ADVANCE FROM THE ORANGE RIVER.
[Sidenote: Lord Methuen's instructions. Nov. 10/99.]
On the 10th of November Lord Methuen, with his staff, left Cape Town
for Orange River station, where he arrived two days later. The orders
which he had received from Sir Redvers Buller ran as follows:--
November 10th, 1899.
1. You will take command of the troops at De Aar and Orange River
stations,[145] with the object of marching on Kimberley as
rapidly as possible.
[Footnote 145: See map No. 9.]
2. In addition to the troops now at De Aar, the infantry of which
are being formed into the 9th brigade under Colonel
Fetherstonhaugh, you will have under your command:--
i. The 1st Infantry Brigade.--Major-Gen. Colvile.
ii. The Highland Brigade.--Major-Gen. Wauchope.
iii. The 9th Lancers.
iv. The Brigade Division, Royal Field Artillery, under
Colonel Hall.
v. The Divisional Troops except Cavalry of the Division.
vi. Certain Royal Engineers, Army Service Corps and
Medical Details which have been collected at the
two stations.
I wish you to march from the Orange river to the Modder river,
communicate with Kimberley, and to hold the line De Aar, Modder
river, so that we shall be able to bring up stores and heavy guns
and pass them into Kimberley.
3. The half-battalion Loyal North Lancashire regiment, which will
form part of the 9th brigade, is to be left in Kimberley.
4. You will afford help to Kimberley to remove such of the
natives as they wish to get rid of, and, generally, you will give
such advice and assistance in perfecting the defences as you may
be able to afford.
5. You will make the people of Kimberley understand that you have
not come to remain charged with its defence, but to afford it
better means of maintaining its defence, which will at the same
time be assisted by an advance on Bloemfontein.
REDVERS BULLER, General.
Four days later, the Commander-in-Chief in South Africa addressed the
following letter to General Methuen:--
[Sidenote: Personal advice from Sir Redvers, Nov. 14th.]
Cape Town,
November 14th, 1899.
LORD METHUEN,--
I do not want to tie your hands in any way, but I send this
letter for such use as you choose to make of it.
1. I think that you will find that the Guards and the 9th Brigade
and two batteries Royal Field Artillery will be as large a
portion of your force as you can take with advantage.
2. As to mounted men, you will of course take what you require. I
think it will be advisable to leave one-half of Rimington's
Guides, the party at Hanover Road, and sufficient others to scout
20 to 25 miles on all sides of the line held by General Wauchope.
3. On your departure General Wauchope will have, including the
two half-battalions of Berkshire and Munster, four battalions;
and if you leave him one battery, six guns Royal Field Artillery,
with them he should be able to hold the line to Belmont with
perfect safety. Orange River bridge must of course be held at all
costs. I hope you will not remain a day longer at Kimberley than
you can help.
5. I have already told you that I am sending with you a Naval
brigade with four 12-pr. 12-cwt. guns; these guns range 6,000
yards. You will not start without them, will leave them at
Kimberley, and such reinforcements not exceeding one-and-a-half
battalions as the commandant may require.
6. I have said in my instructions that you will proceed to Modder
river. If you can from there get a clear road to Kimberley, so
much the better, but you will act according to circumstances. The
main object is to save time.[146]
[Footnote 146: The remainder of the letter contains
suggestions on tactics and so forth, which are not directly
relevant to the subject of this chapter, and are therefore
omitted.]
* * * * *
R. BULLER.
[Sidenote: Information gathered before the march, up to Nov. 21st.]
Before Lord Methuen's arrival at Orange River station, the mounted
troops had been engaged in reconnoitring and sketching the country in
the neighbourhood of the railway bridge. On the 6th of November a
party of the 9th Lancers and mounted infantry, accompanied by guns,
had scouted up the railway to within five miles of Belmont. On the 9th
another reconnaissance was made up the line, past Belmont, to Honey
Nest Kloof, 37 miles from Orange River station. No Boers were seen
about Belmont, though they had left traces of their presence in broken
culverts and other damage to the railway. After falling back for the
night to Witteputs, the patrol marched north-eastward on the morning
of the 10th, and encountered several hundred Boers, with field guns, a
few miles to the east of Belmont. A skirmish ensued in which Lt.-Col.
C. E. Keith-Falconer was killed, Lt. C. C. Wood mortally wounded, and
Lts. F. Bevan and H. C. Hall and four men wounded. To the westward of
the railway line a detachment of thirty of Rimington's Guides
successfully reconnoitred as far as Prieska. Though the information
brought back by these reconnaissances was mainly negative, on the 18th
November Major R. N. R. Reade, Lord Methuen's Intelligence officer,
was able from various sources of information to report that a force,
estimated at from 700 to 1,200 men, with four guns, was at or near
Belmont; and that a small commando under Jourdaan had been
successfully recruiting from the disloyal farmers in the districts of
Barkly West, Campbell, Douglas, and Griquatown, which lay to the west
and north-west of the line of advance to Kimberley.
[Sidenote: Constitution of 1st Division.]
Thanks to the strenuous efforts of the staff and the departmental
corps, the reconstituted first division[147] was by the 20th of
November ready to take the field. Equipped with mule transport, and
marching with a minimum of baggage, Lord Methuen's column consisted of
about 7,726 infantry, 850 cavalry and mounted infantry, two batteries
of Royal Field artillery, four companies of Royal engineers and a
Naval brigade.
[Footnote 147: For the causes which led to the partial
dispersion of the 1st division on its arrival in South
Africa, see Chapter XI.]
It was thus composed:--
Naval brigade--Captain R. C. Prothero, R.N.:--
Four naval 12-pr. 12-cwt. guns, with 363 officers and men of the
Royal Navy, sailors, Royal Marine artillery and Royal Marine Light
Infantry.[148]
[Footnote 148: Owing to difficulties with transport, the
Naval brigade did not reach the 1st division until 1 a.m. on
the 23rd.]
Mounted troops:--
9th Lancers.
One company mounted infantry Northumberland Fusiliers.
One company mounted infantry Loyal North Lancashire.
Half company mounted infantry King's Own Yorkshire
Light Infantry.
New South Wales Lancers (30 of all ranks).
Rimington's Guides.
Royal Field Artillery:--
Brigade division R.F.A.--Lt.-Colonel F. H. Hall.
18th and 75th Field batteries (15-pr. guns).[149]
Royal Engineers--Lt.-Colonel J. B. Sharpe:--
7th Field company.
8th Railway company.
11th Field company.
30th Fortress company.
Telegraph section.
[Footnote 149: The 62nd Field battery, which formed part of
Colonel Hall's brigade division of artillery, was left on the
line of communication, and did not rejoin until the battle of
Modder River.]
1st (Guards) brigade--Major-General Sir H. E. Colvile:--
3rd battalion Grenadier Guards.
1st battalion Coldstream Guards.[150]
2nd battalion Coldstream Guards.
1st battalion Scots Guards.
[Footnote 150: The 1st battalion Coldstream Guards landed
from Gibraltar on 16th November, and was detained at Orange
River, guarding the railway until the 22nd, when it was
relieved by the 1st battalion Highland Light Infantry and at
once pushed on to Belmont, where it arrived late on the night
of the 22nd.]
9th Infantry brigade--Maj.-Gen. R. S. R. Fetherstonhaugh:--[151]
1st battalion Northumberland Fusiliers.
Half-battalion 1st Loyal North Lancashire.[152]
2nd battalion Northamptonshire.
2nd battalion King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry.
[Footnote 151: Two companies of the Royal Munster Fusiliers
also arrived at Belmont from Orange River on the 22nd
November, and were attached to the 9th brigade.]
[Footnote 152: The remainder of this battalion formed part of
the garrison of Kimberley.]
The medical services for the 9th infantry brigade were furnished by
the divisional Field Hospital of the 1st division, and the 3rd brigade
Field Hospital formed the new divisional Field Hospital. Subsequently,
when the 3rd (Highland) brigade joined Lord Methuen's force at Modder
river, its Field Hospital was provided by the 2nd division Field
Hospital and the Bearer company by "A." company Cape Medical Staff
Corps, under Lieut.-Col. Hartley, V.C.
[Sidenote: Supporting forces. Wauchope. French.]
Behind the 1st division, the Highland brigade, under Maj.-Gen. A. G.
Wauchope, guarded the railway up to the Orange river, and overawed the
disaffected element among the inhabitants along the line of
communication. In the neighbourhood of Colesberg, Lieut.-General
French, with a mixed force of all arms, was engaged in stemming the
tide of invasion from the Free State, and by incessantly occupying the
attention of the commandos opposed to him, prevented their massing
against Lord Methuen's right flank as he advanced towards Kimberley.
[Sidenote: March fully known by Boers. They prepare to meet it.]
The Boers were not taken by surprise by Lord Methuen's preparations
for an advance. Their spies and sympathisers kept them fully informed
of all the steps taken. In anticipation of a dash upon Kimberley they
had carefully prepared defensive positions along the railway at
Belmont and at Rooilaagte, or, as we term it, Graspan. To some 2,500
burghers, under Commandant Jacobus Prinsloo, was entrusted the duty of
thrusting the British back towards the Orange; and, if the task should
prove beyond their strength, De la Rey, who, with his commando was
then investing the southern defences of Kimberley, could easily
reinforce them. A large supply of stores had been collected at
Jacobsdal, while subsidiary depôts had been formed at Graspan and in
the neighbourhood of Koffyfontein.
[Sidenote: 4 a.m., Nov. 21st., march begins.]
At 4 a.m., on the 21st of November, the 1st division marched from
their bivouac on the northern bank of the Orange river. The General
followed the course of the railway in order to facilitate the carriage
of supplies, not only for his own column, but also for the inhabitants
of the town into which he was to throw stores and reinforcements. The
troops halted about 8 a.m. at Fincham's farm, near Witteputs, twelve
miles north of the Orange River bridge. The 9th Lancers and mounted
infantry were at once thrown forward with orders to reconnoitre
northwards on a front of about twelve miles. They found the enemy in
some strength among the hills which lie to the east of Belmont
station, and drew fire, fortunately with very slight loss.
Lieut.-Colonel Willoughby Verner, D.A.A.G., for topography to the army
corps, sketched the Boer position from the low hills east of Thomas'
farm, about a mile and a half south-east of Belmont station.[153]
These sketches were subsequently reproduced and distributed among the
officers of the column before the action of the 23rd. Later in the day
Lord Methuen himself studied the ground from the hills near Thomas'
farm, and then returned to Witteputs, followed by the mounted troops,
many of whom had covered forty miles during the day.
[Footnote 153: See map No. 10.]
[Sidenote: Approach to Belmont.]
In the grey of the morning of the 22nd of November, the mounted
infantry swooped from Witteputs upon Thomas' farm, occupied it, and
threw out a chain of posts facing the station of Belmont and the hills
to the east. Lord Methuen, with his staff, the brigadiers commanding
the infantry brigades, Lt.-Col. Hall, C.R.A., and Lt.-Col. Sharpe,
C.R.E., arrived shortly afterwards, and again reconnoitred the Boer
position from the high ground above Thomas' farm. When the General had
completed his reconnaissance, he dictated the orders for the attack
which he proposed to deliver on the morrow. Then, leaving the mounted
infantry to hold the ground they occupied, and to protect the
companies of Royal engineers who were on their way from Witteputs to
repair the railway, Lord Methuen returned with his staff to the
column, to prepare for a further advance that afternoon. During the
morning there was intermittent firing between the mounted infantry
outposts and parties of the enemy, who occasionally showed themselves
for a short time, and then disappeared without affording any clue as
to the strength of the force concealed among the kopjes. In the
afternoon the Boers brought two guns into action, chiefly directed
against the 7th Field company R.E., then employed in improving the
supply of water at the site selected for that night's bivouac near
Thomas' farm. To silence this artillery fire the 18th and 75th
batteries were hurriedly despatched from Witteputs, and in order to
save the troops at Belmont as quickly as possible from this annoyance,
the Officer Commanding trotted nearly the whole distance. The horses,
still weak from the effects of the long sea voyage, suffered severely
from the strain. Five indeed actually died of exhaustion, and all were
so weary that during the engagement of the 23rd, the artillery was
unable to move with any degree of rapidity.
[Sidenote: Division gathers before Belmont, Nov. 22nd.]
At 4.30 p.m. the remainder of the troops marched from Witteputs and
reached their bivouac at Thomas' farm just before nightfall.