THE BATTLE OF COLENSO.
'Never shame to hear what you have nobly done.'--_Coriolanus._
On December 12th, the 6th and Naval Brigades marched from Frere to
Chieveley, and the rest of the army followed the next day. The
battalion happened to be finding the outposts, and could not march
with the 5th Brigade. Some delay in collecting the companies was
experienced, so it was not until 1 p.m. that a start was made, and
darkness came on before Chieveley was reached. It was, however, a
glorious moonlight night, and marching across the veld had a charm
which even the dust could not quite destroy. But romance soon gave way
to more worldly feelings when, on arriving at Chieveley about 8 p.m.,
it became necessary to find the brigade camp among the hundreds of
tents already pitched.
On the evening of the 14th, it was known that the army was to advance
next day, and attempt the passage of the Tugela. Colonel Cooper
assembled his officers in order to explain the Divisional and Brigade
orders. He stated that the 5th Brigade would cross the river at a
drift two miles west of Colenso, then move down the left bank so as to
take in rear the Boers defending Colenso bridge, which would be
attacked by the 2nd Brigade. The Brigade orders detailed the Dublin
Fusiliers to lead the advance to the river, and afterwards to cover
the rear of the brigade when it moved down the left bank. General Hart
urged in addition the necessity of keeping the men well in hand. They
were to cheer in the event of a charge, but were not to be allowed to
make a wild rush.
[Illustration: 2 miles West of Colenso. Genl. Hart's flank attack from
the Boer Point of View. 15th Dec/99. From a sketch by Col. H. Tempest
Hicks, C.B.]
Every one was early astir on December 15th. Breakfasts were at 3 a.m.,
but before that hour tents had been struck and packed in the
waggons, on which great-coats, blankets, and mess-tins were also
placed, so that the men only carried their haversacks, water-bottles,
rifles, and 150 rounds. The brigade fell in at 3.30 a.m. It was still
quite dark, and the Brigadier spent the ensuing half-hour in drilling
his command. The advance was commenced just as the eastern horizon
grew grey with the dawn.
The battalion, which led the brigade, deployed into line to the right,
and then advanced by fours from the right of companies. In front rode
the General with his staff and a Kaffir guide; behind came the other
three battalions of the brigade in mass. The deployment of the
battalion had brought 'A' on the left, and 'H' and the three companies
of the 1st Battalion on the right.
In this order the brigade moved across the broad expanse of veld,
leading to the banks of the Tugela. In front, beyond the river, rose
tier on tier of ridges and kopjes, backed by the towering mass of
Grobelaar's Kloof. In the morning light they looked strangely quiet
and deserted. Only on a spur to the left front could be seen a few
black specks, the figures of watching Boers.
Soon the naval guns in front of Chieveley opened fire, dropping their
shells on the horseshoe ridge to the north of Colenso, and into a
kraal further to the west. But no answer came. The brigade moved on,
tramping through the long grass, wet with the dew. There was a
momentary halt in order to cross a spruit running diagonally across
the line of march. The ridges in front grew nearer and plainer. They
still seemed deserted, although the eyes of many foes might be
watching the advancing khaki-clad troops. Behind came the thunder of
the big guns, and the shells screamed in the air overhead. It was past
6 a.m. Suddenly the hiss of a shell sounded marvellously close, there
was a metallic clang, and a cloud of dust arose some hundred yards in
front. It was a Boer shrapnel, and the battle had begun.
Each company of the battalion, without waiting for orders,
'front-formed,' and doubled forward. The mounted officers at once
dismounted, Major Hicks' horse being shot under him as he was in the
very act of getting off its back. Somehow it did not seem a bit
strange to him at the time that his horse should be down, and it never
occurred to him then that it had been shot. Another shrapnel burst
over the line and then the enemy's musketry blazed forth, finding an
excellent target in the massed brigade, which was deploying as best it
could.
[Illustration: Boer Trenches, Colenso.]
The battalion was dangerously crowded together, for it had been
advancing as if drilling on the barrack square, although Colonel
Cooper had tried to open out to double company interval, a proceeding
which the General had promptly counter-ordered. But all did their
best. The men rushed forward after their officers, and at their signal
lay down in the long grass, whence fire was opened at the invisible
foe.
It was very difficult to discover the Boer positions. There was one
long trench near the kraal which the naval guns had been shelling,
and further to the west could be seen another parapet from which came
an occasional puff of smoke betraying a Martini rifle and black
powder. But if the Boers could not be seen, they could be both heard
and felt. There was one ceaseless rattle of mausers, and a constant
hum of bullets only drowned by the scream of the shells.
[Illustration: Casualties at Colenso.
Capt. BACON. _Killed._
Lieut. HENRY. _Killed._
Capt. H. M. SHEWAN. _Wounded._
Major GORDON (_1st Battalion, attached_). _Wounded._
Second Lieut. MACLEOD (_1st Battalion, attached_). _Wounded._]
Short rushes were made as a rule, and the flank companies edged away
in order to give room for a more reasonable extension. But no sooner
had the battalion opened out than it was reinforced by companies of
the Connaught Rangers, and, later, of the Inniskilling Fusiliers and
the Border Regiment. In a comparatively short time, after the first
Boer shell, the 5th Brigade had been practically crowded into one
line. Officers led men of all the four regiments, and encouraged them
with the cry, 'Come on, the Irish Brigade!'
There was no control, no cohesion, no arrangement in the attack. No
attempt was made to support, by the careful fire of one part of the
line, the advance of the remainder; nor did any order from the higher
ranks reach the firing line. Small groups of men, led by an officer,
jumped up, dashed forward a few scores of yards, and then lay down.
Nobody knew where the drift was, nobody had a clear idea of what was
happening. All pushed forward blindly, animated by the sole idea of
reaching the river-bank.
On the left, part of the battalion was almost on the river when the
Boers first opened fire, and quickly reached the bank. After a short
halt they turned to their right and moved in single file along the
river, being exposed all the time to a heavy fire. They passed through
a kraal, and eventually, not being able to find the drift, assembled
in a hollow, where they stayed until orders to retire reached them.
The centre and right advanced through low scrub into a loop of the
river. Some sections of the 1st Battalion, on the extreme right, came
upon a spruit, and, under shelter of its banks, pushed ahead of the
line.
Thus, by short and constant rushes, the assailants worked their way
forward. A brigade of field artillery was supporting the attack from
behind, but they found it as difficult as the infantry did to locate
the Boers, and most of their shells were quite harmless to the enemy,
while a few dropped close to the attacking infantry. They aided the
latter indirectly, however, since the Boer guns turned their attention
to them.
General Sir Redvers Buller had early recognised the difficulties of
the 5th Brigade, and sent orders for it to retire. But it is easier to
send a force into a battle than to draw it back. The great difficulty
at Colenso was to communicate with the company officers, who had to be
left entirely to their own 'initiative.' Finally an officer of the
Connaught Rangers volunteered to take to the firing line General
Hart's written order to retire. He succeeded in reaching the front,
but then, thinking he had struck the right of the line, turned to his
left. In reality he had gone to the centre of the attack, and,
consequently, the retirement was carried out partially and by
fractions. The left fell back about 10 a.m. in good order, though the
Boers, as usual, redoubled their fire when they saw their foes begin
to retreat. The centre and right, having received no order nor
warning, clung to their ground, and in some cases even made a further
advance. Section after section, however, gradually realised that their
left flank was uncovered and a general retreat of the brigade in
progress. A score of men, under the command of an officer, would rise
up and double back, causing, as they did so, an instant quickening of
the enemy's fire. All around the running figures the bullets splashed,
raising little jets of dust. Occasionally a man would stumble forward,
or sink down as if tired, but it seemed wonderful that the rain of
bullets did not claim more victims. They claimed enough, however, of
the unfortunate three companies of the 1st Battalion, whom the order
to retire never reached. Till 1 p.m., and the arrival of the Boers,
they lay where they were, suffering a loss of some 60 per cent. When
at last Major Hicks realised the situation, he touched with his stick
the man on his right, to tell him to pass the word to retire, but he
touched a dead man; he turned to the left, only to touch another
corpse. One company was brought out of action by a lance-corporal.
Then the Boers arrived, and began making prisoners. One shouted to
Major Hicks for his revolver; he replied that he had not got one--it
was in his holsters on his dead horse--and stalked indignantly off the
battlefield, without another question being put to him.
Major Gordon, who was commanding one of the three companies of the 1st
Battalion, had been shot through the knee early in the day by a rifle
bullet. He lay for two hours or so momentarily expecting to be hit
again. After a time he noticed that as long as he lay still no bullets
came in his direction, but that the moment he attempted to move there
would be a vicious hiss and spurt of sand and dust close beside him.
In spite of this he managed to crawl through a pool of blood to a
neighbouring ant-heap, which offered some sort of protection, and into
which a bullet plunged just as he reached it. Here he remained till
the retirement, when, assisted by two sergeants of the regiment,
Keenan and Dillon, he managed to hobble away. Even then he noticed
that as long as they kept away from the troops who were still actively
engaged few bullets came their way, as though the Boers were purposely
not firing at the wounded.
The Boer heavy artillery pursued the retiring troops with shells,
which made a prodigious noise, and raised clouds of dust, but seldom
did any damage. Gradually a region of comparative peace was reached,
where the ground was not being continually struck by bullets, and only
an occasional shell fell. The extended lines of the 4th Brigade,
ordered to cover the retirement, came into view, and behind them the
men of the Irish Brigade collected again in companies and battalions.
Then, although the artillery was still roaring fiercely, and the
mausers rattled with tireless persistence, the brigade trudged back to
its former camping-ground, pitched tents, and began to cook dinners. A
prosaic but practical ending to an impossible attack.
But there was still one task to accomplish--the preparation of the
casualty list: The regiment had suffered heavily. Two officers,
Captain Bacon (1st Battalion) and Lieutenant Henry, had been killed,
and three, Major Gordon (1st Battalion), Captain Shewan, and
Lieutenant Macleod (1st Battalion), wounded. The total casualties were
219, of whom 52 were killed. Among the latter were Colour-Sergeant
Gage (mortally wounded) and Sergeant Hayes.
Captain Bacon (1st Battalion) was killed by a bullet, and must have
died immediately. He had previously served for a short time with the
2nd Battalion, in which he had many friends, and his loss was bitterly
deplored by Officers, N.C.O.'s, and Privates alike.
Lieutenant Henry had scarcely two years' service, but had in that
short space of time endeared himself to every one in the regiment, and
was as smart and efficient a young officer as ever joined it. His
death must also have been mercifully instantaneous, as he was hit by a
shell.
Second Lieutenant Macleod had only joined the 1st Battalion a few days
before it left the Curragh on November 10th. He was very severely
wounded, his thigh being broken, and although his leg was saved, it
was left two inches shorter than it had been, and in the end he had to
leave the service on this account.
Major Gordon (1st Battalion), who received a Brevet
Lieutenant-Colonelcy for his services, was invalided home, but came
out again later on; while Captain Shewan, who had been shot through
the leg by a bullet, was back at work again in twelve days, a sterling
proof of that devotion to duty which was later on rewarded by the
well-merited distinction of the D.S.O.
[Illustration: Group of Twenty Sergeants taken after the Battle of
Colenso. All that remained of forty-eight who left Maritzburg.
The names reading from left to right in rows are:--(back row) Sergt.
Hanna; Band-Sergt. Cragg; Sergt. Davis; Lance-Sergt. Cullen; Sergt.
Rooney; Arm.-Sergt. Waite; Col.-Sergt. Cossey; Sergt. Smith; Sergt.
Sheridan. (2nd row) Sergt. Keenan; Sergt. French; Col.-Sergt. Ambrose;
Capt. Fetherstonhaugh; Col. Cooper; Col.-Sergt. Guilfoyle: Sergt.
McNay; Sergt. Hobson; Pioneer-Sergt. Duncan. (3rd row) Sergt.
Moriarty; Sergt. Purcell; Col.-Sergt. Connell; Sergt. Beatty.]
The three companies of the 1st Battalion had been the greatest
sufferers. Being on the right, they were the last to retire; in fact,
some of the men did not get in till 5 p.m., while a few were taken
prisoners on the banks of the river.
[Illustration: Bringing down the Wounded.]
Amongst a host of others who showed their worth under the trying
circumstances of this unfortunate day, was Bugler Dunne, a small boy
who did his duty well, and had the good fortune to be received by Her
Majesty the Queen on his return home. His father was also in South
Africa, a Colour-Sergeant in the 5th Battalion. Isolated cases must
always receive undue prominence--it is the way of the world--but the
spirit of the men was quite remarkable throughout, and made officers
and N.C.O.'s proud to command and lead them. Instead of depressing
them, the reverse seemed to have a contrary effect, and merely
hardened their determination to succeed.