In August Colonels Colville and Stewart, who had been operating north of Greylingstad, moved to Standerton. On the 10th the last officer entrained for Dundee to reinforce the troops on the north-east frontier of Natal, while Colonel Colville crossed the Klip and established an entrenched camp at Brakpan. He now, with mounted troops and guns, scoured the Upper Klip Valley, penetrated Natal by Muller’s Pass in the Drakensberg, and deposited at Newcastle his stock and prisoners captured during the march. This march was by no means a triumphal progress, for the district was fringed with Boers who sniped by day and brewed mischief by night. The dongas, spruits, and hills afforded them excellent cover, and the men needed nerves of iron to play a livelong game of hide-and-seek with death, which peeped cunningly from every nook and cranny.

Colonel Colville returned viâ Botha’s Pass to De Lange Drift minus many of his gallant men who were wounded in the course of the ordeal, and proceeded to Standerton on the 6th of September.

NATAL—LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR H. HILDYARD

On the Natal frontier affairs had become somewhat unsettled. The Boers who had been swept off from the Standerton line were dribbling across the frontier, and others round about Vryheid and Utrecht seemed to be waiting an opportunity to effect a concentration. At the end of July it became certain that the foe was gathering in good numbers to the east of Nqutu, and that many more might be creeping through the long grass to other parts of the country which had become more or less settled. On the 28th of July things came to a climax. Major F. A. Henderson (8th Hussars), who with 200 mounted men (8th Hussars and Natal Volunteer Composite Regiment) was scouring the locality around Nqutu, came on the foe and engaged them. The marauders were more than usually strong and more than usually tenacious. They launched themselves, in a mass of 400, with great dash against the small British force, in the hope to intercept the troops if possible during their retirement to Nondweni; but through the skill of the commanding officer and the dash of 20 men of the Natal Volunteers, who raced them for a kopje and won, the Boers were frustrated. The fighting lasted the whole day, and the Boers made frantic efforts to capture a gun of the 67th Battery R.F.A., but with great energy the piece of contention was galloped off under a brisk fusillade from the foe till it was safely out of their range.

Doggedly both parties battled together, with the result that Major Jervis-Edwards, a gallant officer whose loss was much deplored, and three men were killed, and five were wounded. Soon after this, the Boers becoming still more obstreperous, it was arranged that Lieut.-General Sir H. Hildyard’s command should be strengthened by the addition of the column of Colonel Stewart, whose departure for Dundee we may remember, and another under Colonel Pulteney. This column consisted of the Victorian Mounted Rifles (moved from the Delagoa line), a squadron of the 8th Hussars, the Dublin Fusiliers Mounted Infantry, and two guns. While this mobile column was sweeping from Utrecht to Kambuladraai, Colonel Stewart was marching from Dundee through Vryheid towards the same destination. A junction was effected on the 23rd of August, on which date a brisk encounter took place between Colonel Pulteney’s men and the Boers who were sneaking in the west of the Schurveberg. In the engagement two of the Victorians were killed and five wounded.

On the following days both columns retraced their steps to Vryheid and then, united under the command of Colonel Blomfield, moved to the junction of the Pivaan and Manzaan Rivers. The march over rugged and tormenting ground was one trying to the patience of man and beast, particularly as gangs of Boers under Scholtz at intervals prevented any chance of monotony by variations in the art of sniping and “potting.” The force returned to Vryheid on the 31st, little having been accomplished owing to the impracticable nature of the country. But two Boers were killed. Early in September Colonel Blomfield began a new scouring expedition, moving down the valley of the Umvalosi on to Bethel and Brakfontein. Here again, on the 4th September, he had a smart tussle with the enemy, and having dispersed them, moved to Nondweni and thence to Dundee.

CAPE COLONY—LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR J. FRENCH

Early in August the troops of General French were found on the line Beaufort West, Pearston, Drennan Station-Cameron Glen-Cathcart. They now began pushing steadily northwards, sweeping the enemy before them. Kruitzinger, thus pressed, was forced to retire in the direction of Middelburg and Steynsburg. His gang—dispersed by various frays with the British columns, and divided in desultory knots which succeeded in passing through the line of British blockhouses—reassembled north of the Zuursberg at Langedrift (fifteen miles north-west of Steynsburg). Here their number was swelled by bands under Erasmus, Wessels, and Pypers. There was now a somewhat formidable army of guerillas, and these on the 13th were encountered by Colonel Gorringe at Rooifontein. The gang were attacked, driven back past Venterstad into the Orange River, and in their retreat were so effectively hustled by Captains Nickalls and Sandeman, that they lost many of their number, among them Commandant Cachet, while the redoubtable Erasmus, together with Kruitzinger’s secretary, were captured. Colonel Hunter Weston about this time had also been engaged with Theron and had driven him and his to the right-about with characteristic despatch. While these frays were going forward, Lategan’s raiders, who had been pressed into the Orange River Colony, were there being forcibly tackled by Colonel Byng and General Plumer. So far so good. But there were other gangs that buzzed mosquito-like in a circle; and these, under Lotter and Botha, after being flicked northward from the Rhenosterberg (south-west of Middelburg), veered round and contrived to break through the pursuing columns and re-establish themselves in the hilly region of Spitzkop (thirty miles south of Middelburg). Smit’s gang, after being routed from the Rhenosterberg, scurried across the rail towards the north-west of Deelfontein, afterwards infesting the country between Carnarvon and Fraserburg; Lotter and Botha shifted to the Cradock district, while another troop of marauders under Theron created havoc and consternation between Aberdeen and Willowmore. Still, though the mosquitos continued to draw good British blood occasionally, they paid a fair price for it, and in the series of attacks which whisked them north 19 of the number were killed, 43 wounded, and 17 captured.

It was now necessary to make new dispositions in order to guard against the return of the raiders who had been driven north, and to pursue those who had succeeded in scuttling to the south. Accordingly Colonel Wyndham followed the tracks of Smit to the west, and Colonels Crabbe and Hunter-Weston and Captain Lund converted themselves into a three-headed Cerberus to guard the Zand Drift (west of Colesberg) against the reappearance of Lategan. Colonel Gorringe’s column, with the 17th Lancers, kept a vigilant watch on the Orange between Norval’s Pont and Bethulie, while Colonels Doran, Scobel, and Kavanagh, working to the south, followed the spoor of Lotter, Botha, and Theron. So stood affairs towards the end of August. Then a rumour came to the effect that Smit and Scheepers were brewing mischief, the first at Fraserburg, the latter near Laingsburg. Therefore, most promptly, the column of Colonel Crabbe was shifted to Matjesfontein.

Two days later, on the 5th of September, Colonel Scobell, who was chasing Lotter, scored the biggest success of the guerilla campaign. At Petersburg, some forty miles west of Cradock, he succeeded in surrounding his man and in capturing not only him and his whole commando, but an additional gang under Breedt! The whole affair was most brilliantly conceived, and reflected credit on so many for their pluck and gallantry, that some of the names of the heroes who contributed to the success of the affair are scarcely known. Firstly, much of the kudos is due to a party of Midland Mounted Rifles, who, on the 2nd of September, held with such tenacity a pass that Lotter hoped to push through, that the career of the Boer leader was arrested and it became possible for Colonel Scobell to effect his checkmate!

Among the splendid supporters of the Colonel who were notable for exceptional gallantry were Captain Lord Douglas Compton, 2nd Lieutenants Wynn and Neilson, Captain Purcell (9th Lancers), and Lieutenant Bowers, Cape Mounted Rifles; while all the men of the 9th Lancers so distinguished themselves that it is impossible to cite the names and the deeds done by those glorious fellows without devoting pages to the task. Unfortunately Lieutenant Theobald, who had been killed earlier in the month, lost the finale, to which he, with his comrades, had so perseveringly and so gallantly contributed.

The list of prisoners included Commandant Lotter and Field-Cornets J. Kruger, W. Kruger, and Schoeman, and among the dead were two notorious rebels named Voster. The booty consisted of 200 horses, 29,000 rounds of ammunition, and all the vehicles and supplies of the commandos. Our casualties included Lieutenant Burgess, Cape Mounted Rifles.

In other parts of the Colony the columns were almost equally active, if not equally successful. The remnant of Fouché’s party, after his departure across the Orange, gathered themselves under the banner of Myburg and took up positions in the triangle Ladygrey, Dordrecht, and Burghersdorp. Colonel Munro spent his time in hustling them, and on the 29th of August had a spirited engagement some twenty miles north-east of Dordrecht, which resulted in the defeat of the hordes, who were driven over the Drakensberg into Transkei territory. His columns, together with the local troops, then took up positions in the defiles and passes, so as to block them effectually and prevent a chance of the return of the marauders.

General Beatson, who was now assisting in General French’s operations, was actively chasing Scheepers in the south—first below Willowmore, then to Aventour, then to the west in the direction of Klip Drift; thence to Oudtshoorn and Ladysmith. Here the young Boer leader was set on by the local troops, whereupon he shifted his course to Barrydale. This rush took him till the 31st of August, during which time the hunt was vigorously carried on by Colonel Alexander and the 10th Hussars. Scheepers made an attempt on Montague, and was baulked by a detachment of the Berkshire Regiment. He then made various plucky but futile efforts to get across the rail, his object being to effect a junction with Smit, who was on the other side of Matjesfontein. He came in collision several times with the troops of Colonel Alexander, who, in the course of their gallant efforts to frustrate the Boer designs, had 2 officers and 10 men wounded, and lost 4 men. In the south-west, Maritz was meanwhile being hunted by Colonel Capper, who kept the raiders perpetually on the move, and forced them to break into an aimless, rudderless gang, glad of hiding-places in the Roggeveld Mountains.

While all this ferreting and hunting was going forward in the south, some brilliant deeds were taking place in the Kimberley district. De Villiers and Conroy, with a strong force, made a lunge upon Griquatown, the garrison of the place being only 100 in number. The force, though small, was determined, and the aggressors were sent to the right-about. This was on the 12th of August. On the 24th the hostile hordes made a vigorous dash on a convoy, for which they doubtless hungered with a hunger that lent heroism to their attack. Certain it is that they came to very close quarters, and that fighting between them and the escort (74th (Irish) Squadron, Imperial Yeomanry), under Captain Humby, was carried on more stubbornly and fiercely than usual. The Boers—400 of them—surrounded the convoy, and it seemed at one moment as though they must inevitably annihilate the little British force; but the men stood their ground like rocks, or, rather, like fervid volcanoes spouting fire, and fighting with such daring and determination that eventually, at nightfall, the enemy were forced to withdraw. The gallantry of the officers and men of the Yeomanry was superb—Lieutenant Despard and Lieutenant Kidd (Diamond Fields Artillery) performed splendid work, and the magnificent manner in which Captain Humby extricated his convoy from the hellish vortex and succeeded in getting to his destination without the loss of a waggon is a tale that needs pages to tell. Nine men of the escort, however, paid with their lives for their grand tenacity, and 2 officers and 21 men were wounded.

The captures from and losses of the enemy during August were 186 killed, 75 wounded, 1384 prisoners, 529 voluntary surrenders, 930 rifles, 90,958 rounds of ammunition, 1332 waggons, 13,570 horses, and 65,879 cattle—a sum-total which makes a really wonderful and practical testimonial to the ceaseless energy and zeal of the British troops.

Before closing the record of the events of August 1901, reference must be made to the visit paid by the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York to the Cape. Their Royal Highnesses, who had been on a tour round the world, landed at Simonstown on the 19th of August, and thence proceeded to Capetown. The demonstration made by the Cape loyalists was enthusiastic beyond words, the weather was superb, and the scene—the brilliant decorations, the British cheers, the massed bands, the Kaffir war-dances and whoops—was one never to be forgotten by those who took part in it. The Prince, in his reply to the loyal addresses, made this memorable allusion to the heartiness of the Colony’s reception:—

“We are glad to have this opportunity to give public and grateful expression to our feelings of profound satisfaction at the very enthusiastic and hearty welcome accorded us on our arrival here to-day. The fact that during the last two years you have been passing through such troublous times, and that in addition to your other trials the Colony has suffered from an outbreak of plague, from which it is not yet entirely free, might well have detracted from the warmth of your greeting, but, in despite of all your trials and sufferings, you have offered us a welcome the warmth and cordiality of which we shall never forget. I should also like to express our admiration of the appearance the city of Capetown presents to-day. Apart from their tasteful decoration, the principal streets through which we have passed offer an aspect very different from that which they possessed twenty years ago when I visited your Colony. I congratulate you on the abundant evidence of the progress achieved during that time, and notably on your trade and commerce and the development of your harbours and railways. I greatly deplore the continuance of the lamentable struggle which has so long prevailed within South Africa, and for the speedy termination of which the whole community fervently prays. During this time you have had to make grievous sacrifices. Numbers have personally suffered trials and privations, while many of the flower of your manhood have fallen in the service of their King and country. To all who have been bereaved of their dear ones by the war we offer our heartfelt sympathy and condolence. May time, the great healer, bring consolation. That South Africa may soon be delivered from the troubles which beset her is our earnest prayer, and that ere long the only struggle she knows will be eager rivalry in the arts of peace and in striving to promote good government and the well-being of the community.”

CHAPTER XIII

The enemy were reported to be near Scheepers Nek. Colonel Stewart and Major Gough, on the 17th, decided to push on towards Blood River to get in touch with them, the last marching about an hour in advance of the first. Major Gough, as he neared the river, sent a message requesting Colonel Stewart to remain at Rooi Kop, in readiness to support him should he hear the sound of guns in action. Half-an-hour later, seeing Gough’s men galloping towards Blood River Poort, the Colonel pressed forward his mounted men in support. It was then he heard that the Major had met with a reverse—a serious reverse. Quickly appreciating the ticklish position in which he himself was placed—it being imperative to protect not only his own guns but Major Gough’s baggage at Rooi Kop—he decided to retire to De Jager’s Drift and thus cover Dundee, which, as it turned out, was menaced by a gang of great strength. The tale of the misfortune to so magnificent an officer as Major Gough is hard to write, for a series of services more gallant and brilliant than his it is scarcely possible to find. The circumstances were these. With characteristic dash he no sooner “spotted” the enemy than he pressed forward to seize a ridge which appeared to command their position. He had galloped into a well-arranged ambush. Instead of 300 as he supposed, there were 1000 Boers in front of him, and these speedily overwhelmed his right flank and assailed his guns from the rear. There was fighting of the hottest description at very close quarters, in which Lieutenant Lambton, 1st Durham Light Infantry, and Lieutenant Blewett, 1st Rifle Brigade, with great bravery sacrificed their lives; but the gallant little force (consisting of two guns 69th Battery R.F.A. and three companies of mounted infantry), terribly outnumbered, was eventually captured. The breech-blocks and the sights of the guns were destroyed before they fell into the enemy’s hands. The circumstances of the capture of Second Lieutenant Stormonth-Darling (2nd Scottish Rifles) serve to show the manner of the British repulse. He commanded the escort to the guns, and in spite of the Boers being upon him continued to fire and encourage his men till he was overpowered and the rifle snatched from his hands. Major Gough and Captain Cracroft, Royal Irish Rifles, escaped during the night and joined Colonel Stewart at De Jager’s Drift.

Captain Mildmay, 3rd Battalion King’s Royal Rifle Corps, and 14 men were killed in action. Captain Dick, 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers, was severely wounded.

Lieutenant Furnell, 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers, Lieutenant Lambton, Durham Light Infantry, Lieutenant Price-Davis, King’s Royal Rifle Corps, and about 25 men were wounded, and 5 officers and 150 men made prisoners.

Troops were at once concentrated on the threatened point, and the Boers—said to be commanded by the Bothas, Opperman, Britz, and Henderson—finding the line of the Buffalo bristling with British, were forced to seek access to Natal by a wider détour to the south. This led them to the fortified posts of Itala and Fort Prospect, north-west of Melmoth, on the Zululand frontier. At Itala the garrison consisted of two guns of the 69th Battery R.F.A. and 300 men of the 5th Division Mounted Infantry under Colonel A. J. Chapman, Royal Dublin Fusiliers. At midnight of the 26th, Botha, Scholtz, Opperman, Potgieter, and their following of some 1500 men, in groups, began an attack on this post from west, south-east, and north.

The advance post of 80 men was first rushed, and many of the party were killed or forced to surrender, while others succeeded in escaping down the hill to assist in the fighting that was to come. For nineteen hours without intermission the enemy continued to assail the camp, though doggedly kept at bay by the defenders. The whole area was swept by blasts of bullets, and the British force at last, foodless and waterless, were confronted with the fear that even the ammunition might not hold out. The guns, under Lieutenant Herbert, R.F.A., which had been valuable during the night while the moon gave light and the shadows shelter, became in the daytime targets for the foe, and consequently when Lieutenant Herbert and four gunners were wounded the rest were ordered to take cover. But fortunately young Trousdale, after both his men were killed, pluckily stuck to his Maxim and worked like a Trojan. At last under cover of dusk the enemy, repulsed on all sides, withdrew in a north-easterly direction, taking with them, assisted by natives, their wounded and dead in great numbers. Many deeds of gallantry were performed, and Lieutenant Lefroy, 1st Battalion Dublin Fusiliers, who with Lieutenant Kane at first rumour of assault was sent to occupy the highest point of the Itala a mile from the camp, distinguished himself by shooting with his revolver Commandant H.J. Potgieter. Commandant Scholtz and about 270 Boers were also killed during the vigorous repulse. The British lost a smart officer, Lieutenant Kane (South Lancashire Regiment), and 21 men killed: 5 officers and 54 men wounded. Colonel Chapman, owing to the complete exhaustion of his force and lack of ammunition, then decided to evacuate Itala, leaving Lieutenant Hislop and twenty unarmed men and Chief Veterinary Surgeon Probyn to look after the wounded. Lieutenant Fielding (R.A.M.C.), who early in the day had valiantly gone up hill to attend the wounded in the advance post, had been captured, but was subsequently released and came into camp after the column had marched off to M’Kandhla. This place was reached without molestation.

On the 11th the enemy was moving through Swaziland by Mahamba, and this news caused Colonel Colville adroitly to arrange a plan which resulted in the intercepting of a convoy belonging to the Ermelo and Amsterdam commandos. The Colonel’s column at the time was covering the construction, by General Bullock’s troops, of the blockhouse line from Wakkerstroom. He pushed on hurriedly from Piet Retief and pounced on the Boers’ much needed convoy, harassing Botha and his burghers, who scurried to escape before the British advance. By now the blockhouse line was sufficiently advanced to be a serious impediment to the enemy’s movements: it not only forced him to abandon his waggons but also the two guns of 69th Battery which were lost during Gough’s reverse at Blood River Poort.

Brigadier-General Reeves (temporarily commanding in the absence of General Blood, who had left for India), with Colonels Park and Benson, continued to operate north and south of the Delagoa Railway. Colonel Benson, on the 10th, made a splendid march on an extremely dark night and surprised a party of Boers at Pullen’s Hope (south of Middelburg), where he took 33 prisoners, 73 horses, together with cattle-carts and ammunition. On the 15th he, with two squadrons of the 2nd Scottish Horse and 19th Battalion Mounted Infantry, repeated his adventurous tactics, again surrounded and surprised the enemy at Tweefontein, and, though some made good their escape, added 10 Boers to his roll of prisoners and 250 oxen to his herd of cattle. Still indefatigable, he and his doughty band on the 17th, after a forty miles’ march from Carolina, fell on the foe. The early mist was lifting round two laagers full of slumbering Boers at Middeldrift and Busby, when with a rush and a yell the British troops covered the scene. The usual rout, the usual stampede, and finally 54 prisoners—among them P. Botha, late Landdrost of Pretoria, and Commandant Nieuwhondt were captured, together with vehicles, horses, and cattle. Colonel Benson then pushed on and on—a triumphal progress—for he gleaned Boers wherever he went; 12 on the 28th near Bethel, and 7 early in October at Driefontein, in addition to horses, mules, and cattle, thus compelling those who evaded him to scuttle north denuded and demoralised. In the course of their chasing, this intrepid British band covered over fifty miles in nineteen hours. The Boers seldom spent a night in one place, and saddled up regularly at 3 A.M. in readiness for flight, therefore the captures made were the result not only of alertness and dash, but of indomitable perseverance.

Colonel Park had been engaging in like adventures, and had taken many prisoners. With six companies of Mounted Infantry and two companies of the Manchester Regiment, he began October by a search between Kruger’s Post and Ohrigstad. He secured some armed burghers, and destroyed such ammunition and forage as could not be removed. On his return journey he came in collision with Viljoen at Rustplaats, and after an engagement covering hours the Boers withdrew. On the 7th of October he attacked a party of Boers at a farm at Rosenkrans, captured their ammunition, mealies, and waggons, but not their persons.

The Constabulary posts running from Eerste Fabriken, viâ Springs and Heidelberg, to the Vaal River were pushed forward by Colonel Pilkington (S.A. Constabulary) to the line Wilge River Station, Greylingstad, and the junction of Kalk Spruit with the Vaal, thus enabling a more vast tract of country to be cleared. Sir Henry Rawlinson cleared the front of the Constabulary between Standerton and the Vaal River with increasing vigour, chasing Boers westward and southward before him. On the 3rd of October, at Greylingstad, he organised a night patrol to Barnard’s Kop, which resulted in the capture of three armed burghers, and subsequently, on the 5th, he surprised Field-Cornet Botha at Kaffir Spruit, captured 7 of his men, 20 of his carts, and 250 cattle. Pretorius, whose laager was near by, though followed with zest, made good his escape. Colonels Hacket Thompson and Bewicke Copley also engaged in the work of protecting the Constabulary, but came in collision with few of the enemy, who were now moving south.

TRANSVAAL (WEST)

Lord Methuen may be said to have carried on existence to a rippling accompaniment of Boer bullets. All along the Marico valley to Zeerust his rearguard was followed and engagements were frequent. September was spent in passing convoys from Lichtenburg and Zeerust and preparing for an advance to cover the collection of ripening corn in the Marico district, the establishment of a line of blockhouses between Zeerust and the lead mines, and the clearance of the country of scattered bands. On the 4th of October an affair of patrols at Witgeboom Spruit resulted in five burghers being killed.

General Fetherstonhaugh and Colonel Kekewich continued to hunt dismounted stragglers of Kemp’s force south-west of Olifant’s Nek. Kemp had escaped the British cordon towards the north-east, and was said to be about to work his way south. Colonel Kekewich, after depositing his prisoners at Naauwpoort, left there on the 13th of September to clear the northern slopes of the Magaliesberg. He operated for some days in conjunction with Colonel Mackenzie (1st Battalion Suffolk Regiment), who was employed in the construction of blockhouses south of the Magaliesberg, and removed from the creeks and crannies of the hills various impediments, in the form of Field-Cornet Klopper and thirty-six of his countrymen. After this haul of prisoners, Colonel Kekewich returned to Magato Nek to co-operate with General Fetherstonhaugh against Kemp’s party, who were reported to be hanging about the Toelani River. On the 24th, by the way, he surrounded the laager of one Van Rooijan at Crocodile Drift (Elands River), and secured the commandant and thirty-five of his gang. Kemp, as yet, was not to be found. But he was not long inactive. At dawn on 29th, he and Delarey (who had evidently followed Colonel Kekewich from the Valley of the Toelani) made a lunge at the British camp near Moedwill. From three sides they, some 1200 of them, turned a blizzard of lead on Colonel Kekewich’s force.

The Derbyshire Regiment, with 1½ companies, held the drift to left of the camp. The mounted troops (Imperial Yeomanry and Scottish Horse) extended round the right and front of the camp, and joined up with the Infantry outpost on the drift. Firing was heard at 4.40 A.M. on the north-west, and subsequently it was found that a patrol going out from the southerly piquet, furnished by the Devonshire Imperial Yeomanry, had been attacked. Then closer and closer came the enemy upon the Yeomanry piquet. Every gallant fellow dropped. Soon the Boers were established to east of the river and commenced an attack on another Imperial Yeomanry piquet. The officer in command fell, and nearly all his men around him. The enemy, ensconced in the broken and bushy ground near the bed of the river, continued the aggressive, while all in camp rushed to reinforce the piquets except a small party of the Derbyshire Regiment, which remained to guard ammunition, &c., the Boers having annihilated two piquets. The Boers now pushed up the river, outflanking the Derbyshire piquet holding the main drift, and, in spite of really superb resistance, occupied the position. For this reason: but one man of the gallant number remained whole! The camp now was flooded with bullets, and all ranks under various officers made for the open, while the guns strove to keep the enemy, indistinguishable from British in the dusk of the morning, at a distance. Captain Watson, Adjutant Scottish Horse, who was mortally wounded, announced the arrival towards the east of the enemy, whereupon Major Watts with a strong body of the Derbyshire Regiment moved out to confront them, while Major Browne (Border Regiment) with a number of men—servants, cooks, orderlies, and any one who came to hand—prepared with fixed bayonets to charge the enemy in the bushes. The Boers had given up the east, however, and continued to file from the north till the Imperial Yeomanry and Scottish Horse, under Captains Rattray, Dick Cunyngham, and Mackenzie, joined in the general advance and threatened to outflank them; then, seeing their danger, they fled to their horses and galloped madly to the north, under fire of the British guns. Colonel Duff, with two squadrons, had been prepared for pursuit, but owing to the heavy losses sustained, especially among the horses, the project was impossible.

This fierce, determined, carefully-planned attack lasted two hours, and the success of the repulse was mainly due to the amazing gallantry of all ranks, especially of the 1st Battalion Derbyshire Regiment. Some brilliant deeds were done, notably by 2nd Lieutenant Mills, whose splendid disregard of danger cost him his life; Lieutenant Persse (7th Imperial Yeomanry), who fought persistently at his post though wounded in three places; and by Captains Dick Cunyngham and Rattray, and Lieutenants Symonds, Rattray, Cameron, Loring, and Stuart-Wortley, of the Scottish Horse. A fine officer, Captain Laird, R.F.A., was among the killed, and Lieutenant Duval was wounded, and Captain Wheeler escaped merely by a miracle. The medical officers, Major Lavie (R.A.M.C.) and Mr. Kidd, Civil Surgeon, pursued their deeds of mercy, utterly regardless of their lives and of their own wounds. The Colonel, himself wounded, paid dearly for his triumph. Of his force 1 officer and 31 men were killed; 127 men were wounded and 26 officers, among whom were:—

Scottish Horse.—Major Blair, Captain Field, Lieutenant Loring, Lieutenant Stuart-Wortley, Surgeon-Captain Kidd, Lieutenant Jardine, Lieutenant Edwards, Lieutenant Prior, Lieutenant Cameron, Lieutenant Flower.

Royal Artillery.—Captain Baldwin.

1st Derby Regiment.—Captain Keller, Captain Anley.

Imperial Yeomanry.—Captain Seymour, Lieutenant Whyte.

Out of a party of twelve of the Derbyshire Regiment which was guarding a drift, 8 were killed and 4 wounded; and some idea of the severity of the fire and the doggedness of the fight may be gained by the fact that three piquets were practically annihilated, thus enabling their comrades to get under arms.

Among others of the Scottish Horse whose persistent and gallant services contributed to Lord Methuen’s success, may be mentioned Captains Field and Ian Mackenzie, and young Lieutenant Jardine, who was wounded.

Command of the column was afterwards temporarily assumed by Colonel Wylly (Derbyshire Regiment), but Colonel Kekewich, recovered, soon returned to duty.

General Fetherstonhaugh had meanwhile driven before him many Boers. On the 21st he captured a position at Winkelhoek, and after searching further turned back to Waterval and thence to Kwaggafontein. On hearing of the Moedwill fight he sent Colonel Williams to Colonel Kekewich’s support, and followed himself with all haste. But of course the Boers had flown, scattering among the farms in the Rustenburg Zeerust road. General Fetherstonhaugh finally moved south, and Colonel Wylly to Rustenburg.

OPERATIONS ON THE VAAL

By October the line of blockhouses from Kopjes Station to Potchefstroom was built by the 2nd Battalion Scots Guards and 1st Oxfordshire Light Infantry, and that between Heilbron and Frankfontein occupied by the Railway Pioneer Regiment under Colonel Capper. Meanwhile Colonels Byng and Dawkins (from the south of Orange Colony) chased and ran down Boers as they sought to escape the blockhouse cordon, and thus thoroughly cleared the region. Colonel Byng made an effort to attack a concentration of 300 he had heard of at Bothaville, but on his approach they dispersed into the river valleys. Still, in the course of their operations and the return along the Valsch River to Kroonstad, &c., Colonels Byng and Dawkins secured eighty-one prisoners of war.

General Mildmay Willson organised a small smart force, under Colonel Hicks (2nd Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers), consisting of 250 mounted infantry, 2 field guns, and 5 companies of Infantry, to establish and provision constabulary posts and hunt Boer snipers. In the course of their operations and afterwards between Potchefstroom and Venterskroon they, with the assistance of co-operating constabulary troops, secured 42 prisoners (including Field-Cornets George Hall and Vander Venter), and a 7-pounder gun which had been taken from the post at Houtkop.

OPERATIONS IN THE ORANGE RIVER COLONY, N.

Colonel Rimington’s column worked incessantly during September, and to good purpose. On the 14th, marching from Leeufontein (six miles south of Heilbron), they made a surprise visit to a laager, which resulted in the capture of six Boers, waggons, carts, horses, and mules. Later, on the 22nd, still hunting and hustling, he overtook Strydom’s commando, made a tremendous haul of impedimenta, and secured thirteen prisoners. He then finished the month by marching to Oploop (between the Klip and Wilge Rivers) to watch for an opportunity to co-operate with Colonel Rawlinson, who, as we know, was aiding the constabulary north of the Vaal, and who, by now, had driven Buy’s commando to the south of the river. On this band Colonel Rimington promptly pounced, and October found him enriched by 24 prisoners, 2000 cattle, 30 horses, 14 loaded waggons, 22 Cape carts, and 20 mules. Later, on the 7th, he moved from Standerton (whence he had drawn supplies) to co-operate with General Broadwood and Colonel de Lisle from Harrismith.

To reinforce Colonel Rimington went Colonel Wilson (Kitchener’s Fighting Scouts) from Kroonstad to Heilbron on the 1st of October, and scarcely were they under way before they were attacked by the enemy. But the scouts, true to the name they bear, gave such good account of themselves that the enemy scattered, but considerably thinned in their numbers. The troops afterwards covered the line of blockhouses from Heilbron to Frankfort.

MAJOR-GENERAL ELLIOT.—ORANGE RIVER COLONY, E.

On the 10th of September General Elliot started to again sweep and glean in the Wittebergen district. Colonel Barker and Major Pine Coffin operated from Winburg to west of the line of advance. General Campbell remained on the Wittebergen slopes, and General Dartnell, with the Imperial Light Horse (from Bethlehem), assisted in blocking the Retief and Stabberts Nek passes. The movement itself commenced in four columns, Lowe and De Lisle in the centre, with Broadwood and Bethune to right and left respectively. In the course of the march Colonel de Lisle brilliantly descried and ran down a convoy then trekking towards Korannaberg, but not without infinite dash and corresponding fatigue: 15 prisoners, 47 waggons, 22 carts, 250 horses, and 2500 cattle were the prizes of the adventure. Colonel Bethune, too, had his innings, for on the 12th he routed seventy of the bandits from their lair near Wonderkop, and the next night, after an exciting march to Rietolei, caught and again engaged the foe.

While these operations had been going forward, General Rundle had been doing his share, passing supplies into Bethlehem and generally blocking the passes leading to Natal, and relieving garrisons on the line which had hitherto been furnished by the Natal command. The 1st Imperial Light Horse, under Colonel Briggs, acting independently from Bethlehem after the departure of General Dartnell for Zululand, came in for some thrilling experiences. This excellent force was well suited for exploits of a daring kind and long-distance raids such as had to be undertaken. On the 28th they made a circuitous night march of thirty-eight miles from Bethlehem, and dawn found them surrounding the town of Reitz. It was a brilliantly conceived and brilliantly carried out affair, and the prize of twenty-one prisoners (including Landdrost Piet de Villiers), nine Cape carts, two waggons, twenty-four horses, 250 cattle, and some ammunition, was well deserved. The Boers, on Colonel Briggs’ way back, made many night attempts at reprisals, but the Imperial Light Horse was not to be caught napping.

The troops in the Wepener, Dewetsdorp, Bethulie, and Zastron districts were now sprayed out to catch the dispersed stragglers of Kruitzinger’s commando: Colonel Thorneycroft at Quaggafontein, guarding the river south of Zastron; Lord Basing patrolling from Jurysbaken to Commissie Bridge on the Caledon; Sir Henry Rawlinson moving south from Elandsberg to Aliwal; and General Plumer at Smithfield. Major Damant had returned to Springfontein. General Plumer, from Smithfield, detached Sir John Jervis upon Wepener in pursuit of guerillas, himself hunting with Colonel Colvin’s column along the Basuto border. On the 15th the force reassembled at Wepener, where they learned that Kruitzinger had doubled back towards Elandsberg. While Colonel Colvin scurried thither to co-operate with Colonel Thorneycroft, the General and Sir J. Jervis moved towards Smithfield. Sir John’s men, under Captain Knight of the Buffs, had an exciting affray on the 19th, and succeeded in landing big fish, Adjutants Brand and Joubert, and eight prisoners in all. Colonel Smithson and the 13th Hussars engaged Boers at Lemonfontein on the 11th. They covered eighty miles in two days, surprised the enemy, and made a splendid haul of prisoners and effects. Colonel Colvin had also his success, for on the 22nd a party of New Zealanders, under Major Tucker, engaged the enemy on the Elandsberg and secured Field-Cornets Hugo and Bothma, and several other prisoners.

Unfortunately the effect of the squeezing operations which were taking place caused the enemy to be driven to the Thabanchu line, and here, as though history was bound to repeat itself, the unfortunate U battery met with a mishap. On the 19th a small force of 160 mounted men under Captain Tufnell, and two guns of U Battery, R.H.A., under Lieut. Otter-Barry, which had been detached by the officer commanding at the Bloemfontein Waterworks, were surrounded and captured at Vlakfontein (eighteen miles south-west of Sanna’s Post) by a superior force under Commandants Coetzee and Ackermann. Lieutenant Barry, R.H.A., lost his life in the gallant defence of his guns. All efforts were now made to hem the enemy against the Thabanchu line, and General Plumer and Colonel Rochfort (commanding General Bruce-Hamilton’s force during his absence in Natal) worked hard to this end. It was a question of fight, fight, fight, and hustle, hustle, hustle on all sides. At the end of the month (the 29th) Colonel Lowry Cole had the satisfaction of hauling in Commandant Drezer and Field-Cornet Van Vunren, with their followers, whose laager he had surprised.

At the same time some sharp fighting took place between two hundred New Zealanders[6] under Major A. W. Andrews, a smart officer of the Indian Staff Corps, who were holding Mokari Drift on the Caledon, and some 300 or 400 Boers who were in the act of crossing. The Boers, after a severe mauling, fled westward, leaving six dead and seven wounded on the field. Colonel Thorneycroft also had had stiff work with a marauding gang near Corunna on the 20th.

After this date the columns on the east of the main line of rail had each assigned to them an area with a centre from which to work. They acted independently, yet as required could combine against any formidable gathering of the enemy. In the south-western portion of the Orange Colony the situation was improving so remarkably that first the columns of Colonels Byng and Dawkins were able to withdraw towards the Vredefort district; then those of Major Damant were removed to Heilbron; while the rest, under Colonel Rochfort, were transferred to the more disturbed area of the east of the railway. Colonel Henry maintained his operations in the district, but the verb “to blockhouse” having been so liberally conjugated throughout the region, his duties were comparatively light.

EVENTS IN CAPE COLONY

The early part of September was spent in chasing Commandant Smuts, who had burst from the Orange Colony into the Jamestown-Dordrecht district. Here he was tackled on the 12th by Colonel Monro, but succeeded in evading our columns. The raiders then rushed in the night across the line towards Tarkastad. To the south in all haste followed Colonels Gorringe and Doran and the 17th Lancers, while the west was guarded (at Cradock) by Colonel Scobell. Smuts, when some eighteen miles north-west of Tarkastad, in desperation decided to attack a squadron of the 17th Lancers under Major Sandeman. These seeing a force dressed in kharki approaching, accepted them as comrades till too late. The enemy was almost upon them before they discovered their mistake. But the “Death or Glory Boys,” even in these circumstances, fought valiantly, and though three officers and twenty men fell, and Major Sandeman and thirty men of the squadron were wounded, all brilliantly maintained the traditions of their regiment. The approach of Major Nickalls and another squadron of the Lancers forced the Boers to cease fighting and continue their bolt to the south.

An interesting report of the smart engagement was published by the Midland News. The correspondent wrote:—

“Smuts’ commando rushed a squadron of the 17th Lancers, under Captain Sandeman, on Tuesday morning, the 17th inst. The squadron was posted at Modderfontein, guarding the southern exit from Elands River Poort, and another pass towards the north-east, known as Evans Hoek, to prevent the Boers from coming south-west into the Cradock district. The surprise was due chiefly to the Boers being dressed in kharki, and being thus mistaken for Colonel Gorringe’s men, who were expected to arrive from Soude Nek in the course of the day. A mist which hung over the low ground till late that morning also favoured the approach of the enemy, as in the case of Colonel Scobell’s capture of Lotter’s commando.

“On receipt of a report that a small picket in advance of the camp had been rushed, a troop quickly mounted and rode towards the poort. The officer in command saw some kharki-clad men about two miles from camp, and thinking they were some of Colonel Gorringe’s column, rode forward to meet them. When about two hundred yards distant, seeing them levelling their rifles, he shouted out, ‘Don’t fire! we are the 17th Lancers.’ The only answer was rapid rifle fire, which emptied several saddles.

“During this time another body of the enemy had worked up the donga running past the camp, and approached it from the rear. These men were dressed in kharki, and were taken for friends. Major Nickalls was encamped at Hoogstude, about three miles distant, and, having been informed of the attack on Captain Sandeman’s camp, he was coming up to its support. Consequently the order was given not to fire on this party.

“The camp was placed on the southern slope of a gentle rise, which is encircled on the west by a spruit running generally north-west, and joining the main river about two miles distant. About three hundred yards from the spruit the ground on which the camp stood rises into a rocky kopje about a hundred yards long at the crest. This was defended with great determination, and most of the casualties occurred here.

“The Boers, too, suffered very severely in the attack on this position, and it was not until the enemy attacked the hill from the rear that any impression seemed to have been made on the defenders. A perfect hail of bullets appears then to have been poured in from the rear, which killed or wounded all of its defenders. Finally Captain Sandeman tried to reach the kraals in the vicinity of the camp, but most of the men with him were shot down, and he himself was wounded.

“The Boers then rushed the camp, but not a single man surrendered, the enemy levelling their rifles and firing on any man they saw.

“On Major Nickalls’s squadron coming up the enemy retired quickly in the direction in which they had come.

“The Boers, on entering the camp, went straight for the supplies, but were able to take away only a few biscuits and hardly any ammunition, the Lancers having emptied their bandoliers, as the hundreds of empty cartridges found on the kopje eloquently testified.

“The enemy’s casualties were extremely heavy. The dead and wounded were carried off by the commando when it retired.”

From Bank View to Mount Prospect, then across the Mancazana, along the Fish River and over the Port Elizabeth line near Sheldon Station the raiders went, followed with unrelaxing energy by Colonels Gorringe, Doran, and Scobell. Colonel Gorringe succeeded in catching them in the Zuurberg Mountains and caused them to split their force in two, one half fleeing south, the other west. Early in October they reunited south of Darlington and were again attacked and trounced by the indefatigable Colonel, who drove them north with the loss of three of their number killed and five wounded.

Meanwhile Myburg and Fouché had been flitting around the northern borders, while Colonels Monro, Pilcher, Western, General Hart, with Colonel Murray’s troops and the Connaught Rangers, guarded the river line from Bethulie to Herschel. The residency at this place was attacked on the 4th, but Major Hook and the local police sent the foe to the right-about with considerable celerity and the loss to them of twenty-nine horses and three men. Everywhere small gangs of Boers made themselves obstreperous, and some made an attempt on Ladygrey, which was promptly repulsed. On the 20th of September, however, Kruitzinger, north of Herschel, endeavoured to force a passage over the Orange, and came into collision with some eighty of Lovat’s Scouts under Lieutenant-Colonel Hon. A. D. Murray. The gallant Scotsmen, small in number but large in courage, held on grimly to their post, and the attempt to cross was fiercely resisted, but unhappily with the loss of the brilliant commander, who had led them throughout the campaign with gallantry and distinction. He fell shot through the heart while shouting, “Fix bayonets!”[7] His adjutant, Captain Murray, also fell, and sixteen of his brave men, while one officer and thirty-five men were wounded. A gun was carried off under cover of darkness, but it was promptly followed up and recovered in a smart engagement in which the Boers lost two killed and twenty prisoners. The end of the month, the enemy having withdrawn into the Transkei, was spent by Colonels Monro and Pilcher in watching the passes of the Drakensberg; but later they, with Colonel Western—leaving Colonel Monro and local troops in charge of the area—were recalled to the south-east of the Orange Colony. Commandant Scheepers at this time was making himself obnoxious in the region of the line near Matjesfontein, and to circumvent him General Beatson despatched Colonel Crabbe’s column from Waggon Drift on a night march, which helped materially to break down Scheepers strength. The force completely surprised the enemy under Van der Merwe (in a place where they had outspanned some twelve miles east of Laingsburg), killed the commandant—a sporting youth of eighteen, who was considered by his friends as a De Wet in embryo—and one of his followers, wounded many of the burghers, and took thirty-seven prisoners, including Field-Cornet Du Plessis. This was on the 10th. From that time to the 20th Scheepers was kept on the move, and finally after much veering and dodging reached Klip Drift on the 20th. He continued to evade the pursuing columns of Colonels Crabbe, Atherton, and Major Kavanagh till the 5th of October, when this last officer almost captured him. He was attacked at Adams Kraal, twenty miles south-south-west of Ladysmith, and only succeeded in saving himself “by the skin of his teeth.”

Commandant Theron, hoping to join Scheepers, was fleeing before Colonel Capper in the Ceres district. This officer was assisted by Colonels Alexander and Wyndham, who, when they had driven the enemy well away to the north-west, continued in the chase after Scheepers.

Colonel Sprot and Major Lund were persistently engaged in tussles with Lategan’s gang, which had reappeared south of the Orange, and in a brilliant encounter on the 23rd of September Major Lund succeeded in securing an influential rebel, Louw by name, together with seven of his followers. Colonel Hunter-Weston, in a smart engagement with Lategan, secured Coetzer and other rebels and drove the rest northwards.

Sad was the fate of a gallant fellow, Lieutenant M. Gurdon Rebow, who, with nine men of the 3rd Battalion Grenadier Guards, while searching a farm, was attacked by the enemy at Cyferkuil, near Riet Siding, on the 17th. Some thirty or forty Dutchmen burst suddenly upon the small party, whose gallant stand against this overwhelming majority was one of the most striking episodes of desperate valour on record. A summons to surrender was refused, and it was not till Gurdon Rebow himself had been shot down and one of his men had been killed and two dangerously wounded that the remaining few Grenadiers, after a fight of three hours, were captured. The sergeant of the patrol lost his life in a gallant effort to swim the Carolus River in search of help.

As a proof of the herculean labours of the columns during this month, in spite of the prevalence of rinderpest among the cattle and the consequent reduction in the efficiency of the ox transport, the sum total of achievement may be quoted: 170 Boers killed, 114 wounded and prisoners, 1385 unwounded prisoners, 393 surrendered burghers, 11,000 horses (practically useless), 41,500 cattle, 798 rifles, 119,000 rounds small arm ammunition, and 770 waggons.

At Pretoria the month closed with the execution of Broeksma, formerly the Public Prosecutor of the Transvaal, whose trial, begun on the 12th of September, lasted three days. He was charged on the four counts of breaking the oath of neutrality, treachery, high treason, and inciting to break the oath of neutrality, and the evidence showed that the police found in his house treasonable pamphlets and documents, including copies of letters addressed to Mr. Steyn, Mr. Reitz, “Dr. Williamson,” and Mr. Kruger. Other letters were produced in court which purported to have come from Dr. Krause. On the concluding day of the trial the Crown Prosecutor stated that “Dr. Williamson” was in reality Dr. Leyds. Sundry other burghers and Netherlanders were tried for treachery and on other charges, while some were found guilty of high treason and murder and sentenced to death. This sentence in most cases was commuted to penal servitude for life, or reduced to terms of imprisonment.