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THE GREAT BOER WAR
As Roberts’s Horse turned and galloped for dear life across the
9
fl at, four out of the six guns
most) of U battery swung round and dashed frantically for a place
of safety. At the same instant every Boer along the line of the donga sprang up and emptied his magazine into the mass of rushing,
shouting soldiers, plunging horses, and screaming Kaffi rs. It was for
a few moments a sauve-qui-peut. Serjeant-Major Martin of U, with
a single driver on a wheeler, got away the last gun of his battery. The
four guns which were extricated of Q, under Major Phipps-Hornby,
whirled across the plain, pulled up, unlimbered, and opened a brisk
fi re of shrapnel from about a thousand yards upon the donga. Had
the battery gone on for double the distance, its action would have
been more effective, for it would have been under a less deadly rifl e
fi re, but in any case its sudden change from fl ight to discipline and
order steadied the whole force. Roberts’s men sprang from their
horses, and with the Burmese and New Zealanders fl ung themselves down in a skirmish line. The cavalry moved to the left to fi nd
some drift by which the donga could be passed, and out of chaos
there came in a few minutes calm and a settled purpose.
It was for Q battery to cover the retreat of the force, and most nobly it did it. A fortnight later a pile of horses, visible many hundreds
of yards off across the plain, showed where the guns had stood. It
was the Colenso of the horse gunners. In a devilish sleet of lead they
stood to their work, loading and fi ring while a man was left. Some
of the guns were left with two men to work them, one was loaded
and fi red by a single offi cer. When at last the order for retirement
of Q battery and one gun (the rear-
9
Of the other two one overturned and could not be righted, the
other had the wheelers shot and could not be extricated from the tumult.
It was offi cially stated that the guns of Q battery were halted a thousand
yards off the donga, but my impression was, from examining the ground,
that it was not more than six hundred.
351
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
came, only ten men, several of them wounded, were left upon their
feet. With scratch teams from the limbers, driven by single gunners,
the twelve-pounders staggered out of action, and the skirmish line
of mounted infantry sprang to their feet amid the hail of bullets to
cheer them as they passed.
It was no slight task to extricate that sorely stricken force from
the close contact of an exultant enemy, and to lead it across that
terrible donga. Yet, thanks to the coolness of Broadwood and the
steadiness of his rearguard, the thing was done. A practicable passage had been found two miles to the south by Captain ChesterMaster of Rimington’s. This corps, with Roberts’s, the New Zealanders, and the 3rd Mounted Infantry, covered the withdrawal in turn.
It was one of those actions in which the horseman who is trained
to fi ght upon foot did very much better than the regular cavalry. In
two hours’ time the drift had been passed and the survivors of the
force found themselves in safety.
The losses in this disastrous but not dishonourable engagement
were severe. About thirty offi cers and fi ve hundred men were killed,
wounded, or missing. The prisoners came to more than three hundred. They lost a hundred wagons, a considerable quantity of stores,
and seven twelve-pounder guns – fi ve from U battery and two from
Q. Of U battery only Major Taylor and Sergeant-Major Martin seem
to have escaped, the rest being captured en bloc. Of Q battery nearly
every man was killed or wounded. Roberts’s Horse, the New Zealanders, and the mounted infantry were the other corps which suffered most heavily. Among many brave men who died, none was
a greater loss to the service than Major Booth of the Northumberland Fusiliers, serving in the mounted infantry. With four comrades
he held a position to cover the retreat, and refused to leave it. Such
men are inspired by the traditions of the past, and pass on the story
of their own deaths to inspire fresh heroes in the future.
352
THE GREAT BOER WAR
Broadwood, the instant that he had disentangled himself,
faced about, and brought his guns into action. He was not strong
enough, however, nor were his men in a condition, to seriously attack the enemy. Martyr’s mounted infantry had come up, led by the
Queenslanders, and at the cost of some loss to themselves helped to
extricate the disordered force. Colvile’s Division was behind Bushman’s Kop, only a few miles off, and there were hopes that it might
push on and prevent the guns and wagons from being removed. Colvile did make an advance, but slowly and in a fl anking direction instead of dashing swiftly forward to retrieve the situation. It must be
acknowledged, however, that the problem which faced this General
was one of great diffi culty. It was almost certain that before he could
throw his men into the action the captured guns would be beyond
his reach, and it was possible that he might swell the disaster. With
all charity, however, one cannot but feel that his return next morning, after a reinforcement during the night, without any attempt to
force the Boer position, was lacking in enterprise.
the Boers in possession of the waterworks, and Bloemfontein had to
fall back upon her wells – a change which reacted most disastrously
upon the enteric which was already decimating the troops.
The effect of the Sanna’s Post defeat was increased by the fact
that only four days later (on April 4th) a second even more deplorable disaster befell our troops. This was the surrender of fi ve companies of infantry, two of them mounted, at Reddersberg. So many
surrenders of small bodies of troops had occurred during the course
10
The victory left
10
It may be urged in General Colvile's defence that his division had
already done a long march from Bloemfontein. A division, however, which
contains two such brigades as Macdonald's and Smith-Dorrien's may safely
be called upon for any exertions. The gunner offi cers in Colvile's division
heard their comrades' guns in 'section – fi re' and knew it to be the sign of
a desperate situation.
353
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
of the war that the public, remembering how seldom the word ‘surrender’ had ever been heard in our endless succession of European
wars, had become very restive upon the subject, and were sometimes
inclined to question whether this new and humiliating fact did not
imply some deterioration of our spirit. The fear was natural, and yet
nothing could be more unjust to this the most splendid army which
has ever marched under the red-crossed fl ag. The fact was new because the conditions were new, and it was inherent in those conditions. In that country of huge distances small bodies must be detached, for the amount of space covered by the large bodies was not
suffi cient for all military purposes. In reconnoitring, in distributing
proclamations, in collecting arms, in overawing outlying districts,
weak columns must be used. Very often these columns must contain
infantry soldiers, as the demands upon the cavalry were excessive.
Such bodies, moving through a hilly country with which they were
unfamiliar, were always liable to be surrounded by a mobile enemy.
Once surrounded the length of their resistance was limited by three
things: their cartridges, their water, and their food. When they had
all three, as at Wepener or Mafeking, they could hold out indefi nitely. When one or other was wanting, as at Reddersberg or Nicholson’s Nek, their position was impossible. They could not break
away, for how can men on foot break away from horsemen? Hence
those repeated humiliations, which did little or nothing to impede
the course of the war, and which were really to be accepted as one
of the inevitable prices which we had to pay for the conditions under which the war was fought. Numbers, discipline, and resources
were with us. Mobility, distances, nature of the country, insecurity
of supplies, were with them. We need not take it to heart therefore
if it happened, with all these forces acting against them, that our
soldiers found themselves sometimes in a position whence neither
wisdom nor valour could rescue them. To travel through that coun-
354
THE GREAT BOER WAR
try, fashioned above all others for defensive warfare, with trench
and fort of superhuman size and strength, barring every path, one
marvels how it was that such incidents were not more frequent and
more serious. It is deplorable that the white fl ag should ever have
waved over a company of British troops, but the man who is censorious upon the subject has never travelled in South Africa.
In the disaster at Reddersberg three of the companies were of
the Irish Rifl es, and two of the 2nd Northumberland Fusiliers – the
same unfortunate regiments which had already been cut up at
Stormberg. They had been detached from Gatacre’s 3rd Division,
the headquarters of which was at Springfontein. On the abandonment of Thabanchu and the disaster of Sanna’s Post, it was obvious
that we should draw in our detached parties to the east; so the fi ve
companies were ordered to leave Dewetsdorp, which they were garrisoning, and to get back to the railway line. Either the order was
issued too late, or they were too slow in obeying it, for they were
only halfway upon their journey, near the town of Reddersberg,
when the enemy came down upon them with fi ve guns. Without
artillery they were powerless, but, having seized a kopje, they took
such shelter as they could fi nd, and waited in the hope of succour.
Their assailants seem to have been detached from De Wet’s force in
the north, and contained among them many of the victors of Sanna’s
Post. The attack began at 11 A.M. of April 3rd, and all day the men
lay among the stones, subjected to the pelt of shell and bullet. The
cover was good, however, and the casualties were not heavy. The
total losses were under fi fty killed and wounded. More serious than
the enemy’s fi re was the absence of water, save a very limited supply in a cart. A message was passed through of the dire straits in
which they found themselves, and by the late afternoon the news
had reached headquarters. Lord Roberts instantly despatched the
Camerons, just arrived from Egypt, to Bethany, which is the nearest
355
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
point upon the line, and telegraphed to Gatacre at Springfontein
to take measures to save his compromised detachment. The telegram should have reached Gatacre early on the evening of the 3rd,
and he had collected a force of fi fteen hundred men, entrained it,
journeyed forty miles up the line, detrained it, and reached Reddersberg, which is ten or twelve miles from the line, by 10.30 next
morning. Already, however, it was too late, and the besieged force,
unable to face a second day without water under that burning sun,
had laid down their arms. No doubt the stress of thirst was dreadful,
and yet one cannot say that the defence rose to the highest point
of resolution. Knowing that help could not be far off, the garrison
should have held on while they could lift a rifl e. If the ammunition was running low, it was bad management which caused it to
be shot away too fast. Captain McWhinnie, who was in command,
behaved with the utmost personal gallantry. Not only the troops but
General Gatacre also was involved in the disaster. Blame may have
attached to him for leaving a detachment at Dewetsdorp, and not
having a supporting body at Reddersberg upon which it might fall
back; but it must be remembered that his total force was small and
that he had to cover a long stretch of the lines of communication.
As to General Gatacre’s energy and gallantry it is a by-word in the
army; but coming after the Stormberg disaster this fresh mishap to
his force made the continuance of his command impossible. Much
sympathy was felt with him in the army, where he was universally
liked and respected by offi cers and men. He returned to England,
and his division was taken over by General Chermside.
In a single week, at a time when the back of the war had seemed
to be broken, we had lost nearly twelve hundred men with seven
guns. The men of the Free State – for the fi ghting was mainly done
by commandos from the Ladybrand, Winburg, Bethlehem, and
Harrismith districts – deserve great credit for this fi ne effort, and
356
THE GREAT BOER WAR
their leader De Wet confi rmed the reputation which he had already
gained as a dashing and indefatigable leader. His force was so weak
that when Lord Roberts was able to really direct his own against it,
he brushed it away before him; but the manner in which De Wet
took advantage of Roberts’s enforced immobility, and dared to get
behind so mighty an enemy, was a fi ne exhibition of courage and enterprise. The public at home chafed at this sudden and unexpected
turn of affairs; but the General, constant to his own fi xed purpose,
did not permit his strength to be wasted, and his cavalry to be again
disorganised, by fl ying excursions, but waited grimly until he should
be strong enough to strike straight at Pretoria.
In this short period of depression there came one gleam of light
from the west. This was the capture of a commando of sixty Boers, or
rather of sixty foreigners fi ghting for the Boers, and the death of the
gallant Frenchman, De Villebois-Mareuil, who appears to have had
the ambition of playing Lafayette in South Africa to Kruger’s Washington. From the time that Kimberley had been reoccupied the British had been accumulating their force there so as to make a strong
movement which should coincide with that of Roberts from Bloemfontein. Hunter’s Division from Natal was being moved round to
Kimberley, and Methuen already commanded a considerable body
of troops, which included a number of the newly arrived Imperial
Yeomanry. With these Methuen pacifi ed the surrounding country,
and extended his outposts to Barkly West on the one side, to Boshof
on the other, and to Warrenton upon the Vaal River in the centre.
On April 4th news reached Boshof that a Boer commando had been
seen some ten miles to the east of the town, and a force, consisting
of Yeomanry, Kimberley Light Horse, and half of Butcher’s veteran
4th battery, was sent to attack them. They were found to have taken
up their position upon a kopje which, contrary to all Boer custom,
had no other kopjes to support it. French generalship was certainly
357
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
not so astute as Boer cunning. The kopje was instantly surrounded,
and the small force upon the summit being without artillery in the
face of our guns found itself in exactly the same position which our
men had been in twenty-four hours before at Reddersberg. Again
was shown the advantage which the mounted rifl eman has over the
cavalry, for the Yeomanry and Light Horsemen left their horses and
ascended the hill with the bayonet. In three hours all was over and
the Boers had laid down their arms. Villebois was shot with seven
of his companions, and there were nearly sixty prisoners. It speaks
well for the skirmishing of the Yeomanry and the way in which they
were handled by Lord Chesham that though they worked their way
up the hill under fi re they only lost four killed and a few wounded.
The affair was a small one, but it was complete, and it came at a time
when a success was very welcome. One bustling week had seen the
expensive victory of Karee, the disasters of Sanna’s Post and Reddersberg, and the successful skirmish of Boshof. Another chapter must
be devoted to the movement towards the south of the Boer forces
and the dispositions which Lord Roberts made to meet it.
XXIII.
THE CLEARING
OF THE SOUTH-EAST
Lord Roberts never showed his self-command and fi xed purpose
more clearly than during his six weeks’ halt at Bloemfontein. De
Wet, the most enterprising and aggressive of the Boer commanders,
was attacking his eastern posts and menacing his line of communications. A fussy or nervous general would have harassed his men and
worn out his horses by endeavouring to pursue a number of will-ofthe-wisp commandos. Roberts contented himself by building up his
strength at the capital, and by spreading nearly twenty thousand
men along his line of rail from Bloemfontein to Bethulie. When the
time came he would strike, but until then he rested. His army was
not only being rehorsed and reshod, but in some respects was being
reorganised. One powerful weapon which was forged during those
weeks was the collection of the mounted infantry of the central
army into one division, which was placed under the command of Ian
Hamilton, with Hutton and Ridley as brigadiers. Hutton’s brigade
contained the Canadians, New South Wales men, West Australians,
Queenslanders, New Zealanders, Victorians, South Australians, and
Tasmanians, with four battalions of Imperial Mounted Infantry, and
several light batteries. Ridley’s brigade contained the South African irregular regiments of cavalry, with some imperial troops. The
strength of the whole division came to over ten thousand rifl es, and
359
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
in its ranks there rode the hardiest and best from every corner of the
earth over which the old fl ag is fl ying.
A word as to the general distribution of the troops at this instant
while Roberts was gathering himself for his spring. Eleven divisions
of infantry were in the fi eld. Of these the 1st (Methuen’s) and half
the 10th (Hunter’s) were at Kimberley, forming really the hundredmile-distant left wing of Lord Roberts’s army. On that side also was
a considerable force of Yeomanry, as General Villebois discovered.
In the centre with Roberts was the 6th division (Kelly-Kenny’s)
at Bloemfontein, the 7th (Tucker’s) at Karee, twenty miles north,
the 9th (Colvile’s) and the 11th (Pole-Carew’s) near Bloemfontein.
French’s cavalry division was also in the centre. As one descended
the line towards the Cape one came on the 3rd division (Chermside’s, late Gatacre’s), which had now moved up to Reddersberg,
and then, further south, the 8th (Rundle’s), near Rouxville. To the
south and east was the other half of Hunter’s division (Hart’s brigade), and Brabant’s Colonial division, half of which was shut up in
Wepener and the rest at Aliwal. These were the troops operating in
the Free State, with the addition of the division of mounted infantry
in process of formation.
There remained the three divisions in Natal, the 2nd (Clery’s),
the 4th (Lyttelton’s), and the 5th (Hildyard’s, late Warren’s), with
the cavalry brigades of Burn-Murdoch, Dundonald, and Brocklehurst. These, with numerous militia and unbrigaded regiments along
the lines of communication, formed the British army in South Africa. At Mafeking some 900 irregulars stood at bay, with another force
about as large under Plumer a little to the north, endeavouring to
relieve them. At Beira, a Portuguese port through which we have
treaty rights by which we may pass troops, a curious mixed force
of Australians, New Zealanders and others was being disembarked
and pushed through to Rhodesia, so as to cut off any trek which the
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