J.Y.F. BLAKE
Colonel Boer-Irish Brigade at time of general surrender in June, 1902.
A WEST POINTER
WITH THE BOERS
Personal Narrative of
COLONEL J.Y.F. BLAKE,
Commander
of the
IRISH BRIGADE
1903
Angel Guardian Press, Boston
Copyright, 1903
Colonel J.Y.F. Blake
Dedicated
TO THE MEMORY
OF THE
TWENTY-TWO THOUSAND
BOER WOMEN AND CHILDREN
MURDERED
IN THE
ENGLISH PRISON CAMPS
OF SOUTH AFRICA
DURING THE ANGLO-BOER WAR.
1899-1902
Friends have advised me to say a little something about myself, by wayof a beginning, and to please them, I will commence with the statementthat I was born in the State of Missouri, in 1856, and waked up ona horse and cattle ranch on the plains of Denton County, Texas. Atleast, here it was that I first saw light, as far as I can remember.As I grew up I learned to ride the Texas pony, and became fairly wellacquainted with the character and habits of horses and cattle, byhaving, year after year, to look after them, and see that none strayedaway. Happy were those days of loneliness and ignorance spent on thosefar-stretching plains, where roamed hundreds of thousands of horses,cattle and buffalo!
In 1871, my father started me to school at the Arkansas StateUniversity, at Fayetteville. In 1876, while still at the University,I received the cadet appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at WestPoint, through the kindness of Hon. Thomas M. Gunter, M.C., an oldfriend of my father. I entered the Academy in September, of the sameyear, and graduated in June, 1880. I was assigned as 2nd Lieutenant ofthe 6th U.S. Cavalry stationed in Arizona. I passed through the Apachewars, serving first under General Wilcox, then under General Crook, andlastly under Gen. Nelson A. Miles.
General Crook put me in command of the Apache Indian scouts, and withthem I roamed about the mountains till 1885, when my troop was orderedto Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. I passed through the Infantry and Cavalryschool, and, on being promoted to the rank of 1st. Lieutenant in 1887,was ordered to Fort Wingate, New Mexico. Now General Miles put me incommand of the Navajo Indian scouts.
The Indians remained quiet and peaceful on their reservations. Postlife became monotonous, and I resigned in 1889.
I went to Grand Rapids, Michigan, to try my hand in business, but soonfound that the "tricks of the trade" were too deep for me, so I madeup my mind to go to South Africa, where the gold mining prospects wereattracting adventurous men from every part of the world.
I wish the following pages to be considered as a simple narrative ofsome of the important events of the Anglo-Boer War and a very terse andunpolished narrative at that. I have endeavored to tell the truth in asbrief a way as possible and, to speak the truth again, I believe I havebeen too brief in many instances.
Ordinary readers sicken of long military details of battles and I havepurposely refrained from giving them. During the first nine months ofthe war, many American correspondents were present and I think they cangive a pretty correct account of what happened during their time, an