Wilson: With the Flag to Pretoria

The Relief of Mafeking
From: H. W. Wilson, With the Flag to Pretoria: A History of the Boer War, 1899-1900, London, 1901. CHAPTER XXV.

Colonel Mahon's Line of March
Map of the Route of the Flying Column Which Relieved Mafeking
After Walker and Cockerell

Map 1. Colonel Mahon moves north.
"On May 4 the column crossed the Vaal and left Barkly West, marching through difficult country." From Barkly West on the Vaal River to Taungs Station. Note the dotted line indicating Colonel Mahon's line of march. The Transvaal border runs to the east.

Map 2. Past Vryburg.
On the night of May 9th, Colonel Mahon's force halted at Vryburg.From Taungs Station and Fort through Vyburg to the Fort above Groot Chwang west of the Doorn Bult siding. Boers under Cronje tracked closely along the way.

Map 3. North to Mafeking.
From the Fort above Groot Chwang west of the Doorn Bult siding to Mafeking. Note Colonel Mahon's force moved to the west to join Colonel Plumer's force on May 15th at the kraal known as Jan Masibi's on the Molopo River before moving east for the final relief of Mafeking.


		H. W. Wilson, With the Flag to Pretoria: A History of the Boer War, 1899-1900, London, 1901. Chapter XXV: "The Relief of Mafeking." [Note: Thumbnail of Major Baden F. S. Baden-Powell, brother of B-P, from photo of "Officers of the Mafeking Relief Column"]
		H. W. Wilson, With the Flag to Pretoria: A History of the Boer War, 1899-1900, London, 1901. Chapter XXVI: "The Siege of Mafeking." Part One.
		Lord Baden-Powell of Gilwell (Robert Baden-Powell), Lessons from the Varsity of Life, 1933. Chapter VII: "The South African War."
		"This small place, which sprang in the course of a few weeks from obscurity to fame ..." opens Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's retelling of The Siege of Mafeking. Author of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, Conan Doyle provides an excellent contemporary account of the siege in his history, The Great Boer War: A Two-Years' Record, 1899-1901.
		It was at the Siege and Defense of Mafeking during the South African (Anglo-Boer) War that Baden-Powell made his name and first gained public recognition. 1999 marks the beginning of the Centennial of the War. Developed as part of that observance, Perspectives on the South African War provides a collection of links to original and contemporary sources on the South African War.
		The Baden-Powell Home Page. Links regarding the life and services of Lord Baden-Powell of Gilwell, Defender of Mafeking, Founder of the World Scouting Movement.

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