• General Notes

  NATIONAL SCOUTS; The National Scouts were mainly recruited from Boers who had surrendered to the British or chosen to fight for the imperial forces.
  “Betrayal”
  Troopers John Beck and Frederick Nel, amongst other National Scouts were killed in action by their former friends of the Heidelberg Commando on 24 July 1901 at Braklaagte. They were buried next to each other in the Kloof Cemetery, Heidelberg. During the same action Scheepers, Danie Maartens’ brother-in-law, was badly wounded. Scheepers and a group of National Scouts had turned his (Danie Maarten’s) sister and her daughter out of their house in nightclothes before burning it. They then drove them into the freezing veld in front of their horses for a kilometer before abandoning them. Danie found his wife and child the following morning in a critical condition from the cold.
  After the Braklaagte action Danie demanded to see the wounded Scheepers, who was under armed guard. Scheepers crawled towards Danie, begging for mercy. “Danie told him that he wished to hear nothing, but wanted to shoot him between the eyes. He aimed, fired, then climbed on his horse and rode away.” Two other former friends captured during this action, Piet Bouwer and Roelf Van Emmenes, were tried and later executed. This was a particularly emotional execution as it was carried out by blood relatives, friends, and ex-pupils of the Schoolmaster, Piet Bouwer.

Details of Danie's family with <Unknown>