THE LYDENBURG CAMPAIGN
Lord Roberts moved, viâ Wonderfontein, to Belfast, which had been previously occupied by General Pole-Carew. The Chief arrived on the 25th of August, and immediately proceeded to order a reconnaissance of the Boer position between Belfast and Dalmanutha, south-west of which place, about six miles off, were the forces of Generals Buller and French. The Boers were ensconced in a perfect chain of ridges—a frowning rampart of menace, thirty miles in extent—some 8000 yards east of the station, where they evidently intended to dispute possession of every inch of the ground to Machadodorp, and whence it was the intention of the Commander-in-Chief to sweep them.
The Field-Marshal called together his generals—Sir Redvers Buller, and Generals French and Pole-Carew—and their several rôles in the forthcoming operations were discussed. General Buller was to advance on the right flank, General Pole-Carew as usual to maintain a central position, while General French’s Cavalry Brigades would fly well to left, scouring again the terrible country towards Machadodorp and beyond it.
Almost immediately General Buller’s force was shelled by the Boers, and so also was General Stephenson’s Brigade on the extreme left, the General himself having a narrow escape from a hostile pom-pom. The town was also liberally attacked, and the enemy, with long-range guns from Dalmanutha, made a stubborn defence of their ground, even trying to squeeze a small force to the rear of General French, a manœuvre which was quickly frustrated. General Buller continued to push steadily forward, with General French on his flank, driving back Boers as he went, and bivouacking on the ground he had gained.
The whole of the 26th was spent in furious fighting over the whole thirty-mile radius, the bellowing of guns multifarious continuing from dawn till sunset. Lyttelton’s Division (General Buller directing), with two brigades of cavalry, operated south-west of Dalmanutha; while French’s cavalry, moving north by the west of Belfast, crumpled back the foe towards a place on the Belfast-Lydenburg road, called Lekenvlei. General Buller was supported by the Guards Brigade, who advanced steadily from Belfast in spite of an enfilading fire, contesting their way against a clamorous tornado of Dutch artillery—Long Toms, pom-poms, and many other formidable weapons, accompanied by Mausers, which persistently continued their flute-like concert—till both belligerents were enveloped in the eerie shadows of night. The cavalry operated over uncongenial ground, well suited to the tactics of the Boers and consequently hazardous to themselves; but only one officer, Captain Harrison (Scots Greys), was seriously wounded.
A Capital on Wheels: Mr. Kruger’s Seat of Government at Machadodorp
On the 27th came the grand attack which may be said to have broken the back of the Boer army. General Buller, having found it impossible on the previous day to find an artillery position whence the infantry could be assisted in an attack, sent forward on the morning of the 27th the 2nd Cavalry Brigade (General Brocklehurst), “A” Battery R.H.A. (Major Burrows), 53rd Battery R.F.A. (Major Gordon), two pom-poms, and the 4th Division Mounted Infantry (Major Stewart), towards a commanding ridge which ran from Belfast on the south side of the railway towards Dalmanutha. Here the Boers occupied about a mile or two of frontage, the centre being a picturesque homestead called Bergandal Farm, the kopjes on the left being thickly peopled with the enemy. Having obtained excellent artillery positions, the General directed the fire of all the British guns on this farm. Quickly the gunners got to work, and a fierce bombardment commenced and continued to grow heavier and heavier as the moments wore on, till at last the roar and rampage sounded as though Vulcan were holding festival in the bosom of the hills.
The place was described by General Buller as a “natural fortress surrounded by a glacis of about 1500 yards absolutely without cover.” Others who saw it looked upon it in the light of another Spion Kop, yet this the infantry were ordered to assault. General Kitchener directed Colonel Metcalfe to move the 1st Battalion Rifle Brigade under cover of the ridge from which the guns were firing, and place his battalion across the main east and west ridge, on which the farm stood, and assault it frontally from the west. Colonel Payne was at the same time to move the Inniskilling Fusiliers down the face of the gun ridge, and assault the flank of the position from the south, the 1st Devons supporting the left centre, the 2nd Gordons the right attack. At the moment of starting the leading companies of Inniskillings were assailed by an accurate and deadly fire from the Boer pom-pom, which was somewhat staggering, but nevertheless without loss of time they reformed themselves, and, “admirably led by their commanding officers,” pressed on and on against the stubborn foe. These only gave way when the troops were absolutely in among them, many continuing to fire till actually made prisoners.
General Buller described the attack made without the assistance of any cover as a most gallant one. “The moment the kopje was carried the Rifle Brigade, although they lost their Colonel (who, to our great regret, was wounded while gallantly leading the advance), at once reformed, and swept on their own initiative up the plateau, carrying all before them, supported by the Devons, who had got up on the left, and the Gordons and Inniskillings who joined in on the right.” He went on to say, “The honours of the assault belong to the Rifle Brigade, as they had to attack that part of the kopje which had been most protected from our artillery fire, but all the troops did splendidly, and the carrying of such a position, held as it was by resolute men, will always remain present to the minds of those who witnessed it as a most gallant feat of arms.”
The gunners had a terrific day’s work, but on this occasion they seemed to have surpassed themselves, for though the Dutchmen had stubbornly decided to contest the principal heights, by noon the whole of the Johannesburg police, by whom this vantage-point was defended, had fallen victims to the excellence of their execution. A noticeable incident in the attack was the great tactical skill with which the Maxims of the Gordons, Inniskillings, Rifle Brigade, and Devons were handled by their respective detachments. The fire of these guns contributed materially to the successful result of the assault. An eye-witness describing the operations said: “It was a sight never to be forgotten. It was truly grand—the shells from some sixty guns or more all bursting within a circle of 200 yards diameter, shrapnel with its white puff of smoke in the air, lyddite raising a dirty brown cloud as it struck. It was awful. I must say one could not but admire the courage of the defenders. They were the Zarps, Johannesburg Police, 130 of them, and 113 were killed or wounded in that one spot. Then Buller advanced his infantry across the open, the Rifle Brigade bearing the brunt of it. It was splendid, and the Boers gave way all along the line. Lord Roberts rode out to meet Buller on the kopje, and on his way back told our men the news, and they cheered him.”
The casualties were chiefly among the Rifle Brigade, whose stiff work has been described. Captain G. L. Lysley and thirteen men were killed, and the following were wounded: Lieutenant-Colonel C. Metcalfe, Captain R. Alexander, Captain J. D. Heriot-Maitland, Captain Ernest G. Campbell (since dead), Captain W. H. W. Steward (since dead), Lieutenant B. A. Turner, Second Lieutenant W. F. Bassett, and fifty-seven non-commissioned officers and men. Nineteen prisoners and a pom-pom were captured from the foe.
Captain O’Neill, R.A.M.C., met a tragic fate. When the heat of the battle was over and night had fallen he went forth with an ambulance to grope for wounded and dead. While performing this merciful act, lantern in hand, he approached a Boer picket and was at once shot dead!
In the moment of warfare it is impossible to stop to eulogise the splendid heroism of the doctors and chaplains who, deprived of the intoxication of contest, have yet risked their lives in the service of their fellow-creatures. The coolness and daring of these noncombatant, death-defying men has often passed unnoted, and will need to find a memorial in the hearts of those at home, whose dear ones have enjoyed safety and skill and consolation at their hands.
On the following day (28th) the enemy, chased over difficult country by Lord Dundonald’s force, was retiring northward, while Buller’s advance troops occupied Machadodorp, whither Mr. Kruger had fled to Nelspruit. Beyond them, General French, arriving at Elandsfontein, removed the enemy with such scant ceremony that they left their dinners behind them. He now got into signalling communication with General Buller, while General Pole-Carew marched towards Waterval Onder. Lord Dundonald’s Cavalry pushed forward as far as Helvetia, beyond which his mounted force could not proceed owing to the strong position taken by the Dutchmen in the crusted and gibbose country, which was growing more and more alpine as the troops advanced. A few officers were wounded in General Buller’s force: Major W. R. Birdwood, 11th Bengal Lancers; Captain F. R. Ewart, 1st Liverpool Regiment; Second Lieutenant H. Wadlow, 16th Company Southern Division Royal Garrison Artillery.
BRITISH PRISONERS WAITING FOR RELEASE: THE CAMP AT NOOITGEDACHT
Drawing by Frank Dadd, R.I., from a Sketch by Lieut. Essex Capell, one of the Prisoners
The Boers, owing to their crushing defeats at Bergendal and Dalmanutha, were now forced to let loose most of their captives, and, to the great delight of their comrades, over 1700 of our countrymen trickled into camp and were sent to Pretoria.
The following officers were kept as prisoners and moved to Barberton: Lieutenant-Colonels Spragge and Holland, Captain Robinson, Lieutenants Lord Ennismore, Rutledge, Craig, Dupre, Lane, Wright, Woodhouse, and Mitchell, all of the Yeomanry; Lieutenants Mowbray, Black Watch; Capel, Bethune’s Horse; Bentnat, Eastern Province Horse; Birble, Brabant’s Horse; Boyes, Border Horse; and Captain Howard, Strathcona’s Horse.
Others belonging to the Yeomanry were also sent to Barberton as prisoners, the Boers saying that though they were not officers they must be in the position of officers, as they were able to pay for any extra food they required: Sergeant-Major Pringle, Sergeant Robb, Corporal Woodeness, Sergeant Milner Brown, Lance-Corporal Hodgson, Troopers Walker, Footner, K. Elphinstone, Bonham, Garrett, Boultbee, Lubbock, Curtis, P. Gold, Young, Soames, Kinyon, Rickitt, Billhille, Darby, Campbell, L. Elphinstone, Eyre, Thomas, Clarke, Pomeroy, Hill, Dale, Wells, G. Gold, Sweats, Evelyn, O’Gorman, Hughes, Holden.
The 1st of September was a red-letter day in the annals of the campaign, for Lord Roberts took the occasion to issue from the army headquarters, Belfast, proclamations formally announcing the fact that “The Transvaal will henceforth form part of her Majesty’s dominions.” The campaign was now developing into little more than guerilla warfare, for Mr. Kruger’s days in the Transvaal were numbered, while he had practically abdicated the functions of government. Certainly he had gone through the form of appointing Mr. Schalk Burger to take his place, but the action was a mere figure of speech, this Dutchman being nicknamed “flighting general” by his own burghers, and his nomination was of no account in regard to the proceedings which were expressly made public to bring home to the minds of the burghers the real facts of the situation and the futility of flying longer in the face of the inevitable. This definite move afforded considerable satisfaction even among the supposed “irreconcilables,” as the inconvenience of serving two masters had rendered their situation almost unbearable.
The 2nd of September found Lord Dundonald’s mounted troops at Nooitgedacht, and General French’s Cavalry at Waterval Onder, while General Buller was engaged in making a reconnaissance of the Boer position towards Lydenburg, the dispersed parties having so disposed themselves that the complete scouring of the surrounding country became necessary. (It must be noted that the Natal Field Force at this time was divided, part of it being occupied in guarding the line of communications. General Wolfe Murray protected the district between Ladysmith and Newcastle; General Hildyard that between Newcastle and Platrand; and General Clery that between Platrand and Heidelburg.) In the passes of the impenetrable mountains overlooking the town of Lydenburg, Botha, with 2000 burghers, was found to have fortified himself. He took care on the advent of the South African Light Horse to give the dashing Colonists a reception with three Long Toms and a high-velocity gun, which put to the test their admirable courage and that of the Composite Regiment which occupied the right of the basin into which murderous missiles poured the whole day without stint. The Boers in their precipitous cliffs and their forbidding ravines were too strong to be turned, and fortunately there was no necessity now for the frontal attacks which had been forced upon General Buller in the early days of the war when he had been left to fling himself against living mountains with the thinnest of “thin red (or khaki) lines.” He forthwith called for reinforcements, and quickly got them. General Ian Hamilton (who had arrived with a strong force at Belfast) pushed along the direct Belfast-Dulstroom road to his succour. Assisted by Brocklehurst’s brigade of cavalry, amidst passes, and gorges, and acclivities, he endeavoured to work round by Helvetia to turn the Boer right flank, while Buller thundered on their left; the Leicester Regiment and King’s Royal Rifles dragging a battery of artillery up the steeps with herculean vigour. The foe were ensconced in bush, and scrub, and tangle, and were protected by the creeks into which they had burrowed, but nevertheless, by Ian Hamilton’s turning movement, the way was cleared for Buller’s force, and on the 6th, Lydenburg was occupied.
An officer of the Royal Scots gave some interesting details of the stupendous undertaking. “On the 2nd September, General Smith-Dorrien, to whose brigade we had been posted, inspected us with a similar result. That night we got orders to move next day. At 6.30 A.M. on the 3rd we moved off. We were with the advanced guard, besides C.I.V., Mounted Infantry, two pom-poms, and a battery Royal Artillery. At about noon, as we neared Zwarteskopjes, our advanced mounted men came in contact with the enemy. We pushed on, and presently—and I must confess to every one’s surprise—‘bang,’ and a Long Tom 6-inch shell burst 200 yards from us—a bad shot. The Boers were in position on our right front. We at once opened out the companies, and moved to the left behind the brow of a spur, changing front so as to face the Boers. The men did this splendidly, and though we were shelled throughout the movement, at a range of about 5000 yards, never a man was hit. Two were knocked down by a shell that burst between them, and another had his helmet plugged, and a shell fell in the middle of the band, but no skin was broken. Our guns came into action; four of our companies attacked in front, two to the left to seize some kopjes. The Boers decamped, and we bivouacked on the position won. Next morning we were off again, found our friends, the Long Toms, which greeted us, but our “cow” guns (5-inch naval guns) were up, and the Long Toms made off, we after them. We were in the mountains now. The scenery was magnificent, quite Himalayan; but it was awful work for men and animals. We passed through Dullstroom that day, where we found the remains of a large Boer laager. On the 5th we reached Palmietfontein, rifle firing daily.
“That evening at five o’clock, our commanding officer got a message that the General wanted to see him. Going off, he found Generals Ian Hamilton and Smith-Dorrien in close consultation, and looking at a mountain at the exit of a gorge, through which the column had to pass next day. (After passing through it, General Hamilton told me that it was just like the Khyber, but shorter.) Our commandant was told that the General wanted this mountain seized that night. It is called Zwaggershoch, and was about five miles from our bivouac. Its possession would give us complete control of that side of the pass, and we should be behind the right of the Boer position, where they were holding Buller at Klipspruit. He had selected us to undertake this task. With 500 men and half-a-dozen mounted men we started off at 8 P.M. by moonlight. The men were splendid—not a sound. We sounded up three farms on the way, lest they concealed Boers, and we had no idea of being cut off. We reached the foot of the hill all right. The companies then advanced at attack formation, so as to envelop the top of the hill. Then commenced a most awful climb. What Boers there were there I cannot tell you. It was very misty. We ‘put up’ seven, and they bolted. It is impossible to say what they had behind them. We reached the summit at 12.30 A.M., drenched through and through with perspiration. We set to and made sangars, and then lay down in biting cold at about 2 A.M., one blanket apiece. In spite of the cold I should have slept had it not been for a man alongside me who snored vigorously all night. We were lying on flat rocks—none too soft. Our commanding officer was up before dawn looking out for our friends, the Boers, opposing Buller, for we were now in rear of their right, and if they had waited till daylight we should have gone for them; but our friends the seven must have warned them, for they had retired during the night.
“Thus he relieved Sir Redvers from what he told Ian Hamilton was the most difficult position he had found himself in since the beginning of the campaign. Besides that, we effectually stopped all sniping from our side of the pass, whilst the column marched through, though there was plenty on the other side, out of range from us. We climbed precipitous hilltops all that day as we pushed men on and on, so as to get command up to the very exit. I was a bit done when I got into bivouac. I hadn’t really had a meal since 6 P.M. the day before, and had been hard at work night and day. We were off again on the 6th—Buller level with us now on the other road—and we marched into Lydenburg.”
The Boers, turned back from their grand emplacements and cleverly constructed trenches, were forced to follow their plan of splitting into two forces, one taking the direction of Kruger’s Post, the other going to Pilgrim’s Rest, where the President was said to have gone. But still, though retiring, other marauding bands had found leisure to prowl in the region of the railway, for on the 5th, both morn and eve were made hideous by their murderous ingenuity.
At dawn they attempted to cut the line between Pan and Wonderfontein, but the Canadian Mounted Rifles briskly blazed on the raiders, and though there were but 125 of the British against a horde of Dutchmen with two guns and a pom-pom, they contrived to rout the enemy without needing the assistance of Colonel Mahon, who was promptly sent to their succour. “A very creditable performance,” telegraphed the Chief, who was well pleased with the smartness of Major Sanders and his men. The Major and Lieutenant Moodie were slightly wounded, and several men were injured and taken prisoners. At night a train between Belfast and Pretoria was derailed owing to the engine being blown up with dynamite, but nevertheless the “Tommies” who were in the train gathered themselves together with amazing rapidity, and drove off the Boers who were hovering like expectant vultures round what they hoped would be a scene of blood.
To return to Lydenburg. The town lies within the hollow of a gigantic mountainous range, which frowns some 1500 feet above it. Its aspect, foliaged and green, with running brooks rippling in every direction, delighted the hearts of the wayworn troops. Grateful to every eye, after the monotonous drab of sun-dried veldt, was the sight of its blue gum-trees and verdurous gardens; refreshing to the long parched and heated senses, the babble of many pellucid streams! Here at last, they thought, was a haven of rest, and here on the 7th, when Generals Buller and Ian Hamilton had joined hands, the Union Jack was hoisted with resonant cheers. But the joy was of short duration. Scarcely had the strains of “God Save the Queen” died away than the Boers from the region of Spitz Kop, a formidable hill some twenty-five miles east, to which Botha with all his big guns had retreated, celebrated the occasion by firing into the town, and that despite the fact that it contained some thirty burghers’ families!
Now it became evident that the troops must face the prodigious task of clearing the Boer positions—natural fortresses they may be called—above Lydenburg and beyond it—a task for which the heroes of Pieter’s and Laing’s Nek were well fitted. It was a curious fact that to the share of these warriors fell the opening and the closing scenes of an arduous campaign, a dramatic fact like the working of a stage play, which takes care that all the prominent characters of the piece shall say their last say before the falling of the curtain.
The plan of attack was simple to read of but complex to execute. North of the road, towards the lair of the enemy, Lyttelton with Kitchener’s Brigade was to march; south of it, Hamilton with Smith-Dorrien’s Brigade and three batteries of artillery were to clear the course.
Early the next morning, the 8th, the troops, as described, proceeded to attack the foe—who at once began to thunder at them from the serpentine sweeps round Spitz Kop—while part of the forces crossed the Mauchberg ridge, so as to give battle to another hostile section which was perched on a commanding ridge some 1500 feet high. The whole series of eminences, cleft asunder in different parts, forming deep and treacherous ravines, was forbidding in the extreme to infantry; yet undaunted, the Devons, Royal Irish, and Royal Scots, marching steadily on and on like a vast machine, swept towards both sides of the position, and gradually converged as they neared the hill. The 20th and 53rd Batteries raked the summit, and finally, with a mighty roar, the combined infantry carried the crest and sent the enemy scuttling to a narrow causeway, which, sheltering them in a dense fog, allowed them unpunished to disappear with their guns.
The experiences of the officer before quoted were exhilarating. He said:—
“At 3 A.M. on the 8th September an order reached us, which proved to be Sir Redvers’ order for attack that morning. We breakfasted at 5.30 A.M., marched off at 6.30 A.M., forded a stream, and got under cover at the rendezvous, about four to five miles from the Boer position on Paarde Kraal. It looked quite impregnable—indeed, some of the ground between it and us seemed impassable. At 7.30 A.M. the plan of attack was explained to us. We were to be on the right (not left as the newspapers had it) in the first line, the Gordons behind us in the second line, the Royal Irish (half battalion) on our left, and on the left of them again the Devons, supported by more of Buller’s force. The battalion, nearly 1200 strong, covered an enormous front. The men extended to ten paces. We had twelve lines at first, but absorbed four very quickly, to prolong the right. After a severe trudge we reached the ravine. The near side was some 1500 yards from the Boer trenches, the far side about 1200 yards. It had precipitous sides of rock, with two small rocky gullies, down which the men climbed. Its depth was from 300 to 400 feet. At the bottom was a fast running stream, nowhere less than 2 feet in depth, with very slippery, round black rocks at the bottom.
“The men went splendidly, and when Buller saw us appear at the top of the other side and open fire he turned to General Smith-Dorrien and said, ‘By Jove! those Royal Scots are devils to go. I never saw a regiment cross such ground so quickly.’ He also mentioned the regiment specially in orders that night. The scene inside the ravine was grand. The precipitous rocky sides, the tropical vegetation, the running stream, with thickly wooded banks, together with the incessant roar of guns, bursting shells, the ‘knock-knock’ of the pom-poms, and rattle of rifles, combined to make it a weird and splendid experience. We fired by volleys and independently from the edge of the ravine for some time, whilst our artillery supported us nobly. It is impossible to overrate the value of their support. They placed their shells exactly in the right places. Between us and the trenches was a plateau of 1200 yards, without any cover at all, flat, with thin and short grass. At first we advanced by rushes, then in general lines. A grand feeling of elation carried us on regardless of anything. We got to within 200 yards and fixed bayonets. The men, full of excitement, yelled and charged, the guns ceasing exactly at the right moment—one more shell would have hit us—but it was of no use, the Boers had bolted before we reached the trenches, delayed as we were by boulders and steepness. What, however, was worst of all was the fog that now fell on the mountains. It spoilt our bag. We were right round the Boer left, but could see nothing, and except for a few caught at 200 yards by case from our guns, they slipped away.”
Of the British forces thirteen were killed, twenty-five wounded, sixteen of whom belonged to the Volunteer Company of the Gordons. This company, while marching in column about seven miles from the enemy, were caught by a shrapnel shell, which burst among them, but it was noted that they “continued to march steadily forward as if nothing had happened.” It was not the first time these fine fellows had shown surprising grit in awkward situations.
General French, who for the time had been halting at Carolina, now continued his march towards Barberton, fighting as he went. With him were Dickson’s and Gordon’s brigades of cavalry, the Suffolks and Shropshires, and the 4.7 naval guns under Captain Bearcroft. From one fortified position to another they pushed back the enemy, the Suffolks distinguishing themselves by their gallantry in clearing a formidable peak and escaping with few casualties owing to the skilfulness of their leading.
General Hutton’s Mounted Infantry marched east from Belfast viâ Rietvlei to Tafel Kop, and beyond it to Kaapsche Hoop, one of the most beautiful and formidable heights of the Drakensberg, which places command the railway valley to north and west. The view thence towards Barberton is unique. From a precipitous height you gaze over rank on rank of irregular spurs seamed with gullies of sand, russet, and orange, the cradles of alluvial gold. The object of the operation was to clear these districts of Boers and secure General French’s left flank, and also enable the Eleventh Division to advance and take possession of the railway route to Godwan Station. General Hutton’s force consisted of Colonel Alderson’s command, Brabant’s Horse, with one 15-pounder and one Hotchkiss gun, 300 men of 1st Mounted Infantry Corps, and two pom-poms. Colonel Henry’s command consisted of 400 men of the 4th Mounted Infantry Corps, with two pom-poms; Brigade troops consisting of J Battery Royal Horse Artillery, New South Wales Field Hospital, under Major Fiaschi, and New South Wales Bearer Company, under Major Eames; the Mounted Pioneers, under Lieutenant Earle, Royal Engineers, Corps of Scouts, and Telegraph Section. In a thick fog impenetrable as an iced blanket—the same that gathered around the gorges of the Spitz Kop and helped the flying Boers—the troops moved to the place of rendezvous on the Dalmanutha Road, passing the field of the battle of the previous week and the graves of many gallant fellows of the Rifle Brigade who had fallen on that occasion. The troops proceeded according to orders, marching over rough, mountainous, and capricious country, that caused so much inconvenience with the transport that as many as seven waggons upset within the space of a mile. Some waggons, though double-spanned, could not surmount several of the steep ascents; one was at an angle of 45 degrees, and had finally to be sent back some fifteen miles to Machadodorp. In fact, the road was gradually becoming so steep and unnegotiable that nearly all vehicles had to be sent back, nevertheless the top of Kaapsche Kop was reached and found to be vacated by Boers, who had taken to their heels two hours before. This gigantic march enabled the Eleventh Division to march on, and finally, to the Guards Brigade was handed over the possession of the mountain.
General Buller proceeded to occupy the region of the Mauchberg range on the 9th, in spite of some resistance from the enemy, who were at last dislodged by the King’s Royal Rifles. Among the wounded were Second Lieutenant G. Lumley Johnstone, 53rd Battery Royal Field Artillery. Regardless of infamous roads and execrable weather, the troops moved on and on towards the frowning heights of Spitz Kop. But it was a tremendous ten miles along narrow passes among mountains, some of them 6000 feet high, skirting deep gorges, and in the very teeth of the enemy, who ever and anon launched at them fire from pom-poms and musketry, yet failed to arrest the steady onward progress of men and guns. On the 10th they were at Kipgat, midway between Mauchberg and Spitz Kop, the Boers, a demoralised rabble, hurrying before them in such panic that they were unable to prevent the capture of tons of food stores, the gun tackle of a heavy gun, and some ammunition. The rest, rather than it should fall into British hands, they flung over the crags—thirteen waggons being sacrificed to the necessity for speedy flight.
Map to Illustrate the Movements for the Capture of Lydenburg.
Meanwhile the rest of the army was creeping east—creeping indeed, owing to the difficult nature of the country, that grew more and more obstructive and confounding with every mile. The Guards Brigade, with General Pole-Carew, moved from Nooitgedacht to Godwan Station on the 12th, protected on the right flank by General Hutton, who was in signalling communication with General French. This officer having crossed the Komati River on the 10th, was making his way against considerable opposition towards the hills west of Barberton, while General Ian Hamilton, having completed his task for the relief of General Buller, was leaving Helvetia for Waterval Onder.
THE NIGHT CHARGE OF THE 19th HUSSARS NEAR LYDENBURG ON NOV. 7th, 1900
Drawing by R. Caton Woodville
“On the 11th,” said one who was with him, “we marched to Helvetia, and here we halted for one day—our first and only halt from the time we left Belfast until we reached Komati Poort viâ Lydenburg. On the 13th we descended 3000 feet sheer to Watervalonder—scenery quite lovely. We were then in the fever valley of the Elandspruit. Our daily marches now involved throwing forward piquets to hold the tops of the mountains on either side till the tail of the column had passed through. Advanced and flank guards were useless. On the 14th we reached Nooitgedacht, and on the 15th we passed Godwan, and bivouacked on the lowest slope of Kaapsche Hoop—a charming site for a camp, amongst a natural rockery. On the 16th we had a heavy day. We had to get to the summit of the Kaapsche Hoop, the loftiest mountain in the neighbourhood. It is also called the Devil’s Kantoor, and is covered with alluvial gold diggings. The whole of the infantry moved off at 3.30 A.M. in darkness. That meant rising at 1.45, and breakfast at 2.30, but early breakfast in the dark was a common occurrence, and not a pleasant one when the fare consisted of trek ox and dry biscuit, as it generally did. It was difficult to get down; yet we had to force ourselves to it, for there was no chance of food until we reached our next bivouac. All the infantry left in the dark, and was split up along the road at the worst bits, where drag-ropes were distributed, and the men took off their equipment, and each waggon was helped up the steeps. It would have been impossible to have got them up without. The men worked splendidly, the Royal Scots putting their backs into it in a way which elicited the admiration of the General.”
At this juncture Mr. Kruger, preceded by a great portion of his worldly goods, made off to Lorenço Marques. To the great relief of every one this misguided old man now disappeared from the political platform, and left his country to be lifted, by those he had been pleased to call his enemies, from the ruin he had brought about. As that notable socialist, Mr. Bernard Shaw, expressed it, he had had a chance “to play the statesman,” but had “played the Mahdi,”—now, like Mahdism, Krugerism was extinct.
It was therefore Lord Roberts’s turn to take up the tangled skein of law and order in the Transvaal. To this end he ordered the following proclamation to be printed and widely circulated in English and Dutch:—
“Machadodorp, September 13.
“The late President Kruger, with Reitz and the archives of the South African Republic, crossed the Portuguese frontier, and arrived at Lorenço Marques, with a view of sailing for Europe at an early date.
“Mr. Kruger has formally resigned the position he held as President of the South African Republic, thus severing his official connection with the Transvaal.
“Mr. Kruger’s action shows how hopeless, in his opinion, is the war which has now been carried on for nearly a year, and his desertion of the Boer cause should make it clear to his fellow-burghers that it is useless for them to continue the struggle any longer.
“It is probably unknown to the inhabitants of the Transvaal and Orange River Colony that nearly fifteen thousand of their fellow-subjects are now prisoners of war, not one of whom will be released until those now in arms against us surrender unconditionally.
“The burghers must by this time be cognisant of the fact that no intervention on their behalf can come from any of the Great Powers, and, further, that the British Empire is determined to complete the work which has already cost so many valuable lives, and to carry to its conclusion the war declared against her by the late Governments of the Transvaal and Orange Free State—a war to which there can be but one ending.
“If any further doubts remain in the minds of the burghers as to her Britannic Majesty’s intentions, they should be dispelled by the permanent manner in which the country is gradually being occupied by her Majesty’s forces, and by the issue of the proclamations signed by me on the 24th May and 1st September 1900, annexing the Orange Free State and the South African Republic respectively in the name of her Majesty.
“I take this opportunity of pointing out that, except in the small area occupied by the Boer army under the personal command of Commandant-General Botha, the war is degenerating, and has degenerated into operations carried on in an irregular and irresponsible manner, and in very many cases by insignificant bodies of men.
“I should be failing in my duty to her Majesty’s Government and to her Majesty’s army in South Africa if I neglected to use every means in my power to bring such irregular warfare to an early conclusion.
“The means which I am compelled to adopt are those which the customs of war prescribe as being applicable to such cases: they are ruinous to the country, entail endless suffering on the burghers and their families; and the longer this guerilla warfare continues the more vigorously must they be enforced.”
From the Hague Messrs. Fischer, Wessels, and Wolmarans, the Boer delegates, now issued an appeal addressed to all nations in favour of intervention. After expressing the conviction that the only object of the annexation of the Transvaal which had been proclaimed by Great Britain was to enable the British to continue the war in an inhuman manner, and contrary to the principles of International Law, the appeal said—
“The British generals wish to treat as rebels the people of the South African Republics, previously recognised as belligerents, and mercilessly to pursue to the bitter end the exhausted combatants. With the help of God this object will not be attained. The citizens of the Republics will continue the struggle to their last breath. Have they not shown themselves worthy of their liberty and their fatherland? Will the world allow them to be crushed? The Powers have not intervened up to the present, perhaps abstaining from so doing as long as the war was regular; but will the restoration of peace never be pronounced, not even now when Great Britain tramples under foot by her theoretical annexations all the principles of International Law, and thus endeavours to acquire freedom of action in order to exercise her powers, and if possible annihilate completely the existence of a free people? In the name of justice and humanity we appeal to all peoples who sympathise with us to come to our aid even in this critical and supreme moment, and to save our country. We commit ourselves to God, trusting that our prayers will be heard.”
Barberton.
It may here be mentioned that Messrs. Fischer, Wessels, and Wolmarans had been sent in May as delegates to Holland and to America in the effort to enlist the sympathy of outsiders in the great quarrel. They went first to The Hague, where they hoped to secure the application of the resolution adopted by the Acts of the Peace Conference to the Transvaal question. Messrs. Fischer, Wessels, and Wolmarans were cordially welcomed, and expressed their satisfaction with the kindly reception accorded them by a people united to them by bonds of race and religion. (As an aside, it may be stated that not very long since, the Hollanders were wont to dub the Boers “White Hottentots,” and disdain any connection with them. This on the word of a Dutchman.) The delegates then proceeded to America with the avowed object of securing the aid of the Americans. “We are going,” said Mr. Fischer, “to a sister Republic, the people of which a century ago fought the same fight as our people are now fighting. We are going to a great free people, pre-eminent for their sentiments of liberty and justice. We go to rectify erroneous opinions and to make known the truth. Our enemies have said much that they cannot prove, and have thus misled many. We are certain that, once the truth is known, no civilised nation will refuse us support. The chief charge against us is that we desired or sought war. We shall try to dispel this error. We only desire peace and tranquil possession of what is as dear to us as it is to the American people—namely, our independence, without impairing the rights of other peoples. We do not appeal to one or the other political party, but to the American people, hoping that all parties will unite on a common platform, since the greatness of a great nation like the United States will be still more enhanced if it aid a small nation in a struggle for its rights and freedom. Our aim is to put an end to this cruel bloodshed on both sides, but especially the destruction of our own fellow-citizens, who are indispensable to our continued existence as a people. We hope this appeal to the Government and people of America will not be in vain, and that our manner of conducting the war will have shown that we have the right to demand the independent existence of our people as an independent State in South Africa.” Their errand was fruitless, as the conclusion of the Secretary of State’s reply serves to show.
“The President sympathises heartily with the sincere desire of all the people of the United States that the war which is now afflicting South Africa may, for the sake of both parties engaged, come to a speedy close, but having done his full duty in preserving a strictly neutral position between them, and in seizing the first opportunity that presented itself for tendering his good offices in the interest of peace, he feels that in the present circumstances no course is open to him except to persist in his policy of impartial neutrality. To deviate from this would be contrary to all our traditions, and all our national interests, and would lead to consequences which neither the people nor the President of the United States could regard with favour.” The same attitude was taken up by other Powers who were appealed to by the still optimistic Dutchmen.
General Buller by this time had located himself on Spitz Kop, which stands some 7100 feet high and commands an enormous expanse of country. Here fifty-eight burghers surrendered, and he captured trophies—300,000 bales of supplies, and 300 boxes of ammunition. But the Boers were luckier elsewhere. An engineer convoy under Lieutenant Meyrick, Royal Engineers, with an escort of nineteen Hussars, in act of repairing telegraph line, was attacked near where the road crosses the Crocodile River. The young officer was wounded and the escort was missing.
Generals Pole-Carew and Hamilton meanwhile pushed on, the Boers retreating as they saw themselves in danger. General French surprised the enemy and occupied Barberton on the 13th. He came on sufficient supplies to last three weeks, and made a splendid haul of prisoners, ammunition, and waggons, together with forty-five locomotives, which latter came in handy at a moment when engines were much needed. On the 17th fifty more locomotives were captured by French’s Cavalry at Avoca Station, while six more on the arrival of the 18th Brigade (Stephenson’s) were found at Nel Spruit. At the same time Generals Pole-Carew and Hamilton were moving towards Kaap Muiden Station.
A word about General Hildyard. While the fighting had been going on round Lydenburg the General had been keeping his eye on Natal, chasing bands of Boers, fighting, dispersing them, and establishing fortified posts and restoring telegraphic communication at different points. On the 9th at Groen Vlei Lieutenant Watson, 1st Royal Dublin Fusiliers, and Captain Cracroft, 1st Royal Irish Fusiliers, were wounded. On the 10th the Boers were driven from Langwacht Pass, and the hills scoured in the direction of Utrecht. This quaint little Dutch town, containing a very big church, and some very small houses rendered picturesque by gardens full of blossoming fruit-trees, was soon reoccupied. The Royal Dragoons and 13th Hussars arrived there in advance of General Hildyard, and spread consternation among the Boers. Colonel Blagrove deposed the Llandrost, seized his effects, and let loose some British prisoners who had been in Boer clutches.
The Dutchmen a few days later revenged themselves by committing an act of treachery. Some women in a farm floating a white flag invited a party of the 13th Hussars, who were patrolling some ten miles to the west, to enter and partake of refreshment. This they did. As they were riding from the house, they were fired on from within. These barbarities were far from infrequent, and the only method of dealing with the assassins was to destroy the homesteads which had harboured them. Vryheid was occupied on the 19th, the Boer position being turned by the Mounted Infantry, the Dutchmen in the neighbourhood causing a comparatively small amount of trouble. Most of the Boers had foreseen the trend of the British operations, and commenced to trek on the taking of Utrecht. Here we must leave the Natal defence force and return to the Chief.
The 19th found Lord Roberts at Nel Spruit, all events having progressed, notwithstanding the mountainous nature of the country, with the rapidity and success which usually characterised the Field-Marshal’s movements. Upwards of 3000 Boers had retreated towards Komati Poort, and of these many had dispersed into broken gangs, while more than 700 had crossed the Portuguese border. Thus the field operations were coming to an end, for, as the Commander-in-Chief put it, there were now left of the Boer army “only marauding bands.”
General Pole-Carew, with Henry’s Mounted Infantry and the Guards Brigade, hewing the roads as they went through a jungle forked with ravines, arrived dust-choked at Kaap Muiden, capturing at the station 114 truck-loads of goods more or less valuable. One march behind the Guards, came General Ian Hamilton’s column.
On the 22nd the “marauding bands” made themselves obnoxious in three places on the line. At dawn, a commando under Erasmus, with a 15-pounder and two pom-poms, attacked Elands River Station. (It must be noted that Elands River runs both east and west of Pretoria.) B Company, under Captain Cass, with about 120 Infantry and Cavalry details, succeeded admirably in defending their position, and after three hours’ smart fighting drove off the enemy with eleven men disabled. The British party had only one casualty.
This was a curious military rendering of the popular rhyme, “Taffy was a Welshman,” which runs:—
“I went to Taffy’s house, Taffy wasn’t at home;
Taffy came to my house and stole a marrow bone.”
Taffy, the filcher, in this case was the Briton; the filchee was the Boer. When Erasmus and his commando knocked with big guns at the door of Elands River Station, “Not at home,” was so definitely expressed that the visitor was forced to turn on his haunches. Unfortunately, during his absence Taffy had called at his house and helped himself, not merely to a marrow bone, but to a good deal more. In other words, General Paget, the “slim” hero of the exploit, with the West Riding Regiment, two companies of the Wiltshires, two companies of the Munster Fusiliers, the City Imperial Volunteer Battery and two 5-in. guns, had made a forced night march of twenty-six miles, seized Erasmus’s vacant camp, and with it 2500 cattle, 6000 sheep, 50 horses, 12 prisoners, 20 rifles, and some ammunition! Erasmus will be cautious when he goes a-visiting in future.
At the same hour, a smaller commando attempted mischief at Bronker’s Spruit, and was dispersed by Colonel Donald, with five companies of Royal Fusiliers, while at noon some other “snipers” pelted a train, which was conveying Generals Wood and Marshall from the front, between Brug Spruit and Balmoral. The enemy’s sole success, after surprising activity, was the cutting of the line between Elands River and Skie Poort.
On the 24th, General Pole-Carew, after one of the hardest and most fatiguing marches on record over nineteen miles of waterless jungle, occupied Komati Poort. Here he found the bridge, though prepared for destruction, still intact. Fourteen Long Toms and an enormous number of other guns, including two of the lost 12-pounders belonging to Q Battery Royal Horse Artillery, were found by the Guards, while General Ian Hamilton discovered more trophies in the Crocodile River near Hector Spruit. Rifles, small arm ammunition, boxes of Long Tom and other shells innumerable, formed the prizes of a memorable march, which was another feather in the cap of the Guards, whose endurance and cheerfulness under toil and privation was little less than heroic.
General Buller, who was clearing the country north of Lydenburg, continuing his operations, moved from Spitz Kop. The gallant Devons, under Captain Jacson, drove the enemy from the Burghers Pass, and on the 26th the General took up a position on the Machlac River. On the following day he reached Pilgrim’s Rest without casualties. The enemy were ensconced on the top of Pilgrim’s Hill, and from here, marching by night on the 28th, Colonel Byng decided to turn them. This was brilliantly accomplished by the, now veteran, South African Light Horse, who caused the enemy to vacate his lair with much precipitation. Two prisoners, forty oxen, and 4000 sheep were the prize of this dashing exploit. More work of the hardest fell to the lot of the troops on the 29th, the long steep road to the top of Pilgrim’s Hill making terrible demands on man and beast. But nevertheless the men worked “like niggers,” dragging the waggons up the obstinate country, eventually reaching Kruger’s Post on the 1st of October. To this date the enemy had lain “doggo,” as the phrase is, but no sooner was General Buller in possession of Kruger’s Post, than they brought long-range guns to bear on him. The position from which the Dutchmen fired was situated at about 9000 yards from the British bivouac, and towards this point Major Henderson (Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders) with some men of the 6th Lancers, 18th and 19th Hussars, at once proceeded. Owing to the nature of the country to be traversed, they reached their destination about four in the morning, and then to their disappointment found that they were not in time to prevent the Boers from disappearing with their guns. These, meanwhile, had done a good deal of damage. Second Lieutenant H. W. Cuming, 1st Devon Regiment, was killed, and one man of the South African Light Horse. Among the wounded were Captain N. Luxmore, 1st Devonshire Regiment, dangerously; seven men of South African Light Horse; and one man of Strathcona’s Horse.
On the 2nd General Buller’s force returned to Lydenburg, bringing with it 600 head of cattle, 4000 sheep, and 150 waggon-loads of supplies. Sir Redvers had also the satisfaction of reporting the surrender of 109 burghers as the result of his very successful expedition.
In honour of the birthday of the King of Portugal, the British troops, under General Pole-Carew, paraded at Komati Poort, and presented arms to the Portuguese flag. With this martial tableau vivant closed the main operations. The Eleventh Division subsequently returned to Pretoria, Lord Kitchener remaining at Komati Poort with Lieutenant Legget, Assistant Director of Railways. Repairing of lines and bridges was continued with unabated zeal, and the line to Johannesburg was speedily cleared. Unfortunately, in the work of destroying Boer ammunition, a Gordon Highlander was killed, Lieutenant Doris and eighteen men were wounded, also a Royal Engineer.