Harry Spanier: An Untoward Boer Soldier

They were married in approximately 1884, although no records remain of their joining or whether it was done civilly or in a church. Intermarriage, whilst frowned upon, occurred frequently in those days when Jews were located in areas where there were few other Jews. The fact, too, was that many of these early German Jewish settlers were of the Reform persuasion and may also have become much less observant in the less restrictive confines of America.

The Spaniers had their first child, Joseph, immediately, and two more, Clara Belle and Lewis J., followed. However, Joseph died in 1890, as did Harry’s brother, Joseph.

It was difficult trying to make something of ones self and raise a family too. However, Harry was a hustler and always eager to find his niche. He kept up with current affairs and what was going on in the world and eventually concocted the idea that he should become involved in South African-related commerce. South Africa was alive with possibilities, with its abundant natural resources such as diamonds and gold, even if it had little in the way of standardized or commercially mass-produced products such as carriages, railroad cars, mining machinery, explosives, etc.

Harry’s first successful South African venture was to represent a combine of New Yorkers in the shipping of mules there. Since mules were not naturally raised in South Africa and were stronger and more long-lasting than horses, there was a great desire for them. They were essential ingredients in the mining industry in particular. In addition, they were most important in military operations, such as carting food, guns, and equipment, as demonstrated in the First Anglo-Boer War (1880-1881).

As it so happened, the major companies in Columbus, the Columbus Buggy Co. Inc., and Kilbourne and Jacobs Manufacturing Co. were intent on providing items related to mining, transportation, and other similar areas. Harry established connections for selling their products in South Africa. A group of the companies then hired him to go there to negotiate contracts with the government for many diverse items. This was his chance at striking it rich. His ambitious plan was to spend a year or two in South Africa, make his fortune and bring his family out to join him.

It was now 1896. He obtained his passport, packed his bags and bid good-bye to his devoted wife and two young children. As he left the coast of America for a daunting and unknown foreign shore, he penned a letter to his wife, only the first page of which remains:

On board ship, Saturday, Oct.17, 1896

My own dear wife and children,

This is a great moment for me. It almost breaks my heart, but we will trust in God to land us safe and may God keep you and the children until my return. I have set my teeth together to keep from almost breaking down not because I am a coward, but because I miss you so much my darlings. We are just leaving the shore of our country behind and with a heavy heart I am looking at the…

And so, Harry sailed across the seas and arrived in South Africa, immediately setting about making connections so as to consummate some deals. He was widely accepted in the halls of government in Pretoria, where many other speculators competed with him for the lucrative government contracts. His friends were other Americans, who hung out at certain social clubs, but also the Boers officials with whom he had to deal. He was a fresh face who represented companies that had a worldwide reputation, which boded well for his future success.

He began to make progress, and significant quantities of American products from Columbus, Ohio, began flowing to the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek. Despite this, he recognized that the big money was going to come from the provision of railroad cars and lines for new main and branch rail lines being constructed, as well as of mining machinery.

In 1898, he represented a group of companies in the following undertaking:

News by Wire: Transvaal. The New Branch Lines, A Syndicate Offer Undertaking the Work At Eight Thousand a Mile

Pretoria, 3rd (Central News Agency)

An American syndicate, which has practically secured the contract for the Vryheid-Dundee line, has submitted a proposal to the Government offering to construct all the new branch lines at an average rate of £8,000 per mile, to be paid in State debentures bearing four percent interest. The proposal will have to be submitted to the Volksraad.

This was an important arterial rail line which was scheduled to connect the Richards Bay coal line with the Durban-Transvaal main line. The initial section of eleven km from Glencoe to Talana was built in 1896. Due to the onset of the Second Anglo-Boer War, the line was not extended to Vryheid until 1903.

The South Africa Harry saw was indeed full of possibilities. He continued to write glowing letters to his wife about what he could accomplish, but at the same time recorded his homesickness and how much he missed his family. The time flew by, and by 1899, three years later, Harry had not managed to go home yet. Things were still on the cusp of succeeding for him.

He wrote to his wife that if things did not work out, he would return, but he wanted to stay until he had tried every means of succeeding on a special project he was working on. If he did succeed, he wrote, he would be a millionaire many times over. She wrote back agreeing that he should stay until he reached his goal or until his opportunities ran out.

At some point, Harry became a burgher of the ZAR and joined the Boer commandos. Along with others from Pretoria, he left to join in the siege of Ladysmith. It is quite strange that Harry, a man who by most accounts was nearly sixty years of age, should have done this. It is true that there were older men who joined, but many took non-combatant roles. In addition, he had a wife and two young children who needed his support in America. What prompted him to take this life-changing and subsequently fatal move which risked everything he had or hoped to accomplish?

Did he suddenly become idealistic and join a foreign army, despite the fact that he had only been in the ZAR for only three short years? There is no documentation that has survived of his feelings along these lines. Was he influenced by his friends? American speculators who were in South Africa for the most part supported the British, not the Boers. However, some close American friends did join the Boers, and this may have accounted for his decision.

There is a possibility that Spanier was caught up in something that has not been documented, such as spying for the American government. Many Americans who were in the same position as he was returned home when the war broke out. Several descriptions of his activities during the war lead one to believe that he was observing the proceedings from the sidelines and not actually participating.

It may be that Harry felt that his participation and support would guarantee his success after the war was over and the Boers had won. This may be the final answer; he had told his wife he was in it for the long haul until he achieved the success he had struggled for.

This is the missing link in Harry’s story. There is nothing to tell us either in his correspondence or in other documentation that has since come to light what caused him to end up on a battlefield at Surprise Hill in the dark, early hours of 11 December 1899.

One of the unique bits of necrology following Harry’s death was the letter written to his wife by a Catholic priest, the Rev. Father A. Baudry, who had shared a tent with him on the battlefield. The following is an extract:

12.12.1899
Hoofdlager

Madam,

It is my sad duty to —-to you news which will grieve you very much. As you know your husband joined the Boers forces here near Ladysmith. For a couple of weeks he shared the tent where I was. We soon became very friendly and he talked much to me of you and your two children, gave me your address and told me that if anything happened to him to inform you. Though not a R. Catholic he attended mass which I celebrated in the camp on Sunday. We parted about a week hence; he was going to join the Pretoria Commando.

Our eyes were full of tears when we last shook hands to see each other no more.
Yesterday morning at about two o’cl his picket was attacked by the English; heavy firing commenced and continued for about an hour.

The English were repulsed, but not until they had blown up one gun with a charge of dynamite. On the Boers side there were 2 killed and 14 wounded. Your husband was among the last. He was mortally shot in the stomach. As soon as I heard of it I went to the ambulance, but he had not yet been brought there.

I went again in the afternoon, but to learn that he had succumbed to his wound. He died in the ambulance wagon on his way to the ambulance train, which was to carry him to Johannesburg….

The unusual nature of Harry’s passing, whereby he had been shot by his own side, the Boers, and then bayoneted by the other side, the British, and the fact that he was a foreign soldier (a Jew, at that) and a person well-known in the halls of power in the Boer Republic, caused his funeral to gain a magnitude that might not have been felt for a regular soldier.

The following is a government report of what took place in Pretoria on December 13, 1899, with President Paul Kruger in attendance: