Topic: Paardeberg
Canadians' Severe Losses (1900)
Disease and Boer Bullets Have Thinned Their Ranks—Royal Canadians Mustered Only 374 Out of 1035 on May 5
Boston Evening Transcript, 22 June 1900
Quebec, June 22—The Canadian troops in South Africa have suffered severely in action, and from disease, and the stern realities of the war are being gradually brought home to the Canadian people by letters from the front. Though many Canadians have perished on the battlefield, the heaviest losses are those caused by disease, chiefly enteric fever. The Royal Canadian Regiment, the first contingent sent out, has been so reduced in numbers that an officer who wrote from Wynberg on May 5 reports that the roll call that day showed only 374 men out of 1035 who left Canada. Some companies had but one officer left.
These reports are strengthening the hands of the party which condemns the Canadian Government for sharing in a war overseas, in which it is claimed Canada had no interest at stake. None the less Canada will give a great demonstration of welcome to her sons who return from the war. Already Halifax, Montreal and Quebec are clamoring for the honor of being the port of disembarkation.
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