TRANSVAAL (EAST)
The troops of General Botha, weakened and disintegrated, still continued a species of opposition which was met by the persistent activity of the British commanders. The blockhouse system developed, enclosing vast areas which were first carefully swept by the British troops, and subsequently occupied by a network of Constabulary Posts. With the continued extension of the blockhouse lines, the strain of night duty, and the arduous labours of constructing fences, trenches, and ramparts, fell heavily on the lessening garrisons of individual blockhouses. Yet these overworked, fatigued troops never failed to respond with spirit and cheerfulness to every fresh call made upon them.
General B. Hamilton, after the capture of General Erasmus, returned to Ermelo. Knowing that a Boer laager was located in his vicinity, he directed Colonel Wing to make a night raid upon Witbank, some twenty-two miles to north-west of him. Simultaneously Colonel Mackenzie arranged a descent on the same objective from the neighbourhood of Carolina—a co-operative movement which acted splendidly and resulted in the capture of 42 prisoners, including Major Wolmarans, Captain Wolmarans, and Lieutenant Malan (all of the Staats Artillery), together with ammunition and camp equipment. Not completely satisfied with the haul, and suspecting that the Boers, scattered for the nonce, would return to their old haunt, General Hamilton, with great wiliness, planned a second night raid in the same locality. His surmises proved correct. The stragglers had returned, but, luckily for them, their outlying pickets gave the alarm in time, and enabled them to escape in hot haste. They secured a fair start, and though a spirited chase after flying burghers was carried on for seven miles, some of them managed to get off. Others were ridden down, and 32 prisoners were secured. Mules, cattle, and vehicles swelled the bag. On the 18th General Hamilton made a third night expedition in deplorable weather and over atrocious ground, and captured 27 prisoners. And yet another dash (on the 24th) from Ermelo towards Boschmansfontein put him in possession of twelve more of the enemy. The greatest triumph was achieved on the 26th, Colonel Wools-Sampson and his Intelligence Staff being mainly instrumental in procuring the success of the affair. Picked men and horses were drawn from the columns under General Spens, Colonels Allenby, Mackenzie, and Stewart. These, in ignorance till the last moment of the nature of their mission, were suddenly directed on Tafel Kop (ten miles north-west of Ermelo). It was now found that the Boer tracks forked in two, and therefore the force divided. General B. Hamilton’s party proceeded one way in the pouring rain, and sure enough found a huge laager at Nelspan. This they charged grandly, and in a few moments a swarm of Boers fled through the tempest, followed for miles by the troops with ardour little damped by the nature of the weather. The other way was taken by a party under Major Pratt (Durham Light Infantry), who drove the Boers towards the Ermelo-Standerton line of blockhouses, where the luckless Dutchmen were forced to surrender. Other bands were also run to earth, and in all 82 prisoners—among them Field-Cornet de Villiers, Corporal de Jager (Staats Artillery), and Mr. de Jager, formerly of the First Volksraad—were the reward of this brilliant enterprise. General Hamilton by these dashing exploits (during the last his troops covered fifty-two miles in twenty-four hours) had considerably unnerved the enemy, who now, both by night and by day, lived on tenter-hooks, and consequently evaded as much as possible all contact with the British troops. In his operations the General was materially assisted by the activities of the columns under General Plumer, Colonels Pulteney and Colville, who effectually barred all exits to the south, and kept the enemy within range of General B. Hamilton’s schemes. General Plumer scored on the 25th. Then, 24 prisoners were hemmed in and taken in the kloofs between Spitz Kop and Castrols Nek. Colonel Fry (West Yorkshire Regiment) seized thirty more straggling burghers who had run their heads against the Piet Retief-Wakkerstroom blockhouse line. Colonel Mackenzie was meanwhile guarding the northern avenues of escape leading across the Delagoa Railway in order to frustrate plans for a junction between Botha and Viljoen, but the last ruffian remained north of the railway at a farm between Boschoek and Kruger’s Post, where, on the 25th, he was cleverly captured by a detachment of the Royal Irish under Major Orr. Thus the enemy lost one of his most prominent and trusted leaders, one who nursed a supreme hatred for the British. The weather continued deplorable—fogs, mist, and incessant rain baulked the best enterprises of the troops—but on the 21st 300 Boers were encountered by Colonels Park and Urmston, and in spite of the elements some captures were made. On the 24th, near Houtenbek, another guerilla gang, with whom the Boer Government was said to be, was encountered. But this will-o’-the-wisp disappeared at the first shot into the broken country north of Roosenekal. January closed with the departure from Lydenburg of Colonel Urmston, who escorted General B. Viljoen and other prisoners to the railway at Machadodorp.
Early in February, east of Springs, the columns under General G. Hamilton and Colonel Wing made an important haul. The Boers had broken back to the west of the constabulary posts, and clung tenaciously to their ground—most probably in fear of facing, in their efforts to escape, the fire-swept region of the blockhouse lines. They were exceedingly wary, and the reward of very hard labour on the part of the British columns was meagre until the 3rd February, when, at Grootpan, 31 burghers with their transport were captured, and 3 killed.