IT will be remembered that at the close of 1901 Lord Methuen and Colonel
Kekewich had both come across to the eastern side of their district and
made their base at the railway line in the Klerksdorp section. Their
position was strengthened by the fact that a blockhouse cordon now ran
from Klerksdorp to Ventersdorp, and from Ventersdorp to Potchefstroom,
so that this triangle could be effectively controlled. There remained,
however, a huge tract of difficult country which was practically in the
occupation of the enemy. Several thousand stalwarts were known to be
riding with De la Rey and his energetic lieutenant Kemp. The strenuous
operations of the British in the Eastern Transvaal and in the Orange
River Colony had caused this district to be comparatively neglected,
and so everything was in favour of an aggressive movement of the Boers.
There was a long lull after the unsuccessful attack upon Kekewich's camp
at Moedwill, but close observers of the war distrusted this ominous calm
and expected a storm to follow.
The new year found the British connecting Ventersdorp with Tafelkop by
a blockhouse line. The latter place had been a centre of Boer activity.
Colonel Hickie's column covered this operation. Meanwhile Methuen
had struck across through Wolmaranstad as far as Vryburg. In these
operations, which resulted in constant small captures, he was assisted
by a column under Major Paris working from Kimberley. From Vryburg Lord
Methuen made his way in the middle of January to Lichtenburg, meeting
with a small rebuff in the neighbourhood of that town, for a detachment
of Yeomanry was overwhelmed by General Celliers, who killed eight,
wounded fifteen, and captured forty. From Lichtenburg Lord Methuen
continued his enormous trek, and arrived on February 1st at Klerksdorp
once more. Little rest was given to his hard-worked troops, and they
were sent off again within the week under the command of Von Donop,
with the result that on February 8th, near Wolmaranstad, they captured
Potgieter's laager with forty Boer prisoners. Von Donop remained at
Wolmaranstad until late in February; On the 23rd he despatched an
empty convoy back to Klerksdorp, the fate of which will be afterwards
narrated.
Kekewich and Hickie had combined their forces at the beginning of
February. On February 4th an attempt was made by them to surprise
General De la Rey. The mounted troops who were despatched under Major
Leader failed in this enterprise, but they found and overwhelmed the
laager of Sarel Alberts, capturing 132 prisoners. By stampeding the
horses the Boer retreat was cut off, and the attack was so furiously
driven home, especially by the admirable Scottish Horse, that few of
the enemy got away. Alberts himself with all his officers were among the
prisoners. From this time until the end of February this column was not
seriously engaged.
It has been stated above that on February 23rd Von Donop sent in an
empty convoy from Wolmaranstad to Klerksdorp, a distance of about fifty
miles. Nothing had been heard for some time of De la Rey, but he had
called together his men and was waiting to bring off some coup. The
convoy gave him the very opportunity for which he sought.
The escort of the convoy consisted of the 5th Imperial Yeomanry, sixty
of Paget's Horse, three companies of the ubiquitous Northumberland
Fusiliers, two guns of the 4th R.F.A., and a pom-pom, amounting in all
to 630 men. Colonel Anderson was in command. On the morning of Tuesday,
February 25th, the convoy was within ten miles of its destination, and
the sentries on the kopjes round the town could see the gleam of the
long line of white-tilted wagons. Their hazardous voyage was nearly
over, and yet they were destined to most complete and fatal wreck within
sight of port. So confident were they that the detachment of Paget's
Horse was permitted to ride on the night before into the town. It was
as well, for such a handful would have shared and could not have averted
the disaster.
The night had been dark and wet, and the Boers under cover of it had
crept between the sleeping convoy and the town. Some bushes which afford
excellent cover lie within a few hundred yards of the road, and here the
main ambush was laid. In the first grey of the morning the long line of
the convoy, 130 wagons in all, came trailing past--guns and Yeomanry in
front, Fusiliers upon the flanks and rear. Suddenly the black bank of
scrub was outlined in flame, and a furious rifle fire was opened
upon the head of the column. The troops behaved admirably under most
difficult circumstances. A counter-attack by the Fusiliers and some of
the Yeomanry, under cover of shrapnel from the guns, drove the enemy
out of the scrub and silenced his fire at this point. It was evident,
however, that he was present in force, for firing soon broke out along
the whole left flank, and the rearguard found itself as warmly attacked
as the van. Again, however, the assailants were driven off. It was now
broad daylight, and the wagons, which had got into great confusion in
the first turmoil of battle, had been remarshalled and arranged. It
was Colonel Anderson's hope that he might be able to send them on into
safety while he with the escort covered their retreat. His plan was
certainly the best one, and if it did not succeed it was due to nothing
which he could avert, but to the nature of the ground and the gallantry
of the enemy.
The physical obstacle consisted in a very deep and difficult spruit, the
Jagd Spruit, which forms an ugly passage in times of peace, but which
when crowded and choked with stampeding mules and splintering wagons,
under their terrified conductors, soon became impassable. Here the head
of the column was clubbed and the whole line came to a stand. Meanwhile
the enemy, adopting their new tactics, came galloping in on the left
flank and on the rear. The first attack was repelled by the steady fire
of the Fusiliers, but on the second occasion the horsemen got up to the
wagons, and galloping down them were able to overwhelm in detail
the little knots of soldiers who were scattered along the flank. The
British, who were outnumbered by at least three to one, made a stout
resistance, and it was not until seven o'clock that the last shot was
fired. The result was a complete success to the burghers, but one which
leaves no shadow of discredit on any officer or man among those who
were engaged. Eleven officers and 176 men fell out of about 550 actually
engaged. The two guns were taken. The convoy was no use to the Boers,
so the teams were shot and the wagons burned before they withdrew. The
prisoners too, they were unable to retain, and their sole permanent
trophies consisted of the two guns, the rifles, and the ammunition.
Their own losses amounted to about fifty killed and wounded.
A small force sallied out from Klerksdorp in the hope of helping
Anderson, but on reaching the Jagd Drift it was found that the fighting
was over and that the field was in possession of the Boers. De la Rey
was seen in person among the burghers, and it is pleasant to add that he
made himself conspicuous by his humanity to the wounded. His force drew
off in the course of the morning, and was soon out of reach of immediate
pursuit, though this was attempted by Kekewich, Von Donop, and Grenfell.
It was important to regain the guns if possible, as they were always
a menace to the blockhouse system, and for this purpose Grenfell with
sixteen hundred horsemen was despatched to a point south of Lichtenburg,
which was conjectured to be upon the Boer line of retreat. At the same
time Lord Methuen was ordered up from Vryburg in order to cooperate
in this movement, and to join his forces to those of Grenfell. It was
obvious that with an energetic and resolute adversary like De la Rey
there was great danger of these two forces being taken in detail, but
it was hoped that each was strong enough to hold its own until the other
could come to its aid. The result was to show that the danger was real
and the hope fallacious.
It was on March 2nd that Methuen left Vryburg. The column was not his
old one, consisting of veterans of the trek, but was the Kimberley
column under Major Paris, a body of men who had seen much less service
and were in every way less reliable. It included a curious mixture of
units, the most solid of which were four guns (two of the 4th, and two
of the 38th R.F.A.), 200 Northumberland Fusiliers, and 100 Loyal North
Lancashires. The mounted men included 5th Imperial Yeomanry (184),
Cape Police (233), Cullinan's Horse (64), 86th Imperial Yeomanry (110),
Diamond Fields Horse (92), Dennison' s Scouts (58), Ashburner's Horse
(126), and British South African Police (24). Such a collection
of samples would be more in place, one would imagine, in a London
procession than in an operation which called for discipline and
cohesion. In warfare the half is often greater than the whole, and the
presence of a proportion of halfhearted and inexperienced men may be a
positive danger to their more capable companions.
Upon March 6th Methuen, marching east towards Lichtenburg, came in
touch near Leeuwspruit with Van Zyl's commando, and learned in the small
skirmish which ensued that some of his Yeomanry were unreliable and
ill-instructed. Having driven the enemy off by his artillery fire,
Methuen moved to Tweebosch, where he laagered until next morning. At 3
A.M. of the 7th the ox-convoy was sent on, under escort of half of
his little force. The other half followed at 4. 20, so as to give the
slow-moving oxen a chance of keeping ahead. It was evident, however,
immediately after the column had got started that the enemy were all
round in great numbers, and that an attack in force was to be expected.
Lord Methuen gave orders therefore that the ox-wagons should be halted
and that the mule-transport should close upon them so as to form
one solid block, instead of a straggling line. At the same time he
reinforced his rearguard with mounted men and with two guns, for it
was in that quarter that the enemy appeared to be most numerous and
aggressive. An attack was also developing upon the right flank, which
was held off by the infantry and by the second section of the guns.
It has been said that Methuen's horsemen were for the most part
inexperienced irregulars. Such men become in time excellent soldiers, as
all this campaign bears witness, but it is too much to expose them to a
severe ordeal in the open field when they are still raw and untrained.
As it happened, this particular ordeal was exceedingly severe, but
nothing can excuse the absolute failure of the troops concerned to rise
to the occasion. Had Methuen's rearguard consisted of Imperial Light
Horse, or Scottish Horse, it is safe to say that the battle of Tweebosch
would have had a very different ending.
What happened was that a large body of Boers formed up in five lines
and charged straight home at the rear screen and rearguard, firing
from their saddles as they had done at Brakenlaagte. The sight of those
wide-flung lines of determined men galloping over the plain seems to
have been too much for the nerves of the unseasoned troopers. A panic
spread through their ranks, and in an instant they had turned their
horses' heads and were thundering to their rear, leaving the two guns
uncovered and streaming in wild confusion past the left flank of the
jeering infantry who were lying round the wagons. The limit of their
flight seems to have been the wind of their horses, and most of them
never drew rein until they had placed many miles between themselves
and the comrades whom they had deserted. 'It was pitiable,' says an
eye-witness, 'to see the grand old General begging them to stop, but
they would not; a large body of them arrived in Kraaipan without firing
a shot,' It was a South African 'Battle of the Spurs.'
By this defection of the greater portion of the force the handful of
brave men who remained were left in a hopeless position. The two guns of
the 38th battery were overwhelmed and ridden over by the Boer horsemen,
every man being killed or wounded, including Lieutenant Nesham, who
acted up to the highest traditions of his corps.
The battle, however, was not yet over. The infantry were few in number,
but they were experienced troops, and they maintained the struggle
for some hours in the face of overwhelming numbers. Two hundred of the
Northumberland Fusiliers lay round the wagons and held the Boers off
from their prey. With them were the two remaining guns, which were
a mark for a thousand Boer riflemen. It was while encouraging by his
presence and example the much-tried gunners of this section that the
gallant Methuen was wounded by a bullet which broke the bone of his
thigh. Lieutenant Venning and all the detachment fell with their General
round the guns.
An attempt had been made to rally some of the flying troopers at a
neighbouring kraal, and a small body of Cape Police and Yeomanry under
the command of Major Paris held out there for some hours. A hundred of
the Lancashire Infantry aided them in their stout defence. But the guns
taken by the Boers from Von Donop's convoy had free play now that the
British guns were out of action, and they were brought to bear with
crushing effect upon both the kraal and the wagons. Further resistance
meant a useless slaughter, and orders were given for a surrender.
Convoy, ammunition, guns, horses--nothing was saved except the honour
of the infantry and the gunners. The losses, 68 killed and 121 wounded,
fell chiefly upon these two branches of the service. There were 205
unwounded prisoners.
This, the last Boer victory in the war, reflected equal credit upon
their valour and humanity, qualities which had not always gone hand in
hand in our experience of them. Courtesy and attention were extended to
the British wounded, and Lord Methuen was sent under charge of his chief
medical officer, Colonel Townsend (the doctor as severely wounded as the
patient), into Klerksdorp. In De la Rey we have always found an opponent
who was as chivalrous as he was formidable. The remainder of the force
reached the Kimberley to Mafeking railway line in the direction of
Kraaipan, the spot where the first bloodshed of the war had occurred
some twenty-nine months before.
On Lord Methuen himself no blame can rest for this unsuccessful action.
If the workman's tool snaps in his hand he cannot be held responsible
for the failure of his task. The troops who misbehaved were none of his
training. 'If you hear anyone slang him,' says one of his men, 'you are
to tell them that he is the finest General and the truest gentleman that
ever fought in this war.' Such was the tone of his own troopers, and
such also that of the spokesmen of the nation when they commented upon
the disaster in the Houses of Parliament. It was a fine example of
British justice and sense of fair play, even in that bitter moment, that
to hear his eulogy one would have thought that the occasion had been one
when thanks were being returned for a victory. It is a generous public
with fine instincts, and Paul Methuen, wounded and broken, still
remained in their eyes the heroic soldier and the chivalrous man of
honour.
The De Wet country had been pretty well cleared by the series of drives
which have already been described, and Louis Botha's force in the
Eastern Transvaal had been much diminished by the tactics of Bruce
Hamilton and Wools-Sampson. Lord Kitchener was able, therefore, to
concentrate his troops and his attention upon that wide-spread western
area in which General De la Rey had dealt two such shrewd blows within a
few weeks of each other. Troops were rapidly concentrated at Klerksdorp.
Kekewich, Walter Kitchener, Rawlinson, and Rochfort, with a number of
small columns, were ready in the third week of March to endeavour to
avenge Lord Methuen.
The problem with which Lord Kitchener was confronted was a very
difficult one, and he has never shown more originality and audacity than
in the fashion in which he handled it. De la Rey's force was scattered
over a long tract of country, capable of rapidly concentrating for a
blow, but otherwise as intangible and elusive as a phantom army. Were
Lord Kitchener simply to launch ten thousand horsemen at him, the result
would be a weary ride over illimitable plains without sight of a Boer,
unless it were a distant scout upon the extreme horizon. De la Rey and
his men would have slipped away to his northern hiding-places beyond the
Marico River. There was no solid obstacle here, as in the Orange River
Colony, against which the flying enemy could be rounded up. One line
of blockhouses there was, it is true--the one called the Schoonspruit
cordon, which flanked the De la Rey country. It flanked it, however,
upon the same side as that on which the troops were assembled. If the
troops were only on the other side, and De la Rey was between them and
the blockhouse line, then, indeed, something might be done. But to place
the troops there, and then bring them instantly back again, was to put
such a strain upon men and horses as had never yet been done upon a
large scale in the course of the war. Yet Lord Kitchener knew the
mettle of the men whom he commanded, and he was aware that there were
no exertions of which the human frame is capable which he might not
confidently demand.
The precise location of the Boer laagers does not appear to have been
known, but it was certain that a considerable number of them were
scattered about thirty miles or so to the west of Klerksdorp and the
Schoonspruit line. The plan was to march a British force right through
them, then spread out into a wide line and come straight back,
driving the burghers on to the cordon of blockhouses, which had been
strengthened by the arrival of three regiments of Highlanders. But to
get to the other side of the Boers it was necessary to march the columns
through by night. It was a hazardous operation, but the secret was well
kept, and the movement was so well carried out that the enemy had
no time to check it. On the night of Sunday, March 23rd, the British
horsemen passed stealthily in column through the De la Rey country, and
then, spreading out into a line, which from the left wing at Lichtenburg
to the right wing at Commando Drift measured a good eighty miles, they
proceeded to sweep back upon their traces. In order to reach their
positions the columns had, of course, started at different points of
the British blockhouse line, and some had a good deal farther to go
than others, while the southern extension of the line was formed by
Rochfort's troops, who had moved up from the Vaal. Above him from south
to north came Walter Kitchener, Rawlinson, and Kekewich in the order
named.
On the morning of Monday, March 24th, a line of eighty miles of
horsemen, without guns or transport, was sweeping back towards the
blockhouses, while the country between was filled with scattered parties
of Boers who were seeking for gaps by which to escape. It was soon
learned from the first prisoners that De la Rey was not within the
cordon. His laager had been some distance farther west. But the sight of
fugitive horsemen rising and dipping over the rolling veld assured
the British that they had something within their net. The catch was,
however, by no means as complete as might have been desired. Three
hundred men in khaki slipped through between the two columns in the
early morning. Another large party escaped to the southwards. Some of
the Boers adopted extraordinary devices in order to escape from
the ever-narrowing cordon. 'Three, in charge of some cattle, buried
themselves, and left a small hole to breathe through with a tube.
Some men began to probe with bayonets in the new-turned earth and got
immediate and vociferous subterranean yells. Another man tried the same
game and a horse stepped on him. He writhed and reared the horse, and
practically the horse found the prisoner for us.' But the operations
achieved one result, which must have lifted a load of anxiety from Lord
Kitchener's mind. Three fifteen-pounders, two pom-poms, and a large
amount of ammunition were taken. To Kekewich and the Scottish Horse
fell the honour of the capture, Colonel Wools-Sampson and Captain Rice
heading the charge and pursuit. By this means the constant menace to
the blockhouses was lessened, if not entirely removed. One hundred and
seventy-five Boers were disposed of, nearly all as prisoners, and a
considerable quantity of transport was captured. In this operation the
troops had averaged from seventy to eighty miles in twenty-six hours
without change of horses. To such a point had the slow-moving
ponderous British Army attained after two years' training of that stern
drill-master, necessity.
The operations had attained some success, but nothing commensurate with
the daring of the plan or the exertions of the soldiers. Without an
instant's delay, however, Lord Kitchener struck a second blow at his
enemy. Before the end of March Kekewich, Rawlinson, and Walter Kitchener
were all upon the trek once more. Their operations were pushed farther
to the west than in the last drive, since it was known that on that
occasion De la Rey and his main commando had been outside the cordon.
It was to one of Walter Kitchener's lieutenants that the honour fell to
come in direct contact with the main force of the burghers. This General
had moved out to a point about forty miles west of Klerksdorp. Forming
his laager there, he despatched Cookson on March 30th with seventeen
hundred men to work further westward in the direction of the Harts
River. Under Cookson's immediate command were the 2nd Canadian
Mounted Infantry, Damant's Horse, and four guns of the 7th R.F.A. His
lieutenant, Keir, commanded the 28th Mounted Infantry, the Artillery
Mounted Rifles, and 2nd Kitchener's Fighting Scouts. The force was well
mounted, and carried the minimum of baggage.
It was not long before this mobile force found itself within touch of
the enemy. The broad weal made by the passing of a convoy set them off
at full cry, and they were soon encouraged by the distant cloud of dust
which shrouded the Boer wagons. The advance guard of the column galloped
at the top of their speed for eight miles, and closed in upon the
convoy, but found themselves faced by an escort of five hundred Boers,
who fought a clever rearguard action, and covered their charge with
great skill. At the same time Cookson closed in upon his mounted
infantry, while on the other side De la Rey's main force fell back
in order to reinforce the escort. British and Boers were both riding
furiously to help their own comrades. The two forces were fairly face to
face.
Perceiving that he was in front of the whole Boer army, and knowing
that he might expect reinforcements, Cookson decided to act upon the
defensive. A position was rapidly taken up along the Brakspruit, and
preparations made to resist the impending attack. The line of defence
was roughly the line of the spruit, but for some reason, probably to
establish a cross fire, one advanced position was occupied upon either
flank. On the left flank was a farmhouse, which was held by two hundred
men of the Artillery Rifles. On the extreme right was another outpost of
twenty-four Canadians and forty-five Mounted Infantry. They occupied no
defensible position, and their situation was evidently a most dangerous
one, only to be justified by some strong military reason which is not
explained by any account of the action.
The Boer guns had opened fire, and considerable bodies of the enemy
appeared upon the flanks and in front. Their first efforts were devoted
towards getting possession of the farmhouse, which would give them
a point d'appui from which they could turn the whole line. Some five
hundred of them charged on horseback, but were met by a very steady fire
from the Artillery Rifles, while the guns raked them with shrapnel. They
reached a point within five hundred yards of the building, but the fire
was too hot, and they wheeled round in rapid retreat. Dismounting in
a mealie-patch they skirmished up towards the farmhouse once more, but
they were again checked by the fire of the defenders and by a pompom
which Colonel Keir had brought up. No progress whatever was made by the
attack in this quarter.
In the meantime the fate which might have been foretold had befallen
the isolated detachment of Canadians and 28th Mounted Infantry upon
the extreme right. Bruce Carruthers, the Canadian officer in command,
behaved with the utmost gallantry, and was splendidly seconded by his
men. Overwhelmed by vastly superior numbers, amid a perfect hail of
bullets they fought like heroes to the end. 'There have been few finer
instances of heroism in the course of the campaign,' says the reticent
Kitchener in his official despatch. Of the Canadians eighteen were hit
out of twenty-one, and the Mounted Infantry hard by lost thirty out of
forty-five before they surrendered.
This advantage gained upon the right flank was of no assistance to the
Boers in breaking the British line. The fact that it was so makes it
the more difficult to understand why this outpost was so exposed. The
burghers had practically surrounded Cookson's force, and De la Rey and
Kemp urged on the attack; but their artillery fire was dominated by
the British guns, and no weak point could be found in the defence. At 1
o'clock the attack had been begun, and at 5.30 it was finally abandoned,
and De la Rey was in full retreat. That he was in no sense routed is
shown by the fact that Cookson did not attempt to follow him up or to
capture his guns; but at least he had failed in his purpose, and had
lost more heavily than in any engagement which he had yet fought. The
moral effect of his previous victories had also been weakened, and his
burghers had learned, if they had illusions upon the subject, that the
men who fled at Tweebosch were not typical troopers of the British Army.
Altogether, it was a well-fought and useful action, though it cost the
British force some two hundred casualties, of which thirty-five were
fatal. Cookson's force stood to arms all night until the arrival of
Walter Kitchener's men in the morning.
General Ian Hamilton, who had acted for some time as Chief of the
Staff to Lord Kitchener, had arrived on April 8th at Klerksdorp to take
supreme command of the whole operations against De la Rey. Early in
April the three main British columns had made a rapid cast round without
success. To the very end the better intelligence and the higher mobility
seem to have remained upon the side of the Boers, who could always force
a fight when they wished and escape when they wished. Occasionally,
however, they forced one at the wrong time, as in the instance which I
am about to describe.
Hamilton had planned a drive to cover the southern portion of De la
Rey's country, and for this purpose, with Hartebeestefontein for his
centre, he was manoeuvring his columns so as to swing them into line
and then sweep back towards Klerksdorp. Kekewich, Rawlinson, and Walter
Kitchener were all manoeuvring for this purpose. The Boers, however,
game to the last, although they were aware that their leaders had
gone in to treat, and that peace was probably due within a few days,
determined to have one last gallant fall with a British column. The
forces of Kekewich were the farthest to the westward, and also, as the
burghers thought, the most isolated, and it was upon them, accordingly,
that the attack was made. In the morning of April 11th, at a place
called Rooiwal, the enemy, who had moved up from Wolmaranstad, nineteen
hundred strong, under Kemp and Vermaas, fell with the utmost impetuosity
upon the British column. There was no preliminary skirmishing, and
a single gallant charge by 1500 Boers both opened and ended the
engagement. 'I was just saying to the staff officer that there were no
Boers within twenty miles,' says one who was present, 'when we heard a
roar of musketry and saw a lot of men galloping down on us.' The British
were surprised but not shaken by this unexpected apparition. 'I never
saw a more splendid attack. They kept a distinct line,' says the
eye-witness. Another spectator says, 'They came on in one long line four
deep and knee to knee.' It was an old-fashioned cavalry charge, and
the fact that it got as far as it did shows that we have over rated the
stopping power of modern rifles. They came for a good five hundred yards
under direct fire, and were only turned within a hundred of the British
line. The Yeomanry, the Scottish Horse, and the Constabulary poured a
steady fire upon the advancing wave of horsemen, and the guns opened
with case at two hundred yards. The Boers were stopped, staggered, and
turned. Their fire, or rather the covering fire of those who had not
joined in the charge, had caused some fifty casualties, but their own
losses were very much more severe. The fierce Potgieter fell just in
front of the British guns. 'Thank goodness he is dead!' cried one of
his wounded burghers, 'for he sjamboked me into the firing line this
morning.' Fifty dead and a great number of wounded were left upon the
field of battle. Rawlinson's column came up on Kekewich's left, and the
Boer flight became a rout, for they were chased for twenty miles,
and their two guns were captured. It was a brisk and decisive little
engagement, and it closed the Western campaign, leaving the last trick,
as well as the game, to the credit of the British. From this time until
the end there was a gleaning of prisoners but little fighting in De
la Rey's country, the most noteworthy event being a surprise visit to
Schweizer-Renecke by Rochfort, by which some sixty prisoners were taken,
and afterwards the drive of Ian Hamilton's forces against the Mafeking
railway line by which no fewer than 364 prisoners were secured. In
this difficult and well-managed operation the gaps between the British
columns were concealed by the lighting of long veld-fires and the
discharge of rifles by scattered scouts. The newly arrived Australian
Commonwealth Regiments gave a brilliant start to the military history
of their united country by the energy of their marching and the
thoroughness of their entrenching.
Upon May 29th, only two days before the final declaration of peace,
a raid was made by a few Boers upon the native cattle reserves near
Fredericstad. A handful of horsemen pursued them, and were ambushed by a
considerable body of the enemy in some hilly country ten miles from
the British lines. Most of the pursuers got away in safety, but young
Sutherland, second lieutenant of the Seaforths, and only a few months
from Eton, found himself separated from his horse and in a hopeless
position. Scorning to surrender, the lad actually fought his way upon
foot for over a mile before he was shot down by the horsemen who circled
round him. Well might the Boer commander declare that in the whole
course of the war he had seen no finer example of British courage. It is
indeed sad that at this last instant a young life should be thrown
away, but Sutherland died in a noble fashion for a noble cause, and
many inglorious years would be a poor substitute for the example and
tradition which such a death will leave behind.