FIGHTING ON THE WESTERN BORDER
Meanwhile Sir Charles Warren’s troops, moving from Faberspruit, some twelve miles from Douglas, had a nasty experience. The force consisted of some four hundred Duke of Edinburgh’s Volunteers, one and a half companies of the 8th Regiment of Imperial Yeomanry, some of Paget’s Horse, twenty-five of Warren’s Scouts, and some guns of the Royal Canadian Artillery. During the night, a particularly dark one, the Boers slunk up in two parties to the gardens of farmhouses near which the yeomanry on the one hand, and Sir C. Warren’s and the Duke of Edinburgh Volunteers on the other, were quartered. In the dusk before dawn, these suddenly blazed out on the British, who, like lightning, got under arms. But in the shock and uproar of the first alarm the English horses that had been kraaled burst through the kraal walls and stampeded, thus making the scene of turmoil more intense. With the first streak of daylight the whole British force poured shot and shell into the gardens where the Boers had hidden themselves, and for a good hour the troops were at work driving the invaders from the neighbourhood of the camps. The Boers lost heavily, and a portion of the Yeomanry suffered correspondingly while pressing forward to the support of the pickets. Many of Paget’s Horse were wounded, notably Lieutenant Lethbridge, whose injury was dangerous, and of the Duke of Edinburgh Volunteers three were killed and four wounded. Their gallant Colonel—Colonel Spence—was shot dead while in act of giving orders. Major Kelly, A.D.C. to Sir Charles Warren, was wounded; Lieutenant Patton, A.D.C., was shot in the knee, and Lieutenant Huntingdon was slightly injured. Many Boers were wounded and thirteen were killed, but others contrived to gallop off scot free, as owing to the stampeding of the horses it was impossible to follow them up. The total British casualties were eighteen killed and about thirty wounded. The result of the engagement had a decidedly beneficial effect upon the rebels, who were at that time hesitating on which side of the fence to locate themselves.
Colonel Adye had also surprised the enemy and gained a victory at Kheis on the 27th—a victory which had the effect of defeating the plans of the rebels who had assembled within some twenty miles of that place in hope to effect a junction with others of their kind. The action was a smart one, and many hundred head of stock and prisoners were captured, but it was also costly, as Major J. A. Orr-Ewing, 5th Co. Imperial Yeomanry, was killed; Captain L. H. Jones, 32 Co. Imperial Yeomanry; Surg.-Capt. Dun, 5th Co.; Lieut. Venables, Nesbitt’s Horse, were wounded; and two gallant young officers, Captain Tindall, 1st Welsh Regiment, and Lieutenant Matthews, 2nd Gloucester Regiment, both succumbed to the severe injuries they had received.
Sir Charles Warren, after his engagement, marched without opposition from Faberspruit to Campbell, which was reached on the 5th of June.