Ben Viljoen Benjamin Johannes Viljoen (1869-1917) was one of the greatest Boer adventurers whose short lifespan covered war and revolution on two continents-but because of his anonymous death in a foreign land, remains one of the least famous. As deputy commande of the combined Boer army of the Transvaal, Viljoen played a pivotal role in running the Boer guerrilla movement during the Second Anglo-Boer War. His refusal to take the oath of allegiance to Britain at the end of the war saw him permanently exiled. Settling in the United States, courtesy of US president Theodore Roosevelt, Viljoen helped establish a Boer colony in New Mexico and fought his last war at the side of the victor of the 1911 Mexican Revolution. He died, aged just 48, of pneumonia in New Mexico, where he is buried. Read More Read Less