Pieter Daniel de Wet

Pieter Daniël de Wet (18 August 1861 – 27 February 1929) was a Boer general in the Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902) and a younger brother of Boer general and politician Christiaan de Wet. Piet de Wet participated in the Battle of Poplar Grove (7 March 1900), the Battle of Sanna's Post (Sannaspos, 31 March 1900) for the waterworks there, and defeated the 13th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry at Lindley (31 May 1900). In July 1900, he surrendered to the British at Kroonstad, Orange Free State. He became a prominent member of the National Scouts helping the British in the last years of the Boer War.

Early career De Wet was born at the farm Nuwejaarsfontein in Dewetsdorp as one of the fourteen children of Jacobus Ignatius de Wet (13 July 1823, Boonjieskraal, Caledon, Western Cape – 1891, Dewetsdorp) and Aletta Susanna Margaretha Strydom (28 February 1828, Caledon – 16 May 1870, Dewetsdorp). With his older brother Christiaan he left the Orange Free State in 1879 for the Heidelberg district in the South African Republic. Both brothers fought in the First Boer War (1880–1881) at the Battle of Majuba Hill and Piet de Wet participated in the expedition to capture Mampuru II. and Dewetsdorp (20 April). However, after the occupation by Roberts of Kroonstad on 12 May 1900, Free State soldiers were disheartenend and Piet de Wet had started to doubt the use of fighting on. But in July 1900, Piet de Wet and several of his staff surrendered to the British at Kroonstad, becoming "joiners", "hensoppers" (hands-upper), and "wapenneerlêers" (who put down their weapons). His unavailing letter of 11 January 1901 to his brother Christiaan de Wet to stop his guerrilla war, was published in the Bloemfontein Post and separately as a pamphlet "Broeder tot broeder" (Brother to brother). In March 1902 Piet de Wet established the Orange River Colony Volunteers on the British side. and had joined the National Scouts headed by Andries Cronjé (1849 – 1923), who served the British troops as Boer auxiliaries. However, on 9 April 1902, peace negotiations started at Vereeniging leading to the Treaty of Vereeniging on 31 May 1902 ending the war.

Publications Broeder tot broeder : een prijzenswaardige brief [aan zijn broeder, Kommandant Christiaan De Wet gezonden] ; een smeekstem tot De Wet [en] De Wet's verantwoordelijkheid, 1901.

with Kroonstad Vredes Comité (translation: Kroonstad Peace Committee), Open brief aan de inwoners der Kaap Kolonie, Die Comité, Kroonstad, 1901. The Marits conspiracy : negotiations with German South West during 1913, Wallachs, Pretoria, 1915.