TOPIC:

will anyone who has detailed information on the capture, court martial, conviction and execution of Salmon van As be willing to share this on the forum?

Cliffcard

See this website: www.boerenbrit.com/archives/7388 [THE STORY OF SALMON VAN AS]

Salmon Gerhardus van As was born on 2 Mei 1878. He was the son of Hendrik Sebastian Van As and Maria Elizabeth Maritz and served as a field cornet during the Boer War as a member of the Heidelberg commando. He was involved in the killing of Captain R.C.H.Miers. The incident occurred on 25 September 1901 at Riversdraai 12 miles south of Heidelberg. Captain Miers approached the Boers under a white flag most likely with the intention to convince them to surrender. What exactly happened is not known, the British claim the Captain was shot in cold blood which makes this a war crime, van As claims he acted in self-defence.

On 23 June 1902 after the peace of Vereeniging he was trailed by a British court marshal and found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. He was locked up in the prison on Heidelberg, Transvaal. Van As, one Cilliers and one Muller was not given amnesty The British felt so strong about it that their names came up in the peace conference at Vereeniging and Salmon van As was one of three burghers that had to hand themselves over to the British for investigation. He was imprisoned in the Heidelberg jail where the court case took place. Van As was not given the opportunity to call his own witnesses and found guilty and was condemned to die. Ds. A.J. Louw and some other persons tried to get him off but all in vain. Van As wrote letters to his parents and his fiancée and early that Monday morning he was put in front of the prison wall. Ten soldiers from Somerset was the members of the firing squad. He refused to be blindfolded. The execution took place at the back of the jail, the bullet holes in the wall remain as witnesses to that event. His body was wrapped in a kaki blanket and he was buried in a shallow grave next to the road to the Heidelberg cemetery

A few years after that the father of van As received a letter of apology from the British admitting that the court case was irregular and thus van As had not received a fair trial, compensation was offered to the family but they refused.




SALMON VAN AS