COL F.F. PIENAAR'S BOER WAR DIARY (PART I)

BRIG J.H. PICARD, SM*

In 1902, Filip Pienaar, a young Boer of- EARL Y CAMPAIGNS ficer in exile at the Monastery of Tomar in Portugal, recorded his Boer war ex- After the expedition made by the Zuid- periences, These were published by Afrikaansche Republiek Politie (ZARP)in Methuen in 1902, under the title With 1897, to arrest King Bunu on a charge Steyn and De Wet, The book was of murder,l young Pienaar, a member banned one month after publication, of the commando serving the warrant, The author, Lt Col F,F, Pienaar, later was transferred by the ZA Republiek joined the Union Defence Force, Telegrafiedienst from Johannesburg to served in the German South West Af- Pilgrim's Rest, Pilgrim's Rest was a rica Campaign and later became quaint little one-street village near the South Africa's first ambassador to Por- Portuguese border, one of the oldest tugal in 1939, from where he also con- alluvial diggings of the early days and ducted correspondence with his cousin now the centre of an important mining General Dan Pienaar, As a son-in-law district. of the late F,F. Pienaar, it is my privi- lege to reproduce part of his Boer War The Second Anglo-Boer War broke out experiences. Pienaar's account is one on 11 October 1899, At Pilgrim's Rest, of the first books on the Boer War and Pienaar heard that "our commandos covers several eye-witness accounts at had invaded the enemy's territory in that time, every direction", and news of the pre-

FF Pienaar, officer of ZAR mounted commando during arrest of Bunu, Swazi paramount chief Swaziland expedition (1879).

Picard,1993,

Militaria 23/3 7993 21 The Swazi paramount chief Bunu appears before the court at Bremersdorp (now Manzini) in /897. F.F. Pienaar, officer of the ZAR (back to the camera) walks between the court building and the Post Office to send a signal to the authorities concerning Bunu. (Photograph taken by A.M. Miller snr, Swaziland Expedition.)

Swaziland e.\pedition; mounted ZAR Commandos (J 897) Pienaar fourth frol11 right in front. liminary engagements were awaited depressed the men gathering around with breathless interest. The male in- the post office in Pilgrim's Rest. Name habitants of the village often spent en- after name, friend after friend. The tire nights under the verandah of the fallen included Pienaar's uncle, Gen- telegraph office, and, Pienaar wrote, eral J.H.M. Kock (1834 - 1899), Major "the importance of the telegraphist Hall and Advocate Lt Dr H.J. Coster suddenly grew almost too great to (1865 - 1899), the Commander of the bear with becoming modesty". On 21 "Hollander Corps". October 1899, the battle of Elands- laagte took place. The Lancers and Within a week, reinforcements were Dragoons under the overall command dispatched from the district and young of General White, charged the unpre- Flippie Pienaar, having obtained a few pared Boers. The long list of the fallen weeks leave of absence, accompa-

22 Militaria 23/3 7993 nied them. He found himself in an in- the night, they dismounted and two teresting band. Two hundred strong, men went forward on foot to reconnoi- they were farmers, clerks, schoolmas- tre. After a while they brought back ters, students, an Irishman, a Hollander, the news that the enemy was ap- a German and a Jew. Every mess pos- proaching in force, After having been sessed one or two ox-wagons, carrying sent out again for confirmation, they a water tank, portmanteaux, trunks, returned, saying there could be no foodstuffs and ammunition. They doubt about the matter: "We heard made about twenty miles daily, pass- the rumble of an approaching train, ing through Lydenburg, Machadodorp, the march of cavalry, and saw the Carolina, and Ermelo, and reached glint of arms between the trees!" Volksrust on the fourteenth day. They followed the general line of the Boer A man was instantly despatched to invasion of Natal. alarm the main laager, the rest follow- ing slowly. He returned with a further During the march they learnt that twenty-five men and an order that heavy fighting had taken place in Na- they were to return instantly to their tal. Dundee was taken and Ladysmith posts. besieged, and a strong commando had actually made reconnaissance as Pienaar and his group felt that there far south as Estcourt. was no fun in attacking massed troops with fifty men. They retraced their Pienaar, after recuperating from sad- steps to a kraal where they had helped dle bruises at Volksrust, approached to feed a sick Black man. Two men General Piet Joubert for a special pass- crept up close and came back to say port enabling him to return when his the place was full of English. Leaving leave expired. Joubert said: the horses in charge of a few men, the "Others want leave to go home; others crept forward and surrounded you ask for leave to come to the the kraal. Each sought a suitable shel- front. But your time is so short, it is ter and laid himself down to await the hardly worth while. Still, I am glad to dawn, It was then about midnight. see such a spirit among you young The next four hours passed ver~1slowly; people". lying there in the cold in expectation Then he signed the document and of a desperate struggle in the morning. shook Pienaar by the hand. Pienaar entrained that afternoon, slept in the "We thought how brave we were", carriage at Newcastle, reached the Pienaar wrote, " ... and how sorry our station nearest Ladysmith the following general would be when he heard how day, detrained, rode into the camp we had all been shot down to a man and reported for duty. The same night and how in after years this night attack he went on outpost duty. of ours would rank with the charge of the Light Brigade. We hoped Cham- His chief concern was whether he, as a berlain would die soon after us, so that novice, would conduct himself well in we could meet his soul in the great Be- the first encounter. An old cam- yond to drag it through a sieve". paigner asked him: "Tell me, how do you feel" "Well, rather nervous". "Ah, When it grew light, to their surprise, Now I can tell you that a man who they found that there was not an Eng- feels nervous before a fight is all right, lishman near. It had been a false because he has some idea of what he alarm and all their valour had been for is going to meet. It is the reckless re- nothing! This kind of alarm became cruit that often proves a coward. He rather frequent, fancies it a mere bagatelle, and finds out his mistake too late". This encour- A burger woke up one night to find aged Flip because he felt anything but himself being shaken roughly and some reckless. one shouting in his ear: "What are you doing? Get up! Don't you hear the A few days later, when Pienaar and a alarm?" "Yes, another false one, I few companions reached the spot daresay," turning over for another where they were to stand guard during nap. Happening to open his eyes, he

Militaria 23/3 7993 23 became aware for the first time that he "If only we had some cigarettes," they was speaking to none other than Gen- said, "how happy we shouid be! Last eral Joubert himself! The poor fellow week we got some sugar, enough for did not argue the point any further, two days; we are so sick of black, bit- but fled into the night, glad to get off ter coffee!"2 at that price, They had no tents and had to find the Pienaar and his companions remained best possible shelter under tarpaulins in the vicinity of Ladysmith for some stretched out between the rocks. time. One morning, having heard that Pienaar went back in the pouring rain, a serious engagement had taken The flap of the tent was opened and place on Lombard's Kop, he rode in he was ordered to turn out and stand that direction and met two Boers on guard, Drawing on a soaking pair of horseback. heavy corduroy breeches in the middle "More, nefies," of the night and sitting in these on an "More neef, Where are you from?" antheap for a couple of hours, with a "The Telegraph service, and nefies?" chilly rain falling, is a sobering experi- "Of the Artillery." ence, "Something happened up there last night?" In the morning Pienaar's new friends, "Yes, The English came and blew up the young cadets, came riding into the our Long Tom!" camp, Their howitzer had been blown That incident was blamed on the ab- up, The state of their ragged uniforms sence of the guard but there was a showed the hand-to-hand nature of strong suspicion of treason, During the the struggle that had taken place, ensuing court martial two officers were One of them told the story: only suspended from duty, "We heard someone climbing the hill in the night, and challenged, It was A few days later Pienaar went to see the British, They shouted 'Rule Britan- his brother who was stationed on nia!' and rushed up to the top, We Pepworth Hill, some miles to their right. fired into them but we were too few He belonged to the Artillery Cadets, all and were forced aside by sheer of whom were dispersed amongst the weight of numbers, One of the artil- various guns at the beginning of the lery men was dragged by the leg war, in order to give them practical ex- from his sleeping-place, He shook perience. Of the four that were at- himself free and bolted, The soldiers tached to this gun two had already formed a square round the gun, been wounded, charged it with guncotton, shouted 'stand back!' and the next moment It was glorious for Pienaar to see these our gun came crashing through the lads of fifteen and sixteen withstanding sky, Then the enemy retired, But the the onslaught of the mighty naval guns Pretoria Commando waiting for them on a daily basis, The rocks around intercepted their retreat and 'made their howitzer were torn by lyddite, and them pay dearly enough for their ex- the ground strewn with shrapnel bul- ploit",3 lets, The lads were quite chirpy, One day the scouts brought a war cor- "The British say we are trained German respondent into the camp, His story gunners, Quite a compliment to Ger- was that he had wandered out of many!" the one youngster grinned, Ladysmith with a packet of newspa- "And I", said another, inflating his chest pers, "merely to exchange notes and "am a French or Russianexpert!" to challenge you to a cricket match!" Squatting on the ground, crowds of They showed Pienaar how they bearded Boers gazed at him with crushed their coffee by beating it on a fierce interest, The correspondent flat stone, Their staple food was bully looked most uncomfortable and no beef and hard biscuits. wonder, for the word "spioen" (spy)

2 F.F.Pienaar: With Steyn and De Wet. p.14. 3 F.F.Pienaar: With Steyn and De Wet, p.15

24 Militaria 23/3 7993 was often uttered, His colour was pale Commandant Chris Botha who told him green and his teeth chattered audibly. that they had taken those ten guns He was subsequently sent to Pretoria earlier in the afternoon. and thence "exiled" to civilisation, via Delagoa Bay, At the camp the Boers held six Con- naught Rangers - a Captain, a Lieuten- On the same day three Blacks bearing ant and four men. They, alone of all British dispatches, were captured. As their regiment, had managed to reach these runners were giving considerable the banks of the Tugela-Bridle Drift, trouble, it was decided to execute one about two hundred yards from the and send the other to spread the news trenches of the Swaziland commando. among their friends - black and white, Finding no shelter on the river bank, ex- The grave was al- hausted and ready dug when wounded almost General Joubert, to a man, they always opposed to ceased firing, harsh measures, whereupon our decided to spare men left them in his life, The con- peace until the trast between the end of the fight, martial bearing of when they were this black and that brought over and of the young war complimented on correspondent was their pluck, striking,4 Early the next Buller now began morning, Pienaar to press his ad- together with vance on the some of Botha' s Tugela and his men, waded searchlight was through he river, seen nightly, com- wearing only hat municating with and shirt, and car- the besieged in rying their top Ladysmith, On 10 boots over the December 1899, a shoulder. Dozens heavy bombard- of Boers were ment was heard splashing about in from the Tugela, A F.F. Pienaar, (later Lt Col in UDF) as burgher the water, enjoy- colleague called during the Anglo-Boer War. ing themselves like up Pienaar from schoolboys. Lying the telegraph office: "Buller has tried strewn about on the other side, were to cross the river; he is being driven scores of dead bodies; a little pile of back, Ten of his guns are in danger; empty cartridge cases lay by the side and as soon as the sun sets our men of each fallen soldier showing how are going over to take them", Pienaar long he had battled before meeting his went off on the road towards Colenso, doom. Some lay with faces serenely determined to see those guns being upturned to the sky, others were dou- taken. After four hours' riding, he ar- bled up in the agony of a mortal rived at a Red Cross tent and saw an wound, with teeth fixed in a horrid grin, ambulance wagon bringing in a few foam-flecked lips and widely staring wounded soldiers, He must have been eyes, Most awful of all was the sicken- close to the battlefield now, but he ing stench of human blood. Pienaar heard no firing, and the men soon turned back, un- able to bear it any longer, Half an hour further, he saw the fires of a small camp in a gully to his left and "Did your commando lose many heard Dutch spoken, There he -saw men?" Pienaar asked his companion.

4 F,F,Pienaar: With Stevn and De Wet. p, 18.

Militaria 23/3 7993 25 "Only two, can't explain it" everybody's joy, Harry lingered on, ral- "How did you feel during the fight?" lied and finally recovered, "When we saw the vast number of sol- diers approaching and heard the ex- PLATRAND TO GLENCOE plosions of shells, we knew we were in for a hot time, Our small commando Although the situation in Natal was sat- could never have retreated over the isfactory, the course of events else- four miles of open country behind us, where had made it imperative that the There was only one thing to be done - Boers capture Ladysmith at an early fight, And we fought - fought till our date. An attack on Platrand (Wagon gun-barrels hurt our hands and our Hill), which dominated Ladysmith, was throats were parched with thirst," called for this time, The plan of attack "Could you see when your bullet went was for the Free Staters to climb the home?" one side, the Transvalers the other, and General Louis BothaS would ride over "You notice that soldier laying behind from Colenso with a reserve of three the antheap, a hole in his forehead? hundred men, That man worried us a good deal. He could shoot, the beggar! Well, two of Pienaar was taken along with his chief us fixed our rifles on the sport and and in the afternoon of 5 January waited till he raised his head; then we 1900, they took the road to Ladysmith fired. You see the result", in a light mule-wagon, After having tented for the night they saddled their Pienaar rode over to the telegraph of- horses at 3 am and followed the spoor fice a few miles lower down, The chief of the commando, Upon encountering there immediately put him to work, a black man holding half a dozen Pienaar wired to his field cornet at horses, they asked him where the own- Ladysmith, saying he was unavoidably ers were, He pointed to a hill nearby, detained. The next weeks passed where Pienaar and companions found pleasantly enough; long hours and the gallant French Combat General, hard work but also pleasant compan- de Villebois Mareuil,6 Oberst Von Braun, ions and a splendid river, with boating and Von Brusewitz, Little did they know and swimming galore, at the time that the last would meet his death a few weeks later on Spioenkop One morning a score of Danie Theron's and the first at Boshoff on 5 April 1900! scouts passed by, their famous captain at their head, One of them - an old It was growing light and they could friend - reined in long enough to tell see, lying on their right, the neutral Fienaar they were going to set an am- camp; further away, on Bulwana, the bush for a British patrol which, accord- Boers biggest gun, where they knew ing to their native spokesman, would General Joubert was standing, his wife pass a suitable spot, by his side, Straight before them lay the key to Ladysmith : Platrand, During the afternoon the band re- whence now and again came the turned, several on foot, and carrying sharp rat-tat of the Lee-Metford, fol- someone in a blanket - none other lowed by the Mauser's significant than poor Harry C.! They had been cough. deceived by the Black and it was the British who caught the Boers in the am- Through their glasses they saw bush, Pienaar's friend had received a helmeted men slowly retreating up the bullet through the stomach, a wound mountain, pausing every dozen yards which appeared fatal, He was laid to fire a volley at some invisible enemy, down in a tent, Theron bent over him, Three of them reached the top. The his eyes full of tears, "How now, sentries were ridden in, General Botha Harry?" "Awful pain captain", now arrived with the reserve force, All Pienaar wired home that Harry had dismounted, "Put your horses out of only been slightly wounded. This sight" he commanded, "they will draw turned out to have been wise, for, to the enemy's fire".

5 General Louis Sotha (1862-1919). 6 Combat General Georges Henri Anne-Marie Victor. Count de Villebois-Mareuil (1847 - 1900).

26 Militaria 23/3 7993 He had scarcely spoken when a shrap- elty of the affair and the continual nel shell burst overhead, and three whistle of the bullets producing a pe- horses were seriously injured. Then culiar feeling of exaltation. came another and another. Both went wide. The animals were quickly led be- Then the bag tumbled off. Pienaar hind the hill, and the three wounded sprang down, hooked the bridle to a horses put out of their misery. tree, rushed back for the bag, and started forward again. The firing now The attack was now in full swing: the became so severe that he raced for a grating British volleys, the ceaseless mill clump of trees to find temporary shel- of independent firing, the short flash of ter. Some Boers, firing at the enemy the British guns, the fierce whirr of the intermittently, advised Pienaar to wait French shells of the Boer forces, and a while and see how things went. He the deep boom of Long Tom resound- lay down under the trees. The roar of ing through the valleys. the artillery must have lulled him to sleep for he was rudely woken up. Hardly a single combatant could be "Wake up! They're coming round to seen: everybody was using cover. cut us off. We must clear off!" Pienaar Only one soldier stood in plain view on led his pony away when suddenly all the crest of the hill, signalling with a hell broke loose. It seemed as if the flag. The Boers reached the crest and entire British Army was bent on his de- the soldier disappeared. But British re- struction. Like raindrops on a dusty inforcements presently reached the road the bullets struck around him. As hill. In long, thin lines of yellow they he struggled on Pienaar thought what ran across the plateau to the crest, a cruel shame it was that he should be hoping to drive the Boers back. As it shot at like a deer. Finally, the shelter approached the line grew thinner and of a dry watercourse was reached and thinner, until there was nothing of it after following this for some distance, left.? Pienaar encountered another party of Boers to whom he handed his charge, For hours the yellow lines of gallant too shaken to repeat the experiment. men flung themselves into the open, He returned to his chief mortified by his only to fall beneath the raging fire failure. The hill could not be taken that poured upon them from the mountain afternoon nor late that evening. crest. Colonel de Villebois Mareuil passed The Boer wounded came back down and reported that the Boer forces had the hill, thirsty men, pale men, men been withdrawn and General Botha covered with blood and weeping with ordered to Colenso, where Buller had rage. One man was brought down ly- made a feint attack to help Ladysmith. ing across a horse. His face hung in In the British camp at Chieveley the na- strips, shattered by a dum-dum bullet. val guns still flashed by day, the Some of the Boers now also began us- searchlight still signalled to Ladysmith ing buckshot! at night, the tents still glistened in the sun, but where had all the soldiers A Boer mounted a wagon. "Who will gone? take in ammunition?" No response. They were marching up the river. Gen- Pienaar turned to his chief: "Would you eral Sir Redvers Buller8 intended to try advise me to try?" his luck once more. Buller was no mere "You must decide for yourself". theoretician, here in Natal he had Throwing a bag of cartridges over his gained his Victoria Cross against the horse's back, Pienaar set off. No Zulus. The commandos on the Boer sooner in the open, than whizz, whizz, side of the river were extended to keep went bullets past his ears. The pony pace with the enemy's movements on stopped, confused. Pienaar dug the the other. As the distance between spurs into the horse's flanks and on the different laagers lengthened they went, the rapid motion, the nov- speedily certain communications be-

7 F.F. Pienaar : With Stevn and De Wet. p.28. 8 General Sir Redvers Buller (1839-1908).

Militaria 23/3 7993 27 came vital. For this, use was made of almost anything imaginable.12 As they the vibrator, an instrument so sensitive drank tea in full view of the hill on that the most faulty line would carry which the British guns had been enough electricity to work it, Pienaar dragged a few days ago, the shriek of accompanied the construction party, an approaching shell was heard, a vibrator strapped to the saddle, Half Nearer and louder until -bang!- the a dozen black men went with them shell burst not a hundred yards away. carrying rolls of "cable", wire about A young linesman, who had been lis- the thickness of the lead in a pencil tening with ever widening eyes, gave and covered with gutta percha. A an unearthly yell and almost sprang wooden "saddle" holding one roll of through the top of the tent, knocking wire was strapped onto the back of over the unhappy journalist and send- one of the carriers, one end of the wire ing the hot tea streaming down his joined to the back of another one of neck! the carriers, one end of the wire joined to the instrument in the office; the car- SPIOENKOP rier marched forward, the wire unroll- ing as he went, and the other carriers As the office was hastily removed to placing stones upon it here and there the high bank of the adjacent stream, in order to prevent its being dragged Pienaar was ordered to leave forthwith about by cattle, In this way they went for the Spioenkop Office. On his way forward, establishing an office at every there he came under constant fire, He laager on the way, so that every com- reached Spioenkop, took charge of mando was always fully informed the office, and was kept so busy that about the others and the enemy's for a week there was no time for a de- every movement immediately known cent wash, The shells fell at a rate of to the entire forces, enabling reinforce- more than sixty a minute and down on ments to be sent anywhere. It was the plain they could see the British regi- said, perhaps frivolously, that some of ments drilling on the banks of the river, the Boer generals became so fond of about two thousand yards away, prob- the system that the slightest movement ably to draw the Boer fire, of the enemy was the signal for a re- quest for reinforcements,9 For some time the enemy's infantry had been harassing the Boers every After trying for two days and finding day and drawing a little nearer every that the Standerton laager had al- night, Louis Botha's secretary one ready shifted, they arrived at the Jo- evening said to Pienaar "It has all been hannesburg laager and Pienaar had in vain! Our men are worn out, They the pleasure of breakfasting with Com- can do no more". "Cheer up" Pienaar mandant Ben Viljoen.lO The General in said "There are other hills", "Tomorrow charge of these positions was kind- will tell" he said, And it did. In the hearted, energetic General Tobias grey dawn two hatless and bootless Smuts,l] of Ermelo, young men stumbled down into the laager, During the night General Louis Botha arrived, accompanied only by his aide "The British have taken the hill!" and his secretary, He, Smuts, and both their staffs, all slept in one small tent on Startled the others gazed at Spioen- the hard ground with hardly enough kop's top, covered by a thick mist. The room to turn round in, British were there and as soon as the mist started clearing away ,., the guns Pienaar's office was now in full swing were trained on the spot and the men and one afternoon he was honoured placed in position, by a visit from a Dutch Jew and Trans- vaal journalist, whose articles had But when Pienaar ran to telegraph to more power to sting the uitlanders than Colenso, the line had been cut, "Go

9 F.F. Pienaar : With 5teyn and De Wet. p.34. 10 Commandant BenJ. Viljoen(l868-1917).

II General Tobias Smuts (1861-1916).

12 F.F. Pienaar: With 5teyn and De Wet, p,36.

28 Militaria 23/3 /993 and repair the line" said the chief. The ploughed up my arm. My chum then mist cleared as Pienaar rode out, and shot him dead. Our doctor was too the fight began. The cable ran about busy with the English officers to attend a thousand yards behind the Boer fir- to me, so I fear I shall lose my arm". ing line and as Pienaar went on the noise of battle deafened his ears and His arm was amputated and he went jagged pieces of shell came whizzing to his uncle's farm to recuperate. past. Johannes Pienaar, however, would not surrender when the British arrived In the afternoon the Johannesburg there, but took his gun and went on laager was reached. Here a despatch commando. Three days later he was rider said that reinforcements had ar- brought in, shot through the legs. That rived at Spioenkop early in the morn- was the last Filip Pienaar heard of his ing, that the Boers had climbed the hill cousin. but might have to retreat during the night. Pienaar repaired several faults The deserted houses in the neighbour- and rode back to Spioenkop only to hood had all been visited in turn by find the laager deserted, with some both British and Boer patrols, and be- bodies lying in tents. The enemy had tween the two enormous damage had unexpectedly retired during the night, been wrought. Whereas the mischief and the entire commando was now on done by the Boers was in no way au- the hill, gazing at the plentiful harvest thorised, it was against express orders; reaped by the Maxim Nordenfeldts. the British burned the Boer houses to "the joyful fiddling of the London Times It was a mournful sight; British ambu- and with a righteous unction eminently lance men were collecting all the national" . corpses apparently without even hav- ing asked General Louis Botha for per- VAALKRANTZ mission. Pienaar wired the news of the victory to Pretoria. About this time an engagement, known as the battle of Vaalkrantz, took Late that afternoon Pienaar heard place in which a portion of Viljoen's someone asking where the hospital men suffered heavily. was. It was his father. They had never expected to meet each other as A detachment, about forty in number, Pienaar had parted from him in Johan- was guarding a Nordenfeldt, stationed nesburg before the war began. Old in an advanced position on an isolated General Pienaar, himself, was under hill. One afternoon a large body of the impression that his son was still at the enemy suddenly attacked the hill. Ladysmith. Commandant Ben Viljoen, not an ex- cessively pious man, rose to the occa- General Pienaar told his son that he sion and inspired his little band by ask- had come to see his young nephew ing them if they did not fear God more Johannes, who had been wounded on than the British. The men bravely held Spioenkop the day before. They the hill until half their number were walked over to the hospital where the killed. No white flag was hoisted. The wounded lad, only fifteen, lay looking Boers generally preferred certain terribly exhausted, his left arm shat- death to surrender. Every man got out tered. as best as he could, Commandant Viljoen himself racing out with the "We were two together", he said, "my- gun.13 self and another boy. We crept closer and closer to one of the small sangars, The Boer guns there shelled the hill furi- firing into them as we crept, until there ously. The bombardment lasted two was only one Englishman left alive in it. days, after which the enemy retired He called out 'water!' and I ran to and the Boers retook the hill. Two or give him my flask. When I got close to three of the wounded were found to him he pointed his gun at me and be still alive, with their wounds in a ter- fired. I sprang aside and the bullet rible state of putrefaction.

13 F.F.Pienaar: With Steyn and De Wet, p.45.

Militaria 23/3 7993 29 When they heard that their son had This small republic was soon incorpo- gone safely through the battle of rated into the Transvaal and repre- Spioenkop, an old Free State farmer sented by Meyer in the First Volksraad, and his wife came down to pay him a where General Louis Botha was a visit. The son then went home with his member of the Second Chamber. At mother, the old man taking his son's the Battle of Dundee (1899) Botha dis- place for a few days. Some artillery- tinguished himself, while Meyer did not. men were engaged in their favourite Botha then gained fresh laurels at pastime of burning out unexploded Colenso, finally giving him the prec- Iyddite shells, when one of the shells edence over Meyer, who was left in burst, killing two of them and the old charge of only this laager. Meyer was man. therefore under the overall command of General Botha, while Commandant While the rifles of the killed and General Joubert was at headquarters wounded soldiers on Spioenkop were near Ladysmith. being collected, one of the rifles lay under a corpse. Seizing the weapon The British stormed every day, only to by the muzzle, a young Boer at- melt away before the fire of the Boers. tempted to draw it towards him. The The slaughter continued until one af- charge went off and lodged in his ternoon the enemy took the stomach, inflicting a fatal wound. The Krugersdorp Commando's position, soldier had been killed in the act of rendering the entire line untenable. taking aim, and his finger had stiffened round the trigger. A general council of war was held that evening, attended by moody Schalk When the British retreated from Spioen- Willem Burger,16now Acting President, kop it was to move down to Colenso. the masterful Lukas Meyer and Louis Taking the Boschrand, after a feeble Botha, the soldier and gentleman. defence, they were able to command General Joubert was consulted the Boer positions on the other side, throughout the discussion by tel- and succeeded in crossing the Tugela egraph. There was, therefore, no sleep unhindered. for Pienaar and the other telegraphers! News then came that the Johannes- GENERAL WITHDRAWAL FROM burg Laager had been surrounded by LADYSMITH the enemy. Albeit unconfirmed, it had some influence on the decision to abandon Ladysmith. Following the British advance on Kim- berley, the Boers came to accept that After a long and weary trek in the rain they would have to give up Ladysmith. in open trucks, Glencoe was reached. The men were drawn back from the river as a preparation to a general re- General Louis Botha was still near Ladysmith with the rearguard. Most of tirement.14 Pieters' Heights were held the other chiefs were still coming by till everything was ready, and then the road and no one was on the spot to retirement was effected without even back up General Joubert in his at- an attempt at pursuit by the enemy. tempts to reorganise the confused and Pienaar was ordered to reach Pieters' ever growing mass of undisciplined Heights and on arriving there he took charge of the telegraph office in Gen- men. eral Lukas J. Meyer'sl5 laager. General Meyer was a grand looking man, for- It had degenerated into a reckless 1 merly having had much influence, hav- flight. At Glencoe, President Kruger ? ing at one time acted as president of addressed the burghers leaning out of the New Republic, a tract of land the window of his railway carriage, af- granted to him by a black chief for as- ter calling them together and asking all sistance rendered during a tribal war. to join in a psalm and offering up a fervent prayer for guidance. He re-

14 F.F. Pienaar: With Steyn and De Wet. p.47.

15 General LukasJ. Meyer (1846-1902).

16 Schalk Willem Burger (1852-1918),

17 President S.J.P. Kruger (1852-1904).

30 Militaria 23/3 7993 proached them for their want of faith Cronje 19 did not even have a perma- in an all-powerful Providence, exhort- nent effect. Pienaar was sent down to ing them to take courage afresh and Nqutu, Zululand, and there received continue the struggle for the sake of the news of the fall of Bloemfontein, their posterity, whom one day would the death of General Joubert, and of judge their acts, "The man who surren- De Wet's victory at Sannaspos, He ders", he said "takes the first step into briefly visited Johannesburg where, af- exile, Brothers! Stand firm, and you will ter the Boer defeats, many Smits be- not be forsaken!" And as the father of came Smiths, Louw shrank into Lowe, the people spoke, the doubts and Jansen transformed into Johnson, and fears disappeared and every man felt Volschenk became Foolskunk, What the glorious fires of patriotism rekindle did John Bull think of all these precious in his bosom.18 acquisitions to his family!

The men received a new lease on life, * Brig (Dr) J.H. Picard SM, is Director The news of the surrender of Gen P,A. Language Service, SADF,

General C.R. de Wet.

Acknowledgement: Photographs supplied by SADF Archives

18 F.F. Pienaar : With Steyn and De Wet, p,53. 19 General P.A. Cronje (1835-1911).

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