FOOTNOTES:

IngogoInkwaloMajubaLaing's NekA HISTORIC BATTLEFIELD: JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1881, AND MAY 1900From a Sketch by Major-General Coke, Commanding the 10th Brigade

On the 20th General Buller’s headquarters arrived at Sandspruit Station beyond Volksrust, and pitched camp two miles further on, to west of the rail. Many surrenders took place, and some blowing up of culverts by those who were retreating in disgust at the defeat at Almond’s Nek, a defeat which they considered the worst disaster to their arms that had yet occurred. The Natal Volunteers were now about to be disbanded, and left for Dundee. They were highly praised by all, and the Chief issued an order expressing his keen appreciation of the services rendered by Brigadier-GeneralDartnell and his stalwart followers in the arduous task which has resulted in the expulsion of the enemy from Natal territory. General Lyttelton now moved from Coetzes Drift to Laing’s Nek to protect the line from Newcastle to Volksrust, while General Coke’s Brigade mounted guard over the latter place.

The next day, the 21st, the advance column reached Paardekop, situated some thirty miles from their destination. Standerton was neared by Lord Dundonald’s mounted force on the 22nd, while the infantry followed some eight miles behind, the 10th Brigade only being left at Paardekop. As Major Gough and a squadron of the Composite Regiment entered Standerton a party of Boers made off, leaving the place to be occupied without resistance. The railway bridge was found to be injured, as also were some engine trucks and engines. The Hollander railway officials, for whose idle hands the devil had invented this mischief, were imprisoned.

Railway Map showing Lines from Pretoria to E. and S.E.(Scale, 1 inch = 64 miles. By permission of the Publishers of “South Africa.”)

While these activities were taking place, and General Buller was slowly making his way into the Transvaal from the east (guarding every inch of the rail in his rear, so that when he should reach Heidelberg the Natal Field Force would be extended all along the line), General Ian Hamilton, in order to join hands with him, was moving with a mobile forceviâSprings to Heidelberg, which wasoccupied on the 23rd. Both armies thus approaching were now capable of frustrating concerted and combined action between the hostile bands of the Transvaal and those still lingering in Orange River Colony. Lord Dundonald’s Brigade, meanwhile, had been joined by Strathcona’s Horse, a picked body of sporting men who were tingling for fight.[6]This experience they soon enjoyed, as in the course of the march towards Heidelberg they came on a gang of Boers and had an animated encounter which cost them a man killed and two missing, including the officer who was in command of the party. Four Boer victims were left on the scene of the fray.

The Boers, though many were surrendering, were sustained in their dogged determination to fight by the exquisite inventiveness of Mr. Kruger, who, undoubtedly, is a Defoe or a De Rougemont lost to the world. He caused a proclamation to be issued, stating that the Russians had declared war on Japan, and that Great Britain was bound by treaty to support the Japanese, and must therefore withdraw her troops from South Africa. The proclamation also stated that Lord Roberts had no supplies, and implored the burghers to keep up their courage. About a thousand burghers accordingly collected in the neighbourhood of Sandspruit with the wily ambition of severing the lines of communication. The Komati Poort Bridge had been threatened, and the cauldron of Boer machination was simmering portentously in the neighbourhood of Machadodorp.

With Buller’s force on the east, Rundle’s on the south, Hunter’s to the west, it was hoped that the animated De Wet might be trapped as Cronje had been trapped. Still the wily one—slim by instinct, slimmer now by experience—contrived to become slippery as an eel whenever the fingers of the enveloping British hand began to curve in his direction. There was no doubt about it that this sometime butcher of Barberton, this late speculator in potatoes, who, it is stated, “went bankrupt in an unsuccessful attempt to establish a potato corner on the Johannesburg market,” was a born genius in the art of war. He was aware of his own potentialities, and is reported to have said that he gave Lord Kitchener—if he put his mind to it—ten days to catch him in, while to Lord Roberts he allowed three weeks, and to Lord Methuen the rest of a lifetime! And the statement was not all Boer bounce, as time proved.

General Hamilton from the west approached Heidelberg on the 22nd, and exchanged shots with the Boer patrols; but during the night the enemy disappeared and the troops occupied the town. The force consisted of General Gordon’s and General Broadwood’s Cavalry Brigades (the 9th, 16th, 17th Lancers, and Household Cavalry, 10th Hussars, and 12th Lancers respectively), two batteries Royal Horse Artillery, two batteries Field Artillery, two 5-inch guns, abrigade of Mounted Infantry under General Ridley, and the 21st Brigade (City Imperial Volunteers, Camerons, Sussex, and Derbys) under General Bruce Hamilton. It was found that the Boers had retreated to a crescent of hills turning south-east of the town, and from here they fired on patrols of the New South Wales Contingent. General Hamilton advanced on the Dutchman’s haunts, while General Broadwood, with a pom-pom and Field Battery, Roberts’s Horse, the Ceylon Mounted Infantry, and Marshall’s Horse, made a vigorous flank attack which sent the enemy scudding into space. The casualties were few. Among the wounded were Captain F. Whittaker, Roberts’s Horse, since dead; Captain H. Carrington Smith, Royal Dublin Fusiliers; Captain M. Browne, Roberts’s Horse; Lieutenant C. Livingstone Learmonth, Roberts’s Horse; Lieutenant E. Rex King, Roberts’s Horse. General Ian Hamilton unluckily fell from his horse and sustained a fracture of the collar-bone.

Generals Hunter and Hart, therefore, hurriedly joined General Ian Hamilton on the 25th at Heidelberg, the former replacing the latter in command there, as General Hamilton’s injury temporarily incapacitated him from resuming his duties. How General Hunter managed so opportunely to arrive on the scene must be described.

General Hunter, after taking Christiana, movedviâVryburg, Lichtenburg, Potchefstroom, and Krugersdorp to Johannesburg. With Colonel Mahon—who had joined him and was in command of the Cavalry Brigade—he had been engaged in the task of pacifying the Wolmaranstad and Potchefstroom districts. Klerksdorp surrendered on the 9th of June (uselessly, as it afterwards appeared). A few days later Colonel Mahon’s Cavalry Brigade entered Potchefstroom after a bitterly cold night march. On the 15th General Hunter movedviâKrugersdorp (which surrendered on the 18th), towards Johannesburg (Colonel Mahon preceding him and moving to Pretoria) and went to Springs in support of General Hamilton’s advance to Heidelberg.

General Hunter’s reduced force now consisted of the Dublin Fusiliers, part of the Somersetshire Light Infantry, and a small number of the Yeomanry. By the 25th he had taken over the command of General Hamilton’s column and at once proceeded to engage himself with the work that that officer was intending to accomplish. General Hart before this time had been at Frederickstad, some fifteen miles north of Potchefstroom on the rail and best road to Johannesburg, but speedily moved on to assist. The plan was to arrange for the permanent garrisoning of Frankfort in the Orange River Colony, Heilbron, Lindley, and Senekal, the taking of Bethlehem, and, if possible, the cornering of De Wet.

General Hunter marched from Heidelberg towards Frankfort with a view to finding out the haunts of the malcontents, but encounteredno opposition, and reached his destination on the 1st of July. Two days later he was joined by the troops from Heilbron under General Macdonald. General Hart, with a battalion and a half of infantry, remained in Heidelberg and engaged in the repair of the railway bridge, which had been wrecked by the Boers.

Here for the nonce we must leave them while the operations in other parts of the disturbed Colonies are investigated. General Buller had accomplished his work of clearing Natal, and had joined hands with Lord Roberts’s force, and thus interposed a strong British barrier between Botha at Middelburg and De Wet in Orange River Colony. These two adventurous spirits had now to be tackled separately, and the cornering of De Wet came first in Lord Roberts’s programme. The commando of the astute Free Stater was to be pushed eastward towards Bethlehem and surrounded, and for this purpose General Hunter was to co-operate with Generals Rundle, Clements, and Paget, while Lord Methuen in the neighbourhood of Paardekraal (ten miles south-west of Heilbron on the Kroonstad Road), was to mount guard over the rail between Kroonstad and the Vaal River and prevent De Wet from breaking out westward.

FOOTNOTES:[5]See Map at front.[6]See vol. iii. p. 146.

[5]See Map at front.

[6]See vol. iii. p. 146.

General Rundle’s activities had never relaxed. In June he was vigilantly guarding the Senekal-Ficksburg region, posting strong forces at intervals along the road, and fixing his headquarters at Scheepers Nek. Here he was strengthened by the arrival of General Campbell’s Brigade (16th), while General Brabant’s Force moved along the line in order to keep a wary eye on the guerilla bands that were intent on ravage and destruction. In a day or two he returned to Hammonia, however, as swarms of the enemy were circling about sniping, forcing Boers who had retired to their farms to rejoin the rebels, destroying telegraph wires, attempting to cut off parties of troops and to press their way towards the south, and, in fact, making themselves generally offensive.

In consequence of Lord Roberts’s proclamation, Free Staters remaining in the field now became rebels. But Mr. Steyn issued a counterblast—warned burghers to take no notice of the proclamation at their peril, and declared the country was still an International Sovereign State, with a President and properly constituted Government. The unfortunate burghers, therefore, found themselves between two fires, and their sentiments must have resembled those of the man who, torn between rival fair ones, cried, “How happy could I be with either, were t’other dear charmer away!” Botha, it was said, desired to surrender, but from sense of loyalty to De Wet was prevented from so doing, both Dutchmen having agreed to hold out so long as one remained uncaptured. De Wet was reported to be still keeping together some 6000 men in the Orange River Colony, Botha with some 5000 more, broken into marauding bands, was guarding the east of the Transvaal, while Mr. Kruger and his allies between Machadodorp and Nelspruit resided in a railway carriage, awaiting the whistle that should warn them to steam off.

On the 19th General Rundle, accompanied by his staff, Colonel Maxwell and Captain George Farrar of General Brabant’s Division, made a careful examination of Ficksburg and its fortifications, and afterwards, during a reconnaissance, it was discovered that a hornet’s nest was concealed in a series of sinister kopjes near by. The desperadoes had guns, and without doubt intended to use them should the British be caught in the open, but they were playing a waitinggame, at which pastime General Rundle decided to show himself equally proficient. Further investigations proved that the Boer lines between Ficksburg and Bethlehem were of great strength, and that the Dutchmen numbered some 5000. Besides these bands, other roving commandos flitted about mosquito-wise, seeking to draw British blood.

On the 20th Colonel Dalgety at Hibernia reported that he had been surrounded. He stated that some 200 Dutchmen were ensconced on Doorn Kop near his camp, and asked for help in order to effect their capture. Off went General Rundle, with Scots Guards, Cavalry and Artillery, marching nimbly, in the fond hope of making a “bag,” through the pitchy blackness of the night, and reaching the destination at dawn. When the troops arrived, however, it was found that Colonel Dalgety had retired, and the Boers in dispersed gangs were again a prowling danger to the vicinity. Meanwhile General Paget, who was holding Lindley, was attacked by De Wet, who brought five pieces to bear on him, but the guerilla chief was successfully repulsed by the 2nd Yorkshire Light Infantry, assisted later on by a battery of the City Imperial Volunteers which gave a splendid account of itself.

General Rundle’s march was continued on the 23rd towards Senekal, whereupon the Dutch hordes, seizing their opportunity, pounced on the rear of the transport. Under cover of a fiercely-flaring veldt fire they poured a volley on the rear guard—the Scots Guards and Hampshire Yeomanry under Captain Seely—who instantly jumped to action, giving the oncoming Boers so keen a dose from rifles and a Maxim, that they bolted to their main position at Tafelberg. Sundry of their party, seeking safety at the farm of some supposed neutral, were luckily captured and their harbour of refuge razed to the ground. (It was impossible longer to shut our eyes to the fact that the farms had become half-way houses for rebels, and there was no other means of disposing of these death traps.) In this engagement many of the Boers bit the dust, for the British troops actively pursued the enemy in their flight, and succeeded in thinning their numbers without casualties on their own side.

The dogged determination of the Boers was to break through to the south, and it took all the ingenuity of Generals Rundle and Brabant to create a linked chain from Winburg to the Basutoland border, through which the slim ones could not squeeze. Owing to the nature of the country—in some places a replica of Switzerland, with snow-capped peaks, enormous gorges, and treacherous passes—it was difficult to assume the offensive, and Sir Leslie Rundle had to content himself with the task of keeping the Boers in check while help came from the north. General Clements, on the24th, engaged a body of fierce ruffians near Winburg, where he had gone to gather guns and supplies prior to combining his force with those at Lindley, Heilbron, and Heidelberg. He succeeded in driving the rebels north of the Zand River without great loss, though Captain G. E. F. Fitzgerald, 2nd Bedfordshire Regiment, was severely wounded, and Second Lieutenant R. H. Lascelles, 8th Battery Royal Field Artillery, was slightly injured.

At Bloemfontein, at this time, there was deep regret at the loss of Captain Lord Kensington,[7]2nd Life Guards, who had died of his wounds.

Meanwhile, near Ficksburg, on the 25th, General Boyes’ Brigade also encountered the Dutchmen. Two valuable officers were killed—Captain E. B. Grogan and Lieutenant G. L. D. Brancker, 1st South Staffordshire Regiment—and five men were wounded and missing.

A convoy returning with General Clements to Senekal from Winburg was also attacked some seven miles from Senekal. Hearing of the fray, Colonel Grenfell and his Colonials set out from Senekal, attacked the enemy’s left flank, and became so hotly engaged that General Brabant, with all the available troops, rushed to the succour of the party. Of the combined forces three men were killed and twenty-three wounded.

General Paget was also desperately engaged at Lindley on the 26th, when a convoy of stores moving towards that place was attacked by the marauding bands, but after a heavy rearguard action succeeded in getting to their destination in safety. Ten men were killed and four officers and fifty men wounded.

On the following day the Roodival Spruit post was attacked, but the detachment of the Shropshire Light Infantry and West Australian Mounted Infantry, who were there, briskly sent the enemy flying.

General Methuen, too, was not inactive. On the 28th the Boer laagers near Vach Kop and Spitz Kop were found to be hastily removing in the direction of Lindley, whereupon the General gave chase, pursued the enemy for twelve miles, and eventually wrested from them some 8000 sheep and 500 head of cattle they had appropriated during their freebooting excursions in the neighbourhood. Lieutenant G. C. W. G. Hall and Lieutenant L. Simpson, 2nd Yorkshire Light Infantry, and four men were wounded, but otherwise the operations were highly satisfactory, as the Boer larder, if not the Boer person, had been made to pay heavily at a time whenboth belligerents were none too fully fed! The enemy once hemmed in, and once devoid of supplies, it was hoped the end of the war would be reached.

On the 2nd of July General Clements joined hands with General Paget, and the combined force began their advance on Bethlehem, of which anon.

Early in the month came a report from General Baden-Powell, from camp forty miles west-south-west of Rustenburg, that the railway to Mafeking had been repaired, and that over a hundred arrested rebels were awaiting their trial. The General was working his systematic way through the districts of Manrico, West Lichtenburg, and Rustenburg, carrying out a mission of pacification, re-establishing order, and collecting arms and supplies. It must be explained that in recognition of his splendid services he had been promoted to the rank of major-general, after which he was appointed a lieutenant-general on the staff while employed with her Majesty’s forces in South Africa. Lord Edward Cecil now filled the post of Administrator of the Rustenburg district, and had already accepted surrenders and collected rifles innumerable.

Rustenburg was occupied on the 14th of June by General Baden-Powell, and a column from Pretoria was sent out to meet this officer, to repair the telegraph between the two places, and thus provide a second line of telegraph between the Chief and Cape Town. This, with the opening of the railway line from Durban to Pretoria (shortly to be accomplished by Sir Redvers Buller’s operations), made important advance in the work of occupation.

On the 18th General Baden-Powell arrived at Pretoria, where he had an enthusiastic reception. He stayed but two days, and was off again on his return journey towards Rustenburg. This town at the time was garrisoned by a very small force and one gun, whose occupation it was to continue the work of pacification, and accept the surrender of arms—most of which appeared to be of obsolete type.

MAJOR-GENERAL R. A. P. CLEMENTS, D.S.O., A.D.C.Photo by Elliott & Fry, London

At this date, between Rustenburg and Pretoria, a body of the enemy under Commandant Du Plessis were roaming about, and these were met on the 19th by Hutton’s Mounted Infantry, who came out of the fray with two guns to their credit. It was not often in the history of the war that Boer guns were seized, and the little British force was justifiably pleased with their prowess. There was no end to the activity of Hutton’s Mounted Infantry, and skirmishes with wandering tribes of the enemy were of almost daily occurrence. On the 24th Captain Anley had a smart “set-to” with Boer patrolssouth of Pretoria, in which Lieutenant Crispin and one man of the Northumberland Fusiliers were wounded.

Railway Map showing Lines to W. and S.W. of Pretoria.(Scale, 1 inch=64 miles. By permission of the Publishers of “South Africa.”)

About this period an informal armistice was in operation; Botha having been given time to consider the philosophy of fighting against the inevitable. Lord Roberts made the suggestion that the Boer commandant should disarm his forces, and thus avert unnecessary bloodshed, but the Dutchman doggedly refused to surrender without the consent of his Government, and demanded further respite to obtain the same. This being probably another ruse to enable the Dutch rebels, mercenaries, and others—who were gathering round the standard of the commandant—to gain breathing time, the request was refused, and hostilities were resumed. An official warning was given to the effect that any further activities in the form of the destruction of railway lines, &c., would be met with prompt punishment, and involve the demolition of all farms within five miles of the point molested. Colonel Girouard was also authorised to compel leading residents to accompany trains—a wise precaution, reminiscent of the policy of the East, which forces the Grand Vizier to taste of every dish prepared for his sovereign!

When the cat is away the mice may play, and the opportunity for a game was not lost on the Boers. During General Baden-Powell’sabsence from Rustenburg a party of Dutchmen under Commandant Limmer made an effort to lodge themselves on the heights commanding the town, and demanded its surrender. Major Hanbury Tracy, who with 120 men was in charge of the place, replied that he held Rustenburg for her Majesty’s Government, and intended so to do. Thereupon hostile artillery began its thunderous detonations, and things grew frowning. But Colonel Holdsworth (7th Hussars) from the region of Zeerust, forty-eight miles off, scenting fight from afar, made a brilliant march, and assisted by Colonel Airey and his mettlesome Bushmen drove back the enemy. Two Bushmen were slain, and Captain Machattie and three men were wounded. This was the state of affairs when General Baden-Powell returned on the 9th of July. By the 10th the Boers had betaken themselves to Olifant’s Nek in the Magaliesberg range, and so as to secure the other pass—Magato Nek—the Rustenburg party seized it. Unfortunately, nearer Pretoria was another nek, the Commando Nek, and here, as we shall see anon, the Boers, on the 11th of July, managed cunningly to locate themselves, thus cutting off General Baden-Powell from Pretoria.

FOOTNOTES:[7]Lord Kensington, of the 2nd Life Guards, succeeded his father in 1896. He was educated at Eton, and entered the army as second lieutenant on June 22, 1892; he was promoted to lieutenant on April 5, 1893, and obtained his company on February 3, 1900. He was J.P. for Pembrokeshire and for Haverfordwest.

[7]Lord Kensington, of the 2nd Life Guards, succeeded his father in 1896. He was educated at Eton, and entered the army as second lieutenant on June 22, 1892; he was promoted to lieutenant on April 5, 1893, and obtained his company on February 3, 1900. He was J.P. for Pembrokeshire and for Haverfordwest.

The drama in Natal having been concluded, the curtain rose on the last act of the drama in Orange River Colony, the final scenes of which went “on greased wheels,” as it were, owing to the tremendous energy and talent in the field of, first, General Sir Leslie Rundle, who had had all the hard preliminary work to do; second, Generals Clements and Paget, and finally of the greatest martial performer of all—General Sir Archibald Hunter. It will be remembered that this officer, after the accident to General Ian Hamilton, had taken over his command, but July found him released from the eastern Transvaal and in act of assisting in the concluding operations in the Orange River Colony. His force now consisted of the 2nd and 3rd Brigades of Mounted Infantry, Kitchener’s Horse, Lovat’s Scouts, the Composite Regiment of Cavalry from the Transvaal, the Highland Brigade (minus the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders guarding Heilbron), the Munsters, the Yorkshire Light Infantry, the Scottish Rifles (Militia), and South Staffordshire (Militia), under the command of General Arthur Paget, the 38th Battery Royal Field Artillery and Battery of the City Imperial Volunteers, the Scottish Yeomanry, under Colonel Burn, the 14th and 15th Imperial Yeomanry, and the Imperial Australian Regiment. In conjunction with General Brabant and General Rundle, who were in or around Senekal and Hammonia respectively, he moved steadily to the south-east, the main object of the operations being to dislodge the Boers from Bethlehem and sweep them off from the rich grain country on the eastern side of the Orange River Colony, and prevent them from penetrating lower and disturbing already pacified districts.

Near Lindley, as we are aware, as a commencement of the combined closing in movement, Generals Clements and Paget had effected a junction. The Boers clustering in the neighbourhood of Winburg and Senekal were known to be yet active, though many of their number came in at times and surrendered, while others, longing to do likewise, were caught sneaking forth and were sjamboked by their compatriots. In fact, strong guards had to be posted roundthe laagers to prevent the desertion of Boers of pacific tendencies. Still, when they fought, they fought well and tenaciously, and managed to give a vast amount of trouble at every turn of the road.

General Paget, on the 3rd, attacked the Dutchmen in their strong position at Pleisirfontein, driving them off across Leeuw Kop to Broncrifontein. He bivouacked for the night in the position he had secured, not without some fierce fighting, an account of which was given by one of the Imperial Yeomanry:—

“We moved from Lindley on the morning of July 2, and by midday were in touch with the enemy, who had taken up a position on some kopjes overlooking the road on which we had to pass. We opened fire with the 38th Battery Field Artillery 15-pounder, and also with the C.I.V. 12-pounder quick-firing guns. The Boers replied with two 15-pounders, but we were too much for them, and by 2P.M.we had driven them off and our Mounted Infantry and Yeomanry had taken the position. It was a miserably cold day with drizzling rain, so you may imagine it was anything but pleasant.“We camped that night at a farm which the enemy had occupied all day. They retired some distance, and continued shelling our camp till dark, and though some of their shells fell into our camp and among the waggons no harm was done. Our casualties were two of our men wounded. After we had pitched our camp it came on to rain, so we had to lie down in our wet blankets on the damp veldt. We were, however, able to get plenty of wood from the farmhouse, so we made a large fire which, with some warm tea, was a comfort. Next day we moved camp at 8A.M.and proceeded, after the Boers had dropped a few shells into us. Our artillery went on ahead, and took up a position on a kopje, and shortly after we located the Boer guns on another kopje. To-day we found they had a large gun, a Creusot, which outranged ours. The artillery duel lasted all day till 4P.M.when a general attack was made by the Infantry and Yeomanry on the kopje. While this was going on a force of Boers dressed in khaki and helmets, the same as those used at Lindley, managed to creep up on the 38th Battery, who had run short of ammunition, and shot the men down at the guns. The captain and lieutenant were killed, and Major Oldfield was mortally wounded.”

“We camped that night at a farm which the enemy had occupied all day. They retired some distance, and continued shelling our camp till dark, and though some of their shells fell into our camp and among the waggons no harm was done. Our casualties were two of our men wounded. After we had pitched our camp it came on to rain, so we had to lie down in our wet blankets on the damp veldt. We were, however, able to get plenty of wood from the farmhouse, so we made a large fire which, with some warm tea, was a comfort. Next day we moved camp at 8A.M.and proceeded, after the Boers had dropped a few shells into us. Our artillery went on ahead, and took up a position on a kopje, and shortly after we located the Boer guns on another kopje. To-day we found they had a large gun, a Creusot, which outranged ours. The artillery duel lasted all day till 4P.M.when a general attack was made by the Infantry and Yeomanry on the kopje. While this was going on a force of Boers dressed in khaki and helmets, the same as those used at Lindley, managed to creep up on the 38th Battery, who had run short of ammunition, and shot the men down at the guns. The captain and lieutenant were killed, and Major Oldfield was mortally wounded.”

PRINSLOO’S COMMANDO RETREATING TO THE BRANDWATER BASIN AFTER THE FIGHT AT RETIEF’S NEKFrom a Sketch by M. F. R.

As may be imagined the situation was now verging on disaster. Major Oldfield had received his death-blow, Captain Fitzgerald was helpless with a bullet in the thigh, Lieutenant Belcher was shot at his guns. The gunners and drivers of the guns had nearly all dropped dead or were disabled—their horses in death agonies strewing the ground. It was impossible, therefore, to remove the guns. The Bushmen had been forced to retire at a critical moment, and it seemed as though the day were lost. Then up came the C.I.V. Battery, and with the assistance of Captain Budworth—whose wits and gallantry were never better displayed—fired their two guns trail to trail over the heads of the 38th, battered the triumphantly advancing foe on the left front and, in a word, saved the situation. Off scudded the Boers, after them went the Bushmen, Budworthriding at the head, and finally with the assistance of the Infantry—the Yorkshire Light Infantry, the Munster Fusiliers, and the Imperial Yeomanry who had rushed up the hills and scattered the remaining Dutchmen at the point of the bayonet—they succeeded in getting the guns limbered up and away! The dashing work cost forty killed and wounded, besides Captain Dill, 2nd Yorkshire Light Infantry, wounded, and Lieutenant and Adjutant A. F. C. Williams, Indian Staff Corps (Attached Brabant’s Horse), dangerously wounded.

Railway Map of Eastern Portion of Orange River Colony and Natal.(Scale, 1 inch=64 miles. By permission of the Publishers of “South Africa.”)

On the following day, 4th, the enemy was pursued as far as Blaauw Kop, fifteen miles north-west of Bethlehem, where Mr. Steyn’s seat of government was now supposed to be. Mr. Steyn had cautiously betaken himself to Fouriesburg (between Bethlehem and Ficksburg), leaving De Wet and some 3000 men to await the attack of the British forces. Meanwhile round Ficksburg fierce fighting was taking place, the Boers making a midnight attack with the despairing idea of reoccupying that town. Their furious effort lasted but an hour, when they found themselves beaten.

On the 5th the position at Doornberg, on the Winburg-Senekalroad, which the Dutchman had evacuated, was promptly taken possession of by General Brabant, who thereby ousted them from a vantage-point whence they could pounce on convoys proceeding to and from the base at Winburg, and secured the line of rail in the vicinity of Zand River, round which hovering gangs of wreckers had persistently congregated.

To return to the Dutchmen inside Bethlehem. The town, like many other South African towns, is dominated by cliffs or kopjes, two of these being on the north-west, while another (Wolhunter Kop) rises in the south in a high and solitary peak above the plain, and descends steeply towards the side of the town. Naturally these obstructive eminences were chosen as the stronghold of the foe, and as naturally the object of the British was now to clear the Boers from them, and to this end General Arthur Paget marched his force to within two miles of his objective, and encamped near the northerly spurs of the north-western kopjes.

General Clements’s column, consisting of the Royal Irish, Worcesters, Wiltshires, a battery of Field Artillery, and two 5-inch guns moved about six miles on the left rear of General Paget’s force towards the east of the town; where, on all the available ridges and cliffs were Boer trenches and gun emplacements, some of these knowingly and skilfully arranged at a right angle with the cliffs and with their backs to the town, in order that any approaching force could be swept from all directions as they neared the position. General Clements sent to De Wet a flag of truce demanding the surrender of the place, and on receipt of a refusal the hammer-and-tong process of warfare began.

Both Generals simultaneously attacked from different points, but owing to the crusted and gibbose nature of the ground in this part of the Orange Colony it was impossible for the Cavalry to attempt any very wide turning movement. The result was that on the dash and daring of the Infantry much was found to depend and that eventually carried all before it. The Cavalry, the 14th and 15th Imperial Yeomanry, and Imperial Australian Regiment operated on the right, and made themselves masters of a position on a kopje at the northerly ridge of the eminences held by the Boers. General Clements engaged the foe in his eastern fastnesses, capturing them on the following day through the gallantry of the Royal Irish Regiment, while the Infantry with General Paget fought with splendid persistence, till their ammunition being exhausted they finally charged with the bayonet so gallantly, so effectively, that the Boers were routed, and General Paget at nightfall found himself in possession of a kopje which faced and was the key to the terrific steeps leading to the precipitous peak of Wolhunter’s Kop. This charge of the Munsters, supported by the Yorkshire Light Infantry, was describedby one of the officers of the former splendid regiment in glowing terms: “The Royal Munster Fusiliers had to storm a kopje at the point of the bayonet. For the last 800 yards my men had not a round of ammunition left. We kept advancing, cheering as we went on, with bayonets fixed. We got within fifty yards, when the Boers fired their last volley and bolted. The position was won. The G.O.C., in his despatch to Lord Roberts, said the gallantry displayed by the Munsters was beyond all praise.... My men behaved excellently. I never want finer fellows to be with in an attack.”

Mr. Blundell, of theMorning Post, related a characteristic anecdote which served to show the debonnair spirit, the coolness and aplomb of some of the doughty band: “In the midst of the rush past some Kaffir kraals a goose waddled out through the line, and a man, not too preoccupied to forget the future, lowered his bayonet, swung the bird over his shoulder in his stride, and took possession of the captured position with his dinner on his back.” The goose was eaten in face of the frowning Wolhunter’s Kop, which next day, the 7th, fell into the hands of the British through a series of ingenious martial manœuvres, assisted by the brilliant execution of the 38th Battery R.F.A. and the C.I.V. Battery under Major M’Micking. The decisive move in the operations was brought about by the splendid persistence of the Royal Irish, who, extended in three lines, stormed a formidable kopje amidst cascades of fire, dropping, and sweating, and shouting, yet never halting till they had reached the crest, captured it, and in addition to it a prize—a gun, one of our own lost in the fatal affair at Stormberg. By midday the enemy was in full retreat, and the town was occupied by the combined forces.

The casualty list on the first day, considering the magnitude of the operations and the strength of the positions assailed, was not large: Thirty-two men of the Munster Fusiliers were wounded and one man missing; seven men of the Yorkshire Light Infantry wounded; one man of the 58th Company Imperial Yeomanry was killed, and two men wounded. The wounded officers were: Lieutenant A. H. D. West, 8th Battery Royal Field Artillery; Captain T. W. Williams, 5th Volunteer Battalion Liverpool Regiment (attached Royal Irish Regiment); Captain G. D. M’Pherson, 1st Munster Fusiliers; Captain W. C. Oates, 1st Munster Fusiliers; Lieutenant Conway, 1st Munster Fusiliers; Second Lieutenant Boyd Rochford, 4th Scottish Rifles. The following casualty occurred on the 7th: Captain J. B. H. Alderson, 1st Royal Irish Rifles, wounded (since dead).

On the morrow, Broadwood’s Brigade, preceding General Hunter, arrived.

After this, by systematic and strategic pressure, the Free Staters were being pushed off their impregnable heights to a mountainous place called the Brandwater Basin, some fifteen miles square, in the region of the Caledon River, leaving us in possession of practically the last of their towns—Lindley, Bethlehem, Biddulph’s Berg, and Senekal. Bethlehem was occupied by General Paget, Biddulph’s Berg by General Clements, Senekal by General Rundle, and thus a cordon was supposed to be drawn round the wily enemy. Unluckily, on the 15th, between Bethlehem and Ficksburg, a small gap existed—a gap which but for delay in regard to his supplies would have been held by General Paget—and through this loophole, Stabbert’s Nek, that very slippery fish De Wet contrived to slide, taking with him 1500 men and five guns. This was unfortunate, as the escaped enemy threatened to become a serious diversion from the business in hand, particularly as no general advance could be made till the necessary convoys had arrived for the enormous amount of troops forming the cordon.

Nevertheless while General Hunter, on one side, actively engaged in reconnoitring the positions held by the remainder of De Wet’s forces between Bethlehem, Ficksburg, Fouriesburg, Retief’s and Stabbert’s Neks, General Little (temporarily commanding the 3rd Brigade) pursued De Wet himself, and the force that had recently broken through the cordon was found to be hovering between Bethlehem and Lindley. A smart contest ensued, which lasted till dusk, when the Boers broke up into two parties and again vanished, leaving several dead and two wounded upon the field.

On the same day, 19th, General Broadwood, commanding 2nd Cavalry Brigade, who had been following up the fleeing Boers since the 16th, spent some hours in an animated engagement near Palmietfontein, between Ventersburg and Lindley. The enemy, with swelled numbers, and said to be accompanied by Steyn and one of the De Wets, had been wheeling round the railway communications as moths circle around a chandelier. Having caught them here General Broadwood made a brisk fight of it, but the Boers under cover of darkness evaded pursuit. On the following morning it was found that they had doubled back to Paardekraal during the night. The line on the north of Honing Spruit showed signs of their depredations, and on the western side the telegraph wires to PretoriaviâPotchefstroom were cut. During the fight Major Moore, West Australian Mounted Infantry, was killed, and Lieutenant the Hon. F. Stanley, 10th Hussars, Lieutenant Tooth, Australian Contingent, and fourteen men were wounded. General Broadwood proceeded to Vaal Krantz, which place was reached on the 22nd.

PRINSLOO’S LAST STAND IN THE VALLEY OF THE LITTLE CALEDON: THE BOERS’ POSITION ON THE HEIGHTSFrom a Sketch by M. F. R.

Meanwhile the desperadoes, routed on all sides, made a rushupon the line near Roodeval, tore up the rails, and succeeded in capturing on the night of the 21st, between Kroonstad and the Vaal, a supply train with two officers and a hundred men of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. De Wet’s force, doubtless well pleased with itself, then movedviâVredefort in a north-easterly direction, quickly pursued by General Broadwood, who, in his turn, was followed by General Little. The former officer succeeded on the 23rd in capturing some of De Wet’s waggons at Vredefort, at which place he halted till joined by General Little. On the 25th De Wet, ubiquitous, was found posted on some comfortable heights at Reitzburg, some seven miles south of the Vaal, while General Broadwood, like a cat watching a bird, was preparing to spring. But the bird was too wary, and kept his wings flapping for flight at the first provocation. Indeed, he had dodges at his fingers’ end, and tried a new variety every time he was warned of the British approach. One of these was at a certain place to keep a dozen or so Boer hats, which had previously been strung on a line, continually bobbing over a certain entrenched spot in order to impress the British and lead them astray, while he and his horde took an opposite direction.

While the chase was going forward some fighting took place, in which the Berkshire Yeomanry, the Imperial Bushmen, and the 38th Field Battery took part. They disputed the possession of a high hill to west of Bethlehem, but as possession makes nine points of the law, the Boers, posted in strength upon the hill, caused the small force to retire. During the retirement one officer and nine men were lost. General Bruce Hamilton also engaged in some active work, which cost him three of the Cameron Highlanders, whose regiment, assisted by 500 Mounted Infantry and the 82nd Battery, succeeded in securing a strong position on Spitzray. Captain Keith Hamilton, Oxford Light Infantry, was wounded severely, and Captain Brown, Captain A. C. M’Lean, and Lieutenant Stewart, Cameron Highlanders, Captain E. S. C. Hobson, Mounted Infantry Worcester Regiment, and thirteen Cameron Highlanders were all more or less severely injured.

Of the terribly hard work done by the 21st Brigade it has been impossible to take due note. Since the 28th of April they had covered on foot some 1200 miles, and had done more fighting and marching than any brigade at the front. They could count as many as forty-three engagements to their credit, and as one of the Sussex men said, “We have been in several tight corners, but have always come out on top.” The Irish, Scottish, and Colonial Corps had all received their meed of praise, but certain English regiments, notably the Sussex, the Wiltshire, and the Liverpool Regiments, owing to the fact of their not being prominently engaged in the “historic” battles, got less than their share of appreciation, thoughno better and braver and more enduring regiments could be found in the British army.

Position of Troops round the Brandwater Basin before the Surrender of Prinsloo.

Operations were now carried forward with additional vigour, for it was known that Boers, some 6000 of them, led by Roux and Prinsloo, who had not bolted with De Wet, must still be in the neighbourhood of the Caledon Valley, the river behind them, the only passes available among the snow-capped mountains, Commando Nek below Fouriesburg, Stabbert’s and Retief’s Neks near Bethlehem, and Golden Gate, leading out of the valley. But these, it must be remembered, were fairly far apart, and loopholes of necessity were many. At all these points the British, lynx-eyed, furious at being given the slip by De Wet, crouched. General Hunter himself observed Retief’s Nek, while General Bruce Hamilton barred Golden Gate, and Generals Paget and Rundle took up positions watching Stabbert’s and Commando Neks respectively.

To appreciate the nicety of the movement a glance at the mapis necessary. The geographical nature of the situation in which the Boers found themselves after the battle of Bethlehem was thus concisely sketched by Mr. Spenser Wilkinson:—

“The Boers were holding a great mountain horse-shoe, of which the curved end is at the north, and the open end or back is on the Caledon River, the inside of the shoe being the basin of the Brandwater. On the right-hand limb of the shoe at the second nail from the end is Fouriesburg, and Retief’s Nek is at the top right-hand nail, the road from Ficksburg to Bethlehem going up the Brandwater valley and over Retief’s Nek.“Outside the horse-shoe to the right, the east, the road from Fouriesburg to Harrismith goes by the Little Caledon River, which is separated by a long east and west range of hills from the hilly plain of Bethlehem. North of this range is Naauwpoort, and from the Caledon Valley to Naauwpoort the road crosses over Naauwpoort’s Nek and goes on to Harrismith on the north side of the range.”

“Outside the horse-shoe to the right, the east, the road from Fouriesburg to Harrismith goes by the Little Caledon River, which is separated by a long east and west range of hills from the hilly plain of Bethlehem. North of this range is Naauwpoort, and from the Caledon Valley to Naauwpoort the road crosses over Naauwpoort’s Nek and goes on to Harrismith on the north side of the range.”

Having blocked the passes to the best of his ability, General Hunter hoped for the best. He knew the Boers might evaporate—as they seemed so magically to do—over the mountains, but he guessed, and guessed rightly, that it would be too much of a wrench to tear themselves from their effects—horses, oxen, carts, and waggons—and these could never be dragged over the barring acclivities.

The first attack on Retief’s Nek was made on the 23rd by General MacDonald, the Highland Brigade, Lovat’s Scouts, Remington’s Guides, and a battery and two 5-inch “cow”-guns. The Boers had previously been thrown off the scent owing to the British troops having taken a wide detour, and they were somewhat surprised in their rocky caves to find themselves in the thick of lyddite, which growled and crashed and fumed at them. Then the Highland Light Infantry, with the Sussex to help them, deployed, the former bearing to left, the latter, with the 81st Battery of Field Artillery, to right, the Infantry making brilliant rushes towards the impregnable lair of the enemy, despite the murderous jets from the rifles of the Dutchmen, which spouted disaster the nearer they approached. Each battalion lost thirty men or so, but brilliant and inexhaustible as they were, found themselves unable, on the initial day, to push the attack. The Black Watch were more fortunate, however, and gallantly carving their passage with the bayonet, managed before nightfall to secure a foothold on the summit of the hills whence they could now await the morrow. At that time General Clements’s Yeomanry were attempting to force the passage of Stabbert’s Nek, gaining ground with difficulty, but clinging to it all night in a perilous position; while on the south-western fringe General Rundle demonstrated in the region of Commando Nek. The morning brought success all round. Stabbert’s Nek was forced by the renewed and sturdy efforts of the Yeomanry and the Royal Irish,and the afternoon of the 24th found the combined columns camped inside the Nek. The Boers, quickly recognising the inconvenience of their position, by noon had stampeded towards the east, hoping to cut through Naauwpoort’s Nek and gain the Harrismith Road, galloping off, however, with the sagacity of purpose for which at all times they had made themselves notable.

The losses so far were sufficiently large, but considering the importance of the position gained they were looked upon as insignificant, and General Hunter formally expressed the opinion that it was owing to the excellent work done by Lovat’s Scouts, who for days in advance had scouted, stalked, and “spied” over the country, that so few losses were recorded.

The casualties at Stabbert’s Nek were:—

Killed:—1st Royal Irish Regiment—Captain W. Gloster.Wounded:—Royal Field Artillery—Captain H. E. T. Kelly. 2nd Wiltshire Regiment—Captain E. Evans. 6th Company Imperial Yeomanry—Lieutenant G. A. Clay. 1st Royal Irish Regiment—Captain E. F. Milner.

Those at Retief’s Nek were:—

Wounded:—Royal Sussex—Captain E. L. M’Kenzie, Second Lieutenant J. C. W. Anderson, Second Lieutenant H. G. Montgomerie, Second Lieutenant G. E. Leachman. 2nd Royal Highlanders—Major E. M. Wiltshire (since dead), Lieutenant H. K. Smith. Captain Sir W. G. Barttelot, 2nd Volunteer Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment, was killed.

The 25th found Generals Hunter, Clements, and Paget in possession of Brandwater Basin, while Generals MacDonald and Bruce Hamilton were blocking Inguwooni and Golden Gate. Fouriesburg was occupied by the Eighth Division, and there they found a number of British prisoners and Mrs. Steyn, who was left in charge of the chief of the Commissariat Department. Generals Hunter and Rundle paid the lady a complimentary visit. On the following day General MacDonald, who had kept an eye on Naauwpoort’s Nek and Golden Gate, had a hard day’s fighting outside Naauwpoort in the Bethlehem Hills, but the effect of this doughty rearguard action was the blocking of Naauwpoort’s Nek for the Boer waggon traffic, and without their precious carts the Boers were “winged.”

Among the wounded were Lieutenant A. M. Brodie, Lovat’s Scouts, and Lieutenant W. E. Campion, Mounted Infantry Company, East Yorkshire Regiment.

On the 28th, Hunter, with Clements’s and Paget’s Brigades, attacked the Boers, who were posted on two neks. The first nek, after a vigorous fight, was secured by the Royal Irish, Wiltshire, and Leicester Regiments; the final position, Slaapkrantz, later on and under cover of the dusk, by the brilliant dash of the Scots Guards. During the operations Lieutenant Hon. R. B. F. Robertson,1st Battalion Imperial Yeomanry (Machine Gun Section), and Second Lieutenant F. G. Alston, 2nd Scots Guards, were wounded.

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