The Boer War Diary

The introduction contains a biographical sketch of Sol T Plaatje.

The introduction contains a biographical sketch of Sol T Plaatje.

When George Stokes enlisted into the British Army in 1895 he used an assumed name and gave a false age. He was only sixteen.Four years later Stokes was sent to The Transvaal to fight in the Second Anglo Boer War. This conflict was to have a far reaching impact on the future development of South African politics and was also significant in what it revealed about Britain and her imperial destiny.This is one man's personal account of his experience of that war and he has much to tell:After the guns had kept up a constant fire for a considerable time we were ordered to fix bayonets and climb the kopje as soon as the big guns had ceased firing. After waiting anxiously for some time we began the climb, scrambling over huge rocks and dead and wounded as they fell. It was a terrible climb and one I shall never forget for as I neared the top a bullet passed through the left sleeve of my jacket but there was no time to think of that for with a last effort we all reached to the top and the enemy fled but a great many who could not get away had 9 inches of cold steel. Some of them threw their rifles down and asked for mercy. They got it very soon. When we had finished with those we caught on the kopje we lay down utterly exhausted after 9 hours severe fighting...Here is the diary of Corporal George Stokes who was 'a gentleman in khaki ordered South.'

"Sol Plaatje's Mafeking Diary is a document of enduring importance and fascination. The product of a young black South African court interpreter, just turned 23 years old when he started writing, it opens an entirely new vista on the famous Siege of Mafeking. By shedding light on the part played by the African population of the town, Plaatje explodes the myth, maintained by belligerents, and long perpetuated by both historians and the popular imagination, this this was a white man's affair. One of the great epics of British imperial history, and perhaps the best remembered episode of the Anglo-Boer war of 1899-1902, is presented from a wholly novel perspective. "At the same time, the diary provides an intriguing insight into the character of a young man who was to play a key role in South African political and literary history during the first three decades of this century. It reveals much of the perceptions and motives that shaped his own attitudes and intellectual development and, indeed, those of an early generation of African leaders who sought to build a society which did not determine the place of its citizens by the colour of their skin. The diary therefore illuminates the origins of a struggle which continues to this day." -- John L. Comaroff (ed.) in his preface

The introduction contains a biographical sketch of Sol T Plaatje.