about
600 officers and men. Volunteer companies had been enrolled from the
early days of the Fields, and at one time comprised a very
considerable force of men, but of late years the community had lost
nearly all interest in the volunteer service. Still the organizations
had been kept up, and when the muster roll was taken, shortly before
the siege, it showed the following numbers : One battery, Diamond
Fields Artillery, consisting of six seven-pounder muzzle-loading guns,
with 3 officers and 90 men, in charge of Captain May ; the Kimberley
Regiment (infantry), under Lieutenant Colonel Finlayson, with 14
officers and
