TWO DISTRICTS.
A derelict town--The district--Entertainments--British
"commandos"--Hertzog's Adjutant--Back to Springfontein--
Vlakfontein--The scene of a disaster--Caledon River--Edenburg--
Stranded traction engines--Ventershoek--"Commandos" again.
Col. du Moulin moved out of Springfontein on the 21st of July to take
over the district which had been assigned to him, and which lay west of
the line, and north of the Orange River, round about the town of
Philippolis. He had under him about 600 men of the Sussex, nearly all
mounted, and a section of the 7th Battery (Capt. Geoghegan and Lieut.
Chamier), besides the pom-pom.
Philippolis, which for the next two months was used as the headquarters
and rendezvous of the column, lies at the head of a valley some 15 miles
west of the railway. The usual stone Church looks down the usual main
street of one-storied tin-roofed buildings. Two other parallel streets
and a few cross roads make up the town. It is surrounded by bare veldt;
a eucalyptus or two and a couple of rows of cypress down the main street
are the only trees to be seen for miles round.
At this time there were still a few inhabitants remaining, although most
of the houses were quite empty. At first, here as elsewhere, the town
had been left undisturbed under authorities appointed by the British;
but, when the local commandos again took up arms, authorities and
townspeople had alike to be brought in to the line; and now the last of
them was to be removed, Lord Kitchener's order being not to leave a
living thing. For if inhabitants were left, food must be left too; and
what was food for the inhabitants was food also for the local
commandos--or the fragments of them that lurked in the hills round.
Besides this, information, more valuable even than food, would be
spread as to the movements of columns. The supreme object at this
juncture was to make life impossible for the Boers under arms.
It was a strange sight, this derelict town. Doors were open, and it was
possible to turn out of the silent street into a house, where the very
music lay as it had been left upon the piano in the sitting room: to sit
down at the piano and try a few bars, momentarily expecting the owner to
appear and protest against such intrusion. Yet the only representative
of the owner would be perhaps the watch dog lying in the yard where it
had been necessary to shoot him, when the house was searched (very
likely with success) for ammunition. The town was placed out of bounds
for the troops of the column.
The Boers of the neighbourhood were not in very high feather. Except for
bodies of men passing through from the surrounding districts, they
consisted only of small parties of a dozen or less, living precariously
upon the much-cleared country. They had established a certain number of
depots to which they could come for grain, but beyond these there was
very little food to be found; and nearly all the farms were empty.
Colonel du Moulin's task, therefore, consisted of netting as many stray
Boers as possible, and destroying all stock, grain, cooking utensils,
and anything else that would help to support life, besides being
prepared to meet any commando that should attempt to cross the district.
For these purposes he divided the column into three sub-columns or
"commandos" of about 150 men each, under Major Church. Capt. Gilbert,
and Capt. Montresor. Two of these were always in the field, while one
was usually resting in Philippolis. In order to enliven the time of the
resting "commando," he detailed a few men with a bent in that direction
as permanent entertainers, and these used to give nightly performances
in the Town Hall, with the help of one of the many pianos in which the
town abounded. Songs, dramatic sketches, and clog-dances used to form
items of the programme.
During the first week (which was cold and snowy) a number of farms were
cleared. Twenty-five sacks of wheat were found by the Colonel, bricked
up at the farm Poortje. The dam there was destroyed, as was done in
other cases. On August the 4th the ox convoy bringing supplies from
Springfontein joined the three "commandos" at Brandkraal. Lieut. Bidder
and 2nd Lieut. Cole from the 3rd Battalion of the Regiment arrived with
it.
For the next month the "commandos" worked up and down the district with
comparatively little incident, picking up a few prisoners here and
there, and sending in refugees. Captain (now Brevet-Major) Gilbert
searched the kloofs along the Orange River: there were several families
living there, who supplied food to the fighting Boers, and these were
transported to the line. In one place the Major was just leaving a
valley that he had searched in vain, when the strange behaviour of a
horse directed his attention to a large bush. Investigation followed,
and from the recesses of the bush emerged an entire family of three
generations.
By surprise visits at night to likely places, Major Gilbert also
captured a number of armed Boers--on the 11th of August in particular
two raids resulted in the taking of thirteen prisoners.
On the 16th Major Church's "commando" chased a party of twenty Boers,
who had come to unearth a store of boots they had buried near Tafelkop.
A signalling piquet on Tafelkop disturbed them as Major Church was
coming up, and the Boers got away through Otterspoort, after being
turned out of the farm there by the pom-pom.
On the 17th of August, information was received that 200 Boers under
Kritzinger were at Buonapartfontein, on the east of the line, working
north with horses very done up. Orders were sent round at once to the
three "commandos" to hurl themselves across the line, and they
accordingly met at Driekuil Siding early on the 18th. Kritzinger had,
however, already moved north, pursued by Gorringe's column--the
information being twenty-four hours late.
On the 25th of August Major Gilbert's "commando" captured Cronje,
Adjutant and Chief of Scouts to Hertzog, the local Commandant. The
actual capture was effected by Liliveld, a Colonial Scout attached to
the column, who did some brilliant work.
That same evening, Major Gilbert, who had been talking to Cronje, told
him to follow him across the camp, wishing for some reason to shift his
quarters. The Major carried his hand in his pocket. The Boer, who looked
very white and anxious, suddenly said "Well, when are you going to do
it." He thought he was being taken out to be shot, and that the Major
had his hand on his revolver. It appeared that the Commandants had
persuaded their men that the Proclamations as to surrender, published at
this time, were only decoys, and that any man surrendering would be
shot. Cronje said that many would come in if they knew they would be
well treated. "We shall have a score to settle with the Commandants when
the War is over," he added.
He was one of the men chased by Major Church a few days before. "They
had had nothing to eat for twenty-four hours," he said, "and had bolted
another 25 miles." He was offered good pay to act as guide to the
column, but to his credit he refused.
On the 30th of August, Captain Montresor and Lieut. Morphett, with
thirteen men, surrounded the Jansfontein Hills in the dusk, and crept up
just before dawn, by starlight. They captured four Boers with rifles on
the top without a shot being fired. Captain Montresor's "commando"
returned to Philippolis on the 5th of September with twelve prisoners.
On the 31st of August, two Boers with rifles came in to surrender to
Major Church at Osfontein. They had been living for a fortnight in a
cave near, that contained the household treasures of Ospoort
farm--clothes, dried fruit, a violin, pillows and a coffee machine.
There was also a little ammunition, the remains, perhaps, of a larger
supply.
Later in the day Boers were reported on a neighbouring hill, which was
accordingly surrounded, Major Church taking one party, Captain
Montgomery and Lieut. Harden another. Eight men were captured and
seventeen rifles. They had no idea a British force was near, the camp
being very well hidden. They had orders from Herzog not to stay long in
the district, as there was no food. One of them was a Secret Agent of
the British.
Two days afterwards, Major Church came upon and destroyed another Boer
supply depot consisting of two large tin-lined boxes hidden among
bushes, and containing eight sacks of wheat and stores of all kind.
Round about were rough beds of heather and branches, and fire holes for
cooking.
On the 17th of September orders were received for the whole column to
march in to Springfontein, and entrain for the North. Rain had been
falling heavily for a week, and the roads were almost impassable. The
oxen were weak with overwork, lung disease and inoculation; dead oxen
lay every few yards of the way. Relief wagons were sent to meet the
convoy, the end of which struggled painfully in to Springfontein at nine
o'clock on the night of the 19th. This convoy, which had been working
backwards and forwards between Philippolis and the line with supplies
for the column, was left at Springfontein when the column moved North.
Lieut. De La Pryme, A.S.C., who had admirably managed the supply
arrangements, accompanied the column.
On the 19th September news arrived of the disaster at Vlakfontein, not
far from Thabanchu, in which two guns of U battery, and their escort of
newly-raised Mounted Infantry, were taken. General Bruce Hamilton's
troops were accordingly despatched into the district round the scene of
action. The Sussex column entrained during the 20th, and the work of
hauling and shoving recalcitrant mules and horses into trucks went on
all that night by the light of flares. There was a sharp frost at dawn;
the helmets of men who had slept upon the ground were white, and the
ditch by the railway was covered with ice. The sixth and last train
reached Bloemfontein on the evening of the 21st; the column marched for
Vlakfontein itself, after being inspected by General Tucker, and on the
23rd camped close to the scene of the fight.
The Boers and their prisoners had of course gone, but there were many
traces of what had occurred.
In a kloof in a long low kopje lay two dead gunhorses. The ground all
round was trampled down, probably by the horses of the escort, which had
perhaps been put there under cover when the action began. The guns had
come into action on the slope of the ridge against a kopje to the north,
as the marks made by the spades shewed. Boers had apparently crept up
from the direction of Slangfontein farm (which lay to the south), and
had taken the position in rear.
On the top of the ridge were a number of bayonets, some artillery
harness, haversacks, canteens, bandages stained with blood and other
traces of the fight. Little heaps of cartridge cases behind stones here
and there shewed where men had made a stand. The graves of four soldiers
were found--so shallow that it was necessary to dig them afresh. The gun
tracks led away from the ridge towards Slangfontein farm.
It was found afterwards that the officer in charge of the guns had
indeed made a fine stand. The escort, consisting of untried Mounted
Infantry, had not supported him. Attacked in front and rear, he fought
the guns till the last moment, and then died beside them. His gunners,
and a few of the escort who held out, were shot down almost to a man.
The officer was Lieut. Otter Barry, R.A., whose brother is now
(December, 1906) Adjutant of the 2nd Battn. of the Royal Sussex
Regiment.
At this farm, a newly-made grave in the family burial ground aroused the
suspicions of Major Gilbert. It was opened in spite of the protests of
the inhabitants, and was found to contain nearly fifty rifles. Some more
rifles and gun harness were in the dam. The people of the farm were
removed, as well as a wounded Boer who was there. Most of the farms in
the district were occupied at the time.
The tracks of the guns were followed for the next two days, without
however catching up the enemy. The Boers put their prisoners over the
Basuto border and dispersed; the column halted at Jammersberg Bridge on
the Caledon River. Its strength at this time was 800 Europeans, 220
natives (drivers, etc.), 830 horses and 540 mules.
The District was swept by various columns (those of Lowrie Cole,
Hamilton, Plumer and Williams) during the following week, without any
great result. Col. du Moulin's column arrived at Edenburg on the 6th of
October, and left the next day for the new district which had been
assigned to it, in the familiar ground south of Dewetsdorp and east of
Reddersburg. Before settling down to work, an expedition was made to the
North to protect a convoy of coal on its way from Bloemfontein to some
traction engines, which were stranded on the veldt for lack of fuel. The
escort to the convoy consisted of the mounted men of the Third Battalion
of the Royal Sussex Regiment under Capt. the Hon. J. S. R. Tufton.
Ackerman's commando was met on the evening of the 9th, but did not wait.
A terrific rain storm that night covered his retreat.
One of the guns lost at Vlakfontein had already been recovered, and the
second, with harness, was found on the 12th at Weltevreden. Reddersburg
was reached next day, and building materials were collected in the town,
with a view to establishing a fortified camp and depot at a convenient
centre.
During the expedition north, much stock had been collected, and the
inhabitants of farms brought in. At one of the farms, a mad woman who
objected to clothing was kept in the stable, and presented a difficult
problem to the officer sent to clear it. The people of the house refused
to assist in any way; some Kaffir women, however, dressed the poor
wretch, who proved, indeed, on the return journey, the only cheerful
member of the party.
Colonel du Moulin decided to make his headquarters at Ventershoek, a
farm 11 miles S.E. of Reddersburg, surrounded on three sides by high
ridges. On each of these a permanent piquet was established, for which a
stone fort was constructed. Roads were made to these forts, and the two
guns were sent up.
Two ranges of hills met at Ventershoek, one from the north-east and the
other from the north; and the Camp lay between them at their point of
junction. The piquets thus commanded the flat country to the south and
west, the ridges dropping abruptly down into wide plains.
The column was again divided into "commandos," Major Gilbert and Captain
Montresor being assigned 200 men each, and a pom-pom and maxim
respectively. On the 17th of October these "commandos" moved out--Major
Gilbert to Hardewater, Captain Montresor to Mooifontein. At Hardewater,
a lofty hill (the end of the N. E. range) gave a magnificent view over
the surrounding country; and here Major Gilbert remained. The Boers were
said to be massing in the East of the Colony, and moving towards the
line; and a sharp look-out was kept from the top of Hardewater Hill, on
which the helio had some busy days. No one was seen, however, except men
of other columns, who answered the enquiring flash.
Before leaving Hardewater, it was discovered that every drop of water
used in camp came first over the body of a sheep that had fallen into a
cutting some months before. No one appeared to be any the worse!
In a farm near, a notice, of which the following is a translation, had
been left for the column:--
11th October, 1901.
"Droogfontein.
"May it herewith be notified to every British Officer and to all
men that the true Africanders, who are still under arms, are
determined to sacrifice themselves for the freedom of their
Country, and with God's help they will defend themselves till the
last man is killed or captured.
"N. C. P. in the name of true Africanders."