[Photo by Gregory.
Lady Roberts accompanying him to witness his departure, December 23, 1899.
Lord Roberts' generalship in the Afghan War had been of a very high order. In command of the Kuram column he distinguished himself early in 1879, so that in the autumn of that year he was appointed to lead the army which was to avenge the murder of the British Resident at Cabul. On October 1 his real advance began. It was made with startling rapidity, and on the 13th he marched through the streets of Cabul. Here his small army had to pause, as in March and April 1900 the British Army had to halt at Bloemfontein, and the enemy rallied, inflicting more than one minor reverse upon his troops. But it was his great march from Cabul to Kandahar, in the summer of 1880, which best illustrated his judgment and daring. Cutting loose from his base, living on the land as General Sherman had done in the famous march to the sea, he led his little column, 10,000 strong, on August 8, out of his camp at Cabul. On the 31st he entered Kandahar, having covered in the twenty-three days 320 miles, and this in sweltering heat. So rapid were his movements that he everywhere forestalled his enemies and met with no opposition on the march.
[Photo by E. Kennard.
[Dec. 16-23, 1899.
Not only was Lord Roberts great in war; in the quiet times of peace he strove earnestly for military reform. He especially distinguished himself during his Indian and Irish commands by the emphasis which he placed upon good shooting and the development of the soldier's intelligence. He did not want his men to be the soulless automata of the eighteenth-century barrack square. It is admitted by all, that under him the Indian Army was raised to a pitch of efficiency which it had never possessed before, and which, perhaps, has not marked it since. Some who did not know him may have feared that here was another reputation, won in savage or barbarous warfare, going to be lost in that land where the fair fame of so many had suffered swift eclipse. They may have asked themselves, if he failed with Lord Kitchener, who was left. Yet those who knew him and had served under him felt no such concern. To them his success was certain.
SOUNDING THE "CHARGE."
A cavalry trumpeter carries both a bugle for field calls, and a trumpet for the more elaborate camp and barrack calls.