The letters provide a lively account of life in camp and on operations on the veldt. Despite having been educated at Dulwich College, Hammond served for much of the time as Orderly Room Sergeant in his regiment. He seems nevertheless to have been involved in his fair share of action: a letter dated December 1901 from Kroonstadt describes the construction and operation of blockhouses; another, dated January 1902, relates the capture of three Boer Officers found asleep in a farmhouse, while the following month he mentions visiting the site near Tweefontein where Colonel Firman's force had been taken by surprise on Christmas Eve the previous year (he says that the ground was still littered with empty whisky bottles).