This group of men represents as marvellous a series of escapes from death as can well be imagined. The man sitting on the left of the picture, Corporal Williams, was wounded by a Mauser bullet, which entered beneath the left eye, passed through the palate and mouth, and out at the root of the neck. Standing by him is Private Aitchison (A. & S. Highlanders), shot through the forehead an inch above the brow, the bullet passing clean through the head. Next to him is Private Carr (R.H.A.), shot in the middle of the neck, the ball passing through the mouth, concussing the spine. Standing on the right of the picture is Corporal McKenzie; in his case the bullet entered the left armpit, passed through the lung, and emerged just below the heart; he was shot again in the abdomen, the bullet emerging on the left side of the heart. Sitting on the right is Private Boughton (1st Border Regiment), shot through the nose and left tonsil, the bullet passing through the skull and out at the back of the head. All are perfectly recovered except Private Carr, who experiences some loss of power in the right arm. In the centre is Surgeon Harris, who took charge of these convalescents on board the Umbria which brought them home.
Colonel Hughes-Hallett's intention was only to fall back a short distance and not thus to leave the guns exposed; but the disheartened men were difficult to control. As the Highlanders fell back, the Boer fire became furiously rapid, and only the tempests of shrapnel from the British field guns prevented the casualties from mounting to enormous figures. Some of our guns actually got off not less than two rounds apiece in the minute. Yet, in spite of this all-important aid, the Highlanders suffered severely and had many casualties. The Gordons were left in an exposed position when the Highlanders fell back, and many of them were carried away in the retirement and thus were involved in the confusion. A few, however, stubbornly held their ground and rendered inestimable service. Their commanding officer, Colonel Downman, was mortally wounded, and was gallantly carried by Captain Towse towards the rear.
[Dec. 11, 1899.
Incidents of the battle.
The retreat of the Highlanders left the artillery in a position of the extremest peril. A single bold dash on the part of the Boers, and the guns, it seemed to many, must have been lost. They were now far in advance of the infantry line and quite without support. Yet the Boers would not venture out of their trenches and trust themselves upon the open ground, and so the opportunity was lost. Only the small Scandinavian contingent, seventy men strong, pushed boldly forward and seized a kopje on the right. But here it was steadily received by the Guards; a murderous rifle fire was poured into it, and of its seventy men, but fourteen escaped unhurt and were taken prisoners. The others were killed or wounded by the rifle fire and shrapnel. At this moment a corporal of the Seaforths, who had been taken prisoner, disarmed, and placed in one of the advanced Boer trenches, under guard of an armed man, escaped. He snatched up his bayonet, attacked the Boer, and disarmed him in return, carrying off his Mauser and bandolier. With these trophies he safely regained his comrades.
SOLDIERS ON THE VELDT AS SEEN FROM THE WAR BALLOON.
To protect the guns, the Scots Guards were sent forward, and vigorous efforts were made to rally the shaken Highlanders. Major Ewart rode up with a message from Lord Methuen that all he asked was for the men to hold their ground till nightfall. Staff officers, officers, sergeants, and corporals set a fine example, reminding the heart-broken débris of what had been the day before the best fighting brigade in the British Army, of the call of duty and honour. The pipers wailed sorrowfully in their effort to stir the men by the sound of the martial notes to which they had often marched to glory. Major Milton, though he had received three bullets and was mortally wounded, was among those who distinguished themselves in the effort to encourage the Highlanders. "Men," he said, "you are not conquered, but repulsed." And it is to the credit of the men that, after the fearful surprise of the night attack, after the long ordeal of the terrible morning, they rallied once more, once more went back to face death and torture, and took ground close to the guns, where with difficulty they found some shelter from the bullets of the Boers. "Whoever," says a German officer, writing of Mars-la-Tour, "has been in so murderous a conflict as this will know what moral force, what confidence in one's own efficiency are requisite for such conduct at a time when nothing remains of a brigade but paper numbers. This force of will is needed in an army that is determined to conquer."