Several weeks later in Dublin, nearly twenty thousand marched in protest against the planned invasion of the South African Republic.

[1] War followed from President Paul Kruger's ultimatum of 9 October 1899, which gave the British government 48 hours to comply.

The Irish Transvaal Brigade was established days before the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Boer War and initially consisted of Irishmen who worked in the Witwatersrand.

[2] Under the leadership of MacBride, the brigade was strengthened by volunteers travelling from Ireland who entered South Africa via Portuguese Mozambique.

Fifty-eight men of the Irish American Ambulance Corps travelled from Chicago to New York City, where they were welcomed as heroes for the purpose of joining the war effort.

[5] At the Siege of Ladysmith, they serviced the famous Boer artillery piece, called Long Tom, and they fought at the Battle of Colenso.

[5] The brigade received letters of thanks before they left South Africa from State Secretary Francis William Reitz, Commandant-General Louis Botha and General Ben Viljoen.

[5] The brigade remained attached to General Lukas Meyer's command in Natal, retiring to Laing's Nek after the siege of Ladysmith.