Had he done so, his losses would not have been heavy.

His determination to remain in that ill-fated laager cost him dearly.
The world will honour that great general and his brave burghers; and if I presume to criticize his conduct on this occasion, it is only because I believe that he ought to have sacrificed his own ideas for the good of the nation, and that he should have not been courageous at the expense of his country's independence, to which he was as fiercely attached as I.
Some of the burghers in the laager made their escape, for, on the second day, when our guns had cleared a wide path, Commandants Froneman and Potgieter (of Wolmaranstadt), with twenty men, came galloping out of the laager towards us.
Although we were only a few in number, the British had their work cut out to dislodge us.

First they tried their favourite strategy of a flanking movement, sending out strong columns of cavalry, with heavy guns to surround us.

It was necessary to prevent the fulfilment of this project.

I, therefore, removed the Krupp and the Maxim-Nordenfeldt from their positions, and divided our little force into three portions.