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THE GREAT BOER WAR
The Boers retired past Mafeking and took refuge in the trenches
upon the eastern side, but Baden-Powell with his war-hardened garrison sallied out, and, supported by the artillery fi re of the relieving
column, drove them from their shelter. With their usual admirable
tactics their larger guns had been removed, but one small cannon
was secured as a souvenir by the townsfolk, together with a number
of wagons and a considerable quantity of supplies. A long rolling
trail of dust upon the eastern horizon told that the famous siege of
Mafeking had at last come to an end.
So ended a singular incident, the defence of an open town
which contained no regular soldiers and a most inadequate artillery
against a numerous and enterprising enemy with very heavy guns.
All honour to the towns folk who bore their trial so long and so
bravely – and to the indomitable men who lined the trenches for
seven weary months. Their constancy was of enormous value to the
empire. In the all-important early month at least four or fi ve thousand Boers were detained by them when their presence elsewhere
would have been fatal. During all the rest of the war, two thousand
men and eight guns (including one of the four big Creusots) had
been held there. It prevented the invasion of Rhodesia, and it gave
a rallying-point for loyal whites and natives in the huge stretch of
country from Kimberley to Bulawayo. All this had, at a cost of two
hundred lives, been done by this one devoted band of men, who
killed, wounded, or took no fewer than one thousand of their opponents. Critics may say that the enthusiasm in the empire was excessive, but at least it was expended over worthy men and a fi ne deed
of arms.
XXV.
THE MARCH ON PRETORIA
In the early days of May, when the season of the rains was past
and the veld was green, Lord Roberts’s six weeks of enforced inaction came to an end. He had gathered himself once more for one of
those tiger springs which should be as sure and as irresistible as that
which had brought him from Belmont to Bloemfontein, or that other in olden days which had carried him from Cabul to Candahar. His
army had been decimated by sickness, and eight thousand men had
passed into the hospitals; but those who were with the colours were
of high heart, longing eagerly for action. Any change which would
carry them away from the pest-ridden, evil-smelling capital which
had revenged itself so terribly upon the invader must be a change
for the better. Therefore it was with glad faces and brisk feet that
the centre column left Bloemfontein on May 1st, and streamed, with
bands playing, along the northern road.
On May 3rd the main force was assembled at Karee, twenty miles
upon their way. Two hundred and twenty separated them from Pretoria, but in little more than a month from the day of starting, in
spite of broken railway, a succession of rivers, and the opposition
of the enemy, this army was marching into the main street of the
Transvaal capital. Had there been no enemy there at all, it would
still have been a fi ne performance, the more so when one remembers that the army was moving upon a front of twenty miles or more,
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THE GREAT BOER WAR
each part of which had to be co-ordinated to the rest. It is with the
story of this great march that the present chapter deals.
Roberts had prepared the way by clearing out the south-eastern
corner of the State, and at the moment of his advance his forces
covered a semicircular front of about forty miles, the right under
Ian Hamilton near Thabanchu, and the left at Karee. This was the
broad net which was to be swept from south to north across the
Free State, gradually narrowing as it went. The conception was admirable, and appears to have been an adoption of the Boers’ own
strategy, which had in turn been borrowed from the Zulus. The
solid centre could hold any force which faced it, while the mobile
fl anks, Hutton upon the left and Hamilton upon the right, could
lap round and pin it, as Cronje was pinned at Paardeberg. It seems
admirably simple when done upon a small scale. But when the scale
is one of forty miles, since your front must be broad enough to envelop the front which is opposed to it, and when the scattered wings
have to be fed with no railway line to help, it takes such a master of
administrative detail as Lord Kitchener to bring the operations to
complete success.
On May 3rd, the day of the advance from our most northern
post, Karee, the disposition of Lord Roberts’s army was briefl y as
follows. On his left was Hutton, with his mixed force of mounted
infantry drawn from every quarter of the empire. This formidable
and mobile body, with some batteries of horse artillery and of pompoms, kept a line a few miles to the west of the railroad, moving
northwards parallel with it. Roberts’s main column kept on the railroad, which was mended with extraordinary speed by the Railway
Pioneer regiment and the Engineers, under Girouard and the illfated Seymour. It was amazing to note the shattered culverts as one
passed, and yet to be overtaken by trains within a day. This main
column consisted of Pole-Carew’s 11th Division, which contained
393
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
the Guards, and Stephenson’s Brigade (Warwicks, Essex, Welsh, and
Yorkshires). With them were the 83rd, 84th, and 85th R.F.A., with
the heavy guns, and a small force of mounted infantry. Passing along
the widespread British line one would then, after an interval of
seven or eight miles, come upon Tucker’s Division (the 7th), which
consisted of Maxwell’s Brigade (formerly Chermside’s – the Norfolks, Lincolns, Hampshires, and Scottish Borderers) and Wavell’s
Brigade (North Staffords, Cheshires, East Lancashires, South Wales
Borderers). To the right of these was Ridley’s mounted infantry. Beyond them, extending over very many miles of country and with
considerable spaces between, there came Broadwood’s cavalry, Bruce
Hamilton’s Brigade (Derbyshires, Sussex, Camerons, and C.I.V.), and
fi nally on the extreme right of all Ian Hamilton’s force of Highlanders, Canadians, Shropshires, and Cornwalls, with cavalry and
mounted infantry, starting forty miles from Lord Roberts, but edging westwards all the way, to merge with the troops next to it, and
to occupy Winburg in the way already described. This was the army,
between forty and fi fty thousand strong, with which Lord Roberts
advanced upon the Transvaal.
In the meantime he had anticipated that his mobile and enterprising opponents would work round and strike at our rear. Ample
means had been provided for dealing with any attempt of the kind.
Rundle with the 8th Division and Brabant’s Colonial Division remained in rear of the right fl ank to confront any force which might
turn it. At Bloemfontein were Kelly-Kenny’s Division (the 6th) and
Chermside’s (the 3rd), with a force of cavalry and guns. Methuen,
working from Kimberley towards Boshof, formed the extreme left
wing of the main advance, though distant a hundred miles from it.
With excellent judgment Lord Roberts saw that it was on our right
fl ank that danger was to be feared, and here it was that every precaution had been taken to meet it.
394
THE GREAT BOER WAR
The objective of the fi rst day’s march was the little town of Brandfort, ten miles north of Karee. The head of the main column faced it,
while the left arm swept round and drove the Boer force from their
position. Tucker’s Division upon the right encountered some opposition, but overbore it with artillery. May 4th was a day of rest for
the infantry, but on the 5th they advanced, in the same order as before, for twenty miles, and found themselves to the south of the Vet
River, where the enemy had prepared for an energetic resistance.
A vigorous artillery duel ensued, the British guns in the open as
usual against an invisible enemy. After three hours of a very hot fi re
the mounted infantry got across the river upon the left and turned
the Boer fl ank, on which they hastily withdrew. The fi rst lodgment
was effected by two bodies of Canadians and New Zealanders, who
were energetically supported by Captain Anley’s 3rd Mounted Infantry. The rushing of a kopje by twenty-three West Australians was
another gallant incident which marked this engagement, in which
our losses were insignifi cant. A maxim and twenty or thirty prisoners were taken by Hutton’s men. The next day (May 6th) the army
moved across the diffi cult drift of the Vet River, and halted that night
at Smaldeel, some fi ve miles to the north of it. At the same time Ian
Hamilton had been able to advance to Winburg, so that the army
had contracted its front by about half, but had preserved its relative
positions. Hamilton, after his junction with his reinforcements at
Jacobsrust, had under him so powerful a force that he overbore all
resistance. His actions between Thabanchu and Winburg had cost
the Boers heavy loss, and in one action the German legion had been
overthrown. The informal warfare which was made upon us by citizens of many nations without rebuke from their own Governments
is a matter of which pride, and possibly policy, have forbidden us to
complain, but it will be surprising if it does not prove that their laxity has established a very dangerous precedent, and they will fi nd it
395
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
diffi cult to object when, in the next little war in which either France
or Germany is engaged, they fi nd a few hundred British adventurers
carrying a rifl e against them.
The record of the army’s advance is now rather geographical
than military, for it rolled northwards with never a check save that
which was caused by the construction of the railway diversions
which atoned for the destruction of the larger bridges. The infantry
now, as always in the campaign, marched excellently; for though
twenty miles in the day may seem a moderate allowance to a healthy
man upon an English road, it is a considerable performance under
an African sun with a weight of between thirty and forty pounds to
be carried. The good humour of the men was admirable, and they
eagerly longed to close with the elusive enemy who fl itted ever in
front of them. Huge clouds of smoke veiled the northern sky, for the
Boers had set fi re to the dry grass, partly to cover their own retreat,
and partly to show up our khakI upon the blackened surface. Far on
the fl anks the twinkling heliographs revealed the position of the
wide-spread wings.
On May 10th Lord Roberts’s force, which had halted for three
days at Smaldeel, moved onwards to Welgelegen. French’s cavalry
had come up by road, and quickly strengthened the centre and left
wing of the army. On the morning of the 10th the invaders found
themselves confronted by a formidable position which the Boers
had taken up on the northern bank of the Sand River. Their army
extended over twenty miles of country, the two Bothas were in command, and everything pointed to a pitched battle. Had the position
been rushed from the front, there was every material for a second
Colenso, but the British had learned that it was by brains rather
than by blood that such battles may be won. French’s cavalry turned
the Boers on one side, and Bruce Hamilton’s infantry on the other.
Theoretically we never passed the Boer fl anks, but practically their
396
THE GREAT BOER WAR
line was so over-extended that we were able to pierce it at any point.
There was never any severe fi ghting, but rather a steady advance
upon the British side and a steady retirement upon that of the Boers.
On the left the Sussex regiment distinguished itself by the dash with
which it stormed an important kopje. The losses were slight, save
among a detached body of cavalry which found itself suddenly cut
off by a strong force of the enemy and lost Captain Elworthy killed,
and Haig of the Inniskillings, Wilkinson of the Australian Horse,
and twenty men prisoners. We also secured forty or fi fty prisoners,
and the enemy’s casualties amounted to about as many more. The
whole straggling action fought over a front as broad as from London
to Woking cost the British at the most a couple of hundred casualties, and carried their army over the most formidable defensive
position which they were to encounter. The war in its later phases
certainly has the pleasing characteristic of being the most bloodless,
considering the number of men engaged and the amount of powder
burned, that has been known in history. It was at the expense of
their boots and not of their lives that the infantry won their way.
On May 11th Lord Roberts’s army advanced twenty miles to Geneva Siding, and every preparation was made for a battle next day, as
it was thought certain that the Boers would defend their new capital,
Kroonstad. It proved, however, that even here they would not make
a stand, and on May 12th, at one o’clock, Lord Roberts rode into the
town. Steyn, Botha, and De Wet escaped, and it was announced that
the village of Lindley had become the new seat of government. The
British had now accomplished half their journey to Pretoria, and it
was obvious that on the south side of the Vaal no serious resistance
awaited them. Burghers were freely surrendering themselves with
their arms, and returning to their farms. In the south-east Rundle
and Brabant were slowly advancing, while the Boers who faced them
fell back towards Lindley. On the west, Hunter had crossed the Vaal
397
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
at Windsorton, and Barton’s Fusilier Brigade had fought a sharp action at Rooidam, while Mahon’s Mafeking relief column had slipped
past their fl ank, escaping the observation of the British public, but
certainly not that of the Boers. The casualties in the Rooidam action
were nine killed and thirty wounded, but the advance of the Fusiliers was irresistible, and for once the Boer loss, as they were hustled
from kopje to kopje, appears to have been greater than that of the
British. The Yeomanry had an opportunity of showing once more
that there are few more high-mettled troops in South Africa than
these good sportsmen of the shires, who only showed a trace of their
origin in their irresistible inclination to burst into a ‘tally-ho!’ when
ordered to attack. The Boer forces fell back after the action along
the line of the Vaal, making for Christiana and Bloemhof. Hunter
entered into the Transvaal in pursuit of them, being the fi rst to cross
the border, with the exception of raiding Rhodesians early in the
war. Methuen, in the meanwhile, was following a course parallel to
Hunter but south of him, Hoopstad being his immediate objective.
The little union jacks which were stuck in the war maps in so many
British households were now moving swiftly upwards.
Buller’s force was also sweeping northwards, and the time had
come when the Ladysmith garrison, restored at last to health and
strength, should have a chance of striking back at those who had
tormented them so long. Many of the best troops had been drafted
away to other portions of the seat of war. Hart’s Brigade and Barton’s
Fusilier Brigade had gone with Hunter to form the 10th Division
upon the Kimberley side, and the Imperial Light Horse had been
brought over for the relief of Mafeking. There remained, however,
a formidable force, the regiments in which had been strengthened
by the addition of drafts and volunteers from home. Not less than
twenty thousand sabres and bayonets were ready and eager for the
passage of the Biggarsberg mountains.
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THE GREAT BOER WAR
This line of rugged hills is pierced by only three passes, each of
which was held in strength by the enemy. Considerable losses must
have ensued from any direct attempt to force them. Buller, however,
with excellent judgment, demonstrated in front of them with Hildyard’s men, while the rest of the army, marching round, outfl anked
the line of resistance, and on May 15th pounced upon Dundee. Much
had happened since that October day when Penn Symons led his
three gallant regiments up Talana Hill, but now at last, after seven
weary months, the ground was reoccupied which he had gained. His
old soldiers visited his grave, and the national fl ag was raised over
the remains of as gallant a man as ever died for the sake of it.
The Boers, whose force did not exceed a few thousands, were
now rolled swiftly back through Northern Natal into their own
country. The long strain at Ladysmith had told upon them, and the
men whom we had to meet were very different from the warriors of
Spion Kop and Nicholson’s Nek. They had done magnifi cently, but
there is a limit to human endurance, and no longer would these
peasants face the bursting lyddite and the bayonets of angry soldiers. There is little enough for us to boast of in this. Some pride
might be taken in the campaign when at a disadvantage we were
facing superior numbers, but now we could but deplore the situation in which these poor valiant burghers found themselves, the
victims of a rotten government and of their own delusions. Hofer’s
Tyrolese, Charette’s Vendeans, or Bruce’s Scotchmen never fought
a fi ner fi ght than these children of the veld, but in each case they
combated a real and not an imaginary tyrant. It is heart-sickening to
think of the butchery, the misery, the irreparable losses, the blood
of men, and the bitter tears of women, all of which might have been
spared had one obstinate and ignorant man been persuaded to allow the State which he ruled to conform to the customs of every
other civilised State upon the earth.
399
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
Buller was now moving with a rapidity and decision which
contrast pleasantly with some of his earlier operations. Although
Dundee was only occupied on May 15th, on May 18th his vanguard
was in Newcastle, fi fty miles to the north. In nine days he had covered 138 miles. On the 19th the army lay under the loom of that
Majuba which had cast its sinister shadow for so long over South
African politics. In front was the historical Laing’s Nek, the pass
which leads from Natal into the Transvaal, while through it runs
the famous railway tunnel. Here the Boers had taken up that position which had proved nineteen years before to be too strong for
British troops. The Rooineks had come back after many days to try
again. A halt was called, for the ten days’ supplies which had been
taken with the troops were exhausted, and it was necessary to wait
until the railway should be repaired. This gave time for Hildyard’s
5th Division and Lyttelton’s 4th Division to close up on Clery’s 2nd
Division, which with Dundonald’s cavalry had formed our vanguard throughout. The only losses of any consequence during this
fi ne march fell upon a single squadron of Bethune’s mounted infantry, which being thrown out in the direction of Vryheid, in order
to make sure that our fl ank was clear, fell into an ambuscade and
was almost annihilated by a close-range fi re. Sixty-six casualties, of
which nearly half were killed, were the result of this action, which
seems to have depended, like most of our reverses, upon defective
scouting. Buller, having called up his two remaining divisions and
having mended the railway behind him, proceeded now to manoeuvre the Boers out of Laing’s Nek exactly as he had manoeuvred them
out of the Biggarsberg. At the end of May Hildyard and Lyttelton
were despatched in an eastern direction, as if there were an intention of turning the pass from Utrecht.
It was on May 12th that Lord Roberts occupied Kroonstad, and
he halted there for eight days before he resumed his advance. At the
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