Siege of Mafeking 212 people were killed during the siege, with over 600 wounded with further losses among the local Baralong. Boer losses were significantly higher. The siege established Baden-Powell as a celebrity in Britain, and when he wrote "Scouting for Boys" in 1908, his fame contributed to the rapid growth of the Boy Scout Movement. Siege of Mafeking The Siege of Mafeking was a 217-day siege battle for the town of Mafeking (now called Mahikeng) in South Africa during the Second Boer War from October 1899 to May 1900. The siege received considerable attention as Lord Edward Cecil, the son of the
Siege of Ladysmith Late in the afternoon, a terrific rainstorm broke, and the Boers withdrew under cover of it. The British suffered 175 killed and 249 wounded. 52 dead Boers were left in the British positions, but their total casualties were not recorded. While Buller made repeated attempts to fight his way across the Tugela, the defenders of Ladysmith suffered increasingly from shortage of food and other supplies, and from disease, mainly enteric fever or typhoid, which claimed among many others, the life of noted war correspondent G.W. Steevens. The Boers had long before captured Ladysmith's water supply, and the defenders could use