The advance may be said really to have commenced on the 30th of April, with the departure on the one hand of General Ian Hamilton from Thabanchu, followed rapidly on the other by General French. The Field-Marshal, as stated, did not move for a day or two later. When he did so, events succeeded each other with the precision of clockwork. The hundred and twenty miles from Bloemfontein to Kroonstadt was accomplished in a fortnight, and may be described as an almost bloodless progress. Many glorious deeds were done, and some lives were lost; but this march must be looked on as a whole, and not viewed in detail. There were at least no decisive battles. Every step, marvellously organised and magnificently carried out, became a development of the pushing-on system by a species of skilfully devised military pressure from all parts. The enemy was driven from point to point, now fighting, now retreating, destroying water-tanks and pumping adjuncts, blowing up bridges and twisting rails, as a natural consequence of his spite; while the British, sprayed out over the country, made an almost triumphal progress, routing the enemy from every stronghold, and capturing waggons and prisoners by the way.

Brandfort, whither the Boers had departed after the battle of Karree, was occupied by Lord Roberts on the 3rd of May, the Boers, under General Delarey, vacating their strongholds south of the town and retreating towards the north-east. Brandfort is merely a village situated some thirty-six miles north of Bloemfontein, and owes its importance to the fact that it is situated on the direct road to Kroonstadt.

A reconnaissance was made there some four days previous to the advance, when a grievous though heroical incident took place, which cannot be overlooked, as it serves to show the stuff of which the men of Lumsden’s Horse were made. Some twenty-five of the Behar Section, who were holding a detached kopje during the reconnaissance, were surrounded and fired on in their isolated position by some 200 Boers. The officer commanding (Lieutenant Crane) was almost instantly wounded, so also was Sergeant-Major Marsham. Two gallant troopers, Case and Firth, though well aware that they were outnumbered and that surrender in the circumstances would be justifiable, refused to desert their officer, though ordered by him to do so, and continued valiantly to fire till they themselves dropped dead, a sacrifice to their own gallantry. Nor were the rest of the band less remarkable for “grit,” for out of the small number holding the kopje nine were wounded and five killed! It was hoped on the arrival of the army at Brandfort that the wounded prisoners might be recovered, but it was afterwards found that the Boers had removed them.

To return to the main advance. The town was occupied without serious opposition, as the Dutch hosts, some 4000 of them, who had declared their intention of fighting to the bitter end, simply melted away under pressure of the cleverly combined movement. The force had been preceded overnight by two battalions of Guards, who were deputed to hold a menacing kopje, which mounted guard over a spruit, known to be a favourable harbourage for the enemy. As a natural consequence of this skilful preparation, the Boers were forced to resign their comfortable hiding-place, and the army was enabled to advance in safety. The 1st Brigade of Mounted Infantry (Hutton) covered the left flank, and 14th Brigade of the Seventh Division (Maxwell) supported by the 15th Brigade (Wavell) covered the right flank. General Pole-Carew’s Division marched in the centre, General Inigo Jones on the right, and General Stephenson on the left.

General Maxwell encountered the enemy, who, posted in a good position, attacked him with two guns, which eventually were silenced by the British artillery. He then succeeded in sending the whole of the eastern force scudding towards the north, while General Hutton on his side, making an unusual detour, and assisted by No. 9 Field Battery and Colonel Alderson with his smart Colonials, prepared a little surprise, and contrived so to pound and harass the enemy on the hill commanding the town, that their valour, chastened by discretion and shrapnel, subsided, and they scurried away across the plains, thus leaving the coast clear. Several prisoners were captured, among them the commandant of the town, who had returned there for the purpose of destroying the instruments at the telegraph office. Among the defending force was the Irish-American Contingent, a riotous crew, who, according to the townsfolk, must have been to the Boers more bother than they were worth. During the engagement Captain Williams (2nd Hampshire Regiment) was wounded.

On the 4th, the Mounted Infantry, under General Hutton, covering a front of ten miles, proceeded on their way, reconnoitred up to the Vet River, and meanwhile cleared the rail of such Boer stragglers as happened to be hanging about, as far as Eensgevonden, where they bivouacked. They were followed the next day by the rest of the force, all branches of which had been in communication by heliograph.