Blue Shirt and Khaki: A Comparison

by James F. J. Archibald

British soldiers pulling army wagons across a drift.

I stood at one ford for over three hours, watching the passage of a wagon-train which might have been taken over in a single hour had the bed of the river been cleared of stones and rocks, as would have been done by the first American officer to pass that way. The water was not more than eighteen inches deep, and the obstructing rocks could easily have been picked up by hand, and a way cleared by a dozen men. Instead of that, a long wagon-train was taken over, with every wheel in the train in jeopardy, and with a total wrecking of two wagons. At some drifts the descent into the river and the ascent of the opposite bank was so steep that the animals had to be assisted by a company of men with a long rope attached to the wagon, to ease it down and haul it out. This was the regular custom at a drift within twelve miles of Pretoria, where there was every facility for bridging, and where a company of sappers could have constructed a span in a few hours that would have stood during the rest of the occupation of the district.

At the foot of San Juan hill, in Cuba, there was a ford of a river where the bottom was perfectly hard and smooth, and after the barbed wire entanglements laid by the Spaniards had been removed, it could have been used without bridging and without any serious loss of time. But as the river banks were steep the engineers quickly threw a span across, using the thick bamboo which abounds in the jungle; and this adequate bridge allowed the men to be sent forward on the advance in better time and in better condition. Similar tactics could have been employed at many passages in South Africa that would have greatly assisted in the operations, but for some reason, and at great cost, they were neglected.

In the use of the balloon the British showed high proficiency and effectiveness throughout the entire campaign. The huge silken bag was attached to a heavy wagon, and was drawn, fully inflated, by a span of thirty or forty oxen. The successful use of this auxiliary was facilitated by the open nature of the country. The information obtained thus was exceedingly valuable to Lord Roberts during his advance towards Pretoria. Not only, however, is it a material advantage to a force to possess this direct method of getting information, it also has a certain moral effect upon the enemy that is in itself powerful. This is somewhat similar to the effect that a heavy artillery fire has upon well-intrenched infantry; the shells are not apt to hurt anybody—indeed, a heavy artillery bombardment of field intrenchments is usually as harmless as a political pyrotechnic display, except for the trying effect on the imagination and nerves of the men who are being fired at. But the Boers were bothered more by the balloon than by ballooning shells.

Boer artillerists waiting under shell fire for the British advance.

One day I was lying in the Boer trenches under an exceedingly heavy artillery fire, which the burghers did not mind more than a hailstorm. They were well under cover of the schanzes which they had built along the ridge of the kopje, and they were calmly awaiting the British advance, smoking and chatting in nonchalant fashion, without a trace of nervousness. Suddenly some one spied the balloon as it slowly rose in front of us, and its apparition created a perceptible consternation for some moments. This agitation was not fear, for the Boers knew perfectly well that danger was no more imminent than before; but the thought that the enemy from whom they were concealing themselves could see them as perfectly as though the mountain were not there certainly got on their nerves.

The work of the balloon corps was valuable in that it could discover to the artillery the position not only of the fighting line, but also of the reserves and of the horses, and of the line of retreat. The mid-air observer before Pretoria found and pointed out the range of the railway line leading towards Middleburg, by which the retreat was being made, so that the naval guns began to shell the line, hoping to break it by a lucky shot, or to disable a train. As it happened, however, the trajectories did not strike the narrow lines of rails, but they did cause the American Consul, Mr. Hay, some inconvenience, as they filled his consulate full of holes, though he kept on calmly at his work; finally a sympathetic neighbor sent over his compliments and suggested that they have tea together in the lee of his house; everybody else in that vicinity had fled.

But if the balloon was an important feature of tactics in South Africa, it cannot be said that the Americans in Cuba made a brilliant success of it. The balloon before Santiago proved a boomerang, since the officer in charge was a trifle too enthusiastic and too anxious to keep his toy on the firing line. The advance towards San Juan hill was made through a jungle through which only one road led by which the troops could move forward. Just below the hill along the military crest of which the Spanish trenches were built, the undergrowth stopped, leaving an open area several hundred yards wide across which the final charge was to be made. The regiments moved forward along this narrow road, and deployed as best they could through the undergrowth. The reserves were held at a fork of the river, about half a mile back, huddled together in a very small space. Just in front of the reserves was an open ground. Thinking only of the balloon’s convenience, but thoughtless of the danger to the reserves, the signal-service men planted their apparatus here and began to inflate the mounting bag.

As soon as the balloon was prepared it was ordered into the air, and instantly it became the target of the Spanish artillerists. It was hit several times, though without apparent effect; but the shells that missed it broke into the crowds of the reserves. Shell after shell found that unseen target, killing and wounding large numbers. Thus the Spaniards inflicted their greatest injury upon our troops without knowing they were doing so. Aides were rushed forward to get the fatal thing somewhere else; but it was already winged and sinking to the earth. After that melancholy fiasco it was folded away and not used again. This unfortunate blunder should not, however, be permitted to discredit the use of the balloon in our army. The notable success of the British in operating it, and its helpfulness to them, amply demonstrate its practicality.