At numerous times during the Boer War, Sir Redvers Henry Buller (1839-1908) was forced to retreat by the persistent Boers. On one such occasion he glossed over the setback, claiming to have retreated without losing a man, a flag, or a cannon. "Or," James McNeil Whistler added upon hearing the tale, "a minute."

[Buller had won the Victoria Cross in 1879 for his brave conduct during the Zulu War.]