Jan. 21-22, 1900.] Buller holds Councils of War.
A few incidents may be chosen from the many reported by the chroniclers of this arduous day to show the spirit of our troops and the tragi-comic humours of the battlefield. A lad of nineteen, says Mr. Churchill, sat behind shelter in the Irish Brigade's firing line. "His right trouser leg was soaked with blood. I asked him whether he was wounded. 'No, sir; it's only blood from an officer's head,' he answered, and went on munching his biscuit." Two soldiers sat side by side in one of the lulls of firing, the one eating biscuit, the other flicking stones at him. Something struck the eater a sharp blow on the neck, and he turned angrily to the other man. "What did you throw that stone at me for?" "I didn't throw it." "Liar!" And the two were ready to fight, when the red stain showed that the second spoke the truth. It was a bullet. A private was seen trudging into the firing line with a puppy under his arm. Did he wish for companionship in the loneliness of a modern battle, where each man has to stand or fall by himself?
Alec Ball.]
Assault ordered and postponed.
On the 22nd General Coke's Brigade marched to reinforce General Warren, from Potgieter's Drift; the howitzers arrived, and two on each flank began to fire, while the infantry held the ground already won and made no more effort to advance. There was, all this and the following day, a desultory engagement in which no advantage was gained by the British troops. Early on the 22nd General Buller rode over to see what progress had been made. A council of war was held, and it was decided that the last hope of success was to storm Spion Kop. To reach this decision had taken nearly a week—a week of useless marching, counter-marching, and bloodshed for the army, a week of starvation and agonised suspense for Ladysmith. The orders were issued to General Coke to assault Spion Kop that night with his Brigade. The General, however, objected most strongly—and with good reason, after Stormberg and Magersfontein—to making such an attack over ground which he did not know and had not personally reconnoitred. In response to his objections Sir Charles Warren postponed the attempt till the night of January 23.
POISONOUS BULLETS TAKEN FROM A BOER PRISONER AT SPION KOP.
These bullets have a coating of metallic oxide, which could not fail to poison any wounds they might make. It is perhaps not necessary to suppose they were intentionally poisoned, but the use of bullets in such condition shows a callous and criminal disregard of the laws of civilised warfare.
[Jan. 23, 1900.