Steinaecker`s Horsemen: South Africa 1899-1903

South African Country Life, Barberton, 2006, hardcover, illustrated, index, 352 pages, 18 cms x 25 cms, condition: as new.

A mix of frontiersmen - hunters, miners, pioneers, stock riders, timber men, transport operators, bush storekeepers, and a host of other - good and bad. These men not also fought the enemy of the Anglo-Boer War but also wild animals such as lion and tropical diseases. The maverick commander of this unit, Francis Christian Ludwig von Steinaecker, was a flamboyant and eccentric character; a former Prussian officer who rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and was awarded the DSO for his service.

During the Boer War Steinaecker's Horse was a volunteer military unit which fought on the side of the British, operating mostly in the Lowveld and Swaziland. Most of its members were 'South Africans but a great many were from Australia'. More than half the book (pages 137-322) comprises a detailed biographical dictionary of men who served in the unit.