'Meanwhile the 9th Lancers, the 12th Lancers, G Battery Royal Horse Artillery, and Mounted Infantry were working on the right flank. At twelve midnight on the 10th the 12th Lancers and Guards marched from camp, the former to join the Cavalry Brigade, the latter to protect the rear and right of the Highland Brigade. Considering the night, it does Major-General Sir Henry Colville immense credit that he carried out his orders to the letter, as did Major-General Babington. A heavy fire was maintained the whole morning. The Guards Brigade held a front of about one and three quarter miles. The Yorkshire Light Infantry protected my right flank with five companies, three companies being left at a drift. Captain Jones, Royal Engineers, and Lieutenant Grubb were with the Balloon Section, and gave me valuable information during the day. I learnt from this source, at about twelve noon, that the enemy were receiving large reinforcements from Abutsdam and from Spytfontein. The enemy held their own on this part of the field, for the under-feature was strongly entrenched, concealed by small bushes, and on slight undulations. At twelve noon I ordered the battalion of Gordons, which was with the Supply Column, to support the Highland Brigade. The trenches, even after the bombardment by lyddite and shrapnel since daybreak, were too strongly held to be cleared. The Gordons advanced in separate half-battalions, and though the attack could not be carried home, the battalion did splendid work throughout the day.
'At 1 P.M. the Seaforth Highlanders found themselves exposed to a heavy crossfire, the enemy trying to get round to the right. The commanding officer brought his left forward. An order to "Retire" was given, and it was at this time that the greater part of the casualties occurred. The retirement continued for five hundred yards, and the Highlanders remained there till dusk. Lieut-Colonel Downman, commanding the Gordons, gave the order to retire, because he found his position untenable, so soon as the Seaforth Highlanders made the turning movement to the right. This was an unfortunate retirement, for Lieut.-Colonel Hughes-Hallett had received instructions from me to remain in position until dusk, and the enemy were at this time quitting the trenches by tens and twenties. I have made use of Lieut.-Colonel Hughes-Hallett's report (the acting Brigadier) for the description of the part the Highland Brigade took in this action.
'Major-General Wauchope told me, when I asked him the question, on the evening of the 10th, that he quite understood his orders, and made no further remark. He died at the head of the brigade, in which his name will always remain honoured and respected. His high military reputation and attainments disarm all criticism. Every soldier in my division deplores the loss of a fine soldier and a true comrade. The attack failed; the inclement weather was against success; the men in the Highland Brigade were ready enough to rally, but the paucity of officers and non-commissioned officers rendered this no easy matter. I attach no blame to this splendid brigade. From noon until dark I held my own opposite to the enemy's intrenchments. G Battery Royal Horse Artillery fired hard till dark, expending nearly two hundred rounds per gun. Nothing could exceed the conduct of the troops from the time of the failure of the attack at daybreak. There was not the slightest confusion, though the fight was carried on under as hard conditions as one can imagine, for the men had been on the move from midnight, and were suffering terribly from thirst. At 7.15 P.M. fighting ceased, the Highland Brigade formed up under cover, the Guards Brigade held my front, the Yorkshire Light Infantry secured my right flank, the cavalry and guns were drawn in behind the cavalry.'
An ill-fated enterprise
Many descriptions have been published of the ill-fated enterprise, differing in some respects from the despatch of the commander; and much controversy has been raised as to an alleged difference of opinion between Generals Methuen and Wauchope regarding the method of the attack on the Boer position, and as to who was responsible for its disastrous failure. Into that controversy it is not our purpose to enter, seeing so much of it is founded on mere conjecture, coloured by the imagination or the prejudice of some of the writers. Whether blunder, or miscalculation, or mere misadventure, no voice has been ever raised to cast the shadow of blame on the officer who gallantly led his brigade through that long dark night into what proved an impossible position, a position which the best troops in the world could not have hoped to take. Every precaution was made that forethought could suggest. Untoward circumstances, and not want of courage, ruined all.
Fall of the General
That the fall of the General largely contributed to the loss of the battle, seems all too plain. He fell after being twice hit with rifle bullets through his helmet, and even while lying on the ground, when struck in the body, he appears, from the evidence of some of his men who passed him as they still pressed on to his orders, to be able to raise himself on his hands and knees, and taking a long farewell of his comrades, he cried, 'Good-bye, men; fight for yourselves. It is man to man now.' Other words are said to have been uttered, and were freely circulated afterwards about the camp, and found their way into letters written to friends at home; but in the din and confusion of such a moment it is difficult to see how these—many of them contradictory—can be accepted as his utterances. One witness describes the scene as 'an awful sight. The bullets,' he says, 'were like a shower of hail, and the shells were bursting all around us. God knows how I got clear, for I was in the thick of it. I felt the heat of a shell on my face. I never was so near being killed in my life. There were bullets hitting all around me, and whistling over my head. I have been in a few battles, but nothing like this.... We would have beat them had our General not been killed. He was shot in three places.'
That General Wauchope fought and fell as a man and as a soldier, carrying out his orders loyally to the end, has never been called in question. He died where he would have wished to die, at the head of his gallant Highlanders, with his face to the foe.
All that fateful day the battle was carried on. Our wounded and dead lay as they fell, under a blazing sun, close to the Boer lines. Over their heads the shots of friends and foes passed, without ceasing. 'Many a gallant deed was done by comrades helping comrades; men who were shot through the body lay without water, enduring all the agony of thirst caused by their wounds and the blistering heat. To them crawled Scots with shattered limbs, sharing the last drop of water in their bottles, and taking farewell messages to many a cottage home in far-off Scotland.' But still the battle raged. Wounded and dead must wait alike the ultimate fate of the day. Lying on the veldt the British still held their ground, firing when they could, but drawing a hotter fire upon themselves from the trenches. For fourteen hours they thus lay—from three o'clock in the morning till six at night. It was cruel work, with all the odds against the attackers, fighting against a foe they could neither see nor reach. Once the Guards made a brilliant dash at the trenches, and like a torrent their resistless valour bore down all before them, and for a brief few moments they got within striking distance of the enemy; and well did they avenge the slaughter of the Scots. With bayonets fixed and a ringing cheer the Guardsmen, we are told by a graphic writer, 'tossed the Boers out of their trenches as men in English harvest-fields toss the hay.' Then they retired under the deadly fire from the heights above, falling thick as hail upon them.