The white flag incident

Charged with the murder of a British officer in a highly contentious incident, Veldkornet Salmon van As was given an unfair military trial and executed. Graham Jooste tells his story.

- Graham Jooste

By September 1901, the Anglo-Boer War had been raging for almost two years. Many Boers in the Eastern Transvaal were laying down their arms because they were losing heart in the unequal struggle and the appalling conditions that their families had to endure in the concentration camps.

It is against this background that a Boer veldkornet shot and killed a British officer in unusual circumstances, an act that was to lead to the 24-yearold’s execution after the war, and a great deal of bitterness.

SURRENDER AND REVENGE

The events in question took place on 25 September 1901 near a British fort built close to a mission station at De Kuilen, 19km south of Heidelberg in what is today Gauteng. A Boer patrol was out scouting near the fort, and failed to return to the main commando. The Boers received reports that a British officer had approached the patrol under a white flag and had apparently offered the burghers gifts and promises that had convinced them to lay down their arms. He had told them that it was unnecessary for women, children and the elderly to die in the concentration camps as the Boer cause was lost.

Veldkornet Salmon van As, accompanied by Louis Slabbert and Piet du Toit, was despatched to capture the party of Boers who had dared to surrender, as well as their British escort, who were heading in the direction of the fort. They were also determined to capture the British officer who had caused these defections.

After hiding their horses, they approached the fort on foot and set up an observation post in full view of the soldiers manning the redoubt; they could see the British watching them through their binoculars.