At the opening of the year 1902 it was evident to every observer that
the Boer resistance, spirited as it was, must be nearing its close. By
a long succession of captures their forces were much reduced in numbers.
They were isolated from the world, and had no means save precarious
smuggling of renewing their supplies of ammunition. It was known
also that their mobility, which had been their great strength, was
decreasing, and that in spite of their admirable horsemastership their
supply of remounts was becoming exhausted. An increasing number of the
burghers were volunteering for service against their own people, and it
was found that all fears as to this delicate experiment were misplaced,
and that in the whole army there were no keener and more loyal soldiers.
The chief factor, however, in bringing the Boers to their knees was the
elaborate and wonderful blockhouse system, which had been strung across
the whole of the enemy's country. The original blockhouses had been far
apart, and were a hindrance and an annoyance rather than an absolute
barrier to the burghers. The new models, however, were only six hundred
yards apart, and were connected by such impenetrable strands of wire
that a Boer pithily described it by saying that if one's hat blew over
the line anywhere between Ermelo and Standerton one had to walk round
Ermelo to fetch it. Use was made of such barriers by the Spaniards in
Cuba, but an application of them on such a scale over such an enormous
tract of country is one of the curiosities of warfare, and will remain
one of several novelties which will make the South African campaign for
ever interesting to students of military history.
The spines of this great system were always the railway lines, which
were guarded on either side, and down which, as down a road, went
flocks, herds, pedestrians, and everything which wished to travel in
safety. From these long central cords the lines branched out to right
and left, cutting up the great country into manageable districts. A
category of them would but weary the reader, but suffice it that by the
beginning of the year the south-east of the Transvaal and the north-east
of the Orange River Colony, the haunts of Botha and De Wet, had been
so intersected that it was obvious that the situation must soon be
impossible for both of them. Only on the west of the Transvaal was there
a clear run for De la Rey and Kemp. Hence it was expected, as actually
occurred, that in this quarter the most stirring events of the close of
the campaign would happen.
General Bruce Hamilton in the Eastern Transvaal had continued the
energetic tactics which had given such good results in the past. With
the new year his number of prisoners fell, but he had taken so many, and
had hustled the remainder to such an extent, that the fight seemed to
have gone out of the Boers in this district. On January 1st he presented
the first-fruits of the year in the shape of twenty-two of Grobler's
burghers. On the 3rd he captured forty-nine, while Wing, co-operating
with him, took twenty more. Among these was General Erasmus, who had
helped, or failed to help, General Lucas Meyer at Talana Hill. On the
10th Colonel Wing's column, which was part of Hamilton's force, struck
out again and took forty-two prisoners, including the two Wolmarans.
Only two days later Hamilton returned to the same spot, and was rewarded
with thirty-two more captures. On the 18th he took twenty-seven, on the
24th twelve, and on the 26th no fewer than ninety. So severe were these
blows, and so difficult was it for the Boers to know how to get away
from an antagonist who was ready to ride thirty miles in a night in
order to fall upon their laager, that the enemy became much scattered
and too demoralised for offensive operations. Finding that they had
grown too shy in this much shot over district, Hamilton moved farther
south, and early in March took a cast round the Vryheid district, where
he made some captures, notably General Cherry Emmett, a descendant of
the famous Irish rebel, and brother-in-law of Louis Botha. For all these
repeated successes it was to the Intelligence Department, so admirably
controlled by Colonel Wools-Sampson, that thanks are mainly due.
Whilst Bruce Hamilton was operating so successfully in the Ermelo
district, several British columns under Plumer, Spens, and Colville were
stationed some fifty miles south to prevent the fugitives from
getting away into the mountainous country which lies to the north of
Wakkerstroom. On January 3rd a small force of Plumer's New Zealanders
had a brisk skirmish with a party of Boers, whose cattle they captured,
though at some loss to themselves. These Boers were strongly reinforced,
however, and when on the following day Major Vallentin pursued them
with fifty men he found himself at Onverwacht in the presence of several
hundred of the enemy, led by Oppermann and Christian Botha. Vallentin
was killed and almost all of his small force were hit before British
reinforcements, under Colonel Pulteney, drove the Boers off. Nineteen
killed and twenty-three wounded were our losses in this most sanguinary
little skirmish. Nine dead Boers, with Oppermann himself, were left upon
the field of battle. His loss was a serious one to the enemy, as he was
one of their most experienced Generals.
From that time until the end these columns, together with Mackenzie's
column to the north of Ermelo, continued to break up all combinations,
and to send in their share of prisoners to swell Lord Kitchener's weekly
list. A final drive, organised on April 11th against the Standerton
line, resulted in 134 prisoners.
In spite of the very large army in South Africa, so many men were
absorbed by the huge lines of communications and the blockhouse system
that the number available for active operations was never more than
forty or fifty thousand men. With another fifty thousand there is no
doubt that at least six months would have been taken from the duration
of the war. On account of this shorthandedness Lord Kitchener had to
leave certain districts alone, while he directed his attention to those
which were more essential. Thus to the north of the Delagoa Railway line
there was only one town, Lydenburg, which was occupied by the British.
They had, however, an energetic commander in Park of the Devons. This
leader, striking out from his stronghold among the mountains, and
aided by Urmston from Belfast, kept the commando of Ben Viljoen and the
peripatetic Government of Schalk Burger continually upon the move. As
already narrated, Park fought a sharp night action upon December 19th,
after which, in combination with Urmston, he occupied Dulstroom, only
missing the government by a few hours. In January Park and Urmston were
again upon the war-path, though the incessant winds, fogs, and rains of
that most inclement portion of the Transvaal seriously hampered
their operations. Several skirmishes with the commandos of Muller and
Trichardt gave no very decisive result, but a piece of luck befell
the British on January 25th in the capture of General Viljoen by
an ambuscade cleverly arranged by Major Orr in the neighbourhood of
Lydenburg. Though a great firebrand before the war, Viljoen had fought
bravely and honourably throughout the contest, and he had won the
respect and esteem of his enemy.
Colonel Park had had no great success in his last two expeditions, but
on February 20th he made an admirable march, and fell upon a Boer laager
which lay in placid security in the heart of the hills. One hundred and
sixty-four prisoners, including many Boer officers, were the fruits of
this success, in which the National Scouts, or 'tame Boers,' as they
were familiarly called, played a prominent part. This commando was that
of Middelburg, which was acting as escort to the government, who again
escaped dissolution. Early in March Park was again out on trek, upon
one occasion covering seventy miles in a single day. Nothing further of
importance came from this portion of the seat of war until March 23rd,
when the news reached England that Schalk Burger, Reitz, Lucas Meyer,
and others of the Transvaal Government had come into Middelburg, and
that they were anxious to proceed to Pretoria to treat. On the Eastern
horizon had appeared the first golden gleam of the dawning peace.
Having indicated the course of events in the Eastern Transvaal, north
and south of the railway line, I will now treat one or two incidents
which occurred in the more central and northern portions of the country.
I will then give some account of De Wet's doings in the Orange River
Colony, and finally describe that brilliant effort of De la Rey's in the
west which shed a last glory upon the Boer arms.
In the latter days of December, Colenbrander and Dawkins operating
together had put in a great deal of useful work in the northern
district, and from Nylstrom to Pietersburg the burghers were continually
harried by the activity of these leaders. Late in the month Dawkins was
sent down into the Orange River Colony in order to reinforce the troops
who were opposed to De Wet. Colenbrander alone, with his hardy colonial
forces, swept through the Magaliesburg, and had the double satisfaction
of capturing a number of the enemy and of heading off and sending back a
war party of Linchwe's Kaffirs who, incensed by a cattle raid of
Kemp's, were moving down in a direction which would have brought them
dangerously near to the Dutch women and children. This instance and
several similar ones in the campaign show how vile are the lies which
have been told of the use, save under certain well-defined conditions,
of armed natives by the British during the war. It would have been a
perfectly easy thing at any time for the Government to have raised all
the fighting native races of South Africa, but it is not probable
that we, who held back our admirable and highly disciplined Sikhs and
Ghoorkas, would break our self-imposed restrictions in order to enrol
the inferior but more savage races of Africa. Yet no charge has been
more often repeated and has caused more piteous protests among the
soft-hearted and soft-headed editors of Continental journals.
The absence of Colenbrander in the Rustenburg country gave Beyers a
chance of which he was not slow to avail himself. On January 24th, in
the early morning, he delivered an attack upon Pietersburg itself, but
he was easily driven off by the small garrison. It is probable, however,
that the attack was a mere feint in order to enable a number of the
inmates of the refugee camp to escape. About a hundred and fifty made
off, and rejoined the commandos. There were three thousand Boers in all
in this camp, which was shortly afterwards moved down to Natal in order
to avoid the recurrence of such an incident.
Colenbrander, having returned to Pietersburg once more, determined to
return Beyers's visit, and upon April 8th he moved out with a small
force to surprise the Boer laager. The Inniskilling Fusiliers seized the
ground which commanded the enemy's position. The latter retreated,
but were followed up, and altogether about one hundred and fifty were
killed, wounded, and taken. On May 3rd a fresh operation against Beyers
was undertaken, and resulted in about the same loss to the Boers. On the
other hand, the Boers had a small success against Kitchener's Scouts,
killing eighteen and taking thirty prisoners.
There is one incident, however, in connection with the war in this
region which one would desire to pass over in silence if such a course
were permissible. Some eighty miles to the east of Pietersburg is a wild
part of the country called the Spelonken. In this region an irregular
corps, named the Bushveld Carbineers, had been operating. It was raised
in South Africa, but contained both Colonials and British in its ranks.
Its wild duties, its mixed composition, and its isolated situation must
have all militated against discipline and restraint, and it appears to
have degenerated into a band not unlike those Southern 'bush-whackers'
in the American war to whom the Federals showed little mercy. They
had given short shrift to the Boer prisoners who had fallen into their
hands, the excuse offered for their barbarous conduct being that an
officer who had served in the corps had himself been murdered by the
Boers. Such a reason, even if it were true, could of course offer no
justification for indiscriminate revenge. The crimes were committed in
July and August 1901, but it was not until January 1902 that five of
the officers were put upon their trial and were found to be guilty as
principals or accessories of twelve murders. The corps was disbanded,
and three of the accused officers, Handcock, Wilton, and Morant, were
sentenced to death, while another, Picton, was cashiered. Handcock and
Morant were actually executed. This stern measure shows more clearly
than volumes of argument could do how high was the standard of
discipline in the British Army, and how heavy was the punishment, and
how vain all excuses, where it had been infringed. In the face of this
actual outrage and its prompt punishment how absurd becomes that crusade
against imaginary outrages preached by an ignorant press abroad, and by
renegade Englishmen at home.
To the south of Johannesburg, half-way between that town and the
frontier, there is a range of hills called the Zuikerboschrand, which
extends across from one railway system to the other. A number of Boers
were known to have sought refuge in this country, so upon February 12th
a small British force left Klip River Post in order to clear them out.
There were 320 men in all, composing the 28th Mounted Infantry, drawn
from the Lancashire Fusiliers, Warwicks, and Derbys, most of whom had
just arrived from Malta, which one would certainly imagine to be the
last place where mounted infantry could be effectively trained. Major
Dowell was in command. An advance was made into the hilly country, but
it was found that the enemy was in much greater force than had been
imagined. The familiar Boer tactics were used with the customary
success. The British line was held by a sharp fire in front, while
strong flanking parties galloped round each of the wings. It was with
great difficulty that any of the British extricated themselves from
their perilous position, and the safety of a portion of the force was
only secured by the devotion of a handful of officers and men, who gave
their lives in order to gain time for their comrades to get away. Twelve
killed and fifty wounded were our losses in this unfortunate skirmish,
and about one hundred prisoners supplied the victors with a useful
addition to their rifles and ammunition. A stronger British force came
up next day, and the enemy were driven out of the hills.
A week later, upon February 18th, there occurred another skirmish at
Klippan, near Springs, between a squadron of the Scots Greys and a party
of Boers who had broken into this central reserve which Lord Kitchener
had long kept clear of the enemy. In this action the cavalry were
treated as roughly as the mounted infantry had been the week before,
losing three officers killed, eight men killed or wounded, and forty-six
taken. They had formed a flanking party to General Gilbert Hamilton's
column, but were attacked and overwhelmed so rapidly that the blow had
fallen before their comrades could come to their assistance.
One of the consequences of the successful drives about to be described
in the Orange River Colony was that a number of the Free Staters came
north of the Vaal in order to get away from the extreme pressure upon
the south. At the end of March a considerable number had reinforced the
local commandos in that district to the east of Springs, no very great
distance from Johannesburg, which had always been a storm centre. A
cavalry force was stationed at this spot which consisted at that time
of the 2nd Queen's Bays, the 7th Hussars, and some National Scouts, all
under Colonel Lawley of the Hussars. After a series of minor engagements
east of Springs, Lawley had possessed himself of Boschman's Kop,
eighteen miles from that town, close to the district which was the chief
scene of Boer activity. From this base he despatched upon the morning
of April 1st three squadrons of the Bays under Colonel Fanshawe, for the
purpose of surprising a small force of the enemy which was reported at
one of the farms. Fanshawe's strength was about three hundred men.
The British cavalry found themselves, however, in the position of the
hunter who, when he is out for a snipe, puts up a tiger. All went well
with the expedition as far as Holspruit, the farm which they had started
to search. Commandant Pretorius, to whom it belonged, was taken by the
energy of Major Vaughan, who pursued and overtook his Cape cart. It was
found, however, that Alberts's commando was camped at the farm, and that
the Bays were in the presence of a very superior force of the enemy. The
night was dark, and when firing began it was almost muzzle to muzzle,
with the greatest possible difficulty in telling friend from foe. The
three squadrons fell back upon some rising ground, keeping admirable
order under most difficult circumstances. In spite of the darkness the
attack was pressed fiercely home, and with their favourite tactics the
burghers rapidly outflanked the position taken up by the cavalry. The
British moved by alternate squadrons on to a higher rocky kopje on
the east, which could be vaguely distinguished looming in the darkness
against the skyline. B squadron, the last to retire, was actually
charged and ridden through by the brave assailants, firing from their
saddles as they broke through the ranks. The British had hardly time
to reach the kopje and to dismount and line its edge when the Boers,
yelling loudly, charged with their horses up the steep flanks. Twice
they were beaten back, but the third time they seized one corner of the
hill and opened a hot fire upon the rear of the line of men who were
defending the other side. Dawn was now breaking, and the situation most
serious, for the Boers were in very superior numbers and were pushing
their pursuit with the utmost vigour and determination. A small party of
officers and men whose horses had been shot covered the retreat of their
comrades, and continued to fire until all of them, two officers and
twenty-three men, were killed or wounded, the whole of their desperate
defence being conducted within from thirty to fifty yards of the enemy.
The remainder of the regiment was now retired to successive ridges,
each of which was rapidly outflanked by the Boers, whose whole method
of conducting their attack was extraordinarily skilful. Nothing but the
excellent discipline of the overmatched troopers prevented the
retreat from becoming a rout. Fortunately, before the pressure became
intolerable the 7th Hussars with some artillery came to the rescue, and
turned the tide. The Hussars galloped in with such dash that some of
them actually got among the Boers with their swords, but the enemy
rapidly fell back and disappeared.
In this very sharp and sanguinary cavalry skirmish the Bays lost eighty
killed and wounded out of a total force of 270. To stand such losses
under such circumstances, and to preserve absolute discipline and order,
is a fine test of soldierly virtue. The adjutant, the squadron leaders,
and six out of ten officers were killed or wounded. The Boers lost
equally heavily. Two Prinsloos, one of them a commandant, and three
field-cornets were among the slain, with seventy other casualties. The
force under General Alberts was a considerable one, not fewer than
six hundred rifles, so that the action at Holspruit is one which adds
another name of honour to the battle-roll of the Bays. It is pleasing to
add that in this and the other actions which were fought at the end of
the war our wounded met with kindness and consideration from the enemy.
We may now descend to the Orange River Colony and trace the course of
those operations which were destined to break the power of De Wet's
commando. On these we may concentrate our attention, for the marchings
and gleanings and snipings of the numerous small columns in the other
portions of the colony, although they involved much arduous and useful
work, do not claim a particular account.
After the heavy blow which he dealt Firmin's Yeomanry, De Wet retired,
as has been told, into the Langberg, whence he afterwards retreated
towards Reitz. There he was energetically pushed by Elliot's columns,
which had attained such mobility that 150 miles were performed in three
days within a single week. Our rough schoolmasters had taught us our
lesson, and the soldiering which accomplished the marches of Bruce
Hamilton, Elliot, Rimington, and the other leaders of the end of the war
was very far removed from that which is associated with ox-wagons and
harmoniums.
Moving rapidly, and covering himself by a succession of rearguard
skirmishes, De Wet danced like a will-o'the-wisp in front of and round
the British columns. De Lisle, Fanshawe, Byng, Rimington, Dawkins, and
Rawlinson were all snatching at him and finding him just beyond their
finger-tips. The master-mind at Pretoria had, however, thought out a
scheme which was worthy of De Wet himself in its ingenuity. A glance
at the map will show that the little branch from Heilbron to Wolvehoek
forms an acute angle with the main line. Both these railways were
strongly blockhoused and barbed-wired, so that any force which was
driven into the angle, and held in it by a force behind it, would be in
a perilous position. To attempt to round De Wet's mobile burghers into
this obvious pen would have been to show one's hand too clearly. In vain
is the net laid in sight of the bird. The drive was therefore made away
from this point, with the confident expectation that the guerilla chief
would break back through the columns, and that they might then pivot
round upon him and hustle him so rapidly into the desired position that
he would not realise his danger until it was too late. Byng's column
was left behind the driving line to be ready for the expected backward
break. All came off exactly as expected. De Wet doubled back through
the columns, and one of his commandos stumbled upon Byng's men, who were
waiting on the Vlei River to the west of Reitz. The Boers seem to have
taken it for granted that, having passed the British driving line, they
were out of danger, and for once it was they who were surprised. The
South African Light Horse, the New Zealanders, and the Queensland
Bushmen all rode in upon them. A fifteen-pounder, the one taken at
Tweefontein, and two pom-poms were captured, with thirty prisoners and a
considerable quantity of stores.
This successful skirmish was a small matter, however, compared to the
importance of being in close touch with De Wet and having a definite
objective for the drive. The columns behind expanded suddenly into a
spray of mounted men forming a continuous line for over sixty miles. On
February 5th the line was advancing, and on the 6th it was known that De
Wet was actually within the angle, the mouth of which was spanned by
the British line. Hope ran high in Pretoria. The space into which
the burgher chief had been driven was bounded by sixty-six miles of
blockhouse and wire on one side and thirty on the other, while the
third side of the triangle was crossed by fifty-five miles of British
horsemen, flanked by a blockhouse line between Kroonstad and Lindley.
The tension along the lines of defence was extreme. Infantry guarded
every yard of them, and armoured trains patrolled them, while at night
searchlights at regular intervals shed their vivid rays over the black
expanse of the veld and illuminated the mounted figures who flitted from
time to time across their narrow belts of light.
On the 6th De Wet realised his position, and with characteristic
audacity and promptness he took means to clear the formidable toils
which had been woven round him. The greater part of his command
scattered, with orders to make their way as best they might out of the
danger. Working in their own country, where every crease and fold of
the ground was familiar to them, it is not surprising that most of
them managed to make their way through gaps in the attenuated line
of horsemen behind them. A few were killed, and a considerable number
taken, 270 being the respectable total of the prisoners. Three or four
slipped through, however, for every one who stuck in the meshes. De Wet
himself was reported to have made his escape by driving cattle against
the wire fences which enclosed him. It seems, however, to have been
nothing more romantic than a wire-cutter which cleared his path, though
cattle no doubt made their way through the gap which he left. With a
loss of only three of his immediate followers be Wet won his way out of
the most dangerous position which even his adventurous career had ever
known. Lord Kitchener had descended to Wolvehoek to be present at the
climax of the operations, but it was not fated that he was to receive
the submission of the most energetic of his opponents, and he returned
to Pretoria to weave a fresh mesh around him.
This was not hard to do, as the Boer General had simply escaped from one
pen into another, though a larger one. After a short rest to restore the
columns, the whole pack were full cry upon his heels once more. An
acute angle is formed by the Wilge River on one side and the line of
blockhouses between Harrismith and Van Reenen upon the other. This was
strongly manned by troops and five columns; those of Rawlinson, Nixon,
Byng, Rimington, and Keir herded the broken commandos into the trap.
From February 20th the troops swept in an enormous skirmish line across
the country, ascending hills, exploring kloofs, searching river banks,
and always keeping the enemy in front of them. At last, when the
pressure was severely felt, there came the usual breakback, which took
the form of a most determined night attack upon the British line. This
was delivered shortly after midnight on February 23rd. It struck the
British cordon at the point of juncture between Byng's column and that
of Rimington. So huge were the distances which had to be covered, and
so attenuated was the force which covered them, that the historical thin
red line was a massive formation compared to its khaki equivalent. The
chain was frail and the links were not all carefully joined, but each
particular link was good metal, and the Boer impact came upon one of the
best. This was the 7th New Zealand Contingent, who proved themselves to
be worthy comrades to their six gallant predecessors. Their patrols were
broken by the rush of wild, yelling, firing horsemen, but the troopers
made a most gallant resistance. Having pierced the line the Boers, who
were led in their fiery rush by Manie Botha, turned to their flank, and,
charging down the line of weak patrols, overwhelmed one after another
and threatened to roll up the whole line. They had cleared a gap of half
a mile, and it seemed as if the whole Boer force would certainly escape
through so long a gap in the defences. The desperate defence of the New
Zealanders gave time, however, for the further patrols, which consisted
of Cox's New South Wales Mounted Infantry, to fall back almost at right
angles so as to present a fresh face to the attack. The pivot of the
resistance was a maxim gun, most gallantly handled by Captain Begbie and
his men. The fight at this point was almost muzzle to muzzle, fifty or
sixty New Zealanders and Australians with the British gunners holding
off a force of several hundred of the best fighting men of the Boer
forces. In this desperate duel many dropped on both sides. Begbie died
beside his gun, which fired eighty rounds before it jammed. It was run
back by its crew in order to save it from capture. But reinforcements
were coming up, and the Boer attack was beaten back. A number of them
had escaped, however, through the opening which they had cleared, and it
was conjectured that the wonderful De Wet was among them. How fierce was
the storm which had broken on the New Zealanders may be shown by their
roll of twenty killed and forty wounded, while thirty dead Boers were
picked up in front of their picket line. Of eight New Zealand officers
seven are reported to have been hit, an even higher proportion than that
which the same gallant race endured at the battle of Rhenoster Kop more
than a year before.
It was feared at first that the greater part of the Boers might have
escaped upon this night of the 23rd, when Manie Botha's storming party
burst through the ranks of the New Zealanders. It was soon discovered
that this was not so, and the columns as they closed in had evidence
from the numerous horsemen who scampered aimlessly over the hills in
front of them that the main body of the enemy was still in the toils.
The advance was in tempestuous weather and over rugged country, but the
men were filled with eagerness, and no precaution was neglected to keep
the line intact.
This time their efforts were crowned with considerable success. A second
attempt was made by the corraled burghers to break out on the night
of February 26th, but it was easily repulsed by Nixon. The task of the
troopers as the cordon drew south was more and more difficult, and there
were places traversed upon the Natal border where an alpen stock would
have been a more useful adjunct than a horse. At six o'clock on the
morning of the 27th came the end. Two Boers appeared in front of the
advancing line of the Imperial Light Horse and held up a flag. They
proved to be Truter and De Jager, ready to make terms for their
commando. The only terms offered were absolute surrender within the
hour. The Boers had been swept into a very confined space, which was
closely hemmed in by troops, so that any resistance must have ended in a
tragedy. Fortunately there was no reason for desperate councils in their
case, since they did not fight as Lotter had done, with the shadow of
judgment hanging over him. The burghers piled arms, and all was over.
The total number captured in this important drive was 780 men, including
several leaders, one of whom was De Wet's own son. It was found that
De Wet himself had been among those who had got away through the picket
lines on the night of the 23rd. Most of the commando were Transvaalers,
and it was typical of the wide sweep of the net that many of them were
the men who had been engaged against the 28th Mounted Infantry in the
district south of Johannesburg upon the 12th of the same month. The loss
of 2000 horses and 50,000 cartridges meant as much as that of the men to
the Boer army. It was evident that a few more such blows would clear the
Orange River Colony altogether.
The wearied troopers were allowed little rest, for in a couple of days
after their rendezvous at Harrismith they were sweeping back again to
pick up all that they had missed. This drive, which was over the same
ground, but sweeping backwards towards the Heilbron to Wolvehoek line,
ended in the total capture of 147 of the enemy, who were picked out of
holes, retrieved from amid the reeds of the river, called down out of
trees, or otherwise collected. So thorough were the operations that it
is recorded that the angle which formed the apex of the drive was one
drove of game upon the last day, all the many types of antelope, which
form one of the characteristics and charms of the country, having been
herded into it.
More important even than the results of the drive was the discovery of
one of De Wet's arsenals in a cave in the Vrede district. Half-way down
a precipitous krantz, with its mouth covered by creepers, no writer of
romance could have imagined a more fitting headquarters for a guerilla
chief. The find was made by Ross's Canadian Scouts, who celebrated
Dominion Day by this most useful achievement. Forty wagon-loads of
ammunition and supplies were taken out of the cave. De Wet was known to
have left the north-east district, and to have got across the railway,
travelling towards the Vaal as if it were his intention to join De
la Rey in the Transvaal. The Boer resistance had suddenly become
exceedingly energetic in that part, and several important actions had
been fought, to which we will presently turn.
Before doing so it would be as well to bring the chronicle of events
in the Orange River Colony down to the conclusion of peace. There were
still a great number of wandering Boers in the northern districts and
in the frontier mountains, who were assiduously, but not always
successfully, hunted down by the British troops. Much arduous and useful
work was done by several small columns, the Colonial Horse and the
Artillery Mounted Rifles especially distinguishing themselves. The
latter corps, formed from the gunners whose field-pieces were no longer
needed, proved themselves to be a most useful body of men; and the
British gunner, when he took to carrying his gun, vindicated the
reputation which he had won when his gun had carried him.
From the 1st to the 4th of May a successful drive was conducted by many
columns in the often harried but never deserted Lindley to Kroonstad
district. The result was propitious, as no fewer than 321 prisoners were
brought in. Of these, 150 under Mentz were captured in one body as they
attempted to break through the encircling cordon.
Amid many small drives and many skirmishes, one stands out for its
severity. It is remarkable as being the last action of any importance
in the campaign. This was the fight at Moolman's Spruit, near Ficksburg,
upon April 20th, 1902. A force of about one hundred Yeomanry and forty
Mounted Infantry (South Staffords) was despatched by night to attack
an isolated farm in which a small body of Boers was supposed to be
sleeping. Colonel Perceval was in command. The farm was reached after a
difficult march, but the enemy were found to have been forewarned, and
to be in much greater strength than was anticipated. A furious fire was
opened on the advancing troops, who were clearly visible in the light
of a full moon. Sir Thomas Fowler was killed and several men of the
Yeomanry were hit. The British charged up to the very walls, but were
unable to effect an entrance, as the place was barricaded and loopholed.
Captain Blackwood, of the Staffords, was killed in the attack. Finding
that the place was impregnable, and that the enemy outnumbered him,
Colonel Perceval gave the order to retire, a movement which was only
successfully carried out because the greater part of the Boer horses
had been shot. By morning the small British force had extricated itself,
from its perilous position with a total loss of six killed, nineteen
wounded, and six missing. The whole affair was undoubtedly a cleverly
planned Boer ambush, and the small force was most fortunate in escaping
destruction.
One other isolated incident may be mentioned here, though it occurred
far away in the Vryheid district of the Transvaal. This was the
unfortunate encounter between Zulus and Boers by which the latter lost
over fifty of their numbers under deplorable circumstances. This portion
of the Transvaal has only recently been annexed, and is inhabited by
warlike Zulus, who are very different from the debased Kaffirs of the
rest of the country. These men had a blood-feud against the Boers,
which was embittered by the fact that they had lost heavily through Boer
depredations. Knowing that a party of fifty-nine men were sleeping in
a farmhouse, the Zulus crept on to it and slaughtered every man of the
inmates. Such an incident is much to be regretted, and yet, looking back
upon the long course of the war, and remembering the turbulent tribes
who surrounded the combatants--Swazis, Basutos, and Zulus--we may well
congratulate ourselves that we have been able to restrain those black
warriors, and to escape the brutalities and the bitter memories of a
barbarian invasion.