An Unsuccessful Siege
My object now was to reach Smithfield. We set out at once and late in
the evening I divided my commandos into two parties. The first, some
five hundred men in all, consisted chiefly of Smithfield burghers under
Commandant Swanepoel, of Yzervarkfontein, but there were also some
Wepener men amongst them. I gave General Froneman the command over this
party, and ordered him to proceed without delay and attack the small
English garrison at Smithfield. With the second party I rode off to join
the burghers who were under General J.B. Wessels.
I came up with Wessels' division on the 6th of April at Badenhorst, on
the road from Dewetsdorp to Wepener. Badenhorst lies at a distance of
some ten miles from a ford on the Caledon River, called
Tammersbergsdrift, where Colonel Dalgety, with the highly renowned
C.M.R.[36] and Brabant's Horse were at that time stationed. I call them
"highly renowned" to be in the fashion, for I must honestly avow that I
never could see for what they were renowned.
During the fight at Mostertshoek on the previous day I had kept them
under observation, with the result that I learnt that they had
entrenched themselves strongly, and that they numbered about sixteen
hundred men, though this latter fact was a matter of indifference to me.
The history of Ladysmith, Mafeking, and Kimberley, however, served me as
a warning, and I asked myself whether it would be better to besiege the
wolf or to wait and see if he would not come out of his lair.
But the wolf, on this occasion, was not to be enticed out on any
pretext; and moreover it was probable that Lord Roberts would be able to
send a relieving force from Bloemfontein; so I decided to attack at
once. First, however, I despatched some of my best scouts in the
direction of Bloemfontein and Reddersburg, while I ordered the commandos
under Generals Piet de Wet and A.P. Cronje to take up positions to the
east and south-east of the capital.
Early in the morning of the 7th of April I made an attack on two points:
one to the south-west, the other to the south-east of Dalgety's
fortifications, opening fire on his troops at distances of from five to
fifteen hundred paces. I dare not approach any nearer for lack of
suitable cover. The place was so strongly fortified that many valuable
lives must have been sacrificed, had I been less cautious than I was.
After a few days I received reinforcements, and was thus enabled to
surround the English completely. But their various positions were so
placed that it was impossible for me to shell any of them from both
sides, and thus to compel their occupants to surrender.
Day succeeded to day, and still the siege continued.
Before long we had captured some eight hundred of the trek-oxen, and
many of the horses of the enemy. Things were not going so badly for us
after all; and we plucked up our courage, and began to talk of the
probability of a speedy surrender on the part of the English.
To tell the truth, there was not a man amongst us who would have asked
better than to make prisoners of the Cape Mounted Rifles and of
Brabant's Horse. They were Afrikanders, and as Afrikanders, although
neither Free-Staters nor Transvaalers, they ought, in our opinion, to
have been ashamed to fight against us.
The English, we admitted, had a perfect right to hire such sweepings,
and to use them against us, but we utterly despised them for allowing
themselves to be hired. We felt that their motive was not to obtain the
franchise of the Uitlanders, but--five shillings a day! And if it should
by any chance happen that any one of them should find his grave
there--well, the generation to come would not be very proud of that
grave. No! it would be regarded with horror as the grave of an
Afrikander who had helped to bring his brother Afrikanders to their
downfall.
Although I never took it amiss if a colonist of Natal or of Cape Colony
was unwilling to fight with us against England, yet I admit that it
vexed me greatly to think that some of these colonists, for the sake of
a paltry five shillings a day, should be ready to shoot down their
fellow-countrymen. Such men, alas! there have always been, since, in the
first days of the human race, Cain killed his brother Abel. But Cain had
not long to wait for his reward!
Whilst we were besieging these Afrikanders, news came that large columns
from Reddersburg and Bloemfontein were drawing near. So overwhelming
were their numbers that the commandos of Generals A.P. Cronje and Piet
de Wet were far too weak to hold them in check, and I had to despatch
two reinforcing parties, the first under Commandant Fourie, the second
under General J.B. Wessels.
General Froneman had now returned from Smithfield, whither I had sent
him to attack the garrison. He told me that he had been unable to carry
out my orders, for, on his arrival at Smithfield, he had discovered that
the garrison--which had only consisted of some two or three hundred
men--had just departed. He learnt, however, that it was still possible
to overtake it before it reached Aliwal North. Unfortunately, he was
unable to persuade Commandant Swanepoel, who was in command of the
burghers, to pursue the retreating troops. He therefore had to content
himself with the fifteen men he had with him. He came in sight of the
enemy at Branziektekraal, two hours from Aliwal North; but with the
mere handful of men, which was all that he had at his command, an attack
upon them was not to be thought of, and he had to turn back.
His expedition, however, had not been without good result, for he
returned with about five hundred of those burghers who had gone home
after our commandos had left Stormberg.
We had to thank Lord Roberts for this welcome addition to our forces.
The terms of the proclamation in which Lord Roberts had guaranteed the
property and personal liberty of the non-combatant burghers had not been
abided by. In the neighbourhood of Bloemfontein, Reddersburg, and
Dewetsdorp, and at every other place where it was possible, his troops
had made prisoners of burghers who had remained quietly on their farms.
The same course of action had been pursued by the column which fell into
our hands at Mostertshoek--I myself had liberated David Strauss and four
other citizens whom I had found there. While peacefully occupied on
their farms they had been taken prisoners by the English column, which
was then on its way from Dewetsdorp to Reddersburg.
This disregard of his proclamations did not increase the respect which
the burghers felt for Lord Roberts. They felt that the word of the
English was not to be trusted, and, fearing for their own safety, they
returned to their commandos. I sent President Steyn a telegram,
informing him that our burghers were rejoining, and adding that Lord
Roberts was the best recruiting sergeant I had ever had!
General Froneman and the men whom he had collected soon found work to
do. The enemy was expecting a reinforcement from Aliwal North, and I
sent the General, with six hundred troops, to oppose it. He came into
touch with it at Boesmanskop, and a slight skirmish took place.
In the meanwhile I received a report from General Piet de Wet, who was
at Dewetsdorp, notifying me that the English forces outnumbered his own
so enormously that he could not withstand their advance. He suggested
that I ought at once to relinquish the siege and proceed in the
direction of Thaba'Nchu.
I also received discouraging news from General Piet Fourie, who had had
a short but severe engagement with the troops that were coming from
Bloemfontein, and had been compelled to give way before their superior
forces.
Piet de Wet's advice appealed to me all the more strongly since
reinforcements were pouring in upon the enemy from all sides. But I was
of opinion that I ought to go with a strong force after the enemy in the
direction of Norvalspont, as I was convinced that it was no longer
possible to check their advance. But General Piet de Wet differed from
me on this point, and held that we ought to keep in front of the
English, and I was at last compelled to give in to him.
Accordingly I issued orders to General Froneman to desist from any
further attack upon the reinforcement with which he had been engaged,
and to join me. When he arrived I fell back on Thaba'Nchu.
My siege of Colonel Dalgety, with his Brabant's Horse and Cape Mounted
Rifles, had lasted for sixteen days. Our total loss was only five killed
and thirteen wounded. The English, as I learnt from prisoners, had
suffered rather severely.
[Footnote 36: Cape Mounted Rifles.]