The guards were mounted on two commanding ridges, the sentries posted, and the men lay down to rest, or lighted fires and prepared to cook their rations, to which they had added the flesh of two Kaffir oxen just captured; the cavalry horses were knee-haltered and turned out to graze close round,—and all was repose.
We had with us, through a misunderstanding, our Band-master, Hartung, who had left Fort Beaufort with Lieut.-Col. Sutton's party under the impression that it was proceeding to the camp at Reit Fontein, which he was anxious to visit. On finding how different its destination, he repeatedly expressed his annoyance, and his apprehension of an engagement. We had not long been here when a party of officers who had gone up with their glasses to the top of one of the ridges, came quickly down and ordered the men to get under arms at once, as the Kaffirs were approaching in hundreds, running full speed from every quarter. Instantly all was activity; the men sprang up from their rest, horses were driven in, accoutrements hurried on, the untasted contents of soup-kettles emptied on the grass, and pack-horses loaded with incredible dispatch.
In the meantime, being Officer-on-duty, I doubled out with the advance guard, speedily extending, in skirmishing order, along the ridge, above which the enemy were advancing, and with whom the next moment we were exchanging shots at very short range. They were almost hidden by the long grass in which they crouched to fire, and their numbers being overwhelming, the reply we made to their fire was but a temporary check, so that we were soon being gradually forced back, when Captain Duff came rapidly up with a company of the 74th, and reinforced our line of skirmishers; the whole fixed bayonets, charged the enemy's line with the Highland shout, and drove them back into the bush.
The column, which had got under arms with the greatest celerity during this skirmish, now came up, and the Colonel formed the whole infantry in extended order, with the right on the head of the Wolf's-back Pass, and the left "thrown back," the 74th being placed on either flank, with the irregular infantry in the centre; Lieut.-Col. Sutton, with the cavalry, remaining for the present in the rear as a support. The enemy, who had again advanced on the open plain during this movement, now came on in hundreds, running and yelling out their war-cry till within range, when an uninterrupted fire rattled along the lines on both sides, though, as we were well covered behind the ridge, we had no casualties beyond Colonel Fordyce's charger being shot under him.
An immensely big Kaffir was noticed rushing down the opposite ridge, which was not more than 800 yards distant, and running at full speed across our line of fire; unmindful of a shower of balls that fell around him, and at his very feet, he kept straight on towards our right as though he bore a charmed life, shouting, and encouraging the others to follow, as he headed them in an attempt to gain the Pass, and turn our right flank by moving along the edge of the forest. But in this they were foiled by Colonel Fordyce, who immediately ordered the line "to take ground to the right," while the mounted force, galloping to the front, gave them a volley from their carbines that told among them severely. For half an hour we maintained a sharp skirmish with only a loss of three killed and as many wounded, when the enemy retired on the forest, leaving us in undisputed possession of the ground. As so much ammunition had been expended it was useless now to wait for night and make our intended descent; the cavalry, therefore, was dispatched to the head of another pass, to hold it till our arrival. Macomo himself, at the same moment, conspicuously mounted on a white horse, led about 300 mounted Kaffirs to secure the same point, in which object, however, they were defeated. As soon as we began descending the Pass, the enemy again rushed in from all points, lining the forest through which it led.
The road being exceedingly steep, narrow and rugged, the cavalry in front marched down at a foot's pace, the infantry following, and the Fingoe Levies bringing up the rear. The enemy concealed in the thick bush opened fire upon us the moment we entered the pass, wounding one of our men. We returned their fire whenever the smoke showed us where they lay, and thus continued our descent, with a desultory fire on both sides, till about half way down, when they showed in still greater force, filling the bush on both sides of us. The Fingoes in the rear now evinced their fears so strongly as to encourage a party of Kaffirs, armed with assegais, to rush in among them. This completed their panic, and firing right and left, at random, they hurried headlong down the narrow path en masse upon our rear with such force as to knock down and trample on many of our men, while by crushing through the ranks they hindered the others from loading. Emboldened by this, the main body rushed from their cover, hurled a discharge of their lighter throwing assegais, and then (with the heavier kind, used for stabbing), threw themselves upon us. Our steady fellows had little to depend on but their bayonets, to the use of which they had fortunately long been regularly trained, and now used most effectually. The underwood swarmed with Kaffirs, they were perched in the trees, firing upon us from above, and rushed from the bush below in hundreds, yelling in the most diabolical and ferocious manner, hissing through their white teeth; their bloody faces, brawny limbs, and enormous size, giving them a most formidable appearance.
The narrow road was crowded with a mass of troops, Levies and Kaffirs, the ringing yells of the latter heard above the din of the firing. Some wrestling with the men for their firelocks, were blown almost in pieces, and many were felled and brained by the butt-ends of clubbed muskets. Our gallant fellows fought most bravely; one man, with an assegai deeply buried between his shoulders, singled out its owner, and shot him through the head with the weapon nearly protruding through his chest; a grenadier killed four Kaffirs with his own hand. The huge fellow already mentioned appeared suddenly among us, and seizing a soldier in his powerful grasp, hurled him to the ground; but the man jumping to his feet in a moment, buried his bayonet in the fellow's back, and he fell dead on his face. Three Kaffirs had caught one of our men by the blanket folded on his back, and were dragging him into the bush, when the straps slipping over his shoulders, released him, and he threw himself, unarmed, on the nearest, and wrestled with him for his assegai, both rolling over and over, scuffling on the ground, the well-greased body of the Kaffir giving him the advantage over the dressed and belted soldier, whose death wound was, however, amply avenged. The ground was soon thickly strewn with the black corpses of the enemy; a score lay in the path, and here and there the lifeless form of a dead or dying Highlander, eight of whom fell, while as many more were wounded. Fighting our way through hundreds of the infuriated savages, we effected the descent of the pass; by the time we had reached the foot the enemy's fire had almost ceased.
On gaining the open ground, we extended and moved leisurely along the plain, the Kaffirs contenting themselves with remaining at the edge of the bush on the rise of the hill, a dense red mass of some two thousand men; a few scattered parties dodging from tree to tree, fired long shots, which fell far short, and to which we made no return, our ammunition being nearly expended.
Our total casualties, were fifteen men and four horses killed, and fourteen men wounded. Many of the men's arms and accoutrements were shattered and perforated by balls. Lieutenant Corrigan was so stunned by a bullet which passed through his forage cap, as to be partially unconscious for some time. Hartung was reported missing, and great fears were expressed for his safety; yet, as he had not been seen to fall, it was hoped he might have taken to the bush, and escaped. The unfortunate chance which brought him out against his will, and his evident foreboding the whole morning, added to the general feeling of anxiety about him.