Taken from the author's diaries and letters, written while he was stationed at Fort Macloustie and Fort Tuli, near the southern borders of what is now Rhodesia, this important work is full of absorbing and valuable information about Cecil Rhodes' Pioneer Column and southern African politics in the 1890s. Arthur Glyn Leonard, a professional soldier, came into contact with everyone who passed through his military camps, and his book is a veritable Who's Who of those associated with the founding of Rhodesia. Sir Henry Loch, then the High Commissioner in South Africa, Rhodes himself, Dr. Jameson Alfred Beit, Rutherfoord Harris, Lord Randolph Churchill, Theodore Bent, Mother Patrick, Canon Balfour, Father Prestage, Frank Johnson, Johan Colenbrander, Pennefather, Hans Sauer, Bishop KnightBruce and, Archibald Colquhoun are a few of the many personalities introduced. Leonard's disgressions are numerous, ranging from a discussion on "Home Rule" to an essay on 'the duty of mankind to animals" He expresses social, political and philosophical views, assesses Rhodes and Jameson (the "fiery spirit of unbounded ambition inspires them"); pays tribute to the ordinary soldiers and settlers who, literally, "made Rhodesia", and libellously criticises the British South Africa Company.

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