The casualties were chiefly among the Rifle Brigade, whose stiff work has been described. Captain G. L. Lysley and thirteen men were killed, and the following were wounded: Lieutenant-Colonel C. Metcalfe, Captain R. Alexander, Captain J. D. Heriot-Maitland, Captain Ernest G. Campbell (since dead), Captain W. H. W. Steward (since dead), Lieutenant B. A. Turner, Second Lieutenant W. F. Bassett, and fifty-seven non-commissioned officers and men. Nineteen prisoners and a pom-pom were captured from the foe.
Captain O’Neill, R.A.M.C., met a tragic fate. When the heat of the battle was over and night had fallen he went forth with an ambulance to grope for wounded and dead. While performing this merciful act, lantern in hand, he approached a Boer picket and was at once shot dead!
In the moment of warfare it is impossible to stop to eulogise the splendid heroism of the doctors and chaplains who, deprived of the intoxication of contest, have yet risked their lives in the service of their fellow-creatures. The coolness and daring of these noncombatant, death-defying men has often passed unnoted, and will need to find a memorial in the hearts of those at home, whose dear ones have enjoyed safety and skill and consolation at their hands.
On the following day (28th) the enemy, chased over difficult country by Lord Dundonald’s force, was retiring northward, while Buller’s advance troops occupied Machadodorp, whither Mr. Kruger had fled to Nelspruit. Beyond them, General French, arriving at Elandsfontein, removed the enemy with such scant ceremony that they left their dinners behind them. He now got into signalling communication with General Buller, while General Pole-Carew marched towards Waterval Onder. Lord Dundonald’s Cavalry pushed forward as far as Helvetia, beyond which his mounted force could not proceed owing to the strong position taken by the Dutchmen in the crusted and gibbose country, which was growing more and more alpine as the troops advanced. A few officers were wounded in General Buller’s force: Major W. R. Birdwood, 11th Bengal Lancers; Captain F. R. Ewart, 1st Liverpool Regiment; Second Lieutenant H. Wadlow, 16th Company Southern Division Royal Garrison Artillery.
BRITISH PRISONERS WAITING FOR RELEASE: THE CAMP AT NOOITGEDACHT
Drawing by Frank Dadd, R.I., from a Sketch by Lieut. Essex Capell, one of the Prisoners
The Boers, owing to their crushing defeats at Bergendal and Dalmanutha, were now forced to let loose most of their captives, and, to the great delight of their comrades, over 1700 of our countrymen trickled into camp and were sent to Pretoria.
The following officers were kept as prisoners and moved to Barberton: Lieutenant-Colonels Spragge and Holland, Captain Robinson, Lieutenants Lord Ennismore, Rutledge, Craig, Dupre, Lane, Wright, Woodhouse, and Mitchell, all of the Yeomanry; Lieutenants Mowbray, Black Watch; Capel, Bethune’s Horse; Bentnat, Eastern Province Horse; Birble, Brabant’s Horse; Boyes, Border Horse; and Captain Howard, Strathcona’s Horse.
Others belonging to the Yeomanry were also sent to Barberton as prisoners, the Boers saying that though they were not officers they must be in the position of officers, as they were able to pay for any extra food they required: Sergeant-Major Pringle, Sergeant Robb, Corporal Woodeness, Sergeant Milner Brown, Lance-Corporal Hodgson, Troopers Walker, Footner, K. Elphinstone, Bonham, Garrett, Boultbee, Lubbock, Curtis, P. Gold, Young, Soames, Kinyon, Rickitt, Billhille, Darby, Campbell, L. Elphinstone, Eyre, Thomas, Clarke, Pomeroy, Hill, Dale, Wells, G. Gold, Sweats, Evelyn, O’Gorman, Hughes, Holden.
The 1st of September was a red-letter day in the annals of the campaign, for Lord Roberts took the occasion to issue from the army headquarters, Belfast, proclamations formally announcing the fact that “The Transvaal will henceforth form part of her Majesty’s dominions.” The campaign was now developing into little more than guerilla warfare, for Mr. Kruger’s days in the Transvaal were numbered, while he had practically abdicated the functions of government. Certainly he had gone through the form of appointing Mr. Schalk Burger to take his place, but the action was a mere figure of speech, this Dutchman being nicknamed “flighting general” by his own burghers, and his nomination was of no account in regard to the proceedings which were expressly made public to bring home to the minds of the burghers the real facts of the situation and the futility of flying longer in the face of the inevitable. This definite move afforded considerable satisfaction even among the supposed “irreconcilables,” as the inconvenience of serving two masters had rendered their situation almost unbearable.