Read Ebook: A woman's wanderings and trials during the Anglo-Boer War by De La Rey Jacoba Elizabeth Hotz Lucy Translator

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Ebook has 332 lines and 25562 words, and 7 pages

In the beginning of the new year 1900 General De la Rey had to retire to Colesberg. I went with him to Bloemfontein, and the evening we arrived there he had to go on to Colesberg. I went back home, where I found our children safe and well.

Every day we kept hearing of battles. I went on with my work on the farm, and that made the time pass less slowly. Two months later I went to Kroonstad and found my husband there. All the week he had not been well, but he got better quickly and started anew on commando.

I went home again, and had not been there long when General De la Rey was sent to Mafeking; but while on his way the siege of Mafeking was raised.

Then all the commandoes were ordered to Pretoria. My husband came home on the 23rd of May, and on the 25th of May the march to Pretoria began. That was a hurried trek, for the enemy were in great force.

We did not know now what their next movements would be, so the best thing for me to do was to wait for the coming of the enemy.

Five days after the Boers had left the district the Kaffirs came in such numbers that they stripped the whole border of cattle, and acted abominably towards the women and children.

A week after the Boers left Lichtenburg the troops entered the village. I was then on my farm, which lies a quarter-of-an-hour's distance outside.

Seven horsemen came to my house. I was then in the garden, but on seeing them I hastened to the house. Four armed men stood outside; the other three had come in and were turning everything upside down.

When I was at the door one of them came towards me with the question, "Whose place is this?"

I answered, "De la Rey's."

"The General's?" he asked.

I said, "Yes."

Then he told me that I must bring my husband out of the house.

I answered, "You have been inside, why don't you bring him out yourself? I cannot do so, because he is on commando."

"When did he go from here?" he asked me.

"A week since," I answered.

After asking a few more questions and taking whatever he wanted he went away.

I went to the village; I could not remain on the farm alone with the children.

From that moment the troops did whatever they liked. I had two horses; the Kaffirs had taken all the cattle. I saw now that they were taking the horses out of the stable and were going to ride away on them. The hardest thing was that one of the horses had belonged to my dead son, and I could not bear to part with it. I asked to see General Hunter, and I told him about the farm and about my horses. He said he knew nothing about the horses, but would make inquiries. The next day my two horses were brought back, and I was told that no damage would be done to the farm; but all the same they did whatever they liked there, and I had to put a good face upon everything.

Every day more troops came past, and the only news I could get from them about my people was that they had driven General De la Rey into such a tight corner that he would never be able to escape.

I used to say to them then, "Very well. I hope that when you have got hold of him you will treat him kindly. Remember, he is only fighting for his lawful rights and property."

Then again I heard that no, he had not been taken prisoner.

When General De la Rey and his staff were in the east, after they had been driven out of Pretoria by the superior numbers of the enemy, the people in the west country had a terrible time. The women were for the greater part alone on their farms, and their cattle were at the mercy of the cruel Kaffirs, who used to come and steal them away, generally at night. They would burst into the houses and make their way to the women, and tell them that they must have their money, using such threats and such violence that many a one fled in the night with her children, and often wandered for hours before she could find shelter. It was bitter enough for them then; but little could they think that all this was but a drop in the cup of their suffering. Many of the burghers returned home on this account to see what they could do to save their families. Three burghers from this neighbourhood were killed during the war--Adriaan Mussman, Adrian De la Rey and Petrus Biel. All three were still young, but they fought like the bravest for freedom and the right.

Adriaan Mussman was only twenty-two; he did not know the name of fear. In the thick of a fierce fight he saw that our guns were in danger. He rushed forward with the others who tried to save them. Bullets were raining all round him, but nothing could keep him back but death. He drew his last breath like a brave hero.

As each day drew to a close I was dreading what should happen on the next.

The village had been occupied for about two months when one day I saw to my dismay that the enemy were burning things wholesale. That same evening they withdrew from the village.

A few days after they had left, our people came back with big commandoes.

A week after the "khakis" had gone out of Lichtenburg General De la Rey came back to the village, but after spending only a day or two with us, he started again for the Rustenburg district.

Then General Douglas returned and occupied the village once more. He came to our farm and took away all our sheep. When the English had got all our cattle, they went off, and we could again breathe freely.

I went to the place where the cattle used to be kept, and there I found the shepherd waiting for me. He had been able to recover one or two hundred of our sheep, so that I and my children still had something left to us to live upon.

The shepherds are generally Kaffirs who live on the place. The following statement shows strikingly in its simplicity how their own Kaffirs remained attached to the Boers in spite of all the so-called "barbarous treatment."

Shortly afterwards General De la Rey returned to Lichtenburg.

But General Douglas had not moved very far off, and as soon as he heard that General De la Rey was in the place he came back with his troops at full speed. But General De la Rey was already far away in the distance. Just to show the "khakis" that we were not as starving as they thought, I made some bread out of the flour that my husband had brought us and sent two fresh loaves to Douglas. The English soon left to take up the pursuit again; and now the talk was that they were in their 20,000 after De la Rey, and that this time he would never manage to escape.

I said again, "Very well, you catch him if you can, but be good to him." A few days later he was still free; the 20,000 had not been able to get hold of him.

Shortly afterwards Lord Methuen entered the village and took up his quarters. He sent to fetch my two horses, but I would not let them go. I said, "No, I will not give them up to you; I shall go and see the General himself about it." "Very well," was the answer, "you can see him to-morrow morning at nine o'clock; that will be the best time." The next morning I started off, but when I got there Lord Methuen could not see me; he was too busy, they said. I felt very angry. I turned to go back, when just as I had got to my carriage, one of his orderlies brought me the message that Lord Methuen was ready to receive me, and they took me to him. He asked what he could do for me.

I answered, "For me you cannot do much, for as far as my cattle are concerned I have lost nearly everything. But I have still two horses left, and one of these belonged to my son, who is dead, and I hope that you will not take it away from me." He gave me his hand and he said, "It shall not be taken away from you." I thanked him and went home again. Lord Methuen remained in Lichtenburg for a week. When the place was once more empty General De la Rey came back to the village. He remained with us for four days. The day he left Lord Methuen returned.

There was a big fight that day not very far from the village. Towards nightfall the burghers beat a retreat under General Lemmer, and next morning the troops came back to Lichtenburg.

The following day the English commandant came to see me. He had a hard task before him, he told me; he had been ordered to burn my house down. I asked him where I was to go to with my children if my house were burned down.

"I shall leave one of the buildings standing for you."

I thanked him, and I said to him, "Burn them down, burn the others down if you think it fit to do so. Even if you leave one for me, there will still be four to burn. However cruel you may seem to be, yet God is always gracious."

He answered that it was very hard indeed for him; but that he had his orders and he must obey.

All the same, he went away without burning any of the buildings.

Then came another trial. One afternoon, at about three o'clock, they suddenly came to tell me that I must start for Mafeking with my daughter in half-an-hour.

"And what about my other children then?" I asked.

"Have you got more children still?" asked the man.

I called all my children together.

"Very well," he went on then, "you can take all your children with you."

"And for what reasons am I being sent away in this fashion?"

"When General De la Rey was here you took him in and sheltered him."

"Yes," I answered, "I did take him in and shelter him; and I shall do it five hundred times more if it please the Lord to spare him. I am prepared to go away as a prisoner of war, but I will not do it of my own free will. And you say to Lord Methuen that he knows very well that my husband is only fighting for his rights and doing his best for his country. I will tell you a parable for him. Instead of doing harm to our cause, every step you take against us makes it one hundredfold stronger. Where only one now calls for vengeance, hundreds shall come to be avenged. He can send me wherever he likes, but it will not do you any good. I never thought to be so badly treated in the Queen's name. I could not have believed that because you cannot get the better of our men you would set to work against their women."

"No, I do not think that it would be better for me to go away from my own land. I would choose far rather to stay and suffer with my own people than go away."

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