Howard C. Hillegas - With the Boer Forces

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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.

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