"The bodies of the Royal Artillery and Natal Mounted Police were also buried, the only ones left untouched being those of the 24th Regiment, which was done at the express desire of Colonel Glyn and the officers, in the hope of their being able some day to do it themselves. This appeared, however, very strange to us, and many remarks were made about the seeming dishonour to part of our brave dead. However, let us hope that some day, not far distant, we may be able to return to that once blood-red field and bury all the bodies, bones, and relics that may be left. Great numbers of waggons have undoubtedly been taken away, as also everything of value in the camp, and many bodies have been, through one cause or another, either wholly or partially removed or disturbed, so as to effectually prevent recognition. I myself did not move far out of camp, and, therefore, may be a bad judge, but from what I saw there cannot have been more than 200 bodies in the camp itself, and out of these not 25 Kafirs. Doubtless, had I gone out to where the fighting first commenced, I should have found many more bodies, but I am glad for my own sake that I did not do so. Others, who had not perhaps so many bitter feelings or sorrowful remembrances of those lying around us, went further and saw more, although I cannot hear of any one having recognized any more bodies of officers, except those of the Hon. S. Vereker and young Gibson, both lieutenants in the Native Contingent. Many interesting relics were found and brought away by others, and I know of a few cases where letters addressed to relatives at home from those among the killed were found complete, and will be sent home, to be held in loving regard by the living, but will cause many sores scarce healed to be reopened. The general was anxious, for more reasons than one, to get away, and therefore, as soon as the waggons were ready, we made a start back at twelve, and reached Rorke's Drift at half-past three without any hitch whatever. Immediately on getting back I went inquiring among the different parties who had been over that day, and gleaned some other interesting facts from them. One officer in the Dragoon Guards, while out with his squadron burning kraals, found in one signs of very recent occupation, and the staff of the Queen's colour of the 1-24th. He also later on came across a kraal full of skeletons of Zulus; and this fact, taken in conjunction with the finding of large graves on the left of our camp containing bodies of the enemy, goes far to prove that the Zulus did move their dead bodies, and as the kraal was some two miles off where skeletons were found, they probably also moved them in our waggons. The forty waggons we brought away included two water carts in good preservation, one gun limber, a rocket battery cart, and three Scotch carts. All that we left behind, in number not more than twenty, were in a partially or entirely disabled condition. Counting all these, therefore, there are still sixty or seventy waggons missing, which have been taken away at different times."
Kaffrarian riflemen.
The irregular horse recruited in the Cape Colony and Natal deserve special mention. Their services during the war were of a most important and valuable character. Most of them were attached to General Wood's column, and in the many daring raids in which their services were used proved excellent soldiers. Among the most prominent of these corps was that of the Kaffrarian Riflemen, under Commandant Schermbrucker. On the 30th of April, at Utrecht, on the occasion of the expiry of their engagement, that officer bade farewell to his officers and men in an eloquent address in which he recalled their principal services. Six months previously, on a public parade at Pietermaritzburg, they had been selected by Lord Chelmsford for a post of danger, in consequence of the manner in which they had fought on the borders of the Cape Colony during the Gaika rebellion. For nearly three months the important and dangerous post of Luneberg had been held, and the handful of white men had inflicted serious losses on the enemy, and secured safe communication viâ Intombe to Derby. They had been attached to "that glorious column" commanded by Evelyn Wood, and formed part of the forces under Buller engaged in the rescue of Oham's people at his surrender. They were also in the disastrous storming of the Zlobane and the glorious battle of Kambula. Admirable obedience and cheerful discipline were maintained in the face of 20,000 enemies. Their last duties were the harassing ones of escorting convoys en route from Batlee Spruit to Kambula.[35] What was said, and said truly, of Schermbrucker's Irregular Horse might be said with little variation of the other corps—Baker's, Whalley's, etc. Colonial men, such as Schermbrucker, Nettleton, Shepstone, Lonsdale, Blaine, Pickering, Wilson, and many others, distinguished themselves in the field, and it can be said with equal truth and justice that the volunteer force and levies, officers and men, proved most valuable auxiliaries.
The Transvaal again.
The Transvaal Republic had dragged along a sad existence for many years, troubled constantly by native incursions from without, and debt, quarrelling, and discontent from within, when the Rev. Thomas F. Burgers was elected President in the year 1872. He was to revolutionize the entire country, and to make a new and improved Holland in Southern Africa. Gifted with certain talents, among which that of oratory was conspicuous, Burgers was deplorably deficient in a knowledge of men and business. His plans were utopian, visionary, and unsound. He caused hundreds of Boers to leave their adopted country, by forcing on them a system of education from which the teachings of religion were excluded; contracted a loan of £300,000 for a railway from Delagoa Bay, which would have cost millions; designed a fanciful coat of arms and flag; caused gold coins to be issued with his own likeness stamped upon them, and played such "fantastic tricks before high heaven" as to help forward that crisis of bankruptcy and ruin from which it would have been very difficult, even by an exactly opposite course, to have saved the country.
During the absence of the President in Europe, in 1875, Sekukuni, the principal chief of the Bapedi people, broke out in rebellion. In April, 1876, he was called upon to submit, but in place of doing so boldly claimed the larger portion of the Lydenburg and Pretoria districts. A commando then marched against him, and succeeded in taking "Mathebi's Kop," which was grandiloquently styled the Gibraltar of South Africa. A subsequent attack upon Sekukuni's head kraal was a failure. The prosecution of the war was then entrusted to volunteers, and after a short time an inglorious peace was concluded. This treaty was only made to be broken, as it was repudiated and treated with contempt by Sekukuni.
Annexation, history of.
The peace of all British South Africa was seriously jeopardized by the weakness and fatuity of the Government of the Transvaal Republic. They were unable to conquer Sekukuni, and were so threatened by Cetywayo as to make an incursion by that potentate exceedingly probable. If the outworks of civilization were not looked after there would soon be serious danger to the fortress. Sir Theophilus Shepstone was therefore appointed special Commissioner. He arrived at Pretoria in January, 1877, and an extraordinary session of the Volksraad was held in February. A radical reform, legislative, executive, and judicial, or the British flag, was the alternative laid before them. They chose the former, but remedies then came too late. The patient was incurable. President Burgers declared that a new constitution could not save them. On the 8th of March the Raad broke up, and on the 12th of April Sir Theophilus Shepstone formally annexed the Transvaal territory to the British crown. It was, without doubt, incomparably the best course for a bankrupt country, perfectly unable to cope either with its debts or its foes, but it is very doubtful whether it was the wisest course for the British Government. An immense burden was at once placed upon our shoulders, and the people furnished with a grievance easily fanned into discontent, and perhaps even into rebellion, by Hollanders and others who could make capital out of factious opposition and a trade out of revolution. If Sir Theophilus Shepstone had only waited long enough, the people would have begged upon their knees for protection and assistance when attacked by the enormous armies of the Zulu king. If we had intervened in such a crisis, we would have obtained the assistance—valuable assistance—of thousands of mounted burghers; whereas, when we did fight really for the Transvaal, its inhabitants were so disgusted with what had transpired, as to render almost no assistance. There is no doubt that we managed the annexation of this country badly, and have been compelled to suffer for it. By a policy of delay, which would certainly have been less kind but incomparably more wise, the people would have been forced to come as suppliants for protection and annexation. Their lives and property when threatened by Cetywayo, could have alone been saved by British intervention. It can certainly be argued, on the other side, that delay was particularly dangerous, and that if we had not at once established ourselves in the Transvaal, the Zulus would have lighted a fire which would have spread quickly throughout every native tribe, and have endangered the peace of all our settlements. Sir Theophilus Shepstone was in an excellent position to judge of the necessity, and her Majesty's Government has uniformly upheld the policy adopted by him in annexing the Transvaal.
Sekukuni had proved a thorn in the side of the Republic which they had really been unable to get rid of. The peace with this chief was quite illusory, and only betrayed weakness on the part of the Dutch. We cannot be surprised, therefore, that he soon resumed hostilities. Under British rule an expedition was, in 1878, sent against him, consisting of volunteers and native police, under the command of Captain Clark. This force was not strong enough, and portions of the 13th and 80th Regiments, together with mounted infantry and volunteers, were despatched under Colonel Rowland. An unprecedented drought rendered operations almost impossible, and the expedition had to return, after leaving a portion of the 80th Regiment to guard the passes. The great war with Cetywayo soon absorbed all our attention and efforts, therefore the attack on Sekukuni in his stronghold was postponed. It was reserved for Sir Garnet Wolseley to complete, late in 1879, that which had been commenced previous to the close of 1878. The rebellion of this native chief was specially one against the Republic of the Transvaal, and we had to take it over among the other heavy liabilities of that State.
Discontent of the Boers.