The Sword in the Sand

Hardcover Octavo (143x220mm) bound in the original dark grey cloth on boards with white title to spine, in Good condition; pictorial dust wrapper with some insect damage; 14 preliminary and 242 pages of text, including index; photographic frontispiece and 16 pages of black and white plates; Title page signed by the Author.

Meintjes recounts the events surrounding the life, Boer War exploits and death of an Afrikaans folk hero. Gideon Jacobus Scheepers was born in Middelburg, Transvaal (then known as the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek [ZAR] or South African Republic). He joined the ZAR State Artillery as a heliograph operator at the age of 16. In 1898 he transferred to the Orange Free State Artillery Corps, to assist in establishing a signals section in that unit. During the Anglo-Boer War he initially served as a signaller in Natal. Later he took part in the Battle of Magersfontein. Thereafter he entered the Cape Colony as part of a Commando and was soon promoted to Commandant of his own Commando of 150 men. His orders were to disrupt British communications by destroying railways and telegraph lines. His successes caused a number of Cape Rebels to join his Commando. By the 10th October 1901 Scheepers was seriously ill, probably from appendicitis, and had to be abandoned at Kopjeskraal, a farm in the vicinity of Prince Albert. A part of Scheepers� Diary, written in a small notebook has survived, and covers the period from his surrender to his execution. Having surrendered to the British on the 11th October he was given medical treatment and later transferred to Graaff-Reinet. Although Scheepers was an officer of the OFS Artillery Corps, and therefore a prisoner of war, he was put on trial before a military tribunal on charges of murder, arson and damage to the railways. The court appears to have been totally biased and found him guilty on very slender evidence. He was sentenced to death and executed on the 18th January 1902. The manner of his execution led to international criticism.