These, it was imagined, “put their backs into it,” because, disgusted at the loss of their Commandant, Olivier, they proposed to secure supplies—clothing, groceries, and stock—before returning to their farms to recuperate. Any way, they worked with a will, determining to make hay while the sun shone, for report said that Bruce Hamilton with a relief column was marching in ten-league boots to the rescue. (The infantry covered eighty miles in four days and a half!)
Early the next morning the foe plied guns and small arms, and the noble little garrison, puny in size but large in spirit, replied with intense vigour and activity. Finally the big gun of the opposition stopped, whether from lack of ammunition or other causes, none knew. The fighting continued, however, and was viewed with interest, yet not without anxiety, by Sir Godfrey Lagden and the Basuto Chief, Lerothodi, from a point of vantage on an opposite mountain. Efforts were made to obtain news by heliograph, but these were unsuccessful, and the tug-of-war dragged on. But soon there were evidences that the Boers lay in fear of the arrival of the relief column, and were becoming concerned whence would come the attack. This concern increased, and by nightfall of the 4th, after looting stores and appropriating horses in the town, the Boers retreated in the direction of Clocolan with the loss of twenty-four killed and thirty-five wounded. The British casualties were few. Lieutenant Dorman, Worcester Regiment, was slightly wounded, but the injuries of Sergeant-Major Clifford, Wiltshire Yeomanry, were severe. All the officers behaved heroically, and the gallantry of Lieutenant Moss was especially remarkable.
The routed Boers soon betook themselves to the railway line in the region of Brandfort. As it was evident some mischief was brewing, General Kelly-Kenny communicated with General MacDonald, who brought the Highland Brigade from Winburg, whither he had gone to co-operate with General Hunter’s scheme for enclosing the raiders. On the 13th the gallant Scot, assisted by Lovat’s dashing Scouts, caught the enemy, drove them across the Vet River, and pursued them north of the Winburg-Smaaldeel Railway, the scattered rabble fleeing before the braw men of the north in such haste and panic that their track was marked with the trail of their effects. A magnificent “bag” was the Highland Brigade’s reward: 7 prisoners, 31 waggons, 270 trek-oxen, 6 cases of dynamite, gun and rifle ammunition, groceries, blankets, clothing, besides useful odds and ends of all kinds. The British casualties were nil.
On the 14th and 15th two notable lieutenants, in different parts of the Orange Colony, decided to maintain the high traditions of the British Army. The first, Lieutenant Power, 8th Company Derbyshire Yeomanry, and his patrol, was attacked some six miles out of Bethlehem. Field-Cornet Froeman, in command of the Boers, sent a letter calling on the young officer to surrender, and threatening, if he refused, to attack him in a quarter of an hour, adding that he would guarantee no quarter, no lives would be spared. The note was promptly returned by the bearer with two words scrawled on the back, “No surrender.” Fortunately in the nick of time reinforcements appeared, and Froeman vanished. In the second case, at Bulfontein in the west, the garrison, consisting of sixteen Police and Yeomanry under Lieutenant Slater, Imperial Yeomanry, was attacked by a hundred Boers. Undaunted by the superior number of the foe, the doughty sixteen held out until the following day, when relief arrived. The warlike proceedings at this date were degenerating into acts of brigandage, raids, and marauding excursions, and these continued through October and on.
THE WESTERN TRANSVAAL
The district round Krugersdorp was greatly disaffected, and contests between British and Boers occurred almost daily. On the 29th of August a smart tussle took place near Modderfontein between a column under Colonel Bradley (North Staffordshire Regiment) and a band of desperadoes, who were driven off with some loss. Three men of the North Staffordshire Regiment were killed, and among the wounded were Lieutenant Wyatt and five men. Meanwhile the Colonial Division—a portion of it—with the 3rd Cavalry Brigade, was marching and fighting from Zeerust viâ Krugersdorp to Kroonstad, losing in all sixty of their number. General Little, commanding the Brigade, was wounded, and was succeeded by Colonel Dalgety. Nearer Pretoria, at a place called Rooikop, Colonel Plumer had a brush with the enemy, resulting in the discomfiture of the latter, who dispersed, minus 100 rifles, 40,000 rounds of ammunition, 350 head of cattle, some waggon-loads of supplies, and seven of their number, who were taken prisoners. Captain Brooke, R.A.M.C., was wounded, as was Lieutenant Wylly and three Tasmanians.
The history of captures and surrenders, of marauding excursions and surprises, of sniping and derailing of trains, of Boer treachery and Boer shiftiness continued. The exciting episodes it would be impossible to chronicle in detail, but a fair idea of the strain on the already hard-worn troops may be gauged by looking at a table of guerilla incidents which followed at each other’s heels in the course of the first week in September. On the 1st the rails were torn up near the Klip River; a supply train was overturned and captured, and the engine wrecked by dynamite. On the following day the line below Kroonstad was wrecked and a train containing stores captured, while another portion of the line—at America Siding—was cut. South of Heidelberg the line was cut on the 3rd, and injuries to the Heidelberg rails occasioned the upset of a train. On the 4th the line was cut near Honing Spruit, on the 5th near Krugersdorp, on the 6th near Balmoral, when an engine was blown up and five trucks were derailed. To finish the seven days’ work the enemy on the 7th blew up the rail near Roodeval.
At this time strong columns under Generals Clements and Hart had set to work to scour the country between Krugersdorp and Johannesburg, and clear it of bands of marauders. The former skirmished near Kekepoort and elsewhere with Delarey, the latter operated south-west of Krugersdorp. Small parties of Boers were being driven hither and thither, and were usually hurried off with such rapidity that they left supplies and waggons behind them. General Knox, sweeping north-west of Kroonstad, had the satisfaction of capturing two of De Wet’s despatch riders, bearing interesting letters for that officer, and thus returning a suitable quid pro quo for the attack on the British mails made by the Dutchman in June. Lord Methuen’s force, which had been halting at Mafeking, completed its re-equipment and started for Lichtenburg. Some little opposition was met with en route. On the 11th the Boers, who had assembled near the Malopo, were dispersed. Thirty prisoners were captured, twenty-two waggons, and forty thousand rounds of ammunition. In the fray Captain Bryce (Australian Bushmen) was severely wounded. On the 12th there was more fighting, near Ottoshoof. Captain S. G. Hubbe (South Australian Bushmen) was killed; Lieutenant White (6th Imperial Bushmen) was severely wounded and taken prisoner.
While these engagements were taking place, General Clements gave battle to Delarey’s band and drove them from two positions, with the loss of two men killed and fourteen wounded. Later, on the 16th, he caught the raiders again near Hexpoort and again fought them, losing a gallant young fellow, Lieutenant Stanley of the Imperial Yeomanry, and one or two men wounded. Elsewhere the clearing process continued, and tussles were part of the daily programme. General Paget was operating around the north-west of Pretoria, at Warmbaths and Pienaar’s River; and General Barton, outside the Krugersdorp line, protected the west flank of Johannesburg. General Hart was actively employed in the neighbourhood of Potchefstroom, which place he occupied on the 11th, in the smartest manner possible. He was getting tired of cannonadings and fusilladings, futile and fatiguing, which resulted only in the dispersion of the enemy, who had a knack of reappearing on the warpath directly his back was turned. There had been many days of hopeful advance; “Little Bobs,” the naval gun, had searched kopjes innumerable; Marshall’s Horse and the Imperials and others had boldly assaulted them, but at the end of it all, they had arrived only to find—a vacuum! This was depressing and wearisome, so the General gave rein to his penchant for night attacks, and reaped the reward of what looked like temerity.
The force, leaving Welverdiend Station on the 8th, made forced marches of thirty-six and thirty-eight miles in fifteen hours for the infantry, and forty-four for cavalry, and surprised the Boers so completely that the town was captured, and also some eighty prisoners, with comparatively little fighting. Unfortunately young Maddocks, a most promising and popular officer of the 2nd Somersetshire Light Infantry, lost his life.