1878--FROM KING WILLIAM’S TOWN TO UTRECHT
The unreadiness for war of a Regimental system--A Baca
hairdresser, Pondoland--Its white Queen, Mrs. Jenkins--General
Thesiger--Purchase of Regimental Transport--Faku--Cetewayo’s
Military kraal, Luneberg, its Military occupation--Manyoba.
On the 26th June, my new Command, the Natal Column, consisting
of 4 guns, 5 companies 90th Light Infantry (in which I was still
a supernumerary Major), and a company Mounted Infantry, left Kei
Road, Major Buller with 200 Frontier Light staying behind for a week
to enlist men, was to overtake us. Up to Kokstadt we marched over
treeless rolling plains, and in spite of the fact that we crossed 122
(unbridged) rivers, it frequently happened there was not sufficient
water for the Column. I rode, therefore, every march three times.
Leaving my excellent Staff officer, Captain F. Grenfell,[153] K.R.R.
Corps, to encamp the Column, I went on to the next camping ground,
as local information was unreliable. It was generally offered by
Storekeepers, whose estimate of the quantity required was often based
on the assumption that all Europeans would consume bottled beer. This,
indeed, many of our men did, at 2s. a bottle. Our canteen President
bought at Mount Frere £40 worth of stores from Mr. McGregor,[154] who
had become a prosperous colonist. He interested me by extolling Colonel
Eyre, though he was present in the march from the Perie to the Döhne,
when Eyre burned the blankets and food of the stragglers--_vide_ p.
248. Two other former 73rd men rode 40 miles to see “A friend of Master
Arthur Eyre, their own Colonel’s boy.”[155]
The arrangements for equipping the battalion which now came more
closely under my command left much to be desired, and I doubt
whether the officers realised more clearly than those in authority
at Home the necessity of good boots and flannel shirts in order to
maintain soldiers efficient. I was obliged to buy flannel shirts for
the Rank and File which cost the men 12s. each, as they had been
allowed to go on service wearing cotton, and some with only one of that
nature. This accounted for many having fever on the Amatolas, as the
temperature varied from 75° at noon to 30° at night.
[Illustration: MAP OF THE PERIE BUSH]
Nor was the administration more creditable to our Military rulers.
In order to economise passage money, no non-commissioned officer or
soldier with less than eighteen months to complete twenty-one years,
was allowed to embark, while all the recruits were sent out. Thus the
Sergeants and old soldiers left at Home had nothing to do, while the
officers had insufficient non-commissioned officers to help in training
the recruits. Incomplete and unsatisfactory, however, as were the
Regimental arrangements, they were virtually all that existed in South
Africa, the Departments being represented by very few officers; and
thus no sooner was I ordered to march, than I received a requisition
for 5 non-commissioned officers, and selected men to form a Hospital,
and 5 to form a Commissariat department. In the result this left but 7
duty Sergeants with the 5 companies of rather more than 500 men.
The difficulties of crossing the numerous rivers in the journey of 500
miles exercised our patience. When the team of 16 or 18 oxen failed to
pull the waggon and its load out of a river, another team of similar
strength was hooked in, often with the result that one of the wheels
was wrenched off by a boulder of rock which stopped the progress of
the vehicle. This procedure was suitable, moreover, only when the
“pull out” was fairly straight; if, as frequently happened, the gravel
forming the ford was deposited on a curved line, every waggon had
to be hauled out by one team assisted by manual labour, and to lift
or extricate a waggon with its load equal to 6000 lbs. dead weight
involved much labour. Even with comparatively easy fords the crossing
of a river--for example, the Kei, between 80 and 90 yards wide, only
4 feet 6 inches deep--took five hours; the first waggon entering the
water at 7.30, and the last pulling out at 3.30, the waggons taking on
an average forty-five minutes to cross; and although I had arranged
for a short march, we did not encamp till nearly 11 p.m. the day we
crossed the river.
At Colossa, a village which Captain Grenfell and I visited in advance
of the Column, I asked him to go into a kraal to ask where was the
nearest drinking-water. He observed that there was not much chance of
ascertaining, as he had no interpreter; but I replied that I thought
he would find the mother of some children whom we saw playing could
speak English, as I noticed they were playing like English children a
“dolls’ dinner party,” with white berries to represent food, on little
bits of tin representing plates, and none but the children of a Fingoe,
or one who had been about white people, would be so advanced in their
amusements. The result proved that my surmise was correct.
When we were travelling through Bacaland to the north of Pondoland, I
was riding with an interpreter and 2 white soldiers two hours’ march
in advance of the Column, and near Tchungwassa, a valley under Mount
Frere, came on a native who had the head of another between his knees,
and was engaged in curling every separate bit of wool on the man’s
thickly covered skull. The Bacas and neighbouring tribes spend hours
in order to produce results which seem to us funny. I have seen the
wool on a man’s head twisted up to represent the head of a castle in
a set of chess men, and a bird’s nest is a favourite device. Sitting
down, I asked the hairdresser why he was taking such pains, and he
explained because there was a wedding feast in the next village. “How
much are you going to charge him for the job?” “Oh, nothing; he is a
friend of mine.” “Well, how much would you charge him for what you are
doing if it was a matter of business?” “I always charge a shilling when
I am doing it as I am now.” “Do you know who I am?” “Yes, you are the
General of the Army coming here to-day.” “Well, what will you charge to
dress my head?” I fully expected the man would say 5s., but looking at
my scanty hair, with a merry twinkle in his eye he exclaimed, “Oh, I
will do you for three pence!”
I had a visit from Macaula, Chief of the Bacas, when I entered his
territory, a fine big savage, 6 feet 3 inches in height, and broad in
proportion. He was the happy owner of 22 wives, and informed me that he
had 59 children. I said laughingly, “Why not make it 60?” He observed,
with great gravity, “I had forgotten one; I heard this morning as I was
coming here that I had another, and so it is 60.” He was very anxious
to buy my weight-carrying hunter “War-Game,” as, weighing 15 stone, it
was difficult to find a pony to carry him, and asked if I would sell
the horse. He was startled by my statement that he cost 24 oxen as a
four-year-old, a trek ox there being reckoned at £10.
The object of our long march was to impress the Pondos with a sense of
British power, and I had been warned on leaving King William’s Town
that I might have to coerce Umquikela, one of the Chiefs of Pondoland.
He and his relative Umquiliso had given the Colonial authorities much
trouble, for there was continual warfare between the tribes, with
the result that those who got beaten invariably fled into the land
set aside for tribes under our protection, and, moreover, Umquikela
had recently misbehaved. The Governor, Sir Bartle Frere, informed
General Thesiger that while he was confident I should not fight if
it was possible to attain our end without bloodshed, yet it had been
determined that Umquikela should be deposed from the position of
Chief unless he behaved better. This black Potentate was under the
influence of traders, to whose advantage it was that he should retain
his independence. He received much good advice from a widow, Mrs.
Jenkins, who lived at Umfundisweeni,[156] about 40 miles to the south
of Kokstadt. Mr. Jenkins had lived amongst the Pondos for many years,
and was deservedly held in high esteem by them, so much so that his
widow stayed on, being known by the name of the “Pondo Queen.” She was
embittered against the High Commissioner, and the Colonial Government,
and, like other advocates for the rights of the “Black man,” was under
the impression that the Government could do nothing right, and her
favourites could do nothing wrong.
Prolonged correspondence by telegraph, and indecision on the part of
the Colonial Government, caused the Column to be halted for over a
month at Kokstadt, an uninviting, treeless, barren waste, to the great
vexation of all Ranks. To me it was less irksome, as I had the interest
of the Political situation, the two Resident magistrates being ordered
to work with me, and, moreover, I had a delightful companion not only
in Captain Grenfell, whom I have mentioned, but in Lieutenant Arthur
Bigge,[157] Royal Artillery. He came to me with a good reputation, and
I saw a great deal of him in Camp, although on the lines of march but
little, having chosen him to make a road sketch from King William’s
Town to Maritzburg, which he did very well. He and Grenfell accompanied
me to Umfundisweeni, where I was sent by the High Commissioner to
interview Umquikela.
I went down on the 17th of August with an escort of 20 Mounted
Infantry, and Mrs. Jenkins, outside whose garden I pitched my tent,
did her best to induce Umquikela to meet me. She was an interesting
old lady, but had lived so long amongst the Pondos as to lose the
sense of justice where they were concerned. She was very angry with
Macaula, Chief of the Bacas, because he had just killed a number of
Pondos, and she inveighed against his conceit in having 22 wives, as
he was too small a chief to have that number. I asked whether that was
her only objection? She said, Yes; she thought it was presumptuous of
him. She told me in the course of conversation it was difficult to
explain, how earnestly she prayed for the Pondos when they invaded
Bacaland. I asked, was not that rather hard on the Bacas, because
they had done nothing wrong? I got no reply to this, and politeness
as a guest prevented my saying that her prayers did not seem to have
influenced the result, for although at first the Pondos, owing to
their great numerical superiority, carried all before them, yet for
some unaccountable reason they became panic-stricken, fled, and were
slaughtered in great numbers by the pursuing Bacas.
Umquikela at first agreed to meet me on the 17th, but I had assented
to it being altered to 8 a.m. on the 18th, explaining that I could not
wait longer, as I was due at the Ixopo, 50 miles to the north-east
of Kokstadt, on the 19th. At nine o’clock on the 18th I received a
message asking me to wait till 2 p.m., and shortly after that hour Mrs.
Jenkins, who was playing the part of “Sister Anne” in _Blue Beard_,
triumphantly pointed out to me a crowd of natives coming over the hill
about three-quarters of a mile distant. There, however, Umquikela
remained, and nothing would induce him to come nearer. Mrs. Jenkins,
his adopted mother, sent him many messages, and at five o’clock in
the evening told me she fully admitted I had given him every chance,
and said she thought it was of no use for me to remain; so I started
on my 40-mile ride back to Kokstadt, which I reached before daylight,
and at three o’clock that day was on the Ixopo, where General Thesiger
came to dine and sleep, in the little inn. With the kind thought which
he always had for others, he, although a teetotaler, brought down a
couple of bottles of Perrier Jouet champagne. We stayed up most of
the night talking of the Pondos, about whom, and also the Magistrates
in the neighbourhood, the General wished to report to the High
Commissioner. Before we parted it was nearly morning, and to my great
pleasure he told me the Column might move on by easy marches towards
Maritzburg, leaving behind two Companies of the Buffs, which were in
the neighbourhood.
I brought to the attention of the General the fact that the Imperial
Government was paying 30s. per diem for every waggon throughout the
month we remained at Kokstadt, and urged that sufficient waggons and
oxen should be purchased to complete with Regimental transport any
force which might be sent into Zululand. This the General undertook to
consider, and when on the 31st of August I rode into Maritzburg a few
hours in advance of the Column, he told me the principle was approved,
and I was to report to him the cost.
I left Maritzburg on the 7th September, having spent a week in
formulating a scheme for Regimental transport, and on my way up country
with my Staff officer, Captain E. R. P. Woodgate,[158] received
authority to purchase sufficient to equip the 90th Light Infantry,
at a cost of £60,000. On reaching Utrecht on the 17th, I inspected
the Left Wing of the battalion, and found that the men were as badly
provided with kit as were their comrades with whom I had been serving
in the Amatola Mountains. Insufficient Regimental Necessaries had been
brought out with the battalion--as previously stated. I had hoped that
the Left Wing, which had been stationary, would be better equipped, but
the Regimental reserve store of Necessaries landed with the companies
consisted of four flannel shirts, and four mess tins, and no steps had
been taken prior to my arrival to complete the men with equipment. The
District Commandant, writing from Pieter-Maritzburg, at first resented
my strong representations on the subject, but it was time that somebody
spoke out, because 5 soldiers had just been sent up from the Base,
not only unarmed, but unclothed. I was supported, however, by General
Thesiger, and from that date until the end of the Zulu Campaign, my
suggestion that no soldier should leave the Base without being properly
equipped was carried out.
When I returned to Natal in 1881, I found the battalions had slipped
back to the old state of unreadiness, for when I inspected two at
Lang’s Neck I found many of the men had only one, partly worn, pair of
boots. There can be no doubt that the Regimental system of that time,
which practically left all Supplies in the hands of the Quartermaster,
and induced the Company officers to regard him as a Store holder who
might be expected to produce anywhere, and at the shortest notice,
anything required, was faulty.
The War Office arrangements left much to be desired. When the battalion
was ordered out in consequence of the Gaikas having revolted, it might
have been reasonably expected that the men would have to encamp, and
possibly to fight. They were generally very young, for all recruits
were embarked, and although there was an excellent system amongst
the non-commissioned officers, yet many of the older ones were not
allowed to go out. Thus the battalion was deprived of some of its
most experienced old soldiers in order to save their passage money,
which at the time might be taken as £12. Such maladministration was
comparatively of little importance when fighting Gaikas, but it
would have been serious if the battalion had to meet the Zulu Army
in the field soon after it disembarked. This our young soldiers did
successfully twelve months later, but it was after marching 1000
miles, and living in what was, after we left the Perie Bush, a healthy
climate, for, with proper sanitary arrangements and the absence of
public-houses, the young soldiers improved out of recognition.
When I had looked round the little village of Utrecht, which possessed
a Laager, or square walled enclosure, 10 feet high,--without loop-holes
or platform from which men could fire over its walls; a magazine
standing on an ironstone soil, with no lightning conductor,--and had
taken the necessary and obvious steps to improve the situation, I rode
on the 19th to Luneberg, a German Lutheran Mission Station 36 miles to
the north-east. The pastor, the Reverend Mr. Filter, spoke English,
but neither his family nor his flock spoke aught but German, so I had
considerable colloquial practice for the next four days, during which I
bought oxen, waggons, and Indian corn, at a cost of £2500. The average
price of new waggons, with all their equipment, and a team of 18 oxen,
varied from £260 to £300. I liked the straightforward ways of the
German settlers, for, three days after I gave one of them a cheque for
£270, he returned it to me, saying one of his cows had “lung sickness”
and he feared that his oxen might be contaminated already, so he did
not venture to send my purchase to Utrecht.
After some conversation with Mr. Filter and his family, I went to see
Faku, the Chief sent by Cetewayo to frighten the Dutch settlers away
from the border, which he had done effectually. I was curious to see
the so-called military Kraal about which I had read while still in
England. It was made of wattles, 6 feet in height, and 22 yards in
diameter. He asked me, “Are you going to invade our country?” “No, not
without orders; and so far as I know such orders are not contemplated.”
He was impressed by my being unarmed, carrying only a riding-whip,
while he sat surrounded by twenty of his warriors. The result of
my visit was that he sent to Cetewayo, saying he was satisfied
that no immediate invasion of the country would be made from the
Luneberg-Utrecht side, and the Maqulusi tribe, which had been assembled
in the Inhlobane Mountains, was sent home.
Next day I started with my interpreter, Paliso, who had accompanied
me from the Amatola district, Kaffraria, to ride southwards, and then
along the Yagpad (hunting road). I intended to stop the night at
Potter’s store, 35 miles distant, on the Pemvane River, which, as I was
told at Luneberg, the owner, from his friendship with the Maqulusi, had
been able to keep open, although the district had been abandoned by the
Dutchmen. When I reached it, however, I found it was practically empty,
and its owner had left.
The Zulus were in a state of excitement: four regiments had recently
gone to Ulundi on the King’s summons, and four more were then moving
down. The men to whom we spoke were so truculent in their behaviour,
asking when the Germans were going to obey Cetewayo’s orders and
leave Luneberg, and showing, moreover, so strong a desire to take
my kit, that I decided to go on another 35 miles until I got out of
the disputed territory. In my 70-mile ride that day the result of
Cetewayo’s message was apparent, for there was only one farmhouse with
a roof on it, and most of the gardens and fields were being cultivated
by Zulus. The mules pulling the Cape cart with my luggage were quite
fresh at nightfall when I crossed the Blood River, but my three horses
all showed signs of fatigue, and after I halted, the horse I bought
at Cape Town, which had gone gaily up to that time, died after ten
minutes’ pain.
I spent the next ten days purchasing and organising transport, in
obtaining which and some mealies I expended £10,000, which rose to over
£50,000 by the 1st June 1879. I was obliged to employ my one Staff
officer in examining roads, and thus I had to do more than I was really
able to carry out to my satisfaction.
On the 1st October, General Thesiger wrote to me that the High
Commissioner wished to encourage the Luneberg settlers to remain on
their farms, in spite of Cetewayo’s notice to quit, and asking me if
I could raise a Volunteer force. I replied that this was impossible;
and on the 16th, the General being away, his chief Staff officer,
reiterating Sir Bartle Frere’s wishes, directed me to be prepared to
take the Utrecht garrison to Luneberg, and suggested that I should tell
the Germans I was coming. Next day the High Commissioner writing to me
in the same strain, as had the General on the 1st October, explained
his anxiety to prevent the Germans moving, and his hope that I would
do all I could to help them, adding that, of course, he did not intend
me to take any Military steps without the General’s approval. He ended
his letter by expressing his gratitude for the work I had done in
Pondoland, and for my successful dealings with the Chiefs there. To the
chief Staff officer I wrote that the main risk of the movement would
lie in its being known in advance, and that if the troops arrived at
Luneberg before the Zulus got warning, in my opinion nothing would
happen; and in this view I was supported by the Landdrost of Utrecht,
Mr. Rudolph, who knew the Zulus well.
During the first week in October, Witch doctors went round the kraals
on the border, “doctoring” with charms the males who did not belong
to the regiments summoned to Ulundi; and on the 14th, Mr. Rudolph
warned me that unless I supported the Luneberg settlers at once they
would leave, as the friendly Zulus in the neighbourhood, apprehensive
of being massacred, had slept out of their kraals for several nights.
On the 15th I forwarded the Landdrost’s official letter to the chief
Staff officer, explaining that, owing to the importance of keeping the
Germans at Luneberg, which was our line of communication with Derby,
and because of the number of friendly Zulus around the settlement whose
service I wished to engage, I had decided to take two Companies there
to support the Germans. I was urged to do so by a Dutchman named Piet
Uys, whose acquaintance I made at this time, and whose father had been
killed by Zulus at Weenen in 1838.
I wrote privately to the General the same day, saying I had considered
the responsibility I incurred in leaving Utrecht for a day or two with
only one Company (until the Company I had called up from Newcastle
could arrive), and had come to the conclusion that if he were present
he would approve of my action. I continued, “I believe many people
will consider two Companies too few for Luneberg. I think we ought to
have more; but if the Zulus come there, I hope our men will not fight
less well than their predecessors did at Lucknow. It is possible you
may not approve at Maritzburg of my action, but believing you would
do so if you could see and hear all I see and hear, I feel I should
be unworthy of the confidence you put in me if I hesitated to do what
I thought was right.” My General, with the generosity with which he
always treated me, replied, “You have taken a serious responsibility
upon yourself, and I doubt very much if you have acted wisely. However,
you may depend upon my backing you up, as of course, in your position,
you are bound to act in whatever way you consider necessary under what,
I presume, are very pressing circumstances.” The High Commissioner,
regarding my action in the Political point of view, wrote, “I think
Colonel Evelyn Wood deserves our gratitude and acknowledgments for
taking the responsibility and saving us from the disgrace of leaving
the Germans without protection.” Later, the Governor of Natal, who did
not generally agree with Sir Bartle Frere’s views, wrote to the same
effect, saying that my action had effectually stopped any further raid.
I wrote to the General on the 22nd October: “I am sorry I have not
your full approval of the course I have adopted, though with your
usual kindness you support me. I thought it over for twenty-four
hours. On the one hand, I incurred certain Military risks incidental
to all warfare, and especially when engaged with such small forces as
are usually employed against savages; on the other hand, I risked the
almost certain abandonment of the Pongola Valley, involving the loss of
the assistance of the farm Kafirs and separation from the Swazies....
Though I fully appreciate your generous kindness in endorsing my
action, I am anxious, if ill results come from what I think was my
duty, it should be known I acted after receiving a copy of your letter
to Sir Bartle Frere.[159] I suppose you hardly realise how anxious
your unvaried support makes me to act in accordance with your wishes.
A ‘safe man’ would not have run the risk, but I did what I believe you
would have told me to do if you had been here.”
When Parliament met in February 1879, the Secretary of State for the
Colonies, in answering a question put by a Member of the Opposition,
explained Luneberg was outside the district on which there had been
an arbitration, adding, “Colonel Wood could not have taken any other
course consistently with his duty.”
I started two Companies on the 16th October for Luneberg, but the next
morning they had only got 7 miles on their journey, being stopped by
the difficulties of a mountain-track over the Elandsberg--and it became
necessary for me to join them, in order to ensure their progress, as
I was anxious to get the Companies intrenched at Luneberg before the
Border Zulus knew of the movement. By dint of considerable exertion
they reached the Mission Station on the afternoon of the 18th. I had
ridden into Luneberg on the 17th, when I had to undertake a distasteful
task. I had purchased from Mr. Filter an ox, for the men’s rations; but
on my asking him to be good enough to have it killed, he said that was
impossible, and that I must kill it myself. I asked, “Surely some of
your farm Zulus will kill it?” “Yes, certainly,” he assented; “but they
will kill it as slowly as possible, inflicting as much pain as they
can before the animal dies, transfixing it with assegais in non-vital
places.” I then tried to make my Fingoe interpreter, Paliso, slaughter
the ox, but he absolutely declined, saying that he had never done such
a thing; so, finally, I had to go in the kraal, and shoot it.
When I had settled the Companies in their camp, I sent to tell Manyoba
(whose kraal was 5 miles from Luneberg, and who, in the absence of
Faku, was Cetewayo’s representative) that I wished to see him, but
received no answer; and after waiting two hours I rode out to his
kraal, accompanied by Paliso.
In the kraal there were women only, and they informed me that the
Chief was away on a hill. About 2 miles off I saw a crowd of men, and
suspecting it was Manyoba and his kindred, I went on. On riding up
I found about 100 men sitting down, most of them with guns, and the
remainder with assegais. I asked for Manyoba, but was assured that
he was away. I knew that he had been seized by the Boers some years
before, and imprisoned for a considerable time on account of cattle
thefts, and believed he feared the same sort of treatment. One or two
men came out of the crowd, and said they wanted to know why I wished to
see their Chief. I explained that I had brought soldiers to Luneberg,
not to attack the Zulus, or, indeed, to cross the border, but because
Faku and, indeed, Manyoba had threatened to kill the Germans unless
they left the settlement. The Zulus wished to argue as to our rights,
but this I declined, saying that as the Chief was not there, they
could give him my message, and I should go back. I was riding away,
when there came a shout of “Stop!” and Manyoba, surrounded by a guard
of a dozen men, came forward. Two of the younger men caught up their
guns, which were on the ground, but the Chief told them to put them
down, saying, “They are only two.” I stayed twenty minutes, and I think
reassured Manyoba; but he must have had a strange idea of our power, to
be nervous of one White and one Black man, when he was surrounded by
100 of his tribe.