Later he was Oldham's only claim to fame.
A week after he was defeated he sailed for South Africa, where
war with the Boers was imminent. He had resigned from his
regiment and went south as war correspondent for the _Morning
Post_.
Later in the war he held a commission as Lieutenant in the South
African Light Horse, a regiment of irregular cavalry, and on the
staffs of different generals acted as galloper and aide-de-camp. To
this combination of duties, which was in direct violation of a rule
of the War Office, his brother officers and his fellow
correspondents objected; but, as in each of his other campaigns he
had played this dual role, the press censors considered it a
traditional privilege, and winked at it. As a matter of record,
Churchill's soldiering never seemed to interfere with his writing,
nor, in a fight, did his duty to his paper ever prevent him from
mixing in as a belligerent.
War was declared October 9th, and only a month later, while
scouting in the armored train along the railroad line between
Pietermaritzburg and Colenso, the cars were derailed and
Churchill was taken prisoner.
The train was made up of three flat cars, two armored cars, and
between them the engine, with three cars coupled to the
cow-catcher and two to the tender.
On the outward trip the Boers did not show themselves, but as
soon as the English passed Frere station they rolled a rock on the
track at a point where it was hidden by a curve.
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