_MARCHING AND FIGHTING—FROM MACHADODORP TO HEIDELBERG
AND PRETORIA UNDER GENERALS FRENCH AND
DICKSON_
Before presenting as a connected whole the separate descriptions dealing
with a movement which had for its object the disintegration of Boer
forces that still held the high veldt and thus threatened both railway
lines east of Johannesburg, it will be well to summarise briefly the
experience of troopers under Captain Beresford’s command while separated
from the headquarters of their corps. It will be remembered that when
General Mahon set out from Pretoria to join General French in his dash
on Barberton more than two-thirds of Lumsden’s Horse were left behind
waiting for remounts, with instructions to follow as fast as possible,
or as soon as General Cunningham, under whose orders they were placed
for a time, might permit. What happened then is especially interesting
as evidence of the class of horse that was being issued to mounted
troops at that stage for operations against an exceedingly mobile enemy.
The Boers were then practically nomads, having no fixed bases from which
supplies were drawn, and therefore no lines of communication to be cut.
Pursuit of them was therefore very much like hunting a fox that has been
driven out of his own familiar country. If he runs the pack ‘out of
scent,’ there is nothing to serve as a guide for the casts that may be
made in hope of hitting off the line again, for nobody can say what the
probable ‘point’ is; and unless he can be brought to hand by a pursuit
that never tires and never goes wrong, we may be sure that there is no
chance of running him to ground. Most of the Boer leaders at that time
had their wives and families with them. Mrs. De la Rey had been living
in an ox-waggon, without fixed abode, since the beginning of war, and
accompanying her husband on every trek from Magersfontein to Colesberg,
and thence in succession to Driefontein, Brandfort, Kroonstad, the Vaal
River, then on to meet Mahon’s column south of Mafeking, back in haste
for the defence of Johannesburg and Pretoria, from there to Diamond Hill
(or Rietfontein as the Boers call it), then back northward through the
bushveldt, and so to the Magaliesberg Range again. Against an enemy thus
independent of railways or beaten tracks none but well-mounted troops
with horses in the best of condition could hope to achieve much. For
corps in the same plight as Lumsden’s Horse, however, nothing better
could be found than under-bred Argentines or weedy Hungarians, gross
from the combined effects of idleness and injudicious feeding, and soft
from want of exercise, badly broken, and therefore ill-mannered. One
trooper, whose comments are based on actual experience, as he was among
the men to whom horses were issued for trial, only on the morning of the
day when they marched from Pretoria, writes of the ‘strange exhibitions’
with this lot of remounts which, to put it mildly, had not been ridden
much before. ‘They were just off the ship, fat and very soft, and full
of beans. One fellow was bucked off, another dragged, and several very
uncomfortable. The horses had no mouths; they wouldn’t answer to bit,
rein, or spur, and it was impossible to get one away from the rest.’
When the corps returned from its long trek nearly everybody was in rags,
and very unlike the ‘typical trooper’ of ten months earlier, whose smart
turn-out had been a source of pride to the corps. Clothing, however, ran
short, and many men had difficulty in replacing their tattered garments
by new of any kind.
[Illustration:
_Photo: Johnston & Hoffmann_
H.P. BROWN, A TYPICAL TROOPER
]
However, this detachment, under Captain Beresford, having cleared up its
camp, marched out a day after the corps headquarters had gone and
bivouacked that night ten or twelve miles east of Pretoria, near the
pass known as Donker Hoek. Colonel Lumsden, having remained behind to
see them off, went on a stage or two by train, hoping that they would
overtake the leading company before it joined General French. The two
detachments were, in fact, though they did not know it, within cannon
sound of each other on September 5, when Mahon had turned back from
Belfast to help the Canadians at Pan station; but, after that, every
march took them further apart, the Colonel pushing on with what remained
to him of A Company as part of Mahon’s brigade, while Captain
Beresford’s hundred could make but slow progress on their leg-weary,
spiritless horses. The latter troops, on arrival at Belfast, were
inspected by Lord Roberts, who rode through their lines but made no
speech to them. General Hutton, who was with the Headquarters Staff,
cast longing eyes on Lumsden’s Horse, looked them over, and told Captain
Clifford that he meant to take them on with him. Against such wholesale
appropriation, however, Captain Beresford protested, saying that the men
wanted to join their own corps and the horses were not fit yet. After
appeal to Lord Roberts, Captain Beresford got his way. While at Belfast
the detachment had unpleasant experience of winter temperature at an
altitude of more than 6,500 feet above sea level. They tried to supply
artificial fuel to the system by additional rations, but were not very
successful, as the resources of Belfast at that time were low indeed,
and certain restrictions had to be placed on traffic with the Dutch
inhabitants, one of whom sold bread from the eating of which twelve or
fourteen men of an Infantry regiment had been poisoned. So sentries were
posted to warn all soldiers against buying provisions. To keep out the
icy wind some men built themselves little huts of corrugated iron, in
the construction of which we learn that Kingchurch and Cobb and the
brothers Allardice distinguished themselves among one section of B
Company. Captain Beresford came to have a look at them, and in notes of
that time is the appreciative entry: ‘He is a very pleasant man and
always polite to every one of us. He said our tin house was much better
than the officers’ tents. He told us also that Lord Roberts had
expressed himself very much pleased with the appearance of the men and
horses.’ At Belfast also Lumsden’s Horse were visited by their former
comrade Chartres—once a corporal in the corps, ‘who looked very smart as
an Army doctor.’ Their last day at Belfast was devoted to the mild
excitement of watching races, in one of which Captain Clifford came in
about sixth on ‘The Mate,’ and a note is made of the fact that the Duke
of Westminster, who won the long-distance steeplechase, ‘rode like a
workman.’ On the whole, this brief stay at Belfast was more pleasant
than first impressions of it promised, except for nightly excursions
after loose Argentines, one of which drew his picket peg so persistently
and got away on the open veldt so often that Robertson dubbed him
Ulysses because he was such a wanderer! The next day (November 11)
Captain Beresford’s detachment struck its camp on that breezy high veldt
and marched across the battlefield of Bergendal on its way to Dalmanutha
and Machadodorp as advance guard of General Cunningham’s brigade. No
sooner had it got into camp once more than B Company was selected to
furnish an escort the next morning for Lord Kitchener. The
non-commissioned officer who was to be in command had no other uniform
than the weather-stained and saddle-worn suit that had done service
throughout most of the campaign. Luckily, however, one of the Hussars
offered to sell sundry things. He was a Reservist, and knew his way
about a military camp. From him a complete outfit was obtained, and the
purchaser then discovered, much to his amusement, that he had been
dealing with one who was a pushing commercial traveller in private life.
So the non-commissioned officer was able to turn out a credit to the
escort. But some mistake had been made about the rendezvous, which,
however, the escort found at last by the lucky accident of meeting Major
J.K. Watson, Lord Kitchener’s A.D.C. By that time the General had gone
on. ‘So had to follow at a tremendous pace, galloped up every steep hill
and down the other side over terrible ground, a mass of stones and such
clouds of dust that you could not see the ground or whither you were
going. Then caught up Lord Kitchener, who was riding with General
Hamilton towards a big camp on the top of a hill, where they told us
General Smith-Dorrien was in command. Very soon started back again. This
time Lord Kitchener by himself, and a nice pace he led us, up hill and
down, in clouds of dust. Got back before 1, having started at 10 and
covered twelve miles altogether.’ During a month at Machadodorp, outpost
duty and patrols towards Lydenburg or Helvetia, where Boers were often
seen but never showed fight except by sniping at long range, formed the
ordinary routine. This, however, was varied by football matches, for
which Lumsden’s Horse furnished a strong team with Hickley in goal,
Kirwan and Winder as backs, Courtenay, Brown, and G. Lawrie halves,
Robertson, Luard, Holme, Tancred, and Lloyd-Jones forwards.
Unfortunately, Robertson injured his knee in one of these matches and
had to go into hospital. It was at Machadodorp that Sergeant Stephens,
of the Indian Commissariat, who was attached to the Transport Staff of
Lumsden’s Horse, distinguished himself by several solitary expeditions
into the unexplored country round about. From one of these he came back
with a pom-pom carriage which he had found at a farm and several ‘poor
orphans,’ as he described pigs whose owners had deserted them. Once,
however, he got caught himself, as narrated in Captain Taylor’s private
collection of reminiscences:
[Illustration: SERGEANT STEPHENS]
We had an Indian Transport sergeant lent to us, and a very good useful
man he was; but he always had a desire to kill a Boer with his own
hand and to be able to swear to it. One day when he was out getting
supplies he saw an armed Boer riding over an adjacent ridge, so he
left his carts and cantered away to cut him off. On nearing the ridge
he slipped off his horse and proceeded on foot. Topping the ridge, he
saw the Boer coming towards him and had him dead practically. Suddenly
something touched him. Looking up, he saw three rifle muzzles, and he
was a prisoner with a party of Boers. They took his rifle and horse
and told him to come along with them. He walked between them for a
bit, and, being a very amusing Irishman, proceeded to explain that in
his opinion it wasn’t entertaining him like a guest to make him tramp
while they rode. They treated the subject at first as a joke, but he
was so persistent that they at last grew angry, and threatened to
shoot him if he didn’t be quiet. On this point also he was found to be
so argumentative that at last in despair they told him to make himself
scarce, which he did with alacrity, arriving in camp by evening none
the worse for his adventure, and quite pleased, as he had only
suffered to the extent of a walk, a Government rifle, and a
comparatively useless pony.
[Illustration: CORPORAL G. LAWRIE]
[Illustration: F.G. BATEMAN]
[Illustration: L. KINGCHURCH]
[Illustration: IAN SINCLAIR]
[Illustration: SERGT. A.H. LUARD]
[Illustration: PERCY COBB]
[Illustration: HARVEY DAVIES]
[Illustration: A.E. CONSTERDINE]
[Illustration: D. ROBERTSON]
N.C.O.S AND TROOPERS
While Lord Roberts remained at Machadodorp, B Company was often called
upon to furnish an escort of the smartest men, and for this duty Cobb,
Kingchurch, David and Hugh Allardice, Ian Sinclair, Robertson, and
Biscoe, or at least two or three of them, were generally selected. But
the time for more active service had come again, and with the return of
A Company from Barberton to Machadodorp Captain Beresford’s command
ceased to have an independent existence.
It was on October 6 that Major Chamney’s force marched into camp without
horses, and on the following day Colonel Lumsden passed through
Machadodorp in the Princess Christian’s hospital train bound for
Pretoria. Having received a sufficient number of remounts from among
horses that had been left behind by the Imperial Light Horse and 18th
Hussars, the corps was ready to take its place in General Dickson’s
brigade for the sweeping movement by which it was hoped that General
French would clear the country between De Kaap Mountains and Pretoria.
Nobody at the time thought that it would be rather more like a rearguard
action, continued from day to day, than a triumphal progress. We know
that from morning to night the Boers followed every movement of French’s
columns, potting at them almost incessantly. No matter at what hour the
British troops began their march or halted in bivouac, or how often they
changed direction, the enemy was always with them, and always close
enough to see, though not often seen. A more harassing march has
probably never been endured by any force of similar strength in that
country. All these things we know, but men kept for the privacy of their
own diaries a record of the physical sufferings that came to them
through hunger and thirst where food, if not scarce, could seldom be
cooked because of the thunderstorms night after night and the absence of
firewood. Notwithstanding all these discomforts, we find a cheery strain
running through the unprinted records of Lumsden’s Horse, and quite a
joyful note when by chance the means of making a fire falls in their
way. Then somebody is sure to be provided with meat to cook, and we are
told how Kingchurch unexpectedly produced ‘chops done to a turn,’ or
Cobb’s stew ‘was a triumph,’ or how ‘the indefatigable Hugh cooked chops
while it still rained, and after dark he cooked mutton for to-morrow.’
The chronicler, in his gratitude, says: ‘Such men deserve to be
remembered, and to have their honoured names handed down to posterity,’
and so they find a place in this History. One night, when rain was being
driven in sheets by a howling wind across the bare hillside, some of
Lumsden’s Horse could find no better shelter than an ant-heap, round the
lee side of which they grouped themselves, huddling together for warmth.
Kingchurch, finding them there, said in his whimsical way that they had
selected the ‘most epithetally uncomfortable ant-heap in all South
Africa.’
It is almost impossible to follow consecutively the movements of General
French’s columns, which consisted of a nominal brigade under General
Mahon (the 8th and 14th Hussars and M Battery R.H.A.), a second under
General Gordon (7th Dragoon Guards, Scots Greys, and guns), and a third,
which included Lumsden’s Horse, a half-battalion Suffolk Regiment, O
Battery R.H.A., and pom-pom section, under General Dickson. Two Cavalry
regiments, the Scots Greys and Carabiniers, with a battery of Artillery,
were kept under General French’s personal direction on at least one
occasion, and used by him with great effect when by marching out of
Bethel he induced the Boers to come in, and then pounced on them. This,
however, is general history. The operations in which Lumsden’s Horse
took part are described by several correspondents in the following
narrative:
At the beginning the original idea was to move on a wide front through
Carolina, Ermelo, Bethel to Heidelberg, and in consequence we started
in the afternoon of October 11 with Dickson’s brigade in the centre,
its main duty being to escort and protect the reserve convoys of all
three columns, Mahon being eight to nine miles off on our right and
Gordon a similar distance on our left, these two columns taking with
them only necessary supplies for a few days.
The very first day Mahon got a severe check, losing some five officers
and fifty men, while the next day Gordon on the left was in turn hotly
engaged. After this General French deemed it politic to bring in the
flank columns closer, and thenceforth we proceeded with only half our
former front, thus rendering mutual assistance more easy. Although the
division consisted of three brigades, so called, Mahon’s was only
about 500 strong, Gordon’s 600, and Dickson’s 700, amounting in all to
only three regiments on full strength.
Our task was an extremely arduous and difficult one, for the first few
marches were through hilly country, and the convoy advancing in a
single string covered seven miles. To protect it from surprise we had
but 400 mounted troops, the Infantry being kept more or less
concentrated near the waggons. You can imagine, therefore, that our
sphere of operations was a very extended one, much being evidently
left to the initiative of individuals, as personal control by officers
was well-nigh impossible. This was the kind of fighting that brought
into prominence the good points of Irregular troops, of which every
man is used to act on his own responsibility as occasion demands,
wherein he differs from the trained soldier, who is educated to act on
orders only. The nature of the convoy added greatly to the fatigue men
had to endure. Oxen formed part of the convoy and, as they are unable
apparently at this season of the year to march except in the cool of
the morning and evening, the working day comprised twenty-four hours.
The usual marching hour for ‘ox’ was 4 A.M., necessitating _réveille_
at 2.15 often in the rain, the ‘mule’ following an hour later. The
convoy commenced packing at 8 o’clock, and a halt was observed till 2
or 3 in the afternoon. In the afternoon ‘mule’ led off, the ‘ox’
following. By this arrangement the ‘ox’ avoided all heat, but never
got into camp till 9 P.M. or thereabouts. Mounted troops had far the
worst of this, for while the Infantry could put in a long sleep and
have a good meal, the mounted troops, broken up into small parties,
were posted on hills all round, and the need to keep a sharp look-out
left them few opportunities for sleeping or getting meals. This bit of
country was particularly hard on the men, as it was with the greatest
difficulty that one could obtain firewood and water by day; and as we
often arrived in camp long after dark, it was still more difficult to
get an evening camp fire. To add to the trials, half of the available
men were on picket over night, and during the day we were surprised
incessantly. Our picket duties brought us into constant little
engagements in which the corps had the opportunity of acting on its
own, and, being ably handled by Major Chamney, quite distinguished
itself in a small way.
[Illustration:
_Photo: Vandyk_
CAPTAIN C. LYON SIDEY
]
When General Dickson’s brigade, or rather huge convoy, to which we
were attached as the only mounted troops, began its march _en route_
for Carolina, the Brigadier’s method was to make an early start, halt
at 10 or 11 o’clock for three or four hours, and then make easy
progress on to camp for the day. The veldt was changing into its
spring coat of green, so that the cattle could graze during halts; in
consequence, their condition was not so bad. On the morning of the
12th the camp was aroused by the sound of big guns booming to our
right front, and though the brigade was booked to start at 6 A.M. it
was not till 7.30 that the convoy got on the way. Later in the day the
news was heliographed that the Boers had made a determined attack on
General Mahon’s camp, had driven in the outposts, and had only been
beaten back after severe fighting, Mahon’s casualties being as high as
fifty. On the 13th the music of big guns was again heard at dawn, but
to our left front, and the news came through that the Boers had
attacked Gordon, but this time received a reception they were totally
unprepared for, while Dickson with the convoy had camped by 1.30 P.M.
outside Carolina. As Carolina had been in Boer occupation since the
time General Mahon touched there on his way to Barberton, every
precaution was taken against any surprise. Rumour said the Boers had
sworn to trap French or take the convoy, and therefore our escort was
augmented by the 7th Dragoon Guards, Scots Greys, and O Battery R.H.A.
Our experience for the second time of Carolina was a bitter one; not
only was the weather intensely cold, but the whole regiment was sent
out on outlying picket for twenty-four hours. On the 15th a five-mile
march was made, but on the 16th at 2.30 A.M. _réveille_ was whistled,
and at 3.45 Lumsden’s had started at a gallop as advance guard, a
dense fog prevailing. A midday halt of three hours was made at
Krantzpan, but camp was pitched at Klipsteple after dark. Klipsteple
is the highest point in the Transvaal, and a huge smooth-faced boulder
stands on the highway. On this boulder visitors have engraved their
names, so that it is almost covered with letters and dates, though the
names, so familiar to all, of the leaders of the Boer cause are
conspicuously absent. On the 17th we formed the rearguard, and were
engaged in destroying a farm when a party of about 200 Boers
reconnoitred our vicinity. We looked at one another, and they
evidently decided against a fight, for Mahon had that morning beaten
this same lot rather badly. They retired on Carolina, and we proceeded
onward to camp. From this point our further progress was slow, as the
Boers hugged the flanks and persistently attacked the rearguard. It
was a new light to view the enemy in, and it came somewhat as a
surprise. Hitherto the Boer had adopted the running game. It was very
gratifying to hear that the enemy possessed neither guns nor big-gun
ammunition. On the 18th A Company were doing advance guard, supported
by B Company, when they suddenly encountered the fire of thirty Boers
strongly entrenched at point-blank range. They fell back, and No. 4
Section, B Company, advanced and, opening volley fire under Captain
Sidey’s orders, soon cleared the front, while O Battery sent shell
after shell into the fleeing horsemen. Captain Kenna—well known in
India—Dickson’s Brigade Major, was good enough to speak favourably of
us. It was the first ‘scrap’ we had had under his leadership. During
the cannonade a funny incident occurred. A rifle and bandolier were
found in a farm where only women were to be seen. As this meant
burning the farm and seizing all stock, the Boer’s wife, riding on a
man’s saddle, sought out the General, who chivalrously acceded to her
request, and the burning was countermanded. The next day passed
quietly as far as we were concerned, though Mahon’s guns could be
heard in rear from time to time. Hitherto the enemy had employed guns,
but to-day the welcome intelligence was passed along that they were
completely out of gun ammunition. The camp was pitched at Bethel, a
town containing only some six families, three of them English. On the
20th (morning) the regiment paraded for inspection by General French,
who took advantage of the day’s halt at Bethel to say a few words of
encouragement to each regiment. Addressing Lumsden’s Horse, he said
‘that the reputation of the corps stood very high; their behaviour and
gallantry were spoken of by everyone, and, though he had no personal
knowledge of the corps, he had heard of their splendid work and the
good service they had done. There was no doubt that everyone of all
ranks was anxious for a rest, which was well deserved. There was no
saying, however, what might happen, but he hoped the onward march to
Heidelberg would be an easy one, and he trusted to Lumsden’s Horse
maintaining to the end that reputation for gallantry they had worthily
earned.’ At the conclusion of the address, Major Chamney called for
three cheers for General French. As the Boers were hovering all round
us, the entire regiment spent the night on outlying picket; and it was
a night!—wet, cold, and miserable. At 3 A.M. on the 22nd the brigade
stood to arms, and by 4.30 Bethel had been left behind. The Boers were
most persistent, and tenaciously hung round us, losing no opportunity
of sniping. About 2 P.M. we were caught in a terrific hailstorm, the
hail lying an inch thick upon the veldt, when it ceased, leaving us
shivering and drenched, though cheerful enough as we resumed our
onward course at the gallop to restore circulation in men and horses.
Before camping we did some distant shooting at the enemy, but gave it
up as too long a range. The water at this camp was inky black, but in
the absence of better had to be used for tea and coffee, though many
decided to defer a wash till next day. The whole regiment were again
put on duty as pickets, and in their exposed positions had a bitter
experience of a typical South African hailstorm during that afternoon.
The next day the _réveille_ whistle sounded at 2.30 A.M., and the
different brigades were on the move by 4.15. The enemy kept up sniping
systematically on the flanks, while the guns in rear were in action
some half-a-dozen times during the day. During the afternoon a
terrific hailstorm burst over us, saturating our garments and making
everybody very miserable. The hail lay inches deep on the veldt.
Prisoners were taken daily, and a few refugee women were under our
protection. A singular incident occurred on this day. One of the
prisoners who had surrendered handed in a Lee-Metford rifle belonging
to Lumsden’s Horse, which has since been identified as belonging to
Corporal Macgillivray, of A Company, who had been taken prisoner at
Ospruit, our first fight. The 25th, however, was a great day. No. 4
Section B Company was rearguard left flank, the 7th Dragoon Guards in
the centre-rear, and A Company right flank. Immediately we had taken
up positions the Boers pressed home an attack on the left, and No. 3
Section B Company, acting as support, was engaged. The Carabiniers had
retired some ten minutes when the left flankers rose from cover and
moved towards their led horses. As they mounted, the Boers reached a
ridge commanding our position and within range; they peppered us very
smartly as we galloped out of range without a single casualty. In the
meantime O Battery had come into action, doing excellent practice.
[Illustration:
_Photo: Hana, Ltd._
D. MORISON
]
Startled by the firing, Captain Clifford’s horse took fright, and,
galloping away, was lost in the distance, Clifford being then on foot
controlling the firing. ‘General’ Parks gallantly offered to ride out
and catch the beast, and was allowed to do so. He quickly vanished
from sight, and nobody knew whither he had gone. As the convoy had
moved on, orders came for the rearguard to do likewise, and our corps,
together with the 7th Dragoon Guards, retired in extended line to the
next ridge, an observation post, to endeavour to show Parks the way
in. As there was no sign of him for a considerable time, Captain
Taylor, the Adjutant, who had been indefatigable all the morning,
exposing himself to encourage us while we were in a really tight
corner, took out a subsection and scoured the country round searching
for Parks, but without success. The sections (Nos. 4 and 2 of B
Company) had to move on, but Corporal Graves and Troopers Morison,
Maxwell, and Betts, on their own responsibility and in a Quixotic
spirit of chivalry, resolving not to abandon Parks, stayed behind to
assist him. There was danger in that decision, as it exposed those men
to the risk of getting mixed up with, or, at any rate, mistaken, for
the enemy. Captain Sidey noticed their absence, and, being certain
they were in danger from our own guns, sent Trooper Behan to order the
adventurous troopers back. In a sporting spirit, however, the men who
had made up their minds to see Parks through refused to come in and
remained on the observation post. Shortly after, another messenger was
sent, with threats of instant arrest if orders were not obeyed. Just
as this man arrived, Parks was seen through a glass leading the
Captain’s horse about two miles away to the left rear and close to the
flanks of the former position from which the Boers had been firing. He
was making a very bad line to rejoin us, so Morison offered to gallop
down and endeavour to show him the way, despite the half-company
officer’s orders. This he did and succeeded in bringing in Parks, but
directly our small party, retiring, crowned the rise, O Battery, from
a distance of 4,600 yards, being informed that we were most certainly
Boers, plumped a shell into the middle of us, the wind of the shell
knocking off Graves’s hat and bursting a horse’s length behind the
party, and, needless to say, we galloped in for all we were worth.
Luckily for us, the gunner was informed who we were before sending a
second shot along. He remarked, however, that he thought it was a
jolly good shot.
Captain Taylor gives a slightly different version of the incident:
We were acting as rearguard to Dickson’s column, when Captain
Clifford’s horse took fright and ran away while his master was
dismounted. One of our sailors, Parks, went after it, and followed it
for two miles at right angles to our line of advance. We saw him catch
the horse and begin leading it back, and then saw him no more, though
we waited half an hour. As messages were coming from the rearguard
commander to us to follow more quickly, we had to leave, all fully
convinced that our poor Parks had been ambushed.
[Illustration: CORPORAL J. GRAVES]
After a mile or so, our widely extended line came down a long, fairly
steep incline, on the top of the opposite slope of which we saw our
Battery O in position. As we neared the bottom of the intervening
valley the battery opened fire with one round, which burst on the top
of the slope we had just left, and looking round we saw a party of six
men riding down at a gallop, waving a handkerchief. They turned out to
be some of our own men, who, having at the last moment seen Parks
coming in, waited for him. The battery had seen the heads of mounted
men in slouch hats advance quickly, and, mistaking them for Boers
following us, had ‘laid’ for them. The shot was such a good one that
it knocked off the hat of Sergeant Graves, and the Adjutant’s office
went near to losing its clerk, and the Bank of Bengal one of its
rising staff.
Another correspondent continues the narrative:
On the 26th the united brigades reached Heidelberg by sundown, but
sustained two casualties in the rearguard. The safe escort of the
convoy is locally reported as a creditable performance, and there were
no fewer than 150 casualties in the united brigades since leaving
Machadodorp. It was a very trying march, as rain fell nearly every day
in torrents. Sleep was out of the question in deep pools of water, and
_réveille_ daily at 2.30 A.M. gave us little rest. We had taken 109
prisoners and brought on some twenty refugee families. Heidelberg is
the prettiest town we have yet seen in the Transvaal, nestling as it
does at the base of a rugged kopje in a perfect tope of eucalyptus,
willow, peach, and oak trees. The majority of the houses are above the
ordinary type—flowers abound in the gardens, and the surrounding veldt
has donned its spring coat of green; the fruit trees are loaded with
fruit, which in another month should sweeten our rations of dry
biscuits. But—there is a ‘but’—the stores are absolutely barren.
Foodstuffs and provisions of every kind are badly needed by the
residents themselves. A Wesleyan clergyman informed the writer that he
hadn’t tasted meat for a week.
Roses abounded in the gardens attached to the picturesque villas, and
altogether a feeling of peace and security seemed to prevail. Our stay
was a limited one, and on the 30th (morning) the trek was resumed
through Nigel to Springs. The country we had to traverse is rich in
mineral wealth, gold and coal mines being already in existence, while
hundreds of claims are pegged out against the setting-in of peace and
the advance of the capitalist. At Springs, on the return journey to
Pretoria, we were saluted by Colt guns, which were repeatedly fired at
us as we approached the trenches, manned by British troops. Our men
were naturally very irate, and wanted very much to fire back. They
considered it particularly hard lines, since we had been marching in
the open and heliographing from a distance of ten miles. The 31st was
a great day, as a parade before His Excellency Lord Roberts was fixed
for 10.30 A.M. The Commander-in-Chief was punctual to time, and during
the inspection addressed himself to the several companies as he met
them. The various regiments then went past in order of brigades and
returned to camp. Major Chamney, before dismissing Lumsden’s Horse,
paraphrased what Lord Roberts had said to him for the benefit of the
regiment. Briefly, it was to the effect that the disbandment of the
corps was at the present time impossible, but Lord Roberts had
telegraphed to His Excellency the Viceroy asking him to use his
influence in keeping appointments open as far as possible.
Lumsden’s Horse had requested disbandment on the reasonable grounds of
pressing business in India, and the fact of local Colonial and other
Volunteer corps—notably the C.I.V., Loch’s Horse, and others—having
been disintegrated. At first an abrupt refusal was given, but
yesterday General French telegraphed to Lord Kitchener and strongly
recommended our case. A reply has been received that only those having
business of an urgent nature in India may return, but they must pay
their own expenses back, only a railway ticket to port of embarkation
being provided. Needless to say, many are going even on these
conditions, but those who desire to go to England have to hang on for
an indefinite period of time still. Only from Machadodorp three Surma
Valley men were allowed to leave, as their appointments were in
jeopardy. These men had free passages back given them. Again, a
fortunate few have been given employment in South Africa, and they
were permitted to leave as their appointments were secured. These
number altogether about twenty. Colonel Lumsden is unfortunately still
away from the regiment, sick at Pretoria. Major Chamney, officiating
in command, finds his hands tied to some extent, and cannot do much
for us in matters of such moment. But the feeling in the regiment is
very strong, and the term ‘Volunteer’ is sneered at as a misnomer. If
the war was not over it would be quite another matter; but it has been
announced that the war is practically ended, and the duties now to be
performed are in the nature of police work.
All round Springs was a hotbed of Boers, and patrols proceeding two or
three miles from camp were invariably sniped at. Just outside Springs
we had great luck in finding a brewery which, despite the war, had not
ceased to brew, and we regaled ourselves with limited quantities of
Colonial stout in a vain endeavour to keep out the eternal rain. The
Boers, who were used to dealing with a garrison armed with carbines,
were rather surprised one day when going to round up some cattle they
ran into a small patrol of our corps, and Trooper Consterdine fetched
one of them out of the saddle with a good shot at 1,800 yards, and
thus gave them a lesson which will probably make them more careful.
The weather now became absolutely vile. There were hailstorms every
afternoon, just late enough to spoil any chance of getting dry for the
night. The roads were very heavy, and horses could not get on. We
hoped and concluded the Boers were in the same fix. From Springs the
Boers ceased to give trouble, but this was more than atoned for by the
abominable weather and going. For forty-eight hours it poured torrents
without ceasing, and there was not a dry skin or blanket in the
division. To remove misapprehension, it is necessary to say men had
seen no tents for practically eight months. Bad it was for us and the
horses, but worse for the Transport, the animals dying daily to such
an extent that it was all they could do to drag empty waggons into
Pretoria. Pistol-shots every morning latterly had announced the death
of animals that had dragged our carts for many miles, and to save the
waggons from falling into the hands of the Boers there was nothing to
do but burn them. It was no uncommon sight to see cattle lying in the
last stages of exhaustion on the road, and ere death ensued being cut
up and looked upon as a great treat by the local Kaffirs.
Everybody was struck by the formation of our Transport when out of
hilly country; the waggons moved along in a dense mass with a frontage
of about a quarter of a mile and depth of half a mile, the whole mass
forcing its way over nullahs and obstacles irresistibly. It will be
obvious to all that this formation of the convoy lent itself much more
easily to protection than a stream of waggons seven miles long.
At 5 A.M. of November 1 the trek was resumed, the direction being
Pretoria. A heavy drizzle of rain was falling, and without
intermission it continued for three days, only ceasing when Pretoria
was seen in the distance on the morning of the 3rd. Every garment,
whether on the person or in the kit bags, was wet, and never was
sunshine more welcome than on that morning. By 11 A.M. the regiment
had camped on the far side of the racecourse, and for the first time
since April experienced the shelter of tents.