down over their brown cheeks and beards. Never a Boer was seen to exult +over a victory. They might say "That is good" when they heard of a Spion +Kop or a Magersfontein, but never a shout or any other of the ordinary +methods of expressing joy. The foreigners in the army frequently were +beside themselves with joy after victories, but the Boers looked stolidly +on and never took any part in the demonstrations. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE ARMY ORGANISATION + + +When the Boer goes on a lion-hunting expedition he must be thoroughly +acquainted with the game country; he must be experienced in the use of the +rifle, and he must know how to protect himself against the attacks of the +enemy. When he is thus equipped and he abandons lion-hunting for the more +strenuous life of war the Boer is a formidable enemy, for he has combined +in him the qualities of a general as well as the powers of a private +soldier. In lion-hunting the harm of having too many men in authority is +not so fatal to the success of the expedition as it is in real warfare, +where the enemy may have less generals but a larger force of men who will +obey their commands. All the successes of the Boer army were the result of +the fact that every burgher was a general, and to the same cause may be +attributed almost every defeat. Whenever this army of generals combined +and agreed to do a certain work it was successful, but it was unsuccessful +whenever the generals disagreed. If the opportunity had given birth to a +man who would have been accepted as general of the generals--a man was +needed who could introduce discipline and training into the rudimentary +military system of the country--the chances of the Boer success would have +been far greater. + +The leaders of the Boer army were elected by a vote of the people in the +same manner in which they chose their presidents and civil officials. Age, +ability, and military experience did not have any bearing on the subject +except in so far as they influenced the mind of the individual voter. +Family influences, party affiliations, and religion had a strong bearing +on the result of the elections, and, as is frequently the case with civil +authorities in other countries, the men with the best military minds and +experience were not always chosen. It was as a result of this system that +General Joubert was at the head of the army when a younger, more +energetic, and more warlike man should have been Commandant-General. At +the last election for Commandant-General, Joubert, a Progressive, also +received the support of the Conservatives, so that two years later he +might not be a candidate for the Presidency against Paul Kruger. In the +same manner the commandants of the districts and the field-cornets of the +wards were chosen, and in the majority of the cases no thought was taken +of their military ability at the time of the election. The voters of a +ward, the lowest political division in the country, elected their +field-cornet more with a view of having him administer the laws in times +of peace than with the idea of having him lead them into a battle, and in +like manner the election of a commandant for a district, which generally +consisted of five wards, was more of a victory for his popularity in peace +than for his presumed bravery in war. The Boer system of electing military +leaders by vote of the people may have had certain advantages, but it had +the negative advantage of effacing all traces of authority between +officers and men. The burgher who had assisted in electing his +field-cornet felt that that official owed him a certain amount of +gratitude for having voted for him, and obeyed his orders or disobeyed +them whenever he chose to do so. The field-cornet represented authority +over his men, but of real authority there was none. The commandants were +presumed to have authority over the field-cornets and the generals over +the commandants, but whether the authority was of any value could not be +ascertained until after the will of those in lower rank was discovered. By +this extraordinary process it happened that every burgher was a general +and that no general was greater than a burgher. + +[Illustration: ELECTING A FIELD-CORNET] + +The military officers of the Boers, with the exception of the +Commandant-General, were the same men who ruled the country in times of +peace. War suddenly transformed pruning-hooks into swords, and +conservators of peace into leaders of armies. The head of the army was the +Commandant-General, who was invested with full power to direct operations +and lead men. + +Directly under his authority were the Assistant Commandant-Generals, five +of whom were appointed by the Volksraad a short time before the beginning +of hostilities. Then in rank were those who were called Vecht-Generals, or +fighting generals, in order to distinguish them from the +Assistant-Generals. Then followed the Commandants, the leaders of the +field-cornets of one district, whose rank was about that of colonels. The +field-cornets, who were in command of the men of a ward, were under the +authority of a commandant, and ranked on a par with majors. The burghers +of every ward were subdivided into squads of about twenty-five men under +the authority of a corporal, whose rank was equal to that of a lieutenant. +There were no corps, brigades, regiments, and companies to call for +hundreds of officers; it was merely a commando, whether it had ten men or +ten thousand, and neither the subdivision nor the augmentation of a force +affected the list of officers in any way. Nor would such a multiplication +of officers weaken the fighting strength of a force, for every officer, +from Commandant-General to corporal, carried and used a rifle in every +battle. + +When the officers had their men on the field, and desired to make a +forward movement or an attack on the enemy, it was necessary to hold a +Krijgsraad, or council of war, and this was conducted in such a novel way +that the most unmilitary burgher's voice bore almost as much weight as +that of the Commandant-General. Every officer, from corporal to +Commandant-General, was a member of the Krijgsraad, and when a plan was +favoured by the majority of those present at the council it became a law. +The result of a Krijgsraad meeting did not necessarily imply that it was +the plan favoured by the best military minds at the council, for it was +possible and legal for the opinions of sixteen corporals to be adopted +although fifteen generals and commandants opposed the plan with all their +might. That there ever was such a result is problematical, but there were +many Krijgsraads at which the opinion of the best and most experienced +officers were cast aside by the votes of field-cornets and corporals. It +undoubtedly was a representative way of adopting the will of the people, +but it frequently was exceedingly costly. At the Krijgsraad in Natal which +determined to abandon the positions along the Tugela, and retire north of +Ladysmith the project was bitterly opposed by the generals who had done +the bravest and best fighting in the colony, but the votes of the +corporals, field-cornets, and commandants outnumbered theirs, and there +was nothing for the generals to do but to retire and allow Ladysmith to be +relieved. At Mafeking scores of Krijgsraad were held for the purpose of +arriving at a determination to storm the town, but invariably the +field-cornets and corporals out-voted the commandants and generals and +refused to risk the lives of their men in such a hazardous attack. Even +the oft-repeated commands of the Commandant-General to storm Mafeking were +treated with contempt by the majority of the Krijgsraad who constituted +the highest military authority in the country so far as they and their +actions were concerned. When there happened to be a deadlock in the +balloting at a Krijgsraad it was more than once the case that the vote of +the Commandant-General counted for less than the voice of a burgher. In +one of the minor Krijgsraads in Natal there was a tie in the voting, which +was ended when an old burgher called his corporal aside and influenced him +to change his vote. The Commandant-General himself had not been able to +change the result of the voting, but the old burgher who had no connection +with the council of war practically determined the result of the meeting. + +The Krijgsraad was the supreme military authority in the country, and its +resolutions were the law, all its infractions being punishable by fines. +The minority of a Krijgsraad was obliged to assist in executing the plans +of the majority, however impracticable or distasteful they might have been +to those whose opinions did not prevail. There were innumerable instances +where generals and commandants attended a Krijgsraad and afterward acted +quite contrary to the resolution adopted by the council. In any other army +such action would have been called disobedience of orders, with the +corresponding punishment, but in the Boer army it amounted to little +beyond personal animosity. According to Boer military law an officer +offending in such a manner should have been arraigned before the +Krijgsraad and tried by his fellow officers, but such occurrences were +extremely rare. + +One of the few instances where a man was arraigned before a Krijgsraad for +dereliction of duty was after the enemy succeeded in damaging one of the +"Long Tom's" around Ladysmith. + +The artillery officer who was in charge of the gun when the dynamite was +exploded in its muzzle was convicted of neglect of duty and was disgraced +before the army. After the battle of Belmont Vecht-General Jacob Prinsloo, +of the Free State, was court-martialled for cowardice and was reduced to +the rank of burgher. It was Prinsloo's first battle, and he was thoroughly +frightened. When some of his men came up to him and asked him for +directions to repel the advancing British force Prinsloo trembled, rubbed +his hands, and replied: "God only knows; I don't," and fled with all his +men at his heels. + +Two instances where commandants acted contrary to the decisions of +Krijgsraad were the costly disobedience of General Erasmus, at Dundee, and +the still more costly mistake of Commandant Buis at Hlangwe. When the +Boers invaded Natal and determined to attack the British forces then +stationed at the town of Dundee, it was decided at a Krijgsraad that +General Lucas Meyer should attack from the east and south, and General +Erasmus from the north. General Meyer occupied Talana Hill, east of +Dundee, and a kopje south of the town, and attacked General Penn-Symons's +forces at daybreak. General Erasmus and the Pretoria commando, with field +pieces and a "Long Tom," occupied Impati Mountain on the north, but when +the time arrived for him to assist in the attack on the enemy several +hundred yards below him he would not allow one shot to be fired. As a +result of the miscarriage of plans General Meyer was compelled to retire +from Talana Hill in the afternoon, while the British force was enabled to +escape southward into Ladysmith. If General Erasmus had followed the +decision of the Krijgsraad, and had assisted in the attack, there is +hardly any doubt that the entire force of the enemy would have been +captured. Even more disastrous was the disobedience of Commandant Buis, of +the Heidelberg commando, who was ordered to occupy a certain point on the +Boschrand, called Hlangwe, about February 19th. The British had tried for +several weeks to drive the Boers from the Boschrand, but all their +attempts proved fruitless. A certain commando had been holding Hlangwe for +a long time, and Commandant Buis was ordered to take his commando and +relieve the others by night. Instead of going to Hlangwe immediately that +night he bivouacked in a small nek near by, intending to occupy the +position early the following morning. During the night the British +discovered that the point was unoccupied and placed a strong force +there. In this manner the British wedge was forced into the Boschrand, and +shortly afterwards the Boers were obliged to retreat across the Tugela and +secure positions on the north bank of the stream. Of less serious +consequence was General De la Rey's refusal to carry out a decision he +himself had assisted in framing. It was at Brandfort, in the Free State, +several weeks after Bloemfontein was occupied, and all the Boer generals +in the vicinity met in Krijgsraad and voted to make a concerted attack +upon the British force at Tafelkop, midway between Bloemfontein and +Brandfort. Generals Smuts and Botha made a long night trek to the +positions from which they were to attack the enemy at daybreak. It had +been arranged that General De la Rey's commando should open the attack +from another point, and that no operations should begin until after he had +given a certain signal. The signal was never given, and, after waiting for +it several hours, the other generals returned to Brandfort only to find +that General De la Rey had not even moved from his laager. + +When the lower ranks of officers--the field-cornets and +corporals--disobeyed the mandates of the Krijgsraads, displayed cowardice +or misbehaved in any other manner, the burghers under their command were +able to impeach them and elect other officers to fill the vacancies. The +corporals were elected by the burghers after war was begun, and they held +their posts only so long as their behaviour met with the favour of those +who placed them in authority. During the first three months of the war +innumerable changes of that nature were made, and not infrequently was it +the case that a corporal was unceremoniously dismissed because he had +offended one of his men who happened to wield much influence over his +fellows in the commando. Personal popularity had much to do with the +tenure of office, but personal bravery was not allowed to go unrewarded, +and it happened several times in the laagers along the Tugela that a +corporal resigned his rank so that one of his friends who had +distinguished himself in a battle might have his work recognised and +appreciated. + +However independent and irresponsible the Boer officer may have been, he +was a man in irons compared with the Boer burgher. The burgher was bound +by no laws except such as he made for himself. There was a State law which +compelled him to join a commando and to accompany it to the front, or in +default of that law to pay a small fine. As soon as he was "on commando," +as he called it, he became his own master and could laugh at Mr. Atkins +across the way who was obliged to be constantly attending to various camp +duties when not actively engaged. No general, no act of Volksraad could +compel him to do any duty if he felt uninclined to perform it, and there +was no power on earth which could compel him to move out of his tent if he +did not desire to go. In the majority of countries a man may volunteer to +join the army but when once he is a soldier he is compelled to fight, but +in the Boer country the man was compelled to join the army, but he was not +obliged to fight unless he volunteered to do so. There were hundreds of +men in the Natal laagers who never engaged in one battle and never fired a +shot in the first six months of the war. Again, there were hundreds of men +who took part in almost every one of the battles, whether their commando +was engaged or not, but they joined the fighting voluntarily and not +because they were compelled to do so. + +When a Krijgsraad determined to make or resist an attack it was decided by +the officers at the meeting how many men were needed for the work. +Immediately after the meeting the officers returned to their commandos, +and, after explaining to their burghers the nature and object of the +expedition, asked for volunteers. The officer could not call upon certain +men and order them to take part in the purposed proceedings he could only +ask them to volunteer their services. It happened at times that an entire +commando of several hundred men volunteered to do the work asked of them, +but just as often it happened that only from one-tenth to one-twentieth of +the burghers expressed their willingness to accompany the expedition. +Several days after the Spion Kop battle General Botha called for four +hundred volunteers to assist in resisting an attack that it was feared +would be made. There were almost ten thousand men in the environs of +Ladysmith at that time, but it was with the utmost difficulty that the +four hundred men could be gathered. Two hundred men came from one +commando, one hundred and fifty-three from another, twenty-eight from a +third, fifteen from another, and five from another made a total of four +hundred and one men--one more than was called for. + +When Commandant-General Joubert, at his Hoofd--or head-laager at +Modderspruit, received an urgent request for reinforcements he was not +able to order one of the commandos that was in laager near him to go to +the assistance of the fighting burghers; he could only make a request of +the different commandants and field-cornets to ask their men to volunteer +for the service. If the men refused to go, then naturally the +reinforcements could not be sent, and those who were in dire need of +assistance had the alternative of continuing the struggle alone or of +yielding a position to the enemy. The relief of Ladysmith was due to the +fact that Generals Botha, Erasmus, and Meyer could not receive +reinforcements from Commandant-General Joubert, who was north of Ladysmith +with almost ten thousand men. Botha, Meyer, and Erasmus had been fighting +for almost a week without a day's intermission, and their two thousand men +were utterly exhausted when Joubert was asked to send reinforcements, or +even men enough to relieve those from fighting for a day or two, but a +Krijgsraad had decided that the entire army should retreat to the +Biggarsberg, and Joubert could not, or at least would not, send any +burghers to the Tugela, with the result that Botha was compelled to +retreat and abandon positions which could have been held indefinitely if +there had been military discipline in the commandos. It was not always the +case that commandants and generals were obliged to go begging for +volunteers, and there were innumerable times when every man of a commando +did the work assigned to him without a murmur. + +During the Natal campaign the force was so large, and the work seemed so +comparatively easy that the majority of the burghers never went to the +firing line, but when British successes in the Free State placed the Boers +on the defensive it was not so easy to remain behind in the laagers and +allow others more willing to engage in the fighting. General Cronje was +able to induce a much larger percentage of his men to fight than +Commandant-General Joubert, but the reasons for this were that he was much +firmer with his men and that he moved from one place to another more +frequently than Joubert. Towards the end of General Cronje's campaign all +his men were willing to enter a battle, but that was because they realised +that they must fight, and in that there was much that was lacking in the +Natal army. When a Boer realised that he must fight or lose his life or a +battle, he would fight as few other men were able to fight, but when he +imagined that his presence at the firing line was not imperative he chose +to remain in laager. + +[Illustration: KRIJGSRAAD, NEAR THABA N'CHU] + +There were hundreds of burghers who took part in almost every battle in +Natal, and these were the individuals who understood the frame of mind of +some of their countrymen, and determined that they must take upon +themselves the responsibilities of fighting and winning battles. Among +those who were most forward in fighting were the Johannesburg police, the +much-despised "Zarps" of peaceful times; the Pretoria commando, and the +younger men of other commandos. There were many old Boers who left their +laagers whenever they heard the report of a gun, but the ages of the great +majority of those who were killed or injured were between seventeen and +thirty years. After the British captured Bloemfontein, and the memorable +Krijgsraad at Kroonstad determined that guerilla warfare should be +followed thereafter, it was not an easy matter for a burgher to remain +behind in the laagers, for the majority of the ox-waggons and other camp +paraphernalia was sent home and laager life was not so attractive as +before. Commandos remained at one place only a short time, and there was +almost a daily opportunity for a brush with the enemy. The war had been +going on for six months, but many of the men had their first taste of +actual war as late as that, and, after the first battle had been safely +passed through, the following ones were thought of little consequence. +When General Christian De Wet began his campaign in the eastern part of +the Free State there were hardly enough men left in the laagers to guard +them properly when battles were in progress, and in the battles at +Sannaspost, Moester's Hoek, and Wepener probably ninety-nine per cent. of +his men took part in every battle. In Natal the real fighting spirit was +lacking from the majority of the men, or Commandant-General Joubert might +never have been wiped aside from the path to Durban; but months afterward, +when the burgher learned that his services were actually needed, and that, +if he did not fight, he was liable to be captured and sent to St. Helena, +he polished his Mauser and fought as hard and well as he was able. + +The same carelessness or indifference which manifested itself throughout +the early part of the Natal campaign with regard to the necessity of +assisting in the fighting was evident in that all-important part of an +army's work, the guarding of the laagers. The Boers did not have sentries +or outposts as they are understood in trained armies, but they had what +was called a "Brandwacht," or fire-guard, which consisted of a hundred men +or more who were supposed to take positions at a certain distance from the +laagers, and remain there until daybreak. These men were volunteers +secured by the corporal, who was responsible to his field-cornet for a +certain number of men every night. It was never made compulsory upon any +one to go on Brandwacht, but the duty was not considered irksome, and +there were always as many volunteers as were required for the work. + +The men on Brandwacht carried with them blankets, pipes, and kettles, and, +after reaching the point which they were to occupy during the night, they +tethered their horse to one of their feet and made themselves comfortable +with pipe and coffee. When the enemy was known to be near by the +Brandwacht kept awake, as a matter of personal safety, but when there +seemed to be no danger of attack he fastened his blankets around his body +and, using his saddle for a pillow, slept until the sun rose. There was a +mild punishment for those who slept while on this duty, and occasionally +the burgher found in the morning that some one had extracted the bolt of +his rifle during the night. When the corporal produced the bolt as +evidence against him in the morning and sentenced him to carry a stone or +a box of biscuits on his head the burgher might decline to be punished, +and no one could say aught against his determination. + +The Boer scouts, or spies as they called them, received their finest +tribute from Sir George White, the British Commander at Ladysmith. In a +speech which he delivered at Cape Town, Sir George said-- + +"All through this campaign, from the first day the Boers crossed the +frontier to the relief of Ladysmith, I and others who have been in command +near me, have been hampered by their excellent system of intelligence, for +which I give them all credit. I wish to goodness that they had neglected +it, for I could not move a gun, even if I did not give the order till +midnight, but they knew it by daylight next morning. And they had their +agents, who gave them their intelligence through thick and thin. I locked +up everybody who I thought could go and tell, but somehow or other the +intelligence went on." + +The Boer was an effective scout because he was familiar with the country, +and because his eyes were far better than those of any of the men against +whom he was pitted. The South African atmosphere is extraordinarily clear, +and every person has a long range of vision, but the Boer, who was +accustomed to the climatic conditions, could distinguish between Boer and +Briton where the stranger could barely see a moving object. Field-glasses +were almost valueless to Boer scouts, and few of them were carried by any +one except the generals and commandants, who secured them from the War +Department before the beginning of the war. There was no distinct branch +of the army whose exclusive duty it was to scout, and there was even +greater lack of organisation in the matter of securing information +concerning the movements of the enemy than in the other departments of the +army's work. When a general or commandant felt that it was necessary to +secure accurate information concerning the enemy's strength and +whereabouts he asked for volunteers to do the work. Frequently, during the +Natal campaign, no scouting was done for days, and the generals were +absolutely ignorant of everything in connection with the enemy. Later in +the campaign several scouting corps composed of foreign volunteers were +organised, and thereafter the Boers depended wholly upon the information +they secured. There was no regulation which forbade burghers from leaving +the laagers at any time, or from proceeding in any direction, and much of +the information that reached the generals was obtained from these rovers +over the veld. It was extremely difficult for a man who did not have the +appearance of a burgher to ride over the veld for more than a mile without +being hailed by a Boer who seemed to have risen out of the earth +unnoticed. "Where are you going?" or "Where are you coming from?" were his +invariable salutations, and if the stranger was unable to give a +satisfactory reply or show proper passports he was commanded, "Hands up." +The burghers were constantly on the alert when they were on the veld, +whether they were merely wandering about, leaving for home, or returning +to the laager, and as soon as they secured any information which they +believed was valuable they dashed away to the nearest telegraph or +heliograph station, and reported it to their general or commandant. In +addition to this valuable attribute the Boers had the advantage of being +among white and black friends who could assist them in a hundred different +ways in securing information concerning the enemy, and all these +circumstances combined to warrant General White's estimate of the Boers' +intelligence department, which, notwithstanding its efficiency, was more +or less chimerical. + +In no department or branch of the army was there any military discipline +or system, except in the two small bodies of men known as the State +Artillery of the Transvaal and the State Artillery of the Free State. +These organisations were in existence many years before the war was begun, +and had regular drills and practice which were maintained when they were +at the front. The Johannesburg Police also had a form of discipline which, +however, was not strict enough to prevent the men from becoming mutinous +when they imagined that they had fought the whole war themselves, and +wanted to have a vacation in order that they might visit their homes. The +only vestige of real military discipline that was to be found in the +entire Boer army was that which was maintained by Field-Cornet A.L. +Thring, of the Kroonstad commando, who had a roll-call and inspection of +rifles every morning. This extraordinary procedure was not relished by the +burghers, who made an indignant protest to General Christian De Wet. The +general upheld the field-cornet's action, and told the men that if all the +officers had instituted similar methods more success might have attended +the army's operations. + +With the exception of the instances cited, every man was a disciplinary +law unto himself, and when he transgressed that law no one would punish +him but his conscience. There were laws on the subject of obedience in the +army, and each had penalties attached to it, but it was extremely rare +that a burgher was punished. When he endured discipline he did it because +he cared to do so, and not because he feared those who had authority over +him. He was deeply religious, and he felt that in being obedient he was +finding favour in the eyes of the Providence that favoured his cause. It +was as much his religion as his ability to aim unerringly that made the +Boer a good soldier. If the Boer army had been composed of an irreligious, +undisciplined body of men, instead of the psalm-singing farmers, it would +have been conquered by itself. The religion of the Boers was their +discipline. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE BOER MILITARY SYSTEM + + +The disparity between the British and Boer armies seemed to be so great at +the time the war was begun that the patriotic Englishman could hardly be +blamed for asserting that the struggle would be of only a month's +duration. On the one side was an army every branch of which was highly +developed and specialised and kept in constant practice by many wars waged +under widely different conditions. Back of it was a great nation, with +millions of men and unlimited resources to draw upon. At the head of the +army were men who had the theory and practice of warfare as few leaders of +other armies had had the opportunities of securing them. Opposed to this +army was practically an aggregation of farmers, hastily summoned together +and utterly without discipline or training. They were unable to replace +with another a single fallen burgher and prevented from adding by +importation to their stock of ammunition a single rifle or a single pound +of powder. At the head were farmers who, perhaps, did not know that there +existed a theory of warfare and much less knew how recent wars were fought +and won. The means by which thirty thousand farmers of no military +training were enabled to withstand the opposition of several hundred +thousand well-trained soldiers for the greater part of a year must be +attributed to the military system which gave such a marvellous advantage. +Such success as attended the Boer army was undoubtedly the success of its +system of warfare against that of the British. + +[Illustration: BOER COMMANDANTS READING MESSAGE FROM BRITISH OFFICERS +AFTER THE BATTLE OF DUNDEE] + +The Boers themselves were not aware that they had a military system; at +least, none of the generals or men acknowledged the existence of such, and +it was not an easy matter to find evidences that battles were fought and +movements made according to certain established rules which suggested a +system. The Boers undoubtedly had a military plan of their own which was +naturally developed in their many wars with natives and with the British +troops. It might not have been a system, according to the correct +definition of the term--it might have been called an instinct for +fighting, or a common-sense way of attempting to defeat an enemy--but it +was a matter which existed in the mind of every single citizen of the two +Republics. It was not to be learned from books or teachers, nor could it +be taught to those who were not born in the country. Whatever that system +was, it was extremely rudimentary, and was never developed to any extent +by the discipline and training which any system necessarily requires in +order to make it effective. There was a natural system or manner used by +the Boers when hunting for lion or buck, and it was identically the same +which they applied against the British army. Every Boer was expert in the +use of his rifle; he had an excellent eye for country and cover; he was +able to tell at a glance whether a hill or an undulation in the ground was +suitable for fighting purposes, whether it could be defended and whether +it offered facilities for attack or retreat. Just as every Boer was a +general, so it was that every burgher had in his mind a certain military +plan fashioned after the needs and opportunities of the country, and this +was their system--a sort of national as well as natural military system. + +In the British army, as well as in the other modern armies, the soldier is +supposed to understand nothing, know nothing, and do nothing but give +obedience to the commands of his officers. The trained soldier learns +little, and is supposed to learn little, of anything except the evolutions +he is taught on the drill-grounds. It is presumed that he is stupid, and +the idea appears to be to prevent him from being otherwise in order that +he may the better fulfil his part in the great machine to which a trained +army has been likened. The soldier is regarded as an animal of low mental +grade, whose functions are merely to obey the orders of the man who has +been chosen by beings of superior intelligence to lead him. When the man +who was chosen in times of peace to lead the men in times of war meets the +enemy and fails to make a display of the military knowledge which it was +presumed he possessed, then the soldiers who look to him for leadership +are generally useless, and oftentimes worse than useless, inasmuch as +their panic is likely to become infectious among neighbouring bodies of +soldiers who are equipped with better leaders. In trained armies the value +of a soldier is a mere reflection of the value of the officer who commands +him, and the value of the army is relatively as great as the ability of +its generals. In the Boer army the generals and commandants were of much +less importance, for the reason that the Boer burgher acted almost always +on his own initiative. The generals were of more service before the +beginning of a battle than while it was in progress. When a burgher became +aware of the presence of the enemy his natural instincts, his innate +military system, told him the best manner in which to attack his adversary +as well as his general could have informed him. The generals and other +officers were of prime importance in leading the burghers to the point +where the enemy was likely to be found, but when that point was reached +their period of usefulness ended, for the burghers knew how to wage the +battle as well as they did. Generally speaking, the most striking +difference between the Boer army and a trained army was the difference in +the distribution of intelligence. + +All the intelligence of a trained army is centred in the officers; in the +Boer army there was much practical military sense and alertness of mind +distributed throughout the entire force. + +Mr. Disraeli once said: "Doubtless to think with vigour, with clearness, +and with depth in the recess of a cabinet is a fine intellectual +demonstration; but to think with equal vigour, clearness, and depth among +bullets, appears the loftiest exercise and the most complete triumph of +the human faculties." Without attempting to insinuate that every Boer +burgher was a man of the high mental attainments referred to by the +eminent British statesman, it must be acknowledged that the fighting Boer +was a man of more than ordinary calibre. + +In battle the Boer burgher was practically his own general. He had an eye +which quickly grasped a situation, and he never waited for an order from +an officer to take advantage of it. When he saw that he could with safety +approach the enemy more closely he did so on his own responsibility, and +when it became evident to him that it would be advantageous to occupy a +different position in order that he might stem the advance of the enemy he +acted entirely on his own initiative. He remained in one position just as +long as he considered it safe to do so, and if conditions warranted he +went forward, and if they were adverse he retreated, whether there was an +order from an officer or not. When he saw that the burghers in another +part of the field were hard pressed by the enemy he deserted his own +position and went to their assistance, and when his own position became +untenable, in his own opinion, he simply vacated it and went to another +spot where bullets and shells were less thick. If he saw a number of the +enemy who were detached from the main body of their own force, and he +believed that they could be taken prisoner, he enlisted a number of the +burghers who were near him, and made an effort to capture them, whether +there was an officer close at hand or a mile distant. + +No one was surfeited with orders; in fact, the lack of them was more +noticeable, and it was well that it was so, for the Boer burgher disliked +to be ordered, and he always did things with better grace when he acted +spontaneously. An illustration of this fact was an incident at the fight +of Modderspruit where two young Boers saved an entire commando from +falling into the hands of the enemy. Lieutenant Oelfse, of the State +Artillery, and Reginald Sheppard, of the Pretoria commando, observed a +strong force of the British advancing towards a kopje where the +Krugersdorp commando was concealed. The two men saw that the +Krugersdorpers would be cut off in a short time if they were not informed +of the British advance, so they determined to plunge across the open veld, +six hundred yards from the enemy's guns, and tell them of their danger. No +officer could have compelled the men to undertake such a hazardous journey +across a bullet-swept plain, but Oelfse and Sheppard acted on their own +responsibility, succeeded in reaching the Krugersdorp commando without +being hit, and gave to the commandant the information which undoubtedly +saved him and his men from being captured. Incidents of like nature +occurred in almost every battle of the campaign, and occasionally the +service rendered so voluntarily by the burghers was of momentous +consequences, even if the act itself seemed trivial at the time. + +A second feature of the Boer army, and equally as important as the freedom +of action of its individuals, was its mobility. Every burgher was mounted +on a fleet horse or pony, and consequently his movements on the +battlefield, whether in an advance or in a retreat, were many times more +rapid that those of his enemy--an advantage which was of inestimable value +both during an engagement and in the intervals between battles when it was +necessary to secure new positions. During the progress of a battle the +Boers were able to desert a certain point for a time, mount their horses +and ride to another position, and throw their full strength against the +latter, yet remaining in such close touch with the former that it was +possible to return and defend it in an exceedingly short space of time. +With the aid of their horses they could make such a sudden rush from one +position to another that the infantry of the enemy could be surrounded and +cut off from all communications with the body of its army almost before it +was known that any Boers were in the vicinity, and it was due to that fact +that the Boers were able to make so many large numbers of captives. + +The fighting along the Tugela furnished many magnificent examples of the +Boers' extreme mobility. There it was a constant jump from one position to +another--one attack here yesterday, another there to-day. It was an +incessant movement made necessary by the display of energy by the British, +whose thrice-larger forces kept the Boers in a state of continued +ferment. On one side of the river, stretched out from the south of Spion +Kop, in the west, to almost Helpmakaar, in the east, were thirty thousand +British troops watching for a weak point where they might cross, and +attacking whenever there seemed to be the slightest opportunity of +breaking through; on the other side were between two and three thousand +mounted Boers, jumping from one point to another in the long line of +territory to be guarded, and repelling the attacks whenever they were +made. The country was in their favour, it is true, but it was not so +favourable that a handful of men could defend it against thousands, and it +was partly due to the great ease and rapidity with which the Boers could +move from one place to another, that Ladysmith remained besieged so long. +The mobility of the Boers was again well demonstrated by the retreat of +the burghers from the environs of Ladysmith. After the Krijgsraad decided +to withdraw the forces into the Biggarsberg, it required only a few hours +for all the many commandos to leave the positions they had held so long; +to load their impedimenta and to be well on the way to the northward. The +departure was so rapid that it surprised even those who were in +Ladysmith. One day the Boers were shelling the town as usual and all the +commandos were observed in the same positions which they had occupied for +several months; the following day not a single Boer was to be seen +anywhere. They had quietly mounted their horses by night and before the +sun rose in the morning they were trekking north beyond Modderspruit and +Elandslaagte, on the way to Glencoe. General Cronje's flight from +Magersfontein was also accomplished with great haste and in good order, +but what probably was the finest example of the Boers' mobility was the +magnificent retreat along the Basuto border of Generals Grobler, Olivier, +and Lemmer, with their six thousand men, when the enemy was known to be in +great strength within several days' march of them. After the capture of +Cronje at Paardeberg the three generals, who had been conducting the +campaign in the eastern provinces of Cape Colony, were in a most dangerous +position, having the enemy in the rear, the left and left front, the +neutral Basuto land on the right front, and only a small strip of +territory along the western border of the Basuto country apparently free +of the enemy. The British were in Bloemfontein and in the surrounding +country, and it seemed almost impossible that the six thousand men could +ever extricate themselves from such a position to join the Boer forces in +the north. It would have been a comparatively easy matter for six thousand +mounted men to make the journey if they had not been loaded down with +impedimenta, but the three generals were obliged to carry with them all +their huge transport waggons and heavy camping paraphernalia. The trek +northward was begun near Colesburg on March 12th, and when all the +different commandos had joined the main column the six thousand horsemen, +the seven hundred and fifty transport-waggons, the two thousand natives, +and twelve thousand cattle formed a line extending more than twenty-four +miles. The scouts, who were despatched westward from the column to +ascertain the whereabouts of the enemy, reported large forces of British +cavalry sixty and seventy miles distant, but for some inexplicable reason +the British made no attempt to cut off the retreat of the three generals, +and on March 28th they reached Kroonstad, having traversed almost four +hundred miles of territory in the comparatively short time of sixteen +days. Sherman's march to the sea was made under extraordinary conditions, +but the retreat of the three generals was fraught with dangers and +difficulties much greater. Sherman passed through a fertile country, and +had an enemy which was disheartened. The three generals had an enemy +flushed with its first victories, while the country through which they +passed was mountainous and muddy. If the column had been captured so soon +after the Paardeberg disaster, the relief of Kimberley and the relief of +Ladysmith, it might have been so disheartening to the remaining Boer +commandos that the war might have been ended at that time. It was a +magnificent retreat and well worthy to be placed in the Boer's scroll of +honour with Cronje's noble stand at Paardeberg, with Spion Kop and +Magersfontein. + +[Illustration: GENERAL GROBLER] + +The Boer army was capable of moving rapidly under almost any +conditions. The British army demonstrated upon many occasions that it +could not move more than two or three miles an hour when the column was +hampered with transport waggons and camping paraphernalia, and frequently +it was impossible to proceed at that pace for many consecutive hours. A +Boer commando easily travelled six miles an hour and not infrequently, +when there was a necessity for rapid motion, seven and even eight miles an +hour were traversed. When General Lucas Meyer moved his commandos along +the border at the outset of the war and learned that General Penn-Symons +was located at Dundee he made a night march of almost forty miles in six +hours and occupied Talana Hill, a mile distant from the enemy, who was +ignorant of the Boers' proximity until the camp was shelled at daybreak. +When General De Wet learned that Colonel Broadwood was moving westward +from Thaba N'Chu on March 30th, he was in laager several miles east of +Brandfort, but it required only several minutes for all the burghers to be +on their horses and ready to proceed toward the enemy. The journey of +twenty-five miles to Sannaspost, or the Bloemfontein waterworks, was made +in the short time of five hours, while Colonel Broadwood's forces consumed +seven hours in making the ten miles' journey from Thaba N'Chu to the same +place. The British column was unable to move more rapidly on account of +its large convoy of waggons, but even then the rate of progress was not as +great as that made by the trekking party of the three generals who were +similarly hampered. It was rarely the case that the Boers attempted to +trek for any considerable distance with their heavy waggons when they were +aware of the presence of the enemy in the vicinity. Ox-waggons were always +left behind, while only a small number of mule-waggons, bearing provisions +and ammunition, were taken, and on that account they were able to move +with greater rapidity than their opponents. Frequently they entered +dangerous territory with only a few days' provisions and risked a famine +of food and ammunition rather than load themselves down with many +lumbering waggons which were likely to retard their progress. After +fighting the battle at Moester's Hoek, General De Wet had hardly three +days' food and very little ammunition with him, yet rather than delay his +march and send for more waggons, he proceeded to Wepener where, after +several days' fighting, both his food and ammunition became exhausted and +he was obliged to lie idle around the enemy and await the arrival of the +supplies which he might have carried with him at the outset of the trek if +he had cared to risk such an impediment to his rapid movements. + +One of the primary reasons why the Boer could move more rapidly than the +British was the difference in the weight carried by their horses. The Boer +paid no attention to art when he went to war, and consequently he carried +nothing that was not absolutely essential. His saddle was less than half +the weight of a British saddle, and that was almost all the equipment he +carried when on a trek. The Boer rider and equipment, including saddle, +rifle, blankets, and a food-supply, rarely weighed more than two hundred +and fifty pounds, which was not a heavy load for a horse to carry. A +British cavalryman and his equipment of heavy saddle, sabre, carbine, and +saddle-bags, rarely weighed less than four hundred pounds--a burden which +soon tired a horse. Again, almost every Boer had two horses, so that when +one had been ridden for an hour or more he was relieved and led, while the +other was used. In this manner the Boers were able to travel from twelve +to fourteen hours in a day when it was absolutely necessary to reach a +certain point at a given time. Six miles an hour was the rate of progress +ascribed to horses in normal condition, and when a forced march was +attempted they could travel sixty and seventy miles in a day, and be in +good condition the following morning to undertake another journey of equal +length. Small commandos often covered sixty and seventy miles in a day, +especially during the fighting along the Tugela, while after the battles +of Poplar Grove and Abraham's Kraal, and the capture of Bloemfontein, it +seemed as if the entire army in the Free State were moving northward at a +rate of speed far exceeding that of an express train. The mobility of the +Boer army was then on a par with that of the British army after the battle +of Dundee, and it was difficult to determine which of the two deserved the +palm for the best display of accelerated motion. + +A feature of the Boer system of warfare which was most striking was the +manner in which each individual protected himself, as far as possible, +from danger. In lion-hunting it is an axiom that the hunter must not +pursue a wounded lion into tall grass or underbrush lest the pursuer may +be attacked. In the Boer army it was a natural instinct, common to all the +burghers, which led them to seek their own safety whenever danger seemed +to be near. Men who follow the most peaceful pursuits of life value their +lives highly. They do not assume great risks even if great ends are to be +attained. The majority of the Boers were farmers who saw no glory in +attempting to gain a great success, the attainment of which made it +necessary that they should risk their lives. It seemed as if each man +realised that his death meant a great loss to the Boer army, already +small, and that he did not mean to diminish its size if he could possibly +prevent it. The Boer was quick in noting when the proper time arrived for +retreat, and he was not slothful in acting upon his observations. +Retreating at the proper time was one of the Boers' characteristics, but +it could not be called an advantage, for frequently many of the Boers +misjudged the proper time for retreating and left the field when a battle +was almost won. At Poplar Grove the Boers might have won the day if the +majority of the burghers had remained and fought an hour or two longer +instead of retreating precipitately when the individuals determined that +safety was to be found only in flight. At Elandslaagte the foreigners +under General Kock did not gauge the proper moment for retreat, but +continued with the fighting and were almost annihilated by the Lancers +because of their lack of discretion in that respect. The burghers of the +Free State, in particular, had the instinct of retreating abnormally +developed, and whenever a battle was in progress large numbers of burghers +could be observed going in an opposite direction as rapidly as their +ponies could carry them over the veld. The lack of discipline in the +commandos made such practices possible; in fact there was no rule or law +by which a burgher could be prevented from retreating or deserting +whenever he felt that he did not care to participate in a battle. After +the British occupation of Bloemfontein there was a small skirmish about +eight miles north of that city at a place called Tafelkop which sent the +Free Staters running in all directions. The veld seemed to be filled with +deserters, and at every farmhouse there were from two to six able-bodied +men who had retreated when they believed themselves to be in grave danger. + +Foolish men attribute all the moral courage in the world to the soldiers +of their own country, but nature made a wise distribution of that gift, +and not all the Boers were cowards. Boer generals with only a few hundred +men time and again attacked thousands of British soldiers, and frequently +vanquished them. General Botha's twenty-five hundred men held out for a +week against General Buller's thirty or forty thousand men, and General +Cronje with his four thousand burghers succumbed to nothing less than +forty thousand men and a hundred and fifty heavy guns under Field-Marshal +Lord Roberts. Those two examples of Boer bravery would suffice to prove +that the South African farmers had moral courage of no mean order if there +were not a thousand and one other splendid records of bravery. The +burghers did not always lie behind their shelter until the enemy had come +within several hundred yards and then bowl them over with deadly accuracy. +At the Platrand fight near Ladysmith, on January 6th, the Boers charged +and captured British positions, drove the defenders out, and did it so +successfully that only a few Boers were killed. The Spion Kop fight, a +second Majuba Hill, was won after one of the finest displays of moral +courage in the war. It requires bravery of the highest type for a small +body of men to climb a steep hill in the face of the enemy which is three +times greater numerically and armed with larger and more guns, yet that +was the case with the Boers at Spion Kop. There were but few battles in +the entire campaign that the Boer forces were not vastly outnumbered by +the enemy, who usually had from twice to twenty times their number of +cannon, yet the burghers were well aware of the fact and did not allow it +to interfere with their plans nor did they display great temerity in +battling with such a foe. When Lord Roberts and his three thousand cavalry +entered Jacobsdal there were less than one hundred armed Boers in the +town, but they made a determined stand against the enemy, and in a +street-fight a large percentage of the burghers fell, and their blood +mingled with that of those they had slain. Large bodies of Boers rarely +attacked, and never resisted the enemy on level stretches of veld, not +because they lacked courage to do so, but because they saw the futility of +such action. After the British drove the Boers out of the kopjes east and +north-east of Bloemfontein the burghers had no broken country suited to +their particular style of warfare, and they retreated to the Vaal without +much effort to stop the advance of the enemy. The Boer generals knew that +the British were equipped with innumerable cannon, which could sweep the +level veld for several miles before them and make the ground untenable for +the riflemen--the mainstay of the Boer army. + +[Illustration: SPION KOP, WHERE BOERS CHARGED UP THE HILLSIDE] + +When they were on hills the Boers were able to entrench themselves so +thoroughly that the fire of several hundred heavy guns made hardly any +impression on them, but as soon as they attempted to apply those tactics +on level ground the results were most disastrous. At Colenso and +Magersfontein the burghers remained in their trenches on the hills while +thousands of shrapnel and other shells exploded above and around them, but +very few men were injured, and when the British infantry advanced under +cover of the shell fire the Boers merely remained in the trenches until +the enemy had approached to within several hundred yards and then assailed +them with rifle fire. Trenches always afforded perfect safety from shell +fire, and on that account the Boers were able to cope so long and well +with the British in the fighting along the Tugela and around Kimberley. +The Boers generally remained quietly in their trenches and made no reply +to the British cannon fire, however hot it was. The British generals +several times mistook this silence as an indication that the Boers had +evacuated the trenches, and sent forward bodies of infantry to occupy the +positions. When the infantry reached the Boer zone of fire they usually +met with a terrific Mauser fire that could not be stemmed, however gallant +the attacks might have been. Hundreds of British soldiers lost their lives +while going forward under shell fire to occupy a position which, it was +presumed by the generals, was unoccupied by the Boers. + +There were innumerable instances, also, of extraordinarily brave acts by +individual burghers, but it was extremely difficult to hear of them owing +to the Boers' disinclination to discuss a battle in its details. No Boer +ever referred to his exploits or those of his friends of his own volition, +and then only in the most indefinite manner. He related the story of a +battle in much the same manner he told of the tilling of his fields or the +herding of his cattle, and when there was any part of it pertaining to his +own actions he passed it over without comment. It seemed as if every one +was fighting, not for his own glorification, but for the success of his +country's army, and consequently there was little hero-worship. Individual +acts of bravery entitled the fortunate person to have his name mentioned +in the _Staats-Courant_, the Government gazette, but hardly any attention +was paid to the search for heroes, and only the names of a few men were +even chronicled in the columns of that periodical. One of the bravest men +in the Natal campaign was a young Pretoria burgher named Van Gas, who, in +his youth, had an accident which made it necessary that his right arm +should be amputated at the elbow. Later in life he was injured in one of +the native wars and the upper arm was amputated, so that when he joined a +commando he had only the left arm. It was an extraordinary spectacle to +observe young Van Gaz holding his carbine between his knees while loading +it with cartridges, and quite as strange to see the energy with which he +discharged his rifle with one hand. He was in the van of the storming +party at Spion Kop, where a bullet passed completely through his chest. He +continued, however, to work his rifle between his knees and to shoot with +his left arm, and was one of the first men to reach the summit of the +hill, where he snatched the rifles from the hands of two British +soldiers. After the battle was won he was carried to a hospital by several +other burghers, but a month afterwards he was again at the front at the +Tugela, going into exposed positions and shouting, "Come on, fellows, here +is a good chance!" His companions desired to elect him as their +field-cornet, but he refused the honour. + +Evert Le Roux and Herculaas Nel, of the Swaziland Police, and two of the +best scouts in the Boer army, were constantly engaged in recklessly daring +enterprises, none of which, however, was quite equal to their actions on +April 21st, when the vicinity of Ladysmith had been in British hands for +almost two months. The two men went out on patrol and by night crept up a +kopje behind which about three hundred British cavalrymen were +bivouacking. The men were twenty miles distant from their laagers at +Dundee and only a short distance from Ladysmith, but they lay down and +slept on the other side of the kopje, less than a hundred yards from the +cavalrymen. In the morning the British cavalry was divided into three +squads, and all started for Ladysmith. Le Roux and Nel swept down toward +the last squad, and called, "Hands up," to one of the men in the van. The +cavalryman promptly held up his hands and a minute afterward surrendered +his gun and himself, while the remainder of the squad fled precipitately. +The two scouts, with their prisoner, quickly made a _detour_ of another +kopje, and appeared in front of the first squad, of whom they made a +similar demand. One of the cavalrymen, who was in advance of the others, +surrendered without attempting to make any resistance, while the others +turned quickly to the right and rode headlong into a deep sluit. Le Roux +shot the horse of one of the men before he reached the sluit, loaded the +unhorsed man on one of the other prisoner's horses, and then pursued the +fleeing cavalrymen almost to the city-limits of Ladysmith. + +Major Albrecht, the head of the Free State-Artillery, was one of the +bravest men in General Cronje's commando, and his display of courage at +the battle of Magersfontein was not less extraordinary than that which he +made later in the river bed at Paardeberg. At Magersfontein Albrecht and +two of his artillerymen operated the cannon which were located behind +schanzes twenty feet apart. The British had more than thirty cannon, which +they turned upon the Boer cannon whenever one of them was discharged. +After a short time the fire became so hot that Albrecht sent his +assistants to places of safety, and operated the guns alone. For eight +hours the intrepid Free State artilleryman jumped from one cannon to +another, returning the fire whenever there was a lull in the enemy's +attack and seeking safety behind the schanze when shells were falling too +rapidly. It was an uneven contest, but the bravery of the one man inspired +the others, and the end of the day saw the Boers nearer victory than they +were in the morning. At Tafelkop, on March 30th, three burghers were +caught napping by three British soldiers, who suddenly appeared before +them and shouted, "Hands up!" While the soldiers were advancing toward +them the three burghers succeeded in getting their rifles at their +captors' heads, and turned the tables by making prisoners of them. There +were many such instances of bravery, but one that is almost incredible +occurred at the place called Railway Hill, near the Tugela, on February +24th. On that day the Boers did not appear to know anything concerning the +position of the enemy, and James Marks, a Rustenburg farmer, determined to +go out of the laager and reconnoitre on his own responsibility. Marks was +more than sixty-two years old, and was somewhat decrepit, a circumstance +which did not prevent him from taking part in almost every one of the +Natal battles, however. The old farmer had been absent from his laager +less than an hour when he saw a small body of British soldiers at the foot +of a kopje. He crept cautiously around the kopje, and, when he was within +a hundred yards of the men, he shouted, "Hands up!" The soldiers +immediately lifted their arms, and, in obedience to the orders of Marks, +stacked their guns on a rock and advanced toward him. Marks placed the men +in a line, saw that there were twenty-three big, able-bodied soldiers, and +then marched them back into camp, to the great astonishment of his +generals and fellow burghers. + +[Illustration: PLAN OF BATTLEFIELD OF SANNASPOST] + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE BOERS IN BATTLE + + +The battle of Sannaspost on March 31st was one of the few engagements in +the campaign in which the forces of the Boers and the British were almost +numerically equal. There were two or three small battles in which the +Boers had more men engaged than the British, but in the majority of +instances the Boers were vastly outnumbered both in men and guns. At +Elandslaagte the Boers had exactly seven hundred and fifty burghers pitted +against the five or six thousand British; Spion Kop was won from three +thousand British by three hundred and fifty Boers; at the Tugela Botha +with not more than twenty-six hundred men fought for more than a week +against ten times that number of soldiers under General Buller; while the +greatest disparity between the opposing forces was at Paardeberg, where +Cronje spent a week in trying to lead his four thousand men through the +encircling wall of forty or fifty thousand British soldiers. + +Sannaspost was not a decisive battle of the war, since no point of great +strategical importance was at stake, but it was more in the nature of a +demonstration of what the Boers were able to do when they were opposed to +a force of equal strength. It was a test which was equally fair to both +contestants, and neither of them could reasonably claim to have possessed +an advantage over the other a day before the battle was fought. The +British commander, Colonel Broadwood, had seventeen hundred men in his +column, and General De Wet was at the head of about two hundred and fifty +less than that number, but the strength of the forces was equalised by the +Boer general's intimate knowledge of the country. Colonel Broadwood was +experienced in Indian, Egyptian, and South African warfare, and the +majority of his soldiers were seasoned in many battles. De Wet and his men +were fresh from Poplar Grove, Abraham's Kraal, and the fighting around +Kimberley, but they were not better nor worse than the average of the Boer +burghers. The British commander was hampered by a large transport train, +but he possessed the advantage of more heavy guns than his adversary. All +in all, the two forces were equally matched when they reached the +battlefield. + +The day before the battle General De Wet and his men were in laager +several miles east of Brandfort, whither they had fled after the fall of +Bloemfontein. His scouts brought to him the information that a small +British column was stationed in the village of Thaba N'Chu, forty miles to +the east, and he determined to march thither and attack it. He gave the +order, "Opzaal!" and in less than eight minutes every one of his burghers +was on his horse, armed, provided with two days' rations of biltong, +biscuit, coffee, and sugar, and ready to proceed. De Wet himself leaped +into a light, ramshackle four-wheeler, and led the advance over the dusty +veld. Without attempting to proceed with any semblance of military order, +the burghers followed in the course of their leader, some riding rapidly, +others walking beside their horses, and a few skirmishing far away on the +veld for buck. The mule-teams dragging the artillery and the ammunition +waggons were not permitted by their hullabalooing Basuto drivers to lag +far behind the general, and the dust which was raised by this long +cavalcade was not unlike the clouds of locusts which were frequently +mistaken for the signs of a trekking commando. Mile after mile was rapidly +traversed, until darkness came on, when a halt was made so that the +burghers might prepare a meal, and that the general might hear from the +scouts, who were far in advance of the body. After the men and horses had +eaten, and the moon rose over the dark peak of Thaba N'Chu mountain, the +burghers lighted their pipes and sang psalms and hymns until the peaceful +valley resounded with their voices. + +[Illustration: VILLAGE AND MOUNTAIN OF THABA N'CHU] + +Panting horses brought to the little stone farmhouse, where General De Wet +was drinking milk, the long-awaited scouts who carried the information +that the British force had evacuated Thaba N'Chu late in the afternoon, +and that it was moving hurriedly toward Bloemfontein. Again the order: +"Opzaal," and the mule train came into motion and the burghers mounted +their horses. A chill night air arose, and shivering burghers wrapped +blankets around their shoulders. The humming of hymns and the whistling +ceased, and there was nothing but the clatter of horses' hoofs, the shouts +of the Basutos, and the noises of the guns and waggons rumbling over the +stones and gullies to mark the nocturnal passage of the army. Lights +appeared at farmhouse windows, and at their gates were women and children +with bread and bowls of milk and prayers for the burghers. Small walls +enclosing family burial plots where newly-dug ground told its own story of +the war seemed grim in the moonlight; native huts with their inhabitants +standing like spectres before the doors appeared like monstrous +ant-heaps--all these were passed, but the drooping eyes of the burghers +saw nothing. At midnight another halt was made, horses were off-saddled +and men lay down on the veld to sleep. The generals and officers met in +Krijgsraad, and other scouts arriving told of the enemy's evident +intention of spending the remainder of the night at an old-time +off-saddling station known as Sannaspost. The news was highly important, +and the heads of the generals came closer together. Maps were produced, +pencil marks were made, plans were formed, and then the sleeping burghers +were aroused. The trek was resumed, and shortly afterward the column was +divided into two parts; the one consisting of nine hundred men under +General Peter De Wet, proceeding by a circuitous route to the hills south +of Sannaspost, and the other of five hundred men commanded by General +Christian De Wet moving through a maze of kopjes to a position west of the +trekking station. + +The burghers were not informed of the imminence of a battle; but they +required no such announcement from their generals. The atmosphere seemed +to be surcharged with premonitions of an engagement, and men rubbed sleep +out of their eyes and sat erect upon their horses. The blacks even ceased +to crack their whips so sharply, and urged the mules forward in whispers +instead of shrieks. Burghers took their rifles from their backs, tested +the workings of the mechanism and filled the magazine with cartridges. +Artillerymen leaped from their horses and led them while they sat on the +cannon and poured oil into the bearings. Young men speculated on the +number of prisoners they would take; old men wrote their names on their +hats by the light of the moon. The lights of Bloemfontein appeared in the +distance, and grey-beards looked longingly at them and sighed. But the +cavalcade passed on, grimly, silently, and defiantly, into the haunts of +the enemy. + +After four hours of trekking over veld, kopje, sluit, and donga, the two +columns halted, the burghers dismounted, and, weary from the long journey +and the lack of sleep, lay down on the earth beside their horses. +Commandants, field-cornets and corporals, bustling about among the +burghers, horses and waggons, gave orders in undertones; generals summoned +their scouts and asked for detailed information concerning the whereabouts +of the enemy; patrols were scurrying hither and thither to secure accurate +ideas of the topography of the territory in front of them; all who were in +authority were busy, while the burghers, who carried the strength of +battle in their bodies, lay sleeping and resting. + +The first dim rays of the day came over the tops of the eastern hills when +the burghers were aroused and asked to proceed to the positions chosen by +their leaders. The men under Peter De Wet, the younger brother of the +Commandant-General, were led to an elevation about a mile and a half south +of Sannaspost, where they placed their cannon into position and waited for +the break of day. + +Christian De Wet and his five hundred burghers advanced noiselessly and +occupied the dry bed of Koorn Spruit, a stream which crossed the main road +running from Thaba N'Chu to Bloemfontein at right angles about a mile from +the station where the British forces had begun their bivouac for the +night, two hours before. No signs of the enemy could be seen; there were +no pickets, no outposts, and none of the usual safeguards of an army, and +for some time the Boers were led to believe that the British force had +been allowed to escape unharmed. + +The burghers under the leadership of Christian De Wet were completely +concealed in the spruit. The high banks might have been held by the forces +of their enemy, but unless they crept to the edge and looked down into the +stream they would not have been able to discover the presence of the +Boers. Where the road crossed the stream deep approaches had been dug into +the banks in order to facilitate the passage of conveyances--a "drift" it +is called in South Africa--and on either side for a distance of a mile, up +and down the stream, the burghers stood by their horses and waited for the +coming of the day. The concealment was perfect; no specially constructed +trenches could have served the purposes of the Boers more advantageously. + +Dawn lighted the flat-topped kopjes that lay in a huge semicircle in the +distance, and men clambered up the sides of the spruit to ascertain the +camp of the enemy. The white smoke-stack of the Bloemfontein waterworks +appeared against the black background of the hills in the east, but it was +still too dark to distinguish objects on the ground beneath it. A group of +burghers in the spruit, absent-mindedly, began to sing a deep-toned psalm, +but the stern order of a commandant quickly ended their matutinal song. A +donkey in an ammunition waggon brayed vociferously, and a dozen men, +fearful lest the enemy should hear the noise, sprang upon him with clubs +and whips, and even attempted to close his mouth by force of hands. It was +the fateful moment before the battle, and men acted strangely. Some walked +nervously up and down, others dropped on their knees and prayed, a few +lighted their pipes, many sat on the ground and looked vacantly into +space, while some of the younger burghers joked and laughed. + +At the drift stood the generals, scanning the hills and undulations with +their glasses. Small fires appeared in the east near the tall white stack. +"They are preparing their breakfast," some one suggested. "I see a few +tents," another one reported excitedly. All eyes were turned in the +direction indicated. Some estimated the intervening distance at a mile, +others were positive it was not more than a thousand yards--it was not +light enough to distinguish accurately. "Tell the burghers that I will +fire the first shot," said General De Wet to one of his staff. Immediately +the order was spread to the men in the spruit. "I see men leading oxen to +the waggons; they are preparing to trek," remarked a commandant. "They are +coming down this way," announced another, slapping his thigh joyfully. + +A few minutes afterwards clouds of dust arose, and at intervals the +waggons in the van could be seen coming down the slope toward the drift. +The few tents fell, and men in brown uniforms moved hither and thither +near the waterworks building. Waggon after waggon joined in the +procession; drivers were shrieking and wielding their whips over the heads +of the oxen, and farther behind were cavalrymen mounting their horses. It +was daylight then, although the sun was still below the horizon, and the +movements of the enemy could be plainly discerned. The ox-teams came +slowly down the road--there seemed to be no limit to their number--and the +generals retreated down the drift to the bottom of the spruit, so that +their presence should not be discerned by the enemy, and to await the +arrival of the waggons. + +The shrieking natives drew nearer, the rumbling of the waggons became more +distinct, and soon the first vehicle descended the drift. A few burghers +were sent forward to intercept it. As soon as it reached the bottom of the +spruit the men grasped the bridles of the horses, and instantly there were +shrieks from the occupants of the vehicle. It was filled with women and +children, all pale with fright on account of the unexpected appearance of +the Boers. The passengers were quickly and gently taken from the waggon +and sent to places of safety in the spruit, while a burgher jumped into +the vehicle and drove the horses up the other drift and out upon the open +veld. The operation of substituting drivers was done so quickly and +quietly that none of those approaching the drift from the other side +noticed anything extraordinary, and proceeded into the spruit. Other +burghers stood prepared to receive them as they descended the drift with +their heavily laden ammunition and provision waggons, and there was little +trouble in seizing the British drivers and placing the whips into the +hands of Boers. Waggon after waggon was relieved of its drivers and sent +up to the other bank without creating a suspicion in the minds of the +others who were coming down the slope from the waterworks. + +After fifty or more waggons had crossed the drift a solitary cavalry +officer with the rank of captain, riding leisurely along, followed one of +them. His coat had a rent in it and he was holding the torn parts +together, as if he were planning the mending of it when he reached +Bloemfontein. A young Boer sprang toward him, called "Hands up!" and +projected the barrel of his carbine toward him. The officer started out of +his reverie, involuntarily reached for his sword, but repented almost +instantly, and obeyed the order. General De Wet approached the captain, +touched his hat in salute, and said, "Good morning, sir." The officer +returned the complimentary greeting and offered his sword to the Boer. De +Wet declined to receive the weapon and told the officer to return to his +men and ask them to surrender. "We have a large force of men surrounding +you," the general explained, "and you cannot escape. In order to save many +lives I ask you to surrender your men without fighting." The officer +remained silent for a moment, then looked squarely into the eyes of the +Boer general and said, "I will return to my men and will order them to +surrender." De Wet nodded his head in assent, and the captain mounted his +horse. "I will rely upon your promise," the general added, "if you break +it I will shoot you." + +General De Wet and several of his commandants followed the cavalry officer +up the drift and stood on the bank while the horseman galloped slowly +toward the troops which were following the waggons down the slope. The +general raised his carbine and held it in his arms. His eyes were fixed on +the officer, and he stood as firm as a statue until the cavalryman reached +his men. There was a momentary pause while the captain stood before his +troops, then the horses were wheeled about and their hoofs sent showers of +dust into the air as they carried their riders in retreat. General De Wet +stepped forward several paces, raised his carbine to his shoulder, aimed +steadily for a second, then fired. The bullet whistled menacingly over the +heads of oxen and drivers--it struck the officer, and he fell.[1] + + [1] This incident of the battle was witnessed by the writer, as well + as by several of the foreign military attaches. Whether the British + officer broke his promise by asking his men to retreat or whether his + troopers were disobedient is a question, but it is more than likely + that he endeavoured to act in good faith. Whether the officer was + killed or only wounded by General De Wet's shot could not be + ascertained. + +All along the banks of the spruit, for a mile on either side of the +ravine, and over on the hills where Peter De Wet and his burghers lay, men +had been waiting patiently and expectantly for that signal gun of +Christian De Wet. They had been watching the enemy toiling down the slope +under the very muzzles of their guns for almost an age, it seemed, yet +they dared not fire lest the plans of the generals should be thwarted. Men +had lain flat on the ground with their rifles pointing minute after minute +at individuals in the advancing column, but the words of their general, "I +will fire the first shot," restrained them. The flight of the bullet which +entered the body of the cavalry officer marked the ending of the long +period of nervous tension, and the burghers were free to use their guns. + +[Illustration: THE AUTHOR, AND A BASUTO PONY WHICH ASSISTED IN THE FIGHT +AT SANNASPOST] + +Until the officer advised his men to retreat and he himself fell from his +horse the main body of the British troops was ignorant of the presence of +the Boers, but the report of the rifle was a summons to battle and +instantly the field was filled with myriads of stirring scenes. The lazy +transport-train suddenly became a thing of rapid motion; the huge body of +troops was quickly broken into many parts; horses that had been idling +along the road plunged forward as if projected by catapults. Officers with +swords flashing in the sunlight appeared leading their men into different +positions, cannon were hurriedly drawn upon commanding elevations, and Red +Cross waggons scattered to places of safety. The peaceful transport-train +had suddenly been transformed into a formidable engine of war by the +report of a rifle, and the contest for a sentiment and a bit of ground was +opened by shrieking cannon-shell and the piercing cry of rifle-ball. + +Down at the foot of the slope, where the drift crossed the spruit, Boers +were dragging cannon into position, and in among the waggons which had +become congested in the road, burghers and soldiers were engaging in +fierce hand-to-hand encounters. A stocky Briton wrestled with a youthful +Boer, and in the struggle both fell to the ground; near by a cavalryman +was firing his revolver at a Boer armed with a rifle, and a hundred paces +away a burgher was fighting with a British officer for the possession of a +sword. Over from the hills in the south came the dull roar of Boer cannon, +followed by the reports of the shells exploding in the east near the +waterworks. British cannon opened fire from a position near the white +smoke-stack and scores of bursting projectiles fell among the waggons at +the spruit. Oxen and horses were rent limb from limb, waggons tumbled over +on their sides; boxes of provisions were thrown in all directions, and out +of the cloud of dust and smoke stumbled men with blood-stained faces and +lacerated bodies. Terrified and bellowing oxen twisted and tugged at their +yokes; horses broke from their fastenings in the waggons and dashed hither +and thither, and weakling donkeys strove in vain to free themselves from +waggons set on fire by the shells. Explosion followed explosion, and with +every one the mass became more entangled. Dead horses fell upon living +oxen; wheels and axles were thrown on the backs of donkeys, and plunging +mules dragged heavy waggons over great piles of _debris_. + +The cannon on the southern hills became more active and their shells +caused the landscape surrounding the waterworks to be filled with geysers +of dust. Troops which were stationed near the white smoke-stack suddenly +spurred their horses forward and dashed northward to seek safety behind a +long undulation in the ground. The artillerymen in the hills followed +their movements with shells, and the dust-fountains sprang up at the very +heels of the troops. The cannon at the drift joined in the attack on the +horsemen scattered over the slope, and the big guns at the waterworks +continued to reply vigorously. The men in the spruit were watching the +artillery duel intently as they sped up and down the bottom of the +water-less stream, searching for points of vantage. A large number of them +moved rapidly down the spruit towards its confluence with the Modder River +in order to check the advance of the troops driven forward by the +shell-fire, and another party rushed eastward to secure positions in the +rear of the British cannon at the waterworks. The banks of the stream +still concealed them, but they dared not fire lest the enemy should +disturb their plans. On and on they dashed, over rocks and chasms, until +they were within a few hundred yards of a part of the British force. +Slowly they crept up the sides of the spruit, cautiously peered out over +the edge of the bank and then opened fire on the men at the cannon and the +troops passing down the slope. Little jets of dust arose where their +bullets struck the ground, men fell around the cannon, and cavalrymen +quickly turned and charged toward the spruit. The shells of the cannon at +the drift and on the southern hills fell thicker and thicker among the +troops and the air above them was heavy with the light blue smoke of +bursting shrapnel. The patter of the Boer rifles at the spruit increased +in intensity and the jets of brown dust became more numerous. The +cavalrymen leaped from their horses and ran ahead to find protection +behind a line of rocks. The intermittent, irregular firing of the Boers +was punctuated by the regular, steady reports of British volleys. The +brown dust-geysers increased among the rocks where the British lay, and +soon the soldiers turned and ran for their horses. Burghers crept from +rock to rock in pursuit of them, and their bullets urged the fleeing +horsemen on. The British cannon spoke less frequently, and shells and +bullets fell so thickly around them that bravery in such a situation +seemed suicidal, and the last artilleryman fled. Boers ran up and turned +the loaded guns upon the backs of those who had operated them a few +moments before. + +Down in the north-western part of the field a large force of troops was +dashing over the veld toward the banks of the spruit. Officers, waving +swords above their heads and shouting commands to their subordinates, led +the way. A few shells exploding in the ranks scattered the force +temporarily and caused horses to rear and plunge, but the gaps quickly +disappeared, and the men moved on down the slope. Boers rode rapidly down +the spruit and out upon the veld behind a low range of kopjes which lay in +front of the British force. Horses were left in charge of native servants, +and the burghers crept forward on hands and knees to the summit of the +range. They carefully concealed themselves behind rocks and bushes and +waited for the enemy to approach more closely. The cavalrymen spread out +in skirmishing order as they proceeded, and, ignorant of the proximity of +the Boers, drew their horses into a walk. The burghers in the kopje fired +a few shots, and the troops turned quickly to the left and again broke +into a gallop. The firing from the kopje increased in volume, the cannon +from the hills again broke forth, the little dust-clouds rose out of the +earth on all sides of the troopers, and shrapnel bursting in the air sent +its bolts and balls of iron and steel; into the midst of the brown men and +earth. Horses and riders fell, officers leaped to the ground and shouted +encouragement to their soldiers, men sprang behind rocks and discharged +their rifles. Minutes of agony passed. Officers gathered their men and +attempted to lead them forward, but they had not progressed far when the +Boers in the spruit in front of them swept the ground with the bullets of +their rifles. Burghers crept around the edge of the kopjes and emptied +their carbines into the backs of the cavalrymen, cannons poured shell upon +them from three different directions, and these men on the open plain +could not see even a brace of Boers to fire upon. Men and horses continued +to fall, the wounded lay moaning in the grass, while shells and bullets +sang their song of death more loudly every second to those who braved the +storm. A tiny white cloth was raised, the firing ceased instantly, and the +brave band threw down its arms to the burghers who sprang out from the +spruit and rocky kopje. + +In the east the low hills were dotted with men in brown. To the right and +left of them, a thousand yards apart, were Boer horsemen circling around +kopjes and seeking positions for attacking the already vanquished but +stubborn enemy. Rifle fire had ceased and cannon sounded only at intervals +of a few minutes. Women at the doors of the two farmhouses in the centre +of the battlefield, and a man drawing water at a well near by, were not +inharmonious with the quietness and calmness of the moment, but the epoch +of peace was of short duration. The Boer horsemen stemmed the retreat of +the men in brown, and compelled them to retrace their steps. Another body +of burghers made a wide _detour_ north-eastward from the spruit, and, +jumping from their horses, crept along under the cover of an undulation in +the ground for almost a half-mile to a point which overlooked the route of +the British retreat. + +The enemy was slow in coming, and a few of the Boers lay down to sleep. +Others filled their pipes and lighted them, and one abstracted a pebble +from his shoe. As the cavalrymen drew nearer to them the burghers crept +forward several paces and sought the protection of rocks or piled stones +together in the form of miniature forts. "Shall we fire now?" inquired a +beardless Free State youth. "Wait until they come nearer," replied an +older burgher close by. Silence was maintained for several minutes, when +the youth again became uneasy. "I can hit the first one of those Lancers," +he begged, as he pointed with his carbine to a cavalryman known to the +Boers as a "Lancer," whether he carried a lance or not. The cannon in the +south urged the cavalrymen forward with a few shells delivered a short +distance behind them, and then the old burgher called to the youth, "See +if you can hit him now." + +The boy missed the rider but killed the horse, and the British force +quickly dismounted and sought shelter in a small ravine. The reports of +volley firing followed, and bullets cut the grass beside the burghers and +flattened themselves against the rocks. Another volley, and a third, in +rapid succession, and the burghers pressed more closely to the ground. An +interval of a minute, and they glanced over their tiny stockades to find a +British soldier. "They are coming up the kopje!" shouted a burgher, and +their rifles swept the hillside with bullets. More volleys came from below +and, while the leaden tongues sang above and around them, the burghers +turned and lay on their backs to refill the magazines of their rifles. +Another interval, and the attack was renewed. "They are running!" screamed +a youth exultingly, and burghers rose and fired at the men in brown at the +foot of the kopje. Marksmen had their opportunity then, and long aim was +taken before a shot was fired. Men knelt on the one knee and rested an +elbow on the other, while they held their rifles to their shoulders. +Reports of carbines became less frequent as the troops progressed farther +in an opposite direction, but increased again when the cavalrymen returned +for a second attack upon the kopje. "Lend me a handful of cartridges, Jan," +asked one man of his neighbour, as they watched the oncoming force. + +"They must want this kopje," remarked another burgher jocularly, as he +filled his pipe with tobacco and lighted it. + +The British cannon in the east again became active, and the dust raised by +their shells was blown over the heads of the burghers on the kopje. The +reports of the big guns of the Boers reverberated among the hills, while +the regular volleys of the British rifles seemed to be beating time to the +minor notes and irregular reports of the Boer carbines. At a distance the +troops moving over the brown field of battle resembled huge ants more than +human beings; and the use of smokeless powder, causing the panorama to +remain perfectly clear and distinct, allowed every movement to be closely +followed by the observer. Cannon poured forth their tons of shells, but +there was nothing except the sound of the explosion to denote where the +guns were situated. Rifles cut down lines of men, but there was no smoke +to indicate where they were being operated, and unless the burghers or +soldiers displayed themselves to their enemy there was nothing to indicate +their positions. Shrapnel bursting in the air, the reports of rifles and +heavy guns and the little puffs of dust where shells and bullets struck +the ground were the only evidences of the battle's progress. The +hand-to-hand conflicts, the duels with bayonets and swords and the clouds +of smoke were probably heroic and picturesque before the age of rapid-fire +guns, modern rifles, and smokeless ammunition, but here the field of +battle resembled a country fox-chase with an exaggerated number of +hunters, more than a representation of a battle of twenty-five years ago. + +On the summit of the kopje the burghers were firing leisurely but +accurately. One man aimed steadily at a soldier for fully twenty seconds, +then pressed the trigger, lowered his rifle and watched for the effect of +the shot. Bullets were flying high over him, and the shrapnel of the +enemy's guns exploded far behind him. There seemed to be no great danger, +and he fired again. "I missed that time," he remarked to a burgher who lay +behind another rock several yards distant. His neighbour then fired at the +same soldier, and both cried simultaneously: "He is hit!" The enemy again +disappeared in the little ravine, and the burghers ceased firing. Shells +continued to tear through the air, but none exploded in the vicinity of +the men, and they took advantage of the lull in the battle to light their +pipes. A swarm of yellow locusts passed overhead, and exploding shrapnel +tore them into myriads of pieces, their wings and limbs falling near the +burghers. "I am glad I am not a locust," remarked a burgher farther to the +left of the others, as he dropped a handful of torn fragments of the +insects. Shells and bullets suddenly splashed everywhere around the +burghers, and they crouched more closely behind the rocks. The enemy's +guns had secured an accurate range, and the air was filled with the +projectiles of iron and lead. Exploding shells splintered rocks into atoms +and sent them tearing through the grass. Puffs of smoke and dirt were +springing up from every square yard of ground, and a few men rose from +their retreats and ran to the rear where the Basuto servants were holding +their horses. More followed several minutes afterwards, and when those who +remained on the summit of the kopje saw that ten times their number of +soldiers were ascending the hill under cover of cannon fire they also fled +to their horses. + +An open plain half a mile wide lay between the point where the burghers +mounted their horses, and another kopje in the north-east. The men lay +closely on their horses' backs, plunged their spurs in the animals' sides, +and dashed forward. The cavalrymen, who had gained the summit of the kopje +meanwhile, opened fire on the fleeing Boers, and their bullets cut open +the horses' sides and ploughed holes into the burgher's clothing. One +horse, a magnificent grey who had been leading the others, fell dead as he +was leaping over a small gully, and his rider was thrown headlong to the +ground. Another horseman turned in his course, assisted the horseless +rider to his own brown steed, and the two were borne rapidly through the +storm of bullets towards the kopje. Another horse was killed when he had +carried his rider almost to the goal of safety, and the Boer was compelled +to traverse the remainder of the distance on foot. Apparently all the +burghers had escaped across the plain, and their field-cornet was +preparing to lead them to another position when a solitary horseman, a +mere speck of black against a background of brown, lifeless grass, issued +from a rocky ravine below the kopje occupied by the enemy, and plunged +into the open space. Lee-Metfords cracked and cut open the ground around +him, but the rider bent forward and seemed to become a part of his +horse. Every rod of progress seemed to multiply the fountains of dust near +him; every leap of his horse seemed necessarily his last. On, on he +dashed, now using his stirrups, now beating his horse with his hands. It +seemed as if he were making no progress, yet his horse's legs were moving +so swiftly. "They will get him," sighed the field-cornet, looking through +his glasses. "He has a chance," replied a burgher. Seconds dragged +wearily, the firing increased in volume, and the dust of the horse's heels +mingled with that raised by the bullets. The sound of the hoofs beating +down on the solid earth came louder and louder over the veld, the firing +slackened and then ceased, and a foaming, panting horse brought his burden +to where the burghers stood. The exhausted rider sank to the ground, and +men patted the neck and forehead of the quivering beast. + +Down in the valley, near the spruit, the foreign military attaches in +uniforms quite distinct were watching the effect of the British artillery +on the saddle belonging to one of their number. "They will never hit it," +volunteered one, as a shell exploded ten yards distant from the leathern +mark. + +"They must think it is a crowd of Boers," suggested another, when a dozen +shells had fallen without injuring the saddle. Fifteen, twenty tongues of +dust arose, but the leather remained unmarred by scratch or rent, and the +attaches became the target of the heavy guns. "I am hit," groaned +Lieutenant Nix, of the Netherlands-Indian army, and his companions caught +him in their arms. Blood gushed from a wound in the shoulder, but the +soldier spirit did not desert him. "Here, Demange!" he called to the +French attache, "Hold my head. And you, Thompson and Allen, see if you +cannot bind this shoulder." The Norwegian and Hollander bound the wound as +well as they were able. "Reichman!" the injured man whispered, "I am going +to die in a few minutes, and I wish you would write a letter to my wife." +The American attache hastily procured paper and pencil, and while shells +and shrapnel were bursting over and around them the wounded man dictated a +letter to his wife in Holland. Blood flowed copiously from the wound and +stained the grass upon which he lay. He was pale as the clouds above him, +and the pain was agonising, but the dying man's letter was filled with +nothing but expressions of love and tenderness. + +In the south-eastern part of the field a large party of cavalrymen was +speeding in the direction of Thaba N'Chu. On two sides of them, a thousand +yards behind, small groups of horsemen were giving chase. At a distance, +the riders appeared like ants slowly climbing the hillside. Now and then a +Boer rider suddenly stopped his horse, leaped to the ground, and fired at +the fleeing cavalrymen. A second afterwards he was on his horse again, +bending to the chase. Shot followed shot, but the distance between the +forces grew greater, and one by one the burghers turned their animals' +heads and slowly retraced their steps. A startled buck bounded over the +veld, two rifles were turned upon it, and its flight was ended. + +[Illustration: CALLING FOR VOLUNTEERS TO MAN CAPTURED CANNON AFTER +SANNASPOST] + +The sound of firing had ceased, and the battle was concluded. Waggons with +Red Cross flags fluttering from the tall staffs above them, issued from +the mountains and rumbled through the valleys. Burghers dashed over the +field in search of the wounded and dying. Men who a few moments before +were straining every nerve to kill their fellow-beings became equally +energetic to preserve lives. Wounded soldiers and burghers were lifted out +of the grass and carried tenderly to the ambulance waggons. The dead were +placed side by side, and the same cloth covered the bodies of Boer and +Briton. Men with spades upturned the earth, and stood grimly by while a +man in black prayed over the bodies of those who died for their country. + +Boer officers, with pencils and paper in their hands, sped over the +battlefield from a group of prisoners to a line of passing waggons, and +made calculations concerning the result of the day's battle. Three Boers +killed and nine wounded was one side of the account. On the credit sheet +were marked four hundred and eight British soldiers, seven cannon, one +hundred and fifty waggons, five hundred and fifty rifles, two thousand +horses and cattle, and vast stores of ammunition and provisions captured +during the day. + +In among the north-eastern hills, where a farmer's daub-and-wattle cottage +stood, were the prisoners of war, chatting and joking with their captors. +The officers walked slowly back and forth, never raising their eyes from +the ground. Dejection was written on their faces. Near them were the +captured waggons, with groups of noisy soldiers climbing over them in +search of their luggage. On the ground others were playing cards and +matching coins. Young Boers walked amongst them and engaged them in +conversation. Near the farmhouse stood a tall Cape Colony Boer talking +with his former neighbour, who was a prisoner. Several Americans among the +captured disputed the merits of the war with a Yankee burgher, who had +readily distinguished his countrymen among the throng. Some one began to +whistle a popular tune, others joined, and soon almost every one was +participating. An officer gave the order for the prisoners to fall in +line, and shortly afterward the men in brown tramped forward, while the +burghers stepped aside and lined the path. A soldier commenced to sing +another popular song, British and Boer caught the refrain, and the noise +of tramping feet was drowned by the melody of the united voices of friend +and foe singing-- + + "It's the soldiers of the Queen, my lads, + Who've been, my lads--who've seen, my lads, + * * * * * + We'll proudly point to every one + Of England's soldiers of the Queen." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE GENERALS OF THE WAR + + +The names and deeds of the men who led thirty thousand of their +fellow-peasants against almost a quarter of a million of the trained +troops of the greatest empire in the world, and husbanded their men and +resources so that they were enabled to continue the unequal struggle for +the greater part of a year will live for ever in the history of the Dark +Continent. When racial hatred and the bitternesses of the war have been +forgotten, and South Africa has emerged from its long period of bloodshed +and disaster, then all Afrikanders will revere the memory of the valiant +deeds of Cronje, Joubert, Botha, Meyer, De Wet, and the others who fought +so gallantly in a cause which they considered just and holy. Such noble +examples of heroism as Cronje's stand at Paardeberg, Botha's defence of +the Tugela and the region east of Pretoria; De Wet's warfare in the Free +State, and Meyer's fighting in the Transvaal will shine in African history +as long as the Southern Cross illumes the path of civilised people in that +region. When future generations search the pages of history for deeds of +valour they will turn to the records of the Boer-British war of 1899-1900, +and find that the military leaders of the farmers of South Africa were not +less valorous than those of the untrained followers of Cromwell or William +of Orange, the peace-loving mountaineers of Switzerland, or the patriotic +countrymen of Washington. + +The leaders of the Boer forces were not generals in the popular sense of +the word. Almost without exception, they were men who had no technical +knowledge of warfare; men who were utterly without military training of +any nature, and who would have been unable to pass an examination for the +rank of corporal in a European army. Among the entire list of generals who +fought in the armies of the two Republics there were not more than three +who had ever read military works, and Cronje was the only one who ever +studied the theory and practice of modern warfare, and made an attempt to +apply the principles of it to his army. Every one of the Boer generals was +a farmer who, before the war, paid more attention to his crops and cattle +than he did to evolving ideas for application in a campaign, and the +majority of them, in fact, never dreamed that they would be called upon to +be military leaders until they were nominated for the positions a short +time before hostilities were commenced. Joubert, Cronje, Ferreira, and +Meyer were about the only men in the two Republics who were certain that +they would be called upon to lead their countrymen, for all had had +experience in former wars; but men like Botha, De Wet, De la Rey, and +Snyman, who occupied responsible positions afterward, had no such +assurance, and naturally gave little or no attention to the study of +military matters. The men who became the Boer generals gained their +military knowledge in the wilds and on the veld of South Africa where they +were able to develop their natural genius in the hunting of lions and the +tracking of game. The Boer principle of hunting was precisely the same as +their method of warfare and consequently the man who, in times of peace, +was a successful leader of shooting expeditions was none the less adept +afterward as the leader of commandos. + +When the Volksraad of the Transvaal determined to send an ultimatum to +Great Britain, it was with the knowledge that such an act would provoke +war, and consequently preparations for hostilities were immediately made. +One of the first acts was the appointment of five assistant +commandant-generals--Piet Cronje, Schalk Burgher, Lucas Meyer, Daniel +Erasmus, and Jan Kock--all of whom held high positions in the Government, +and were respected by the Boer people. After hostilities commenced, and it +became necessary to have more generals, six other names were added to the +list of assistants of Commandant-General Joubert--those chosen being Sarel +Du Toit, Hendrik Schoeman, John De la Rey, Hendrik Snyman, and Herman R. +Lemmer. The selections which were so promiscuously made were proved by +time to be wise, for almost without exception the men developed into +extraordinarily capable generals. In the early part of the campaign many +costly mistakes and errors of judgment were made by some of the +newly-appointed generals, but such misfortunes were only to be expected +from men who suddenly found themselves face to face with some of the +best-trained generals in the world. Later, when the campaign had been in +progress for several months, and the farmers had had opportunities of +learning the tactics of their opponents, they made no move unless they +were reasonably certain of the result. + +One of the prime reasons for the great success which attended the Boer +army before the strength of the enemy's forces became overwhelming, was +the fact that the generals were allowed to operate in parts of the country +with which they were thoroughly acquainted. General Cronje operated along +the western frontiers of the Republics, where he knew the geographical +features of the country as well as he did those of his own farm. General +Meyer spent the greater part of his life in the neighbourhood of the +Biggarsberg and northern Natal, and there was hardly a rod of that +territory with which he was unfamiliar. General Botha was born near the +Tugela, and, in his boyhood days, pursued the buck where afterward he made +such a brave resistance against the forces of General Buller. General +Christian De Wet was a native of Dewetsdorp, and there was not a sluit or +donga in all the territory where he fought so valiantly that he had not +traversed scores of times before the war began. General De la Rey spent +the greater part of his life in Griqualand West, Cape Colony, and when he +was leading his men around Kimberley and the south-western part of the +Free State he was in familiar territory. General Snyman, who besieged +Mafeking, was a resident of the Marico district, and consequently was +acquainted with the formation of the country in the western part of the +Transvaal. In the majority of cases the generals did not need the services +of an intelligence department, except to determine the whereabouts of the +enemy, for no scouts or patrols could furnish a better account of the +nature of the country in which they were fighting than that which existed +in the minds of the leaders. Under these conditions there was not the +slightest chance for any of the generals falling into a trap laid by the +enemy, but there always were opportunities for leading the enemy into +ambush. + +The Boer generals also had the advantage of having excellent maps of the +country in which they were fighting, and by means of these they were +enabled to explain proposed movements to the commandants and field-cornets +who were not familiar with the topography of the land. These maps were +made two years before the war by a corps of experts employed by the +Transvaal Government, and on them was a representation of every foot of +ground in the Transvaal, Free State, Natal, and Cape Colony. A small +elevation near Durban and a spruit near Cape Town were marked as plainly +as a kopje near Pretoria, while the British forts at Durban and Cape Town +were as accurately pictured as the roads that led to them. The Boers had a +map of the environs of Ladysmith which was a hundred times better than +that furnished by the British War Office, yet Ladysmith was the Natal base +of the British army for many years. + +The greater part of the credit for the Boers' preparedness must be given +to the late Commandant-General Piet J. Joubert, who was the head of the +Transvaal War Department for many years. General Joubert, or "Old Piet," +as he was called by the Boers, to distinguish him from the many other +Jouberts in the country, was undoubtedly a great military leader in his +younger days, but he was almost seventy years old when he was called upon +to lead his people against the army of Great Britain, and at that age very +few men are capable of great mental or physical exertion. There was no +greater patriot in the Transvaal than he, and no one who desired the +absolute independence of his country more sincerely than the old general; +yet his heart was not in the fighting. Like Kruger, he was a man of peace, +and to his dying day he believed that the war might have been avoided +easily. Unlike Kruger, he clung to the idea that the war, having been +forced upon them, should be ended as speedily as possible, and without +regard to the loss of national interests. Joubert valued the lives of the +burghers more highly than a clause in a treaty, and rather than see his +countrymen slain in battle he was willing to make concessions to those who +harassed his Government. + +Joubert was one of the few public men in the Transvaal who firmly believed +that the differences between the two countries would be amicably adjusted, +and he constantly opposed the measures for arming the country which were +brought before him. The large armament was secured by him, it is true, but +the Volksraads compelled him to purchase the arms and ammunition. If +Joubert had been a man who loved war he would have secured three times as +great a quantity of war material as there was in the country when the war +was begun; but he was distinctly a man who loved peace. He constantly +allowed his sentiments to overrule his judgment of what was good for his +country, and the result of that line of action was that at the beginning +of hostilities there were more Boer guns in Europe and on the ocean than +there were in the Transvaal. + +General Joubert was a grand old Boer in many respects, and no better, more +righteous, and more upright man ever lived. He worked long and faithfully +for his people, and he undoubtedly strove to do that which he believed to +be the best for his country, but he was incapable of performing the duties +of his office as a younger, more energetic, and a more warlike man would +have attended to them. Joubert was in his dotage, and none of his people +were aware of it until the crucial moment of the war was passed. When he +led the Boers at Majuba and Laing's Nek, in 1881, he was in the prime of +his life--energetic, resourceful, and undaunted by any reverses. In 1899, +when he followed the commandos into Natal, he was absolutely the +reverse--slow, wavering, and too timid to move from his tent. He +constantly remained many miles in the rear of the advance column, and only +once went into the danger zone, when he led a small commando south of the +Tugela. Then, instead of leading his victorious burghers against the +forces of the enemy, he retreated precipitately at the first sign of +danger, and established himself at Modderspruit, a day's journey from the +foremost commandos, where he remained with almost ten thousand of his men +for three months. + +Joubert attempted to wage war without the shedding of blood, and he +failed. When General Meyer reported that about thirty Boers had been +killed and injured in the fight at Dundee, the Commandant-General censured +him harshly for making such a great sacrifice of blood, and forbade him +from following the fleeing enemy, as such a course would entail still +greater casualties. When Sir George White and his forces had been +imprisoned in Ladysmith, and there was almost a clear path to Durban, +Joubert held back and would not risk the lives of a few hundred burghers, +even when it was pointed out to him that the men themselves were eager to +assume the responsibility. He made only one effort to capture Ladysmith, +but the slight loss of life so appalled him that he would never sanction +another attack, although the town could easily have been taken on the +following day if an attempt had been made. Although he had a large army +round the besieged town he did not dig a yard of entrenchment in all the +time he was at Modderspruit, nor would he hearken to any plans for +capturing the starving garrison by means of progressive trenches. While +Generals Botha, Meyer, and Erasmus, with less than three thousand men, +were holding the enemy at the Tugela, Joubert, with three times that +number of men to guard impotent Ladysmith, declined to send any ammunition +for their big guns, voted to retreat, and finally fled northward to +Colenso, deserting the fighting men, destroying the bridges and railways +as he progressed, and even leaving his own tents and equipment behind. + +There were extenuating circumstances in connection with Joubert's failure +in the campaign--his age, an illness, and an accident while he was in +laager--and it is but charitable to grant that these were fundamentally +responsible for his shortcomings, but it is undoubted that he was +primarily responsible for the failure of the Natal campaign. The army +which he commanded in Natal, although only twelve or thirteen thousand men +in strength, was the equal in fighting ability of seventy-five thousand +British troops, and the only thing it lacked was a man who would fight +with them and lead them after a fleeing enemy. If the Commandant-General +had pursued the British forces after all their defeats and had drawn the +burghers out of their laagers by the force of his own example, the major +part of the history of the Natal campaign would have been made near the +Indian Ocean instead of on the banks of the Tugela. The majority of the +Boers in Natal needed a commander-in-chief who would say to them "Come," +but Joubert only said "Go." + +The death of General Joubert in Pretoria, on March 26th, was sincerely +regretted by all South Africans, for he undoubtedly was one of the most +distinguished men in the country. During his long public career he made +many friends who held him in high honour for his sterling qualities, his +integrity, and his devotion to his country's cause. He made mistakes--and +there are few men who are invulnerable to them--but he died while striving +to do that which he regarded the best for his country and its cause. If +dying for one's country is patriotism, then Joubert's death was sweet. + +When war-clouds were gathering and the storm was about to burst over the +Transvaal Piet Cronje sat on the stoep of his farmhouse in Potchefstroom, +evolving in his mind a system of tactics which he would follow when the +conflict began. He was certain that he would be chosen to lead his people, +for he had led them in numerous native wars, in the conflict in 1881, and +later when Jameson made his ill-starred entry into the Transvaal. Cronje +was a man who loved to be amid the quietude of his farm, but he was in the +cities often enough to realise that war was the only probable solution of +the differences between the Uitlanders and the Boers, and he made +preparations for the conflict. He studied foreign military methods and +their application to the Boer warfare; he evolved new ideas and improved +old ones; he planned battles and the evolutions necessary to win them; he +had a natural taste for things military. + +Before all the world had heard the blast of the war-trumpet, Cronje had +deserted the peaceful stoep and was attacking the enemy on the veld at +Mafeking. A victory there, and he was riding at the head of his men toward +Kimberley. A skirmish here, a hard-fought battle there, and he had the +Diamond City in a state of siege. Victories urged him on, and he led the +way southward. A Magersfontein to his wreath, a Belmont and a Graspan--and +it seemed as if he were more than nominally the South African Napoleon. A +reverse, and Cronje was no longer the dashing, energetic leader of the +month before. Doggedly and determinedly he retraced his steps, but +advanced cautiously now and then to punish the enemy for its +over-confidence. Beaten back to Kimberley by the overpowering force of the +enemy, he endured defeat after defeat until finally he was compelled to +abandon the siege in order to escape the attacks of a second army sent +against him. The enemy's web had been spun around him, but he fought +bravely for freedom from entanglement. General French was on one side of +him, Lord Roberts on another, Lord Kitchener on a third--and against the +experience and troops of all these men was pitted the genius of the +Potchefstroom farmer. A fight with Roberts's Horse on Thursday, February +15th; a march of ten miles and a victorious rear-guard action with Lord +Kitchener on Friday; a repulse of the forces under Lords Roberts and +Kitchener on Saturday, and on Sunday morning the discovery that he and his +four thousand men in the river-bed at Paardeberg were surrounded by forty +thousand troops of the enemy--that was a four days' record which caused +the Lion of Potchefstroom merely to show his fangs to his enemy. + +When General Cronje entered the river-bed on Saturday he was certain that +he could fight his way out on the following day. Scores of his burghers +appealed to him to trek eastward that night, and Commandant-General +Ferreira, of the Free State, asked him to trek north-east in order that +their two Boer forces might effect a junction, but Cronje was determined +to remain in the positions he then occupied until he could carry all his +transport-waggons safely away. In the evening Commandants De Beer and +Grobler urged the general to escape and explained to him that he would +certainly be surrounded the following day, but Cronje steadfastly +declined, and expressed his ability to fight a way through any force of +the enemy. Even late that night, while the British troops were welding the +chain which was to bind him hard and fast in the river-bed, many of +Cronje's men begged the general to desert the position, and when they saw +him so determined they deserted him and escaped to the eastward. + +Cronje might have accepted the advice of his officers and men if he had +not believed that he could readily make his way to the east, where he did +not suspect the presence of any of Lord Roberts's troops. Not until the +following forenoon, when he saw the British advance-guard marching over +the hills on the south side of the river, did he realise that the enemy +had surrounded him and that he had erred when he determined to hold the +position. The grave mistake could not be rectified, and Cronje was in no +mood for penitence. He told his men that he expected reinforcements from +the east and counselled them to remain cool and fire with discretion until +assistance came to them. Later in the day the enemy attacked the camp from +all sides but the little army repulsed the onslaught and killed and +wounded more than a thousand British soldiers. When the Sabbath sun +descended and the four thousand Boers sang their psalms and hymns of +thanksgiving there was probably only one man who believed that the +burghers would ever be able to escape from the forces which surrounded +them, and that man was General Cronje. He realised the gravity of the +situation, but he was as calm as if he had been victorious in a battle. He +talked cheerily with his men, saying, "Let the English come on," and when +they heard their old commander speak in such a confident manner they +determined to fight until he himself announced a victory or a defeat. + +On Monday morning it seemed as if the very blades of grass for miles +around the Boer laager were belching shot and shell over the dongas and +trenches where the burghers had sought shelter. Lyddite shells and +shrapnel burst over and around them; the bullets of rifles and +machine-guns swept close to their heads, and a few yards distant from them +were the heavy explosions of ammunition-waggons set on fire by the enemy's +shells. Burghers, horses and cattle fell under the storm of lead and iron, +and the mingled life-blood of man and beast flowed in rivulets to join the +waters of the river. The wounded lay groaning in the trenches; the dead +unburied outside, and the cannonading was so terrific that no one was able +to leave the trenches and dongas sufficiently long to give a drink of +water to a wounded companion. There was no medicine in the camp, all the +physicians were held in Jacobsdal by the enemy, and the condition of the +dead and dying was such that Cronje was compelled to ask for an +armistice. The reply from the British commander was "Fight or surrender," +and Cronje chose to continue the fight. The bombardment of the laager was +resumed with increased vigour, and there was not a second's respite from +shells and bullets until after night descended, when the burghers were +enabled to emerge from their trenches and holes to exercise their limbs +and to secure food. + +The Boers' cannon became defective on Tuesday morning, and thereafter they +could reply to the continued bombardment with only their rifles. Hope rose +in their breasts during the day when a heliograph message was received +from Commandant Froneman; "I am here with Generals De Wet and Cronje," the +message read; "Have good cheer. I am waiting for reinforcements. Tell the +burghers to find courage in Psalm xxvii." The fact that reinforcements +were near, even though the enemy was between, imbued the burghers with +renewed faith in their ability to defeat the enemy and, when a concerted +attack was made against the laager in the afternoon, a gallant resistance +followed. + +On Wednesday morning the British batteries again poured their shells on +the miserable and exhausted Boers. Shortly before midday there was a lull +in the storm, and the beleaguered burghers could hear the reports of the +battle between the relieving force and the British troops. The sounds of +the fight grew fainter and fainter, then subsided altogether. The +bombardment of the laager was renewed, and the burghers realised that +Froneman had been beaten back by the enemy. The disappointment was so +great that one hundred and fifty Boers bade farewell to their general, and +laid down their arms to their enemy. The following day was merely the +repetition of the routine of former days, with the exception that the +condition of the men and the laager was hourly becoming more +miserable. The wounded clamouring for relief was in itself a misery to +those who were compelled to hear it, but to allow such appeals to go +unanswered was heartrending. To have the dead unburied seemed cruel +enough, but to have the corpses before one's eyes day after day was +torture. To know that the enemy was in ten times greater strength was +disheartening, but to realise that there was no relief at hand was enough +to dim the brightest courage. Yet Cronje was undaunted. + +Friday and Saturday brought nothing but a message from Froneman, again +encouraging them to resist until reinforcements could be brought from +Bloemfontein. On Saturday evening Jan Theron, of Krugersdorp, succeeded in +breaking through the British lines with despatches from General De Wet and +Commandants Cronje and Froneman, urging General Cronje to fight a way +through the lines whilst they would engage the enemy from their side. +Cronje and his officers decided to make an attempt to escape, and on +Sunday morning the burghers commenced the construction of a chain-bridge +across the Modder to facilitate the crossing of the swollen river. +Fortunately for the Boers the British batteries fired only one shot into +the camp that day, and the burghers were able to complete the bridge +before night by means of the ropes and chains from their ox-waggons. On +Monday morning the British guns made a target of the bridge, and shelled +it so unremittingly that no one was able to approach it, much less make an +attempt to cross the river by means of it. The bombardment seemed to grow +in intensity as the day progressed, and when two shells fell into a group +of nine burghers, and left nothing but an arm and a leg to be found, the +Krijgsraad decided to hoist a white flag on Tuesday morning. General +Cronje and Commandant Schutte were the only officers who voted against +surrendering. They begged the other officers to reconsider their decision, +and to make an attempt to fight a way out, but the confidence of two men +was too weak to change the opinions of the others. + +In a position covering less than a square mile of territory, hemmed in on +all sides by an army almost as great as that which defeated Napoleon at +Waterloo, surrounded by a chain of fire from carbines, rapid-fire guns and +heavy cannon, the target of thousands of the vaporous lyddite shells, his +trenches enfiladed by a continuous shower of lead, his men half dead from +lack of food, and stiff from the effect of their narrow quarters in the +trenches, General Cronje chose to fight and to risk complete disaster by +leading his four thousand men against the forty thousand of the enemy. + +The will of the majority prevailed, and on February 27th, the anniversary +of Majuba Hill, after ten days of fighting, the white flag was hoisted +above the dilapidated laager. The bodies of ninety-seven burghers lay over +the scene of the disaster, and two hundred and forty-five wounded men were +left behind when General Cronje and his three thousand six hundred and +seventy-nine burghers and women limped out of the river-bed and +surrendered to Field-Marshal Lord Roberts. + +In many respects General Cronje was the Boers' most brilliant leader, but +he was responsible for many serious and costly reverses. At Magersfontein +he defeated the enemy fairly, and he might have reaped the fruits of his +victory if he had followed up the advantage there gained. Instead, he +allowed his army to remain inactive for two months while the British +established a camp and base at the river. General French's march to +Kimberley might readily have been prevented or delayed if Cronje had +placed a few thousand of his men on the low range of kopjes commanding +French's route, but during the two days which were so fateful to him and +his army General Cronje never stirred from his laager. At Magersfontein +Cronje allowed thirty-six cannon, deserted by the British, to remain on +several kopjes all of one night and until ten o'clock next morning, when +they were taken away by the enemy. When he was asked why he did not send +his men to secure the guns Cronje replied, "God has been so good to us +that I did not have the heart to send my overworked men to fetch them." + +Cronje was absolutely fearless, and in all the battles in which he took +part he was always in the most exposed positions. He rarely used a rifle, +as one of his eyes was affected, but the short, stoop-shouldered, +grey-bearded man, with the long riding-whip, was always in the thick of a +fight, encouraging his men and pointing out the positions for attack. He +was a fatalist when in battle, if not in times of peace, and it is told of +him that at Modder River he was warned by one of the burghers to seek a +less exposed position. "If God has ordained me to be shot to-day," the +grim old warrior replied, "I shall be shot, whether I sit here or in a +well." Cronje was one of the strictest leaders in the Boer army, and that +feature made him unpopular with the men who constantly applied to him for +leaves-of-absence to return to their homes. They fought for him in the +trenches at Paardeberg not because they loved him, but because they +respected him as an able leader. He did not have the affection of his +burghers like Botha, Meyer, De Wet, or De la Rey, but he held his men +together by force of his superior military attainments--a sort of +overawing authority which they could not disobey. + +Personally, Cronje was not an extraordinary character. He was urbane in +manner and a pleasant conversationalist. Like the majority of the Boers he +was deeply religious, and tried to introduce the precepts of his religion +into his daily life. Although he was sixty-five years old when the war +began he had the energy and spirit of a much younger man, and the terrors +and anxieties of the ten days' siege at Paardeberg left but little marks +on the face which has been described as Christlike. His patriotism was +unbounded, and he held the independence of his country above +everything. "Independence with peace, if possible, but independence at all +costs," he was wont to say, and no one fought harder than he, to attain +that end. + +When the Vryheid commandos rode over the western border of their district +and invaded Natal, Louis Botha, the successor of Commandant-General +Joubert, was one of the many Volksraad members who went forth to war in +the ranks of the common burghers. After the battle of Dundee, in which he +distinguished himself by several daring deeds, Botha became +Assistant-General to his lifelong friend and neighbour General Lucas +Meyer. Several weeks later, when General Meyer fell ill, he gave his +command to his compatriot, General Botha, and a short time afterward, when +Commandant-General Joubert was incapacitated by illness, Botha was +appointed to assume the responsibilities of the commander-in-chief. When +Joubert was on his deathbed he requested that Botha should be his +successor, and in that manner Louis Botha, burgher, became Louis Botha, +Commandant-General, in less than six months. + +It was remarkable, this chain of fortuitous circumstances which led to +Botha's rapid advancement, but it was not entirely due to extraneous +causes, for he was deserving of every step of his promotion. There is a +man for every crisis, but rarely in history is found a record of a soldier +who rose from the ranks to commander-in-chief of an army in one campaign. +It was Meyer's misfortune when he became ill at a grave period of the war, +but it was the country's good fortune to have a Botha ready at hand to +fight a Colenso and a Spion Kop. When the burgher army along the Tugela +was hard pressed by the enemy and both its old-time leaders, Joubert and +Meyer, lay ill at the same time, it seemed little less than providential +that a Botha should step out of the ranks and lead the men with as much +discretion and valour as could have been expected from the experienced +generals whose work he undertook to accomplish. It was a modern +representation of the ploughman deserting his farm in order to lead in the +salvation of Rome. + +Thirty-five years before he was called upon to be Commandant-General of +the army of his nation Louis Botha was born near the same spot where he +was chosen for that office, and on the soil of the empire against whose +forces he was pitting his strength and ability. In his youth he was wont +to listen to the narratives of the battles in which his father and +grandfather fought side by side against the hordes of natives who +periodically dyed the waters of the Tugela crimson with the blood of +massacred men and women. In early manhood Botha fought against the Zulus +and assisted Lucas Meyer in establishing the New Republic, which afterward +became his permanent home. Popularity, ability, and honesty brought him +into the councils of the nation as a member of the First Volksraad, where +he wielded great influence by reason of his conscientious devotion to duty +and his deep interest in the welfare of his country. When public affairs +did not require his presence in Pretoria, Botha was with his family on his +farm in Vryheid, and there he found the only happiness which he considered +worth having. The joys of a pastoral existence combined with the devotion +and love of his family were the keystone of Botha's happiness, and no man +had a finer realisation of his ambitions in that respect than he. Botha +was a warrior, no doubt, but primarily he was a man who loved the +peacefulness of a farm, the pleasures of a happy home-life, and the +laughter of his four children more than the tramp of victorious troops or +the roar of cannon. + +There are a few men who have a certain magnetic power which attracts and +holds the admiration of others. Louis Botha was a man of this class. +Strangers who saw him for the first time loved him. There was an +indescribable something about him which caused men looking at him for the +first time to pledge their friendship for all time. The light in his blue +eyes seemed to mesmerise men, to draw them, willing or unwilling, to him. +It was not the quality which gained friends for Kruger nor that which made +Joubert popular, but rather a mysterious, involuntary influence which he +exerted over everybody with whom he came in contact. A man less handsome, +of less commanding appearance than Botha might have possessed such a +power, and been considered less extraordinary than he, but it was not +wholly his personal appearance--for he was the handsomest man in the Boer +army--which aroused the admiration of men. His voice, his eyes, his facial +expression and his manner--all combined to strengthen the man's power over +others. It may have been personal magnetism or a mysterious charm which he +possessed--but it was the mark of a great man. + +The early part of Botha's career as a general was fraught with many +difficulties, the majority of which could be traced to his lack of years. +The Boer mind could not grasp the fact that a man of thirty-five years +could be a military leader, and for a long time the Boers treated the +young commander with a certain amount of contempt. The old takhaars +laughed at him when he asked them to perform any duties, and called him a +boy. They were unable to understand for a long time why they should act +upon the advice or orders of a man many years younger than they +themselves, and it was not until Botha had fought Colenso and Spion Kop +that the old burghers commenced to realise that ability was not always +monopolised by men with hoary beards. Before they had these manifestations +of Botha's military genius hundreds of the burghers absolutely refused to +obey his commands, and even went to the length of protesting to the +Government against his continued tenure of the important post. + +The younger Boers, however, were quicker to discern the worth of the man, +and almost without exception gave him their united support. There was one +instance when a young Boer questioned Botha's authority, but the burgher's +mind was quickly disabused, and thereafter he was one of the +Commandant-General's staunchest supporters. It was at the battle of Pont +Drift, when General Botha was busily engaged in directing the movements of +his men and had little time to argue fine points of authority. The general +asked two young Boers to carry ammunition to the top of a kopje which was +being hard-shelled by the enemy. One of the Boers was willing immediately +to obey the general, but the other man refused to undertake the hazardous +journey. The general spoke kindly to the Boer, and acknowledged that he +would be risking his life by ascending the hill, but insisted that he +should go. The Boer finally declared he would not go, and added that Botha +was too young to give orders to men. The Commandant-General did not lose +his temper, but it did not require much time for him to decide that a +rebuke of some sort was necessary, so he knocked the man to the ground +with his fist. It was a good, solid blow, and the young Boer did not move +for a minute, but when he rose he had fully decided that he would gladly +carry the ammunition to the top of the kopje. + +After General Botha demonstrated that he was a capable military leader he +became the idol of all the Boers. His popularity was second only to that +of President Kruger, and the hero-worshippers arranged for all sorts of +honours to be accorded to him after the war. He was to be made President, +first of all things; then his birthday anniversary was to be made the +occasion of a national holiday; statues were to be erected for him, and +nothing was to be left undone in order that his services to his country +might be given the appreciation they deserved. The stoical Boers were +never known to worship a man so idolatrously as they did in this case, and +it was all the more noteworthy on account of the adverse criticism which +was bestowed upon him several months before. + +General Botha's reputation as a gallant and efficient leader was gained +during the campaign in Natal, but it was not until after the relief of +Ladysmith that his real hard work began. After the advance of Lord +Roberts's large army from Bloemfontein was begun myriads of new duties +devolved upon the Commandant-General, and thereafter he displayed a skill +and ingenuity in dealing with grave situations which was marvellous, when +it is taken into consideration that he was opposing a victorious army with +a mere handful of disappointed and gloomy burghers. The situation would +have been grave enough if he had had a trained and disciplined army under +his command, but in addition to making plans for opposing the enemy's +advance, General Botha was compelled to gather together the burghers with +whom he desired to make the resistance. His work would have been +comparatively easy if he could have remained at the spot where his +presence was most necessary, but it was absolutely impossible for him to +lead the defensive movements in the Free State without men, and in order +to secure them he was obliged to desert that important post and go to the +Biggarsberg, where many burghers were idle. Telegraph wires stretched from +the Free State to Natal, but a command sent by such a route never caused a +burgher to move an inch nearer to the Free State front, and consequently +the Commandant-General was compelled to go personally to the Biggarsberg +in search of volunteers to assist the burghers south of Kroonstad. When +General Botha arrived in Natal in the first days of May he asked the +Standerton commando to return with him to the Free State. They flatly +refused to go unless they were first allowed to spend a week at their +homes, but Botha finally, after much begging, cajoling, and threatening, +induced the burghers to go immediately. The Commandant-General saw the men +board a train, and then sped joyously northward toward Pretoria and the +Free State in a special train. When he reached Pretoria Botha learned that +the Standerton commando followed him as far as Standerton station, and +then dispersed to their homes. His dismay was great; but he was not +discouraged, and several hours later he was at Standerton, riding from +farm to farm to gather the men. This work delayed his arrival in the Free +State two days, but he secured the entire commando, and went with it to +the front, where it served him valiantly. + +The masterly retreat of the Boer forces northward along the railway and +across the Vaal River, and the many skirmishes and battles with which +Botha harassed the enemy's advance, were mere incidents in the +Commandant-General's work of those trying days. There were innumerable +instances not unlike that in connection with the Standerton commando, and, +in addition, there was the planning to prevent the large commandos in the +western part of the Transvaal, and Meyer's large force in the +south-eastern part, from being cut off from his own body of burghers. It +was a period of grave moment and responsibilities, but Botha was the man +for the occasion. Although the British succeeded in entering Pretoria, the +capital of the country, the Boers lost little in prestige or men, and +Botha and his burghers were as confident of the final success of their +cause as they were when they crossed the Natal border seven months before. +Even after all the successive defeats of his army, Commandant-General +Botha continued to say, "We will fight--fight until not a single British +soldier remains on South African soil." A general who can express such a +firm faith in his cause when he sees nothing but disaster surrounding him +is great even if he is not always victorious. + +The military godfather of Commandant-General Botha was General Lucas +Meyer, one of the best leaders in the Boer army. The work of the two men +was cast in almost the same lines during the greater part of the campaign, +and many of the Commandant-General's burdens were shared by his old-time +tutor and neighbour in the Vryheid district. Botha seldom undertook a +project unless he first consulted with Meyer, and the two constantly +worked hand-in-hand. Their friends frequently referred to them as Damon +and Pythias, and the parallel was most appropriate, for they were as +nearly the counterparts of those old Grecian warriors as modern +limitations would allow. Botha attained the post of Commandant-General +through the illness of Meyer, who would undoubtedly have been Joubert's +successor if he had not fallen ill at an important period of the campaign, +but the fact that the pupil became the superior officer of the instructor +never strained the amicable relations of the two men. + +General Meyer received his fundamental military education from the famous +Zulu chieftain, Dinizulu, in 1884, when he and eight hundred other Boers +assisted the natives in a war against the chieftains of other tribes. In a +battle at Labombo mountain, June 6th of that year, Meyer and Dinizulu +vanquished the enemy, and as payment for their services the Boers each +received a large farm in the district now known as Vryheid. A Government +named the New Republic was organised by the farmers, and Meyer was elected +President, a post which he held for four years, when the Transvaal annexed +the republic to its own territory. In the war of 1881 Meyer took part in +several battles, and at Ingogo he was struck on the head by a piece of +shell, which caused him to be unconscious for forty-two days. In the later +days of the republic General Meyer held various military and civil +positions in the Vryheid district, where his large farm, "Anhouwen," is +located, and was the chairman of the Volksraad which decided to send the +ultimatum to Great Britain. + +When war was actually declared, General Meyer, with his commandos, was on +the Transvaal border near his farm, and he opened hostilities by making a +bold dash into Natal and attacking the British army encamped at +Dundee. The battle was carefully planned by Meyer, and it would +undoubtedly have ended with the capture of the entire British force if +General Erasmus, who was to co-operate with him, had fulfilled the part +assigned to him. Although many British soldiers were killed and captured, +and great stores of ammunition and equipment taken, the forces under +General Yule were allowed to escape to the south. General Meyer followed +the fleeing enemy as rapidly as the muddy roads could be traversed, and +engaged them at Modderspruit. There he gained a decisive victory, and +compelled the survivors to enter Ladysmith, where they were immediately +besieged. Meyer was extremely ill before the battle began, but he insisted +upon directing his men, and continued to do so until the field was won, +when he fell from his horse, and was seriously ill for a month. He +returned to the front, against the advice of his physicians, on December +24th, and took part in the fighting at Pont Drift, Boschrand, and in the +thirteen days' battle around Pieter's Hill. In the battle of Pont Drift a +bullet struck the General's field-glasses, flattened itself, and dropped +into one of his coat pockets, to make a souvenir brooch for Mrs. Meyer, +who frequently visited him when no important movements were in progress. + +When General Joubert and his Krijgsraad determined to retreat from the +Tugela and allow Ladysmith to be relieved, General Meyer was one of those +who protested against such a course, and when the decision was made Meyer +returned to the Tugela, and remained there with his friend Louis Botha +during the long and heroic fight against General Buller's column. Meyer +and Botha were among the last persons to leave the positions which they +had defended so long, and on their journey northward the two generals +decided to return and renew the fight as soon as they could reach +Modderspruit and secure food for their men and horses. When they arrived +at Modderspruit they found that Joubert and his entire army had fled +northward, and had carried with them every ounce of food. It was a bitter +disappointment to the two generals, but there was nothing to be done +except to travel in the direction of the scent of food, and the journey +led the dejected, disappointed, starved generals and burghers north over +the Biggarsberg mountains, where provisions could be secured. + +During the long period in March and April when neither Boers nor British +seemed to be doing anything, General Meyer arranged a magnificent series +of entrenchments in the Biggarsberg mountains which made an advance of the +enemy practically impossible. Foreign military experts pronounced the +defence impregnable and expressed the greatest astonishment when they +learned that Meyer formulated the plans of the entrenchments without ever +having read a book on the subject or without having had the benefit of any +instruction. The entrenchments began at a point a few miles east of the +British outposts and continued for miles and miles north-east and +north-west to the very apex of the Biggarsberg. Spruits and rivers were +connected by means of trenches so that a large Boer force could travel +many miles without being observed by the enemy, and the series of +entrenchments was fashioned in such a manner that the Boers could retreat +to the highest point of the mountains and remain meanwhile in perfect +concealment. Near the top of the mountain long schanzes or walls were +built to offer a place of security for the burghers, while on the top were +miles of walls to attract and to inveigle the enemy to approach the lower +wall more closely. The plan was magnificent, but the British forces evaded +the Biggarsberg in their advance movements, and the entrenchments were +never bathed in human blood. + +[Illustration: COMMANDANT-GENERAL CHRISTIAN H. DE WET] + +When the Boers in the Free State were unable to stem the advance of the +British, General Meyer was compelled to retreat northward to ensure his +own safety, but he did it so slowly and systematically that he lost only a +few men and was able, now and then, to make bold dashes at the enemy's +flying columns with remarkable success. The retreat northward through the +Transvaal was fraught with many harassments, but General Meyer joined +forces with General Botha east of Pretoria and thereafter the teacher and +pupil again fought hand in hand in a common cause. + +The Free State was not as prolific of generals as the Transvaal, but in +Christian De Wet she had one of the ablest as well as one of the most +fearless leaders in the Republican ranks. Before he was enlisted to fight +for his country De Wet was a farmer, who had a penchant for dealing in +potatoes, and his only military training was secured when he was one of +the sixty Boer volunteers who ascended the slopes of Majuba Hill in +1881. There was nothing of the military in his appearance; in fact, +Christian De Wet, Commandant-General of the Orange Free State in 1900, was +not a whit unlike Christian De Wet, butcher of Barberton of 1879, and men +who knew him in the gold-rush days of that mining town declared that he +was more martial in appearance then as a licensed slayer of oxen than +later as a licensed slayer of men. He himself prided himself on his +unmilitary exterior, and it was not a little source of satisfaction to him +to say that his fighting regalia was the same suit of clothing which he +wore on his farm on the day that he left it to fight as a soldier in his +country's army. + +Before the war, De Wet's chief claim to notoriety lay in the fact that he +attempted to purchase the entire supply of potatoes in South Africa for +the purpose of effecting a "corner" of that product on the Johannesburg +market. Unfortunately for himself, he held his potatoes until the new crop +was harvested, and he became a bankrupt in consequence. Later he appeared +as a potato farmer near Kroonstad, and still later, at Nicholson's Nek in +Natal, he captured twelve hundred British prisoners and, incidentally, a +large stock of British potatoes, which seemed to please him almost as +greatly as the human captives. Although the vegetable strain was +frequently predominant in De Wet's constitution, he was not over-zealous +to return to his former pastoral pursuits, and continued to lead his +commandos over the hills of the eastern Free State long after that +territory was christened the Orange River Colony. + +[Illustration: GENERAL PETER DE WET] + +General De Wet was at the head of a number of the Free State commandos +which crossed into Natal at the outbreak of the war, and he took part in +several of the battles around Ladysmith; but his services were soon +required in the vicinity of Kimberley, and there he made an heroic effort +to effect a junction with the besieged Cronje. It was not until after the +British occupation of Bloemfontein that De Wet really began his brilliant +career as a daring commander, but thereafter he was continually harassing +the enemy. He led with three big battles in one week, with a total result +of a thousand prisoners of war, seven cannon, and almost half a million +pounds' worth of supplies. At Sannaspost, on March 31st, he swept down +upon Colonel Broadwood's column and captured one-fourth of the men and all +their vast supplies almost before the British officer was aware of the +presence of the enemy. The echoes of that battle had hardly subsided when +he fell upon another British column at Moester's Hoek with results almost +as great as at Sannaspost, and two days later he was besieging a third +British column in his own native heath of Wepener. Column after column was +sent to drive him away, but he clung fast to his prey for almost two +weeks, when he eluded the great force on his capture bent, and moved +northward to take an active part in opposing the advance of Lord +Roberts. He led his small force of burghers as far as the northern border +of the Free State, while the enemy advanced, and then turned eastward, +carrying President Steyn and the capital of the Republic with him to +places of safety. Whenever there was an opportunity he sent small +detachments to attack the British lines of communications and harassed the +enemy continually. In almost all his operations the Commandant-General was +assisted by his brother, General Peter De Wet, who was none the less +daring in his operations. Christian De Wet was responsible for more +British losses than any of the other generals. In his operations in Natal +and the Free State he captured more than three thousand prisoners, +thousands of cattle and horses, and stores and ammunition valued at more +than a million pounds. The number of British soldiers killed and wounded +in battles with De Wet is a matter for conjecture, but it is not limited +by the one thousand mark. + +[Illustration: GENERAL JOHN DE LA REY] + +General John De la Rey, who operated in the Free State with considerable +success, was one of the most enthusiastic leaders in the army, and his +confidence in the Boers' fighting ability was not less than his faith in +the eventual success of their arms. De la Rey was born on British soil, +but he had a supreme contempt for the British soldier, and frequently +asserted that one burgher was able to defeat ten soldiers at any time or +place. He was the only one of the generals who was unable to speak the +English language, but he understood it well enough to capture a spy whom +he overheard in a Free State hotel. De la Rey was a Transvaal general, and +when the retreat from Bloemfontein was made he harassed the enemy greatly, +but was finally compelled to cross the Vaal into his own country, where he +continued to fight under Commandant-General Botha. + +Among the other Boer generals who took active part in the campaign in +other parts of the Republics were J. Du P. De Beer, a Raad member, who +defended the northern border of the Transvaal; Sarel Du Toit, whose +defence at Fourteen Streams was admirably conducted; Snyman, the old +Marico farmer, who besieged Mafeking; Hendrik Schoeman, who operated in +Cape Colony; Jan Kock, killed at the Elandslaagte battle early in the +campaign; and the three generals, Lemmer, Grobler, and Olivier, whose +greatest success was their retreat from Cape Colony. + +The Boer generals and officers, almost without exception, were admirable +men, personally. Some of them were rough, hardy men, who would have felt +ill at ease in a drawing-room, but they had much of the milk of human +kindness in them, and there was none who loved to see or partake of +bloodshed. There may have been instances when white or Red Cross flags +were fired upon, but when such a breach of the rules of war occurred it +was not intentional. The foreigners who accompanied the various Boer +armies--the correspondents, military attaches, and the volunteers--will +testify that the officers, from Commandant-General Botha down to the +corporals, were always zealous in their endeavours to conduct an +honourable warfare, and that the farmer-generals were as gentlemanly as +they were valorous. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE WAR PRESIDENTS + + +The real leader of the Boers of the two Republics was Paul Kruger, their +man of peace. His opinions on the momentous questions that agitated the +country and his long political supremacy caused him many and bitter +enemies, but the war healed all animosities and he was the one man in the +Republics who had the respect, love, and admiration of all the burghers. +Wherever one might be, whether in the houses on the veld or in the +battlefield's trenches, every one spoke of "Oom Paul" in a manner which +indicated that he was the Boer of all Boers. There was not one burgher who +would not declare that Kruger was a greater man than he was before he +despatched his famous ultimatum to Great Britain. His old-time friends +supported him even more faithfully than before hostilities began, and his +political energies of other days became the might of his right arm. Those +who opposed him most bitterly and unremittingly when it was a campaign +between the Progressive and Conservative parties were most eager to listen +to his counsels and to stand by his side when their country's hour of +darkness had arrived. Not a word of censure for him was heard anywhere; on +the contrary, every one praised him for opposing Great Britain so firmly, +and prayed that his life might be spared until their dream of absolute +independence was realised. + +Sir Charles Dilke once related a conversation he had with Bismarck +concerning Paul Kruger. "Cavour was much smarter, more clever, more +diplomatically gifted than I," said the Prince, "but there is a much +stronger, much abler man than Cavour or I, and that man is President +Kruger. He has no gigantic army behind him, no great empire to support +him. He stands alone with a small peasant people, and is a match for us by +mere force of genius. I spoke to him--he drove me into a corner." Kruger's +great ability, as delineated by Bismarck, was indisputable, and a man with +less of it might have been President and might have avoided the war, but +only at a loss to national interests. The President had one aim and one +goal, his country's independence, and all the force of his genius was +directed toward the attainment of that end. He tried to secure his +country's total independence by peaceable means, but he had planted the +seed of that desire so deeply in the minds of his countrymen that when it +sprouted they overwhelmed him and he was driven into war against his will. +Kruger would not have displaced diplomacy with the sword, but his burghers +felt that peaceful methods of securing their independence were of no +avail, and he was powerless to resist their wishes. He did not lead the +Boers into war; they insisted that only war would give to them the relief +they desired, and he followed under their leadership. When the meetings of +the Volksraad immediately preceding the war were held, it was not Paul +Kruger who called for war; it was the representatives of the burghers, who +had been instructed by their constituents to act in such a manner. When +the President saw that his people had determined to have war, he was +leader enough to make plans which might bring the conflict to a successful +conclusion, and he chose a moment for making a declaration that he +considered opportune. The ultimatum was decided upon eleven days before it +was actually despatched, but it was delayed eight days on account of the +Free State's unpreparedness. Kruger realised the importance of striking +the first blow at an enemy which was not prepared to resist it, and the +Free State's tardiness at such a grave crisis was decidedly unpleasant to +him. Then, when the Free State was ready to mobilise, the President +secured another delay of three days in order that diplomacy might have one +more chance. His genius had not enabled him to realise the dream of his +life without a recourse to war, and when the ultimatum was delivered into +the hands of the British the old man wept. + +[Illustration: PRESIDENT KRUGER ADDRESSING AMERICAN VOLUNTEERS] + +When the multitudinous executive duties to which he attended in peaceful +times were suddenly ended by the declaration, the President busied himself +with matters pertaining to the conduct of the war. He worked as hard as +any man in the country, despite his age, and on many occasions he +displayed the energy of a man many years younger. The war caused his daily +routine of work and rest to be changed completely. He continued to rise at +four o'clock in the morning, a habit which he contracted in early youth +and followed ever after. After his morning devotions he listened to the +reading of the despatches from the generals at the front, and dictated +replies in the shape of suggestions, censure, or praise. He slept for an +hour after breakfast, and then went to the Government Buildings, arriving +there punctually every morning as the clock on the dome struck nine. He +remained in consultation with the other members of the Executive Council +and the few Government officials, who had remained in the city, for an +hour or more. After luncheon he again worked over despatches, received +burghers on leave of absence from the front and foreigners who sympathised +with his people's cause. He never allowed himself to be idle, and, in +fact, there was no opportunity for him to be unemployed, inasmuch as +almost all the leading Government officials were at the front, while many +of their duties remained behind to be attended to by some one. Kruger +himself supervised the work of all the departments whose heads were +absent, and the labour was great. His capacity for hard labour was never +better demonstrated than during the war, when he bore the weight of his +own duties and those of other Government officials, as well as the work of +guiding the Boer emissaries in foreign countries. Added to all these grave +responsibilities, when the reverses of the army grew more serious, was the +great worry and the constant dread of new disasters which beset a man who +occupies a position such as he occupied. + +No man had greater influence over the Boers than Kruger, and his counsel +was always sought and his advice generally followed. When the first +commandos went to the front it was considered almost absolutely necessary +for them to stop at Pretoria and see "Oom Paul" before going to battle, +and it seemed to affect the old man strangely when he addressed them and +bade them God-speed in the accomplishment of their task. It was in the +midst of one of these addresses that the President, while standing in the +centre of a group of burghers, broke down and wept as he referred to the +many men who would lose their lives in the war. When the Boer army was +having its greatest successes Kruger constantly sent messages to his +burghers, thanking them for their good work, and reminding them not to +neglect thanking their God for His favours. One of the most characteristic +messages of this nature was sent to the generals, commandants, officers, +and burghers on January 8th, and was a most unique ebullition to come from +a President of a Republic. The message was composed by himself, and, as +literally translated, read:-- + +"For your own and the war-officers' information, I wish to state that, +through the blessing of our Lord, our great cause has at present been +carried to such a point that, by dint of great energy, we may expect to +bring it to a successful issue on our behalf. + +"In order that such an end be attained, it is, however, strictly necessary +that all energy be used, that all burghers able to do active service go +forward to the battlefield, and that those who are on furlough claim no +undue extension thereof, but return as soon as possible, every one to the +place where his war-officers may be stationed. + +"Brothers! I pray you to act herein with all possible promptitude and +zeal, and to keep your eyes fixed on that Providence who has miraculously +led our people through the whole of South Africa. Read Psalm 33, from +verse 7 to the end. + +"The enemy have fixed their faith in Psalm 83, where it is said that this +people shall not exist and its name must be annihilated; but the Lord +says: 'It shall exist' Read also Psalm 89, the 13th and 14th verses, where +the Lord saith that the children of Christ, if they depart from His words, +shall be chastised with bitter reverses, but His favour and goodness shall +have no end and never fail. What He has said remains strong and firm. For, +see, the Lord purifieth His children, even unto gold, proven by fire. + +"I need not draw your attention to all the destructiveness of the enemy's +works, for you know it, and I again point to the attack of the Devil on +Christ and His Church. This has been the attack from the beginning, and +God will not countenance the destruction of His Church. You know that our +cause is a just one, and there cannot be any doubt, for it is with the +contents of just this Psalm that they commenced with us in their +wickedness, and I am still searching the entire Bible, and find no other +way which can be followed than that which has been followed by us, and we +must continue to fight in the name of the Lord. + +"Please notify all the officers of war and the entire public of your +district of the contents of this telegram, and imbue them with a full +earnestness of the cause." + +When the President learned that Commandant-General Joubert had determined +to retreat from the neighbourhood of Ladysmith he sent a long telegram to +his old friend, imploring him not to take such a step, and entreating him +to retain his forces at the Tugela. The old General led his forces +northward to Glencoe, notwithstanding the President's protest, and a day +afterward Kruger arrived on the scene. The President was warrior enough to +know that a great mistake had been made, and he did not hesitate to show +his displeasure. He and Joubert had had many disagreements in their long +experiences with one another, but those who were present in the General's +tent at that Glencoe interview said that they had never seen the President +so angry. When he had finished giving his opinion of the General's action +the President shook Joubert's hand, and thereafter they discussed matters +calmly and as if there had been no quarrel. To the other men who were +partly responsible for the retreat he showed his resentment of their +actions by declining to shake hands with them, a method of showing +disapprobation that is most cutting to the Boers. + +"If I were five years younger, or if my eyesight were better," he growled +at the recalcitrants, "I would take a rifle and bandolier and show you +what we old Boers were accustomed to do. We had courage; you seem to have +none." + +After the President had encouraged the officers, and had secured their +promises to continue the resistance against their enemy he wandered about +in the laagers, shaking hands with and infusing new spirit into the +burghers who had flocked together to see their revered leader. When +several thousand of the Boers had gathered around him and were trying to +have a word with him the President bared his head and asked his friends to +join him in prayer. Instantly every head was bared, and Kruger's voice +spread out over the vast concourse in a grand appeal to the God of Battles +to grant His blessing to the burgher army. The grey-haired old man was +conspicuous in a small circle which was formed by the burghers withdrawing +several paces when he began the prayer. On all sides there spread out a +mass of black-garbed, battle-begrimed Boers with eyes turned to the +ground. Here and there a white tent raised its head above the assemblage; +at other points men stood on waggons and cannon. Farther on, burghers +dismounted from their horses and joined the crowd. In the distance were +Talana Hill, where the first battle of the campaign was fought; the lofty +Drakensberg where more than fifty years before the early Boer Voortrekkers +had their first glimpses of fair Natal, while to the south were the hills +of Ladysmith of sombre history. There in the midst of bloody battlefields, +and among several thousand men who sought the blood of the enemy, Kruger, +the man of peace, implored Almighty God to give strength to his +burghers. It was a magnificent spectacle. + +He had been at Glencoe only a short time when the news reached him that +the burghers in the Free State had lost their courage, and were retreating +rapidly towards Bloemfontein. He abbreviated his visit, hastened to the +Free State, and met the fleeing Boers at Poplar Grove. He exhorted them to +make a stand against the enemy, and, by his magnetic power over them, +succeeded in inducing the majority to remain and oppose the British +advance. His own fearlessness encouraged them, and when they saw their old +leader standing in the midst of shell fire as immobile as if he were +watching a holiday parade, they had not the heart to run. While he was +watching the battle a shell fell within a short distance of where he +stood, and all his companions fled from the spot. He walked slowly away, +and when the men returned to him he chided them, and made a witty remark +concerning the shell, naming it one of "the Queen's pills." While the +battle continued, Kruger followed one of the commandos and urged the men +to fight. At one stage of the battle the commando which he was following +was in imminent danger of being cut off and captured by the British +forces, but the burghers fought valiantly before their President, and +finally conveyed him to a place of safety, although the path was shell and +bullet swept. + +He returned to Bloemfontein, and in conjunction with President Steyn, +addressed an appeal to Lord Salisbury to end the war. They asked that the +republics should be allowed to retain their independence, and firmly +believed that the appeal would end hostilities, inasmuch as the honours of +war were then about equally divided between the two armies. To those who +watched the proceedings it seemed ridiculous to ask for a cessation of +hostilities at that time, but Kruger sincerely believed that his appeal +would not be in vain, and he was greatly surprised, but not discomfited, +when a distinct refusal was received in reply. + +Several weeks after the memorable trip to the Free State, President Kruger +made another journey to the sister-republic, and met President Steyn and +all the Boer generals at the famous Krijgsraad at Kroonstad. No one who +heard the President when he addressed the burghers who gathered there to +see him, will ever forget the intensity of Kruger's patriotism. Kroonstad, +then the temporary capital of the Free State, was not favoured with any +large public hall where a meeting might be held, so a small butcher's +stand in the market-square was chosen for the site of the meeting. After +President Steyn, Commandant-General Joubert, and several other leading +Boers had addressed the large crowd of burghers standing in the rain +outside the tradesman's pavilion, Kruger stepped on one of the long +tables, and exhorted the burghers to renewed efforts, to fight for freedom +and not to be disconsolate because Bloemfontein had fallen into the hands +of the enemy. When the President concluded his address the burghers raised +a great cheer, and then returned to their laagers with their minds filled +with a new spirit, and with renewed determination to oppose the enemy--a +determination which displayed itself later in the fighting at Sannaspost, +Moester's Hoek, and Wepener. Kruger found the burghers in the Free State +in the depths of despair; when he departed they were as confident of +ultimate victory as they were on the day war was begun. The old man had +the faculty of leading men as it is rarely found. In times of peace he led +men by force of argument as much as by reason of personal magnetism. In +war-time he led men by mere words sent over telegraph wires, by his +presence at the front, and by his display of manly dignity, firm +resolution and devotion to his country. He was like the kings and rulers +of ancient times, who led their cohorts into battle, and wielded the sword +when there was a necessity for such action. + +During the war President Kruger suffered many disappointments, endured +many griefs, and withstood many trials and tribulations; but none affected +him so deeply as the death of his intimate friend, Commandant-General +Joubert. Kruger and Joubert were the two leading men of the country for +many years. They were among those who assisted in the settlement of the +Transvaal and in the many wars which were coincident with it. They had +indelibly inscribed their names on the scroll of the South African history +of a half-century, and in doing so they had become as intimate as two +brothers. For more than two score years Kruger had been considered the +Boers' leader in peaceful times, while Joubert was the Boers' warrior. The +ambition of both was the independence of their country, and, while they +differed radically on the methods by which it was to be attained, neither +surpassed the other in strenuous efforts to secure it without a recourse +to war. The death of Joubert was as saddening to Kruger, consequently, as +the Demise of his most dearly-beloved brother could have been, and in the +funeral-oration which the President delivered over the bier of the +General, he expressed that sense of sorrow most aptly. This oration, +delivered upon an occasion when the country was mourning the death of a +revered leader and struggling under the weight of recent defeats, was one +of the most remarkable utterances ever made by a man at the head of a +nation. + +"Brothers, sisters, burghers, and friends," he began,--"Only a few words +can I say to you to-day, for the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. +We have lost our brother, our friend, our Commandant-General. I have lost +my right hand, not of yesterday, but my right hand since we were boys +together, many long years ago. To-night I alone seem to have been spared +of the old people of our cherished land, of the men who lived and +struggled together for our country. He has gone to heaven whilst fighting +for liberty, which God has told us to defend; for the freedom for which he +and I have struggled together for so many years, and so often, to +maintain. Brothers, what shall I say to you in this our greatest day of +sorrow, in this hour of national gloom? The struggle we are engaged in is +for the principles of justice and righteousness, which our Lord Has taught +us is the broad road to heaven and blessedness. It is our sacred duty to +keep on that path, if we desire a happy ending. Our dear dead brother has +gone on that road to his eternal life. What can I say of his personality? +It is only a few short weeks ago that I saw him at the fighting front, +humbly and modestly taking his share of the privations and the rough work +of the campaign like the poorest burgher, a true general, a true +Christian--an example to his people. And he spoke to me then and even more +recently; and, let me tell you, that the days are dark. We are suffering +reverses on account of wickedness rampant in our land. No success will +come, no blessings be given to our great cause unless you remove the bad +elements from among us; and then you may look forward to attaining the +crowning point, the reward of righteousness and noble demeanour. We have +in our distinguished departed brother an example. Chosen, as he was, by +the nation, time after time, to his honourable position, he had their +trust to such an extent that everything was left in his hands; and he did +his work well. He died, as he has lived, in the path of duty and +honour. Let the world rage around us, let the enemy decry us, I say, +Follow his example. The Lord will stand by you against the ruthless hand +of the foe, and at the moment when He deems it right for interference +peace will come once more. Why is the sympathy of the whole world with us +in this struggle for freedom? Why are the strangers pouring in from Europe +to assist to the maintenance of our beloved flag, to aid us in the just +defence of our independence? Is it not God's hand? I feel it in my +heart. I declare to you again, the end of our struggle will be +satisfactory. Our small nation exists by the aid of the Almighty, and will +continue to do so. The prophets say the closed books shall be opened, the +dead shall arise, darkness be turned into light; nothing be concealed. +Every one will face God's judgment throne. You will listen to His voice, +and your eyes shall be open for the truth of everything. Think of the +costly lives given by us for our cause, and you will rally to the fight +for justice to the end. Brothers, to the deeply bereaved widow of our +Commandant-General, to his family, to you all, I say trust more than ever +in the Almighty; go to Him for condolence; think and be trustful in the +thought that our brother's body has gone from amongst us to rise again in +a beautiful and eternal home. Let us follow his example. Weep not, the +Lord will support you; the hour of all our relief is near; and let us pray +that we may enter heaven, and be guided to eternity in the same way as he +whom we mourn so deeply. Amen." + +Early in his life Kruger formed an idea that the Boers were under the +direct control of Providence, and it displeased him greatly to learn that +many petty thefts were committed by some of the burghers at the front. In +many of the speeches to the burghers he referred to the shortcomings of +some of them, and tried to impress on their minds, that they could never +expect the Lord to took with favour on their cause if they did not mend +their ways. He made a strong reference to those sins in the oration he +delivered over Joubert's body, and never neglected to tell the foreign +volunteers that they had come into the country for fighting and not for +looting. When an American corps of about fifty volunteers arrived in +Pretoria in April he requested that they should call at his residence +before leaving for the front, and the men were greatly pleased to receive +and accept the invitation. The President walked to the sidewalk in front +of his house to receive the Americans, and then addressed them in this +characteristically blunt speech: "I am very glad you have come here to +assist us. I want you to look after your horses and rifles. Do not allow +any one to steal them from you. Do not steal anybody else's gun or +horse. Trust in God, and fight as hard as you can." + +Undoubtedly one of the most pathetic incidents in Kruger's life was his +departure from Pretoria when the British army was only a short distance +south of that city. It was bitter enough to him to witness the conquest of +the veld district, the farms and the plantations, but when the conquerors +were about to possess the capital of the country which he himself had seen +growing out of the barren veld into a beautiful city of brick and stone, +it was indeed a grave epoch for an old man to pass through. It hurt him +little to see Johannesburg fall to the enemy, for that city was ever in +his enemy's hands, but when Pretoria, distinctly the Boer city, was about +to become British, perhaps for ever, the old man might have been expected +to display signs of the great sorrow which he undoubtedly felt in his +heart. At the threshold of such a great calamity to his cause it might +have been anticipated that he would acknowledge defeat and ask for mercy +from a magnanimous foe. It was not dreamt of that a man of almost four +score years would desert his home and family, his farms and flocks, the +result of a lifetime's labour, and endure the discomforts of the field +merely because he believed in a cause which, it seemed, was about to be +extinguished by force of arms. But adversity caused no changes in the +President's demeanour. When he bade farewell to his good old wife--perhaps +it was a final farewell--he cheered and comforted her, and when the +weeping citizens and friends of many years gathered at his little cottage +to bid him goodbye he chided them for their lack of faith in the cause, +and encouraged them to believe that victory would crown the Boers' +efforts. Seven months before, Kruger stood on the verandah of his +residence, and, doffing his hat to the first British prisoners that +arrived in the city, asked his burghers not to rejoice unseemingly; in May +the old man, about to flee before the enemy, inspired his people to take +new courage, and ridiculed their ideas that all was lost. + +Whether the Boers were in the first flush of victory or in the depths of +despair Paul Kruger was ever the same to them--patriot, adviser, +encourager, leader, and friend. + +It was an easy matter to see the President when he was at his residence at +Pretoria, and he appeared to be deeply interested in learning the opinions +of the many foreigners who arrived in his country. The little verandah of +the Executive Mansion--a pompous name for the small, one-storey +cottage--was the President's favourite resting and working place during +the day. Just as in the days of peace he sat there in a big armchair, +discussing politics with groups of his countrymen, so while the war was in +progress he was seated there pondering the grave subjects of the time. The +countrymen who could always be observed with him at almost any time of the +day were missing. They were at the front. Occasionally two or three old +Boers could be seen chatting with him behind Barnato's marble lions, but +invariably they had bandoliers around their bodies and rifles across their +knees. Few of the old Boers who knew the President intimately returned +from the front on leaves-of-absence unless they called on him to explain +to him the tide and progress of the war. + +According to his own declaration his health was as good as it ever was, +although the war added many burdens to his life. Although he was +seventy-five years old he declared he was as sprightly as he was twenty +years before, and he seemed to have the energy and vitality of a man of +forty. The reports that his mind was affected were cruel hoaxes which had +not the slightest foundation of fact. The only matter concerning which he +worried was his eyesight, which had been growing weaker steadily for five +years. That misfortune alone prevented him from accompanying his burghers +to the front and sharing their burdens with them, and he frequently +expressed his disappointment that he was unable to engage more actively in +the defence of his country. When Pretoria fell into British hands Kruger +again sacrificed his own interests for the welfare of his Government and +moved the capital into the fever-districts, the low-veld of the eastern +part of the Transvaal. The deadly fever which permeates the atmosphere of +that territory seemed to have no more terrors for him than did the British +bullets at Poplar Grove, and he chose to remain in that dangerous locality +in order that he might be in constant communication with his burghers and +the outside world rather than to go farther into the isolated interior +where he would have assumed no such great risks to his health. + +Mr. Kruger was not a bitter enemy of the British nation, as might have +been supposed. He was always an admirer of Britons and British +institutions, and the war did not cause him to alter his convictions. He +despised only the men whom he charged with being responsible for the war, +and he never thought to hide the identity of those men. He blamed Mr. +Rhodes, primarily, for instigating the war, and held Mr. Chamberlain and +Sir Alfred Milner equally responsible for bringing it about. Against these +three men he was extremely bitter, and he took advantage of every +opportunity for expressing his opinions of them and their work. In +February he stated that the real reason of the war between the Boers and +the British was Rhodes's desire for glory. "He wants to be known as the +maker of the South African empire," he said, "and the empire is not +complete so long as there are two Republics in the centre of the country." + +Whatever were the causes of the war, it is certain that President Kruger +did not make it in order to gain political supremacy in the country. The +Dutch of Cape Colony, President Steyn of the Free State, and Secretary +Reitz of the Transvaal, may have had visions of Dutch supremacy, but +President Kruger had no such hopes. He invariably and strenuously denied +that he had any aspirations other than the independence of his country, +and all his words and works emphasised his statement to that effect. +Several days before Commandant-General Joubert died, that intimate friend +of the President declared solemnly that Kruger had never dreamt of +expelling the British Government from South Africa and much less had made +any agreement with the Dutch in other parts of the country with a view to +such a result. It was a difficult matter to find a Transvaal Boer or a +Boer from the northern part of the Free State who cared whether the +British or the Dutch were paramount in South Africa so long as the +Republics were left unharmed, but it was less difficult to meet Cape +Colonists and Boers from the southern part of the Free State who desired +that Great Britain's power in the country should be broken. If there was +any real spirit against Great Britain it was born on British soil in Cape +Colony and blown northward to where courage to fight was more +abundant. Its source certainly was not in the north, and more certainly +not with Paul Kruger, the man of peace. + +President Steyn, of the Orange Free State, occupied even a more +responsible position than his friend President Kruger, of the Transvaal. +At the beginning of hostilities, Steyn found that hundreds of the +British-born citizens of his State refused to fight with his army, and +consequently he was obliged to join the Transvaal with a much smaller +force than he had reckoned upon. He was handicapped by the lack of +generals of any experience, and he did not have a sufficient number of +burghers to guard the borders of his own State. His Government had made +but few preparations for war, and there was a lack of guns, ammunition, +and equipment. The mobilisation of his burghers was extremely difficult +and required much more time than was anticipated, and everything seemed to +be awry at a time when every detail should have been carefully planned and +executed. As the responsible head of the Government and the veritable head +of the army Steyn passed a crisis with a remarkable display of energy, +ingenuity, and ability. After the army was in the field he gave his +personal attention to the work of the departments whose heads were at the +front and attended to many of the details of the commissariat work in +Bloemfontein. He frequently visited the burghers in the field and gave to +them such encouragement as only the presence and praise of the leader of a +nation can give to a people. In February he went to the Republican lines +at Ladysmith and made an address in which he stated that Sir Alfred +Milner's declaration that the power of Afrikanderism must be broken had +caused the war. Several days later he was with his burghers at Kimberley, +praising their valour and infusing them with renewed courage. A day or two +afterward he was again in Bloemfontein, arranging for the comfort of his +men and caring for the wives and children who were left behind. His duties +were increased a hundred-fold as the campaign progressed, and when the +first reverses came he alone of the Free Staters was able to imbue the men +with new zeal. After Bloemfontein was captured by the British he +transferred the capital to Kroonstad, and there, with the assistance of +President Kruger, re-established the fighting spirit of the burgher army. +He induced the skulking burghers to return to their compatriots at the +front, and formed the plans for future resistance against the invading +army. When Lord Roberts's hosts advanced from Bloemfontein, President +Steyn again moved the capital and established it at Heilbron. Thereafter +the capital was constantly transferred from one place to another, but +through all those vicissitudes the President clung nobly to his people and +country. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +FOREIGNERS IN THE WAR + + +In every war there are men who are not citizens of the country with whose +army they are fighting, and the "soldier-of-fortune" is as much a +recognised adjunct of modern armies as he was in the days of +knight-errantry. In the American revolutionary war both the colonial and +British forces were assisted by many foreigners, and in every great and +small war since then the contending armies have had foreigners in their +service. In the Franco-Prussian war there was a great number of +foreigners, among them having been one of the British generals who took a +leading part in the Natal campaign. The brief Graeco-Turkish war gave many +foreign officers an opportunity of securing experience, while the +Spaniards in the Hispano-American war had the assistance of a small number +of European officers. Even the Filipinos have had the aid of a corps of +foreigners, the leader of whom, however, deserted Aguinaldo and joined the +Boer forces. + +There is a fascination in civilised warfare which attracts men of certain +descriptions, and to them a well-fought battle is the highest form of +exciting amusement. All the world is interested in warfare among human +beings, and there are men who delight in fighting battles in order that +their own and public interest may be gratified. It may suggest a morbid or +bloodthirsty spirit, this love of warfare, but no spectacle is finer, more +magnificent, than a hard-fought game in which human lives are staked +against a strip of ground--a position. It is not hard to understand why +many men should become fascinated with warfare and travel to the ends of +the earth in order to take part in it, but a soldier of fortune needs to +make no apologies. The Boer army was augmented by many of these men who +delighted in war for fighting's sake, but a larger number joined the +forces because they believed the Republics were fighting in a just cause. + +The Boer was jealous of his own powers of generalship, and when large +numbers of foreigners volunteered to lead their commandos the farmers gave +a decidedly negative reply. Scores of foreign officers arrived in the +country shortly after the beginning of hostilities and, intent on securing +fame and experience, asked to be placed in command, but no request of that +kind was granted. The Boers felt that their system of warfare was the +perfect one, and they scoffed at the suggestion that European officers +might teach them anything in the military line. Every foreign officer was +welcomed in Pretoria and in the laagers, but he was asked to enlist as a +private, or ordinary burgher. Commissions in the Boer army were not to be +had for the asking, as was anticipated, and many of the foreign officers +were deeply disappointed in consequence. The Boers felt that the +foreigners were unacquainted with the country, the burgher mode of +warfare, and lacked adroitness with the rifle, and consequently refused to +place lives and battles in the hands of incompetent men. There were a few +foreigners in the service of the Boers at the beginning of the war, but +their number was so small as to have been without significance. Several +European officers had been employed by the Governments of the Republics to +instruct young Boers in artillery work---and their instruction was +invaluable--but the oft-repeated assertion that every commando was in +charge of a foreign officer was as ridiculous as that of the _Cape Times_ +which stated that the British retired from Spion Kop because no water was +found on its summit. + +The influx of foreigners into the country began simultaneously with the +war, and it continued thereafter at the rate of about four hundred men a +month. The volunteers, as they were called by the burghers, consisted of +the professional soldier, the man in search of loot, the man who fights +for love of justice, and the adventurer. The professional soldier was of +much service to the burghers so long as he was content to remain under a +Boer leader, but as soon as he attempted to operate on his own +responsibility he became not only an impediment to the Boers, but also a +positive danger. In the early stages of the war the few foreign legions +that existed met with disaster at Elandslaagte, and thereafter all the +foreign volunteers were obliged to join a commando. After several months +had passed the foreigners, eager to have responsible command, prevailed +upon the generals to allow the formation of foreign legions to operate +independently. The Legion of France, the American Scouts, the Russian +Scouts, the German Corps, and several other organisations were formed, and +for a month after the investment of Bloemfontein these legions alone +enlivened the situation by their frolicsome reports of attacks on the +enemy's outposts. During those weeks the entire British army must have +been put to flight scores of times at the very least, if the reports of +the foreign legions may be believed, and the British casualty list must +have amounted to thrice the number of English soldiers in the country. The +free-rein given to the foreign legionaries was withdrawn shortly after +Villebois-Mareuil and his small band of Frenchmen met with disaster at +Boshof, and thereafter all the foreigners were placed under the direct +command of General De la Rey. + +The man in search of the spoils of war was not so numerous, but he made +his presence felt by stealing whatever was portable and saleable. When he +became surfeited with looting houses in conquered territory and stealing +horses, luggage, and goods of lesser value in the laagers he returned to +Johannesburg and Pretoria and assisted in emptying residences and stores +of their contents. This style of soldier-of-fortune never went into a +battle of his own accord, and when he found himself precipitated into the +midst of one he lost little time in reaching a place of safety. Almost on +a par with the looter was the adventurer, whose chief object of life +seemed to be to tell of the battles he had assisted in winning. He was +constantly in the laagers when there was no fighting in progress, but as +soon as the report of a gun was heard the adventurer felt the necessity of +going on urgent business to Pretoria. After the fighting he could always +be depended upon to relate the wildest personal experiences that +camp-fires ever heard. He could tell of amazing experiences in the wilds +of South America, on the steppes of Siberia, and other ends of the earth, +and after each narrative he would make a request for a "loan." The only +adventures he had during the war were those which he encountered while +attempting to escape from battles, and the only service he did to the Boer +army was to assist in causing the disappearance of commissariat supplies. + +The men who fought with the Boers because they were deeply in sympathy +with the Republican cause were in far greater numbers than those with +other motives, and their services were of much value to the federal +forces. The majority of these were in the country when the war was begun, +and were accepted as citizens of the country. They joined commandos and +remained under Boer leaders during the entire campaign. In the same class +were the volunteers who entered the Republics from Natal and Cape Colony, +for the purpose of assisting their co-religionists and kinsmen. Of these +there were about six thousand at the beginning of hostilities, but there +were constant desertions, so that after the first six months of the war +perhaps less than one-third of them remained. The Afrikanders of Natal and +Cape Colony were not inferior in any respect to the Boers whose forces +they joined, but when the tide of war changed and it became evident that +the Boers would not triumph, they returned to their homes and farms in the +colonies, in order to save them from confiscation. Taking into +consideration the fact that four-fifths of the white population of the two +colonies was of the same race and religion as the Boers, six thousand was +not a large number of volunteers to join the federal forces. + +The artillery fire of the Boer was so remarkably good that the delusion +was cherished by the British commanders that foreign artillerists were in +charge of all their guns. It was not believed that the Boers had any +knowledge of arms other than rifles, but it was not an easy matter to find +a foreigner at a cannon or a rapid-fire gun. The field batteries of the +State Artillery of the Transvaal had two German officers of low rank, who +were in the country long before the war began, but almost all the other +men who assisted with the field guns were young Boers. The heavy artillery +in Natal was directed by MM. Grunberg and Leon, representatives of +Creusot, who manufactured the guns. M. Leon's ability as an engineer and +gunner pleased Commandant-General Joubert so greatly that he gave him full +authority over the artillery. Major Albrecht, the director of the Free +State Artillery, was a foreigner by birth, but he became a citizen of the +Free State long before the war, and did sterling service to his country +until he was captured with Cronje at Paardeberg. Otto von Lossberg, a +German-American who had seen service in the armies of Germany and the +United States, arrived in the country in March, and was thereafter in +charge of a small number of heavy guns, but the majority of them were +manned by Boer officers. + +None of the foreigners who served in the Boer army received any +compensation. They were supplied with horses and equipment, at a cost to +the Boer Governments of about L35 for each volunteer, and they received +better food than the burghers, but no wages were paid to them. Before a +foreign volunteer was allowed to join a commando, and before he received +his equipment, he was obliged to take an oath of allegiance to the +Republic. Only a few men who declined to take the oath were allowed to +join the army. The oath of allegiance was an adaptation of the one which +caused so much difficulty between Great Britain and the Transvaal before +the war. A translation of it reads-- + + "I hereby make an oath of solemn allegiance to the people of + the South African Republic, and I declare my willingness + to assist, with all my power, the burghers of this + Republic in the war in which they are engaged. I further + promise to obey the orders of those placed in authority + according to law, and that I will work for nothing but + the prosperity, the welfare, and the independence of the + land and people of this Republic, so truly help me, God + Almighty." + +[Illustration: BATTLEFIELD OF ELANDSLAAGTE] + +No army lists were ever to be found at Pretoria or at the front, and it +was as monumental a task to secure a fair estimate of the Boer force as it +was to obtain an estimate of the number of the foreigners who assisted +them. The Boers had no men whom they could spare to detail to statistical +work, and, in consequence, no correct figures can ever be obtained. The +numerical strength of the various organisations of foreigners could +readily be obtained from their commanders, but many of the foreigners were +in Boer commandos, and their strength is only problematical. An estimate +which was prepared by the British and American correspondents, who had +good opportunities of forming as nearly a correct idea as any one, +resulted in this list, which gives the numbers of those in the various +organisations, as well as those in the commandos:-- + + Nationality. In Organisations. In Commandos. + French 300 ... 100 + Hollanders 400 ... 250 + Russian 100 ... 125 + Germans 300 ... 250 + Americans 150 ... 150 + Italians 100 ... 100 + Scandinavians 100 ... 50 + Irishmen 200 ... ... + Afrikanders ... ... 6,000 + Total in Organisations 1,650 ... ... + Total in Commandos ... 7,025 + Grand Total ... 8,675 + +The French legionaries were undoubtedly of more actual service to the +Boers than the volunteers of any other nationality, inasmuch as they were +given the opportunities of doing valuable work. Before the war one of the +large forts at Pretoria was erected by French engineers, and when the war +was begun Frenchmen of military experience were much favoured by General +Joubert, who was proud of his French extraction. The greater quantity of +artillery had been purchased from French firms, and the Commandant-General +wisely placed guns in the hands of the men who knew how to operate them +well. MM. Grunberg and Leon were of incalculable assistance in +transporting the heavy artillery over the mountains of Natal, and in +securing such positions for them where the fire of the enemy's guns could +not harm them. The work of the heavy guns, the famous "Long Toms" which +the besieged in Ladysmith will remember as long as the siege itself +remains in their memory, was almost entirely the result of French hands +and brains, while all the havoc caused by the heavy artillery in the Natal +battles was due to the engineering and gunnery of Leon, Grunberg, and +their Boer assistants. After remaining in Natal until after the middle of +January the two Frenchmen joined the Free State forces, to whom they +rendered valuable assistance. Leon was wounded at Kimberley on February +12th, and, after assisting in establishing the ammunition works at +Pretoria and Johannesburg, returned to France. Viscount Villebois-Mareuil +was one of the many foreigners who joined the Boer army and lost their +lives while fighting with the Republican forces. While ranking as colonel +on the General Staff of the French army, and when about to be promoted to +the rank of general, he resigned from the service on account of the +Dreyfus affair. A month after the commencement of the war +Villebois-Mareuil arrived in the Transvaal and went to the Natal front, +where his military experience enabled him to give advice to the Boer +generals. In January the Colonel attached himself to General Cronje's +forces, with whom he took part in many engagements. He was one of the few +who escaped from the disastrous fight at Paardeberg, and shortly +afterwards, at the war council at Kroonstad, the French officer was +created a brigadier-general--the first and only one in the Boer army--and +all the foreign legions were placed in his charge. It was purposed that he +should harass the enemy by attacks on their lines of communication, and it +was while he was at the outset of the first of these expeditions that he +and twelve of his small force of sixty men were killed at Boshof, in the +north-western part of the Free State, early in April. Villebois-Mareuil +was a firm believer in the final success of the Boer arms, and he received +the credit of planning two battles--second Colenso and +Magersfontein--which gave the Boers at least temporary success. The +Viscount was a writer for the _Revue des Deux Mondes_, the +_Correspondant_, and _La Liberte_, the latter of which referred to him as +the latter-day Lafayette. Colonel Villebois-Mareuil was an exceptionally +brave man, a fine soldier, and a gentleman whose friendship was prized. + +Lieutenant Gallopaud was another Frenchman who did sterling service to the +Boers while he was subordinate to Colonel Villebois-Mareuil. At Colenso +Gallopaud led his men in an attack which met with extraordinary success, +and later in the Free State campaign he distinguished himself by +creditable deeds in several battles. Gallopaud went to the Transvaal for +experience, and he secured both that and fame. After the death of +Villebois-Mareuil, Gallopaud was elected commandant of the French Legion, +and before he joined De la Rey's army he had the novel pleasure of +subduing a mutiny among some of his men. An Algerian named Mahomed Ben +Naseur, who had not been favoured with the sight of blood for several +weeks, threatened to shoot Gallopaud with a Mauser, but there was a +cessation of hostilities on the part of the Algerian shortly after big, +powerful Gallopaud went into action. + +The majority of the Hollanders who fought with the Boers were in the +country when the war was begun, and they made a practical demonstration of +their belief in the Boer cause by going into the field with the first +commandos. The Dutch corps was under the command of Commandant Smoronberg, +the former drill-master of the Johannesburg Police. Among the volunteers +were many young Hollanders who had been employed by the Government in +Pretoria and Johannesburg establishments, and by the Netherlands railways. +In the first engagement, at Elandslaagte, in November, the corps was +practically annihilated and General Kock, the leader of the Uitlander +brigade, himself received his death wounds. Afterward the surviving +members of the corps joined Boer commandos where stray train-loads of +officers' wines, such as were found the day before the battle of +Elandslaagte, were not allowed to interfere with the sobriety of the +burghers. The Russian corps, under Commandant Alexis de Ganetzky and +Colonel Prince Baratrion-Morgaff, was formed after all the men had been +campaigning under Boer officers in Natal for several months. The majority +of the men were Johannesburgers without military experience who joined the +army because there was nothing else to do. + +The German corps was as short-lived as the Hollander organisation, it +having been part of the force which met with disaster at Elandslaagte. +Colonel Schiel, a German-Boer of brief military experience, led the +organisation, but was unable to display his abilities to any extent before +he was made a prisoner of war. Captain Count Harran von Zephir was killed +in the fight at Spion Kop, and Herr von Brusenitz was killed and Colonel +von Brown was captured at the Tugela. The corps was afterward reorganised +and, under the leadership of Commandant Otto Krantz of Pretoria, it fought +valiantly in several battles in the Free State. Among the many German +volunteers who entered the country after the beginning of hostilities was +Major Baron von Reitzenstein, the winner of the renowned long-distance +horseback race from Berlin to Vienna. Major von Reitzenstein was a +participant in battles at Colesburg and in Natal, and was eager to remain +with the Boer forces until the end of the war, but was recalled by his +Government, which had granted him a leave of absence from the German +army. Three of the forts at Pretoria were erected by Germans, and the +large fort at Johannesburg was built by Colonel Schiel at an expense of +less than L5,000. + +[Illustration: COLONEL JOHN E. BLAKE, OF THE IRISH BRIGADE] + +The Americans in South Africa who elected to fight under the Boer flags +did not promise to win the war single-handed, and consequently the Boers +were not disappointed in the achievements of the volunteers from the +sister-republic across the Atlantic. In proportion to their numbers the +Americans did as well as the best volunteer foreigners, and caused the +Government less trouble and expense than any of the Uitlanders' +organisations. The majority of the Americans spent the first months of the +war in Boer commandos, and made no effort to establish an organisation of +their own, although they were of sufficient numerical strength. A score or +more of them joined the Irish Brigade organised by Colonel J.E. Blake, a +graduate of West Point Military Academy and a former officer in the +American army, and accompanied the Brigade through the first seven months +of the Natal campaign. After the exciting days of the Natal campaign John +A. Hassell, an American who had been with the Vryheid commando, organised +the American Scouts and succeeded in gathering what probably was the +strangest body of men in the war. Captain Hassell himself was born in New +Jersey, and was well educated in American public schools and the schools +of experience. He spent the five years before the war in prospecting and +with shooting expeditions in various parts of South Africa, and had a +better idea of the geological features of the country than any of the +commandants of the foreign legions. While he was with the Vryheid commando +Hassell was twice wounded, once in the attack on Caesar's Hill and again +at Estcourt, where he received a bayonet thrust which disabled him for +several weeks and deprived him of the brief honour of being General +Botha's adjutant. + +The one American whose exploits will long remain in the Boer mind was John +N. King, of Reading, Pennsylvania, who vowed that he would allow his hair +to grow until the British had been driven from federal soil. King began +his career of usefulness to society at the time of the Johnstown flood, +where he and some companions lynched an Italian who had been robbing the +dead. Shortly afterward he gained a deep insight into matters journalistic +by being the boon companion of a newspaper man. The newspaper man was in +jail on a charge of larceny; King for murder. When war was begun King was +employed on a Johannesburg mine, and when his best friend determined to +join the British forces he decided to enlist in the Boer army. Before +parting the two made an agreement that neither should make the other +prisoner in case they met. At Spion Kop, King captured his friend unawares +and, after a brief conversation and a farewell grasp of the hand, King +shot him dead. King took part in almost every one of the Natal battles, +and when there was no fighting to do he passed the time away by such +reckless exploits as going within the British firing-line at Ladysmith to +capture pigs and chickens. He bore a striking resemblance to Napoleon I., +and loved blood as much as the little Corsican. When the Scouts went out +from Brandfort in April and killed several of the British scouts, King +wept because he had remained in camp that day and had missed the +opportunity of having a part in the engagement. + +The lieutenant of the Scouts was John Shea, a grey-haired man who might +have had grand-children old enough to fight. Shea fought with the Boers +because he thought they had a righteous cause, and not because he loved +the smell of gunpowder, although he had learned to know what that was in +the Spanish-American war. Shea endeavoured to introduce the American army +system into the Boer army, but failed signally, and then fought side by +side with old takhaars all during the Natal campaign. He was the guardian +of the mascot of the scouts, William Young, a thirteen-year-old American, +who was acquainted with every detail of the preliminaries of the war. +William witnessed all but two of the Natal battles, and several of those +in the Free State, and could relate all the stirring incidents in +connection with each, but he could tell nothing more concerning his +birthplace than that it was "near the shore in America," both his parents +having died when he was quite young. Then there was Able-Bodied Seaman +William Thompson, who was in the _Wabash_ of the United States Navy, and +served under MacCuen in the Chinese-Japanese war. Thompson and two others +tried to steal a piece of British heavy artillery while it was in action +at Ladysmith, but were themselves captured by some Boers who did not +believe in modern miracles. Of newspaper men, there were half a dozen who +laid aside the pen for the sword. George Parsons, a _Collier's Weekly_ +man, who was once left on a desert island on the east end of Cuba to +deliver a message to Gomez, several hundred miles away; J.B. Clarke, of +Webberville, Michigan, who was correspondent for a Pittsburg newspaper +whenever some one could commandeer the necessary stamps; and four or five +correspondents of country weeklies in Western States. Starfield and Hiley +were two Texans, of American army experience, who fought with the Boers +because they had faith in their cause. Starfield claimed the honour of +having been pursued for half a day by two hundred British cavalryman, +while Hiley, the finest marksman in the corps, had the distinction of +killing Lieutenant Carron, an American, in Lord Loch's Horse, in a fierce +duel behind ant-heaps at Modder River on April 21st. Later in the +campaign many of the Americans who entered the country for the purpose of +fighting joined Hassell's Scouts, and added to the cosmopolitan character +of the organisation. + +One came from Paget [Transcriber's note: sic] Sound in a sailing vessel. +Another arrival boldly claimed to be the American military attache at +the Paris Exposition, and then requested every one to keep the matter a +secret for fear the War Department should hear of his presence in South +Africa and recall him. On the way to Africa he had a marvellous midnight +experience on board ship with a masked man who shot him through one of +his hands. Later the same wound was displayed as having been received at +Magersfontein, Colenso, and Spion Kop. This industrious youth became +adjutant to Colonel Blake, and assisted that picturesque Irish-American +in securing the services of the half-hundred Red Cross men who entered +the country in April. + +Of the many Americans who fought in Boer commandos none did better service +nor was considered more highly by the Boers than Otto von Lossberg, of New +Orleans, Louisana [Transcriber's note: sic]. Lossberg was born in Germany, +and received his first military training in the army of his native +country. He afterwards became an American citizen, and was with General +Miles' army in the Porto-Rico campaign. Lossberg arrived in the Transvaal +in March, and on the last day of that month was in charge of the artillery +which assisted in defeating Colonel Broadwood's column at Sannaspost. Two +days later, in the fight between General Christian De Wet and McQueenies' +Irish Fusiliers, Lossberg was severely wounded in the head, but a month +later he was again at the front. With him continually was Baron Ernst +von Wrangel, a grandson of the famous Marshal Wrangle [Transcriber's +note: sic], and who was a corporal in the American army during the +Cuban war. + +When one of the four sons of State Secretary Reitz who were fighting with +the Boer army asked his father for permission to join the Irish Brigade, +the Secretary gave an excellent description of the organisation: "The +members of the Irish Brigade do their work well, and they fight remarkably +well, but, my son, they are not gentle in their manner." Blake and his men +were among the first to cross the Natal frontier, and their achievements +were notable even if the men lacked gentility of manner. The brigade took +part in almost every one of the Natal engagements and when General Botha +retreated from the Tugela Colonel Blake and seventy-five of his men +bravely attacked and drove back into Ladysmith a squadron of cavalry which +intended to cut off the retreat of Botha's starving and exhausted +burghers. Blake and his men were guarding a battery on Lombard Kop, a +short distance east of Ladysmith, when he learned that Joubert was leading +the retreat northward, and allowing Botha, with his two thousand men, to +continue their ten days' fighting without reinforcements. Instead of +retreating with the other commandos, Blake and seventy-five of his men +stationed themselves on the main road between Ladysmith and Colenso and +awaited the coming of Botha. A force of cavalry was observed coming out of +the besieged city, and it was apparent that they could readily cut off +Botha from the other Boers. Blake determined to make a bold bluff by +scattering his small force over the hills and attacking the enemy from +different directions. The men were ordered to fire as rapidly as possible +in order to impress the British cavalry with a false idea of the size of +the force. The seventy-five Irishmen and Americans made as much noise with +their guns as a Boer commando of a thousand men usually did, and the +result was that the cavalry wheeled about and returned into Ladysmith. +Botha and his men, dropping out of their saddles from sheer exhaustion and +hunger, came up from Colenso a short time after the cavalry had been +driven back and made their memorable journey to Joubert's new headquarters +at Glencoe. It was one of the few instances where the foreigners were of +any really great assistance to the Boers. + +After the relief of Ladysmith the Irish Brigade was sent to Helpmakaar +Pass, and remained there for six weeks, until Colonel Blake succeeded in +inducing the War Department to send them to the Free State, where these +"sons of the ould sod" might make a display of their valour to the world, +and more especially to Michael Davitt, who was then visiting in the +country. When the Brigade was formed it was not necessary to show an Irish +birth certificate in order to become a member of the organisation, and +consequently there were Swedes, Russians, Germans, and Italians marching +under the green flag. A half-dozen of the Brigade claimed to be Irish +enough for themselves and for those who could not lay claim to such +extraction, and consequently a fair mean was maintained. A second Irish +Brigade was formed in April by Arthur Lynch, an Irish-Australian, who was +the former Paris correspondent of a London daily newspaper. Colonel Lynch +and his men were in several battles in Natal and received warm praise from +the Boer generals. + +The Italian Legion was commanded by a man who loved war and warfare. +Camillo Richiardi and General Louis Botha were probably the two handsomest +men in the army, and both were the idols of their men. Captain Richiardi +had his first experience of war in Abyssinia, when he fought with the +Italian army. When the Philippine war began he joined the fortunes of +Aguinaldo, and became the leader of the foreign legion. For seven months +he fought against the American soldiers, not because he hated the +Americans, but because he loved fighting more. When the Boer war seemed to +promise more exciting work Richiardi left Aguinaldo's forces and joined a +Boer commando as a burgher. After studying Boer methods for several months +he formed an organisation of scouts which was of great service to the +army. Before the relief of Ladysmith the Italian Scouts was the ablest +organisation of the kind in the Republics. + +The Scandinavian corps joined Cronje's army after the outbreak of war, and +took part in the battle of Magersfontein on December 11th. The corps +occupied one of the most exposed positions during that battle and lost +forty-five of the fifty-two men engaged. Commandant Flygare was shot in +the abdomen and was being carried off the field by Captain Barendsen when +a bullet struck the captain in the head and killed him instantly. Flygare +extricated himself from beneath Barendsen's body, rose, and led his men in +a charge. When he had proceeded about twenty yards a bullet passed through +his head, and his men leapt over his corpse only to meet a similar fate a +few minutes later. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +BOER WOMEN IN THE WAR + + +One of the most glorious pages in the history of the Boer nation relates +to the work of the women who fought side by side with their husbands +against the hordes of murderous Zulus in the days of the early +Voortrekkers. It is the story of hardy Boer women, encompassed by +thousands of bloodthirsty natives, fighting over the lifeless bodies of +their husbands and sons, and repelling the attacks of the savages with a +spirit and strength not surpassed by the valiant burghers themselves. The +magnificent heritage which these mothers of the latter-day Boer nation +left to their children was not unworthily borne by the women of the end of +the century, and the work which they accomplished in the war of 1899-1900 +was none the less valuable, even though it was less hazardous and +romantic, than that of their ancestors whose blood mingled with that of +the savages on the grassy slopes of the Natal mountains. + +[Illustration: MRS. GENERAL LUCAS J. MEYER] + +The conspicuous part played in the war by the Boer women was but a +sequence to that which they took in the political affairs of the country +before the commencement of hostilities, and both were excellent +demonstrations of their great patriotism and their deep loyalty to the +Republics which they loved. Some one has said that real patriotism is bred +only on the farms and plains of a country, and no better exemplification +of the truth of the saying was necessary than that which was afforded by +the wives and mothers of the burghers of the two South African Republics. +Many months before the first shot of the war was fired the patriotic Boer +women commenced to take an active interest in the discussion of the grave +affairs of State, and it increased with such amazing rapidity and volume +that they were prepared for hostilities long before the men. Women urged +their husbands, fathers, and brothers to end the long period of political +strife and uncertainty by shouldering arms and fighting for their +independence. Even sooner than the men, the Boer women realised that peace +must be broken sometime in order to secure real tranquillity in the +country, and she who lived on the veld and was patriotic was anxious to +have the storm come and pass as quickly as possible. So enthusiastic were +the women before the war that it was a common saying among them that if +the men were too timorous to fight for their liberty the daughters and +grand-daughters of the heroines who fought against the Zulus at Weenen and +Doornkop would take up arms. + +Even before the formal declaration of war was made, many of the Boer women +prevailed upon their husbands, brothers, and sons to leave their homes and +go to the borders of the Boer country to guard against any raids that +might be attempted by the enemy, and in many instances women accompanied +the men to prepare their meals and give them comfort. These manifestations +of warlike spirit were not caused by the women's love of war, for they +were even more peace-loving than the men, but they were the natural result +of a desire to serve their country at a time when they considered it to be +in great peril. The women knew that war would mean much bloodshed and the +death of many of those whom they loved, but all those selfish +considerations were laid aside when they believed that the life of their +country was at stake. + +For weeks preceding the commencement of hostilities farmers' wives on the +veld busied themselves with making serviceable corduroy clothing, +knapsacks, and bread-bags for their male relatives who were certain to go +on commando; and when it became known that an ultimatum would be sent to +Great Britain the women prepared the burghers' outfits, so that there +would be no delay in the men's departure for the front as soon as the +declaration of war should be made. + +No greater or harder work was done by the women during the entire war than +that which fell to their lot immediately following the formal declaration +of war by the authorities. In the excitement of the occasion the +Government had neglected to make any satisfactory arrangements for +supplying the burghers with food while on the journey to the front and +afterward, and consequently there was much suffering from lack of +provisions and supplies. At this juncture the women came to the rescue, +and in a trice they had remedied the great defect. Every farmhouse and +every city residence became a bakery, and for almost two months all the +bread consumed by the burgher army was prepared by the Boer women. +Organisations were formed for this purpose in every city and town in the +country, and by means of a well-planned division of labour this improvised +commissariat department was as effective as that which was afterward +organised by the Government. Certain women baked the bread, prepared +sandwiches, and boiled coffee; others procured the supplies, and others +distributed the food at the various railway stations through which the +commando-trains passed, or carried it directly to the laagers. One of the +women who was tireless in her efforts to feed the burghers and make them +comfortable as they passed through Pretoria on the railway was Mrs. F.W. +Reitz, the wife of the Transvaal State Secretary, and never a +commando-train passed through the capital that she was not there to +distribute sandwiches, coffee, and milk. + +When the first battles of the campaign had been fought and the wounded +were being brought from the front the women again volunteered to relieve +an embarrassed Government, and no nobler, more energetic efforts to +relieve suffering were ever made than those of the patriotic daughters of +the Transvaal and Orange Free State. Women from the farms assisted in the +hospitals; wives who directed the herding of cattle during the absence of +their husbands went to the towns and to the laager hospitals; young school +girls deserted their books and assisted in giving relief to the burghers +who were bullet-maimed or in the delirium of fever. No station in life was +unrepresented in the humanitarian work. Two daughters of the former +President of the Transvaal, the Rev. Thomas Francois Burgers, were nurses +in the Burke hospital in Pretoria, which was established and maintained by +a Boer burgher. Miss Martha Meyer, a daughter of General Lucas Meyer, +devoted herself assiduously to the relief of the wounded in the same +hospitals, and in the institution which Barney Barnato established in +Johannesburg there were scores of young women nurses who cared for British +and Boer wounded with unprejudiced attention. In every laager at the front +were young Boer vrouwen who, under the protection of the Red Cross, and +indifferent, to the creed, caste, or country of the wounded and dying, +assuaged the suffering of those who were entrusted to their care. In the +hospital-trains which carried the wounded from the battlefields to the +hospitals in Pretoria and Johannesburg were Boer women who considered +themselves particularly fortunate in having been able to secure posts +where they could be of service, while at the stations where the trains +halted were Boer women bearing baskets of fruit and bottles of milk for +the unfortunate burghers and soldiers in the carriages. + +When the war began and all the large mines on the Witwatersrand and all +the big industries and stores in Johannesburg and Pretoria were obliged to +cease operations, much distress prevailed among the poorer classes of +foreigners who were left behind when the great exodus was concluded, and +after a few months their poverty became most acute. Again the Boer women +shouldered the burden, and in a thousand different ways relieved the +suffering of those who were the innocent victims of the war. Subscription +lists were opened and the wealthy Boers contributed liberally to the fund +for the distressed. Depots where the needy could secure food and clothing +were established, while a soup-kitchen where Mrs. Peter Maritz Botha, one +of the wealthiest women in the Republics, stood behind a table and +distributed food to starving men and women, was a veritable blessing to +hundreds of needy foreigners. In Johannesburg, Boer women searched through +the poorest quarters of the city for families in need of food or medicine +and never a needy individual was neglected. Among the few thousand British +subjects who remained behind there were many who were in dire straits, but +Boer women made no distinctions between friend and enemy when there was an +opportunity for performing a charitable deed. Nor was their charity +limited to civilians and those who were neutral in their sentiments with +regard to the war. When the British prisoners of war were confined in the +racecourse at Pretoria the Boer women sent many a waggon-load of fruit, +luxuries, and reading matter to the soldiers who had been sent against +them to deprive them of that which they esteemed most--the independence of +their country. The spirit which animated the women was never better +exemplified than by the action of a little Boer girl of about ten years +who approached a British prisoner on the platform of the station at +Kroonstaad and gave him a bottle of milk which she had kept carefully +concealed under her apron. The soldier hardly had time to thank her for +her gift before she turned and ran away from him as rapidly as she had the +strength. It seemed as if she loved him as a man in distress, but feared +him as a soldier, and hated him as the enemy of her country. + +Besides assisting in the care of the wounded, the baking of bread for the +burghers, and giving aid to the destitute, the women of the farms were +obliged to attend to the flocks and herds which were left in their charge +when the fathers, husbands, and brothers went to the front to fight. All +the laborious duties of the farm were performed by the women, and it was +common to witness a woman at work in the fields or driving a long +ox-waggon along the roads. When the tide of war changed and the enemy +drove the burghers to the soil of the Republics the work of the women +became even more laborious and diversified. The widely-separated +farmhouses then became typical lunch stations for the burghers, and the +women willingly were the proprietresses. Boers journeying from one +commando to another, or scouts and patrols on active duty, stopped at the +farmhouses for food for themselves and their horses, and the women gladly +prepared the finest feasts their larder afforded. No remuneration was ever +accepted, and the realisation that they were giving even indirect +assistance to their country's cause was deemed sufficient payment for any +work performed. Certain farmhouses which were situated near frequently +travelled roads became the well-known rendezvous of the burghers, and +thither all the women in the neighbourhood wended their way to assist in +preparing meals for them. Midway between Smaldeel and Brandfort was one of +that class of farmhouses, and never a meal-time passed that Mrs. Barnard +did not entertain from ten to fifty burghers. Near Thaba N'Chu was the +residence of John Steyl, a member of the Free State Raad, whose wife +frequently had more than one hundred burgher guests at one meal. When the +battle of Sannaspost was being fought a short distance from her house, +Mrs. Steyl was on one of the hills overlooking the battlefield, +interspersing the watching of the progress of the battle with prayers for +the success of the burghers' arms. As soon as she learned that the Boers +had won the field she hastened home and prepared a sumptuous meal for her +husband, her thirteen-year-old son, and all the generals who took part in +the engagement. + +When the winter season approached and the burghers called upon the +Government for the heavy clothing which they themselves could not secure, +there was another embarrassing situation, for there was only a small +quantity of ready-made clothing in the country, and it was not an easy +matter to secure it through the blockaded port at Delagoa Bay. There was +an unlimited quantity of cloth in the country, but, as all the tailors +were in the commandos at the front, the difficulty of converting the +material into suits and overcoats seemed to be insurmountable until the +women found a way. Unmindful of the other vast duties they were engaged in +they volunteered to make the clothing, and thenceforth every Boer home was +a tailor's shop. President Kruger's daughters and grand-daughters, the +Misses Eloff, who had been foremost in many of the other charitable works, +undertook the management of the project, and they continued to preside +over the labours of several hundred women who worked in the High Court +Building in Pretoria until the British forces entered the city. Thousands +of suits of clothing and overcoats were made and forwarded to the burghers +in the field to protect them against the rigors of the South African +winter's nights. + +One of the most conspicuous parts played in the war by the Boer women was +that of urging their husbands and sons to abbreviate their +leaves-of-absence and return to their commandos. The mothers and wives of +the burghers of the Republics gave many glorious examples of their +unselfishness and deep love of country, but none was of more material +benefit than their efforts to preserve the strength of the army in the +field. When the burghers returned to their homes on furloughs of from five +days to two weeks the wives urged their immediate return, and, in many +instances, insisted that they should rejoin their commandos forthwith upon +pain of receiving no food if they remained at home. It was one of the +Boer's absolute necessities to have a furlough every two or three months, +and unless it was given to him by the officers he was more than likely to +take it without the prescribed permission. When burghers without such +written permits reached their homes they were not received by their wives +with the customary cordiality, and the air of frigidity which encompassed +them soon compelled them to return to the field. The Boer women despised a +coward, or a man who seemed to be shirking his duty to his country, and, +not unlike their sisters in countries of older civilisation, they +possessed the power of expressing their disapprobation of such acts. It +was not uncommon for the women to threaten to take their husbands' post of +duty if the men insisted upon remaining at home, and invariably the ruse +was efficient in securing the burghers' early return. + +During the war there were many instances to prove that the Boer women of +the end of the century inherited the bravery and heroic fortitude of their +ancestors who fell victims to the Zulu assegais in the Natal valley, in +1838. The Boer women were as anxious to take an active part in the +campaign as their grandmothers were at Weenen, and it was only in +obedience to the rules formulated by the officers that Amazon corps were +absent from the commandos. Instances were not rare of women trespassing +these regulations, and scores of Boer women can claim the distinction of +having taken part in many bloody battles. Not a few yielded up their +life's blood on the altar of liberty, and many will carry the scars of +bullet-wounds to the grave. + +In the early part of the campaign there was no military rule which forbade +women journeying to the front, and in consequence the laagers enjoyed the +presence of many of the wives and daughters of the burghers. +Commandant-General Joubert set an example to his men by having Mrs. +Joubert continually with him on his campaigning trips, and the burghers +were not slow in patterning after him. While the greater part of the army +lay around besieged Ladysmith large numbers of women were in the laagers, +and they were continually busying themselves with the preparation of food +for their relatives and with the care of the sick and wounded. Not +infrequently did the women accompany their husbands to the trenches along +the Tugela front, and it was asserted, with every evidence of veracity, +that many of them used the rifles against the enemy with even more ardour +and precision than the men. On February 28th, while the fighting around +Pieter's Hills was at its height, the British forces captured a Boer woman +of nineteen years who had been fatally wounded. Before she died she stated +that she had been fighting from the same trench with her husband, and that +he had been killed only a few minutes before a bullet struck her. + +While the Boer army was having its many early successes in Natal few of +the women partook in the actual warfare from choice, or because they +believed that it was necessary for them to fight. The majority of those +who were in the engagements happened to be with their husbands when the +battles were begun, and had no opportunity of escaping. The burghers +objected to the presence of women within the firing lines, and every +effort was made to prevent them from being in dangerous localities, but +when it was impossible to transfer them to places of safety during the +heat of the battle there was no alternative but to provide them with +rifles and bandoliers so that they might protect themselves. The +half-hundred women who endured the horrors of the siege at Paardeberg with +Cronje's small band of warriors chose to remain with their husbands and +brothers when Lord Roberts offered to convey them to places of safety, but +they were in no wise an impediment to the burghers, for they assisted in +digging trenches and wielded the carbines as assiduously as the most +energetic men. + +[Illustration: MRS. OTTO KRANTZ, A BOER AMAZON] + +One of the women who received the Government's sanction to join a commando +was Mrs. Otto Krantz, the wife of a professional hunter. Mrs. Krantz +accompanied her husband to Natal at the commencement of hostilities, and +remained in the field during almost the entire campaign in that colony. In +the battle of Elandslaagte, where some of the hardest hand-to-hand +fighting of the war occurred, this Amazon was by the side of her husband +in the thick of the engagement, but escaped unscathed. Later she took part +in the battles along the Tugela, and when affairs in the Free State +appeared to be threatening she was one of the first to go to the scene of +action in that part of the country. + +Among the prisoners captured by the British forces at Colesburg were three +Boer women who wore men's clothing, but it was not until after they had +been confined in the prison-ship at Cape Town for several weeks that their +sex was discovered. A real little Boertje was Helena Herbst Wagner, of +Zeerust, who spent five months in the laagers and in the trenches without +her identity being revealed. Her husband went to the field early in the +war and left her alone with a baby. The infant died in January and the +disconsolate woman donned her husband's clothing, obtained a rifle and +bandolier, and went to the Natal front to search for her soldier-spouse. +Failing to find him, she joined the forces of Commandant Ben Viljoen and +faced bullets, bombs, and lyddite at Spion Kop, Pont Drift, and Pieter's +Hills. During the retreat to Van Tonder's Nek the young woman learned that +her husband lay seriously wounded in the Johannesburg hospital, and she +deserted the army temporarily to nurse him. + +When Louis Botha became Commandant-General of the army he issued an order +that women would not be permitted to visit the laagers, and few, if any, +took part in the engagements for some time thereafter. When the forces of +the enemy approached Pretoria the women made heroic efforts to encourage +the burghers, and frequently went to the laagers to cheer them to renewed +resistance. Mrs. General Botha and Mrs. General Meyer were specially +energetic and effective in their efforts to instil new courage in the men, +and during the war there was no scene which was more edifying than that of +those two patriotic Boer women riding about the laagers and beseeching the +burghers not to yield to despair. + +On the fifteenth of May more than a thousand women assembled in the +Government Buildings at Pretoria for the purpose of deciding upon a course +of action in the grave crisis which confronted the Republic. It was the +gravest assemblage that was ever gathered together in that city--a +veritable concourse of Spartan mothers. There was little speech, for the +hearts of all were heavy, and tears were more plentiful than words, but +the result of the meeting was the best testimonial of its value. + +It was determined to ask the Government to send to the front all the men +who were employed in the Commissariat, the Red Cross, schools, post and +telegraph offices, and to fill the vacancies thus created with women. A +memorial, signed by Mrs. H.S. Bosman, Mrs. General Louis Botha, Mrs. F. +Eloff, Mrs. P.M. Botha, and Mrs. F.W. Reitz, was adopted for transmission +to the Government asking for permission to make such changes in the +commissariat and other departments, and ending with these two significant +clauses:-- + +1.--A message of encouragement will be sent to our burghers who are at the +front, beseeching them to present a determined stand against the enemy in +the defence of our sacred cause, and pointing out to those who are losing +heart the terrible consequences which will follow should they prove weak +and wanting in courage at the present crisis in our affairs. + +2.--The women throughout the whole State are requested to provide +themselves with weapons, in the first instance to be employed in +self-defence, and secondly so that they may be in a position to place +themselves entirely at the disposition of the Government. + +The last request was rather superfluous in view of the fact that the +majority of the women in the Transvaal were already provided with arms. +There was hardly a Boer homestead which was not provided with enough +rifles for all the members of the family, and there were but few women who +were not adepts in the use of firearms. In Pretoria a woman's shooting +club was organised at the outset of the war, and among the best shots were +the Misses Eloff, the President's grand-daughters; Mrs. Van Alphen, the +wife of the Postmaster-General, and Mrs. Reitz, the wife of the State +Secretary. The object of the organisation was to train the members in the +use of the rifle so that they might defend the city against the enemy. The +club members took great pride in the fact that Mrs. Paul Kruger was the +President of the organisation, and it was mutually agreed that the aged +woman should be constantly guarded by them in the event of Pretoria being +besieged. Happily the city was not obliged to experience that horror, and +the club members were spared the ordeal of protecting President and +Mrs. Kruger with their rifles as they had vowed to do. + +The Boer women endured many discomforts, suffered many griefs, and bore +many heartaches on account of the war and its varying fortunes, but +throughout it all they acted bravely. There were no wild outbursts of +grief when fathers, husbands, brothers or sons were killed in battle, and +no untoward exclamations of joy when one of them earned distinction in the +field. Reverses of the army were made the occasions for a renewed display +of patriotism or the signal for the sending of another relative to the +field. Unselfishness marked all the works of the woman of the city or +veld, and the welfare of the country was her only ambition. She might have +had erroneous opinions concerning the justice of the war and the causes +which were responsible for it, but she realised that the land for which +her mother and her grandmother had wept and bled and for which all those +whom she loved were fighting and dying was in distress, and she was +patriotic enough to offer herself for a sacrifice on her country's altar. + +[Illustration: MRS. COMMANDANT-GENERAL LOUIS BOTHA] + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +INCIDENTS OF THE WAR + + +In every battle, and even in a day's life in the laagers, there were +multitudes of interesting incidents as only such a war produces, and +although Sherman's saying that "War is hell" is as true now as it ever +was, there was always a plenitude of amusing spectacles and events to +lighten the burdens of the fighting burghers. There were the sad sides of +warfare, as naturally there would be, but to these the men in the armies +soon became hardened, and only the amusing scenes made any lasting +impression upon their minds. It was strange that when a burgher during a +battle saw one of his fellow-burghers killed in a horrible manner, and +witnessed an amusing runaway, that after the battle he should relate the +details of the latter and say nothing of the former, but such was usually +the case. Men came out of the bloody Spion Kop fight and related amusing +incidents of the struggle, and never touched upon the grave phases until +long afterward when their fund of laughable experiences was +exhausted. After the battle of Sannaspost the burghers would tell of +nothing but the amusing manner in which the drivers of the British +transport waggons acted when they found that they had fallen into the +hands of the Boers in the bed of the spruit and the fun they had in +pursuing the fleeing cavalrymen. At the ending of almost every battle +there was some conspicuous amusing incident which was told and retold and +laughed about until a new and fresh incident came to light to take its +place. + +In one of the days' fighting at Magersfontein a number of youthful Boers, +who were in their first battle, allowed about one hundred Highlanders to +approach to within a hundred yards of the trench in which they were +concealed, and then sprang up and shouted: "Hands up!" The Highlanders +were completely surprised, promptly threw down their arms, and advanced +with arms above their heads. One of the young Boers approached them, then +called his friends, and, scratching his head, asked: "What shall we do +with them?" There was a brief consultation, and it was decided to allow +the Highlanders to return to their column. When the young burghers arrived +at the Boer laager with the captured rifles and bandoliers, General Cronje +asked them why they did not bring the men. The youths looked at each other +for a while; then one replied, rather sheepishly, "We did not know they +were wanted." In the same battle an old Boer had his first view of the +quaintly dressed Highlanders, and at a distance mistook them for a herd of +ostriches from a farm that was known to be in the neighbourhood, refused +to fire upon them, and persuaded all the burghers in his and the +neighbouring trenches that they were ostriches and not human beings. + +During the second battle at Colenso a large number of Boers swam across +the river and captured thirty or forty British soldiers who had lost the +way and had taken refuge in a sluit. An old takhaar among the Boers had +discarded almost all his clothing before entering the river, and was an +amusing spectacle in shirt, bandolier, and rifle. One of the soldiers went +up to the takhaar, looked at him from head to foot, and, after saluting +most servilely, inquired, "To what regiment do you belong, sir?" The Boer +returned the salute, and, without smiling, replied, "I am one of Rhodes' +'uncivilised Boers,' sir." In the same fight an ammunition waggon, heavily +laden, and covered with a huge piece of duck, was in an exposed position, +and attracted the fire of the British artillery. General Meyer and a +number of burghers were near the waggon, and were waiting for a lull in +the bombardment in order to take the vehicle to a place of safety. They +counted thirty-five shells that fell around the waggon without striking +it, and then the firing ceased. Several men were sent forward to move the +vehicle, and when they were within several yards of it two Kafirs crept +from under the duck covering, shook themselves, and walked away as if +nothing had interrupted their sleep. + +In the Pretoria commando there was a young professional photographer named +Reginald Shepperd who carried his camera and apparatus with him during the +greater part of the campaign, and took photographs whenever he had an +opportunity. On the morning of the Spion Kop fight, when the burghers were +preparing to make the attack on the enemy, Mr. Shepperd gathered all the +burghers of the Carolina laager and posed them for a photograph. He was on +the point of exposing the plate when a shrapnel shell exploded above the +group, and every one fled. The camera was left behind and all the men went +into the battle. In the afternoon when the engagement had ended it was +found that another shell had torn off one of the legs of the camera's +tripod and that forty-three of the men who were in the group in the +morning had been killed or wounded. Before the same battle, General Schalk +Burger asked Mr. Shepperd to photograph him, as he had had a premonition +of death, and stated that he desired that his family should have a good +likeness of him. The General was in the heat of the fight, but he was not +killed. + +While Ladysmith was being besieged by the Boers there were many +interesting incidents in the laagers of the burghers, even if there was +little of exciting interest. In the Staats Artillery there were many young +Boers who were constantly inventing new forms of amusement for themselves +and the older burghers, and some of the games were as hazardous as they +seemed to be interesting to the participants. + +The "Long Tom" on Bulwana Hill was fired only when the burghers were in +the mood, but occasionally the artillery youths desired to amuse +themselves, and then they operated the gun as rapidly as its mechanism +would allow. When the big gun had been discharged, the young Boers were +wont to climb on the top of the sandbags behind which it was concealed, +and watch for the explosion of the shell in Ladysmith. After each shot +from the Boer gun it was customary for the British to reply with one or +more of their cannon and attempt to dislodge "Long Tom." After seeing the +flash of the British guns the burghers on the sandbags waited until they +heard the report of the explosion, then called out, "I spy!" as a warning +that the shell would be coming along in two or three seconds, and quietly +jumped down behind the bags, while the missile passed over their retreats. +It was a dangerous game, and the old burghers frequently warned them +against playing it, but they continued it daily, and no one was ever +injured. The men who operated the British and Boer heliographs at the +Tugela were a witty lot, and they frequently held long conversations with +each other when there were no messages to be sent or received by their +respective officers. In February the Boer operator signalled to the +British operator on the other side of the river and asked: "When is +General Buller coming over here for that Christmas dinner? It is becoming +cold and tasteless." The good-natured Briton evaded the question and +questioned him concerning the date of Paul Kruger's coronation as King of +South Africa. The long-distance conversation continued in the same vein, +each operator trying to have amusement at the expense of the other. What +probably was the most mirth-provoking communication between the two +combatants in the early part of the campaign was the letter which Colonel +Baden-Powell sent to General Snyman, late in December, and the reply to +it. Colonel Baden-Powell, in his letter, which was several thousand words +in length, told his besieger that it was utter folly for the Boers to +continue fighting such a great power as Great Britain, that the British +army was invincible, that the Boers were fighting for an unjust cause, and +that the British had the sympathy of the American nation. General Snyman +made a brief reply, the gist of which was, "Come out and fight." + +[Illustration: GENERAL SNYMAN] + +A British nobleman, who was captured by the Boers at the Moester's Hoek +fight in the Free State in April, was the author of a large number of +communications which were almost as mirthful as Colonel Baden-Powell's +effort. When he was made a prisoner of war the Earl had a diary filled +with the most harrowing personal experiences ever penned, and it was +chiefly on that evidence that General De Wet sent him with the other +prisoners to Pretoria. The Earl protested against being sent to Pretoria, +asserting that he was a war correspondent and a non-combatant, and +dispatched most pitiful telegrams to Presidents Kruger and Steyn, State +Secretary Reitz and a host of other officials, demanding an instant +release from custody. In the telegrams he stated that he was a peer of the +realm; that all doubts on that point could be dispelled by a reference to +Burke's Peerage; that he was not a fighting-man; that it would be +disastrous to his reputation as a correspondent if he were not released in +order that he might cable an exclusive account of the Moester's Hoek +battle to his newspaper, and finally ended by demanding his instant +release and safe conduct to the British lines. The Boers installed the +Earl in the officers' prison, and printed his telegrams in the newspapers, +with the result that the Briton was the most laughed-at man that appeared +in the Boer countries during the whole course of the war. + +Several days before Commandant-General Joubert died he related an amusing +story of an Irishman who was taken prisoner in one of the Natal battles. +The Irishman was slightly wounded in one of his hands and it was decided +to send him to the British lines together with all the other wounded +prisoners, but he refused to be sent back. After he had protested +strenuously to several other Boer officers, the soldier was taken before +General Joubert, who pointed out to him the advantages of being with his +own people and the discomforts of a military prison. The Irishman would +not waver in his determination and finally exclaimed: "I claim my rights +as a prisoner of war and refuse to allow myself to be sent back. I have a +wife and two children in Ireland, and I know what is good for my health." +The man was so obdurate, General Joubert said, that he could do nothing +but send him to the Pretoria military prison. An incident of an almost +similar nature occurred at the battle of Sannaspost, where the Boers +captured almost two hundred waggons. + +Among the convoy was a Red Cross ambulance waggon filled with rifles and a +small quantity of ammunition. The Boers unloaded the waggon and then +informed the physician in charge of it that he might proceed and rejoin +the column to which he had been attached. The physician declined to move +and explained his action by saying that he had violated the rules of the +International Red Cross and would therefore consider himself and his +assistants prisoners of war. General Christian De Wet would not accept +them as prisoners and trekked southward, leaving them behind to rejoin the +British column several days afterward. + +[Illustration: FIRST BRITISH PRISONERS OF WAR CAPTURED NEAR DUNDEE] + +During the war it was continually charged by both combatants that dum-dum +bullets were being used, and undoubtedly there was ample foundation for +the charges. Both Boers and British used that particular kind of expansive +bullet notwithstanding all the denials that were made in newspapers and +orations. After the battle of Pieter's Hills, on February 28th, Dr. +Krieger, General Meyer's Staff Physician, went into General Sir Charles +Warren's camp for the purpose of exchanging wounded prisoners. After the +interchange of prisoners had been accomplished General Warren produced a +dum-dum bullet which had been found on a dead Boer's body and, showing it +to Dr. Krieger, asked him why the Boers used the variety of cartridge that +was not sanctioned by the rules of civilised warfare. Dr. Krieger took the +cartridge in his hand and, after examining it, returned it to Sir Charles +with the remark that it was a British Lee-Metford dum-dum. General Warren +seemed to be greatly nonplussed when several of his officers confirmed the +physician's statement and informed him that a large stock of dum-dum +cartridges had been captured by the Boers at Dundee. It is an undeniable +fact that the Boers captured thousands of rounds of dum-dum cartridges +which bore the "broad arrow" of the British army, and used them in +subsequent battles. It was stated in Pretoria that the Boers had a small +stock of dum-dum ammunition, which was not sent to the burghers at the +front at the request of President Kruger, who strongly opposed the use of +an expansive bullet in warfare. It was an easy matter, however, for the +Boers to convert their ordinary Mauser cartridges into dum-dum by simply +cutting off the point of the bullet, and this was occasionally done. + +One of the pluckiest men in the Boer army was Arthur Donnelly, a young +Irish American from San Francisco, who served in the Pretoria detective +force for several years, and went to the war in one of the commandos under +General Cronje. At the battle of Koodoesberg Donnelly and Captain Higgins, +of the Duke of Cornwall's regiment, both lay behind ant-heaps, several +hundred yards apart, and engaged in a duel with carbines for almost an +hour. After Donnelly had fired seventeen shots Captain Higgins was fatally +wounded by a bullet, and lifted his handkerchief in token of surrender. +When the young Irish-American reached him the officer was bleeding +profusely, and started to say: "You were a better man than I," but he died +in Donnelly's arms before he could utter the last two words of the +sentence. At Magersfontein Donnelly was in a perilous position between the +two forces, and realised that he could not escape being captured by the +British. He saw a number of cavalrymen sweeping down upon him, and started +to run in an opposite direction. Before he had proceeded a long distance +he stumbled across the corpse of a Red Cross physician which lay partly +concealed under tall grass. In a moment Donnelly had exchanged his own +papers and credentials for those in the physician's pockets, and a minute +later the cavalrymen were upon him. He was sent to Cape Town, and confined +in the prison-ship _Manila_, from which he and two other Boers attempted +to escape on New Year's night. One of the men managed to reach the water +without being observed by the guards, and swam almost three miles to +shore, but Donnelly and the other prisoner did not succeed in their +project. Several days later he was released on account of his Red Cross +credentials, and was sent to the British front to be delivered to the Boer +commander. He was taken out under a flag of truce by several unarmed +British officers, and several armed Boers went to receive him. While the +transfer was being made a British horseman, with an order to the officers +to hold the prisoner, dashed up to the group and delivered his +message. The officers attempted to take Donnelly back to camp with them, +but he refused to go, and, taking one of the Boer's rifles, ordered them +to return without him--a command which they obeyed with alacrity in view +of the fact that all of them were unarmed, while the Boers had carbines. + +When the British column under Colonel Broadwood left the village of Thaba +N'Chu on March 30th all the British inhabitants were invited to accompany +the force to Bloemfontein, where they might have the protection of a +stronger part of the army. Among those who accepted the invitation were +four ladies and four children, ranging in ages from sixteen months to +fifteen years. When the column was attacked by the Boers at Sannaspost the +following morning, the ladies and children were sent by the Boers to a +culvert in the incomplete railway line which crossed the battlefield, and +remained there during almost the entire battle. They were in perfect +safety, so far as being actually in the line of fire was concerned, but +bullets and shells swept over and exploded near them, and they were in +constant terror of being killed. The nervous tension was so great and +continued for such a long time that one of the children, a twelve-year-old +daughter of Mrs. J. Shaw McKinlay, became insane shortly after the battle +was ended. + +An incident of the same fight was a duel between two captains of the +opposing forces. In the early parts of the engagement the burghers and the +soldiers were so close together that many hand-to-hand encounters took +place and many a casualty followed. Captain Scheppers, of the Boer +heliographers, desired to make a prisoner of a British captain and asked +him to surrender. The British officer said that he would not be captured +alive, drew his sword, and attempted to use it. The Boer grasped the +blade, wrenched the sword from the officer's hand, and knocked him off his +horse. The Briton fired several revolver shots at Scheppers while the Boer +was running a short distance for his carbine, but missed him. After +Scheppers had secured his rifle the two fired five or six shots at each +other at a range of about ten yards and, with equal lack of skill, missed. +Finally, Scheppers hit the officer in the chest and laid him low. At the +same time near the same spot two Boers called upon a recruit in Roberts's +Horse to surrender, but the young soldier was so thoroughly frightened +that he held his rifle perpendicularly in front of him and emptied the +magazine toward the clouds. + +While the siege of Ladysmith was in progress, Piet Boueer, of the Pretoria +commando, made a remarkable shot which was considered as the record during +the Natal campaign. He and several other Boers were standing on one of the +hills near the laager when they observed three British soldiers emerging +from one of the small forts on the outskirts of the city. The distance was +about 1,400 yards, or almost one mile, but Boueer fired at the men, and +the one who was walking between the others fell. The two fled to the fort, +but returned to the spot a short time afterward, and the Boer fired at +them a second time. The bullet raised a small cloud of dust between the +men, sent them back again, and they did not return until night for their +companion, who had undoubtedly been killed by the first shot. There were +many other excellent marksmen in the Boer army, whose ability was often +demonstrated in the interims of battles. After 1897, shooting clubs were +organised at Pretoria, Potchefstroom, Krugersdorp, Klerksdorp, +Johannesburg and Heidelberg, and frequent contests were held between the +various organisations. In the last contest before the war E. Blignaut, of +Johannesburg, won the prize by making one hundred and three out of a +possible one hundred and five points, the weapon having been a Mauser at a +range of seven hundred yards. These contests, naturally, developed many +fine marksmen, and, in consequence, it was not considered an extraordinary +feat for a man to kill a running hare at five hundred yards. While the +Boers were waiting for Lord Roberts's advance from Bloemfontein, +Commandant Blignaut, of the Transvaal, killed three running springbok at a +range of more than 1,700 yards, a feat witnessed by a score of persons. + +The Boers were not without their periods of depression during the war, but +when these had passed there was no one who laughed more heartily over +their actions during those times than they. The first deep gloom that the +Boers experienced was after the three great defeats at Paardeberg, +Kimberley and Ladysmith, and the minor reverses at Abraham's Kraal, Poplar +Grove and Bloemfontein. It was amusing, yet pitiful, to see an army lose +all control of itself and flee like a wild animal before a forest fire. As +soon as the fight at Poplar Grove was lost the burghers mounted their +horses and fled northward. President Kruger and the officers could do +nothing but follow them. They passed through Bloemfontein and excited the +population there; then, evading roads and despising railway +transportation, they rode straight across the veld and never drew rein +until they reached Brandfort, more than thirty miles from Poplar Grove. +Hundreds did not stop even at Brandfort, but continued over the veld until +they reached their homes in the north of the Free State and in the +Transvaal. In their alarm they destroyed all the railway bridges and +tracks as far north as Smaldeel, sixty miles from Bloemfontein, and made +their base at Kroonstad, almost forty miles farther north. A week later a +small number of the more daring burghers sallied toward Bloemfontein and +found that not a single British soldier was north of that city. So fearful +were they of the British army before the discovery of their foolish flight +that two thousand cavalrymen could have sent them all across the Vaal +river. + + + + +APPENDIX + +THE STRENGTH OF THE BOER ARMY + + +The War Departments of the two Boer Governments never made any provision +for obtaining statistics concerning the strength of the armies in the +field, and consequently the exact number of burghers who bore arms at +different periods of the war will never be accurately known. A year before +the war was begun the official reports of the two Governments stated that +the Transvaal had thirty thousand and the Free State ten thousand men +between the ages of sixteen and sixty, capable of performing military +duties, but these figures proved to be far in excess of the number of men +who were actually bearing arms at any one period of the war. In the early +stages of the war men who claimed to have intimate knowledge of Boer +affairs estimated the strength of the Republican armies variously from +sixty thousand to more than one hundred thousand men. Major Laing, who had +years of South African military experience, and became a member of +Field-Marshal Lord Roberts's bodyguard, in December estimated the strength +of the Boer forces at more than one hundred thousand men, exclusive of the +foreigners who joined the fortunes of the Republican armies. Other men +proved, with wondrous arrays of figures and statistics, that the Boer army +could not possibly consist of less than eighty or ninety thousand men. + +The real strength of the Boer armies at no time exceeded thirty thousand +armed men, and of that number more than one-half were never in the mood +for fighting. If it could be ascertained with any degree of accuracy it +would be found that not more than fifteen thousand Boers were ever engaged +in battles, while the other half of the army remained behind in the +laagers and allowed those who were moved by the spirit or by patriotism to +volunteer for waging battles. As has been pointed out in other chapters, +the officers had no power over their men, and consequently the armies were +divided into two classes of burghers: those who volunteered their services +whenever there was a battle, and those who remained in the laagers--the +"Bible-readers," as they were called by some of the more youthful +Boers. There were undoubtedly more than thirty thousand men in the +Republics capable of bearing arms, but it was never possible to compel all +of them to go to the front, nor was it less difficult to retain them there +when once they had reached the commando-laagers. Ten per cent. of the men +in the commandos were allowed to return to their homes on leave of +absence, and about an equal proportion left the laagers without +permission, so that the officers were never able to keep their forces at +their normal strength. + +The War Departments at Pretoria and Bloemfontein and the officers of the +commandos at the front had no means of learning the exact strength of the +forces in the field except by making an actual enumeration of the men in +the various commandos, and this was never attempted. There were no +official lists in either of the capitals and none of the commandos had +even a roll-call, so that to obtain a really accurate number of burghers +in the field it was necessary to visit all the commandos and in that way +arrive at a conclusion. + +Early in December the Transvaal War Department determined to make a +Christmas gift to all the burghers of the two Republics who were in the +field, and all the generals and commandants were requested to send +accurate lists of the number of men in their commands. Replies were +received from every commando, and the result showed that there were almost +twenty-eight thousand men in the field. That number of presents was +forwarded, and on Christmas day every burgher at the front received one +gift, but there were almost two thousand packages undistributed. This was +almost conclusive proof that the Boer armies in December did not exceed +twenty-six thousand men. + +At various times during the campaign the foreign newspaper +correspondents--Mr. Douglas Story, of the London _Daily Mail_; Mr. John O. +Knight, of the _San Francisco Call_; Mr. Thomas F. Millard, of the _New +York Herald_, and the writer--made strenuous efforts to secure accurate +information concerning the Boers' strength, and the results invariably +showed that there were less than thirty thousand men in the field. The +correspondents visited all the principal commandos and had the admirable +assistance of the generals and commandants, as well as that of the +officers of the War Departments, but frequently the results did not rise +above the twenty-five thousand mark. According to the statement of the +late Commandant-General Joubert, made several days before his death, he +never had more than thirteen thousand men in Natal, and of that number +less than two thousand were engaged in the trek to Mooi River. After the +relief of Ladysmith the forces in Natal dwindled down, by reason of +desertions and withdrawals, to less than five thousand, and when General +Buller began his advance there were not more than four thousand five +hundred Boers in that Colony to oppose him. + +The strength of the army in the field varied considerably, on account of +causes which are described elsewhere, and there is no doubt that it +frequently fell below twenty thousand men while the Boers were still on +their enemy's territory. The following table, prepared with great care and +with the assistance of the leading Boer commanders, gives as correct an +idea of the burghers' numerical strength actually in the field at various +stages of the campaign as will probably ever be formulated:-- + + -----------------+----------+------------+------------+------- + Date. | Natal. | Free State | Transvaal | Total. + | | and Border.| and Border.| + -----------------+----------+------------+------------+------- + November 1, 1899 | 12,000 | 12,000 | 5,000 | 29,000 + December 1, 1899 | 13,000 | 12,000 | 5,000 | 30,000 + January 1, 1900 | 13,000 | 12,000 | 3,000 | 28,000 + February 1, 1900 | 12,000 | 10,000 | 3,000 | 25,000 + March 1, 1900 | 8,000 | 8,000 | 7,000 | 23,000 + April 1, 1900 | 5,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 25,000 + May 1, 1900 | 4,500 | 9,000 | 9,000 | 22,500 + June 1, 1900 | | 4,500 | 16,000 | 20,500 + July 1, 1900 | | 4,000 | 15,000 | 19,000 + -----------------+----------+------------+------------+------- + +According to this table, the average strength of the Boer forces during +the nine months was considerably less than 25,000 men. In refutation of +these figures it may be found after the conclusion of hostilities that a +far greater number of men surrendered their guns to the British army, but +it must be remembered that not every Boer who owned a weapon was +continually in the field. + + + + +THE GRESHAM PRESS + +UNWIN BROTHERS, +WOKING AND LONDON. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's With the Boer Forces, by Howard C. Hillegas + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH THE BOER FORCES *** + +***** This file should be named 16462.txt or 16462.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/4/6/16462/ + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Dainis Millers and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** + |