BEYERS, Christian Frederick, South African general: b. 1869; d. 8 Dec. 1914. A lawyer by profession, he enlisted as a private soldier in the Boer army during the South Af rican War (1899-1902) and rose to the rank of assistant commandant-general for the northern district. His principal achievement was the capture of the British camp at Nooitgedacht; he was also chairman of the congress that met at Vereeniging to draft the peace terms. He afterward became speaker of the legislative assembly of the Transvaal and appeared to have become reconciled to the incorporation of the republics by Great Britain and the estab lishment in 1906 of the Union of South Africa. He had also visited Germany and been received by the Kaiser; "from that honor he had never recovered.° At the outbreak of the European War Beyers was commandant-general of the Defense Forces of the Union, a post he re signed early in September 1914. Together with General Kemp, a former lieutenant of Delarey's and a good soldier, he proceeded to stir up dis affection in the western Transvaal. He was by Gen. Christian De Wet, Col. S. G. aritz and General Delarey. A certain local preacher, Van Rensburg, had that Germany was the agent appointed of God to purify the world; he *beheld visions* and saw an angel perched on the Paardekraal monument and announced that Delarey, De Wet and Bey ers were the leaders destined to restore the old republic. A number of irreconcilables flocked around the plotters, all determined to throw in their lot with Germany. On the night of 15
Sept. 1914 Delarey and Beyers were speeding in an automobile from Johannesburg when they were challenged by a police patrol. As they failed to stop, a shot was fired which glanced off the car and killed Delarey, whose intentions with regard to the proposed rebellion have never become known. Beyers formed a com mand and threatened Pretoria, while De Wet operated in the Orange Free State. General Botha, the Premier, quickly raised 30,000 burgh ers and fell upon Beyers and Kemp so fiercely that their forces were scattered in all directions. Beyers fled across the Vaal into the Orange Free State, lost 400 men in a fight and just escaped himself, making for German territory via Bechuanaland. De Wet was defeated and taken prisoner; Kemp and the *prophet* preacher crossed into German Southwest Af rica, and Beyers was defeated at Bulfontein.
On the morning of 8 December he encountered a body of Union troops and was driven toward the Vaal River. Beyers and some companions attempted to cross; midway in the stream his horse failed and he slipped from its back to swim. He tried in vain to get rid of his heavy coat, which hampered his movements. One of those with him heard him cry, "I can do no more* as he disappeared beneath the swollen flood. Two days after his body was re covered.