Smuts rifles

When it looked like there would be a bit of shooting over the decision to fight with the Empire in 1914, the first thing Jannie Smuts had to deal with was the rifles he had issued to farmers when he had been worried the gold miners in Johannesburg would go on strike; they went on strike once and the government had to back off and he was not going to have that happen again. Now it looked as if those rifles would be used against those who, like him, supported the decision to take out the radio mast at Windhoek. During my research, I was impressed with how quickly and efficiently Smuts recovered most of those weapons, not only weapons but horses as well, the transport system of the Boer Commando. What I enjoyed about the research was that the information was in personal notes and about people and their thoughts, not great issues that overshadowed people. 

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