BESIEGING LADYSMITH.
Not a day passed without a set-to taking place between one or more of
the commandos and the English. If the latter did not come out, the
Boers would go in, and, in many instances, some very hot skirmishes
resulted. Such sports lasted usually about half an hour, when the
English, almost invariably turned tail and ran back into their places
of safety.
All burghers not directly engaged in these skirmishes, would secure
good seats among the rocks and light their pipes and enjoy themselves
watching these shooting matches, as much as they would Barnum's circus.
One day about fifty of the Irish boys were induced to go on a visit
to a big fort, right at the town, and they went; but just how they
got out of the circle of fire within which they found themselves is
a mystery to them and to me to this day, but all came back safe and
sound, bringing with them a few good horses and mules, and reported one
captain and three Tommies killed. They went without my knowledge, and
certainly I would never have given my consent, for it was an idiotic
act on their part. The boys themselves, however, were not to blame.
They were induced to believe that the Boers were going too, and that
they would be strongly re-enforced by them. The Boers had no idea of
going, for they had too much sense, and had the boys known this, they
would never have gone; so they told me on their return. I was still
in the hospital, and that is the reason I knew nothing about it. They
complained to me that "they" were making fools of them and wanted me to
return to camp and stop that kind of business. Nothing could possibly
be gained by the venture, and the chances were a hundred to one that
much loss of life would result. When the Boers saw them actually at
the town they thought the Irish had gone crazy or had deserted to the
English. For several days afterwards, some of the boys would slip
around the ravines, get near the town, jump some horses and mules, and,
at full speed, under cannon and maxim fire, return to camp. The English
always kept some coolies on guard over their horses and mules, but just
one shot was enough to put each coolie to flight. The English finally
put up a trap to catch the boys and some of them came nearly falling
into it. They concealed a hand maxim and two men in a pit near the
horses, and with a small, but strong rope, tied each horse to a stake.
The coolie had orders, of course, to run as soon as the Irish boys came
in sight. It was supposed that the boys would make a rush to start the
horses off on a run, and, on finding the horses tied, would stop to
loosen them. But the boys discovered the ropes, surmised that a trap
was laid, and made a hasty retreat, though not before this concealed
maxim and two men popped up above the ground and began to pepper them.
Sergeant Major O'Reilly was particularly smart at this business, and he
took no less than thirty horses and mules. He is Africander born, but
an Irishman to the backbone, and has all the pluck and daring of his
race. They were not permitted to go again after horses, because it was
thought too risky.
The English were constantly trying to break through the Free Stater's
line on the west side, for, having broken through them, they could
cross the Tugela River near Spion Kop, go around the Boers at Colenso,
and proceed to Maritzburg, so here it was that most of the heavy
fighting took place during the siege. Yet with all their cannon and
men, they could never break through that weak little line. The Free
State men were bold, and would often rush through the English lines and
bring out thousands of cattle, horses and mules. Almost every night
there was an alarm, and, with two or three exceptions, it proved to be
always a false one, but all had to turn out just the same, because it
would not do to take any chances. The result was that everybody, at
night, would roll up in his blanket with boots and clothes on, that
he might be ready in an instant to use his rifle. These alarms would
generally occur between one and two o'clock in the morning, and when
we heard the rifles popping away in many directions, out we would run,
take our fighting positions and there sit and watch till daylight. I
never rolled out of blanket but twice without feeling that the alarm
was false, and on the first occasion I told the boys that we were in
for a red hot fight. It was on this occasion that about 200 of the
Lydenburg Commando were posted on guard to our left and front, that
is, just in front of General Joubert's headquarters. It was about two
o'clock in the morning when we were aroused by a rifle fire so terrific
that one could easily have believed that all the forces about Ladysmith
were engaged in a hot fight. Those Lydenburgers were so close that we
felt we were actually in the fighting line, yet were not engaged. You
may be sure that we did not lose a second in getting into our positions.
As the fighting continued, we could easily see the sparks of fire from
the rifles, yet we could not see any English, nor could we discover
any return fire. In this state of doubt and anxiety we sat and
watched for half an hour, when the firing ceased. It ceased because
the Lydenburgers, feeling that they could not hold their position
any longer, retreated and took up another post at General Joubert's
headquarters. For a circuit of three miles all the commandos were in a
terrible state of excitement because they believed that the English had
made a strong attack on Joubert's headquarters. All the men felt that
the English would have to clean up the Irish boys before the General's
camp would be taken, but they didn't know but that the Irish boys had
been finished. General Joubert was not in the least excited, but was
very angry at the Lydenburgers for leaving their position, for he knew
there were no English on the ground, otherwise they would have followed
up. He sent a couple of good men to investigate. They found that a poor
old mule had escaped from Ladysmith and had come out our way in search
of something to eat and that poor old mule was quietly eating his grass
as if nothing had happened, although at least 10,000 shots had been
fired close to his ears. The Lydenburgers were then ordered back to
their post and all was serene once more.
Now I shall tell about another alarm when I was sure we had a fight on
hand. It was about two or three o'clock in the morning when hot firing
was heard right by our camp, not to the left and front as before, but
to our left and rear this time. I felt terribly frightened and hustled
the men out as they were never hustled before. I felt sure that the
English were actually firing into General Joubert's headquarters. The
firing did not last more than three minutes; then all was quiet again.
One of the Irish boys went out to investigate. He moved carefully, and
after awaiting about twenty minutes, returned and reported, "Oh it is
those damned Lydenburgers again." Some Lydenburgers were guarding an
English Kaffir spy that some of the Boer boys had captured, and, the
night being dark, the Kaffir made a break for liberty. Not only the
guard, but all the Lydenburgers, 1,000 strong, jumped out and began to
fire, on the supposition that there must be some English somewhere in
front.
That Lydenburg Commando could stir up more false alarms than all the
other commandos around Ladysmith put together, yet during the whole
war, I don't believe they were ever in a fight. David Schoeman was
commandant and Piet Swartz was the chief veldtcornet, and wherever you
found them, you might be sure you would find no English, and that you
could lie down to sleep without any fear of being disturbed, except by
a false alarm.
Every morning when it was sufficiently light to see moving objects in
and about Ladysmith, all the Long Toms and howitzers would open up and
drive every one into the hole provided for safety. After that, silence
would reign until about ten a.m., when an artillery duel of ten or
fifteen minutes' duration would be fought, just to vary the monotony.
Then all would be quiet again until about four p.m. when some English
cavalry would come out to see if there were any gates open in the
Free Stater's line. A lively skirmish would ensue, the English would
fly back to their holes, and the day's work was done. As the English
were kept in their holes all day, of course they had to get out and
do their necessary work at night. The Boers thought they would hamper
them somewhat in their work, so at sundown, they would load and aim
all their cannon and at the hour of midnight would all fire at once.
This caused the English so much annoyance that they in turn tried the
same game on us, but never did us any harm. I have now given the usual
program both for the day and night during the siege of Ladysmith, and
while I could write page after page describing incident after incident
that occurred during the long siege, yet I do not care to do it,
because it would mean more work for me and prove tiresome to the reader.
In a nut-shell, the Boers had a delightful time, lived in luxury, had
their sports, smoked their pipes, drank their coffee, entertained
visiting friends and when there was a fight they were always ready for
it.