E-text prepared by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Taavi Kalju,
and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
(/)

C. R. de Wet
Copyright 1902 by Charles Scribner's Sons. N.Y.

THREE YEARS' WAR

BY

CHRISTIAAN RUDOLF DE WET

FRONTISPIECE BY

JOHN S. SARGENT, R.A.

FOUR PLANS AND A MAP

NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1902

Copyright, 1902, BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

All rights reserved

Published, December, 1902

TROW DIRECTORY

PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY
NEW YORK

TO
MY FELLOW SUBJECTS
OF
THE BRITISH EMPIRE

[Pg vii]

Preface

By way of introduction to my work I wish, dear reader, to say only thisshort word: "I am no book-writer."—But I felt that the story of thisstruggle, in which a small people fought for liberty and right, isrightly said, throughout the civilized world, to be unknown, and that itwas my duty to record my personal experiences in this war, for thepresent and for the future generations, not only for the Afrikanderpeople, but for the whole world.

Not only did I consider this my duty, but I was encouraged to write bythe urgings of prominent men among my people, of men of variousnationalities and even of several British officers.

Well, dear reader, I hope that you will not feel disappointed in readingthese experiences, as it is not in me, as is perhaps sometimes the casewith historical authors, to conjure up thrilling pictures—imaginarythings—and put them together merely to make up a book or to make a namefor themselves. That be far from me! In publishing my book (although itis written in simple style) I had one object only, viz., to give tothe world a story which, although it does not contain the whole of thetruth, as regards this wondrous war, yet contains nothing but thetruth.[Pg viii]

The original has been written by me in Dutch, and I can therefore not beanswerable for its translation into other languages.

C. R. de WET.

[Pg ix]

Contents