632 



SOUTH AFRICA. 



twenty-four hours. The Boer losses were 12 killed, 

 185 taken prisoners, 5 guns, and a part of their cat- 

 tle, horses, mules, and wagons. Commandant Kemp 

 slipped round one end of the enveloping line, while 

 Commandant Liebenberg placed his men, clad in 

 khaki, in the order of a British column and was 

 allowed to pass through unmolested. Peace ne- 

 gotiations were proceeding, but no truce was made, 

 so that the operations against Delarey were not 

 interrupted. On March 31 Col. Kekewich and 

 Gen. Walter Kitchener attempted to close in upon 

 Delarey's main force near Barberspan. A part 

 of the latter's force became engaged with Kemp's 

 men on the Hart river. The British entrenched 

 themselves in a good position, and held it against 

 a determined attack from all sides. A Canadian 

 detachment of 54 men under Lieut. Bruce Car- 

 ruthers fought till all were slain. A new contin- 

 gent of Canadians and the ninth contingent from 

 each Australian colony and from New Zealand 

 were on the sea. The latest estimate of the Boer 

 effective forces was still 8,000 men. In the Orange 

 River Colony no single force exceeding 400 was 

 able to concentrate. In Cape Colony the bands of 

 100 or 200 that appeared intermittently in the 

 midland districts or on the northwestern border 

 could always be driven back into the hills or 

 the desert, "in the eastern Transvaal the largest 

 body under Botha was 400 men led by Comman- 

 dant Alberts, and in the north Beyers had about 

 as many men and other leaders had smaller bands 

 about Lydenburg. Delarey was still able to mus- 

 ter 2,000 men or more for an attack. The rem- 

 nants of the Boer army were being used up at the 

 rate of 150 a week. The total number of prison- 

 ers taken by the British from the beginning of 

 the war was about 29,000. 



Col. Colenbrander carried the war into the 

 northern Transvaal. With a strong force he in- 

 vested the laager of Commandant Beyers in the 

 mountains, which he captured with over 100 pris- 

 oners. In the west Gen. Ian Hamilton took 

 charge of the columns. Commandant Potgieter, 

 who led a fierce attack against Col. Kekewich's 

 force on April 11 at Rooiwal, was killed, with 43 

 of his men, and 34 were wounded, while the Brit- 

 ish lost 6 killed and 52 wounded. The Boers were 

 pursued and lost 88 more men. A movement of 

 Gen. Bruce Hamilton from Middelburg resulted 

 in a loss to the Boers of 145 in killed, wounded, 

 and prisoners. Col. Lawley led a small column 

 unawares into the laager of Commandant Prinsloo 

 at Boschman's Kop, and in a hand-to-hand fight 

 the British regulars fought their way out, killing 

 or wounding the Boer officers and 60 of their 

 men. Drives in the east and the west were still 

 carried out in May. The Boers, with peace in pros- 

 pect, showed more disposition to surrender than 

 to fight. Several commandos, consisting mainly 

 of Transvaalers, continued to operate in the east- 

 ern part of Cape Colony, and laid siege to the 

 town of Ookiep until driven off by British reen- 

 forcements. Of the captured Boer leaders 30 

 more were sent into perpetual exile in accordance 

 with Lord Kitchener's proclamation of Aug. 7, 

 1901. 



The war came to an end on May 31. The num- 

 ber of Boers estimated by the British intelligence 

 department to be still on commando had risen to 

 8,900. The British garrison in South Africa in 

 August, 1899, was 9,940. Before the outbreak of 

 the war on Oct. 11, 1899. it was increased by 12,- 

 546 troops, and before Aug. 1, 1900, by 155,535 

 regulars from Great Britain and the colonies, 1,891 

 from India, 11,584 colonials from Australasia and 

 Canada, 30,319 raised in South Africa, 21,457 mi- 

 litia, 10,731 yeomanry, and 11,129 volunteers 



from Great Britain, making the total, including 

 the garrison before the war, 205,132 officers and 

 men. Between then and May 1, 1901, there were 

 sent out 22,987 regulars from home and the colo- 

 nies, 5,790 colonials in addition to 22,095 raised 

 locally, 3,939 militia from home and the colonies, 

 16,733 yeomanry, 5,805 volunteers from the United 

 Kingdom, and '5,180 South African constabulary 

 recruited in the United Kingdom for the special 

 pay of 5s. a day; and before the end of 1901 the 

 additional reenforcements were 22,746 regulars 

 from the United Kingdom, 3,857 from India, 1,194 

 colonials, 8,562 militia, 921 yeomanry, 407 volun- 

 teers, 454 Scottish horse, 1,709 South African con- 

 stabulary from the United Kingdom, and 1,238 

 from Canada. 



Further reenforcements till May 31, 1902, were 

 20,260 regulars from home and the colonies, 6,57 & 

 from India, 10,827 colonial troops, 11,608 militia, 

 7,135 yeomanry, 2,515 volunteers, 379 Scottish 

 horse, and 384 South African constabulary. The 

 total sent to and raised in South Africa from the 

 beginning of the war, including the original garri- 

 son, was 17,559 officers and 430,876 men. The 

 numbers of volunteers, constabulary, and other 

 troops raised in South Africa after the first en- 

 listments are not known and are not included in 

 the total, which comprises, besides the original 

 garrison of 9,940 regulars, 228,171 regulars, 45,- 

 566 militia, 35,520 yeomanry, 833 Scottish horse, 

 19,856 volunteers, and 7,273 South African con- 

 stabulary from the United Kingdom ; 18,229 regu- 

 lars and 305 volunteers from India, 29,090 in the 

 colonial contingents, 1,238 South African constab- 

 ulary, and 52,414 men raised in South Africa. Of 

 the total 68,531 returned to England in health 

 and 12,294 to the colonies, 10,134 regulars were 

 ordered to India and 3,578 to the colonies, 389 

 militia were stationed at St. Helena, 75,430 were 

 taken back to England sick or wounded or died 

 on passage, 9,713 were in hospitals in South Africa 

 at the end of hostilities, 6.685 were disbanded in 

 South Africa, 16,168 died in South Africa of dis- 

 ease or wounds, 5,774 were killed in battle, and 

 22,829 were wounded. The war came to an end 

 because the Orange Free State was practically 

 cleared and held by the British and in the eastern 

 Transvaal foodstuffs were exhausted. In the 

 west the Boers still had provisions, but the British 

 columns, released from the Orange River territo- 

 ries, could be concentrated for drives that would 

 soon clear all except the wilder and more distant 

 parts. 



The mortality from battle among British offi- 

 cers was 71.48 per 1,000 in the first, 21.94 in the 

 second, and 32.63 in the third year of the war; 

 from disease, 29.09 in the first, 15.03 in the second, 

 and 16.40 in the third year. Among the rank and 

 file 19.62 per 1,000 were killed or died of wounds 

 in the first, 10.87 in the second, and 11.13 in the 

 third year; and 31.07 per 1,000 died of disease in 

 the first, 20.56 in the second, and 18.24 in the third 

 yea-r. The average rate of mortality of British 

 troops on foreign service is 15 per 1,000. In the 

 American civil war the death-rate from ;ill < -;UIM - 

 was not reduced below 46.49 per 1,000 in the la-t 

 year of the war, and in the Franco-Prussian War 

 the average was 46 per 1,000 per annum, while 

 in the Boer War it was brought down to 30.03 in 

 the closing months. In the two years, seven 

 months, and twenty days that the war lasted 728 

 officers and 7.862 non-commissioned officers and 

 privates were killed or died of wounds or of acci- 

 dents and 344 officers and 13.008 non-commissioned 

 officers and privates died of disease. The Boers 

 had about 50,000 combatants at the beginning of 

 the war. No foreigners joined them after the first 



