By this extraordinary process it happened that every burgher was a general and that no general was greater than a burgher.
[Illustration: ELECTING A FIELD-CORNET] The military officers of the Boers, with the exception of the Commandant-General, were the same men who ruled the country in times of peace.

War suddenly transformed pruning-hooks into swords, and conservators of peace into leaders of armies.

The head of the army was the Commandant-General, who was invested with full power to direct operations and lead men.
Directly under his authority were the Assistant Commandant-Generals, five of whom were appointed by the Volksraad a short time before the beginning of hostilities.

Then in rank were those who were called Vecht-Generals, or fighting generals, in order to distinguish them from the Assistant-Generals.

Then followed the Commandants, the leaders of the field-cornets of one district, whose rank was about that of colonels.