In the Shadow of Death

In the Shadow of Death

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Title: In the Shadow of Death
Author: P. H. Kritzinger and R. D. McDonald
Release Date: August 7, 2005 [EBook #16463]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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[Illustration: GENERAL P.H. KRITZINGER.
_Photo by Emberon, London._]

In the Shadow of Death

BY
GENERAL P.H. KRITZINGER
AND
MR. R.D. MCDONALD
ILLUSTRATED WITH PORTRAITS AND DIAGRAMS
PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION 1904
LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS,
LIMITED, DUKE STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E., AND
GREAT WINDMILL STREET, W.

Preface.
Several excellent works have already been written about the
Anglo-Boer War of the beginning of the twentieth century; but the field
of operations was so extensive, the duration of the war so long, and the
leaders, on the Boer side, were necessarily so independent of one
another in the operations that were conducted with one common aim,
that something of interest may well remain to be said. We have not here
chronicled our experiences and adventures in the form of a diary, but
have rather grouped together events and observations. We write as
Boers, frankly regretting the loss of that independence for which we
took the field; but also as those who wish to give no offence to any
honourable opponent. Our aim has been to do equal justice to both
sides in the war; to unite and reconcile, not to separate and embitter,
two Christian peoples destined to live together in one land.
"In the Shadow of Death" is a title the reader will hardly consider
inappropriate by the time he reaches the end of this little book.
Outnumbered on the battlefield, often exposed to the enemy's fire, and
one of us wounded and laid low on a bed of intense suffering, and then
charged before a Military Court with the greatest of crimes, we did not

dare to hope that we should live to write these pages.
And here let our cordial thanks be given to Advocate F.G. Gardiner for
his inestimable services in the hour of need, and for kindly submitting
to us the "papers" bearing on the trial.
P.H. KRITZINGER.
R.D. MCDONALD.

Contents.
CHAP. PAGE
PREFACE iii
I. ANTECEDENTS 1
II. DARK DAYS 5
III. ENGAGEMENTS 21
IV. IN TIGHT CORNERS 43
V. TO THE CAPE COLONY 56
VI. WOUNDED 70
VII. COURT-MARTIALLED 81
VIII. WHY WE SURRENDERED 102
IX. THE BOER AS SEEN IN THE LIGHT OF THE WAR 118
X. THE RISING IN THE CAPE COLONY 149
XI. WAR INCIDENTS 170

"In the Shadow of Death."
CHAPTER I.
ANTECEDENTS.
The child is father to the man; And I could wish my days to be Bound
each to each by natural piety.
_Wordsworth._
A few preliminary pages of personal history I offer to those who
followed me either in thought or deed during the Anglo-Boer War.
My ancestors were Germans; my grandfather was born in the South.
About the year 1820 he, along with two brothers, bade farewell to the
land of his nativity and emigrated to South Africa. They found a home
for themselves in the neighbourhood of Port Elizabeth, and there they
settled as farmers. Two of the brothers married women of Dutch
extraction; one died a bachelor. A small village, Humansdorp, situated
near to Port Elizabeth, was the birth-place of my father. There he spent
the greater part of his life. He, too, married a Dutch lady; and we
children adopted the language of our mother, and spoke Dutch rather
than German.
My father took an active part in several of the early Kaffir Wars, and
rendered assistance to the Colonial forces in subjugating the native
tribes in the Eastern Province of the Cape Colony. With rapt attention
and enthusiasm we children would listen to him as he told the tale of
those early native wars. I then thought that there was nothing so
sublime and glorious as war. My imagination was inflamed, and I
longed intensely to participate in such exciting adventures. My
experience of recent years has corrected my views. I think differently
now. Peace is better than war. War is brutal and damnable. It is indeed
"hell let loose."

On the 20th of April, 1870, the arrival of a little Kritzinger was
announced on the farm Wildeman's-Kraal, Port Elizabeth District. That
little fellow happened to be