DESTRUCTION OF KAFFIR CROPS--FIFTH ATTACK ON WATERKLOOF.
Sir H. Smith, on the return of the Kei expedition, having laid his
plans for clearing the Waterkloof of the enemy, who had collected there
during his absence, issued a public proclamation in the early part of
this month, February, ordering all Burghers on the frontier, between
twenty and fifty years of age, to assemble by the 9th of next month,
under the old commando system, to aid the troops in expelling the enemy
from their stronghold; warning all colonists at the same time that,
failing compliance, themselves must bear the responsibility of their
apathy.
Notwithstanding this incentive, which one would hardly have supposed
necessary for men the safety and preservation of whose families and
private property were at issue, they made, generally speaking, a most
mean and pitiful response to the command. One or two districts, that
of Albert in particular, being alone exceptions to what Sir H. Smith
termed their "melancholy shuffling."
At the latter end of the month, the troops were despatched, armed with
scythes, old swords, and reaping hooks, to destroy the half ripe crops
of the Kaffirs in the Amatola country, from whence they obtained the
supplies that enabled them to carry on the harassing war. Immense
quantities were destroyed at the sources of the Upper Keiskamma, in the
"Wolf's Den" (Sandilli's _home-farm_), in the Gulu valley, the Amatola
basin, the Zanooka valley, and the Chumie, including the 'gardens' of
the chief Soga, the treacherous murderer of the military villagers in
that district.
Though none of the Kat River missionaries openly expressed any feelings
of compassion or indignation at this wholesale demolition of the
poor Kaffir's crops, their mouth-piece, Mr. Renton, took the pains
to concoct a very touching tale about some potatoes, affirmed by him
to have been stolen from one of their own gardens by our inhuman and
wicked Highlanders. This story, circumstantially related on a visit
to Scotland, greatly affected his audience at an assembled synod, to
our great amusement, at the expense of their wasted sympathies, when
we afterwards heard of it. The fact was, that the garden being in
the enemy's country, of course the crops in it had to share the same
fate as the rest; but, just as its destruction commenced, special
counter-orders were issued to spare it, and payment was offered by the
soldiers for the little which had been taken; the money being refused,
was thrown on the ground.
B----, who had been absent for a couple of days, returned in the
evening of the 5th March, with a glorious budget of news and English
letters. We learned from him that a sharp skirmish had taken place
under General Somerset, three days before, in the Waterkloof, in which
they had killed about thirty Kaffirs, and destroyed two villages,
capturing eighty head of cattle and thirty horses. Lieut.-Col.
Yarborough, 91st Regiment, and Captain Bramley, Cape Mounted Rifles,
had been severely wounded, Ensign Herbert slightly; and eight men of
the 74th Highlanders killed and wounded, besides several of the 91st
and Cape Corps.
The Rifle Brigade had arrived from England, and fresh drafts for the
different regiments were reported to have reached the Cape in the
"Birkenhead," including sixty-six rank and file for us, with our new
Lieut.-Col. Seton, and Ensign Russell. Only two days after hearing
of the safe arrival of our draft and other reinforcements in the
"Birkenhead," we were startled by the sad and astounding intelligence
of her total wreck off Simon's Bay, and the loss of nearly all on
board in a calm sea, and within sight of the shore. From the moment
she struck on a hidden rock till she broke up and sank, barely twenty
minutes elapsed; during which, however, by the noble and generous
exertions of the troops, the whole of the women and children were got
off, when she parted and went down, all the brave fellows steadily
performing their duty to the last. According to the report of Captain
Wright, 91st Regiment, one of the few survivors--"there is no doubt
most of the men in the lower troop deck were drowned in their hammocks.
The rest appeared on deck, when Lieut.-Col. Seton called the officers
about him and impressed upon them the necessity of preserving order
and silence among the men. Every one did as he was directed, and there
was not a murmur or a cry amongst them until the vessel made her final
plunge. All received their orders and had them carried out as if the
men were embarking instead of going to the bottom. There was only this
difference, that never was an embarkation conducted with so little
noise or confusion."
Out of 14 officers and 458 men on board, no less than 9 officers and
349 men were lost, besides the crew; 5 officers and 109 men alone
escaped to shore by swimming, or clinging to the drift-wood. Not a
single woman or child was lost, all being carefully shipped into the
cutter-boat and safely landed. Of the 74th Highlanders, Colonel Seton,
Ensign A. C. Russell, and 48 men, nearly the whole draft, unhappily
perished,--18 only escaping to shore. Colonel Seton had only heard
at the Madeiras of the death of his gallant senior, Colonel Fordyce,
and his own appointment to the command of the regiment. He was a man
of great and varied attainments, being especially distinguished as a
linguist and mathematician.
Russell, though he had joined the depôt at Kinsale after the regiment
had left for the Cape, was well known to us by report for his
gentlemanly, amiable, bearing, and high principle. His untimely end
was keenly felt by those of his brother officers who had personally
known him, and lamented by all. In those last awful moments he was
noticed carrying out the commands of his Colonel with noble courage and
undisturbed composure.
Our letters from home, doubly welcome in our mountain solitude, kept us
up till a late hour. The _Illustrated News_ and _Punch_ never before
seen in those regions, were wisely economised for another day, as we
could not afford to exhaust a month's amusement at one sitting.
March 8th.--About midnight, as we sat on the "stoep" of the officers'
quarters, smoking in silence, and enjoying the cool, soft night air,
watching the while the bright stars of the "Southern Cross," that
sparkled above the jagged peak of the Didama, a distant bugle sounded
the "cease firing." Our bugler being summoned by the sentry on the
wall, the "advance" rang out clear on the night air, softly echoing
from rock to rock. In a few minutes the clattering of horses was heard
rapidly approaching; and the challenge of the sentinel, from whose
platform we looked on a mass of horsemen, was answered by the familiar
voice of the gallant Tylden. He had come with a large force of mounted
men to be in readiness to move with us in the combined attack on the
Waterkloof to which we were anxiously looking forward.
The second Division, recruited and re-equipped after the Kei
expedition, marched from King William's Town to Fort Beaufort, to join
General Somerset's division at the Blinkwater, and take their share in
the assault. The order of attack (made known only to the officers in
command) was to be as follows:--The right column, under Lieut.-Col.
Eyre, consisting of four guns; a Rocket troop; the 43rd Light Infantry;
the 73rd Regiment and two companies of the 74th Highlanders; with
detachments of Native Levies; was to move from the Blinkwater Post,
dislodge the enemy from Fullers Hoek, and attack Macomo's "Den" on the
ridge.
The centre column, under Lieut.-Col. Michell, consisting of two guns;
the 6th Regiment; four companies of the 45th; the 60th Rifles; and
Native Levies; was to ascend the Kromme Heights from Blakeway's farm,
by the Wolfsback Ridge, and attack the bushy kloof connecting Fullers
Hoek with the Waterkloof.
The left column, under Lieut.-Col. Napier, two guns, four companies of
the 74th Highlanders, the 91st Regiment, 150 Cape Mounted Rifles, 200
Fingo Levies, and all Burghers that might show themselves, was to move
up the valley of the Waterkloof from Bushneck to its head, and thence
ascend to meet the attack of the centre column, leaving a mounted body
to cut off any dislodged parties endeavouring to escape from one Kloof
to another.
The 12th Lancers and a detachment of Cape Corps under Lieut.-Col.
Pole, were to be stationed at the ruined settlement of Hertzog, to
cut off the retreat of the enemy to the Amatolas; and our party from
Post Retief, about 160 mounted men, was to patrol on the Waterkloof
heights to intercept the retreat of the enemy or their cattle in that
direction. All these bodies were to be at their appointed positions on
the 9th, ready to move at daylight next morning.
The day following the arrival of Tylden's party was necessarily a day
of rest; for they had ridden thirty miles across the mountains, and
many of the horses were in a very indifferent condition, not having
recovered from the hardships of the late expedition into Kreli's
country.
Early on the morning of the 10th, the whole party, having mustered
in the barrack square, marched out, winding along the little glen, a
body of rough looking but gallant and business-like fellows. Just as
they reached the heights, the first boom of artillery was heard in the
direction of Fullers Hoek, announcing the commencement of operations,
and soon a brisk cannonade and rattle of musketry, was followed by
more distant reports from the south and west, as the two other columns
advanced on their respective routes. For some time our horsemen had
little or nothing to do, as the enemy were naturally drawn towards
the points, so unexpectedly attacked, but as they were forced back by
the advance of Colonel Napier's column in the Kloof below, they drove
their cattle up its steep forest clothed sides to the summit, where
their intended escape into the opposite valley of the Kat River was
frustrated by the unlooked for presence of the Post Retief detachment,
which, exchanging rapid shots with the astonished Kaffirs, and
following them into the bush to which they again quickly retreated,
brought out many of their cattle, and gave them such a rough handling,
that those who escaped it preferred remaining under cover and taking
their chance from the advancing skirmishers below. After this, distant
shots only could be obtained; yet having in the party several of the
best marksmen in the country, not a Kaffir within half a mile showed
himself a second time. No one who has not seen it could believe, either
the accuracy with which many of the officers and Burghers to whom I
refer, and could name, would hit an object at that distance with a
rifle ball, or the extraordinary practice they make at much greater
ranges.
Rifle shooting and rifles, our main arm in this guerilla warfare,
were of course the subjects of constant discussion; target shooting
was incessantly going on while in camp, and a rifle never out of our
hands on the march, so that every tyro became in a wonderfully short
time a fair marksman, and, many, first-rate shots. The distribution
of Minié rifles to the troops excited great emulation amongst the men
also, which was increased by our giving shilling and half-crown prizes
for inner circle and bull's-eye hits. At first, six of the new weapons
were distributed in each company to the best shots, but the number was
afterwards increased, as fresh supplies were sent out to us.
Scarcely a mail-steamer arrived from England without bringing some new
improvement in fire-arms; smooth bore, two groove, four groove, and
polygroove, half and quarter twist, rifle barrels; conical balls, plain
and winged, sharp pointed and rounded, with wooden plugs or iron cups,
concave and convex bases, &c., were each in turn tested, discussed,
advocated, or rejected, affording a never-failing topic of interest
and conversation; but after all our experimental trials, there were
nearly as many advocates of each improvement as there were varieties;
the only points in which all agreed was, the decided superiority of the
conical ball generally, and the admirable efficiency of the weapons so
opportunely sent out for the troops.
The ordinary range for target practice was from 500 to 800 yards, at
which distance the men generally put in two out of five rounds, the
target being a white board six feet high by three broad. At 900 yards,
or more than half a mile, one shot out of seven hit on an average, the
rest ploughing up the dust so near, that it must have been anxious
work for the target; even at three quarters of a mile, we were able to
disperse small "clumpjies" of Kaffirs and cattle.
For four succeeding days, the Columns completely traversed every
part of the Blinkwater, Fullers Hoek, Kromme, and Waterkloof. Our
party was during the same time patrolling on the heights of these
mountain ranges, preventing escape on the part of the enemy; cutting
off such small parties as, more daring than the rest, attempted it;
capturing horses and cattle, and skirmishing along the whole eastern
ridge of the Waterkloof. The operations of the different columns had
been most successful; one after another, the whole of the enemy's
positions had been taken. On the first day, Lieut.-Col. Eyre's column,
in eight parties of attack, ascended the steep and difficult paths
of Fullers Hoek, and driving the enemy before them, in spite of a
stout resistance, crowned the summits and destroyed their villages.
On the second day he attacked "the Den," celebrated as the especial
and private stronghold of Macomo, said indeed to be impregnable. The
entrance, a sort of natural stair in the rocks, had been discovered
to us by a female prisoner. All the guns were brought to bear against
it, and their fire told fearfully among the defenders. The place
was carried, and in its recesses were found 130 women; among them,
Macomo's _Great Wife_, a royal Tambookie of considerable importance in
the tribe, together with several others standing in the same relation
to him, though less distinguished. Among the rocks were quantities
of apparel and provisions, with powder, lead, and bullet-moulds. The
whole of the women were taken off prisoners, and the _Den_ completely
destroyed. Twenty dead bodies of Kaffirs were found, killed by the
guns, independently of those that fell in the assault. We had the
misfortune to lose a gallant young officer, Lieutenant the Hon. H.
Wrottesley, 43rd Light Infantry, who was mortally wounded, and died
afterwards in camp; three men of the 73rd were also killed, and some
wounded.
During this attack, Colonels Napier and Michel ascended respectively
the Kromme and Waterkloof heights, dragging their guns by dint of
incredible exertions up almost impracticable steeps (the former being
sharply engaged), drove the rebels from their positions, and then,
acting in concert, destroyed all their kraals.
On the 15th, Colonel Napier captured 130 head of cattle and many
horses, taking fifty women and children prisoners, and killing several
of the rebels. The 60th Rifles, under Captain the Hon. A. Hope,
attacking the Iron Mountain, on which the enemy took his final stand,
forced them from the position with fixed swords, and they were pursued
and driven over the Krantzes, with great loss, by the remainder of the
60th, under Major Bedford, 560 head of cattle and 75 horses falling
into their hands.
After this the enemy fled through the country in all directions, making
chiefly for the Amatolas.
Simultaneously with the above combined movements, an attack, with like
success, had been made by Lieut.-Col. Perceval, on the Chief, Stock, in
the Fish River bush.
While Captain Tylden and his Burghers were still with us at Post
Retief, the friendly Kaffir Chief, Kama, a faithful and valued ally
of the government, arrived with a retinue on his way back to his
village, after an interview with the Governor-General, and encamped
outside the walls for the night. He accepted with great politeness
our invitation to mess. He had been to request His Excellency not to
make peace with the Gaikas or Kreli, until the whole of the former had
crossed the Kei. In the progress of the war he took the most lively
interest; and though his _Great Wife_ was sister to Macomo, expressed
his anxiety to see him vanquished and driven from his stronghold. He
had left his own territory previous to the commencement of the last
war, disapproving of the intentions of his countrymen, and feeling his
consequent insecurity among them. His lands he placed in the hands of
the British Representative to hold in trust for him, and with about 200
families of his tribe, removed into the colony, residing at this time
at Kamastone, a location assigned him near Whittlesea. He had done good
and faithful service through the whole of the present war, taking the
field with his sons and all his fighting men, of whom many had been
killed by the enemy. He appeared at dinner in a black coat and a _clean
shirt_; behaved in a quiet, self-possessed manner; took wine, and used
his knife and fork as if he had been familiar with such things all his
life. His appetite, or politeness, was wonderful, taking everything
that was offered him; and if he was not ill after it, his digestion was
not less so.
Sir H. Smith marched from the Blinkwater camp on the 17th with the
Second Division under his own immediate command, to attack a body of
Rebels and Kaffirs who, under the Chief Tyali, had taken up a position
in the Chumie, General Somerset at the same time following up the
flying enemy towards the N.E. frontier. As a natural consequence of the
breaking up of their main body, the country was filled with scattered
parties, robbing and attacking the settlers everywhere, so that our
duties in patrolling became more than ever arduous; hardly a day passed
in which we did not go out, and few patrols returned without having had
some affair on hand.
A six-pounder gun, with its complement of artillerymen, was despatched
for our garrison from Beaufort, to shell the impervious ravines in
which we could occasionally see the Kaffirs from the table-land
above. At two in the morning we went with a party of seventy men to
the top of the Blinkwater Pass to meet it. While waiting there, we
could distinctly hear the Kaffirs and their dogs in the forest below.
Presently our ears recognised the echoing report of the waggon whip,
which gradually neared, and soon the red coats of the 91st came in
sight on an open piece of road at our feet. As we returned to the Post
with our new acquisition, we put up whole coveys of partridges, though
our rifle and pistol practice at them did not add much to the larder.
Next day we went out to shell a cluster of deserted wood-cutters' huts,
down in the valley below Bothas bush, which had, the day before, been
reported as inhabited by the Kaffirs. Three or four shells burst right
over them. One or two Kaffirs were seen, by the glass, making their
escape; and two others catching a couple of horses, that looked at the
distance, no bigger than dogs. In less than five minutes after the
report of the gun, the thick smoke of a Kaffir signal (one can hardly
call it a fire) ascended in the still air at a distance of about eight
miles, and very soon after three or four others rose in succession on
the more distant ranges.
On the 7th April, Lieut.-General Cathcart, the newly-appointed
Governor-General assumed the command; and Sir Harry Smith, our gallant
and highly-esteemed General, published his farewell, General Order:--
_"Head-Quarters, King William's Town,
"April 7, 1852._
"His Excellency Lieut.-General the Hon. George Cathcart having been
appointed by the Queen to relieve me, I this day relinquish the
command.
"Brother Officers and Soldiers. Nothing is more painful than to bid
farewell to old and faithful friends. I have served my Queen and
country many years, and attached as I have ever been to gallant
soldiers, none were ever more endeared to me than those serving in the
arduous campaign of 1851-52 in South Africa. The unceasing labours,
the night marches, the burning sun, the torrents of rain, have been
encountered with a cheerfulness as conspicuous as the intrepidity
with which you have met the enemy in so many enterprising fights and
skirmishes in his own mountain fastnesses and strongholds, and from
which you have ever driven him victoriously.
"I leave you, my comrades, in the fervent hope of laying before your
Queen, your country, and his Grace the Duke of Wellington, these
services as they deserve, which reflect so much honour upon you.
"Farewell, my comrades; your honour and interests will be ever far
more dear to me than my own.
(Signed) "H. G. SMITH.
"A. T. Cloete, Quartermaster-General."
On the same day, and just before the relinquishment of his command,
news arrived of the successful exertions of the columns patrolling in
the Amatolas; Major-Gen. Somerset's having killed upwards of 100 of the
enemy, and captured 3120 head of cattle, 70 horses and 1500 goats. The
escort bringing the report of this patrol, fell in with a party of the
enemy, whom they gallantly attacked, and took from them 198 head of
cattle and 5 horses. At the same time Lieut.-Col. Eyre's column acting
in combination with that of the General, captured 800 head of cattle
and 15 horses, from a formidable position in the Amatolas; though with
the loss of one officer, Captain Gore, 43rd Light Infantry, killed at
the head of his company, and six men wounded.
For the next week or ten days we were out almost daily patrolling the
mountains, following up marauding parties, and shelling the kloofs.
On one of these duties we had ridden to the top of the northern spur
of the little Winterberg to reconnoitre the Koonap valley; sweeping
the vast bush-dotted plain with the telescope, we spied about twenty
Kaffirs, at a distance of some four miles or more, making across from
Viljoens towards the Waterkloof. We determined to cut them off, and at
once led our horses down the mountain side into the bushy kloof, by a
rocky and difficult descent; and scrambling out on the opposite side
through the thorny bushes, galloped across the plain for some miles,
till we struck on their spoor, which we followed for a mile farther,
where, leaving the road, it became lost in the grass. After having
proceeded as far as we thought it possible for them to have got in the
interim, and seeing nothing of them on the immense undulating plain,
we concluded they must have observed us, and taken refuge in some of
the isolated patches of bush scattered over it like islands. As the
sun was already low, we were just about turning our steps homeward,
when we suddenly espied them, about a mile off on our right, leisurely
ascending out of a grassy hollow. Separating into two little parties
to surround them, Bruce leading one, I the other, we went full speed
down hill over the rough broken ground at a break-neck pace, keeping
an eye on them to note if they observed us. But though neither stone
nor bush intervened they never perceived us till within 500 yards, when
throwing away their skin sacks, off they started like the wind, making
for a distant narrow belt of wood, under cover of which and the rapidly
approaching darkness, they hoped to give us the slip. The pace was
killing, and we had yet nearly half a mile to make up before we could
intercept them. The chase became most exciting, as we took flying,
yawning sluits five or six feet deep. At last two of them gave in,
but perceiving them to be women, we held on in pursuit of the others,
firing an occasional shot. Just as they gained the cover we dashed up,
and springing from our panting horses, followed them into the tangled
underwood, leaving a few outside the belt to watch if they broke cover.
But the gloom of the trees, increased by the rapidly approaching night,
made our progress slow and difficult, and though we worked completely
through the bush they escaped us.
We were now fourteen miles from the Fort, and taking with us our
two prisoners, returned at a foot's pace; one of them, a Totty, was
the wife of Speelman Kievet, one of the most notorious of the Rebel
leaders. The other was a Madagascar slave, hideously ugly. On our way
we picked up the skin sacks that had been thrown away; they were full
of half-ripe fruit and meelies. It was 9 o'clock when we reached the
Post, where our long absence, for we had been out since noon, had
caused much uneasiness, as mounted Kaffirs had been seen through the
telescope, hovering about us on the higher ridges of the mountain
we had ascended. When we made our appearance, two parties, one of
mounted Boers, and the other of infantry, were on the point of setting
off to search for us, or our remains; the latter being supposed the
more probable issue, as it was fully thought that we must have been
surrounded and massacred; judging, however, in case we should return
alive, that we should be uncommonly hungry, our friends had judiciously
reserved dinner, or, more correctly, supper for us, which we lost no
time in sitting down to.
The night following, at 12 o'clock, we marched out of the Fort with
the gun and artillerymen, ninety rank and file, and a guide, for
Engelbrecht's Kloof, a difficult wooded retreat, in which the enemy
were said to be lurking. On the way we had some sport with a couple of
porcupines, the dogs in front barking violently at some object which
they evidently had at bay; I rode forward with the guide, but it was so
dark that we had some difficulty in finding their whereabouts. One of
them kept our dogs at a respectful distance, rattling his tail on the
ground and shaking his quills; but he was soon despatched and hanging
on the gun-limber. We preserved his tail, which was quite a curiosity,
a bunch of short truncated hollow quills, stuck on a lump of flesh. No
animal of its size is so easily killed; a tap on the head finishes him
at once; they are very common throughout the country, as is proved by
the quantities of quills one sees everywhere. The flesh is excellent;
very white and tender, and not unlike young pig. The orthodox mode of
cooking this delicacy is to roast it in hot wood ashes, with the skin
on, minus the quills, of course.
After an eighteen miles' march, we halted as day was breaking, at the
top of the kloof. We shelled the ravine; and the Levies advancing from
the other side of the valley received the Kaffirs thus dislodged; six
of whom, after a slight skirmish, were killed. As we returned, the heat
of the noontide sun on the open plain was intense.
Riding out next day to reconnoitre at "the Springs," as we looked down
into the valley, we saw two or three horses grazing, and could discern
by the glass several Kaffirs in blankets, lying outside some huts half
hidden by the bush, at the edge of which they were built. As the glen
was unapproachable except by a detour of many miles, we fired one or
two conical balls at about 1000 yards, which made them jump up pretty
quickly, and seek the shelter of the wood. Having ascertained the
range as nearly as possible, we rode home, purposing to give them a
warmer dose at early dawn. Accordingly, at 3 o'clock, I started with
the gun and sixty rank and file; a fine moon lighting us on the way.
B----, following with thirty horsemen, overtook us, after two hours'
marching, just as we had halted and were getting the gun into position.
Their dark figures, seen sharply against a patch of crimson sky at
their backs, all around being still in shadow, as they cantered towards
us over the intervening dusky level, had a singular and beautiful
appearance. The moment it was light enough to make out the position
of the huts down in the dark valley, we fired; the white wreaths of
smoke from the bursting shells below dispersing and vanishing before
the report reached us. Two parties of mounted men rode off, one to the
left, the other to the right, and descended the mountain side as far as
was practicable. One or two horses were seen galloping down the glen,
and the huts were levelled with the ground.
April 17th.--Off with a mounted patrol by three o'clock; overhead a
lovely star-lit sky. We rode along the elevated table-land, Kaffir
fires blazing on the higher mountains in every direction, and took
an old bridle path down the Blinkwater hill in preference to the
usual route, as less liable to ambuscade, leading our horses down the
slippery rocks, through close thorny bush. Day breaking as we made our
slow descent, showed two or three wreaths of smoke, within musket shot,
curling up from Kaffir fires in the still forest beneath. No one was to
be seen, nor was a shot fired at us all the way, as we kept slipping
and sliding down the tiresome descent, scratching hands and face, and
tearing our clothes among the 'vacht um bidgte' and 'num nyum'[21]
bushes.
Remounting on the flat below, we pushed on through the bush at a good
pace, till emerging on the open plain glistening with dew in the
morning sun, the white tents of the Blinkwater camp came in sight. Our
sudden appearance, and Kaffir-like advance, made an evident stir among
the guards and sentries, and the few officers about at that early hour
assembled on the earthen out-works; they were soon crowding round us
for or with news; tendering hairbrushes and towels at the riverside,
with pressing invites to speedy breakfasts--coffee, ration beef, and
biscuit.
[Illustration: BLINKWATER
(_and Waterkloof Heights_)]
A couple of hours' rest for the horses, and we rode on to Fort
Beaufort, passing on our way the newly-made grave of an Englishman,
killed there a few days before. It was the same spot where I had been
attacked by the rebels a few months previously.
Next day a party of officers from the garrison rode out to meet the
Rifle Brigade, just out from England, said to be halted about six
miles off, at Dans Hooght Hill. They were inspanning their baggage
train as we came up, and about to march. To my surprise and delight
I encountered among the accompanying draft of officers my brother, a
young Ensign in the 74th, come out to take his share in the toil and
hazards of the campaign. As we approached Beaufort our band and Pipers
met the new-comers, and preceded them through the town.
The day following, the head-quarters of the 74th Highlanders marched
in from the field, under Major Douglas Patton, who, since the death of
our lamented Colonel, had been in command of the regiment. The Rifles
encamped on the green plain outside the Fingo quarter of the town; and
Beaufort, which had been almost deserted, again swarmed with troops.
Leaving my brother in quarters, B---- and I turned our faces once more
towards our distant mountain fort, riding by a short cut through the
bush, off-saddling for an hour at the Blinkwater camp to give our nags
a roll (as good as a feed of corn to a Cape horse), and then striking
off to the right, took our route by the eastern valley, riding for
about twelve miles along the wooded banks of the Kat River, especially
picturesque at this point, with its alternate pools and rapids, and
fringe of weeping willows. Shortly after sundown, the distant fires of
Colonel Napier's camp were seen ahead, and an hour's stumbling along
by broken paths and dangerous drifts, in the most intense darkness,
brought us nearly within musket shot of the sentries. The 'cease
firing' and 'regimental call' of our bugle were answered, almost before
the echo had died away, by the 'advance,' and we clambered up the
rising ground on which the camp was pitched, and soon found ourselves
among old comrades, whose familiar voice had not greeted us for months.
They had just returned from the Kei expedition, and many were the
hunting adventures they had to tell, ample evidences of which were seen
in the half-cured skins, grass-stuffed heads, and quantities of horns
strewed about every tent.
On the following morning, after the luxury of a cold bath under a fine
fall of the Kat River, we set off for Post Retief, making the ascent
of the verdant Katberg mountain by a path of extraordinary steepness;
the heat of the sun was overpowering. Three hours of uninterrupted
and most toilsome climbing, brought us to the table-land above the
beautifully-wooded ravine, Bothas bush; off-saddling our panting horses
at a clear spring that bubbled out of the ground, we lay down to
recover our breath, feasting our eyes on the extensive view below us.
On the morning of the 24th, in accordance with orders from
head-quarters, we marched from the Post at five o'clock, having a party
of artillerymen, sixty rank and file, a 6 lbr. howitzer, and a waggon
with tents, tools, and rations. Our point was the dangerous Bushneck
Pass; our orders to cover the ascent of the Rifle Brigade from that
end of the Waterkloof. When about half-way the waggon sunk so deep in
a soft gully that neither spades and picks, nor the appliance of an
extra span of oxen and a couple of score of fellows yoked to the gun
tow-ropes could move it, and it had eventually to be unloaded.
As the valley below our position had showed no sign of living creature
all day, we retired in the evening to Bear's Farm, a ruin about a mile
off, where having pitched our tents and picketted the mules and horses
among the blackened walls, we made a blazing fire and prepared to pass
the night as comfortably as we could.
By eight o'clock next morning the reconnoitering party of Cape Corps,
which had been sent at daylight to the top of the Pass, returned with
intelligence that the Rifles were advancing up the valley with a large
train of waggons; our party was instantly in motion, and, in a very
short time back at its position on the edge of the ridge commanding
the Pass. While the column was halting for breakfast about two miles
from us, we amused ourselves by looking at them through the glass.
The rows of piled arms glancing in the sun; the smoke of the fires
rising straight upwards in the motionless air; white covered waggons
peeping through the green bush; herds of cattle, and multitudes of
dark figures moving about in all directions--in the calm of a Sunday
morning formed a picture which two hours' gazing upon did not weary
us with. At last the faintly heard sound of bugle was followed by a
general movement in the bivouac; the oxen were driven in, the confused
masses of troops fell imperceptibly into companies, and the companies
into column; while, as if by instinct, the oxen gathering into groups,
took their place at the waggons, and all was in simultaneous motion.
Another change as striking and remarkable followed. The last waggon had
scarcely entered the bush and the rear-guard quitted the ground, when
the whole of it was dotted over with Kaffirs, stealing in from every
part of the bush, where, unconscious of their nearness, the troops had
so recently been encamped. We counted thirty-five men, besides women,
gathered round the smouldering fires, searching about for what they
could find.
Nine hours we sat on the ridge, watching the laborious and slow ascent
of the column, a span of eight and twenty cattle being required to
bring each waggon up. A few Kaffirs on the top of the hill, out of
range, chaffed them about their oxen, which they said were "too swift
and strong, and even dangerous," the poor brutes being, in reality,
half starved. It was dark before one-half the train was up. Three
companies of the Rifles encamping on our position for the night, while
the remainder bivouacked below, left us at liberty to return to the
ruin and sleep in our tents.
Next morning the whole column under Colonel Buller, encamped close to
the ruins of Bear's farm, which was to be a permanent position intended
to keep a check on the enemy in this quarter. Its proximity to Post
Retief, not more than two hours' ride, enabled us frequently to see our
friends of the gallant and renowned old corps, and the oftener the more
heartily welcome.
An application was made at this time, by the Masonic body in Graham's
Town, to have the remains of Lieut.-Colonel Fordyce, and Lieutenants
Carey and Gordon, of the 74th Highlanders, interred there with suitable
honours, the two former having been members of the fraternity. This
was, of course, readily acceded to by the regiment, who were not
only gratified by the request, but anxious themselves to show to the
remains that respect which duty in the field had prevented so many from
testifying at the first hurried interment. The bodies were therefore
exhumed and placed in lead coffins, which we escorted for ten miles, to
the top of the Blinkwater Pass. There we were relieved by two hundred
of the 74th Highlanders, who escorted the remains to the entrance of
Fort Beaufort, where they were met by Major-General Somerset and his
Staff, accompanied by a guard of honour of the head-quarters, our own
band, the Freemasons, and all the respectable people of the place. The
coffins, which had been placed in the church for the night, were, on
the following day, escorted by the same guard of honour to Graham's
Town, where they were joined by a public procession of the Freemasons
and principal inhabitants, and the remains of our brave comrades were
consigned, with military and Masonic honours, to their final resting
place.
A report arrived of a body of Rebels lurking in Engelbrecht's Kloof,
and a company of the Rifle Brigade with three officers having joined
us from their camp, we marched from Post Retief, at three in the
afternoon (May 3rd), with a gun and about three hundred rank and file,
the intention being to make a combined attack with the rest of the
Rifles on the other side of the position. A strong party of mounted men
followed at a couple of hours' interval.
Along the tortuous course of the Koonap, we had, in the space of twelve
miles, to wade through it no less than seven times. Just after dark we
halted at a ruined and solitary farm house. The sentinels were posted,
and the men disposed amongst the ruins. We, after hunting about for
ourselves, found an outhouse of wattle and daub, on which the thatch
still remained. It was the work of a moment to make a broom of green
boughs, sweep the mud floor, light a fire in the middle of the room,
and arrange stones and boards to sit on; while the servants, as quickly
unloading the pack-horses, produced our rations and grog, with tin
plates, pewter spoons, and cutlery to match. By our united efforts
the meal was soon ready; and though the coffee was as thick as soup,
and the beef tough as leather, we gathered, a jovial party, round a
table, extemporized out of an old bedstead; our rifles, pistols, dirks,
and belts, hanging on the brightly illuminated walls, our own bush
costume, and the rough clad servants, busied at the bright fire in the
centre of the floor, produced quite a theatrical effect. A kettle full
of hot grog having been duly concocted with Cape-smoke and freshly
gathered limes, we drew round the blazing logs and lighted our pipes.
Two old Dutch bedsteads, heavy wooden frames laced across with strips
of cow hide, which had escaped the general destruction, were put in
requisition for the night; but as they would only accommodate two each,
and there were five of us, we _tossed up_ who should be the "odd man
out," and Legge was soon stretched asleep on the floor with a large
stone under his head, though half-devoured by fleas, which by the way
always infest a farm or kraal however long deserted.
At daylight the ground was white with hoar-frost, and the air
bitter cold; as we were drinking our coffee by the fire a further
reinforcement of mounted Burghers rode up. In the next four hours'
marching we crossed eleven drifts, as on the day before, some very
dangerous from the deep pools, and the difficulty of making sure
footing as we jumped from one slippery rock to another. Many of the men
fell on the rocks, or slipped into the water; one of the Rifle Brigade
dislocated his knee, while half the horsemen were tumbled head over
heels into the stream.
At nine o'clock, we came in sight of the other column on the hill in
front of us. The scouts returned with information that the enemy had
abandoned the kloof. Our patrol was in vain, and we had nothing to do
but return. Joining the main column, we marched to Bear's farm, and
remained there the night.
The road by which commissariat supplies had to be conveyed up to this
elevated region had become so dangerous, and nearly impassable, that a
working party was sent from the Blinkwater camp to repair it, and we
marched on the 5th, with a company of Rifles and one gun, twelve miles
to the head of the Blinkwater hill, to cover and assist them. Having
planted the gun, and disposed our party on a height covering the road
below, we lighted a fire, and were breakfasting, when, issuing from the
edge of the forest, a long regular line, of what we took to be Kaffirs,
was seen moving across a smooth open flat, about a mile off, and even
after looking at them through the glass, we were so convinced in the
correctness of our impression as to unlimber and point the gun; nor was
it till after several seconds' earnest gaze that even the Fingoes, as
well as ourselves, were fully satisfied that it was a large troop of
baboons of immense size, so thoroughly human-like were their attitudes,
sitting, standing, and walking--"erectos ad sidera tollere vultus."
We had with us a waggon containing pickaxes, spades, and hatchets,
to take our tour at repairing the road, and went heartily to work,
cutting down trees, and filling up the immense deep ruts with felled
timber, stones, rocks, and earth. At three o'clock, a bugle, from the
covering-party on the heights above summoned us from our labours,
and we retraced the weary way back to the Post, having accomplished
twenty-six miles of marching besides the day's work.
We returned to our work by dawn, but we had found the distance so
inconvenient, and adding so greatly to the labour, that I had orders
to pass the next night, with my men, on the plain, so as to be nearer
our work, and accordingly we selected the ruins at Eastlands farm for
our bivouac. It was, however, only a choice of evils, for the night
was bitterly cold on this high ground, and the darkness had come on so
quickly that we had not had time to collect sufficient fuel to keep
us warm, though we had had enough to show us that our little party of
thirty men was watched by mounted Kaffirs, who, as the night closed in,
hovered round nearer than was quite agreeable. Having posted sentries
and outlying picquets, and made arrangements in case of an attack
which the Dutchmen with the waggon were confident would be made, I sat
down by my fire alone, but, finding my own thoughts very indifferent
company, soon turned in, though the hyænas and jackals kept up such
a mournful howling that it was impossible to sleep. Each morning a
company of the Rifles joined us from camp, and thus our labours were
continued for nearly a week, detached sections from the company on the
heights accompanying us as we worked lower and lower down the hill.
A large drove of commissariat cattle ascended the Pass one day for
Colonel Buller's camp, and as they came up I found it was escorted by
a strong party of troops and Fingo Levies, under my brother's charge.
Having handed them over to the Rifles, we had a chat over the united
contents of our haversacs, exchanging the gossip of camp and post,
after which he left us to return to the Blinkwater; before he had gone
half a mile down hill we saw the Kaffirs creeping from the mountain, as
if to intercept the party at its foot, of which, however, we gave him
timely warning by a Corporal's party of the Cape Corps.
Our principal amusements, besides acting as engineers, and directing
general proceedings, were sketching, and rifle practice at the monkeys
and lories hopping about in the thick forest, and at the enormous
vultures sleeping on the high crags that towered above us on the
opposite side of the narrow ravine. Snakes were abundant here, as
indeed everywhere else, and among others we killed a "boom slang,"
a long slender viper of a brilliant grass green, which dropped from
a tree under which we had lighted a fire. This and the cobra and
puff-adder are the most deadly of all the snakes of the country, but
though they are all very common, and were frequently found in our
camps, we never once heard of a single accident occurring among the
troops, though Clifford, of the Rifles, had a very narrow escape; one
day sitting with a party of officers on the ground, and carelessly
resting his hand on the grass, he felt something moving, and turning
round, to his surprise found he had got his hand on the neck of a large
puff-adder! without withdrawing it, he coolly drew out his clasp knife
with the other, and severed the beast's head from its body.
Having finished our task, we returned once more to Post Retief, where
we found a large and jovial party of the Rifle Brigade.
At three o'clock, on a cold morning, towards the close of the month,
a small party of us, bound for Fort Beaufort, mounted our horses in
the square of our little Fort, and riding out of the gates, which were
carefully secured after us, proceeded down the glen along the rocky
little streamlet, that rushed and foamed past the Post. The mountain
peaks stood out sharp against the dark blue sky; the stars shone
brightly, and the clear air was so keen that we were glad to put our
horses into a trot to keep up the circulation. The party consisted
only of D. A. Commissary-General Bartlett, and myself, with three
after-riders; as our safety consisted more in secrecy than numbers,
our first object was to get down before daylight. After a sharp ride
of ten miles across the table land, as we reached the crest of the
hill the first streaks of day were faintly visible, warning us that we
had no time to lose if we wished to clear the Pass. Up to this point
we had cantered carelessly along, laughing and talking, but now it
was necessary to be cautious. Having tightened our saddle-girths and
unslung our rifles at the head of the shadowy road, which with its
overhanging trees looked like the entrance of a dark cave, we proceeded
in silence down the steep path cut through the bush. We had gone but a
few hundred yards, our eyes hardly yet accustomed to the gloom, when
a dark figure crossed the road a little in front, and disappeared in
the bush. To have fired would only have been to betray ourselves; so
we held on our course, keeping a sharp look out. When half way down we
came suddenly on a Kaffir fire in the bush on our left, not more than
five or six yards from the path; round it lay several black fellows,
rolled in their red blankets and karosses, sleeping soundly, after
watching probably the greater part of the night. Almost at the same
moment the glimmer of a second fire showed through the underwood on
the opposite side of the road a little beyond; holding up my hand to
caution the escort, we moved stealthily along, looking carefully to our
horses' feet and almost holding our breath. As we passed the second
fire, round which also lay the sleeping forms of our deadly enemies, a
large dog rushed out, but luckily without barking; had he done so all
was up with us, being only five to a score, and the hill too steep
and rocky for a gallop. Fortunately he contented himself with sniffing
at the horses' heels, and the ground being damp and soft we passed
noiselessly by, and soon turning a sharp angle in the road were out
of sight. By seven A.M. we arrived in Colonel Napier's camp in the
Blinkwater.
On our return two days after, we had some difficulty in getting up the
Pass from the extreme slipperiness of the road after a heavy rain; and
when we gained the top the clouds hung round us so dense that we could
not see twenty yards in any direction, which was however all in favour
of my solitary ride for the next ten miles, as just at this point the
Mail Escort turned off for Colonel Buller's camp.
For the next fortnight, when not patrolling, we went out buck shooting
on the open hills, which abounded with oribee and rheebok; or rode over
to the Rifle Brigade camp, dining with them in the snug little cottages
they had built of wattle and daub, neatly thatched over, and fitted
with doors; the windows made of calico, and the interiors furnished
with rough tables and chairs of camp manufacture.
On the 14th, I started with a few mounted Boers, for the Blinkwater,
_en route_ to Graham's Town; and at Beaufort learned the news of an
attack at the notorious Koonap Hill, on a party of Sappers and Miners,
escorting Minié Rifles and ammunition from Graham's Town up to the
troops on the Frontier. Seven of the men had been killed, and several
wounded. The greatest excitement prevailed in the town.
Twelve miles further, at Lieuw Fontein, where the post-riders rest two
or three hours, was a party of Fingoes on their way to the scene of
the above attack, to follow up the spoor; and preferring to take my
horse, which I had ridden throughout, at their more leisurely pace,
marched with them all night, reaching the Koonap Hill at daybreak. We
had the greatest difficulty in getting our frightened horses past the
fatal spot. The scarped road was obstructed with dead horses, oxen, and
mules, shot in the conflict. Two waggons had been turned over, and the
bodies of a couple of Hottentots lay dead in the middle of the path,
which was covered with pools of blood; and for half a mile further,
strewn with torn uniform, blood-stained linen, flour, coffee, sugar,
and commissariat supplies.
At Fort Brown, whither the dead and wounded had been conveyed, we found
a fatigue party digging graves for those who had fallen. The waggons
which had been brought off, riddled with balls, stood in the square.
From Captain Moody, R.E., the officer commanding the party at the
time of the attack, I had a full account of the affair. It appeared
that when nearly half way up the Hill, a volley was suddenly fired on
the escort, from the bush on the lower side, into the advance guard,
killing four of them at once. The attack then became general, the
Sappers fighting gallantly under their Captain, making a fresh stand as
they were driven from waggon to waggon, till overpowered by numbers,
and having seven killed and nine wounded out of thirty, they were
forced to retreat to an empty house near the ruins of the old Koonap
Post. There they barricaded themselves, and remained for about an hour,
when relief arrived from Fort Brown, where the sound of the firing had
given the alarm to the garrison.
On their arrival the whole party returned to the scene of disaster,
and scoured through the bush on both sides the road, but the rebels
had decamped with all they could carry off, including ammunition and
Minié Rifles, which, however, had fortunately been rendered useless by
the precaution of removing the nipples. Among the badly wounded was the
wife of one of the soldiers who had been killed; she died during the
night at the ruins, leaving three orphan children behind her, for whom
a subscription was got up on the spot by the officers at the Fort. Many
of the enemy, who were principally rebel Hottentots, had been killed in
the skirmish.
After a long, hot, and dusty canter with the post-riders, through the
Ecca valley, I off-saddled, by a train of waggons outspanned on the
green flats of Botha's Hill, to give my horse a roll, as he had now
carried me nearly ninety miles, with only a short time for baiting at
three places. The moment a Cape horse is off-saddled he rolls himself
on the ground,--mud, rock, sand, or grass all alike; kicks up his heels
in the air, rubs his neck and face on the earth, more like a dog than a
horse; and after a shake is ready for the road again, and as fresh as
if he had had a feed of corn. Whilst my steed thus enjoyed himself and
nibbled the short burnt up grass, I squatted under the friendly shade
of a waggon, joining a hospitable old Boer at his meal of _biltong_ and
brown bread, and then jogged leisurely along for the next six miles
over the open plain to Graham's Town.
After the quiet and solitude of Post Retief, the streets and stores of
the town looked wonderfully gay and bustling. An amusing scene occurred
at the hotel, where a large party of officers, whom various duties had
called in from the field, were dining together. Among the party was
a civilian, a Mr. C--r, just out from England as a volunteer, who,
it appeared, had accompanied Captain Moody's ill-fated escort, with
the intention of seeing service on the Frontier. In the attack at
the Koonap Hill, he had escaped through the bush, and wisely secreted
himself in the chimney of the deserted house, but notwithstanding this
judicious precaution, narrowly escaped being shot as a Kaffir, when,
begrimed with soot, he ventured down from his hiding-place, on the
arrival of the detachment from Fort Brown.
This story, humorously related by Major H----, with sundry
embellishments, in happy ignorance that the hero of the tale was one
of the audience, in fact his _vis-à-vis_, convulsed the whole table
with laughter, which he naturally attributed to his own facetiousness;
when, on winding up with an announcement that "the gallant volunteer
had returned to Graham's Town, having had enough of it," the identical
individual announced himself, sending us into a perfect roar at the
sudden change in the face of the Major, who, however, quietly requested
that he might not be called out, as he should infallibly take to the
flue.
While here, I rode out with a party of officers of the Garrison to
visit my brother, who was with a small detachment of the regiment at
Niemand's Kraal, a deserted farm, nine miles off. The house, which was
little more than a shell, stood alone in a hot sandy little valley,
surrounded by bush-covered hills, abounding in game of all kinds. Half
a dozen tents were pitched round the walls, which had been loop-holed
for musketry. The lower rooms, the windows barricaded with stones, were
occupied by the men, and the two upper ones by the officers; the rough
walls hung with arms and accoutrements. We luncheoned on wild boar
steaks, and returned to Graham's Town.
Two days afterwards Graham's Town was enlivened by a novel
reinforcement for the Frontier. Mr. Lakeman, a gentleman whose love of
military enterprise had carried him through the Hungarian and Algerian
wars; and who had just brought out from England, at his own expense,
Minié Rifles, clothing and accoutrements for 250 men, arrived with
such volunteers as he had been able to raise in Cape Town and Port
Elizabeth. They were a most extraordinary contingent; all equipped
in leathern helmets, and with "crackers" and frock-coats of the same
stuff; many of them dare-devil fellows ready for anything, and all
admirably cut out for bush work.
A cavalry escort was leaving with two mule waggons, conveying specie
to the Frontier for the payment of the troops, so I took advantage
of the opportunity to return with them, as did several others--Major
Somerset, Captain Dundas, Assistant-Commissary-General Sale, Lady A.
Russell (on her way to join her husband at Beaufort), and Mrs. Sale.
At the entrance of the Ecca valley we met a company of the 74th, sent
to cover our passage. When we had got half-way through, and near the
most dangerous part of the road, the axle tree of the ladies' waggon
broke down, from the jolting and bumping over the rocks, so that we
were obliged to abandon it. The contents were with difficulty packed
in the remaining waggons, already well filled, and consequently the
ladies were obliged to walk under a hot burning sun; the dust, which
was several inches deep, rising in stifling clouds at every step; but
they trudged on with the greatest spirit, and at night, outside the
walls of Fort Brown, roughed it in a little wattle and daub cottage,
mud-floored, and with holes in the thatch big enough to enable them to
see how night rolled on in the heavens, and to hear more plainly the
serenading of the jackals and hyænas.
As we approached the scene of the late attack on the Koonap hill,
the mules became so alarmed and restive, that they could not be got
past the place till the dead horses and oxen had been removed, and
thrown down the ravine; and even then it was not without the greatest
difficulty that both they and many of the horses, which trembled and
snorted violently, were induced to go forward.
It may be as well to mention here that a great part of the lost Minié
rifles and ammunition were recaptured by Maj.-Gen. Yorke a few days
after the attack on the waggons, and others subsequently by Colonel
Napier, and though the latter were fitted with nipples, made by a
deserter from the Cape Corps, they had been of little or no service
to the Rebels, for, not understanding conical bullets, they had put
them into the barrel point downwards, as made up in the cartridge, the
natural consequence of which was that they did not carry more than half
the range of an old musket.
On the evening of the 25th, after a journey such as few of the gentler
sex would attempt, the ladies arrived in safety at Fort Beaufort, and
by the evening following, I was once more ensconced in our solitary
little fort in the mountains.
FOOTNOTES:
[21] Arduina bispinosa.