SOUTH AFRICA AND THE
TRANSVAAL WAR
[Illustration:
Maj. F. S. Maude
Maj. Hon. A. H. Hamilton
Lord Methuen
Col. Mackinnon, C.I.V.
Capt. C. F. Vandeleur
GENERAL AND STAFF
Photo by Gregory & Co., London]
SOUTH AFRICA
AND THE
TRANSVAAL WAR
BY
LOUIS CRESWICKE
AUTHOR OF "ROXANE," ETC.
WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS
IN SIX VOLUMES
VOL. V.--FROM THE DISASTER AT KOORN SPRUIT TO
LORD ROBERTS'S ENTRY INTO PRETORIA
EDINBURGH: T. C. & E. C. JACK
MANCHESTER: KENNETH MACLENNAN, 75 PICCADILLY
Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO.
At the Ballantyne Press
CONTENTS--VOL. V.
PAGE
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE vii
CHAPTER I
THE DISASTER AT KOORN SPRUIT 1
THE REDDERSBURG MISHAP 16
ESCAPE OF PRISONERS FROM PRETORIA 21
PREPARATIONS FOR ACTION 32
THE BATTLE OF BOSHOP, APRIL 5 38
CHAPTER II
MAFEKING, APRIL 46
AFFAIRS IN RHODESIA 53
CHAPTER III
THE SIEGE OF WEPENER 54
OPERATIONS FOR RELIEF 68
THE TENTACLES AT WORK 82
CHAPTER IV
THE GREAT ADVANCE--
FROM BLOEMFONTEIN, BRANDFORT, AND THE VET TO
WELGELEGEN, MAY 9 87
FROM THABANCHU TO WINBURG AND WELGELEGEN
(GENERAL IAN HAMILTON), MAY 9 95
TOWARDS THE ZAND RIVER TO KROONSTAD, MAY 12 101
CHAPTER V
MAFEKING, MAY 108
WITH COLONEL MAHON'S FORCE 117
ON THE WESTERN FRONTIER 132
THE RELIEF 134
HOW THE NEWS WAS RECEIVED BY THE BRITISH EMPIRE 140
CHAPTER VI
FROM KROONSTAD TO JOHANNESBURG 144
CHAPTER VII
GENERAL RUNDLE'S MARCH TO SENEKAL 154
THE HIGHLAND BRIGADE 156
LORD METHUEN'S MARCH FROM BOSHOP TO KROONSTAD, MAY 29 159
THE BATTLE OF BIDDULPH'S BERG, MAY 28, 29 161
FIGHTING ON THE WESTERN BORDER, MAY 30 169
CHAPTER VIII
GENERAL BULLER'S ADVANCE TO NEWCASTLE 171
CHAPTER IX
THE INTERREGNUM AT PRETORIA 179
FROM JOHANNESBURG TO PRETORIA 184
APPENDIX
REARRANGEMENT OF STAFF 193
DEATHS IN ACTION AND FROM DISEASE 195
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS--VOL. V.
MAP SHOWING THE LINES OF ADVANCE FROM BLOEMFONTEIN TO PRETORIA
_At Front_
1. _COLOURED PLATES_
PAGE
GENERAL AND STAFF _Frontispiece_
SERGEANT--18TH HUSSARS 48
MOUNTED INFANTRY 56
SCOUT--6TH DRAGOON GUARDS 68
THE ROYAL MARINES 76
NORTHUMBERLAND FUSILIERS AND DURHAM LIGHT INFANTRY 80
WEST SURREY AND EAST SURREY 96
OFFICERS OF THE SEAFORTH HIGHLANDERS 160
2. _FULL-PAGE PLATES_
THE DISASTER AT KOORNSPRUIT 8
THE REDDERSBURG MISHAP 16
BRITISH PRISONERS ON THEIR WAY TO PRETORIA 24
LORD ROBERTS'S COLUMN CROSSING THE SAND RIVER DRIFT 100
THE SURRENDER OF KROONSTADT 104
MAFEKING: "THE WOLF THAT NEVER SLEEPS" 108
THE LAST ATTACK ON MAFEKING 136
LORD ROBERTS AND HIS ARMY CROSSING THE VAAL RIVER 140
ROYAL HORSE ARTILLERY CROSSING THE VAAL 144
GENERAL IAN HAMILTON THANKING THE GORDONS FOR THEIR
ATTACK AT THE BATTLE OF DOORNKOP 148
THE CITY OF LONDON IMPERIAL VOLUNTEERS SUPPORTING GENERAL
HAMILTON'S LEFT FLANK IN THE ACTION AT DOORNKOP 152
HAULING DOWN THE TRANSVAAL FLAG AT JOHANNESBURG 156
THE GRENADIER GUARDS AT THE BATTLE OF BIDDULPH'S BERG 168
PURSUING THE BOERS AFTER THE FIGHT ON HELPMAKAAR HEIGHTS 176
SCENE IN PRETORIA SQUARE, JUNE 5 184
THE ENTRY OF LORD ROBERTS AND STAFF INTO PRETORIA 192
3. _FULL-PAGE PORTRAITS_
LIEUT.-GENERAL SIR ARCHIBALD HUNTER, K.C.B. 32
COLONEL LORD CHESHAM 40
LIEUT.-GENERAL SIR H. M. LESLIE-RUNDLE, K.C.B. 64
MAJOR-GENERAL POLE-CAREW 72
MAJOR-GENERAL IAN HAMILTON 88
LIEUT.-GENERAL SIR FREDERICK CARRINGTON, K.C.M.G. 112
LIEUT.-COLONEL BRYAN T. MAHON, D.S.O. 120
LIEUT.-COLONEL PLUMER 128
4. _MAPS AND ENGRAVINGS IN THE TEXT_
PLAN--KOORN SPRUIT DISASTER 5
MAP--DISTRICT S. AND E. OF BLOEMFONTEIN 15
THE MODEL SCHOOL, PRETORIA 22
NEW CAMP FOR BRITISH PRISONERS AT PRETORIA 29
FIELD GUN--ELSWICK BATTERY 39
THE NATIVE VILLAGE OF MAFEKING 47
MAFEKING POSTAGE STAMPS 52
THE DEFENCE OF WEPENER 58
WEPENER 66
OPERATIONS AT DEWETSDORP 76
MAP OF MOVEMENTS S. AND E. OF BLOEMFONTEIN 82
KENT COTTAGE, ST. HELENA 86
LORD ROBERTS AND STAFF WATCHING THE BOERS' RETREAT
FROM ZAND RIVER 103
KROONSTADT 107
GENERAL BADEN-POWELL AND OFFICERS AT MAFEKING 114
MAP AND ITINERARY, COLONEL MAHON'S MARCH 118
MAP OF ROUTE FROM N. FOR RELIEF OF MAFEKING 127
MAFEKING RAILWAY STATION 139
DEVIATION BRIDGE AT VEREENIGING 153
HIGHLANDERS AT THE END OF A FORCED MARCH 160
MAP OF PORTION OF NATAL 175
MAP--JOHANNESBURG TO PRETORIA, &C. 186
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE--Vol. V.
MARCH 1900.
=31.=--Loss of British convoy and seven guns at Koorn Spruit.
APRIL 1900.
=4.=--Capture of British troops by the Boers near Reddersburg.
=5.=--General Villebois killed near Boshop, and party of Boer
mercenaries captured by Lord Methuen.
General Clements received the submission of 4000 rebels.
British occupation of Reddersburg.
=7.=--Skirmish near Warrenton.
=9.=--Colonial Division attacked at Wepener.
=11.=--General Chermside promoted to command Third Division, vice
General Gatacre, ordered home.
=20.=--Boer positions attacked at Dewetsdorp.
=23.=--General Carrington arrived at Beira.
=25.=--Wepener siege raised.
General Chermside occupied Dewetsdorp.
Bloemfontein Waterworks recaptured.
=26.=--Sir C. Warren appointed Governor of Griqualand West.
=27.=--Thabanchu occupied.
=28.=--Fighting near Thabanchu Mountain.
MAY 1900.
=1.=--General Hamilton captured Houtnek.
=5.=--British occupation of Brandfort.
Lord Roberts's further advance to the Vet River.
=6.=--The Vet River passed and Smaldeel occupied.
=7.=--General Hunter occupied Fourteen Streams.
=8.=--Ladybrand deserted by the Boers.
=9.=--Capture of Welgelegen.
Mafeking Relief Force reached Vryburg.
=10.=--Battle of Zand River.
Occupation of Ventersburg.
=12.=--Lord Roberts occupied Kroonstad without resistance.
Commandant Eloff attacked Mafeking, and was captured by Col.
Baden-Powell.
=13.=--General Buller advanced towards the Biggarsberg.
=14.=--Occupation of Dundee.
=15.=--Occupation of Glencoe.
Mafeking Relief Force defeated the Boers at Kraaipan.
=16.=--Christiana occupied.
=17.=--General Ian Hamilton occupied Lindley.
Colonel Mahon, at the head of the relief force, entered
Mafeking.
Lord Methuen entered Hoopstad.
=18.=--Occupation of Newcastle.
=20.=--Colonel Bethune's Mounted Infantry ambushed near Vryheid.
=22.=--General Ian Hamilton occupied Heilbron after a series of
engagements. The main army, under Lord Roberts, pitched its
tents at Honing Spruit, and General French crossed the Rhenoster
to the north-west of the latter place.
=23.=--Rhenoster position turned.
=24.=--British Army entered the Transvaal, crossing the Vaal near
Parys, unopposed.
=27.=--The passage of the Vaal was completed by the British Army.
=28.=--Orange Free State formally annexed under the title of Orange
River Colony.
The Battle of Biddulph's Berg.
=29.=--Battle of Doornkop: Boers defeated.
Lord Roberts arrived at Germiston.
Kruger fled his capital at midnight amid the lamentations of the
populace.
=30.=--Occupation of Utrecht by General Hildyard.
Sir Charles Warren defeated the enemy near Douglas.
=31.=--Battalion of Irish Yeomanry captured at Lindley.
The British flag hoisted at Johannesburg.
JUNE 1900.
=5.=--The British flag hoisted in Pretoria.
[Illustration: MAP SHOWING THE LINES OF ADVANCE FROM BLOEMFONTEIN TO
PRETORIA.
(_The Rand District and the Movements around Pretoria are shown on Map
at p. 186._)]
EDINBURGH AND LONDON: T. C. AND E. C. JACK.
SOUTH AFRICA AND THE TRANSVAAL WAR
CHAPTER I
THE IMMORTAL HANDFUL[1]
MAFEKING, 18TH MAY 1900
Shout for the desperate host,
Handful of Britain's race,
Holding the lonely post
Under God's grace;
Guarding our England's fame
Over the open grave,
Shielding the Flag from shame--
Shout for the brave!
Ringed by a ruthless foe
Dared they the night attack,
Answered him blow for blow,
Hurling him back;
Cheering, the charge was pressed,
More than they held they hold,
Won bayonet at the breast--
Shout for the bold!
Long, long the days and nights;
Bitter the tales that came,
What of the distant fights?
Rumours of shame?
Scorning the doubts that swell,
Nursing the hope anew,
They did their duty well--
Shout for the true!
Shout for the glory won,
Empire of East and West!
Shout for each valiant son
Nursed at thy breast!
Fear could not find them out,
Death stalked there iron-shod,
Help found them Victors--shout
Praises to God!
--HAROLD BEGBIE.
DISASTER AT KOORN SPRUIT
The last volume closed with an account of Colonel Plumer's desperate
effort to relieve Mafeking on the 31st of March. On that unlucky day
events of a tragic, if heroical, nature were taking place elsewhere.
These have now to be chronicled. On the 18th of March a force was moved
out under the command of Colonel Broadwood to the east of Bloemfontein.
The troops were sent to garrison Thabanchu, to issue proclamations, and
to contribute to the pacification of the outlying districts. They were
also to secure a valuable consignment of flour from the Leeuw Mills. The
enemy was prowling about, and two commandos hovered north of the small
detached post at the mills. Reinforcements were prayed for, and a strong
patrol was sent off for the protection of the post, or to cover its
withdrawal in the event of attack. Meanwhile the enemy was "lying low,"
as the phrase is. Whereupon Colonel Pilcher pushed on to Ladybrand, made
a prisoner of the Landdrost, but, hearing of the advance of an
overwhelming number of the foe, retired with all promptness to
Thabanchu. The Boers, with the mobility characteristic of them, were
gathering together their numbers, determining if possible to prevent any
onward move of the forces, and bent at all costs on securing for their
own comfort and convenience the southern corner of the Free State,
whence the provender and forage of the future might be expected to come.
Without this portion of the grain country to fall back on, they knew
their activities would be crippled indeed.
In consequence, therefore, of the close proximity of these Federal
hordes, Colonel Broadwood made an application to head-quarters for
reinforcements, and decided to remove from Thabanchu. On Friday the 30th
he marched to Bloemfontein Waterworks, south of the Modder. His force
consisted of the 2nd Cavalry Brigade (10th Hussars and the composite
regiment of Household Cavalry), "Q," "T," and "U" Batteries R.H.A.
(formed into two six-gun batteries, "Q" and "U"), Rimington's Scouts,
Roberts's Horse, Queensland and Burma Mounted Infantry. The baggage
crossed the river, and outspanned the same evening. On the following
morning at 2 A.M. the force, having fought a rearguard action throughout
the night, arrived in safety at Sanna's Post. Here for a short time they
bivouacked, and here for a moment let us leave them.
At this time a mounted infantry patrol was scouring the country. They
were seen by some Boers who were scuttling across country from the
Ladybrand region, and these promptly hid in a convenient spruit, whence,
in the time that remained to them, they planned the ambush that was so
disastrous to our forces and so exhilarating to themselves. There are
differences of opinion regarding this story. Some believe that the
ambush was planned earlier by a skilful arrangement in concert with the
Boer hordes--the hornets of Ladybrand, whose nest had been disturbed by
the invasion of Colonel Pilcher--who owed Colonel Broadwood a debt. They
declare that the hiding-place was carefully sought out, so that those
sheltered therein should, on a given signal from De Wet, act in accord
with others of their tribe, and blockade the passage of the British, who
were known--everything was known--to be returning to Bloemfontein.
According to Boer reports, the plans for the cutting off and surrounding
of Colonel Broadwood were carefully made out, but only at the last
moment, and if, for once, Boer reports can be believed, the successful
scheme may be looked upon as one of the finest pieces of strategy with
which De Wet may be accredited. The Boer tale runs thus: The Dutchman on
the 28th, with a commando of 1400 and four guns and a Maxim-Nordenfeldt,
was moving towards Thabanchu for the purpose of attacking Sanna's Post,
where he believed a force of 200 of the British to be. He did all his
travelling by night, and found himself on the evening of the 30th at Jan
Staal's farm, on the Modder River, to the north of Sanna's Post. Then,
in the very nick of time, he was informed by a Boer runner that Colonel
Broadwood's convoy was moving from Thabanchu. Quickly a council of war
was gathered together. It was a matter of life or death. De Wet, with
Piet de Wet, Piet Cronje, Wessel, Nell, and Fourie, put their heads
together and schemed. They were doubtless assisted by the foreign
attachés who were present. The result of the hurried meeting was the
division of the Boer force into three commandos. The General himself,
with 400 men, decided to strain every nerve to reach Koorn Spruit and
ensconce himself before the arrival of the convoy. Being well acquainted
with the topography of the country, the race was possible--400 picked
horsemen against slow-moving, drowsy cattle! The thing was inviting.
Success rides but on the wings of opportunity, and De Wet saw the
opportunity and grabbed it! The rest of the Boers were to dispose
themselves in two batches--500 of them, with the artillery, to plant
themselves N.N.E. of Sanna's Post, while the remainder took up a
position on the left of their comrades, and extended in the direction of
the Thabanchu road.
It was wisely argued that Broadwood's transport must cross Koorn Spruit,
and that if the Boers were posted so as to shell the British camp at
daybreak, the convoy would be hurried on, while the bulk of the force
remained to guard the rear.
Accordingly, the conspirators, with amazing promptitude, got under way,
the four guns with the commando being double-horsed and despatched to
the point arranged on the N.N.E. of Sanna's Post, while the other
galloped as designed. Fortune favoured them, for they reached their
destinations undiscovered; and the scheme, admirable in conception, was
executed with signal success.
Day had scarcely dawned before the Boers near the region of the
waterworks apprised the convoy of their existence. The British kettles
were boiling, preparations for breakfast were briskly going forward,
when, plump!--a shell dropped in their midst. Consternation prevailed.
Something must be done. The artillery? No; the British guns were useless
at so long a range. As well have directed a penny squirt at a garden
hose! All that was to be thought of was removal--and that with all
possible despatch. Scurry and turmoil followed. Mules fought and
squealed and kicked, horses careered and plunged, but at last the convoy
and two horse batteries were got under way, while the mounted infantry
sprayed out to screen the retreat. All this time shells continued to
burst and bang with alarming persistency. They came from across the
river, and consequently it was imagined that every mile gained brought
the convoy nearer to Bloemfontein and farther from the enemy. They had
some twenty miles to go. Still, the officers who had charge of the party
believed the coast to be clear. After moving on about a mile they
approached a deep spruit--a branch of the Modder, more morass than
stream. It was there that De Wet and his smart 400 had artfully
concealed themselves.
The spruit offered every facility for the formation of an ingenious
trap. The ground rose on one side toward a grassy knoll, on the slopes
of which was a stony cave from which a hidden foe could command the
drifts. So admirably concealed was this enclosure and all that it
enclosed, that the leading scouts passed over the drift without
suspecting the presence of the enemy. These latter, true to their talent
of slimness, made no sign till waggons and guns had safely entered the
drift, and were, so to speak, inextricably in their clutches.
Their manoeuvre was entirely successful. Some one said the waggons
were driven into the drift exactly as partridges are driven to the gun.
Another gave a version of very much the same kind. He said, "It was just
like walking into a cloak-room--the Boers politely took your rifle and
asked you kindly to step on one side, and there was nothing else you
could do!"
The nicety of the situation from the Boer point of view was described by
a correspondent of _The Times_:--
"The camp was about three miles from the drift, which lay in the point
of a rough angle made by an embankment under construction and the
bush-grown sluit which converged towards it. Thus when the Boers were in
position, lining the sluit and the embankment, the position became like
the base of a horse's foot. The Boers were the metal shoe, our own
troops the frog. At the point where the drift cuts the sluit the nullah
is broad and extensive. The Boers stationed at this spot realised that
the baggage was moving without an advanced guard. They were equal to the
situation. As each waggon dropped below the sky-line into the drift the
teamsters were directed to take their teams to right or left as the case
might be, and the guards were disarmed under threat of violence. No shot
was fired. Each waggon in turn was captured and placed along the sluit,
so that those in rear had no knowledge of what was taking place to their
front until it became their turn to surrender. To all intents and
purposes the convoy was proceeding forward. The scrub and high ground
beyond the drift was sufficient to mask the clever contrivance of the
enemy. Thus all the waggons except nine passed into the hands of the
enemy."
The waggons, numbering some hundred, had no sooner descended to the
spruit and got bogged there than, from all sides sprung up as from the
earth, Boers with rifles at the present, shouting--"Hands up. Give up
your bandoliers." A scene of appalling confusion followed. Some cocked
their revolvers. Others were weaponless. So unsuspecting of danger had
they been that their rifles, for comfort's sake, had been stowed on the
waggons, the better to allow of freedom to assist in other operations of
transport. Some men of the baggage guard shouldered their rifles;
others, from under the medley of waggons, still strove ineffectually to
show fight. The Boers were unavoidably in the ascendant. The hour and
the opportunity were theirs.
[Illustration: PLAN--DISASTER AT KOORN SPRUIT.]
At this time up came U Battery, with Roberts's Horse on their left. The
battery was surrounded, armed Boers roared--"You must surrender!" and
then, sharp and clear, the first shot rang through the air. This was
said to have been fired by Sergeant Green, Army Service Corps, who,
refusing to surrender, had shot his antagonist, and had instantly fallen
victim to his grand temerity. The drivers of the batteries were ordered
to dismount, but as gunners don't dismount graciously to order of the
foe, the tragedy pursued its course. Major Taylor, commanding the
battery, however, succeeded in galloping off to warn the officer
commanding Q Battery of the catastrophe. Meanwhile, in that serene and
pastoral spruit reigned fire and fury and the clash of frenzied men.
Down went a horse--another, another. Then man after man--groaning and
reeling in their agony. Many in the spruit lay dead. At this time the
troop of Roberts's Horse had appeared on the scene, and were called on
to surrender. Realising the disaster, they wheeled about, and galloped
to report and bring assistance. This was the signal for more volleys
from the enemy in the spruit, and the horsemen thus sped between two
fires--that of the Mausers below them and of the shells which had
continued to harry the troops. Nevertheless the gallant fellows rode
furiously for dear life on their journey. Men dropped from their saddles
like ripe fruit from a shaken tree. Still they sped on. They must bring
help at any price. Meanwhile the scene in the spruit was one of horror,
for the Boers were sweeping every nook and corner with their Mausers.
Cascades of fire played on the unfortunate mass therein entangled, on
waggons overturned and squealing mules, on guns and horses hopelessly
heaped together, on men and oxen sweating and plunging in death-agony.
The heaving, struggling, horrific picture was too grievous for
description. Only a part of their terrible experience was known by even
the actors themselves. Luckily, a merciful Providence allows each human
intelligence to gauge only a certain amount of the awful in tragic
experience. There are some who told of wounded men lying blood-bathed
and helpless beneath baggage that weighed like the stone of Sisyphus; of
horses that uttered weird screams of agonised despair, which petrified
the veins of hearers and sent the current of blood to their hearts; of
oxen and mules that stamped and kicked, dealing ugly wounds, so that
those who might have crawled out from under them could crawl no more.
Some guns were overturned--a hopeless bulk of iron, that resisted all
efforts at removal; others, bereft of their drivers, were dragged wildly
into space by maddened teams, whose happy instinct had caused them to
stampede. Seeing the disaster, they had pulled out to left and struggled
to get back to camp, yet even as they struggled they were disabled and
thus left at the mercy of the foe.
Major Burnham, the famous scout, who having been taken a prisoner
earlier and at this juncture remained powerless in the hands of the
Boers, thus described the terrible sight which he was forced to
witness:--
"One of the batteries (Q), which was upon the outside of the
three-banked rows of waggons, halted at the spruit, dashed off,
following Roberts's Horse to the rear and south. Yet most of them got
clear, although horses and men fell at every step, and the guns were
being dragged off with only part of their teams, animals falling wounded
by the way. Then I saw the battery, when but 1200 yards from the spruit,
wheel round into firing position, unlimber, and go into action at that
range, so as to save comrades and waggons from capture. Who gave the
order for that deed of self-sacrifice I don't know. It may have been a
sergeant or lieutenant, for their commanding officer had been left
behind at the time. One of the guns upset in wheeling, caused by the
downfall of wounded horses. There it lay afterwards, whilst three steeds
for a long time fought madly to free themselves from the traces and the
presence of their dead stable companions."
Those of the unfortunate men who were uninjured struggled grandly to
save the guns, to drag them free from the scene of destruction, but
several of the guns whose teams were shot fell into the hands of the
enemy. Some gallant fellows of Rimington's Scouts made a superb effort
to rush through the fire of the Federals and save them, but five guns
only were rescued. These were all guns of Q Battery, which, when the
first alarm was given, were within 300 yards of the spruit. When the
officer who commanded the battery strove to wheel about, though the
Boers took up a second position and poured a heavy fire on the galloping
teams, a wheel horse was shot, over went a gun, more beasts dropped, a
waggon was rendered useless, but still the teams that remained were
galloped through the confusion to the shelter of some tin buildings,
part of an unfinished railway station, some 1150 yards from the
disastrous scene. Here a new era began. Much to the amazement of the
Boers, the guns came into action, and continued, in the face of horrible
carnage, to make heroic efforts at retaliation, the officers themselves
assisting in serving the guns till ordered to retire. At this time Q
Battery was assailed by a terrific cross fire, and gradually the numbers
of the gunners and horses became thinned, till the ground, covered with
riderless steeds and dismounted and disabled men, presented a picture of
writhing agony and stern heroism that has seldom been equalled. But the
splendid effort had grand results.
No sooner were the British guns in action than the whole force rallied:
the situation was saved. The Household Cavalry and the 10th Hussars were
off in one direction, Rimington's Scouts and the mounted infantry in
another, making for some rising ground on the left where their position
would be defensible and a line of retreat found. Meanwhile Q Battery
from six till noon pounded away at the Dutchmen, while Lieutenant
Chester-Master, K.R.R., found a passage farther down the spruit
unoccupied by the enemy, by which it was possible to effect a crossing.
Major Burnham's account of the artillery duelling at this time is
inspiriting:--
"As soon as the gunners manning the five guns opened with
shrapnel, the Boers hiding in Koorn Spruit slackened their
fire, preferring to keep under cover as much as possible. In
that way many others escaped. The mounted infantry deployed and
engaged the Boer gunners and skirmishers to the east, and the
cavalry with Roberts's Horse dismounted and rallied to cover
the guns from the fire. A small body was also despatched to
strike south and fight north. My captors directed their
attention to Q Battery. They got the range, 1700 yards, by one
of the Boers firing at contiguous bare ground, until he saw by
the dust puffs he had got the distance, whereupon he gave the
others the exact range, which they at once adopted. The gunners
gave us nearly forty-eight shrapnel, for they were firing very
rapidly, but although they had the range of our kraal, they
only managed to kill one horse. I noticed that the Boers,
though they dodged and took every advantage of cover, fired
most carefully, and yet rapidly. It was the same with those in
the spruit as inside the kraal where I sat. That day the Boers
said to me they had but three men killed in the spruit, and
only a half-dozen or so wounded. Those artillerymen, how I
admired and felt proud of them! and the Boers, too, were
astonished at their courage and endurance. Fired at from three
sides, they never betrayed the least alarm or haste, but coolly
laid their guns and went through their drill as if it had been
a sham-fight, and men and horses were not dropping on all
sides. There was a little bit of cover a hundred yards or so
behind the battery, around the siding and station buildings of
the projected railway and embankment. Thither the living horses
from the limbers and guns were taken, and the wounded were
conveyed. When, three hours later, their ammunition for the
12-pounders was scarce, and the Boer rifle fire from the gulch,
the waggons, and ridge opened heavy and deadly, the gunners
would crawl back and forward for powder and shell. Had it not
been for those terrible cannon, the Boers told me that they
would have charged, closing in on all sides upon Broadwood's
men."
[Illustration: THE DISASTER AT KOORNSPRUIT: DRIVERLESS TEAMS STAMPEDING
Drawing by John Charlton]
When the order to retire was received, Major Phipps Hornby ordered the
guns and their limbers to be run back by hand to where the teams of
uninjured horses stood behind the station buildings. Then such gunners
as remained, assisted by the officers and men of the Burma Mounted
Infantry, and directed by Major Phipps Hornby and Captain Humphreys (the
sole remaining officers of the battery), succeeded in running back four
of the guns under shelter. It is said the guns would never have been
saved but for the gallant action of the officers and men of the Burma
Mounted Infantry, who, when nearly every gunner was killed, volunteered,
and succeeded, under the heaviest fire, in dragging the guns back by
hand to a place of safety. It was while doing this that Lieutenant P. C.
Grover, of the Burma Mounted Infantry, was killed. Though one or two of
the limbers were thus valiantly withdrawn under a perfect cyclone of
shot and shell, the exhausted men found it impossible to drag in the
remaining limbers or the fifth gun. Human beings failing, the horses had
also to be risked, and presently several gallant drivers volunteered to
plunge straight into the hellish vortex. They got to work grandly,
though horses dropped in death agony and man after man, hero after hero,
was picked off by the unerring and copious fire of the Dutchmen. It is
difficult to get the names of all the glorious fellows who carried their
lives in their hands on that great but dreadful day, but Gunner Lodge
and Driver Glasock were chosen as the representatives of those who
immortalised themselves and earned the Victoria Cross. Of Bombardier
Gudgeon's magnificent energy enough cannot be said. One after another
teams were shot, but he persisted in his work of getting fresh teams.
Three times he strove to roll a gun to a place of safety, and on the
third occasion was wounded. The splendid discipline of the gunners was
extolled by every eye-witness, and the way the noble fellows, surrounded
with Boer sharpshooters, stood to the guns was so marvellous, so
inspiriting, that even the men who were covering the retirement, at risk
of their lives were impelled to rise and cheer the splendid action of
the glorious remnant. The correspondent of _The Times_ declared that
"When the order came for the guns to retire, ten men and one officer
alone remained upon their feet, and they were not all unwounded. The
teams were as shattered as the gun groups. Solitary drivers brought up
teams of four--in one case a solitary pair of wheelers was all that
could be found to take a piece away. The last gun was dragged away by
hand until a team could be patched up from the horses that remained. As
the mutilated remnant of two batteries of Horse Artillery tottered
through the line of prone mounted infantry covering its withdrawal, the
men could not restrain their admiration. Though it was to court death to
show a hand, men leaped to their feet and cheered the gunners as they
passed. Seven guns and a baggage train were lost, but the prestige and
honour of the country were saved. Five guns had been extricated. The
mounted infantry had found a line of retreat, and total disaster was
avoided. But the fighting was not over. The extrication of a rearguard
in the front of a victorious and exultant enemy has been a difficult and
a delicate task in the history of all war. In the face of modern weapons
it is fraught with increased difficulties. For two hours Rimington's
Scouts, the New Zealand Mounted Infantry, Roberts's Horse, and the 3rd
Regiment of Mounted Infantry covered each other in retreat, while the
enemy galloped forward and, dismounting, engaged them, often at ranges
up to 300 yards."
The force was surrounded by the enemy on all sides, and there was no
resource but to fight through--the cavalry and mounted infantry taking a
line towards a drift on the south. Roberts's Horse made a gallant and
desperate effort to outflank the Dutchmen, and lost heavily; and
Aldersen's Brigade, with magnificent dash and considerable skill,
succeeded in holding back the hostile horde. This retirement was no easy
matter, for the position taken up by the Federals was exceptionally
favourable to them. To the north the spruit twisted in a convenient
hoop, which sheltered them; to the south was the embankment of the
railway in course of construction; from these points and from front and
rear the enemy was able, in comparative security, to batter and harass
the discomfited troops.
Fortunately, in the end, Colvile's Division, which had been making its
way from Bloemfontein, arrived in time to check the Boers in their
jubilant advance, though some hours too late to prevent the enemy from
capturing and removing the waggons and guns.
While the retreat was being effected more valorous work was going on
elsewhere. The members of the Army Medical Corps, with the coolness
peculiar to them, were exposing themselves and rushing to the assistance
of the wounded, many being stricken down in the midst of their splendid
labours. Roberts's Horse made themselves worthy of the noble soldier who
godfathered them, and one--a trooper of the name of Tod--a prodigy of
valour, rode deliberately into the _mêlée_ in search of the wounded, and
returned with the dead weight of a helpless man in his arms, under the
fierce fire of the foe. If disaster does nothing more, it breeds heroes.
The melancholy affair of Koorn Spruit brought to light the superb
qualities that lie dormant in many who live their lives in the matter of
fact way and give no sign.
Splendid actions followed one another with amazing persistence, man
after man and officer after officer attempting deeds of daring, each of
which in themselves would form the foundation of an heroic tale.
Lieutenant Maxwell of Roberts's Horse, from the very teeth of the enemy
dragged off a wounded man--a lad who, by the time he was rescued, had
fainted. But the young subaltern promptly got him in the saddle, and the
pair sped forth from the fiery zone alive. The Duke of Teck also rushed
to the succour of Lieutenant Meade, who was wounded (a bullet cutting
off his finger and piercing his thigh), gave up to him his horse and
removed him from the scene of danger. At the same time Colonel Pilcher
was gallantly rescuing Corporal Packer of the 1st Life Guards. Major
Booth (Northumberland Fusiliers) lost his life through doggedly holding
a position with four others, in order to cover the retreat.
When the Queenslanders arrived they too showed the stuff they were made
of, the best British thews combined with the doughtiest British hearts.
They plunged into action--so dashingly indeed that the Boers very nearly
mopped them up. But Colonel Henry was equal even to the skittish foe,
and contrived to entertain the Dutchmen by leading them so active a
dance that eventually the Colonials were able to fight out their own
salvation.
At last the guns got away and followed the line of retreat taken by the
cavalry. The troops then conducted their retirement by alternate
companies, each company taking up its duties without fluster, and
covering the other company's retirement with great steadiness until they
reached Bushman's Kop. The marvellous coolness of the force was
particularly amazing, as every man, with the Boers still at his heels,
believed himself to be cut off, yet in spite of this belief showed no
signs of concern. In one regiment, consisting of 11 officers and 200
men, two officers were killed, four wounded, and sixty-six men killed
and wounded.
Strange scenes took place during those awful hours in the donga, and
wonderful escapes were made. One trooper was seized on by a Boer.
"Surrender," cried the Dutchman, but before another word could be
uttered, the trooper's sabre whistled from its sheath and the Boer was
dead. Another who was wounded got off, as he said, "by the skin of his
teeth." He had become jammed under a waggon in company with a Boer--who
had crept there for cover--and the hindquarters of a dying mule. Over
the cart poured a rattling rain of bullets, to which he longed to
respond. The Boer, believing the wounded man to be his prisoner, made
himself known. "Hot work this," he said. The next instant the Boer was
caught by the throat and knocked insensible, while the Briton promptly
extricated himself and vanished from the seething, fighting mass.
Another of the Household Cavalry, when summoned to surrender his rifle,
threw it with such force at the head of his would-be captor that he was
able to make good his escape.
The following interesting account was given from the point of view of an
officer of the Life Guards who was present:--
"We heard firing at 6.30, and while we were saddling bang came two
shells a little short, followed by three others. The firing went on for
half-an-hour incessantly. The convoys got under way very quickly,
followed by Mounted Infantry and Life Guards. Luckily only two shells
burst, and only one mule was killed. We moved on to the spruit and were
shot at by Mausers from our right flank. The convoys were on the brink
of the drift. Some of the waggons were actually crossing, and our
artillery close on to them, when a terrific fire came from the spruit.
The U Battery was captured--the men and officers being killed, wounded,
or prisoners. We went about and retired in good order in a hail of shot,
being within 120 yards of the enemy. It is wonderful how we escaped. Two
of our men were shot--one in the thigh and the other in the
shoulder--and we had altogether 32 missing. Our leading horses and
baggage were within nine feet of the fire; yet many of them got off,
including my servant and horse. I lost, however, my saddlebags, with
change of clothes, trousers, shoes, iron kettle, and letters which I
grudge the Boers reading. We got out of fire and lined the river banks,
firing shots at the Boers, who were, however, too distant. We were well
hid in a position like what the Boers had held themselves, and we hoped
to enfilade them, but the river twisted too much, and it is impossible
to locate fire with smokeless powder. We then followed the 10th Hussars
for four miles towards Bushman's Kopje. The Ninth Division Infantry,
under Colvile, came over the ridge with eighteen guns, and we heard a
lot of heavy firing."
He went on to say: "Why we are alive I can't say. Many of the bullets
were explosive, as I heard them burst when they hit the ground. The
shelling was most trying, as we had to stand quite still for twenty
minutes a living target."
A laughing philosopher, a Democritus of the nineteenth century, gave to
the world, _viâ_ the _Pall Mall Gazette_, his curious experiences. Among
other things he said:--
"Roberts's Horse was ordered to trot off to the right of the convoy.
'Oh! those are our men, you fool,' said everybody. Two men came up to
the Colonel. 'We've got you surrounded, you'd better surrender,' say
they; and heads popped up in the grass forty yards from us. Boers
appeared all along the ridge a hundred yards ahead. 'Files about,
gallop!' yells the adjutant. (They dropped him immediately.)
"I was carrying a fence-post to cook the breakfast of my section (of
four men). I turned my horse; there came a crackling in the air, on the
ground, everywhere; the whole world was crackling, a noise as of thorns
crackling or the cracks of a heavy whip. My gee-gee (usually slow) went
well, stimulated by the horses round it, and actually took a water-jump;
I had to hold my helmet on with my right hand, which still held the
fence-post, and I thought my knuckles would surely get grazed by a
bullet. They were pouring in a cross-fire now as well, and once or twice
I heard the _s-s-s-s-s_ of the Mauser bullet (the crackle is explosives,
you know). It was very exhilarating; the gallop and the fire made me
shout and sing and whistle. I jumped a dead man, and almost immediately
caught up B., who is one of my section.
"The fire was slackening, and we were half a mile away by then, and we
looked round to see whether anybody was forming up. The plain was dotted
with men and many riderless horses. Everybody was yelling, 'When do we
form up?' You feel rather foolish when running away. At about one mile
we formed up again. From the rear, and from the place we had come from,
and from the river bed, there came a noise as of thousands of
shipwrights hammering. Nine (?) of our guns were captured; the remaining
three fired at intervals. My squadron was sent into a depression on the
left of the New Zealanders. Here we dismounted (No. 3 of each section
holding the horses), and went up as a firing line, range 1200, 1400, and
1600 yards. The General passed. 'Ever been in such a warm corner?' says
he to the bugler. 'Oh yes,' says the little chap, quite cheerfully and
untruthfully. The General remarked, laughing, that _he_ hadn't. I felt
sorry for him, and heard the newsboys shouting, 'Another British
disaster!' and the Continental papers, 'Nouvelle défaite des Anglais!
Yah!' It was the greatest fun out, barring the loss of the guns and men.
For we were not losing a situation of strategic importance or anything
of that kind. The Boers had collared our blankets and things, but we
chuckled at the thought of what they would suffer if they ever slept in
'em."
Sergeant-Major Martin, who, with Major Taylor (commanding U Battery),
was incidental in warning Colonel Rochfort and Major Phipps Hornby of
their danger, and thus assisting to save Q Battery, described his
experiences:--
"A Boer commander stepped out and confronted the Major with fixed
bayonet; all his (the Boer's) men stood up in the spruit ready to shoot
us down if we had attempted to fight, ordered the Major to surrender,
and also the battery. The battery had no chance whatever to do anything.
As the trap was laid, so we fell into it. Now, as the Major was talking
to the Boer commander, I turned my horse round (I was then three yards
from him) and walked quietly to the rear of our battery. When I got
there, putting spurs to my horse, I galloped for all I was worth to tell
the Colonel to stop the other battery, as U Battery were all prisoners.
I then looked towards the battery; the Boers were busy disarming them. I
went a little distance in that direction to have a last look. By this
time the Household Cavalry had come up, and the 14th Hussars; they
halted, soon found out what had happened, and turned round to retire. As
they did so the Boers opened fire on us. The bullets came like
hailstones. It was a terrible sight. One gun and its team of horses
galloped away; by some means or other it was pulled up. I took
possession of it, still under this heavy fire, and, finding one of our
drivers, I put him in the wheel, and drove the leaders myself. We had
between us 14 horses. I drove in the lead for about six miles, following
the cavalry, who had gone on to see if we could get through. Eventually,
after several hours, I got into safe quarters."
The list of loss was terrible:--
Brevet-Major A. W. C. Booth, Northumberland Fusiliers;
Lieutenant P. Crowle, Roberts's Horse; Lieutenant Irvine, Army
Medical Service (attached to Royal Horse Artillery), were
killed. Among the wounded were: Brevet-Colonel A. N. Rochfort,
Royal Horse Artillery, Staff. Q Battery Royal Horse
Artillery.--Captain G. Humphreys, Lieutenant E. B. Ashmore,
Lieutenant H. R. Peck, Lieutenant D. J. Murch, Lieutenant J. K.
Walch, Tasmanian Artillery (attached). Royal Horse
Guards.--Lieutenant the Hon. A. V. Meade. Roberts's
Horse.--Major A. W. Pack Beresford, Captain Carrington Smith,
Lieutenant H. A. A. Darley, Lieutenant W. H. M. Kirkwood.
Mounted Infantry.--Major D. T. Cruickshank, 2nd Essex Regiment;
Lieutenant F. Russell-Brown, Royal Munster Fusiliers;
Lieutenant P. C. Grover, Shropshire Light Infantry (since
dead); Lieutenant H. C. Hall, Northumberland Fusiliers.
_Wounded and Missing._--Captain P. D. Dray, Lieutenant and
Quartermaster Hawkins. _Missing._--Lieutenant H. R. Horne.
Royal Horse Artillery.--Captain H. Rouse, Lieutenant G. H. A.
White, Lieutenant F. H. G. Stanton, Lieutenant F. L. C.
Livingstone-Learmonth. 1st Northumberland
Fusiliers.--Lieutenant H. S. Toppin. 2nd Duke of Cornwall's
Light Infantry.--Lieutenant H. T. Cantan. 1st Yorkshire Light
Infantry.--Captain G. G. Ottley. Royal West Kent
Regiment.--Lieutenant R. J. T. Hildyard. Captain Wray, Royal
Horse Artillery, Staff; Captain Dray, Roberts's Horse;
Lieutenant the Hon. D. R. H. Anderson-Pelham, 10th Hussars;
Lieutenant C. W. H. Crichton, 10th Hussars.
The casualties all told numbered some 350, including 200 missing.
Reports differ regarding the strength of the enemy. Lord Roberts
estimated it at 8000 to 10,000, while De Wet declared he had only about
1400 men.
All that remained of U Battery was one gun, Major Taylor, a
sergeant-major, a shoeing-smith, and a driver!
In Q Battery, Captain Humphreys, Lieutenants Peck, Ashmore, Murch were
wounded, and the latter two reported missing.
The whole of the grievous Saturday afternoon was spent by the gallant
doctors in tending the ninety or more of our brave wounded who lay
helpless in the spruit. They were carried to the shelter of the tin
houses, and the work of bandaging and extracting bullets was pursued
without a moment's relaxation. The removal of the sufferers from the
neighbourhood of the spruit on the day following was a sorry task, and
the sight that presented itself to the ambulance party was one which was
too shocking to be ever forgotten. In the spruit itself the wreckage of
waggons which had been looted by the Boers covered most of the scene,
and, interspersed with them were horses and cattle, maimed, mutilated,
and dead. With these, in ghastly companionship, were the bodies of slain
soldiers and black waggon-drivers. The living wounded were conveyed from
the disastrous vicinity in ambulances and waggons brought for them under
the covering fire of the guns, which swept the length of the river and
deterred the enemy from attempting to block the passage of the
melancholy party. The Republicans, however, fired viciously from
adjacent kopjes, but without disturbing the progress of the operations.
At noon General French's cavalry, with Wavell's Brigade, had left
Bloemfontein to occupy a position on the Modder between Glen and Sanna's
Post, and keep an eye on further encroachments of the Boers. The enemy,
on the fatal Saturday night, had destroyed the waterworks, thus forcing
the inhabitants of Bloemfontein to fall back on some insanitary wells,
as a substitute for which the waterworks had been erected. Here, on
their departure for Ladybrand, they left 12 officers and 70 men, who had
been wounded in the fray, and whom they doubtless considered might be an
encumbrance to their future movements. These were conveyed by ambulance
to Bloemfontein.
[Illustration: MAP ILLUSTRATING THE MILITARY OPERATIONS TO THE S. AND E.
OF BLOEMFONTEIN.]
As an instance of Boer treachery, it was stated that the Free State
commandant Pretorius, whose farm overlooked the spruit wherein the
ambuscade was arranged, had given up arms and taken the oath to retire
to his farm. Yet on the day of the disaster he led the Boers to the
attack, while the members of his family were prominent among the looters
of the wrecked waggons. Other tales of cruelty and ill-treatment and
treachery on the part of the Boers were well authenticated. It is
useless to repeat them, but the circumstances are merely noted to give
an explanation for a change of policy which was necessitated by the
actions of the enemy--a change which was, unfortunately, adopted only
when many martyrs had been made in the cause of forbearance.
THE REDDERSBURG MISHAP
The Boers, triumphant with their success at Koorn Spruit, scurried to
Dewetsdorp, drove out the British detachment which had been posted there
by General Gatacre, and on the 4th of April came in for another piece of
luck, for which we had to pay by the loss of three companies of Royal
Irish Rifles and two companies of the Northumberland Fusiliers.
The unfortunate occurrence took place near Reddersburg, somewhat to the
east of Bethanie Railway Station. A party of infantry, consisting of
three companies of Royal Irish Rifles and two companies of the
Northumberland Fusiliers, who had been in occupation of Dewetsdorp, and
engaged on a pacification mission on the east of the Free State, were
ordered on the 3rd to retire to Reddersburg, a place situated some
thirty-seven miles from Bloemfontein and fifty miles from Springfontein,
where General Gatacre had taken up his head-quarters. In their
retirement the troops, it is said, took a somewhat unusual detour, and
thus, if they did not court, ran risk of disaster. Anyway, they had
travelled about four miles to the east of their destination when, at
Mosterts Hok, they were surprised to discover a strong force of some
2500 Boers. They were still more surprised to find that, while they
themselves were unaccompanied by artillery, and were possessed of little
reserve ammunition, the Dutchmen were provided with three or four
formidable guns. Thus, the situation from the first was alarming. Our
men, comparatively defenceless, saw themselves hedged in by an
overmastering horde. They quickly occupied a position on a peaked hill
rising in the centre of ground sliced and seamed with dry nullahs. These
popular havens of refuge were at once seized by the Boers and deftly
made use of. The Dutchmen, under cover of the dongas, crept cautiously
up on all sides of the kopje, surrounding it and pouring cascades of
rifle-fire on the small exposed force. In no time the chance of retreat
was barred on all sides, and there was no resource but to fight through.
But unfortunately, as British ammunition was limited and the Boers
warily kept well out of range, all that could be done was to prolong
hostilities in the hope that delay would enable reinforcements from
Bethanie to come to the rescue. But these did not arrive. The Boers,
grasping the situation, gathered courage and approached nearer and
nearer. With the dusk coming on and some 2500 of the foe enfilading them
from three sides, the British position, as may be imagined, was not a
hopeful one. Nevertheless, the Royal Irish Rifles displayed the national
spirit of dare-devilry--"fought like bricks," some one said--never
losing heart under the persistent attacks of shot and shell that
continued till nightfall.
[Illustration: THE REDDERSBURG MISHAP: MEN OF THE IRISH RIFLES AND
MOUNTED INFANTRY DELIVERING UP THEIR ARMS
Facsimile of a Sketch by Melton Prior, War Artist]
Hoping and waiting and fighting; so passed the dreadful hours of dark.
Then, with the dawn, the enemy, flushed with triumph, commenced to pound
their prey with redoubled vigour, while our parched and almost
ammunitionless troops, in a ghastly quandary, alternately fought and
prayed for relief!
Meanwhile the news of the affair having reached Lord Roberts, General
Gatacre, on the afternoon of the 3rd, was ordered to proceed from
Springfontein to the spot, while the Cameron Highlanders were despatched
from Bloemfontein to Bethanie.
General Gatacre, with his main body and an advance guard of mounted
infantry under Colonel Sitwell, then marched _viâ_ Edenburg to the
succour of the detachment. On the morning of the 4th, Colonel Sitwell
having arrived at Bethanie, some fifteen miles from Mosterts Hok, heard
sounds of artillery in the distance, and believing that the engagement
was going on, prepared to rush to the rescue. But with the small force
at his disposal, he deemed it impossible to try a frontal attack, and
decided to make an attempt to get round the enemy's right flank. The
manoeuvre was unsuccessful, for a party of hidden Boers, from a kopje
north-west of Reddersburg, assailed him and forced him to retire and
wait till the main column should come to his assistance. But by the time
General Gatacre had reached the scene (10.30 A.M. on the 4th) the drama
had been enacted, the curtain had descended on the tragedy. The small
and valorous party on Mosterts Hok, which for thirty hours had been
fighting and were at last sans water, sans ammunition, sans everything
in fact, had been forced to surrender. No sign of them was to be seen.
The unfortunate band--many of them the survivors of the fatal exploit at
Stormberg--were now on their way to that aristocratical
prison-house--the Model School at Pretoria.
General Gatacre, finding further effort useless, then occupied the town
of Reddersburg. There, the Boers had hoisted the Free State flag, and
were making themselves generally objectionable. Quickly the Boer banner
was torn down and the Union Jack run up, though during the operations
the General narrowly escaped assassination. He was fired at from a
house, but fortunately escaped with only a scratch on the shoulder.
By evening, acting on instructions from Bloemfontein, and owing to the
fact that the enemy was massed in all directions and surrounding the
town, the force and its prisoners returned to Bethanie, and there
encamped to mount guard over the rail. Details regarding the movements
of the troops on this grievous day were given by a correspondent, in the
_Daily Telegraph_, whose version throws a somewhat depressing light on
the sufficiently depressing affair. The writer declared that:--
"A large British force, with a brigade division of artillery (eighteen
guns), on the march to Bloemfontein, was at Bethanie, about eleven miles
from Reddersburg, on the night of April 3, and got the news of the
above-mentioned infantry being surrounded about 11 P.M. The men
immediately saddled up, got under arms, and remained all night ready to
move off in relief, but did not receive orders to do so until 8 A.M. on
April 4, and then were only permitted to proceed at a walk, constantly
halting to water the horses. The result of the delay was that the column
arrived just too late, and was then not even allowed to pursue the enemy
and release the prisoners, who were dead beat and could not possibly
have been hurried along. The relief column was manoeuvred outside the
town of Reddersburg during most of the day, and then was ordered to
return to Bethanie, but, when within a few miles of camp, with the
horses and men tired out, a complete change of instructions were issued,
and the column was wheeled about and told to march back and take the
town of Reddersburg. The Cameron Highlanders, who had just come off a
troopship from Egypt, and were, consequently, quite unfit, could hardly
move, but all had to turn, for no apparent reason, and march to the
ground they had left. The mounted infantry and artillery trotted back
and occupied Reddersburg about dusk, with only one casualty, viz. an
officer of mounted infantry, and the force bivouacked, with very little
food, just outside the town.
"About midnight, the order was given to return to Bethanie again, and
the men, who could hardly crawl, were awakened, the march resumed, and
Bethanie was reached about 7 A.M. on April 5, after great and
unnecessary distress both to men and animals, while no object was
gained, the whole expedition being a miserable fiasco, disheartening and
humiliating to every one present.
"To whom blame is attributable it is difficult to say, as the officer in
command seemed not to have a free hand, but to be directed by wires
received at intervals, which must have taken five or six hours to reach
him. Either the relief ought never to have been attempted, or it ought
to have been carried out expeditiously and with determination."
Mr. Purves, who, as a lance-corporal with one of the Ambulance Corps,
was in the thick of the fray, gave a graphic description of the unhappy
affair:--
"Reaching Dewetsdorp on the morning of Sunday, April 1st, we
first became aware that our progress was being watched by the
Boers. Just as we were about to camp outside the dorp, our
scouts exchanged a few shots with those of the enemy. Beyond a
temporary disarrangement of our plans, nothing happened, as the
main body of the enemy did not show at all, and things quieted
down till nightfall, when another alarm was caused by the
arrival of the Mounted Infantry (Royal Irish Rifles and
Northumberland Fusiliers), who were mistaken by our people for
Boers, as their arrival was unexpected, and our presence in
the position occupied by us was a surprise to them. The Mounted
Infantry actually dismounted to prepare for business, when
fortunately a mutual recognition took place, and a hearty
greeting to the brave fellows who were to bear the brunt of the
coming action was extended by our force. Captain Casson (one of
the first to fall at Mosterts Hock) commanded the new-comers.
After a night's rest, we started again on the march, which
continued without event till Tuesday, 3rd, when our scouts at
11.30 came back with the news that the enemy were upon us,
making for two kopjes in front of us. Both of these were
immediately crowned by our little force of 440--the
above-mentioned Mounted Infantry, with some of the Royal Irish
Rifles taking the northern kopje, and the remainder of the
Royal Irish Rifles that to the south. Rifle firing opened at
once, and gradually grew hotter till about 2 P.M., when the
Boers opened with artillery, four guns being brought into play
in positions that enabled them to sweep our two lines.
Fortunately, the firing was most erratic, and little or no
damage was done by the shells. Volley fire from the Royal Irish
Rifles soon put one of the guns out of action. We had no
artillery, and the wonder is that we held the position,
extended as it was far beyond what seemed tenable to so small a
force, for the long time we did. The bearers of C Company, Cape
Medical Staff Corps, had a particularly warm time of it. Sent
as they were at the commencement of the action right on to the
fighting line, they stuck to their posts till the very last
without any cover, and only retired with the last line of
straggling defenders, who worked their way back through a
deadly hail of bullets, explosive and otherwise, to their own
camp, after the Boers had won the day. The first day's fight
lasted till darkness, when we tried to snatch some rest--a
luxury that came to few. Next morning at 5.30 found us sniping
at one another prior to the forenoon fire that soon kept every
one busy at all points. At 8 the artillery commenced firing,
and the fight became fiercer till about 9, when our men on the
north kopje, unable to contend against the fearful odds,
hoisted the white flag, and the Boers on that side rushed the
position, and were thus able to pour a murderous fire into the
unfortunate Royal Irish Rifles on the southern height, who,
while their attention was riveted on the enemy on their front,
were in ignorance of what was going on in their rear for a
while. When they turned to reply to the rear attack, their
position was taken, and the poor fellows, accompanied by nine
of the stretcher-bearers, had to run for the hospital, distant
600 yards, under a fearful cross-fire. Several of the Rifles
were killed, but the bearers escaped marvellously. The
hospital, which was pitched between the two kopjes, suffered
from the shelling, and was in itself dangerous; while, to add
to the risk, a trench thrown up to protect the sick was
mistaken by the Boers for a rifle-trench, and became a mark for
their special attention. One shell burst near the
operating-tent while the surgeons were at work on a wounded
man, and riddled the tent, fortunately hitting no one. Another
banged into a buck waggon. A third cut a mule in halves. A
slight bruise on the knee was the only hurt suffered by any of
the Hospital Corps. Our dead numbered ten, whom we buried on
the battle-field, placing over the grave a neatly dressed and
lettered stone, executed by Private Buckland, C Medical Staff
Corps. Two of the wounded died afterwards in the temporary
hospital at Reddersburg, and are buried in the cemetery there.
The wounded, thirty-two in number, were sent down from Bethanie
to one of the base hospitals, for treatment in the convalescent
stage. Enough praise cannot be given to the warm-hearted people
of the Dutch village of Reddersburg. It mattered not that we
were British. Their all was placed at our disposal, and to
their generosity much of our success with the wounded is to be
attributed."
The casualties were as follows:--
_Killed_--Captain F. G. Casson, Northumberland Fusiliers; 2nd
Lieut. C. R. Barclay, Northumberland Fusiliers. _Dangerously
Wounded_--Captain W. P. Dimsdale, Royal Irish Rifles. _Slightly
Wounded_--Lieut. E. C. Bradford, Royal Irish Rifles.
_Captured_--Captain Tennant, Royal Artillery; 2nd Lieut.
Butler, Durham Light Infantry, attached to Northumberland
Fusiliers; Captain W. J. McWhinnie, Royal Irish Rifles; Captain
A. C. D. Spencer, Royal Irish Rifles; Captain Kelly, Royal
Irish Rifles; 2nd Lieut. E. H. Saunders, Royal Irish Rifles;
2nd Lieut. Bowen-Colthurst, Royal Irish Rifles; 2nd Lieut.
Soutry, Royal Irish Rifles, and all remaining rank and file.
Lieut. Stacpole (Northumberland Fusiliers) was also wounded on the 4th.
He was riding for reinforcements, and as he approached Reddersburg,
unknowing the place was in the hands of the Boers, he was greeted with
shots which killed his horse, wounded him, and placed him at the mercy
of the enemy, by whom he was captured. The Boers in their retreat,
however, left their prisoners behind. The total of killed and wounded
numbered between 50 and 150. The strength of the British was 167 mounted
infantry, 424 infantry. The enemy were said to be 3200 strong.
The unlucky termination of the affair completed the eastern flanking
movement of the Boers, who were now trickling over the country from
Sanna's Post on the south to a point east of Jagersfontein road. They
soon held the Free State east of the railway beyond Bethulie, and
considerable numbers went south towards Smithfield and Rouxville, their
determination, after their recent successes, being to harass the British
force as much as possible. It was now becoming evident that all the
present trouble was due to over-leniency, and it began to be urged that
some measures must be adopted which would ensure for the conquerors of
the enemy's country the respect that was due to them. The humanitarian
attitude of Lord Roberts had produced an unlooked-for result. The
Commander-in-Chief had attempted to administer justice for a
seventeenth-century people on the ethics of those of the nineteenth, and
the experiment had proved disastrous. The enemy, far from being
impressed by the show of magnanimity, was laughing in his sleeve at his
immunity from pains and penalties. Our troops were forced now to move in
a country where nearly every man was a foe or a spy, and one who,
moreover, thought meanly of us for the concessions which had been made.
As an instance of contrast between our own and the Dutchman's mode of
dealing with those considered as rebels, an instructive story was told.
A Free State burgher at the outset of hostilities entered the Imperial
service as a conductor of transport. It was a non-combatant's
occupation, and one for which he was fitted, owing to his knowledge of
the Kaffir and Dutch languages. This man was captured by the Boers, who,
declaring him to be a rebel, instantly shot him dead. We, on the other
hand, accepted an obsolete rifle, a flint-lock elephant gun belonging to
the days of the Great Trek perhaps, as a peace-offering and then told
the rebel to go away and turn over a new leaf. His new leaf resolved
itself into unearthing Mausers and Martinis, and popping at us from the
first convenient kopje--if not from the windows of his farm!
To this cause may be attributed the sudden return of so-called ill-luck,
which seemed epidemic. April had brought with it an alarming list of
losses at Sanna's Post, which was followed by a grievous total of
killed, wounded, and missing--five companies lost to us--at Reddersburg.
We had, moreover, disquieting days around Thabanchu, Ladybrand, and
Rouxville, and were being forced gradually, and not always gracefully,
to retreat. For instance, in the retirement from Rouxville, four
companies of the Royal Irish, some Queenstown and Kaffrarian Rifles, had
merely escaped by what in vulgar phrase we term "the skin of their
teeth." It was merely owing to the smartness of General Brabant, who
sent two squadrons of Border Horse from Aliwal North to the rescue, that
the small force escaped being cut off. This officer's little band
garrisoning Wepener was meanwhile beginning to test the Boer force in
earnest.
THE ESCAPE OF PRISONERS FROM PRETORIA
At this time great excitement prevailed owing to the escape from
Pretoria of Captain Haldane, D.S.O. (Gordon Highlanders), who was
captured after the disaster to the armoured train at Chieveley; of
Lieutenant Le Mesurier (Dublin Fusiliers), who was taken prisoner with
Colonel Moeller's force after the battle of Glencoe; and of Sergeant
Brockie, a Colonial volunteer. These officers had a more adventurous
task than even that of Mr. Churchill, for since the war correspondent's
escape the Boers had naturally taken additional precautions, and had
mounted extra guard over their prisoners. The officers most ingeniously
contrived to dig a trench underneath the floor of the prison, and here
they hid themselves. For eighteen long days they remained cramped in
this small underground hole, in the daily expectation that the other
officers and their guards were about to be transferred to new quarters,
when a chance of escape would be offered.
Captain Haldane gave exciting details of his adventures in _Blackwood's
Magazine_; but, before dealing with them, it is interesting to consider
the position of the vast congregation of British officers that had
gradually been collected within the confines of the Model School.
Curiously enough, after all the fighting, the sum total of prisoners of
war on both sides was now nearly equal. By the 23rd of March the Boer
prisoners in our hands were 5000, while the British prisoners in
Pretoria numbered some 3466. Since that date, through various unlucky
accidents, the Boers had captured some 1000 more of our troops, and thus
early in April the enemy almost equalled us in the matter of capture!
[Illustration: THE MODEL SCHOOL, PRETORIA.]
The Model School stands in the centre of the town. It is commodious,
though devoid of privacy (on the principle of a boys' dormitory) well
ventilated, lighted with electricity, and roofed with corrugated iron.
At the time of the escape there was a gymnasium, and also a
scaling-ladder against the wall, which suggested infinite possibilities
to such men as Captain Haldane, who had all the exciting histories of
"Latude," "Jack Sheppard," and "Monte Christo" at his fingers' ends.
There were rough screens to enclose some of the cubicles, and the walls
in some cases were decorated with cuttings from the illustrated papers,
or with humorous sketches made by talented amateurs. Two of these were
especially admired, a chase after President Steyn personally conducted
by Lord Roberts, and a caricature of President Kruger, which latter was
highly appreciated even by the Boers when it came under their notice.
The special nook of the Rev. Adrian Hofmeyer, who had made himself into
a general favourite, and was laconically declared to be a "regular
brick," was the most decorative of all, being made gay with various
scraps of colour and design to cheer the weary eye. By this time the
reverend gentleman, having had a more trying experience of incarceration
than most, had got to look upon the Model School in the light of
residential chambers, and consoled others with the account of his own
experiences. His story was not an enlivening one:--
"I was lodged in the common jail, Cronje's law adviser having
informed him it would not be legal to shoot me. Cronje
consequently thought the best thing to do would be another
illegality, namely, imprison a non-combatant and correspondent.
Mr. Cronje has ample time to-day in St. Helena to meditate upon
this and other illegal acts of his. I was locked up in a cell
eighteen feet by nine feet, and for the first few days was
allowed to have my meals at the hotel. Soon, however, this
liberty was taken away, for it proved too much for the
Christian charity of the Zeerust burghers to see a despised
prisoner of war marched up and down from the hotel to the jail
under police escort. Other restrictions were soon imposed also,
and after a little while I was locked up day and night, the
door of the unventilated cell being open only three times a day
for fifteen minutes at a time. No books nor papers were allowed
me, no visitors, and the few loyal friends who tried to supply
me with luxuries were cruelly forbidden to do so by the
authorities. I cannot help thinking to-day of the strange irony
of fate. The commanders who practised this cruelty upon me were
Cronje and Snyman. The one is to-day a prisoner of war, and
can, perhaps, put himself in my place. He is an old personal
acquaintance, too."
The worthy padre was afterwards removed, and gave a further description
of his experiences.
"After eight weeks of such life I was taken to Pretoria, and
there quartered in the Staats Model School with the British
officers. Here everything was better, and I quickly recovered
my health and strength. The building was a magnificent one, and
the surroundings very pleasant, but our jailer, a Landdrost,
and our guards, the Zarps, never forgot to remind us of the
fact that we were prisoners. The food we got from Government
sufficed for one meal; the rest we had to buy, being charged
most exorbitant prices. When I left, the officers' mess
amounted to £1600 per month for 144 officers. On my arrival, I
was asked by the officers to conduct service for them every
Sunday, in addition to that held by an Anglican clergyman. For
two Sundays, therefore, we had two services a day, and then
Winston Churchill escaped, and the following extraordinary
letter was sent the officers by the Anglican clergyman:--