How We Kept the Flag Flying – Donald MacDonald

How We Kept the Flag Flying – Donald MacDonald

How We Kept the Flag Flying: The Story of the Siege of Ladysmith (Scarce Period Correspondent Account)
A Gripping, First-Hand Chronicle of Endurance and Defiance Under Boer Artillery Fire

Bibliographic Specifications

• Title: How We Kept the Flag Flying: The Story of the Siege of Ladysmith
• Author: Donald MacDonald
• Publisher: Covos Day Books, Johannesburg (Facsimile / Modern Edition)
• Publication Date: 1999
• ISBN-10: 0620221342 / ISBN-13: 9780620221344
• Edition Details: Modern Republication, Standard Softcover Release.
• Binding: Original publisher's premium heavy-gauge illustrated card wrappers (Softcover).
• Physical Format: Octavo (8vo), featuring historic battlefield sketches and diagnostic layouts of the Ladysmith defenses.
• Language: English

Official Condition Report

• The Book: Very Good (VG)
• Exterior / Wraps: The glossy card wrappers are beautifully flat, square, and clean. Only a few faint, handling-related storage marks along the extreme corner tips and wrapper edges, fully matching light and careful shelf use.
• Interior: The text block is robustly bound, tight, and completely sound. Internal pages are exceptionally clean, white, and crisp. Free of text underlining, highlighting, or dog-ears.

Synopsis & Historical Value

Originally written by the prominent Australian war correspondent Donald MacDonald during the height of the Anglo-Boer War, How We Kept the Flag Flying is one of the most vivid, unedited records of the historic 118-day Siege of Ladysmith. Trapped inside the town alongside British and colonial troops, MacDonald recorded the raw reality of daily life under the relentless shelling of Boer "Long Tom" artillery pieces. He captures not only the tactical movements and defense perimeters but also the grueling internal battles against enteric fever, starvation, horse-flesh rations, and the psychological weight of isolation. This 1999 Covos Day edition brings a scarce, high-demand colonial eye-witness narrative back to life for modern military historians.

Author Profile: Donald MacDonald

Donald MacDonald (1857–1932) was a highly respected Australian journalist, author, and field correspondent for the Melbourne Argus. Renowned for his fearless frontline reporting, his dispatches from the South African veld provided the global public with some of the most immediate, authentic, and humanizing portraits of the conflict.