Three Years War | Page 2

Burgher
In the month of September, 1899, the burghers of the Orange Free State
were notified, under the Commando Law, to hold themselves in
readiness to go on active service at the shortest possible notice.
Before proceeding any further I should like to explain that portion of
the Commando Law which dealt with commandeering. It stipulated that
every burgher between the ages of sixteen and sixty must be prepared
to fight for his country at any moment; and that, if required for active
service, he must provide himself with a riding-horse, saddle and bridle,
with a rifle and thirty cartridges--or, if he were unable to obtain a rifle,
he must bring with him thirty bullets, thirty caps, and half a pound of
powder--in addition he must be provisioned for eight days. That there
should have been an alternative to the rifle was due to the fact that the
law was made at a time when only a few burghers possessed
breech-loading rifles--achterlaaiers, as we call them.
With reference to the provisions the law did not specify their quality or
quantity, but there was an unwritten but strictly observed rule amongst
the burghers that they should consist of meat cut in strips, salted,

peppered, and dried, or else of sausages and "Boer biscuits."[1] With
regard to quantity, each burgher had to make his own estimate of the
amount he would require for eight days.
It was not long after they were notified to hold themselves ready that
the burghers were called up for active service. On the 2nd of October,
1899, the order came. On that day the Veldtcornets, or their lieutenants,
visited every farm and commandeered the men.
Amongst the commandeered was I; and thus, as a private burgher, I
entered on the campaign. With me were my three sons--Kootie, Isaac,
and Christiaan.
The following day the men of the sub-district of Krom Ellenborg, in the
district of Heilbron--to which I belonged--mustered at Elandslaagte
Farm. The Veldtcornet of this sub-district was Mr. Marthinus Els, and
the Commandant of the whole contingent Mr. Lucas Steenekamp. It
soon became known that the War Commission had decided that our
commando was to proceed as rapidly as possible to the Natal frontier,
and that with us were to go the troops from Vrede and Harrismith, as
well as some from Bethlehem, Winburg, and Kroonstad. Carrying out
these orders, we all arrived at Harrismith six days later.
Commando life now began in real earnest.
The eight days during which the burghers had to feed themselves were
soon over, and now it was the duty of the Government to provide for
them.
It may be interesting to mention here that the British commissariat
differed greatly from ours. Rations were served out daily to their troops.
Each soldier received the same quantity and the same quality as his
comrade. Our methods were very different, except as regards flour,
coffee, sugar, and other articles of that nature. The British soldier, for
instance, received his meat ready cooked in the form of bully-beef
(blikkiescost we called it), whilst the burgher received his meat raw,
and had to cook it as best he could.

Before I leave this subject I may be forgiven if I describe the method of
distributing meat to the burghers. After it had been cut up, the
Vleeschkorporaal[2] handed out the pieces--a sufficiently responsible
task, as it proved, for, as the portions differed much in quality, it
became of the first importance that the Vleeschkorporaal should be a
man whose impartiality was above suspicion. To avoid any temptations
to favouritism, this useful personage used to turn his back on the
burghers, and as the men came up in turn he would pick up the piece of
meat which lay nearest to hand and, without looking round, give it to
the man who was waiting behind him to receive it.
This arrangement should have been satisfactory to all, but it sometimes
happened that some burgher, whom fortune had not favoured, made no
effort to conceal his discontent, and thus squabbles frequently occurred.
Then the Vleeschkorporaal, fully convinced of his own uprightness,
would let his tongue go, and the burgher who had complained was a
man to be pitied. But such quarrels only occurred early in the campaign.
By the time that the Vleeschkorporaal had been a few weeks at his
work he had gained a considerable knowledge of human nature, and the
injustice of his fellows no longer troubled him. Accordingly he allowed
the complaints of the men to go in at one ear and at once to come out at
the other. The burghers, too, soon became convinced of the foolishness
of their conduct, and learnt the lesson of content and forbearance.
As I have already stated, the burgher had to boil or roast his own meat.
The