TRANSVAAL (EAST)
General B. Hamilton’s three months’ effective efforts resulted in the departure of Botha, and the complete clearance of the enemy from the district. It was now impossible to locate bodies of Boers in any part of that region. Rumour said that Botha had betaken himself to Vryheid to seek rest and change of scene for himself and his hunted horde. So, on his track went the British sleuth-hounds. The movement began on the 25th, and early in March they located their man in the neighbourhood of Vryheid.
Meanwhile General Plumer, Colonel Pulteney, and Colonel Wing, in the angle formed by the upper waters of the Vaal River and the Standerton-Volksrust Railway, gleaned remnants from Botha’s sheaf of Boers, Plumer’s Queenslanders bringing in twelve, and Wing’s men eight. General Gilbert Hamilton, during his operations east of Springs, was sharply attacked on the 18th of February, and a lamentable incident occurred. Boers, estimated to number 500, had been hanging around Klippan (twenty miles S.E. of Springs), seeking an opportunity to take vengeance. A portion of the Scots Greys, detached to one flank, was cut off, surrounded, and partially captured. They made a gallant fight for it, during which Major Feilden and Captain Ussher were mortally wounded, while Lieutenant Rhodes and two men were killed, and six men wounded. The Boers lost eight killed, and Commandant Van Niekerk was shot in the knee.
After this sorry affair General Gilbert Hamilton was joined by the 28th Mounted Infantry, and from Springs he proceeded to hunt down the commando which had caused the trouble.
To make up for the mishap two successes were reported during the operations of General Fetherstonhaugh north of the Delagoa line. On the 20th February Colonel Park’s column with 300 National Scouts, after a tedious night march, swooped down on two laagers at Nooitgedacht and Grootrievlei. Among the prisoners taken—164 in all—were Field-Cornets Du Toit, G. Joubert, H. de Jager, Lieutenant A. J. Vilgoen. Hinton and Trichardt, two pernicious guerillas, succeeded in escaping. But there was a goodly haul of horses, waggons, mules, cattle, &c.
Colonel E. Williams’ men on the southern slopes of the Bothaberg secured some more prisoners, and on the 21st they surprised a laager at Buffelskloof and captured twenty more.
MISHAP TO THE SCOTS GREYS AT KLIPPAN, FEBRUARY 18, 1902
Drawing by H. W. Koekkoek
A co-operative movement was now organised for the purpose of making a descent on Langkloof (near the junction of the Olifant and Wilge Rivers), where the Boer Government was shortly expected to arrive, but owing to the nature of the rocky and intersected country, the arrangements were impeded. The said Government, by the time the troops surrounded the place, had got some hours’ start and were well on their way to Pietersburg. Colonel Park, who was unavoidably prevented from reaching his assigned position in time, proceeded to investigate the kloofs on the western side of Rhenoster Kop, and unearthed seventeen prisoners and many oxen, horses, and vehicles.