WAR DECLARED AT AN END BY ROBERTS--LADY ROBERTS CAPTURED--DE WET
CORNERED--GENERAL CLEMENT'S CAMP TAKEN BY GENERAL DE LA REY--DE WET'S
STRATEGY.
But little was done by General Botha in the Eastern Transvaal; but
General Chris. Botha, one of the best generals in the war, gave General
French a great deal of trouble in the Ermelo district. French with
his 11,000 men could make no headway and had to content himself with
burning farms. In the Free State, during this month, General De Wet was
having a very warm time. About 50,000 men were trying constantly to
surround him, but he was too smart for them. He continued to capture
and turn loose many men, and kept the English in a constant tremble.
During the same month, the English left General de la Rey severely
alone in order to concentrate their whole attention on General De Wet,
who was fairly disgracing the English army and driving Roberts and
Kitchener crazy.
Lord Roberts had declared the war at an end, and here was General De
Wet daily tearing his army to pieces. He hates De Wet yet. During
December--although the war was at an end,--there was some very warm
and interesting fighting, Generals De Wet and de la Rey being the
principal actors. In fact, there was so much fighting, and the Boers
were so successful, that Lord Roberts pulled up stakes, fled for London
and left Kitchener to continue his dirty work. I assure him that he
could not have left a man more capable for such work than Kitchener,
and he must have known his man pretty well. During this month General
Louis Botha was inactive. General Ben Viljoen played havoc, however,
with the English at Helvetia on top of the fortified mountain just
north of Machadadorp. With 150 men General Viljoen made a night march
and attack on Helvetia forts, took several of them, over a hundred
prisoners and the 4.7 gun marked in big letters, "Lady Roberts." Many
of the officers and men were killed or wounded and his night venture
was a great success.
He did not lose any men killed or wounded, although on the following
day the English in force pursued them. He brought "Lady Roberts"
to his laager where she was greeted with shouts of joy, thoroughly
inspected and admired by about 600 demoralized Boers. He kept her for
a while then blew her up with dynamite. What a savage brutal act this
was! It was just like the cowardly Boers! When all the ammunition was
exhausted, we blew up our Long Toms, and Lord Kitchener, having found
the remains of one of them, collected the pieces and shipped the whole
to London to show what the English army was doing in South Africa.
We would have given him Lady Roberts' remains too, had he shown any
desire to have them, but he didn't and they are wasting away on top
of the Totausberg Mountain. The same Irish boys with one other, Dick
Hunt, were in the attack on the Helvetia forts. Dick and Mike Halley
were both barefooted and were looking for boots, yet they didn't have
the heart to fit themselves out with the dead Tommies' boots. Shortly
afterwards, however, they threw aside modesty and were always well
supplied. On the return from Helvetia Mike Halley's horse gave out,
so he stopped, unsaddled, and put him out to feed and rest while he
himself lay down to take a nap. In a little while Veldtcornet Ceroni
came along, found Mike and asked him why he did not go ahead, as the
English were following up. Mike told him that his horse was played out
and that he had stopped to give him some rest and grass. "Yes," replied
the veldtcornet, "he will take plenty of rest now, for there he lies
stone dead." Sure enough he was dead, and Mike's bare feet must now
beat a long road. The veldtcornet took his saddle and soforth, and
brave little Mike smiled and went on his way, and when he reached camp
the veldtcornet gave him a present of a good horse.
I have forgotten the name of the captain who was in charge of "Lady
Roberts" and who was captured with her, but remember that he was
brokenhearted, felt disgraced and was disgusted generally because such
a small force had attacked and taken those forts, the guns and so many
prisoners. He was a terrible Englishman, and the sight of the Irish
boys made him wild. He could not understand why an Irishman would fight
against the Queen and her forces. Had he asked any of those Irish boys
he would have had their reasons in a very few sharp words.
In the Vryheid district near the Natal border, General Chris. Botha, a
most lovable man, was firing away at the English, and putting them into
shivers and doing good execution as well, yet Lord Roberts had declared
that the war was over. In the Free State General De Wet was again in
great trouble, for he was completely surrounded and it was impossible
for him to escape, for Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener had said so.
All England was ablaze with joy. The people of London were literally
wild, so rejoiced were they, but when next day they learned that the
wily De Wet had departed and taken their two guns with him, and several
prisoners, a heavy gloom seemed to settle over that city. I will, for a
change, go into the details, to a small extent, to show the difference
between the British and the Boer officers. De Wet had his laager among
some small kopjes where he put up a dozen or so tents. The English
could just see the tops of the tents and knew that the dangerous De
Wet was in one of them. They completely surrounded those tents and at
daylight the following morning they were to make a determined attack
and take not only those tents but all their occupants. General De Wet
saw the English and determined they might have the tents, but that
they would not get the occupants. When night came, he left his tents
standing, made a sly march and passed between the English commands.
When daylight came he was in their rear, patiently watching for them to
attack his abandoned tents.
He was not disappointed, for they opened up all their cannon on those
poor, unoffending tents, and kept up a merciless fire for hours before
they resolved to go and accept General De Wet's surrender. When the
cannon ceased to roar, all the English lines advanced and when they
were well away General De Wet made a rear attack on the cannon. The
English were at once convinced that General De Wet was in front of
them and that some strong Boer commando was in the rear of them, and
possibly that terrible man, General George Brand, was in command of
them. They became utterly demoralized, hustled to escape and did
escape, but De Wet captured two of their guns and rode off, satisfied
with losing a few old empty tents.
With all their thousands the English were always outwitted by General
De Wet who generally enjoyed a signal success. In anticipation, the
English people would become overjoyed by the glowing reports of
the English generals describing the little pen into which they had
driven and confined General De Wet and his men and from which it was
impossible for him to escape. But when the following day they learned
that General De Wet had not only escaped but taken some prisoners with
him, they would sneak home, remain quiet and anxiously await more
glowing reports from the English generals. Isn't this a sure sign of
degeneracy? Well I think so.
Now I will leave the Free State and stop in Cape Colony for a moment.
Of course, all was peaceful there and the people were loyal British
subjects, for the London _Times_ said so. But Lord Kitchener felt that
a strong British force in those parts might induce the people to be
more loyal, and accordingly he kept one there. General Kritzinger with
500 or 600 men showed himself on the Boer side and at once made it very
uncomfortable for the English in loyal Cape Colony. The war was over,
because Lord Roberts had said so, yet here was hard fighting in Cape
Colony as well as in the Free State and the Transvaal.
Now I will go into the Rustenburg district and see to what a mass of
pulp the English have crushed General de la Rey and his patriots. The
English had a strong force in the town of Rustenburg, and of course
they must be fed, and to feed them long convoys heavily guarded were
necessary. General de la Rey never denied food to the hungry in his
life, but on this occasion, when a long convoy surrounded with numerous
Tommies was slowly moving towards Rustenburg to feed the hungry, he
could not resist the temptation of making an attack, for his own men
might be hungry in a week or so. The result was that the convoy was
taken, many Tommies buried on the roadside, and several of them taken
prisoners, only to be disarmed and set free again. In the middle of the
month General Clements, in conjunction with other generals and their
commands, planned to surround and take in this old farmer, de la Rey.
They planned well and their intentions were good enough, but the old
farmer did not exactly like the idea and acted accordingly.
At the base of the Magaliesburg Mountains but a few miles from Hekpoort
there are a long line of kopjes excellently situated for defensive
work. The place is known by the Boers as Nooitgedacht, "never thought
of," but I am sure that the Boers will never forget, and that General
Clements will ever remember it.
General de la Rey realized that it was a very strong position and
concluded to take it for his own use. He had an exceedingly strong
and capable brother officer with him, in young General Beyers, who
commanded the Waterburg commando. I do not believe that there was a
better fighting general in the field than this brave and patriotic
Beyers, and like those great generals, Celliers and Kemp, he was always
ready for daring work. The English had planned to surround and take
General de la Rey, but this Commandant-General of Western Transvaal
resolved to take in the English. So he told General Beyers to charge
them from one side and he would charge them from the other. Of course,
General Clements' force was much stronger than the combined forces of
General de la Rey and General Beyers, but that made no difference so
far as either de la Rey or Beyers was concerned.
About the middle of December, in the early morning, General Beyers,
with his 350 men, charged over a half mile of open ground and came
into close fighting quarters with Clements' force. Kopje after kopje
was taken, and at times the Boers and English were within two yards
of each other, yet the former continued to kill and drive till they
completely routed the whole force and killed and captured nearly 800
men. The Boers did not know where Clements' cannon were, or they
would have captured them, too. General Beyers' attack was a little
previous, because General de la Rey had not had time enough to reach
the charging point before Beyers had finished his work. Clements and
his whole command, together with his cannon, would have been captured
without doubt, had General Beyers delayed his charge for twenty
minutes. But it was dark and very difficult for two forces to work
in perfect unison. At any rate General de la Rey had the position he
wished, and General Clements was in rapid retreat.
All this took place in the middle of December, yet the war was over,
for Lord Roberts, the Mighty, the High, the Great Financier and
Politician, had so declared nearly four months previously, and Conan
Doyle had countersigned his declaration.
Before the end of December and the end of the year 1900, many Free
Staters with General George Brand and General Hertzog, both able and
determined officers, had crossed into the Colony, and other forces had
entered Griqualand West, where some convoys were taken. So there was
daily fighting in Cape Colony, the Free State and the Transvaal, and
the Boers were successful in all the main engagements, this, too, in
the face of the fact that the war was declared at an end both by Lord
Roberts and Conan Doyle.
[Illustration: EIGHT BOER SISTERS OF WELLINGTON, CAPE COLONY]