CAPE COLONY—LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR J. FRENCH
Early in August the troops of General French were found on the line Beaufort West, Pearston, Drennan Station-Cameron Glen-Cathcart. They now began pushing steadily northwards, sweeping the enemy before them. Kruitzinger, thus pressed, was forced to retire in the direction of Middelburg and Steynsburg. His gang—dispersed by various frays with the British columns, and divided in desultory knots which succeeded in passing through the line of British blockhouses—reassembled north of the Zuursberg at Langedrift (fifteen miles north-west of Steynsburg). Here their number was swelled by bands under Erasmus, Wessels, and Pypers. There was now a somewhat formidable army of guerillas, and these on the 13th were encountered by Colonel Gorringe at Rooifontein. The gang were attacked, driven back past Venterstad into the Orange River, and in their retreat were so effectively hustled by Captains Nickalls and Sandeman, that they lost many of their number, among them Commandant Cachet, while the redoubtable Erasmus, together with Kruitzinger’s secretary, were captured. Colonel Hunter Weston about this time had also been engaged with Theron and had driven him and his to the right-about with characteristic despatch. While these frays were going forward, Lategan’s raiders, who had been pressed into the Orange River Colony, were there being forcibly tackled by Colonel Byng and General Plumer. So far so good. But there were other gangs that buzzed mosquito-like in a circle; and these, under Lotter and Botha, after being flicked northward from the Rhenosterberg (south-west of Middelburg), veered round and contrived to break through the pursuing columns and re-establish themselves in the hilly region of Spitzkop (thirty miles south of Middelburg). Smit’s gang, after being routed from the Rhenosterberg, scurried across the rail towards the north-west of Deelfontein, afterwards infesting the country between Carnarvon and Fraserburg; Lotter and Botha shifted to the Cradock district, while another troop of marauders under Theron created havoc and consternation between Aberdeen and Willowmore. Still, though the mosquitos continued to draw good British blood occasionally, they paid a fair price for it, and in the series of attacks which whisked them north 19 of the number were killed, 43 wounded, and 17 captured.
Lieut.-Col. Gorringe
It must here be noted that on the 17th of August, at Graaff Reinet, three of the rebel leaders, Van Rensburg, Fourie, and Pfeifer, who were captured at Camdeboo in July, were executed. Ten others were sentenced to penal servitude for life in the Bermudas. It was impossible to feel commiseration for these men, in view of the numbers of British homes they had robbed by the insane folly of resistance after the annexation of the Boer territories, and it was felt that unless some severe measures were adopted the system of lawlessness would continue for ever in the Colony.
It was now necessary to make new dispositions in order to guard against the return of the raiders who had been driven north, and to pursue those who had succeeded in scuttling to the south. Accordingly Colonel Wyndham followed the tracks of Smit to the west, and Colonels Crabbe and Hunter-Weston and Captain Lund converted themselves into a three-headed Cerberus to guard the Zand Drift (west of Colesberg) against the reappearance of Lategan. Colonel Gorringe’s column, with the 17th Lancers, kept a vigilant watch on the Orange between Norval’s Pont and Bethulie, while Colonels Doran, Scobel, and Kavanagh, working to the south, followed the spoor of Lotter, Botha, and Theron. So stood affairs towards the end of August. Then a rumour came to the effect that Smit and Scheepers were brewing mischief, the first at Fraserburg, the latter near Laingsburg. Therefore, most promptly, the column of Colonel Crabbe was shifted to Matjesfontein.
Two days later, on the 5th of September, Colonel Scobell, who was chasing Lotter, scored the biggest success of the guerilla campaign. At Petersburg, some forty miles west of Cradock, he succeeded in surrounding his man and in capturing not only him and his whole commando, but an additional gang under Breedt! The whole affair was most brilliantly conceived, and reflected credit on so many for their pluck and gallantry, that some of the names of the heroes who contributed to the success of the affair are scarcely known. Firstly, much of the kudos is due to a party of Midland Mounted Rifles, who, on the 2nd of September, held with such tenacity a pass that Lotter hoped to push through, that the career of the Boer leader was arrested and it became possible for Colonel Scobell to effect his checkmate!
Among the splendid supporters of the Colonel who were notable for exceptional gallantry were Captain Lord Douglas Compton, 2nd Lieutenants Wynn and Neilson, Captain Purcell (9th Lancers), and Lieutenant Bowers, Cape Mounted Rifles; while all the men of the 9th Lancers so distinguished themselves that it is impossible to cite the names and the deeds done by those glorious fellows without devoting pages to the task. Unfortunately Lieutenant Theobald, who had been killed earlier in the month, lost the finale, to which he, with his comrades, had so perseveringly and so gallantly contributed.
The list of prisoners included Commandant Lotter and Field-Cornets J. Kruger, W. Kruger, and Schoeman, and among the dead were two notorious rebels named Voster. The booty consisted of 200 horses, 29,000 rounds of ammunition, and all the vehicles and supplies of the commandos. Our casualties included Lieutenant Burgess, Cape Mounted Rifles.
In other parts of the Colony the columns were almost equally active, if not equally successful. The remnant of Fouché’s party, after his departure across the Orange, gathered themselves under the banner of Myburg and took up positions in the triangle Ladygrey, Dordrecht, and Burghersdorp. Colonel Munro spent his time in hustling them, and on the 29th of August had a spirited engagement some twenty miles north-east of Dordrecht, which resulted in the defeat of the hordes, who were driven over the Drakensberg into Transkei territory. His columns, together with the local troops, then took up positions in the defiles and passes, so as to block them effectually and prevent a chance of the return of the marauders.
General Beatson, who was now assisting in General French’s operations, was actively chasing Scheepers in the south—first below Willowmore, then to Aventour, then to the west in the direction of Klip Drift; thence to Oudtshoorn and Ladysmith. Here the young Boer leader was set on by the local troops, whereupon he shifted his course to Barrydale. This rush took him till the 31st of August, during which time the hunt was vigorously carried on by Colonel Alexander and the 10th Hussars. Scheepers made an attempt on Montague, and was baulked by a detachment of the Berkshire Regiment. He then made various plucky but futile efforts to get across the rail, his object being to effect a junction with Smit, who was on the other side of Matjesfontein. He came in collision several times with the troops of Colonel Alexander, who, in the course of their gallant efforts to frustrate the Boer designs, had 2 officers and 10 men wounded, and lost 4 men. In the south-west, Maritz was meanwhile being hunted by Colonel Capper, who kept the raiders perpetually on the move, and forced them to break into an aimless, rudderless gang, glad of hiding-places in the Roggeveld Mountains.
While all this ferreting and hunting was going forward in the south, some brilliant deeds were taking place in the Kimberley district. De Villiers and Conroy, with a strong force, made a lunge upon Griquatown, the garrison of the place being only 100 in number. The force, though small, was determined, and the aggressors were sent to the right-about. This was on the 12th of August. On the 24th the hostile hordes made a vigorous dash on a convoy, for which they doubtless hungered with a hunger that lent heroism to their attack. Certain it is that they came to very close quarters, and that fighting between them and the escort (74th (Irish) Squadron, Imperial Yeomanry), under Captain Humby, was carried on more stubbornly and fiercely than usual. The Boers—400 of them—surrounded the convoy, and it seemed at one moment as though they must inevitably annihilate the little British force; but the men stood their ground like rocks, or, rather, like fervid volcanoes spouting fire, and fighting with such daring and determination that eventually, at nightfall, the enemy were forced to withdraw. The gallantry of the officers and men of the Yeomanry was superb—Lieutenant Despard and Lieutenant Kidd (Diamond Fields Artillery) performed splendid work, and the magnificent manner in which Captain Humby extricated his convoy from the hellish vortex and succeeded in getting to his destination without the loss of a waggon is a tale that needs pages to tell. Nine men of the escort, however, paid with their lives for their grand tenacity, and 2 officers and 21 men were wounded.
The captures from and losses of the enemy during August were 186 killed, 75 wounded, 1384 prisoners, 529 voluntary surrenders, 930 rifles, 90,958 rounds of ammunition, 1332 waggons, 13,570 horses, and 65,879 cattle—a sum-total which makes a really wonderful and practical testimonial to the ceaseless energy and zeal of the British troops.
Before closing the record of the events of August 1901, reference must be made to the visit paid by the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York to the Cape. Their Royal Highnesses, who had been on a tour round the world, landed at Simonstown on the 19th of August, and thence proceeded to Capetown. The demonstration made by the Cape loyalists was enthusiastic beyond words, the weather was superb, and the scene—the brilliant decorations, the British cheers, the massed bands, the Kaffir war-dances and whoops—was one never to be forgotten by those who took part in it. The Prince, in his reply to the loyal addresses, made this memorable allusion to the heartiness of the Colony’s reception:—
“We are glad to have this opportunity to give public and grateful expression to our feelings of profound satisfaction at the very enthusiastic and hearty welcome accorded us on our arrival here to-day. The fact that during the last two years you have been passing through such troublous times, and that in addition to your other trials the Colony has suffered from an outbreak of plague, from which it is not yet entirely free, might well have detracted from the warmth of your greeting, but, in despite of all your trials and sufferings, you have offered us a welcome the warmth and cordiality of which we shall never forget. I should also like to express our admiration of the appearance the city of Capetown presents to-day. Apart from their tasteful decoration, the principal streets through which we have passed offer an aspect very different from that which they possessed twenty years ago when I visited your Colony. I congratulate you on the abundant evidence of the progress achieved during that time, and notably on your trade and commerce and the development of your harbours and railways. I greatly deplore the continuance of the lamentable struggle which has so long prevailed within South Africa, and for the speedy termination of which the whole community fervently prays. During this time you have had to make grievous sacrifices. Numbers have personally suffered trials and privations, while many of the flower of your manhood have fallen in the service of their King and country. To all who have been bereaved of their dear ones by the war we offer our heartfelt sympathy and condolence. May time, the great healer, bring consolation. That South Africa may soon be delivered from the troubles which beset her is our earnest prayer, and that ere long the only struggle she knows will be eager rivalry in the arts of peace and in striving to promote good government and the well-being of the community.”
CHAPTER XIII
NATAL AND THE EASTERN TRANSVAAL—SEPTEMBER 1901
At this time the war entered on a new phase. The Boer generals felt the necessity of tiding over the 15th of the month, the date fixed by the Proclamation of the 7th August as the limit of time within which, by voluntarily surrendering, the leaders might avoid certain penalties threatened by that proclamation. And by dint of unusual activity they succeeded. There were few surrenders, it is true, but the tactics adopted by the enemy cost them, in the end, more heavily than their previous evasive methods. They broke out in the Ermelo and Vryheid districts about the middle of the month. Their harassing rushes and their escape into the Ermelo district had been difficult to arrest owing to the unfinished state of the blockhouse line then being built from Wakkerstroom to Piet Retief by the 2nd Battalion Scots Guards and 2nd Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment under General Bullock. At Belfast, on the 16th, the garrison was attacked by Grobelaar and 100 men evidently in need of supplies. They were handsomely repulsed, and only one of the garrison was wounded; but bullets that fell in the refuge camp caused the death of a woman.
General Lyttelton had now assumed command in Natal in place of General Hildyard, who, after a long spell of brilliant service, had gone home on leave. The new chief at once turned his attention to the rumour of assembling commandos, and to frustrate concentration Major Gough’s Mounted Infantry with Colonel Stewart and the Johannesburg Mounted Rifles moved from Dundee to De Jager’s Drift. Meanwhile Pulteney’s troops were at Volksrust, and those of Garratt moving, viâ Wakkerstroom, on Utrecht.
The enemy were reported to be near Scheepers Nek. Colonel Stewart and Major Gough, on the 17th, decided to push on towards Blood River to get in touch with them, the last marching about an hour in advance of the first. Major Gough, as he neared the river, sent a message requesting Colonel Stewart to remain at Rooi Kop, in readiness to support him should he hear the sound of guns in action. Half-an-hour later, seeing Gough’s men galloping towards Blood River Poort, the Colonel pressed forward his mounted men in support. It was then he heard that the Major had met with a reverse—a serious reverse. Quickly appreciating the ticklish position in which he himself was placed—it being imperative to protect not only his own guns but Major Gough’s baggage at Rooi Kop—he decided to retire to De Jager’s Drift and thus cover Dundee, which, as it turned out, was menaced by a gang of great strength. The tale of the misfortune to so magnificent an officer as Major Gough is hard to write, for a series of services more gallant and brilliant than his it is scarcely possible to find. The circumstances were these. With characteristic dash he no sooner “spotted” the enemy than he pressed forward to seize a ridge which appeared to command their position. He had galloped into a well-arranged ambush. Instead of 300 as he supposed, there were 1000 Boers in front of him, and these speedily overwhelmed his right flank and assailed his guns from the rear. There was fighting of the hottest description at very close quarters, in which Lieutenant Lambton, 1st Durham Light Infantry, and Lieutenant Blewett, 1st Rifle Brigade, with great bravery sacrificed their lives; but the gallant little force (consisting of two guns 69th Battery R.F.A. and three companies of mounted infantry), terribly outnumbered, was eventually captured. The breech-blocks and the sights of the guns were destroyed before they fell into the enemy’s hands. The circumstances of the capture of Second Lieutenant Stormonth-Darling (2nd Scottish Rifles) serve to show the manner of the British repulse. He commanded the escort to the guns, and in spite of the Boers being upon him continued to fire and encourage his men till he was overpowered and the rifle snatched from his hands. Major Gough and Captain Cracroft, Royal Irish Rifles, escaped during the night and joined Colonel Stewart at De Jager’s Drift.
Captain Mildmay, 3rd Battalion King’s Royal Rifle Corps, and 14 men were killed in action. Captain Dick, 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers, was severely wounded.
Lieutenant Furnell, 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers, Lieutenant Lambton, Durham Light Infantry, Lieutenant Price-Davis, King’s Royal Rifle Corps, and about 25 men were wounded, and 5 officers and 150 men made prisoners.
Troops were at once concentrated on the threatened point, and the Boers—said to be commanded by the Bothas, Opperman, Britz, and Henderson—finding the line of the Buffalo bristling with British, were forced to seek access to Natal by a wider détour to the south. This led them to the fortified posts of Itala and Fort Prospect, north-west of Melmoth, on the Zululand frontier. At Itala the garrison consisted of two guns of the 69th Battery R.F.A. and 300 men of the 5th Division Mounted Infantry under Colonel A. J. Chapman, Royal Dublin Fusiliers. At midnight of the 26th, Botha, Scholtz, Opperman, Potgieter, and their following of some 1500 men, in groups, began an attack on this post from west, south-east, and north.
The advance post of 80 men was first rushed, and many of the party were killed or forced to surrender, while others succeeded in escaping down the hill to assist in the fighting that was to come. For nineteen hours without intermission the enemy continued to assail the camp, though doggedly kept at bay by the defenders. The whole area was swept by blasts of bullets, and the British force at last, foodless and waterless, were confronted with the fear that even the ammunition might not hold out. The guns, under Lieutenant Herbert, R.F.A., which had been valuable during the night while the moon gave light and the shadows shelter, became in the daytime targets for the foe, and consequently when Lieutenant Herbert and four gunners were wounded the rest were ordered to take cover. But fortunately young Trousdale, after both his men were killed, pluckily stuck to his Maxim and worked like a Trojan. At last under cover of dusk the enemy, repulsed on all sides, withdrew in a north-easterly direction, taking with them, assisted by natives, their wounded and dead in great numbers. Many deeds of gallantry were performed, and Lieutenant Lefroy, 1st Battalion Dublin Fusiliers, who with Lieutenant Kane at first rumour of assault was sent to occupy the highest point of the Itala a mile from the camp, distinguished himself by shooting with his revolver Commandant H.J. Potgieter. Commandant Scholtz and about 270 Boers were also killed during the vigorous repulse. The British lost a smart officer, Lieutenant Kane (South Lancashire Regiment), and 21 men killed: 5 officers and 54 men wounded. Colonel Chapman, owing to the complete exhaustion of his force and lack of ammunition, then decided to evacuate Itala, leaving Lieutenant Hislop and twenty unarmed men and Chief Veterinary Surgeon Probyn to look after the wounded. Lieutenant Fielding (R.A.M.C.), who early in the day had valiantly gone up hill to attend the wounded in the advance post, had been captured, but was subsequently released and came into camp after the column had marched off to M’Kandhla. This place was reached without molestation.
“NO SURRENDER!” THE DEFENCE OF FORT ITALA ON SEPTEMBER 26, 1901
Drawing by R. Caton Woodville
At Fort Prospect the British post was equally tenaciously held by thirty-five men of the 5th Division Mounted Infantry and fifty-one men of the Durham Artillery Militia under the command of Captain C. A. Rowley, 2nd Battalion Dorsetshire Regiment, who contrived with the small force at his disposal to send the 500 attacking Boers to the right-about with considerable aplomb.
He, fortunately, was warned as to the coming commandos, and made haste to prepare for them a warm welcome; providing also extra food, water, and ammunition for his men in the trenches. At 4.30 A.M. the Boers made a violent lunge on the west and north of the position, directing the main fury of their attack at the two laagers held by the Durham Company of Artillery. They penetrated the wire around the laagers and got to within twenty yards of the defenders, but Lieutenant R. G. M. Johnson and his splendid companions were too much for them, and finally the Boers were driven off. They then fought wildly in the rear of the camp, but again met with the same dogged resistance. The defence lasted about thirteen hours and reflected credit on all concerned, especially on Captain Rowley, whose foresight had averted great loss of life. In addition to the splendid work done by the Militia Artillery and the Dorsetshire Regiment, the Zululand Native Police distinguished themselves. Gallantly led by Sergeant Gambi, thirteen of them came four miles from their own post to reinforce the garrison. The British loss was only 1 killed and 8 wounded, a small total considering the thirteen hours’ risk run by the little party.
The necessity of combing this difficult and at times almost impenetrable country of Boers caused General Lyttelton to direct a movement which occupied the tempestuous close of September and the early days of October, in which Generals Bruce-Hamilton, Clements, and Walter Kitchener vigorously engaged. Despite the unfavourable elements they succeeded, if not in striking them when concentrated, at least in forcing the Boers gradually to retreat north to Boschoek, Kromellenbog, and Leeuwnek. Here they were held for a time by General Kitchener, but on the night of the 5th of October, at the cost of their baggage and waggons, they succeeded in rushing round the left flank and retreating in the direction of Piet Retief. General Kitchener followed and had a smart engagement with the rearguard, which—in a strong position—covered the flight of the main body.
On the 11th the enemy was moving through Swaziland by Mahamba, and this news caused Colonel Colville adroitly to arrange a plan which resulted in the intercepting of a convoy belonging to the Ermelo and Amsterdam commandos. The Colonel’s column at the time was covering the construction, by General Bullock’s troops, of the blockhouse line from Wakkerstroom. He pushed on hurriedly from Piet Retief and pounced on the Boers’ much needed convoy, harassing Botha and his burghers, who scurried to escape before the British advance. By now the blockhouse line was sufficiently advanced to be a serious impediment to the enemy’s movements: it not only forced him to abandon his waggons but also the two guns of 69th Battery which were lost during Gough’s reverse at Blood River Poort.
Brigadier-General Reeves (temporarily commanding in the absence of General Blood, who had left for India), with Colonels Park and Benson, continued to operate north and south of the Delagoa Railway. Colonel Benson, on the 10th, made a splendid march on an extremely dark night and surprised a party of Boers at Pullen’s Hope (south of Middelburg), where he took 33 prisoners, 73 horses, together with cattle-carts and ammunition. On the 15th he, with two squadrons of the 2nd Scottish Horse and 19th Battalion Mounted Infantry, repeated his adventurous tactics, again surrounded and surprised the enemy at Tweefontein, and, though some made good their escape, added 10 Boers to his roll of prisoners and 250 oxen to his herd of cattle. Still indefatigable, he and his doughty band on the 17th, after a forty miles’ march from Carolina, fell on the foe. The early mist was lifting round two laagers full of slumbering Boers at Middeldrift and Busby, when with a rush and a yell the British troops covered the scene. The usual rout, the usual stampede, and finally 54 prisoners—among them P. Botha, late Landdrost of Pretoria, and Commandant Nieuwhondt were captured, together with vehicles, horses, and cattle. Colonel Benson then pushed on and on—a triumphal progress—for he gleaned Boers wherever he went; 12 on the 28th near Bethel, and 7 early in October at Driefontein, in addition to horses, mules, and cattle, thus compelling those who evaded him to scuttle north denuded and demoralised. In the course of their chasing, this intrepid British band covered over fifty miles in nineteen hours. The Boers seldom spent a night in one place, and saddled up regularly at 3 A.M. in readiness for flight, therefore the captures made were the result not only of alertness and dash, but of indomitable perseverance.
Colonel Park had been engaging in like adventures, and had taken many prisoners. With six companies of Mounted Infantry and two companies of the Manchester Regiment, he began October by a search between Kruger’s Post and Ohrigstad. He secured some armed burghers, and destroyed such ammunition and forage as could not be removed. On his return journey he came in collision with Viljoen at Rustplaats, and after an engagement covering hours the Boers withdrew. On the 7th of October he attacked a party of Boers at a farm at Rosenkrans, captured their ammunition, mealies, and waggons, but not their persons.
The Constabulary posts running from Eerste Fabriken, viâ Springs and Heidelberg, to the Vaal River were pushed forward by Colonel Pilkington (S.A. Constabulary) to the line Wilge River Station, Greylingstad, and the junction of Kalk Spruit with the Vaal, thus enabling a more vast tract of country to be cleared. Sir Henry Rawlinson cleared the front of the Constabulary between Standerton and the Vaal River with increasing vigour, chasing Boers westward and southward before him. On the 3rd of October, at Greylingstad, he organised a night patrol to Barnard’s Kop, which resulted in the capture of three armed burghers, and subsequently, on the 5th, he surprised Field-Cornet Botha at Kaffir Spruit, captured 7 of his men, 20 of his carts, and 250 cattle. Pretorius, whose laager was near by, though followed with zest, made good his escape. Colonels Hacket Thompson and Bewicke Copley also engaged in the work of protecting the Constabulary, but came in collision with few of the enemy, who were now moving south.