At various times during the campaign the foreign newspaper correspondents--Mr. Douglas Story, of the London _Daily Mail_; Mr. John O. Knight, of the _San Francisco Call_; Mr. Thomas F. Millard, of the _New York Herald_, and the writer--made strenuous efforts to secure accurate information concerning the Boers' strength, and the results invariably showed that there were less than thirty thousand men in the field. The correspondents visited all the principal commandos and had the admirable assistance of the generals and commandants, as well as that of the officers of the War Departments, but frequently the results did not rise above the twenty-five thousand mark. According to the statement of the late Commandant-General Joubert, made several days before his death, he never had more than thirteen thousand men in Natal, and of that number less than two thousand were engaged in the trek to Mooi River. After the relief of Ladysmith the forces in Natal dwindled down, by reason of desertions and withdrawals, to less than five thousand, and when General Buller began his advance there were not more than four thousand five hundred Boers in that Colony to oppose him. The strength of the army in the field varied considerably, on account of causes which are described elsewhere, and there is no doubt that it frequently fell below twenty thousand men while the Boers were still on their enemy's territory. The following table, prepared with great care and with the assistance of the leading Boer commanders, gives as correct an idea of the burghers' numerical strength actually in the field at various stages of the campaign as will probably ever be formulated:-- -----------------+----------+------------+------------+------- Date. | Natal. | Free State | Transvaal | Total. | | and Border.| and Border.| -----------------+----------+------------+------------+------- November 1, 1899 | 12,000 | 12,000 | 5,000 | 29,000 December 1, 1899 | 13,000 | 12,000 | 5,000 | 30,000 January 1, 1900 | 13,000 | 12,000 | 3,000 | 28,000 February 1, 1900 | 12,000 | 10,000 | 3,000 | 25,000 March 1, 1900 | 8,000 | 8,000 | 7,000 | 23,000 April 1, 1900 | 5,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 25,000 May 1, 1900 | 4,500 | 9,000 | 9,000 | 22,500 June 1, 1900 | | 4,500 | 16,000 | 20,500 July 1, 1900 | | 4,000 | 15,000 | 19,000 -----------------+----------+------------+------------+------- According to this table, the average strength of the Boer forces during the nine months was considerably less than 25,000 men. In refutation of these figures it may be found after the conclusion of hostilities that a far greater number of men surrendered their guns to the British army, but it must be remembered that not every Boer who owned a weapon was continually in the field. THE GRESHAM PRESS