A woman's wanderings and trials during the Anglo-Boer War

by Jacoba Elizabeth De la Rey

I was advised to burn some vogelsent[4] to make soap out of the ashes. I gathered some “vogels,” had them burned, and succeeded in making some good soap. The children wandered on the mountain side searching for wild honey. I thought that if the “khakis” did not worry me, I should remain here for a long time. But after a fortnight my husband turned up, and said that it was too cold to live out on the veldt, and we went back to the farm belonging to Mrs Lombard. From there General De la Rey and his staff went on to the Free State, where they were to meet President Steyn and General De Wet. I had been here only twelve days when early one morning the cannon suddenly began to make such a threatening noise that I hastened to pack up my belongings and fled away once more. At Drinkfontein I thought that I would wait and find out where the “khakis” were moving to. But soon I heard again the roaring of the cannon. At that moment I was making some candles; water and fat were both hot. It was high time to be on our way, and I said, “Get ready and make a start; but I must somehow or other finish my work.” The oxen were not by the waggon, so that it was some little time before everything was ready; and I had finished my candles when the waggon was prepared to start. Then we were again flying as hard as we could through the Lichtenburg district across the Harts River. It is not a pleasant country to wander in; there are no woods or shady trees; and as soon as the “khakis” had gone back, back I returned also, to try to find better headquarters. And so the time passed till General De la Rey returned. Then he went away again, back to the Wolmaransstad district. Meanwhile I kept wandering around. Suddenly we heard that many of the enemy’s laagers were advancing together towards Klerksdorp. I went on some distance farther, and then from all sides the people began to hurry onwards, so that the flight was now beginning in earnest. The troops were advancing in great force. We fled in the direction of Makouwenkop and then were joined again by General De la Rey. At last the Boer commandoes managed to get through, so that they got behind the English. Then we had to fly as hard as we could so as to keep in front. Some people went back that night, hoping to break through the English troops. They said that I ought to go with them; but I said, “No, I shall go forward, and I shall see if I cannot escape that way.”

[4] Vogelsent.—Lumps of resin that exude from certain trees.

When we came to the Vaal River we were forced to turn about. We took another way back. After driving all day, we stopped for a little. We had to get food ready as quickly as possible. It was very dark; but later the moon began to shine. We fled on in great anxiety, knowing that at any moment the “khakis” might be upon us. My husband said that it would be too bad if they were to take me prisoner when he was near the waggon, for he would have to fight then, and to leave me to myself. I said, “Nay, do not let that disturb you; do what you can to escape when they come; the Lord has always preserved me until now, and He will continue to do so.” At midnight we stopped for a little to let the oxen take a rest; but after an hour or two we pressed forward again in good earnest. Bokkie was saddled and marched behind the waggon, and all were ready to meet the “khakis.” We hurried on; it was near the break of day, and I thought to myself how grateful I should be to the Lord if it pleased Him to guide the course of the night so that I might not be taken. It grew light and the sun began to shine. All was quiet and we stopped to rest. Then it was reported that the “khakis” had gone past us.

We were all very happy, and after we had had something to eat, and had taken a little rest, we went once more on our way. It was Saturday, and we hoped to be able to spend Sunday in peace. When we had gone on again, I sat in my waggon and felt very thankful that this time I had again escaped with my freedom. And then the words came into my head, “Offer your thanks unto the Lord, and call upon the name of the Almighty.” “Yes,” I thought, “that is what I have done in my need; praise be unto the Lord that He has preserved me from falling into the hands of mine enemy. The good God has saved me now and many a time before.”

On Sunday we found ourselves in Brakspruit, and there we spent a peaceful Sabbath day: on Monday we set out for Wolmaransstad, there we found our houses in ruins. It was dreary to return and find the place in such a plight.

A little way from Wolmaransstad we went to Mr Bezuidenhout’s farm and found that his house was fortunately still intact. We were able to bake bread there and make preparations for our next flight. After remaining there a week we went back to the Lichtenburg district. At Malgasfontein I found refuge in a house whose owners had been taken by the “khakis.” As I had a good number of oxen with me, and it was raining just enough, I had a lot of mealies sown there, for we were constantly doing whatever we could to keep things going. Everybody sowed and planted wherever possible. The “khakis” might destroy as much as they liked, the Boers were still full of courage.

I had great difficulty at that time to keep things straight; as I have many children it grew extremely difficult to keep them all clean. Soap was still very scarce; I could not get more anywhere. As far as clothes were concerned I was happy as long as they were only clean. A man told me he had scraped off some deposit of saltpetre from a wall at Schoonspruit and had made good soap. As soon as possible I got a bag of it and also made some very good soap, so that I had not to worry about that any longer.

After we had been here about three weeks General De la Rey came back from the Zwartruggens after the defeat of Colonel Van Donop, which took place at Kleinfontein on the 24th of October 1901. It was on the 24th of October 1901, the very day that we had been married for twenty-five years, that a terrible battle was fought, in which many people were killed or wounded, and among them one more good friend of ours, Commandant Kritzinger, and his son, both of whom were killed. So that we had on this day, instead of a silver wedding feast, a terrible shedding of blood. There were great losses on both sides. But the burghers were now, however, well supplied again with clothes and other things which they had been needing badly. We had made up our minds to stay here, when suddenly came the report that the troops were advancing. We made a hurried start in the direction of Harts River, and went on from there till past the Zoutspannen. When the enemy had gone off in another direction back we went again slowly all along the Harts River. Whenever we thought that we were going to be left in peace for a little while, we would find that the English troops were coming in such numbers that we would have to go on trekking backwards and forwards without any respite. With the approach of Christmas things grew quieter. I went to Doornfontein, Badenhorst’s place. The houses had been injured but not quite destroyed, so that I was able to make use of one during the time that I remained.

My people were all with me; we spent a pleasant Christmas. Still, we were not very far from Klerksdorp, where there were so many “khakis” that the day after Christmas we had to begin our march again. A few days later I got a message telling me to turn back to Doornfontein; and there we all met again and spent the New Year. That was in 1901. The day after New Year’s Day there were so many “khakis” about that I had to fly past Lichtenburg and take refuge in the Zwartruggens. Putfontein, where I next found myself, was utterly destroyed and burnt down. As I was greatly concerned because my people had no bread with them, I wandered round the desolate place hoping to find an oven which had not been destroyed. All the ovens had been broken down, but at last I found an attempt at one that the poor women had set up and used for preparing bread. I said, “It does not look of much use, still I shall try what I can do.” It was late in the evening and rain was falling. There was no wood to be got, but I went on with my breadmaking, and the boy (a Kaffir) had to try and make a fire somehow or other. He was a very sharp boy, and he succeeded in heating the oven.

General Kemps had his laager in the same place. In the evening all the burghers came together, and they asked me if I would join in their worship. “With pleasure,” I said. It was then quite dark. I went to the laager and we had a short service, and after that sang songs out of the “Kinderharp.” It was so pleasant that I quite forgot to bake my bread. We also sang beautiful hymns that they themselves had composed, so that I had a very pleasant evening. I hurried to the oven, where I found that the biscuit had risen. It seemed as if the oven were not hot enough, and yet I could not get any more fuel for it. I put all the bread in and thought “let it bake itself as best it can.” I waited till I thought that it was ready and then I sent Sampson, the boy, to bring it out of the oven. He came back with it and it looked still as if it were quite raw. However, it was always something to eat. I went to sleep. Next morning I had hoped to be able to spend a peaceful Sunday. A little way from my waggon were some big trees, and as many burghers were there, we all agreed to meet under the trees to hold our service. I and my children were there and many burghers; but as all had not arrived we waited a while until the leader said he would go on with the service, and then the people would come fast enough. After we had sung he began to speak to us, but it did not look as if any more people were coming. We were some distance from the waggons and could see that there everyone was hurrying backwards and forwards. I thought that the old man did not seem very much inclined to put a stop to his service, but things looked to me so grave that I said that we must really go to see what was happening. We hurried back to the waggons, and very soon we could hear the firing. I started off as quickly as possible. Very soon many people in their waggons were keeping up with mine. We fled for some distance and then sent out scouts a little way back. General De la Rey with his staff came up. It was he who had been under that heavy firing; a mark was on his back where a bullet had whizzed past. They had all escaped unhurt and were very hungry and tired. It was then that the bread I had baked the night before served in good stead. They ate some, and that same evening they had to go back. I was thus able still to supply them with bread. I went on to the Zwartruggens this time; I did not want to go so far into the mountains as it was beginning to be very warm there. On the slopes of the mountains large trees were growing. I set up my tent in the shade. There was fruit to be had: my children were happy.