Telegraph wire to Fig Tree Fort cut—Patrol sent out to escort
coach—I join Captain Mainwaring's patrol—Repair telegraph wire—I
rejoin my troop at Dawe's store—Two murdered white men found near
Bulawayo—Fort Marquand—Lieutenant Grenfell's account of the fight
at Umguza.
On our arrival in town we heard that the wire was down or had been
cut by the natives between Bulawayo and Fig Tree Fort. A patrol was
therefore at once organised to proceed along the telegraph line, repair
the break, and then go on to Fig Tree in order to act as an escort back
to town for a coach now due containing a large and valuable consignment
of rifles. This patrol was under the command of Captain Mainwaring,
and consisted of thirty-five men of his own troop of the Bulawayo
Police Force, and twenty-two men of the Matabele Mounted Police under
Inspector Southey.
Being due at Mabukitwani on Thursday evening, I left town early on the
morning of that day, and joining Captain Mainwaring travelled with
him down the telegraph line. We found the wire broken about three and
a half miles from Bulawayo. One of the poles had been chopped down
evidently with small-bladed native axes, whilst the wire itself had
been cut and the insulator broken.
After the wire had been repaired we continued our journey, and reached
the Khami river at about 2 P.M., where we remained till about seven
o'clock. Then, both horses and men being rested and refreshed, we
saddled-up and rode on to Mr. Dawe's store, which is about half a
mile from the old kraal of Mabukitwani. Here I heard that Lieutenant
Grenfell had arrived with my troop from Matoli the same evening, and
was encamped near the mule stable on the further side of the stream; so
bidding good-bye to Captain Mainwaring, who decided to camp near the
store, I at once rejoined my own men.
On the following morning Captain Mainwaring proceeded to Fig Tree,
where he had not to wait long for the coach which he had come to meet,
as he got back to my camp with it on Saturday evening. There were 123
rifles on board from which the locks and pins had been taken—each man
of the escort carrying three of each—in order that, in the event of the
coach being captured by an overwhelming force of Matabele, the rifles
should be useless to them. However, both coach and escort reached
Bulawayo safely, no rebels having been met with.
When about four miles from town they discovered the bodies of two white
men lying on the roadside about 150 yards from their waggon. They had
evidently been surprised by the rebels, and had made a bolt for life
towards the road. The bodies had been terribly mutilated and hacked
about, and seemed to have been lying where they were found for at
least forty-eight hours. They were examined by Captain Mainwaring and
Inspector Southey, as was also the waggon, but nothing was discovered
by which to identify the murdered men except a branding iron. It was,
however, subsequently ascertained that they were two Dutch transport
riders named Potgieter and Fourie.
Strangely enough, these are the only white men who have been murdered
on the main road from Bulawayo to Mafeking during the present
insurrection, and it is noteworthy that they were not travelling
along the road, but had been living for some time in their waggon some
little distance away from it. I have no doubt that they were murdered
by the party of rebels by whom the telegraph wire was cut on Wednesday,
22nd April. These men probably discovered their whereabouts the same
evening, and were thus able to surprise and murder them during the
night, or more probably at daylight on the following morning. The
murderers were followers of Babian, one of the two envoys who visited
England with Mr. E. A. Maund in 1899. The second envoy, Umsheti, is
dead, or he, too, would be found in the ranks of the insurgents.
On Friday morning Lieutenant Grenfell and Mr. Norton rode into Bulawayo
on business, and on the following day the former gentleman took part
in the memorable fight with the Matabele on the Umguza, when for the
first time the rebels were driven from their position in the immediate
vicinity of the town, near Government House, which they have never
since reoccupied.
During Mr. Grenfell's absence, Messrs. Blöcker, Marquand, and myself
chose a site for a fort on a kopje near the site of the old kraal
of Mabukitwani, from the top of which a magnificent view of the
surrounding country was obtainable, whilst with a certain amount of
work the kopje itself could be turned into an impregnable fortress. Now
that work has been accomplished, and Fort Marquand will long remain as
a memento of the present struggle in Matabeleland. I christened it Fort
Marquand, after my lieutenant of that name, whom, he being an architect
by profession, I put in charge of the working parties, so that the
fort was built entirely under his direction and superintendence, and
whosoever may care to examine it will see for himself that it is a very
good fort, built with great care and sagacity.
[Illustration: FORT MARQUAND, ON THE ROAD BETWEEN BULAWAYO AND MANGWE;
WITH A PORTION OF H TROOP OF THE BULAWAYO FIELD FORCE IN THE FOREGROUND.
1. The Author (commanding H Troop).
2. Lieutenant Claud Grenfell.
3. Lieutenant Marquand (who superintended the building of the Fort).
4. Lieutenant H. H. Blöcker.
5. Sergeant-Major Robertson, standing behind Author.
6. Sergeant Gates, standing behind Lieut. C. Grenfell.
7. Sergeant Norton, standing behind Lieut. Marquand.]
On Monday evening Lieutenant Grenfell and Mr. Norton returned to
Mabukitwani, in company with a detachment of the Africander Corps which
had been sent down under Commandant Barnard to meet Earl Grey, who was
expected by the next coach. From Lieutenant Grenfell and Commandant
Barnard and his men I heard all about the fight on the previous day
at the Umguza, as they had all taken part in it. All agreed that
the Kafirs had suffered very heavy loss, and been most signally
discomfited, and Lieutenant Grenfell was kind enough to write for me
the following account of the engagement:—
"On Friday, 24th of April, it was not difficult to discern that a
determined move against the Kafirs on the Umguza was in contemplation.
The situation was getting unbearable, the town being surrounded by the
Matabele, and the operations against them with a view to clearing the
country round Bulawayo not having hitherto been at all successful. In
fact, an uncomfortable feeling was prevalent that we were in process of
being closed in upon every side.
"It was therefore with great satisfaction that we learnt this Friday
night that Captain Macfarlane was to be given as many men as could be
spared, two guns, and a free hand, and go out in the morning. Great was
the scrimmaging for horses among the unattached, unexpectedly sudden
the popularity of the remount officer. There is a good deal to be said
in favour of fighting when the state of affairs is such that you can
go out after morning coffee to a certain find, with every chance of a
gallop and a kill, and return to a late breakfast at say 2 P.M. There
were rumours, too, that this time we really meant business, and that
the natives would be encouraged to surround us on all sides, in order
to give every opportunity to the machine guns and rifle fire.
"Such were the directions actually given by Captain Macfarlane to
his officers, when on the march, and the tactics proved to be sound
enough. The patrol consisted of 35 Grey's Scouts under Captain Grey;
25 B troop under Captain Fynn; 15 of Captain Dawson's troop; 35 of the
Africander Corps under Commandant Van Rensburg; 100 Colenbrander's Cape
Boys under Captain Cardigan, and 60 to 70 Friendlies under Chief Native
Commissioner Taylor; 1 Hotchkiss and 1 Maxim under Captain Rixon, and
an ambulance with stretchers under Dr. Vigne; making in all some 120
whites and about 170 Colonial Boys and Friendlies all told, all under
the command of Captain Macfarlane. Mr. Duncan, Colonel Spreckley,
Captain Nicholson, Town Major Scott, Captain Wrey, and several other
unattached officers and scouts, also accompanied the force. It is worth
mentioning that Messrs. F. G. Hammond, Stewart, Anderson, Farquhar jr.,
and two or three more, shouldered their rifles and marched out on foot,
in order to participate in the day's work.
[Illustration: CAPTAIN R. MACFARLANE.]
"The patrol left Bulawayo at 7.30 in the morning of the 25th of April,
and proceeded in a north-easterly direction, taking the road to the
right of the scene of the recent engagements on the Umguza river. The
Scouts went on ahead as usual, the Africanders opening out on the left,
and Captain Dawson taking command of the right flanking party, the guns
bringing up the rear with an ambulance waggon and the Friendlies. This
order was kept until a small bare eminence was reached on which stood
four old walls, the wreck of a small farmhouse some three miles out of
Bulawayo. There was a circuit of bush in front of this position, then
the Umguza river, and beyond that rocky ground with thick bush rising
from the river, the lines of the native "scherms" showing up black on
the heights in the distance.
"Up to now nothing had been seen of the enemy, only some smoke from
their fires. The Scouts rode down to the river with orders to draw
the enemy on, while the rest of the men took up their places round
the two guns. The position was very suitable for both the Maxim and
the Hotchkiss; but afforded absolutely no cover for the men. The
rebels, several hundred in number, no sooner saw the Scouts than they
streamed down to the river, shouting out a loud challenge to come on,
which was answered by our side. The Scouts drew back slowly, bringing
the Kafirs well on, but were finally driven in on our position with
a rush, and the Kafirs pulled up about 200 yards off in the bush,
firing very rapidly. Bullets of all sorts came whistling along, from
elephant-guns, Martinis, Winchesters, and Lee-Metfords, and for about
an hour things were decidedly unpleasant, though up to this time we had
only one man killed and one wounded. Our firing was incessant, and the
shooting, though mostly at long range, very steady, and as effective
probably as our exposed position and the cover afforded our assailants
by the bush would allow. After the rebels had made two determined
efforts to approach the Maxim, in both of which they were foiled, their
fire slackened, and they apparently sent their best marksmen to the
front to see what they could do.
"At this juncture, however, Captain Macfarlane ordered the Africanders
to charge those on our left, and the brilliant manner in which this was
carried out will not soon be forgotten by those who witnessed it. The
enemy had cover here behind some rocky ridges, but the Africanders rode
them out of this ground in the cheeriest way possible—they use rather
more "noise" fighting than the Britishers do—and sent them flying over
the river, killing no fewer than seventy-four at the crossing, and
completely breaking up that wing of the enemy's line. The Hotchkiss
planted several shells very well among the flying natives; whilst on
our side only one horse was lost in the charge.
"About this time the Scouts were ordered to drive off the rebels to
our front, and in this they succeeded admirably, but owing to the
bad ground they had three men wounded. Lovett was shot here, and
subsequently died from the effects of his wound, whilst John Grootboom,
a very plucky colonial native, well known in Rhodesia, was also hit in
two places while trying to drive some natives out of a donga.
"Meanwhile Captain Dawson with his men on the right had been holding
his own under a galling fire in open ground, unable to have a good shot
at the enemy who were in the bush. They were having a very warm time
of it, and had lost two men killed and one wounded, when Burnham was
ordered to clear the bush with 100 of the Taylor's Friendlies, wearing
red capes and carrying assegais. The charge was successful, and, backed
up by Captain Taylor and Colenbrander's Cape Boys armed with rifles,
the Friendlies cleared the bush and relieved Dawson from the hidden
enemy.
"About this time a message arrived from Captain Colenbrander that a
fresh impi from the west meant to attack us, and sure enough they
turned up very soon after, but seeing how the others had fared they
kept fully half a mile off, sending a number of shots after the
Africanders, whom they tried to cut off. The Maxim and Hotchkiss,
however, kept them from coming nearer. The main body of the enemy
having now partially reformed, the Africanders went to assist the
Scouts, and the enemy were driven off fully two miles, one of our men
and one horse being wounded in the sortie.
"Captain Macfarlane thought it was now time to get home, as the wounded
would take some time to see to, and there was a chance of his having
to fight his way back to town; so orders were given for the ambulance
to prepare to return to Bulawayo, and the whole column marched back
in good order, having had by far the most successful day since the
commencement of the rebellion. Our loss was four white men killed
and four wounded, two Cape Boys and one Friendly wounded, one horse
and one mule killed. It is very difficult to estimate the number of
natives engaged, but there were probably at least as many as 2000 in
all opposed to us. How many were killed it is difficult to say, but
from the bodies which were counted, and from the reports of the wounded
brought in by Captain Colenbrander and his boys, who were over the
ground in the afternoon, the enemy's loss must have been considerable.
A vidette party of four mounted men, who were sent out to Government
House in the morning, allowed themselves to be surprised and
surrounded by the rebels, and one, unfortunately, got killed, namely
Trooper B. Parsons of D troop, the other three just escaping with their
lives.
"After the return of the column in the afternoon from the Umguza, a
small patrol under Lieutenant Boggie, consisting of thirty dismounted
men of C troop, fifty of Colenbrander's Cape Boys, and ten of Grey's
Scouts mounted, with one Maxim gun, went out in the direction of
Sauer's house, and turning to the left, past Government House and
Gifford's house, picked up Trooper Parsons' body, and returned to town
via the Brickfields, not having seen any of the enemy. A seven-pounder
was placed in position on the rise at the back of Williams' buildings,
trained ready on to the ridge at the left of Government House, in order
to shell the position if necessary. After the return of the patrol the
Observatory reported the appearance of a large body of the rebels, who
came over the ridge to the east of Government House down as far as the
spruit. Trooper Edward Appleyard, seriously wounded on the Umguza in
the morning, died on Saturday night, and at 11.30 on Sunday morning his
body, together with those of Troopers Whitehouse, Gordon, and Parsons,
was accorded a military funeral."