Sarah Raal - The Fighting Boer Woman.

 

Born in the 1870’s on a farm outside Jagersfontein in the Republic of the Orange Free State, Sarah Raal watched as her father and four brothers went off to fight the British Empire at the outbreak of the Second South African War. One day her mother and two younger siblings went to town to buy provisions and were accused, arrested and sent to a concentration camp for aiding the Boers. Her father became ill and was unable to continue on commando. He was arrested and sent to a concentration camp outside Uitenhage.

Sarah, realising she was alone, left the farm and moved around to avoid capture by the British forces. She was eventually captured and sent to the concentration camp at Springfontein from which she escaped.

She joined her brothers on commando with Commandant Niewoudt and took part in numerous guerilla engagements as part of the fighting force. She and her brothers were eventually captured. They were sent to a concentration camp in India where they were interred for more than seventeen months after the war had ended because they refused to swear allegiance to the British crown. Sarah, once again ended up in a concentration where she almost died. In 1936 she wrote a book “Met die Boere in die Veldt’ detailing her wartime experiences. It was republished in the year 2000 in English as ‘The Lady who Fought.’

 Portrait as published in   her book 'Met die Boere in die Veldt' published in 1938 by Nasionale Pers