Before the war, De Wet’s chief claim to notoriety lay in the fact that he attempted to purchase the entire supply of potatoes in South Africa for the purpose of effecting a “corner” of that product on the Johannesburg market.  Unfortunately for himself, he held his potatoes until the new crop was harvested, and he became a bankrupt in consequence.  Later he appeared as a potato farmer near Kroonstad, and still later, at Nicholson’s Nek in Natal, he captured twelve hundred British prisoners and, incidentally, a large stock of British potatoes, which seemed to please him almost as greatly as the human captives.  Although the vegetable strain was frequently predominant in De Wet’s constitution, he was not over-zealous to return to his former pastoral pursuits, and continued to lead his commandos over the hills of the eastern Free State long after that territory was christened the Orange River Colony.

[Illustration:  GENERAL PETER DE WET]

General De Wet was at the head of a number of the Free State commandos which crossed into Natal at the outbreak of the war, and he took part in several of the battles around Ladysmith; but his services were soon required in the vicinity of Kimberley, and there he made an heroic effort to effect a junction with the besieged Cronje.  It was not until after the British occupation of Bloemfontein that De Wet really began his brilliant career as a daring commander, but thereafter he was continually harassing the enemy.  He led with three big battles in one week, with a total result of a thousand prisoners of war, seven cannon, and almost half a million pounds’ worth of supplies.  At Sannaspost, on March 31st, he swept down upon Colonel Broadwood’s column and captured one-fourth of the men and all their vast supplies almost before the British officer was aware of the presence of the enemy.  The echoes of that battle had hardly subsided when he fell upon another British column at Moester’s Hoek with results almost as great as at Sannaspost, and two days later he was besieging a third British column in his own native heath of Wepener.  Column after column was sent to drive him away, but he clung fast to his prey for almost two weeks, when he eluded the great force on his capture bent, and moved northward to take an active part in opposing the advance of Lord Roberts.  He led his small force of burghers as far as the northern border of the Free State, while the enemy advanced, and then turned eastward, carrying President Steyn and the capital of the Republic with him to places of safety.  Whenever there was an opportunity he sent small detachments to attack the British lines of communications and harassed the enemy continually.  In almost all his operations the Commandant-General was assisted by his brother, General Peter De Wet, who was none the less daring in his operations.  Christian De Wet was responsible for more British losses than any of the other generals.  In his operations in Natal and the Free State he captured more than three thousand prisoners, thousands of cattle and horses, and stores and ammunition valued at more than a million pounds.  The number of British soldiers killed and wounded in battles with De Wet is a matter for conjecture, but it is not limited by the one thousand mark.