My March to the South
The horses of the burghers were in a very weak condition; and as the
Boer is only half a man without his horse--for he relies on it to get
him out of any and every difficulty--I had now to advance, and see if I
could not find some means of providing my men with horses and saddles. I
went on this errand in the direction of Zandriviersbrug to the farm of
Mr. Jacobus Bornman.
Here, however, I divided the commandos. General Froneman, with the Vrede
and Heilbron burghers, I sent back to cross the railway lines between
the Doorn and Zand Rivers, with orders to operate in the northern
districts of the State. I took with me Commandant Lategan of Colesberg,
with about one hundred and twenty men, and Commandant Jan Theron, with
eighty men, and proceeded on the 10th or 11th of November across the
railway line between Doorn River and Theronskoppen, with the intention
of executing my plan of making an inroad into the Cape Colony.
We wrecked the railway line and blew up a few small bridges, and then
proceeded in the direction of Doornberg, where I met Commandant
Hasebroek and his burghers. I sent orders to General Philip Botha to
come with the Harrismith and Kroonstad burghers, which he had with him.
They arrived about the 13th of November.
We then marched, with about fifteen hundred men, in the direction of
Springhaansnek, to the east of Thaba'Nchu. At the northern point of
Korannaberg, Commandant Hasebroek remained behind, waiting for some of
his men to join him.
We took with us one Krupp with sixteen rounds--that was our whole stock
of gun ammunition!
By the afternoon of the 16th we had advanced as far as Springhaansnek.
The English had built a line of forts from Bloemfontein to Thaba'Nchu
and Ladybrand. And just at the point where we wanted to pass them, there
were two forts, one to the south and the other to the north, about 2,000
paces from each other, on the shoulder of the mountain.
My first step was to order the Krupp to fire six shots on one of these
forts; and, very much to the credit of my gunners, almost everyone of
these shots found its mark. Then I raced through.
All went well. The only man hit was Vice-Assistant-Commandant Jan
Meijer, of Harrismith, who received a wound in the side. He was shot
while sitting in a cart, where he had been placed owing to a wound which
he had received a few days before, in the course of a hot engagement,
which General Philip Botha had had at Ventersburg Station.
We now rode on through Rietpoort towards Dewetsdorp, staying, during the
night of the 17th of November, at a place on the Modder River. The
following day we only went a short distance, and halted at the farm of
Erinspride.
On the 19th I made a point of advancing during the _day_, so as to be
observed by the garrison at Dewetsdorp.
My object was to lead the garrison to think that we did not want to
attack them, but wished first to reconnoitre the positions. This would
have been quite an unnecessary proceeding, as the town was well known to
me, and I had already received information as to where the enemy was
posted.
The garrison could only conclude that we were again flying, just as we
were supposed to have done--by readers of English newspapers--at
Springhaansnek. They would be sure to think that after reconnoitring
their positions at Dewetsdorp we had gone on to Bloemfontein. Indeed, I
heard afterwards that they had sent a patrol, to pursue us to the hills
on the farm of Glengarry, and that this patrol had seen us march away in
the direction of Bloemfontein. In fact the enemy seemed to have a fixed
impression that I was going there. I was told that they had said: "De
Wet was either too wise or too frightened to attack Dewetsdorp; and if
he did, he would only be running his head against a wall." And again,
when they had received the telegram which informed them that I had gone
through Springhaansnek, they said: "If De Wet comes here to attack us,
it will be the last attack he will ever make."
We came to the farm of Roodewal, and remained there, well out of sight,
the whole of the 20th of November. Meanwhile our friends (?) at
Dewetsdorp were saying: "The Boers are ever so far away."
But on the evening of the same day I marched, very quietly, back to
Dewetsdorp, and crept up as close as I dared to the positions held by
the enemy's garrison. My early days had been spent in the vicinity of
this town, which had been named after my father by the Volksraad; and
later on I had bought from him the farm[74] where I lived as a boy.
By day or by night, I had been accustomed to ride freely in and out of
the old town; never before had I been forced to approach it, as I was
now, _like a thief_! Was nothing on this earth then solid or lasting? To
think that I must not enter Dewetsdorp unless I were prepared to
surrender to the English!
I was _not_ prepared to surrender to the English. Sooner than do that I
would break my way in by force of arms.
At dawn, on the 21st of November, we took possession of three positions
round the town.
General Botha, who had with him Jan and Arnoldus Du Plessis as guides,
went from Boesmansbank to a _tafelkop_,[75] to the south-east of the
town. On this mountain the English had thrown up splendid _schanzes_,
and had also built gun forts there, which would have been very
advantageous to us, if we had only had more ammunition. The English had
undoubtedly built these forts with the intention of placing guns there,
and thus protecting the town on every side should danger threaten. But
they did not know how to guard their own forts, for when General Botha
arrived there he found only three sentries--and they were fast sleep!
Two of them escaped, leaving their clothes behind, but the third was
killed.
Commandant De Vos and I occupied a position on the ridge which lies to
the north of the town; from this point we could shoot into the town at a
range of about 1,600 paces.
Commandant Lategan was stationed on the hill to the west of the town,
close to the farm of Glengarry, whose owner, Mr. B.W. Richter--father of
my valiant Adjutants, B.W. and Jan Richter--must have been much
surprised that morning when he discovered that something very like an
attack was being made on Dewetsdorp.
The enemy held strong positions on points of the ridge to the south-east
(above the Kaffir location) to the south-west and to the north-west.
Their _schanzes_ were built of stones, and provided with trenches. On
the top of the _schanzes_ sandbags had been placed, with spaces left
between them for the rifles.
Of Major Massey, who was in command, and his force, consisting of parts
of the Gloucestershire regiment, the Highland Light Infantry, and the
Irish Rifles, five hundred all told, I have only to say that both
commanding officer and men displayed the greatest valour.
Although Commandants Hasebroek and Prinsloo had not arrived,
nevertheless I had as many as nine hundred men. But I was obliged to
send a strong patrol to Roodekop, eighteen miles from us in the
direction of Bloemfontein, in order to receive reports in time, should
reinforcements be coming up to the help of the English. I had also to
send men to keep watch out towards Thaba'Nchu, Wepener and Reddersburg;
nor could I leave the President's little camp (which I had allowed to
proceed to the farm called "Prospect") without some protection. Thus it
was that of my nine hundred men, only four hundred and fifty were
available for the attack.
It delighted me to see how courageous our burghers were at Dewetsdorp.
As one watched them creeping from _schanze_ to _schanze_, often without
any cover whatever, and in danger at every moment of falling under the
enemy's fire, one felt that there was still hope.
On the first day we advanced until we were close to the _schanzes_ on
the south-east and on the north; we remained there during the night in
our positions, our food being brought to us.
The second day, November 22nd, firing began very early in the morning,
and was kept up until the afternoon. Our most advanced burghers, those
of Harrismith, had come to within about one hundred paces of the first
_schanze_.
I saw one of our men creeping on till he was close under the enemy's
fort. Directly afterwards I observed that rifles were being handed over
the _schanze_ to this man. Later on it appeared that the man who had
done this valiant deed was none other than Veldtcornet Wessels, of
Harrismith. He was subsequently promoted to the rank of Commandant, to
take the place of Commandant Truter; later on again, he became
Vice-Commander-in-Chief.
Our burghers could now enter this fort without incurring much danger.
But they had hardly done so, when the two English guns, which had been
placed to the west of the town, opened fire on them. When this
happened, I gave orders to my men that a great _schanze_ of the English,
about eighty paces from the one which we had just taken, should be
stormed. This was successfully carried out by Veldtcornet Wessels, who
had with him about twenty-five men. The enemy meanwhile kept up a heavy
fire on our storming party, from some _schanzes_ which lay still further
away; our men, therefore, had nothing left them but to take these also.
Then while our men kept in cover behind the fort which they had just
taken, the English left the _schanzes_ upon which the storming party had
been firing so fiercely; this, however, Veldtcornet Wessels and his
burghers did not know, because, after having rested a little, and
desiring to renew the attack, they only saw that everything was quiet
there, and that they were now only under the fire of guns from the
western forts, which lay right above the town. I also had not observed
that the forts had been abandoned.
Just as the sun was setting, and when it was too late to do anything,
General Philip Botha, with his two sons, Louis and Charlie, rushed up to
Veldtcornet Wessels and told him what the real state of affairs was.
I now saw columns of black smoke rising from the mill of Mr. Wessels
Badenhorst, to the south of the town. Everybody was saying: "The English
are burning their commissariat; they are going to surrender!"
The English had a strong fort on the north, near the place where
Commandant De Vos was stationed. In order to take this _schanze_ one
would have been obliged to cross 200 metres of open ground. Moreover, it
was so placed that it was the only part of the English possession which
De Vos's guns commanded. Accordingly, when the sun had gone down, I sent
orders to him that he was to storm this _schanze_ before daybreak on the
following morning.
My orders were duly carried out.
Commandant De Vos crept stealthily up to the fort, and was not observed
by the enemy until he was close to them. They then fired fiercely on
him, killing two of his burghers, but our men would not be denied; they
leapt over the _schanze_ and compelled the enemy to surrender. The
English losses on this occasion were six killed, a few wounded, and
about thirty taken prisoner.
While this was going on, Veldtcornet Wessels, in accordance with orders
which I had given him the previous evening, had taken possession of the
river bank exactly opposite to the town, which he was now preparing to
storm.
The English had only a few _schanzes_ to the west of him, and these were
not more than two hundred paces off.
I had been to the laager at "Prospect" the night before, with the
intention of returning so as to be in time for the storming of the town.
I had arranged to go there very early in the morning, because my journey
could be accomplished with much less risk if carried out in the dark.
Unfortunately, however, daylight overtook me when I had got no further
than the Kaffir location, and I had to race from there, over country
where I had no sort of cover, to the ravine near the town. From this
ravine to where Veldtcornet Wessels was waiting for me on the river
bank, I rode in comparative safety.
The reader can easily imagine how delighted I was to meet again the
Dewetsdorp folk, to whom I was so well known. But I could not show
myself too much. That would not have been safe. After I had visited
three houses--those of the Schoolmaster, Mr. Otto, of Mr. Jacobus Roos,
and of old Mr. H. Van der Schijf--and had partaken in each of a cup of
coffee, I hurried off to my burghers.
The remaining English _schanzes_ had been so well constructed that their
occupants could still offer a very stubborn resistance, and they did so.
It was not until about three o'clock on the afternoon of the 23rd of
November that we saw the white flag go up, and knew that the victory was
ours.
We took four hundred and eight prisoners, amongst whom were Major Massey
and seven other officers. We also took fifty Kaffirs. Two Armstrong guns
with more than three hundred rounds of ammunition, some waggons, horses
and mules, and a great quantity of Lee-Metford cartridges also fell into
our hands.
We never knew the exact numbers of the English dead and wounded, but
they must have lost something between seventy and one hundred men.
Our own loss was heavy. Seven of the burghers were killed and fourteen
wounded; most of these, however, slightly.
The sun had already set before we had put everything in order, and it
was late in the evening when we returned to our laager at "Prospect."
There I received a report that a great column was marching from the
direction of Reddersburg, in order to relieve Major Massey--but they
were too late!
Very early the following morning we made preparations to intercept the
advance of this column. We took up positions to the west of Dewetsdorp,
and the day was spent in exchanging shots with the enemy's guns. During
the night we remained in our positions, but when the sun rose I
discovered that the column, which was already too strong for us, was
expecting a reinforcement, and as no attack was attempted on their side,
I decided to leave the position quietly, and to march on. My inroad into
Cape Colony must no longer be delayed.
Our positions at Dewetsdorp were so situated that I could leave them
unnoticed. I thought it well, however, to leave behind a small number of
burghers as a decoy, so that the English should not pursue us at once.
[Footnote 74: Nieuwjaarsfontein.]
[Footnote 75: A table-shaped hill.]