The artillery and transport cross.
[Jan. 17-18, 1900.
After the West Yorkshires and Devons, General Hart's Irish Brigade streamed across the river and marched to a bivouac on the further bank. The cavalry and mounted infantry had to use a difficult and dangerous ford, known as Wagon Drift, a mile lower down the stream. Owing to the swiftness of the current, which runs here at something like ten miles an hour, there were some misadventures; several men were swept away, and were with difficulty rescued by their comrades; one unfortunate trooper of the 13th Hussars was drowned although every effort was made to rescue him. It now only remained to pass the artillery, the transport, and the waggons of the column across, but this proved by far the most tedious and troublesome part of the operation. Nearly 500 ox and mule-waggons, in addition to ambulances, guns, and ammunition waggons, were sent over. The work occupied all the afternoon and evening of the 17th and the morning of the 18th. The rest of General Hildyard's Brigade and the whole of General Woodgate's Brigade had already joined the battalions which were bivouacking without tents on the north of the stream. The army was across and ready to strike a blow when its transport would permit, halted in a land which was an earthly paradise—"a country of arable soil and splendid pasture, where brown-clad doves emit plaintive love songs, of twittering tomtits and green-plumaged sunbirds, of huge, gray-coated secretary birds and gaudy butterflies that would gladden the heart of the entomologist."
COMMANDANT GENERAL LOUIS BOTHA.
Was born in Natal some thirty-six years ago, and settled down in the Transvaal when he had nearly reached man's estate. He does not come of a fighting stock, but has hitherto been known as a successful farmer. In the early days of the war, however, he showed such conspicuous military ability that he was, upon Joubert's death, and despite his comparative youth, elected Commandant General of the Boer forces. He is fairly well educated for a Boer, and talks English fluently when he pleases. He is married to a lady of Irish descent, whose maiden name was Emmet, and who claims relationship to Thomas Addis Emmet, the United Irish leader of 1798, and to Robert Emmet, executed for high treason in 1803.
A long delay.
The afternoon and evening of the 17th passed in inactivity so far as the infantry and artillery were concerned. Only a few shots were fired by the artillery to disconcert the Boers. There was much questioning in the British camp as to the reason for the long delay, since to the men rapid movement seemed essential for success against the enemy. The Boers could be seen everywhere, well out of range, at work upon the lines of defences on the hills and kopjes. The British army was sitting still and giving General Botha—who was now in command of the Boers at this point—ample time to concentrate his forces and make all his dispositions. The wait at Potgieter's was easy to explain, for that had not been the point chosen for the decisive attack. But the wait after crossing at Trichardt's Drift admitted of no such simple excuse. Everything depended upon celerity. The facts were that General Warren did not venture to leave his baggage in charge of a small rearguard and to push on along the Boer front, and that the crossing of such a river as the Tugela, with its high banks, awkward approaches, and difficult fords, was necessarily a slow and troublesome work, giving the enemy abundance of opportunity to gather men and oppose a determined resistance.
Spion Kop bombarded. Lyttelton's feigned attack.
Jan. 18, 1900.] A British Ambuscade.