[13] All the prisoners have since been released or returned to camp. Five poor fellows died on their voyage home.
[14] Prince Christian Victor Albert Ludwig Ernest Anton was the eldest son of Prince and Princess Christian. He was born on April 14, 1867, and died at Pretoria on October 29, 1900. He was educated at Wellington College and Magdalen College, Oxford, and subsequently entered the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. He received his commission in 1888, and was appointed second lieutenant in the King’s Royal Rifle Corps. Two years later he was promoted to be lieutenant, and in 1896 became captain, with the brevet rank of major.
He served with the Hazara Expedition in 1891 as orderly officer to Major-General Elles, commanding the forces. He was mentioned in despatches, and received the medal and clasp. He was in the Miranzai Expedition of the same year, and was present at the engagements at Sangar and Mastan. The next year he accompanied the Isazai Expedition.
When it was found necessary to despatch a force to Ashanti against King Prempeh in 1895 his Highness volunteered his services, and was made aide-de-camp to Major-General Sir Francis Scott, who commanded the expedition. For his share in the Ashanti Expedition Prince Christian Victor received the star and promotion to the brevet rank of major. He also served with the Soudan Expedition under Sir Herbert (now Lord) Kitchener in 1898 as staff officer to the troops on board the gunboat flotilla. He took part in the bombardment of the forts of Omdurman, and was present at the battle of Khartoum. He was mentioned in despatches, and given the Fourth Class of the Osmanieh, the British medal, and the Khedive’s medal with clasp. Prince Christian Victor was gazetted in October 1899 for special service in South Africa. He took part in many engagements before the occupation of Pretoria, and was appointed an extra aide-de-camp to Lord Roberts in August.
CHAPTER VIII
GUERILLA WARFARE
With the ceremony of the formal annexation of the Transvaal, under title of the Transvaal Colony, which took place at Pretoria on the 25th of October, a recrudescence of hostility on the part of the enemy became apparent. A violent attack was made on Jacobsdaal (near Kimberley), the Boers having succeeded in secreting themselves in the houses surrounding the British camp, and this through the treachery of the women whom we were protecting! The attack was repulsed after some hours of hard fighting by the energy of the garrison (composed mainly of Cape Town Highlanders), and by the dash of Finlayson in charge of the Cape Mounted Police who came to the rescue, routed the Boers, and killed Bosman their Commandant. Fourteen of the garrison were slain and thirteen wounded, and the sole punishment which could be meted out to the dastardly inhabitants who had been “accessories” of the assault was the burning of their houses. In three of these were found large stores of soft-nosed bullets.
General Paget, who was becoming quite a master in the cunning of the guerillas, made himself notable for defeating a huge gang of Dutchmen with a convoy, taking—together with twenty-six prisoners—some 25,000 head of cattle—“the biggest haul of the campaign.” The Boers had been driven out of the region of Bethlehem, which was occupied by Colonel Oakes with the Worcesters, 62nd Middlesex Yeomanry, and two guns of the 79th Battery. The marauders were further routed from a valuable well some miles off by Colonel Golightly, Imperial Yeomanry, with Hants and Gloucester companies, and two companies of Grenadier Guards, and half a battalion of Scots Guards. During the operations young Lord G. R. Grosvenor (Scots Guards) while gallantly leading his company, was wounded in the thigh. Meanwhile Lord Methuen, with General Douglas and Lord Erroll, by a skilfully combined movement, dislodged and dispersed the enemy from his settling-place near Zeerust, and possessed himself of more cattle and more prisoners. General Barton, too, with Scots and Welsh Fusiliers, did smart work near Frederickstad, at close quarters and at bayonets’ point; but in the brush with De Wet lost thirteen killed and forty-five wounded. The Boers suffered correspondingly, and twenty-six of them were captured. Of the Scots Fusiliers Captain Baillie fell, while Lieutenant Elliott was dangerously wounded. Captain Dick’s injuries were also severe, and Lieutenant Bruce was slightly wounded. Among the Welsh Fusiliers’ officers wounded were Captain Delmé Radcliffe and Lieutenants Best and Nangle.
The plucky little garrison of Phillipolis, which for some days had been withstanding the assault of the Boers, were relieved on the 24th, by the Imperial Yeomanry acting in conjunction with two other columns, and two days later, General Kitchener attacked by night the Boers around Krugerspoort, and captured their laager. General French, ever active, swept his way from Bethel to Heidelberg, fighting continuously, and gathering up prisoners and stores; while General C. Knox on the 27th harassed De Wet’s force in its retreat from Barton’s stalwart Fusiliers, and succeeded in depriving the Dutchmen of two guns and three waggons, while U Battery R.H.A. blew up another ammunition waggon by a shell. The engagement was another feather in the cap of De Lisle, whose handling of the troops was excellent. Of the two guns taken from De Wet one was a Krupp. It was captured by the New South Wales Mounted Infantry. The other belonged to U Battery, and was captured by Le Gallais’s mounted troops, assisted, much to the satisfaction of the officers and men, by U Battery. General Hunter engaged in operations for the purpose of driving the Boers from the line near Ventersburg, where they had been intent on mischief for some time, and in the fighting on the 30th a gallant officer of Artillery, Major Hanwell, commanding the 39th Battery, received such serious injuries that he succumbed. A company of the 3rd Battalion of the Buffs became hotly engaged, and behaved “with conspicuous steadiness,” while the Surrey Regiment, charging grandly, sent the Boers scudding into space.