Assegais, Drums and Dragoons by author Willem Steenkamp
Well-known author Willem Steenkamp's research into the Battle of Blaauwberg took him back to 150 years before Jan van Riebeeck landed at the Cape in 1652, and involved examining the social as well as the military history of the Cape. What Steenkamp discovered differs from what most South Africans think about that period, and he corrects a number of serious misconceptions not only about the soldiers of 1510-1806 but about the social and political development of the Cape. For students of the Napoleonic Wars, the book provides new information about a forgotten aspect of that conflict; for the ordinary reader here is a story no-one has ever told before in its entirety. Assegais, Drums and Dragoons: A Military and Social History of the Cape is a well-researched and fascinating account that now illuminates a previously lightless corner of South African military history.
Willem Steenkamp is a writer, journalist and specialist tour guide who has also been a solider, a security advisor and a director of military tattoos and other spectacles, among several other things.
The FoBCA has re-printed Assegais, Drums and Dragoons. It includes some new content, and the FoBCA is selling a limited stock of signed copies for R250 each. To order please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
