CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 The Class of 188U 
 
DT 930.H64"" '"'"""^ ''"^^^ 
 Mobile Boer 
 
 3 1924 028 616 682 
 
 
 DATE DUE 
 
 
 
 i0^ 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 GAYLORD 
 
 
 
 PRINTED IN U.SA. 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028616682 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
His Honoh, Pkesidknt S. J. P. Ksuoeb 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 BEING THE RECORD OF 
 THE OBSERVATIONS OF 
 TWO BURGHER OFFICERS 
 
 BY 
 ALAN R. L HILEY 
 
 and 
 
 JOHN A. HASSELL 
 
 Captuns of Scouts 
 in the Boer Army 
 
 NEW YORK 
 THE GRAFTON PRESS 
 
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 -<^^^ ^^..^e^ 
 
 ^-^ ^ /8^^ 
 
 ^D^ft,^ .<t 
 
 1 
 
 COPYKIGHT 1902 
 BY 
 
 The Grafton Press 
 
 9lb 
 
 X 
 
respectfully dedicated to 
 
 his honor 
 
 President Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, 
 
 the beloved and trusted leader 
 
 of his people, 
 
 with the earnest hope 
 
 that he may be spared to see, 
 
 in the new birth 
 
 of a tree and united country, 
 
 the fulfillment of 
 
 BIS life's WORE 
 
PRATER OF THE BOERS 
 
 By permission of the New York World, 
 I 
 
 God of the helpless! Lo we seek 
 At Thy dread throne a just redress; 
 
 Lord, succor us, for we are weak. 
 And strong the foemen who oppress! 
 
 II 
 
 In Afric wilds our fathers sought 
 The freedom that their sons enjoy; 
 
 In tropic jungles slowly wrought 
 
 The homes the tyrant would destroy. 
 
 Ill 
 
 For since his longing, lusting eyes 
 Have caught the glitter of our soil. 
 
 His mission is to civilize, 
 And, civilizing, to despoil. 
 
 IV 
 
 Lord, when our helpless cities burn. 
 
 Our rivers red with carnage run. 
 Let not the mocking heart discern 
 
 Thy hand behind the heavier gun! 
 
 V 
 
 'Heed not, O Lord, the promise glib. 
 
 The blunt petition of the strong; 
 O Thou who smote Sennacherib, 
 
 Be potent still to smite the zvrong! 
 
 VI 
 
 Behold, their far-famed navies come 
 Near and more near with every breeze. 
 
 Lord, suffer not our martyrdom. 
 
 The ships are theirs — but Thine the seas! 
 
 Hear us, and, as in days of old. 
 
 Lord, smite the worshippers of gold! 
 
 — Nixola Greely-Smith. 
 
M AKTHINU8 T. STEYN, PhKSIDENT OF THE OltANQE FREE STATU 
 
PREFACE 
 
 IT is our intention in these pages to deal with the 
 Boer-English war and the events which actually 
 transpired as we had opportunity to see them. 
 The fact of our being in the Republican forces, — born 
 foreigners — the tone of the descriptions of stirring. inci- 
 dents, and the citation of injustice and'cWefty':miist ex- 
 empt us from the reproach of prejudics, /•°'. ■ ■ ' * / 
 
 The right of the Boer cause w^ can'^five in the handf' 
 of such exponents as State Secretary" Reitz,* Charles Bois- 
 sevan, Dr. Van der Vlugt, a.n4 for«!igners such as Mr. 
 W. T. Stead with his " Stop the War" jj'iAfjciafions, !vif:, 
 W. H. Methuen's " Peace or War,'\Sif Edwifd Ckl-ke, 
 Mr. John Morley, and many otheiCprominent Englishmen 
 who have dared to raise their voic^' 'against a national 
 crime. This testimony has proved theVBoi^r opprgsse^, 
 and forced to act on the defensive. * Out pi ti\s. ;m6ii\]is 
 of her ministers and those responsible for , t|ii^ act of 
 aggression, England has entered this war admittedly 
 without casus belli. 
 
 We should Uke to remind our American brothers of the 
 events that America's greatness grew from. Not that 
 they have forgotten, but with time and distance they 
 recognize no parallel between the British war of 1775- 
 
 * Reitz's " A Century of Injustice." 
 
 Dr. Van der Vlugt, Professor of Leyden University: "Trans- 
 vaal versus Great Britain." 
 
 Charles Boissevan, Editor of "Het Algemeen Handelsblad," 
 and author of "The Struggle of the Dutch Republics," "An 
 Open Letter to the Duke of Devonshire." 
 
 W. T. Stead's " Stop the War," " How to Make Peace," " The 
 Truth About the War," " Shall I Slay my Brother Boer ? " Sup- 
 plied by the " Stop the War" Committee, Clock House, Arundel 
 Street, Strand, London. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Zandspruit — Conjectures on modern warfare — ^Division of the 
 forces — Commissariat — The ultimatum — ■ Selecting com- 
 manders — Generals — Commandants — Veldkornets — Cor- 
 porals — Duties of a burgher — Care of the women — Six more 
 generals— Prayers precede war — The strategical importance 
 of crossing the border — The advance — Newcastle — Dan- 
 hauser — Forming camp i 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 Dundee threatened — Talana Hill — Death of Penn-Symons — 
 Armistice — Khaki in war — Arrival of Erasmus — Impati 
 mountain — Attacks in closed formation^ — Volley fire — Re- 
 treat to Ladysmith — Dundee — Defective time fuse — Capture 
 of i8th Hussars — The military spoils — Loot — Restitution 
 — Ammunition, Nickel, Dum-Dum and Soft nosed — OiBcial 
 correspondence — Plans of campaign — Use of natives . . 12 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 Elandslaagte — Liquor and war — Destruction of railroad — 
 Washbank — Long Tom — Review of forces — Foreigners — 
 Trials of the government — Contrabands of war — Republi- 
 can artillery — British Natal force — Cronje at Maf eking — 
 Col. Plumer — Kimberley besieged — Mobility of heavy artil- 
 lery — Mounting and moving guns — Traction engines . . 28 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 Battle oi Modderspruit — A Boer advance — A " white flag in- 
 cident" — Accuracy in rifle fire — Sam Leon — Lombard's 
 Kop — Naval guns — Balloons as scouts — Irish Brigade — Col. 
 Stake — Republican uncertainty — 'Armistice — Joubert's mag- 
 nanimity — Ladysmith besieged — Umbrellas — Women as gov- 
 ernment tailors — Reconnaissance south of the Tugela river 
 — Armored train — Weenan — Beacon Hill — Signal corps — 
 Identification cards — Ambulances — Runners (black and 
 white) — Search lights — Horse sickness — General camp life 
 — Health .... 44 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Assault on Federal guns— Boer discipline— Surprise Hill- 
 Death of Spannier — Manufacture and repair of guns in 
 Pretoria— Arrival of Buller— Artillery duel — The Boer 
 positions— Battle preliminaries— The battle— Captured guns 
 and prisoners— Ambulance incident — Gen. Botha — English 
 newspaper reports — Foreign attaches 60 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 Sir William Butler— The situation on the fighting lines— 
 Buller's message — Christmas day — Flies — Patroling — Hel- 
 mets — The battle of the Platrand — Villebois Muriel — Igna- 
 tius Vermaak — Football under difficulties — Mrs. Krantz . 74 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 In the Free State — Colonial irregulars — ^The alleged Dutch 
 plot — De Aar — Belmont — Graspan — Massacre of Deerde- 
 poort — Modder river — Magersfontein — ^Boer inertia — Storm- 
 berg — Rensburg siding — Lord Roberts arrives — Cronje out- 
 flanked — Kimberley relieved — Cronje's retreat . . .88 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 Paardeberg — Pom-Poms — Surrender — ^Laager conditions — A 
 Krygsraad — The Presidents — Poplar Grove — Abram's 
 Kraal — Bloemfontein occupied — Peace overtures — March 
 from Colesberg — Johannesburg police 102 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 Natal — Ladysmith Dam — British trek west — The Boshrand — 
 Trickhard's Drift — Spion's Kop captured — Fireworks — Bar- 
 end Badenhorst — Spion's Kop recaptured — White flag again 
 — Herr Von Brusewitz — After the battle . . . .112 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 British trek east — Poisoned bullets — Pont Drift — Alec Brand 
 —Night scenes— Artillery practice— Cleanliness— Anecdotes 
 — Hlangwana Hill — British cross the Tugela — Pieter's Hill 
 — Piet Geldenhuis — Red Cross intelligence men — The flight 
 
 — Long Tom again 128 
 
 xii 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The great trek — Kruger and Joubert — ^A day of humiliation 
 and prayer — A commandant-general — Louis Botha — Revi- 
 sion — Leave of absence — Friction — Proclamations — Karree 
 Siding — SannaH's Post — Captured correspondence— Red- 
 dersburg — Wepener — James Foster — Dutch leniency — Death 
 of Villebois Muriel I47 
 
 CHAPTER XH 
 
 The advance — An affair on Sunday river — De la Rey — 
 Kaffirs and soldiers — Thabu N'Chu — Vet river — Sand 
 river — Kolbe — Kroonstad abandoned — Lines of communica- 
 tion — Mafeking relieved — Rhenoster river — The Vaal 
 crossed — Destruction of property — Free State proclaimed — 
 Johannesburg occupied — Farewells — The plunder — News- 
 papers suppressed — The prisoners' grievances — The con- 
 duct of officers 162 
 
 CHAPTER Xni 
 
 Pretoria abandoned and why — Scenes in town — BuUer in the 
 Transvaal — The Biera expedition — The new government — 
 Hoisting the flag — The arsenals — Ammunition — Small arms 
 — Government shops — The work of the dynamite factory — 
 Colonial volunteers 177 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 Donkerhoek — Proclamations — De la Rey's activity — Bronk- 
 horstspruit — Pienaar — Farm burning — Krugersdorp procla- 
 mation — Paardekraal — Deportation of women — A big trek 
 — Farewell to Middleburg 190 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 Belfast— A brief respite— Prinsloo's surrender- Scarcity of 
 horses — Infantry corps — More proclamations — More women 
 deported — Cordua executed — ^Two worlds — Dalmanutha — 
 The police— The South African Republic proclaimed— 
 Council of war — Prayer 207 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Ben Viljoen — Prisoners released — White flags again — ^Ambu- 
 lance scouts — Lord Roberts' letter — Botha's answer — The 
 army reorganized — Spitz Kop — Barberton — Fever — Croco- 
 dile Poort— President and burghers— The foreign attaches 
 leave — Reitz — Artillery destroyed — Last of Long Tom — 
 J. N. King, Dynamite Dick— Komati Poort — The president 
 in Marseilles— De la Rey— Lord Roberts departs . . .220 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 A chapter of Christian De Wet — Roodeval — ^De Wet cor- 
 ralled — Prinsloo's reasons — Pieter De Wet surrenders — 
 Commando Nek — De Wet's insanity — To Cape Colony and 
 back — Thabu N'Chu — De Wet's methods — ^As a companion 
 — The three envoys — As a citizen — ^The new warfare — The 
 situation — And conclusion 239 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 A chapter of brief deductions on modern war — Artillery — 
 Shrapnel — Mobility — Heavy guns — A mounted infantry- 
 man — Scouts — Necessity of good shooting — Balloons — 
 Barbed wire — A suggestion for American military experts 
 in their own country 261 
 
 XIV 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 His Honor, S. J. P. Kruger Frontispiece 
 
 Marthinus T. Steyn, President of the Orange Free State 
 
 Facing Preface 
 
 FACING PAGE 
 
 Tlie Authors i 
 
 Majuba Hill 7 
 
 A Typical Boer ii 
 
 Boer Wagons at Dundee i8 
 
 The Late General Kock, and Staff 28 
 
 A German Commando 34 
 
 "Long Tom" Passing Through Klip River 40 
 
 Burghers and a Captured Gun 50 
 
 Boer Signal Corps 55 
 
 Zulu Kraal, and Warriors at Meal Time 62 
 
 Diagram of the Battle of Colenso, December JS, 1899 67 
 
 Colenso. Boer Defenses and Wiagon Bridge 72 
 
 Boer Camps and Heliograph Stations Around Lady smith 80 
 
 Martha Krantz 87 
 
 Deerdepoort. Near the Scene of the Massacre 92 
 
 Getting Ready for Patrol Duty 98 
 
 Cronje's Disaster 106 
 
 The Famous Fighting Johannesburg Police, Passing Through 
 
 Johannesburg iii 
 
 A Corner of Spions Kop 118 
 
 British Trench and Spions Kop 123 
 
 First British Defense After the Battle o£ Spions Kop 127 
 
 Kaffir Women of the Transvaal 137 
 
 A Stone Wall Defense 144 
 
 The Late General Piet Joubert and Secretary 149 
 
 Plan Showing the Positions at Sanna's Post 156 
 
 General De la Rey 164 
 
 A View of Mafeking and Boer Forts 170 
 
 XV 
 
xvi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FACING PAGE 
 
 Commandant-General Louis Botha i8o 
 
 " Long Tom " Six Inch Creusot, Entrained i88 
 
 Maxims Captured on the Western Border I97 
 
 Types of Burghers 205 
 
 Lyddite Shell Bursting Before a Boer Gun 216 
 
 General Ben Viljoen 220 
 
 State Secretary F. W. ReiU 231 
 
 J. N. King 234 
 
 General Christian De Wet 243 
 
 Trekking in the Orange Free State 251 
 
 Three Burgher Bunkies 259 
 
 Boer Howitzer Gun 267 
 
 Area of Conflict, August igoi 275 
 
 Map of Seat of the War in South Africa End of the book 
 
A PARABLE 
 
 AMONG the animals, the aged Bull looking at 
 the Wolf in his herd, fails to see the blood of 
 the calf on his jowl. His strength protects him 
 from this Wolf that preys on his kind. He cannot recog- 
 nize that, if not his progeny, they are his kin, these calves 
 the Wolf devours. He forgets the cruel scars and fester- 
 ing sores from which he suffered in his own calf days. 
 Now he is large, his head is big, his neck is stiff. He 
 would rather look at his shadow and contemplate his 
 strength than ruminate on the past. The old wounds 
 are healed, grown over with hair, far behind, hidden, 
 he no longer feels them ; he does not see them. 
 
 But the Wolf knows they are there and snarls at the 
 memory of this lost meal. He is also wise and he dis- 
 sembles, finishes his feast and seeks water to show to 
 the Bull, that the Bull may drink, for water is plentiful 
 and supplied by nature. The Bull-kind live and thrive 
 in nature. The Bull forgetting, that it is the same Wolf 
 that lacerated him, drinks and is grateful. The Wolf is 
 also pleased for he must have cattle to feed his breed, 
 and is not the Bull the father of the herd? And now 
 in the consciousness of self-satisfaction the Bull lays 
 himself down in repose alongside the beast of prey, and 
 marvels at the reversal of 
 
 EVOLUTION 
 as vouchsafed in the newly-born MANIFEST DES- 
 TINY. 
 
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 The Authors 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 Chapter I 
 
 Zandspruit — Conjectures on modern warfare — Division of the 
 forces — Commissariat — ^The ultimatum — Selecting command- 
 ers—Generals — Commandants — Veldkornets — Corporals — Duties 
 of a burgher — Care of the women — Six more generals — Prayers 
 precede war — The strategical importance of crossing the border 
 — The advance — Newcastle — Danhauser — Forming camp. 
 
 ON October 6, 1899 most of the Republican forces 
 were concentrated at Zandspruit fifteen miles 
 north of the Natal boundary on the Durban- 
 Johannesburg railroad. The burghers arrived daily by 
 wagon or train according to the accessibility of the district 
 to which they belonged. The country was an undulating 
 plain intersected by the river, making an ideal camping 
 ground. The wagons were placed in parks, the oxen 
 and the horses sent out to herd on the neighboring range 
 in care of the Kaffir servants, and the Boer settled at 
 once into the camp life with which he was so familiar. 
 
 Government supplies were scarce, but every burgher 
 had his never-failing biltong, (dried game meat) bread 
 and coffee sufficient for ten days. The greetings and 
 the hospitality displayed gave more the impression of 
 a large Texas camp-meeting than a call to arms to resist 
 an attempt upon their national independence. Stories of 
 the English might and wealth were exchanged. Rem- 
 iniscences among the veterans of the '81 war were re- 
 peated to the younger men, but Lyddite, the new and 
 unknown English explosive was the chief topic of con- 
 
 I 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 jecture. Many wondrous stories were told, gathered 
 from the English press, of the destructiveness of this new 
 agent in warfare. Instances were given of herds of sheep 
 so decimated by a single shell, that no trace remained; 
 of mountains removed, but one old Takhar reached the 
 climax of credulity by stating that an English acquaint- 
 ance had told him that if Lyddite, when shot at a hill 
 failed to find Boers, it jumped consecutively to other 
 hills until Boers were discovered, then exploding to the 
 destruction of every living Dutchman in the vicinity. 
 
 Botha pass, the northwest gate to Natal, had already 
 been occupied by General Jan Kock and Commandant 
 Ben Viljoen. Their command of 1,200 men consisted 
 of the Johannesburg Commando and the German and 
 Holland corps of volunteers. 
 
 General Lukas Meyer was at Jagers Drift on the Buf- 
 falo river guarding the northeast passage from Natal 
 with two thousand federals from the southwest district 
 of the Transvaal. 
 
 The main column under General Schalk Burger, and 
 Daniel Erasmus were at Volkrust, their force approxi- 
 mating 9,000 men. Thus the three important northern 
 passages from Natal into the Transvaal were guarded, 
 while two nations waited for the word that was to loose 
 the combatants. 
 
 The Johannesburg Police were watching the exodus of 
 foreigners from the Rand district, which had commenced 
 on the fifth instant and was taxing the limited accommo- 
 dations of the railroad to the utmost; consequently all 
 the columns were without any sort of supplies except 
 the food brought by the provident hunter from his home. 
 On October the seventh the British government issued 
 the order for the mobilization of the army reserve. Then 
 the Transvaal government with the approval of the 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 Orange Free State, despatched on the ninth instant its 
 now famous ultimatum. The last doubt of the presence 
 of war had been dissipated and the little army on the 
 Zand river within sight of Majuba, the monument to their 
 independence, was schooling itself to do and die with 
 the full consciousness that it stood on the verge of the 
 greatest struggle yet endured by the country to preserve 
 its nationality. There was an absence of excitement. 
 The Boers, disliking war and unwarlike, but reserved and 
 deliberate, realized that it was a struggle to the death, 
 and that the task before them, if accomplished, would be 
 dearly bought. 
 
 After the ultimatum Commandant-General Piet Joubert 
 who had been assisting the government with his counsel, 
 joined the main column. There everything was done to 
 force the working order of the commissariat, which de- 
 partment, called into existence within the week, pre- 
 viously possessing no stock, was making tremendous 
 efforts to furnish the farmers with necessary food-stuffs 
 and clothing by levying on the merchants for the sup- 
 plies needed. But the chaos was so complete that they 
 never satisfactorily effected their task in the first six 
 months of the war, the forces being in a continual state 
 of feast or famine, and only supplied at all by strenuous 
 hustling of their individual commanders. 
 
 The government had already appointed five generals 
 to assist the commandant-general. They were Piet 
 Cronje, a well-known fearless fighter who had to his 
 credit the siege and capture of Potchefstroom in the 
 Boer-English war of '8i, and the capture of Dr. Jameson 
 and his force in the English raid of '96, also Lukas Meyer 
 who had seen a great deal of service in Kaffir wars. Bui 
 their knowledge was afterwards proven to be of little 
 service to their country when arrayed against an or- 
 
 3 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 ganized army equipped with an inexhaustible supply of 
 the sinews of v/ar. 
 
 Schalk Burger, Daniel Erasmus and Jan Kock, the other 
 three, were chosen from the Volksraad, more on account 
 of their being leaders of the people in times of peace, 
 than for any military ability they were supposed to pos- 
 sess. The lesser officers consisting of the commandants 
 and veldkornets were chosen by the burghers by the 
 simplest form of ballot, to serve periods of five and three 
 years respectively. 
 
 The commandant generally constituted the military 
 chief of three or four districts. He was their leader in 
 times of war, aided by the veldkornets, one of whom was 
 elected from each district. In times of peace the com- 
 mandant often held some office in the district court, or 
 was a member of the Volksraad, the House of Repre- 
 sentatives of the districts. The veldkomet filled an office 
 equivalent to that of sheriff, serving writs, administering 
 justice below the higher court; and kept the statistics 
 of the fighting force in his district, available for military 
 duty, to repel and punish Kaffir invasions. 
 
 In war times they were both liable to be deposed at 
 any period by a majority of the burghers of their com- 
 mand serving with the fighting force. It has been con- 
 tended that where the leader is the servant, successful 
 and aggressive military operations are impossible, and 
 that the ballot is no method of finding suitable officers, 
 that individual popularity would be liable to take the pre- 
 cedent, the justice of the peace would fail at the head 
 of a storming party, and, in an army where duty was 
 voluntary, the commandant that assigned the least 
 amount of work would continue in office. 
 
 In the earlier part of the war, when the true signifi- 
 cance of the struggle was yet dawning, some such condi- 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 tion may have existed. But that the Boer in the ranks 
 could discern his country's welfare is instanced by this 
 same system bringing to the surface Louis Botha, Chris- 
 tian De Wet, De la Rey, Ben Viljoen Theron, Brand 
 Hertzog, Kritzinger, Scheepers and other heroes too nu- 
 merous to mention. This system has also relegated to a 
 subordinate position many of high character, deficient 
 in the qualities essential to leadership, and in most cases, 
 without bitterness of feeling resulting. 
 
 Under the veldkornets we have the corporals, also, 
 chosen by ballot. These commanded from fifteen to 
 twenty-five men and were subject to reduction in the 
 same manner as their superiors. For instance, the popu- 
 larity of some individual corporal might increase his com- 
 mand, but the veldkomet must then of necessity inter- 
 vene by spliting the corporalship in twain. The corporal 
 who found his command waning in favor of others would 
 quietly drop his title and take his place in the ranks. 
 
 The corporals were responsible for picket duty, eacH 
 having to furnish a certain percentage of men, allotting 
 the duty as his view of justice prompted. For this reason 
 a willing cook was always exempt from duty beyond 
 camp, and certain unwarlike burghers saw no service but 
 were willing to take good care of those more inclined 
 to court the chances of the skirmish or battle-field. 
 
 The burgher was compelled by law to hold himself 
 continually in a prepared state to combat the hostilities 
 of the Kaffirs. For such service he had to be in posses- 
 sion at any and all times of a horse, saddle, rifle, bando- 
 lier and ammunition, with fourteen days provisions. He 
 also had to submit himself and equipment to periodical in- 
 spections by the Commandant of his district. The gun, 
 bandolier and ammunition were supplied by the govern- 
 ment and remained in the burghers' possession. So that 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 at the outbreak of this war every adult was fully armed 
 without encroaching on the reserve in the Pretoria 
 arsenal. The greater number were armed with Martini- 
 Henri's, preferring that rifle for the hunting of game. 
 But they were given the choice of turning it in to the 
 government and receiving a Mauser rifle in exchange, 
 an opportunity of which many availed themselves. 
 
 This was the formation of an army which has fathered 
 so many daring leaders and brought forth individual 
 deeds of heroism hard to equal. Without any military 
 fanfare or hopes of personal reward in medal or kind, a 
 man in a few months has sprung from a bullock whip 
 to a command, died without recognition, often without 
 burial. No record was kept of the steps he climbed or 
 the death he died, nothing but the consciousness of a 
 duty performed and the fond memory cherished by his 
 companions, many of whom followed his footsteps. 
 
 One of the first efforts at organization with the gov- 
 ernment was to make arrangements to feed and clothe 
 the families of the burghers too poor to leave them any 
 material support in money. Such an arrangement was 
 effected in a few days, relieving the men at the front 
 from any anxiety in connection with their kin. Any 
 family desiring, was able to draw rations sufficient for 
 their support, and further, receive free medical attend- 
 ance, and house room, all rents being canceled during 
 the war by special act of the Volksraad. 
 
 With the rumble of war in their ears and guided by 
 the distribution of the troops, the government began to 
 realize the size of the movement necessary to protect their 
 extensive borders nearly hemmed by British territory. 
 To assist in getting some order in the forces six addi- 
 tional generals were appointed to the threatened dis- 
 tricts. Hendrik Snyman joined Cronje's forces on the 
 
 6 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 western border; De la Rey, R. Lemmer and H. Schoe- 
 man went to the southwest border of the Orange Free 
 State and Sarel Du Toit took command of the Zoutspans- 
 berg district in the extreme northeast of the Transvaal 
 and General Grobler joined the forces on the border of 
 Natal. 
 
 After the time limit had elapsed for the reply to the 
 Republican note and the extreme hope of arbitration was 
 killed, the entire Boer forces took part in services where 
 the army solemnly prayed for success,, and the triumph 
 of right, with a short campaign. The laagers had been 
 prepared for an advance and the border was crossed at 
 three points simultaneously. Laings Nek, was guarded 
 on the west by Majuba Hill and on the east by Pogwani 
 heights, two rugged mountains which towered above the 
 Nek, (pass) and were both situated on British territory. 
 Laings Nek tunnel on the Natal government railroad was 
 between the hills, and the whole formed a most impor- 
 tant strategical position. 
 
 Almost immediately orders were given to mount a 155 
 millimeter Creusot siege gun on the crest of the Majuba 
 which is accepted as an engineering feat of some magni- 
 tude. This action demonstrates that the Boer military 
 leaders never contemplated the possibility of immediately 
 overrunning Northern Natal, or of the rapid withdrawal 
 of the British troops. The pass being on British territory, 
 its possession was considered vital to protect the level 
 stretch of prairie between the Natal border and Johan- 
 nesburg, a country, as they well knew, unsuited to the 
 protective warfare, they would be compelled to use 
 against superior numbers. 
 
 Proceeding cautiously along the route of the railroad, 
 the Federals felt their way toward Newcastle. The coun- 
 try, mountainous and broken, presented splendid oppor- 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 tunities to inflict a severe blow on a force straggling over 
 a bad road. But the information at this time was very 
 accurate, the Boer scouts and sympathizers passing 
 freely between the territory invaded and the RepubUcan 
 armies. 
 
 From the preparations made at the Hattingspruit sid- 
 ing and other advance posts it was evident the British had 
 intended to advance. It was therefore with surprise 
 and expectation that the Federals continuously occupied, 
 on the thirteenth, the small hamlets of Spitzkop, Charles- 
 town, and Ingogo without any opposition except the few 
 shots exchanged between the advance guards and the 
 British outposts as they fell back. 
 
 On the fourteenth, Newcastle was entered. A porticm 
 of the inhabitants fleeing hurriedly before this unexpected 
 invasion. They had the assurance from the British gen- 
 eral that they were not within the area likely to be 
 operated in, and were therefore seized with panic on the 
 appearance of their enemies, the force who were to 
 protect them falling back on Hattingspruit. A majority 
 of the residents remained, being demonstratively in favor 
 of the invaders, offering the tired men what hospitality 
 was within their power, and mounting the Republican 
 flag, the older men and women recalling the day it waved 
 undisputed over the same territory. 
 
 The weather was simply fearful, — either a drenching 
 rain or a steady drizzling mist. Very few fortunate ones 
 possessed a rain-coat and the inconvenience was consid- 
 erable. The commissariat with dry clothes and food was 
 far behind, making scarcely any progress. The creeks 
 were swollen and boggy, the roads were narrow and bad. 
 One broken or stalled vehicle would hold the train for 
 hours, until the delayed and impatient teamsters would 
 lift it bodily out of the narrow roadway and throw it 
 
 8 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 on the bank. The wagons of the different' commands 
 were separated and the men of other districts having 
 troubles of their own were chary of any aid to strangers, 
 and so paid no attention to a disconsolate crew sitting 
 in the rain upon their possessions, waiting for a wagon of 
 their own laager to re-load the now sodden mass from 
 the roadside. 
 
 There was no regulation as to condition of loads and 
 draught of the conveyances. Consequently these acci- 
 dents were frequent, and the army outmarched the camp 
 thirty miles in the first two days, which necessitated forty- 
 eight hours stay in Newcastle. In spite of being hungry 
 and wet through, there was no looting done in these 
 towns. Everything taken from the stores was paid for, 
 and the option of being under a roof was gratefully ac- 
 cepted. The entire transport arrived on the sixteenth, 
 and, regardless of weather, the saddlebags were filled 
 with available supplies. Then the army with the artillery 
 again pushed on, leaving the wagons to follow in their 
 own good time. 
 
 Ingagane was passed with no incident. But at Bester- 
 plaats on the eighteenth, the first determined resistance 
 was offered by a regiment of cavalry employed as 
 mounted infantry, and the guards on the railroad. 
 
 The Republicans, after a sharp skirmish, attempted to 
 surround the garrison, but they slipped away, leaving 
 the passage open to Danhauser, which village was reached 
 that night, and again there was a halt made for sup- 
 plies. The country continued of a broken character, but 
 was already showing- signs of becoming more open. The 
 hills were less rugged and the valleys wider, increasing 
 the mobility of both armies and transports. 
 
 Hattingspruit was occupied on the twentieth after a 
 second slight resistance. The British again fell back 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 and the Republican main column was knocking at the 
 door of Dundee, the advance post of the enemy, which 
 was known to be held in force with General Penn-Symons 
 in command. 
 
 The halt for the night in the Republican camp had 
 peculiar features. When the wagons arrived, the separate 
 laagers formed different camping grounds. Space and 
 convenience to water were more regarded than any order 
 or system of defence. Each burgher singled out the 
 wagon that carried his individual possessions, and as- 
 sisted, as the case might be, in either outspanning the 
 oxen or unharnessing the mules, which were then taken 
 by the Kaffir servant to water and grass. These natives 
 were attached to each wagon and their duty was to be 
 responsible for the safety and care of the work animals 
 in their charge. 
 
 The ridden horses were then released, the burgher 
 unsaddling close to his wagon in the spot he intended 
 to sleep. Every horse carried a halter with a rawhide 
 strap attached. One of his forelegs would be raised and 
 the strap securely fastened above the knee. With both 
 forefeet on the ground his neck was necessarily drawn 
 down, which position restrained him from walking fast 
 or running. This was called knee-haltering, and being 
 easier and more merciful than other methods, was gen- 
 erally used in South Africa, the hobble being rarely ap- 
 plied. It facilitated capture, although in no way inter- 
 fering with the liberty of the animal to eat or drink. A 
 burgher never rode more than three or four hours with- 
 out " offsaddling " to allow his horse to graze. Then 
 the kneehalter would be utilized to give both man and 
 beast the required freedom. 
 
 The horses disposed of, pots, pans and blankets were 
 unloaded, and the latter would be dried while a meal 
 
 lO 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 was in preparation. The veldt bake-oven or ant-heap, a 
 natural combustible, would be sought. After breaking 
 the top for a draught and placing lighted kindling in a 
 hole dug in the side, it would consume itself until the 
 dough was made, when the ashes were removed and 
 the bread placed in the cavity. By then stopping each 
 orifice, the oven was complete. Now they collected the 
 fuel to cook the meat and boil the water for the coffee, 
 and thus a simple meal was soon completed. After 
 withdrawing the bread a second batch was placed in the 
 oven for the following day, and the cares for the inner 
 man were over. 
 
 At dusk the Kaffirs returned with the stock, when the 
 oxen, mules and horses would be tied by rawhide thongs 
 to ropes drawn between adjacent wagons. The pickets 
 were then placed by the corporals, divine service was 
 held, fires allowed to die, and the laager retired to rest. 
 
 ^■f^ 
 
Chapter II 
 
 Dundee threatened— Talana Hill— Death of Penn-Symons— Arm- 
 istice— Khaki in war— Arrival of Erasmus— I mpati mountain- 
 Attacks in closed formation— Volley^fire— Retreat to Lady- 
 smith— Dundee— Defective time fuse — Capture of l8th Hus- 
 sars — The military spoils — Loot — Restitution — Ammunition, 
 Nickel, Dum-Dumand Soft nose,^— Official correspondence- 
 Plans of campaign — Use of natiws. 
 
 GENERAL KOCK who commanded the forces at 
 Botha's pass had outmarched the centre and 
 reached Elandslaagte with his advance guard, 
 on the nineteenth, where a provision train became an 
 easy capture. The train and railroad was then destroyed, 
 with the direct telegraph between Ladysmith and tlie 
 British force at Dundee. 
 
 The Orange Free State burghers, following the Harri- 
 smith-Ladysmith railroad, had driven in the outposts be- 
 tween this track and the Tugela river, and by defeating 
 the Natal Carbineers at Besters Station were threatening 
 Ladysmith on the west. 
 
 With General Kock between the two British garrisons, 
 General Lukas Meyer moving southwest from Jagers 
 Drift, and General Erasmus with the main column, fol- 
 lowing the railroad, laboriously, mile by mile from the 
 north, the position of the British forces at Dundee began 
 to look serious. 
 
 The Republican generals decided to make a simultane- 
 ous attack on the garrison with the entire converging 
 forces, each to attack on the side his force threatened, 
 and General Meyer following this arrangement took 
 possession of Talana hill northeast of the town. This 
 hill was about 400 feet above the valley and of a 
 rugged, broken nature. About half way up there was a 
 
 12 
 
THE MOBILE' BOER 
 
 stratum ot rock forming a separate crest or terrace, which, 
 while giving the Republicans a second line of defence to 
 repel the assault, blanketed the fire from the summit. 
 
 The mist was very thick, covering the movements of 
 the opposing forces. The Republicans being numerically 
 weak, were unable to defend the entire area, and the 
 British succeeded in effecting a lodgement on the ter- 
 race. On the side stormed, the plateau had a farm-house 
 with a grove of trees below it. Again above the farm 
 a stone wall ran laterally. It was to this wall the burgh- 
 ers retreated on losing the first crest. But the Imperialists 
 with the aid of the trees and farm outhouses again suc- 
 ceeded in forcing the Federal position, which then re- 
 treated to the top of the mountain, determined to contest 
 it to the last, in the hope of the reinforcements arriving 
 from the other columns, to engage the enemy in the rear. 
 
 The Republican Vicker's Maxim had been placed hors 
 de combat by the artillery fire and Lieutenant Du Toit 
 in charge, severely injured, receiving no fewer than 
 eleven shrapnel and two rifle wounds. But strange to 
 relate, although crippled for life, he actually survived. 
 
 The ammunition for the three field guns became ex- 
 hausted, leaving the burghers no resource but their rifles 
 with which to stem the surging tide of British advance. 
 So effectual was this fire that the attacking force was 
 staggered and, it seemed, at one time, would be annihi- 
 lated. At the wall, which alone afforded suitable protec- 
 tion. General Penn-Symons could be plainly seen while he 
 delivered his orders, and encouraged his men. When it 
 is remembered that the sword, the certain death-warrant 
 of the British officer in this war had not yet been dis- 
 carded, it is no wonder that he fell. But the burghers 
 soon realized that without artillery it was beyond human 
 power to hold the brow of the hill against the terrible 
 
 13 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 rain of shrapnel showered on them, and after a final 
 heroic but unsuccessful effort to dislodge the troops at 
 the wall, they evacuated the most advanced points, leav- 
 ing not only the coveted position in possession of the 
 enemy, but a clear right of way to the top. 
 
 The successor of Penn-Symons sent in a flag of truce 
 to Lukas Meyer with a demand to surrender, which was 
 declined. But being without ammunition, despairing of 
 the promised reinforcements, and also shocked at his 
 heavy losses, he submitted a counter proposal, embrac- 
 ing a twenty-four hours' armistice, to enable him to bury 
 his dead, which the British accepted conditionally on his 
 withdrawing across the Buffalo river. 
 
 Of retiring dispositions and extremely sensitive 
 natures, these devoutly Christian farmers were by their 
 early training eminently fitted for war, yet unwarlike 
 withal. They had a horror of anything which implied 
 the abandonment of their dead to the enemy. There is 
 not the least shadow of doubt that these, to us mistaken 
 ideas of humanity, were responsible for a number of 
 grievous disasters. Almost any advantage would be con- 
 ceded so long as they were permitted to recover their 
 beloved fallen ones, and a perfect knowledge of this 
 Boer trait, call it weakness or virtue as you prefer, of 
 which General Joubert was at once the disciple and the 
 embodiment, enabled General White, commander at Lady- 
 smith to snatch many a fresh lease of life, without which 
 he must surely have succumbed, and that could not have 
 failed to have been the case had he been opposed by a 
 combatant who was more of a soldier than a Christian. 
 
 This was the first severe engagement of the war and 
 the burghers gave promise of maintaining their past 
 prowess. Fighting deliberately without emotion, coolly 
 adjusting the sights of their rifles, and aiming carefully 
 
 14 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 they contested every position until it became utterly hope- 
 less, when they would fall back to the first available cover 
 to again assume the defensive. In this battle, in which 
 the Republicans sustained a loss of thirty-seven killed and 
 ninety-six wounded, many splendid exhibitions of hero- 
 ism were displayed. A notable instance being that of 
 th-; tragic end of the two commandants of the Wakker- 
 stroom commando, Jan Uys, son of the old pioneer war- 
 rior, Piet Uys, and Hendrik Slabbert, both veterans of the 
 first war of independence in '8i, who wounded and bleed- 
 ing at the defence of the wall, and unable to walk, refused 
 to be carried away, preferring to die fighting with their 
 guns in their hands. With jaws set and eyes fixed on 
 the advancing infantry they lay together, shooting un- 
 flinchingly, until, riddled with bullets and incapable of 
 further resistance, they received the coup de grace of the 
 bayonet. 
 
 The burghers deplored that they suffered a tremendous 
 disadvantage from the difficulty with which the British 
 in his khaki uniform was distinguished from the red- 
 brown color of the stones, ground and grass. It was 
 remarked that even the field guns, ammunition wagons 
 and maxims were disguised in the cloak of this incon- 
 venient and practically invisible color. Very few realize, 
 and it is doubtful whether even the enemy conceived the 
 extent of the tremendous advantage in their favor, in 
 both moving troops by stealth or at night, and more im- 
 portant still, its effect on the sum total of their losses. 
 From our own experience in the field we modestly hazard 
 the opinion that, had England's soldiers been uniformed 
 in this war as they had been in past wars, the history of 
 Lord Roberts' march and General Buller's campaigns 
 would have formed entirely different reading to that 
 which we now attempt to record. 
 
 15 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 That night Erasmus arrived too late to be of any as- 
 sistance, the reason of his delay being given as the diffi- 
 culty he experienced in crossing the fords with his guns. 
 Taking possession of Impati mountain he went into 
 bivouac, the army thoroughly weary with the continu- 
 ous labor of helping the artillery through the swollen 
 creeks. 
 
 The British moved their camp to protect themselves 
 from this newly threatened danger, but in the morning 
 the Federals again took possession of Talana hill, and 
 after a six hours attempt of the enemy to dislodge them, 
 the attack was abandoned, and the British fell back on 
 the slope southeast of Dundee, having 500 dead and 
 wounded as a result of the two days operations. 
 
 They had attempted the storming of the hills by ad- 
 vancing in close order and they met a fire so withering 
 and concentrated that they utterly failed in reaching an 
 effective position. All their fire was in volleys, and for 
 the most part harmless. The burghers would remain 
 concealed until the volley was fired, when quickly rising 
 at the sound, they reappeared the instant the danger was 
 past to pour an accurate and deadly stream of independent 
 fire into the British infantry, who, incapable of taking 
 advantage of the natural cover, stood in parade order. 
 The front rank reclined, the second knelt, and the third 
 stood erect, broken only by the gaps made by the ap- 
 palling fire. 
 
 The burghers lost but few men under these conditions, 
 while the English loss was heavy. To these farmers, who 
 are naturally of a gentle disposition and willing to take 
 advantage of every cover for their own personal protec- 
 tion, the idea of any discipline that would force men to 
 become victims of such a mistaken system seemed suici- 
 dal. 
 
 16 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 The English under General Yule slipped away that 
 night over Sunday river in full retreat to Ladysmith, 
 leaving the tents standing, table spread, dead unburied, 
 also deserting their wounded and vast quantities of gov- 
 ernment stores in the railroad yard, including two en- 
 gines, rolling stock, and fully equipped machine-shops. 
 The burghers cared for the wounded and buried the dead 
 among whom was General Penn-Symons, who was buried 
 in the folds of the Union Jack and otherwise received the 
 honors befitting his rank. 
 
 A pathetic incident of this battle was the discovery of 
 an unopened telegram addressed to the dead general 
 from his wife, in which she congratulated him upon the 
 victory the English had already cabled to London. With 
 deep feeling. General Joubert was among the first to 
 cable the news of her husband's death to the bereaved 
 wife. In his message he offered his sincere condolences 
 and paid a Christian tribute to the honor of the dead 
 man. 
 
 There were the usual incidents necessary to an un- 
 trained and undisciplined army in action for the first 
 time. Whole commandos were lost or failed to take the 
 position assigned to them, Christian Joubert, grand- 
 nephew of the commandant-general, with nine of his 
 companions became separated from their command, in 
 the mist. The topography of the country was unknown 
 to them, and while dashing wildly through a short sluit 
 they ran into a body of British infantry, preparing to 
 storm Impati mountain. They were immediately made 
 prisoners and disarmed, then tied by one hand to the 
 ammunition wagon of the maxim, and forced to accom- 
 pany it on a run to every position it occupied. To add 
 to their discomfort their suspenders were even cut, and 
 to be able to keep up with the gun, they were compelled 
 
 17 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 to hold up their breeches with their free hands, and they 
 were stimulated in their efforts by the butts of the guns 
 in the hands of their captors, who thought no abuse was 
 too severe for these unfortunate prisoners who belonged 
 to a race that dared to administer reverses to the " finest 
 army on earth." Fortunately, the maxim was captured 
 by the Boers and the men released. An officer, incensed 
 at the loss, galloped back toward the prisoners apparently 
 to despatch them, but as he pointed his pistol a stray 
 bullet shattered his arm, and with a curse he rode after 
 his fleeing companions. The bruises on the backs and 
 shoulders of Joubert and the others bore eloquent testi- 
 mony that their treatment had been as brutal as the 
 most pronounced canon of the doctrine of war could 
 defend. 
 
 If General Erasmus had forced an advance after the 
 British fell back, their demoralization was so complete 
 that he could not have failed to cut off their retreat and 
 capture their entire force. But in consideration of the 
 condition of misery to which the burghers had been re- 
 duced by hunger and wet, he failed to push the advantage, 
 and General Yule escaped without vigorously effective 
 pursuit. 
 
 The Boers formed their camp close to the river and 
 man and beast got some sadly needed rest. The first 
 burst of sunshine during the campaign partly dried the 
 ground and relieved, with a ray of warmth, the aching 
 bones and sodden exterior of the over-taxed forces who 
 alternated eating with foraging excursions to the late 
 British camp and Dundee. 
 
 In this engagement few of the shells used by the Boers 
 exploded, the time-fuse being defective and breaking on 
 discharge of the gun. This fault was not remedied until 
 the following February, making a difference in the 
 
 i8 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 mortality of the enemy that cannot be easily exaggerated. 
 It occurred in all the ammunition of the Krupp seventy- 
 five millimetre and the 155 millimetre Creusot, with a 
 consistency causing a suspicion of design as the ammuni- 
 tion of the seventy-five millimeter Creusot was free from 
 this defect. 
 
 A body of 260 British cavalry from Dundee com- 
 posed of the Eighteenth Hussars and mounted in- 
 fantry, under Colonel MoUer, had been sent out to 
 reconnoitre on the first day's battle of Talana hill. 
 Passing through the gap which General Erasmus was 
 supposed to have occupied and missing the Boer main 
 column, they wandered to the east and became com- 
 pletely lost in the rain, until discovered four miles in the 
 rear of the Boer advance by the ambulance under Dr. 
 Van der Merve attached to the Vryheid Commando. A 
 few burghers who had straggled back to the rear in 
 search of food suddenly found themselves surrounded 
 and captured, among whom was a lawyer of Pretoria 
 named Burger. Others however, eluded their pursuers 
 bringing the intelligence of this unexpected menace, and 
 the indignities suffered by the doctor at the hands of the 
 English colonel, who besides being grossly insulting 
 thrust one of the ambulance horses through the neck with 
 his sabre, and when asked if he had no regard for the 
 Red Cross, blurted out : " D the Red Cross ! " 
 
 Volunteers were hurriedly collected, and, led by young 
 De la Rey of Krugersdorp, who, by his daring called 
 forth the praise of his comrades, a splendid encircling 
 movement was soon in progress. The hussars kept shift- 
 ing from one elevation to another but finally losing their 
 maxim, became panicky, abandoning their ammunition 
 cart with the prisoners which had been previously tied 
 thereto, and retreated pell-mell to a stone sheep-kraal on 
 
 19 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 the slope of a hill, exposing themselves to a fire from both 
 the top and the front. 
 
 Colonel Trichardt of the Staats Artillerie had ordered 
 a gun rapidly from the front, and placing three well- 
 directed shells in the kraal, soon brought about for the 
 first time in this war the hoisting of the white flag, and 
 surrender of what was to form the nucleus of a very 
 large and rapidly increasing colony of EngUsh prisoners 
 at Pretoria. 
 
 The ground on which this encounter occurred was al- 
 most perfectly level, and notwithstanding De la Rey's 
 followers did not exceed forty, they gave an exhibition 
 of fighting skill worthy of the best traditions of their 
 fathers, and left no doubt of their abiUty to more than 
 hold their own under any condition which did not place 
 them at too great a disadvantage in regard to numbers. 
 De la Rey was himself wounded twice, yet kept on fight- 
 ing, and one of his men was killed and two more slightly 
 wounded. 
 
 On the twenty-fourth. General Yule, with the retreat- 
 ing column, effected a junction with General White in 
 Ladysmith, having made an extraordinary march. 
 Tramping through mud, night and day, on short rations 
 he accomplished with his exhausted troops the distance of 
 fifty miles in about forty hours, and the world was 
 startled by a cable report of a great British victory. 
 
 From the quantities of supplies and ammunition there 
 can be no doubt that this was a disaster the British never 
 anticipated. Ladysmith was the original base, but Gen- 
 eral White evidently regarded Dundee as safe a depot, 
 and army supplies of every description were stacked in 
 vast blocks covering two acres of ground. Hospitals and 
 bakeries had been built, and further store houses were 
 in course of erection at Hattingspruit, ten miles north of 
 
 20 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 Glencoe, where engineers had graded seven extra side 
 tracks six hundred yards long, bordered by the sheds 
 under construction. This unfinished work was seen as 
 the Federals advanced from Newcastle, and was one of 
 the sinister threats which precluded all doubt of the in- 
 tentions of the British government if they had been per- 
 mitted to complete their plan of operation. The evacu- 
 ated camp of the British at Dundee was evidence of 
 their altered views and sudden decision to leave. All 
 their tents were standing, or lying on the ground with 
 the guy ropes cut. Pots and kettles with food in various 
 degrees of preparation were still in the kitchens. Cots 
 and blankets were tumbled by their recent occupants, as 
 they had arisen to obey the order of retreat. Uniforms 
 and dress swords still hung to the tent poles, or lay by, 
 open and hastily ransacked kits. Baths in the officers' 
 quarters were filled ready for morning use and the thou- 
 sand and one knick-knacks gathered by soldiers in perma- 
 nent camp, as mirrors, photographs, and private corre- 
 spondence of soldiers yet unweaned from the gaiety of 
 their home barrack life and its attendant amours, were 
 scattered in the wreck, everything pointing to the fact 
 that they had considered personal safety foremost with- 
 out thought of the numerous articles of value or of as- 
 sociation which they had abandoned. 
 
 The foreign element saw their first opportunity to loot 
 something legitimately belonging to the enemy, and some 
 of their Boer companions, unable to resist the view of 
 wealth and splendor in the officers' quarters, ran him a 
 close second. They would fondle a full-dress uniform 
 in all its glittering burnishments with a delight and 
 reverence almost childlike. 
 
 After the novelties of the camp had been exhausted 
 every store or abandoned house was broken open and men 
 
 21 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 were carrying the most unpractical plunder in form of 
 silver trays, heavy marble clocks, and ornamental chairs 
 or bolts of silk for the home folk, articles impossible to 
 preserve with an army on the march and many of them 
 were discarded by the roadside going to camp, the 
 burgher, either becoming conscious of his greed or weary 
 of carrying the articles on horseback. One burgher more 
 practical than his brethren brought his wagon which he 
 loaded with cooking stoves and bicycles, and headed im- 
 mediately for home and the Transvaal with his load. 
 
 Some few found the canteens all they desired, but this 
 proportion was small and consisted principally of for- 
 eigners, intoxication or excess not being a trait in the 
 national character of these farmers. Jewelry stores found 
 the same fate, and as their goods were easily portable, 
 these stores furnished all the loot of any practical value 
 to the looter with the exception of the clean dry change 
 we all succeeded in effecting in our clothes and what we 
 took to eat. 
 
 On the arrival of General Joubert, he insisted on the 
 restitution of all the property confiscated and finally get- 
 ting control of the more lawless spirits, much of the 
 more unpractical stuff was returned. The burghers, satis- 
 fied with their smaller articles of value, internal refresh- 
 ments, and clothing, returned to camp to revel in the 
 abundance of luxuries in food now available. Char- 
 acteristic of the people, this looting was not indulged 
 in by the majority, and afterward it was used as a re- 
 proach that this, or that burgher had some articles taken 
 in this raid, and had failed to return them on command 
 of the commandant-general. 
 
 With the spoils which fell to the Republicans was a 
 vast quantity of ammunition nmning into millions of 
 rounds, including not less than 500,000 of the Dum- 
 
 22 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 Dum species, known officially as Mark III, and Mark 
 IV. The remainder and greatest amount consisted 
 of the plain nickel-coated bullet, otherwise called Mark 
 II. They were all stamped at Woolwich arsenal, Eng- 
 land, with the British government mark, the " Arrow- 
 point," leaving no doubt from whence they came. Lee- 
 Metford rifles, the weapons necessary to make them ef- 
 fective were also conspicuous by the number stacked or 
 lying scattered about, sufficient to arm at least one regi- 
 ment. 
 
 The use of this ammunition bearing the British gov- 
 ernment stamp caused a good deal of comment and not 
 a little protest, from its original manufacturers and own- 
 ers, who entirely ignored the facts of its earlier history. 
 For the first time the burghers were brought face to face 
 with the terrible actual Dum-Dum in battle. They had 
 heard many weird stories of its slaying power, but not 
 until now did they fully comprehend the cruelty in- 
 flicted by it. Like ordinary human beings they loudly 
 denounced their enemies, and with the picture vividly 
 before them of torn bodies and shattered limbs, clamored 
 to be supplied with this frightful agent of death. Some 
 bolder than others, particularly relatives of the slain ones, 
 raided the supply over which guards had been mounted, 
 but for the most part they were restrained by the late 
 commandant-general, and beyond a few hundreds of 
 rounds thus looted, none of this ammunition reached the 
 burghers from government sources. 
 
 From the very casual reference to the effect of the 
 Dum-Dum on the human body, the reader may form a 
 remote idea of the scene and sufferings which followed 
 Lord Kitchener's march to Khartoum, the worse when it 
 is remembered that this little inhuman agent of death 
 was invented for the special benefit of the Khalifa's 
 
 23 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 chosen followers, and almost solely used and also that 
 the fanatic dervishes attacked in huge massed bodies, 
 that were mowed down by the thousands. 
 
 Of the ammunition used in the Mauser, (Federal) 
 rifle, but not of the regular kind for war purposes, was 
 the sporting " soft-nose," nickel-base, lead-tipped bullet. 
 Some of these had been sold to the burghers for shoot- 
 ing game before the war, by the government who retained 
 in their own hands the sole monopoly for firearms 
 et cetera. Now and then one of these cartridges, would 
 come to light at the front, but the use of them was dis- 
 countenanced and the number floating around must have 
 been very limited. 
 
 Among the captured matter at Dundee were the Britisli 
 war-office surveys of the Republics, with notes of the 
 most accessible method of reaching Pretoria with troops. 
 This report was made in '95, the year prior to the 
 Jameson raid. The Free-State route which was finally 
 taken by Lord Roberts was favored, with garrisons to 
 be left in Northern Natal, and fortifications at Laings 
 Nek. This document plainly indicated the aggressive 
 policy of the British government at that early date. 
 
 Telegraph despatches from the war office in London 
 were also found, authorizing the use of Basuto natives 
 as armed scouts who were to receive a dollar and a 
 quarter a day. This is the first official record of the use 
 of natives against the burghers, although unblushingly 
 admitted at a later date. 
 
 Among the other papers disclosed was one (labeled 
 " secret report ") by Sir J. C. Ardagh, June 1899. It was 
 a compilation of the resources of the Republics of that 
 day. The itemized list of artillery was fairly correct, the 
 small arms and ammunition was underestimated. It gave 
 
 24 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 the " utmost available force at the disposal of the Re- 
 publics at 33,500 including rebels from the Cape Colony 
 and mercenaries." 
 
 It is probable that the Federals in December, 1899, 
 had 40,000 men either carrying arms on the different 
 borders, or employed in commissary, transport, railroad 
 service, telegraph, hospitals, or in guarding railroads and 
 prisoners. 
 
 It is true that many men of over sixty years of age 
 and boys under sixteen were doing the less fatiguing 
 duties of guards, to enable the more capable to see to the 
 fighting lines, thereby increasing the numbers, but many 
 old patriots between the ages of sixty and seventy, 
 veterans of former wars, scorned to be relegated to the 
 past and they could be found in the van of the conflict, 
 surrounded by sons and grandsons, encouraging with 
 their example the more timorous. 
 
 The report accounts for the use of this force of 33,500 
 by S,ooo to garrison Johannesburg, and "overawe the 
 Uitlanders," and " 6,200 to garrison Pretoria and sur- 
 rounding country." 
 
 The Transvaal government released these forces by 
 sending most of the British and recalcitrant foreigners 
 over the border before or immediately after the com- 
 mencement of hostilities. The few British subjects per- 
 mitted to remain by petition in the interests of banks, 
 mines and commercial firms were easily handled by a 
 special body of police organized to protect property among 
 the neutral foreign element, who for personal reasons 
 had decided to remain in the cities during the war. It 
 is not part of the British character to be aggressive when 
 in the minority, or subject to reprisals, but if any of the 
 few remaining became obstreperous or indiscreet accord- 
 
 25 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 ing to their temperament, they were put over the border 
 by order of the officials in charge of the government of 
 the town in which they resided. 
 
 This report further states that the Boers were mostly 
 armed with Martini-Henri rifles, using smoke (black) 
 powder, and that the attempt to popularize the Mauser 
 had failed, the burgher having discarded it on account of 
 the small calibre, and the barrels bursting on discharge 
 of the cartridge. 
 
 It also said that there were but 27,000 Mausers in the 
 arsenal, giving the impression that this constituted the 
 entire small-arm armament, when it was not the case, 
 every burgher being fully armed at all times of peace and 
 war. 
 
 It was alleged that the Federal artillery was inferior 
 to the British in " personnel and material," an illusion 
 dispelled in less than a week from the commencement of 
 hostilities. 
 
 The 155 Millimetre (six inch) Creusots were reported 
 as old-fashioned and unsuitable for traveling over roads, 
 and in his deductions Sir J. Ardagh writes " It appears 
 certain that after a serious defeat they will be too de- 
 ficient in discipline and organization to make any fur- 
 ther real stand. The London National Review of April, 
 1900, points out the errors of this report already demon- 
 strated to all who investigated, and by this time all the 
 civilized world knows of the Boers' power to remobilize 
 a defeated and partially demoralized force. 
 
 Napoleon the first is reported to have said that a third 
 mobilization of a defeated army was impossible. He 
 probably knew Europe but his observation did not em- 
 brace or contemplate these hardy, intrepid farmers of 
 South Africa. 
 
 26 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 The British statisticians had estimated the entire cost 
 of the war at $45,000,000, which at this period needs no 
 comment. 
 
 27 
 
Chapter III 
 
 Ela'ndslaagte— Liquor and war— Destruction of, railroad— Wash- 
 bank— Long Tom— Review of forces— Forei^ers— Trials of 
 the government — Contrabands of war — Republican artillery — 
 _^ British Natal force— Cronje at l^afeking— Col. Plumer— Kim- 
 "berly besieged — Mobility of iieavy artillery — Mounting and 
 moving guns — Traction engines. 
 
 WHILE these events were transpiring at Dun- 
 dee, General Kock had outdistanced his 
 transport to Elandslaagte with a mixed force 
 of 750 burghers, and foreign volunteers. The character 
 of the country had changed from continuous short, sharp 
 ravines divided by broken ranges of rugged hills, into the 
 more open country surrounding the valleys through which 
 the Klip river and Tugela wend their tortuous courses. 
 Large fertile flats were interspersed between the divides 
 and the offensive and defensive positions for a small force 
 were fewer, but proportionately accessible for attack by 
 greater numbers. 
 
 This command at Elandslaagte was in possession of 
 the railroad and the range of low broken hills to the 
 east of the depot. It was imperative for General White 
 to reestablish railroad communications with Dundee. 
 On October 21, General French commanding the 
 cavalry, made a sortie from Ladysmith towards the 
 camp, but when he ascertained the Boers were in posses- 
 sion of the ridges overlooking the depot, he declined to 
 give battle without being reinforced. The infantry were 
 despatched from Ladysmith by rail for his support, and 
 were disembarked under cover of a railway cutting close 
 to the depot, which the Boers had now abandoned for the 
 higher ground. 
 
 28 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 The British force, by this addition approximated 
 6,000 men, and their artillery became engaged with 
 the Boer Krupp gun at 4,000 yards, but the ad- 
 vent of reinforcements having delayed the attack until 
 three o'clock, there was but a limited time of daylight, 
 and to effect his object, French was therefore com- 
 pelled to force the fighting. The Scot ch regiment of 
 Gordon Highianders making the charge,, lost heavily, 
 but succeeding in the face of the fire both of small arms 
 and Vicker's maxims in forcing the position about dark, 
 when the ^^ancers were^esjabled to charge the camp, and 
 earn their boasted synonym of " pig-stickers," by killing 
 the wounded; a significant fact being that none of the 
 Boer dead recovered by their countrymen, who had died 
 from sabre or lance wounds, but were also wounded 
 with rifles. As there was no British rifle fire during 
 the cavalry charge, they must have been shot before 
 being despatched by the Lancers. 
 
 Many harrowing tales could be affixed, made under 
 affidavit of eye-witnesses, who lay still until able to save 
 themselves by crawling away in the darkness. But as 
 the British have boasted of this exploit through their own 
 papers and received the approbation of their countrymen, 
 affidavits would seem commonplace and useless. 
 
 General Kock, the Republican commander was mor- 
 tally wounded, and Dr. Coster, one of the most brilliant 
 and promising naturalized sons of the Republic, also 
 lost his life. French captured two maxim Vickers-Nor- 
 denfeldts, or Pom-poms, a fifteen pound Krupp, with 
 183 prisoners, moatly. frireigpers, among these being 
 Colonel SKieXcommander of the German corps. Were 
 it not irrelevant many facts might also be written of the 
 ill-treatment of prisoners after surrender, by the soldiery 
 and populace while en route to the coast. 
 
 29 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 The major portion of the Boers when they saw defeat 
 was certain, got safely away under their leader Com- 
 mandant Ben Viljoen. It was lack of this foresight then 
 and for the whole period of the war which caused so 
 heavy a mortality among the foreign volunteers. The 
 burghers recognize quickly an overpowering weight 
 against them, and when overwhelmed, to avoid death or 
 capture, wisely leave, and it is this gift that has made 
 them such a formidable antagonist to conquer. The 
 foreigner with visions of chivalry and past national glory 
 remains, and as a defeated minority loses his life or liberty 
 and power of future offensiveness. 
 
 Commandant Viljoen, wounded in the foot and alone 
 in a strange country, became lost during the night. Find- 
 ing a farmhouse, he called to inquire the way, then 
 the occupants, three Johannesburg Englishmen at once 
 recognized the commander, and in their desire to make 
 the capture, foolishly attempted to pull him from his 
 horse, resulting in the death of one and the wounding 
 of another. Riding further he fortunately encountered a 
 Kaffir kraal where the Zulu occupants directed him back 
 to the main column marching from Dundee. The scattered 
 and escaping members of his command filed in by small 
 parties the entire day, until the fact was manifested 
 that the Boers had suffered but slight loss in comparison 
 to their foreign comrades. 
 
 General French, probably on account of the news from 
 Dundee and the threatened condition of Ladysmith from 
 the west by the Orange Free State under Commandant 
 Prinsloo, retired on Ladysmith with a loss of 254 killed 
 and wounded besides leaving many of his dead on the 
 field. Although the object of his sortie to reestablish 
 communications with Glencoe was abortive, it did not 
 prevent another glowing account of a British success 
 
 130 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 against overwhelming odds, being cabled to England for 
 home consumption. The Republicans immediately re- 
 occupied the field and gathering their fallen dead they 
 gave them a soldier's funeral. 
 
 Unfortunately on the provision train, captured at 
 Elandslaagte by the Republicans, there had been a car 
 of barreled beer, whisky and canteen rum. The foreign 
 element on the eve of the battle had indulged a little too 
 freely in the use of these luxuries, and although the^ con- 
 stant rain and soaked condition of the imbibers was 
 excuse enough for the excess, it was inclined to warp 
 their judgment of the time when they had had sufficient 
 and was a circumstance to be regretted by themselves 
 and deeply deplored by their adopted countrymen. 
 
 At the arrival of the Republicans at Dundee they had 
 repaired the railroad in the rear, but were still destroy- 
 ing it in advance to the south. The generals could not 
 believe but this hurried retreat of British was a trap, and 
 in the entire advance to Ladysmith they wrecked the 
 railroad after it came into their possession. They could 
 not grasp their success, always expecting to be forced 
 back to Laings Nek, and they continued to destroy the 
 bridges, knowing that they would lose their convoy of 
 wagons in the anticipated flight if the British possessed 
 the railroad. By these timid tactics they lost days in the 
 ultimate investment of Ladysmith, but the idea was so 
 firmly rooted; that the meanest burgher would impress 
 on you the idea, that the occupation of Natal was only 
 temporary. Now the railroad had to be repaired north 
 of Dundee to remove the vast quantities of captured 
 stores at that place, to Pretoria, but no effort was, how- 
 ever attempted to rebuild the railroad between Glencoe 
 and Ladysmith, until the complete and effectual invest- 
 ment of that town was insured, the army being put to 
 
 31 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 great inconvenience and delays by the enforced use of 
 bullock teams. 
 
 Again on the twenty-fourth, General White made a 
 further demonstration in force to check the Republicans 
 advancing from the north, and to enable General Yule 
 with the Dundee garrison to effect their escape. He ad- 
 vanced towards Elandslaagte but encountered the van 
 of the Boer army at Washbank where a thousand men 
 checked his further progress holding him at bay for half 
 a day. Yule, minus his provision wagons which the safety 
 of his army led him to abandon, arrived in Ladysmith. 
 White then considered his object achieved and with a 
 loss of a hundred killed and wounded retired on his base 
 leaving to the Boers, who had suffered sixteen casualties 
 for the day, the possession of the field. 
 
 The Republicans now began to spread through and 
 overrun the country and a command had overpowered 
 the small British garrison at Pomeroy and forced Gen- 
 eral White's right wing to also take refuge in Lady- 
 smith. The entire English army in northern Natal was 
 thus concentrated in the town without an outpost. The 
 next five days were occupied by the Federals converging 
 to Ladysmith, their objective point, and on the twenty- 
 ninth they formed an arc of i8o degrees to the north of 
 the town, having fortified positions within artillery range 
 of the British camp. 
 
 The six inch Creusot brought forward from Laings 
 Nek arrived that night, overcoming tremendous difficul- 
 ties caused by the destruction of the railroad and the en- 
 forced transportation by wagon. The heavy gun at- 
 tached to forty span of oxen would sink in the mire to 
 the axle. The gun was unrecognizable from its coat- 
 ing of mud and the wheels were solid discs of clay but 
 accompanied by 200 men, aiding the bullocks with hand 
 
 32 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 ropes, it safely reached the camp in time to be cleaned 
 and mounted on Pepworth Hill ready for the engage- 
 ment that followed the next day. 
 
 It would be as well to review the comparative strength 
 of the opposing forces at this time. The Republics from 
 figures of the veldkornets of the twenty-five districts in 
 the Transvaal had registered 25,410 male adults between 
 the ages of sixteen and fifty. The Orange Free State 
 with nineteen districts registered 14,834 under the same 
 conditions, or a combined registered total of 40,244. 
 This was supposed to represent the number of men liable 
 for service in local wars with natives, or other enemies 
 of their country, but it hardly gave an estimate of the 
 forces engaged in this war, on account of the numbers 
 of burghers over and under the age limit, supplemented 
 by the lame, the halt and the blind, who did duty in the 
 field or relieved others from the thousand and one duties 
 which the presence of war had entailed on the govern- 
 ment. 
 
 The prisoners and railroads were entirely guarded by 
 men whose age and infirmities made campaigning im- 
 possible, or boys so young they were shorter than their 
 weapons, with the aid lent by foreigners who were will- 
 ing to do this duty for their support until a more pros- 
 perous era arrived. 
 
 The 40,000 was fully 5,000 short of the number that 
 rendered service to the two states in a more or less de- 
 gree. In consequence of a faulty system of registration 
 in the field and the absence of discipline it was difficult 
 to form a correct estimate of the forces serving at one 
 time with the army and the numbers quietly resting on 
 their farms. Many wild guesses have been made but 
 the greatest ever on the fighting line was probably in 
 
 33 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 January, 1900, when the repeated efforts of the British 
 to break the cordon was taxing every resource of the 
 RepubHcs to maintain their defensive, and the govern- 
 ment by putting forth strenuous efforts must have suc- 
 ceeded in placing 36,000 to 38,000 men bearing arms on 
 their vast boundaries, this force being composed of the 
 burghers of the states, colonial Afrikanders and for- 
 eigners who had espoused the cause. 
 
 Howard Hillegas, special war-correspondent of the 
 New York World, in his book " Boers in War " says 
 that from the best information at hand in Pretoria with 
 the aid of the government, and the correspondents, John 
 Knight of the San Francisco Call, Thomas Millard of 
 the New York Herald, and Douglas Story of the London 
 Daily Mail, the Boers had at no time over 30,000 men 
 fighting, but we are inclined to think this a little below 
 the estimate. 
 
 The-best. figures on the foreigners -sersdng—with-the 
 Republicans are bound to be only approximate, but these 
 would be very close. 
 
 Americans 300 
 
 Irish 500 
 
 Germans 750 
 
 French 150 
 
 Russian , 60 
 
 Scandinavian 175 
 
 Hollanders 1 600 
 
 Italians and Greeks 200 
 
 Cape Colony and Natal Afrikanders 6,000 
 
 These were chiefly under commanders of their own 
 nationality, they were before the war, residents of the 
 country and had enlisted in the army without pay, to 
 prove their appreciation and endorsement of the country 
 
 34 
 

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 1 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 which had furnished them a profitable living in peace for 
 the years that they had resided under the governments 
 of the Republics. They have been called mercenaries by 
 the British, but there was no time of the war but that 
 remunerative positions were available to them on the 
 mines worked by the government, which offers they re- 
 peatedly declined, preferring to take the chances of war 
 in vindication of their principles. 
 
 At the time of the utmost mobilization the railroad 
 service was complete and every department of a gov- 
 ernment compelled to rely on its own resources was in 
 perfect harmonious working order. They successfully 
 operated the coal mines and lead mines in the Transvaal 
 with the non-combatant miners remaining in the Repub- 
 lics and even found labor to restart some of the gold- 
 mines on the Witwatersrand in their own interest. In 
 this manner 220,000 ounces were extracted making it 
 possible to pay in gold for all shipment of merchandise 
 brought through Lorenzo Marques consisting principally 
 of sugar, coffee and flour for which they paid exorbitant 
 prices, fearing through the known influence of the British 
 at Lisbon to lose even this, their one port for articles not 
 under the head of contrabands of war. 
 
 Both of the South African Republics ordered further 
 artillery when the war seemed inevitable, but by England 
 mobilizing their reserves and taking a threatening posi- 
 tion on their frontiers, it was impossible to await its 
 arrival and the issue was forced before the guns were 
 delivered. Necessarily the Republic^ did without them, 
 those already shipped returning on the vessels of the 
 country from which they were bought. This did not 
 prevent many fables of the shipment of cannon and am- 
 munition through the Portuguese territory during the 
 war, but they can safely be set aside. The utmost con- 
 
 35 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 traband was probably a case of shoes, which would get 
 through after being many times bought from each Portu- 
 guese who was fortunate enough to have it pass through 
 his hands, or possibly a few volunteers with their per- 
 sonal arms who bribed these same officials and appeared 
 in Pretoria in all the glory of a self-designed uniform that 
 would grace a secret order, but of suicidal tendencies in 
 modern war. 
 Of artillery the Transvaal possessed on October ii : 
 
 4 Creusots, 155 millimetre. 
 
 4 Krupp Howitzers, 12 centimetre (mobile siege guns). 
 I Muzzle loading mortar, 15 centimetre. 
 4 Krupp (quick fire), 37 millimetre. 
 4 Creusot (quick fire), 75 millimetre. 
 I Muzzle loading, 15 centimetre (in Johannesburg 
 Fort). 
 
 And of maxims they had: 
 
 14 Maxim Vickers (Nordenfeldts), 37 millimetre. 
 12 Maxim Lee-Metfords machine guns (for horse trans- 
 port). 
 10 Maxim Martini-Henri (mounted on carriages). 
 
 The Orange Free State possessed : 
 
 14 Krupp, 75 millimetre, old-fashioned and using com- 
 mon black (smoked) powder. 
 
 6 Six-pound Armstrongs (discarded early in the war 
 as unserviceable). 
 
 3 Three-pound Armstrongs (discarded early in the war 
 as unserviceable). 
 
 I Krupp (quick fire), 37 millimetre. 
 
 3 Maxims (Martini-Henri). 
 
 36 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 The Transvaal also possessed seven modern guns for 
 which they had no ammunition and these were destroyed 
 on that account when the government decided to evacu- 
 ate the capital. These consisted of: 
 
 I Krupp, 8 centimetre. 
 
 I Nordenfeldt, 75 millimetre. 
 
 I Creusot (quick fire), 75 millimetre. 
 
 4 Krupp mortars. 
 
 The invasion of Natal found Sir George White at the 
 head of 7>7So men and sixty-nine field guns, the rank 
 and file being made up of 4,750 regulars and 3,000 South 
 African volunteers and irregulars. This latter force 
 comprised two distinct corps. One the Natal Carbineers, 
 a drilled body of local militiamen, and the other the 
 Imperial Light Horse, formed by men lately employed 
 on the Johannesburg mines and member of the South 
 African League, a revolutionary secret society who had 
 shown their zeal for Jingoism by organizing before the 
 war was an assured fact. The East India contingent of 
 volunteers were the first foreign irregulars to arrive, 
 joining Sir George White on the eve of his investment. 
 
 To briefly follow the events which occurred on the 
 other borders; General Cronje, with the Republican army 
 on the western frontier, had succeeded on October 13, in 
 wrecking and capturing an armored train at Kraaipan, 
 thirty-eight miles south of Mafeking, which cut the rail- 
 road communication on the south and gave him sixteen 
 prisoners including Lieutenant Nesbit and his son. On 
 the same day the railroad was destroyed by General 
 Snyman at Jagersfontein, twenty miles north of the 
 threatened town, and an unfortunate incident for the 
 Republicans occurred at Gaberonies. A car of some 
 
 37 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 explosive, probably considered dangerous to preserve in 
 a town liable to bombardment, was abandoned at this 
 station after being fixed to explode on the forcing of 
 the doors. It was firmly sealed to give the impression 
 that it contained something of value, and when dis- 
 covered by a passing commando, they considered they 
 had made a capture. All crowded around it eager to 
 participate in the spoils whatever they might be. The 
 plot was successful, and while attempting to open the 
 car, the mine exploded, killing a large percentage of 
 the surrounding burghers. This accident, occurring in 
 the early part of the war, so shocked the government that 
 they did not publish the fact, fearing the effect on the 
 morale of the recently mobilized forces, the proportion 
 of whom knew nothing about high explosives, and were 
 therefore prone to exaggerate their power and method of 
 application. But, to our knowledge, this formed the first 
 and last suppression of casualties that were suflFered in 
 the course of the war. 
 
 On the fourteenth of October Mafeking was completely 
 invested by the Federals with a garrison of three hundred 
 of the Protectorate regiment, a force raised just previous 
 to the war by their commander. Colonel Baden-Powell, 
 who also had with him some Bechuanaland Police, and 
 many volunteer civilians, his available artillery consist- 
 ing of sixteen field pieces supplemented by machine guns. 
 
 The entire country around Mafeking was an undu- 
 lating plain covered by patches of shrub bushes and 
 extending east as far as Johannesburg, broken only by 
 rises or mesas, sufficient to hide small camps from view 
 on one side, but forming no protection from elevated 
 shell fire. It was this feature of the country that caused 
 the Mafeking- Johannesburg route to be selected by the 
 British in the Jameson fiasco of '96, the Republicans 
 
 38 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 being popularly understood to be prejudiced against 
 fighting in the open with a superior force. And it was 
 the same feature that led the Republicans to despatch 
 their best known and most aggressive general, Piet 
 Cronje to destroy the Kimberley-Bulawayo Railroad, 
 strike a decisive blow at the British troops congregated 
 on the western border, and paralyze any future expedi- 
 tion that might attempt, by a flying column, to possess 
 themselves of Joharmesburg, or Pretoria, when the main 
 Boer forces were on the more distant frontiers to the 
 south. 
 
 The effective siege of Mafeking and possession of the 
 railroad gave the necessary assurance, and Colonel 
 Plumer with his force of about 500 volunteers be- 
 longing to the Rhodesian Horse, (also raised locally 
 by Colonel Baden-Powell), and the district mounted 
 Police was isolated in the Tuli district to the north, and 
 beyond slightly harassing tactics and the massacre of 
 the white inhabitants of Deerdepoort he no longer fig- 
 ured in this war. 
 
 On the fifteenth of October, General De la Rey, in 
 command of 1,600 Transvaalers, and General Wessels at 
 the head of 1,400 Free Staters, had surrounded the town of 
 Kimberley southwest of the Free State. The defending 
 garrisons commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Kekewich, 
 was composed of 700 infantry (of the First North Lanca- 
 shire Regiment), 2,000 local volunteers, and twenty field 
 guns. The volunteers were workmen of English origin, 
 who had lost their employment by the cessation of the 
 diamond-mining. The inducement of $1.25 a day and 
 the prospect of a short term of service had appeared to 
 them a good method of utilizing their unemployed time. 
 Immediately upon these sieges being complete, the Pre- 
 toria government sent the four six inch Creusot siege 
 
 39 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 guns to the investing forces, which demonstrated to the 
 British the possibility of handling heavy guns on bad 
 roads. 
 
 These guns, nick-named " Long Toms," played an im- 
 portant part in the sieges, Kimberley and Mafeking each 
 receiving the attentions of one, and two were sent to 
 Ladysmith. Their gross weight was 12,000 pounds but 
 the Republicans overcame all difficulties and placed them 
 in any position desired in contradiction to the British 
 secret report on their mobility, but it was a costly and 
 temporary advantage. The enemy quickly imitated the 
 manoeuvre and with more resources to draw upon, suc- 
 ceeded in getting five naval guns into Ladysmith twelve 
 hours after the Boer guns arrived. The point in vi^hich 
 the British never equaled the Boers was the power to 
 move these heavy guns quickly. In all the hurried re- 
 treats almost routs, they could not succeed in capturing, 
 until late in the following year, one of these ponderous 
 pieces of ordnance, and then only when the adoption of 
 flying columns, and the lack of ammunition had rendered 
 them superfluous as an oflfensive weapon. 
 
 After March, 1900 the preponderance of the British 
 heavy guns had commenced to nullify tlieir utility and the 
 Boer had introduced an element into the war more for- 
 midable and demoralizing to himself than legions of 
 soldiers. The constant fire of siege guns he had to en- 
 dure at every attempted defense, and with his own gun 
 laboring in the rear of the retreat, he commenced to 
 regard it as a burden which gave him many sleepless 
 treks, but, for its protection, it enforced many brilliant 
 rear-guard actions which would have otherwise been un- 
 fought, and brought forth tactics most harassing to the 
 pursuing forces. This cause developed the system of 
 
 40 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 rear-guard tactics, since so ably perfected and practised 
 by De Wet. 
 
 The lessons brought forward in this war, in regard to 
 the movement of heavy guns with field forces are in- 
 structive and worthy of mention. The Boers at all times 
 used oxen with their six inch Creusot, the gun being trans- 
 shipped to false bearing while traveling, which equalized 
 the weight on the carriage and minimized the load. The 
 first attempt to reach Ladysmith was made with twenty- 
 six large American mules, but these were immediately 
 abandoned as unpractical and oxen substituted perma- 
 nently, and thereafter twenty-two span of oxen were 
 used or held available as part of the gun's equipment. 
 An ox is capable of hauling twice the load of a mule, 
 draws steadily and is more reliable in a hard pull, seldom 
 allowing himself to get so stalled that he won't attempt 
 the effort again. He lives well without forage and will 
 make eighteen or twenty miles a day upon ordinary 
 grass. He is easily herded and quickly yoked, and can 
 be induced to trot for several miles with a load if such 
 a course becomes necessary. The ammunition was 
 moved in an open buck wagon, which also carried the 
 tripod for slinging the gun into its firing bearings on 
 the carriage. Bullocks were also used for this, in pro- 
 portion to the load, the gun and ammunition-wagon 
 keeping together to enable the doubling of the teams in 
 fords and washouts. In positions where it was difficult 
 to mount the gun, hand-power would be used to aid or 
 replace the oxen, — as many as three hundred men pull- 
 ing on man ropes, would successfully drag it over any 
 obstacle impossible to remove, nothing being considered, 
 provided the gun might be effectual in the position 
 desired, 
 
 41 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 The guns worked better on a platform, which lessened 
 the labor of bringing them forward after the recoil, and 
 in a permanent siege this was furnished. Later, how- 
 ever, from constant change of the field of operation 
 platforms were discarded for lack of time and material. 
 
 After the evacuation of Pretoria, and during the 
 possession by the Republicans of the Lorenzo Marques, 
 Pretoria Railroad, one of these guns was most effectually 
 mounted on an ordinary flat car, stayed and strengthened 
 with iron shields and protected from rifle fire with sand- 
 bags. The narrow (42. inch) gauge of the railroad and 
 width of the car, with allowance for the recoil, only gave 
 it a muzzle radius of forty degrees, but the curves on the 
 railroad were so numerous that the artillerymen could 
 take advantage of them in placing their train to give the 
 gun all the radius desired. The British shipped their 
 six inch quick-firing siege gun to Pretoria in a similar 
 manner, but as its weight was estimated at twenty-four 
 thousand pounds, any other mode of transport would 
 have been practically impossible. 
 
 Traction engines have been used, and their adoption 
 suggested for transport of heavy ordnance but it is far 
 from proven superior to the older method. The scarcity 
 of water and necessity for coal would be found a great 
 disadvantage in an unsettled district. Their weight and 
 habit of miring on one side, and their present inability 
 to help themselves, would compel them to travel in pairs, 
 also to have hauling drums with wire ropes attached to 
 do service for each other. 
 
 By sinking anchors in solid ground they could be 
 pulled from boggy places by their own power, or at deep 
 sluits, by anchoring on the bank, their loads could be 
 drawn up to them, but the hauling drums would have 
 
 42 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 to have a lead below the axles of the wheels (both fore 
 and aft) to give the necessary purchase on the wheels 
 when it was desirable to use this power for their own 
 locomotion, or to pull directly on anything below them. 
 
 In a country the least mountainous, where draught 
 animals and grass are to be obtained, there is little prob- 
 ability of the old method being superseded by steam. 
 A unit in a team is easily replaced or discarded where 
 draught oxen are used, unlike an engine where the in- 
 jury to a small but vital part may disable the whole 
 power at command. Without duplicate parts it would 
 be impossible to proceed and the delay of the transport 
 generally means the delay of the whole force to which 
 it is attached. 
 
 43 
 
chapter IV 
 
 Battle of Modderspruit— A BoeF advance— A "white flag in- 
 cident" — Accuracy in rifle fire — Sam Leon — Lombard's 
 Kop— Naval guns— Balloons '4^ scouts— Irish Brigade— Col. 
 Blake— Republican uncertainty — Armistice— Joubert's magna- 
 nimity — Ladysmith besieged — Umbrellas — Women as govern- 
 ment tailors — Reconnaissance south of the Tugela river — 
 Armored train — Weenan — Beacon Hill — Signal corps — Iden- 
 tification, cards — Ambulances — Runners (black and white) — 
 Searctf, '^/lights — Horse sickness — General camp life — 
 Health. 
 
 TO return to the active hostilities, in Natal, on the 
 twenty-ninth. Sir George White had seen the 
 activity of the Republicans on Little Bulwhana 
 Hill, in their preparation for mounting the expected siege 
 gun, and on the thirtieth he attempted to dislodge and cap- 
 ture this gun. Sending to the north the Gloucester regi- 
 ment, under Colonel Carleton, as a left flank, they made a 
 night advance, but failing to take up the position desired 
 they were compelled to seek refuge in Nicholson's Nek, 
 and on the opening of fire their artillery mules stampeded 
 with their guns. Quickly surrounded by part of the 
 Orange Free State forces under Commandant Christian 
 De Wet and a detachment of the Johannesburg Police, 
 they surrendered 1,300 men and a mountain battery of 
 five guns, after a three hours' engagement. The country 
 in which this latter was fought consisted of wide, open 
 valleys sloping to numerous creeks, divided by irreg-ular 
 mesas with rocky prominences dotted along the ridges 
 around which the fighting centred. The advances were 
 made across the flats which were thickly covered by 
 mimosa bushes growing eight or nine feet high, forming 
 a screen to the advance or retreat of the forces, and in- 
 
 44 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 tersected by numerous good roads converging to Lady- 
 smith. There was also a higher and more broken range 
 of hills running east and west on the south boundary of 
 the scene of conflict. 
 
 The British right wing rested on the range of hills 
 south and east of Ladysmith, where they had taken strong 
 positions on the previous night, and adopted the defensive. 
 The Vryheid, Bethal, Piet Rietief and Boksberg Com- 
 mandos, advancing at daylight found them strongly en- 
 trenched. Attacking, they drove them from their posi- 
 tions, from which they fled in great disorder, leaving a 
 hand maxim, forty prisoners, and 130 dead and wounded 
 of the King's Royal Rifles. 
 
 The Boksberg command, under Veldkornet Derksen, 
 advancing at dayhght to find the enemy, rode to the first 
 mesa from camp and surveyed, while exposing them- 
 selves, the points on the opposite side of the dry creek. 
 If this move drew no fire, then the 200 burghers in loose 
 formation dashed to the next divide to renew these tac- 
 tics, until five or six sluits had been passed in safety. 
 The enemy were then discovered in a rocky crest which 
 they had eschanzed or entrenched on the opposite rise. 
 From the rattle of musketry it was thought the force 
 was large, and with signals, they turned the artillery to 
 their assistance, but the rifle fire was recklessly high, 
 and the Boers lying sheltered, began to shoot their best. 
 Calmly regulating their sights until satisfied with the 
 distance, they shot as deliberately as if on target practise. 
 
 Large bodies of troops out of range could be seen on 
 the flats in the British rear, and the successful termina- 
 tion of this branch of the fight seemed improbable. There 
 were no Federals closer than 1,200 yards on the south, 
 and reinforcements were impossible from the east. As 
 the masses of British troops continued to bank up behind 
 
 45 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 their defenses, tjie^mors timid Boexg. dreading. a ch arge 
 in their first battle, tQok-.±heit,.bor^ and,^,Sia^J^ the 
 jear. But about 150 stood firm, showing no alarm, and 
 firing at everything that was a target until the Vryheid 
 commando succeeded in fighting their way into the 
 enemy's south flank. After four hours we had the pleas- 
 ure of seeing the white flag displayed on the British hill, 
 and the troops fleeing among the bushes to the rear of 
 their positions. The Boers immediately ceased firing 
 and mounting their horses rode toward the contested 
 hill. 
 
 Here occurred one of those unfortunate incidents, 
 which, if the positions had been reversed, would have 
 been cabled over the world as an illustration of the bar- 
 barity of the Boers. The white flag had been exposed 
 by the ranking commanding officer on the crest of the 
 hill, but was unseen by a British sergeant and two pri- 
 vates who had crawled to a sheep-kraal under the brow 
 of the hill, beneath, and out of the sight of their com- 
 manding officer. When, after the surrender the Boers 
 were seen racing across the open ground, these men con- 
 cluded it was a charge, and pluckily fired into the front 
 rank, killing a white-haired man of sixty, named de 
 Bruyn, and seriously wounding another. They were 
 quickly surrounded and made prisoners, and the brave 
 sergeant was overcome with grief when he discovered 
 his mistake, weeping at the sight of the old man dying 
 at his feet. If this non-commissioned officer had been 
 a Boer, we have no hesitation in saying that he would 
 have been bayoneted in spite of excuses, but these big- 
 hearted men recognizing justice in the case, sympathized 
 with his grief by kindly words and gestures, and to en- 
 courage him praised his pluck and resource. 
 
 Another unfortunate incident of a similar nature, but 
 
 46 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 reflecting to the credit of the soldier and costing him his 
 life, was one which occurred at the slope of Lombard's 
 Kop, at the point attacked by the Vryheid commando. 
 Failing to notice the surrender of his comrades, a lance 
 corporal of the King's Royal Rifles, continued firing 
 fully twenty-five minutes after the white flag had been 
 hoisted, and the retreating regiment was far in the rear. 
 In efforts to indicate to him the condition of affairs, a 
 clergyman and two burghers were wounded when that 
 procedure was abandoned, and instead, a few men 
 worked round and shot him. At the side of this corporal, 
 eighty-eight empty cartridges were found lying, and his 
 recent enemies became his friends — extolling his bravery 
 they reverently buried him where he died. 
 
 When we reached the top of the hill, we saw the car- 
 nage caused by the accurate rifle fire, and the flats to- 
 ward Ladysmith were densely covered with fleeing 
 troops, who were allowed to escape unmolested. The 
 enemy's firing positions were well built, but had not 
 proved sufficient. Illustrating the efficiency of the Boer 
 fire at 800 yards, it may be mentioned that the com- 
 manding officer of the British, lying prone behind a 
 schanze, on exposing the calf of his leg was immediately 
 hit in that member, then in an effort to encourage his men 
 to move forward, he beckoned with his arm, only to be 
 again wounded in the exposed limb. Afterward, lying 
 watching the Boers he had received his final wound 
 through the head, his second in command lay by his side 
 in the same schanze with a similar wound. Nearly all 
 the dead soldiers were shot through the head as they 
 exposed it to shoot, and, apparently by order, all the rifles 
 we saw, were noticed to have been sighted at 1,400 yards 
 for an 800 yard range. This retreating wing never halted 
 until it arrived in Ladysmith, the Republicans following 
 
 47 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 them into all the positions they evacuated. The British 
 centre seemed hesitating and in doubt which side to rein- 
 force, and failed to do either, but retreated without once 
 becoming effectually aggressive. 
 
 The Boer siege gun, mounted in the night, was worked 
 by Sam Leon, a French engineer and representative of 
 Schneider's gun works, under fire of the six naval guns 
 that had arrived from Durban that morning. 
 
 Lombard Kop was a table-land mountain rising 400 
 feet above the range of the hills to the south, and had 
 been provisioned and placed in a state of defense by the 
 British. What their object could have been is hard to 
 guess, as the hill, almost inaccessible, has no strategical 
 value, and is without any natural supply of water, which 
 had to be carried up in kegs with great labor. Its fortifi- 
 cation must remain one of the military problems without 
 a solution. The enemy left the hill and the supplies upon 
 the defeat of their companions in the lower range, and 
 no one would have known the brilliant genius which had 
 prompted its original occupation, if a Boer, in the idle 
 weeks that followed, had not taken a noble desire to climb 
 on a hill where he could roll off rocks and halloo as they 
 crashed through the undergrowth, and singled Lombard's 
 Kop as filling the requirements. He labored to the sum- 
 mit where he discovered provisions, ammunition and 
 kegs of water, sufficient for a protracted defense, pro- 
 vided anyone had meditated an assault. The hill there- 
 after became an excursion ground to the burghers who 
 carried much of the supplies away to camp, but it left a 
 lingering impression on their minds that the hill was a 
 place better suited for avoiding a fight, than for the oppo- 
 site purpose, and these somewhat indolent people all con- 
 curred in the conclusion that any one climbing that hill 
 deserved to be beyond the danger of bullets. 
 
 48 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 There were now two 4.7 guns, and four 12-pounders 
 in Ladysmith under command of Captain Lambert, and 
 worked by the sailors that accompanied the guns from 
 H.M.S. the " Terrible." The fire of these guns and three 
 batteries of field artillery, under Isimbulwhana Hill was 
 directed by signal from the British balloon which now 
 became a feature in the operations of this ■ war. uXl-——^ 
 
 The balloon., besides directing Jheix artillery fire wais 
 able to scout the movements of .the- Republicans._.The 
 burghers much disliked, and .feared_±he..introductiQn of 
 thj.s__modern. accessory of war. Although not very 
 effe ctu al -on -this.^ day-, its— utility -has- been -many_times 
 demQnsJtratfid.. since, greatly to the disadvantage of the 
 Boers. There is an uncanny feeling in the fact of a 
 sheltered camp or picket searching the heavens for their 
 enemies, but this was often the case. A commando re- 
 treating or advancing, ordinarily under complete cover, 
 would see this ill-omened spheroid rising over the British 
 /lilies. They had hardly time to assume a loose formation 
 and separate the wagons, when the British heavy guns 
 Wke strong, cruel, blind monsters, controlled by the evil 
 princes of our fairy tale days, would commence to " feel " 
 for their destruction, the balloon directing their efforts 
 to crush an unseen foe. This fire would be continued 
 until tjhe threatened force passed from range of the guns, 
 or obtained cover from the view of the scout in the bal- 
 looi^jjwhen peace was again possible, the gunners ceasing 
 ■, to fife at they knew not what. 
 
 '^e British had concentrated their artillery fire upon 
 the Republican siege gun, which was gallantly served. 
 The ammunition had to be carried up the hill by hand, 
 and the Irish Brigade under Colonel Blake, volunteered 
 for this service. Colonel Blake, a graduate from the 
 American army, had his arm shattered, and two of his 
 
 49 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 men were killed, but they were succesful in keeping the 
 gun in action, and gained the praise of the Commandant- 
 General for their bravery. Lukas Meyer was taken seri- 
 ously ill and carried from the field, the command of his 
 division devolving upon Louis Botha, who carried his 
 branch of the engagement to a successful conclusion. 
 
 This is called by the British the battle of Farquhar's 
 farm, the name of the farm on which the centre column 
 did most of its manoeuvring. The Republicans call it 
 the battle of Modderspruit. The victory gave them 
 Ladysmith, but General Joubert and his advisers were 
 too uncertain of themselves to take advantage of the 
 enemy's rout. This constant and recurring success over 
 a superior and better equipped force than their own, and 
 the continual retreat of that force, only increased their 
 suspicions of a trap, which feeling was undoubtedly 
 shared by most of the burghers. 
 
 In the afternoon many of the more daring and aggres- 
 sive Republicans rode around the town, and up the after- 
 ward dearly contested Caesar Hill, without encountering 
 even a picket. There was nothing between them and 
 possession, if not of the town itself, at least of the com- 
 manding hills, but Joubert in his inane fear of disaster 
 recalled them that night. These few, who saw their ad- 
 vantage and were willing and anxious to retain the posi- 
 tion, were therefore forced to reluctantly return to the 
 laagers, and Ladysmith with its strategical advantages, 
 vast stores and garrison was not only lost to the Republic 
 but became a millstone to hamper the freedom of the 
 entire Federal force in Natal. 
 
 Joubert, shocked at the loss of life to the enemy, went 
 to the other extreme and generously granted the British 
 forty-eight hours' armistice to bury their dead, which 
 period enabled them to complete the armament of the 
 
 50 
 

 a 
 o 
 o 
 a 
 
 as 
 
 a 
 
 H 
 
 h 
 
 o 
 
 •< 
 n 
 
 u 
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THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 naval guns, to mine all approaches to the town and to 
 strongly fortify Caesar Hill, his mistaken leniency cost- 
 ing the Republics many valuable lives, endangered their 
 ultimate independence and made the prolonged investment 
 of the town a necessity. General French, who afterward 
 became the most brilliant and efficient cavalry leader 
 under Lord Roberts, left by the last train and was allowed 
 to depart in peace with the Federals in possession of the 
 railroad. The communication south of Ladysmith was 
 then destroyed and the cordon was drawn closer by the 
 Republican army of 13,000 men, now distributed over 
 thirty miles of lines. Sir George White, commanding 
 13,500 regular troops, and 7,500 volunteer civilians, six 
 naval guns and seventy-two field guns, was reduced to 
 act on the defensive, to a smaller force. 
 
 On November the third, Colonel Murray of the British 
 garrison, broke through the thin circle, and with two bat- 
 teries and 400 cavalry, succeeded in joining Colonel Hil- 
 yard at Colenso on the Tugela, but on the Republicans 
 threatening Fort Wylie on the northern bank of the river, 
 the town and fort were hastily abandoned. Colonel Hil- 
 yard retreating to Estcourt to await reinforcements. 
 < Leaving outposts on the Tugela the Federals returned 
 to Ladysmith, and now realizing their mistake, on No- 
 vember 9, the generals attempted to capture the town by 
 assault. An attack was made from all sides, but the coun- 
 try was exposed and the manoeuvre, half-hearted, brought 
 forth no advantage but a moral effect on the garrison 
 who reported no casualties. 
 
 The weather was still most wretched, but there were 
 occasional bursts of sunshine and the peculiar feature was 
 revealed that a large per cent of the Boers had umbrellas 
 of variegated colors which they used as sunshades, and 
 one might see an entire commando riding by twos and 
 
 51 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 threes with their full war equipment carrying these use- 
 ful articles, satisfied of their utility and unconscious of 
 their humorous aspect. 
 
 The women of the Transvaal towns, anxious to help 
 the cause, had offered their services to the government, 
 to be used in making garments for the men in the field, 
 and many misshapen articles commenced to arrive, which, 
 on account of their cleanliness would be gleefully donned, 
 forming combinations almost as incongruous as the um- 
 brellas and warriors. The commissariat was improving 
 slowly, and it was now possible to get food at irregular 
 intervals. The days were passed in hunting, and Haarte- 
 beeste and Rayboks broke the monotony of diet, with 
 chicken, geese, pigs and other domestic stock. 
 
 On November 12, the garrison of Ladysmith, remain- 
 ing more or less passive, Joubert determined to make a 
 reconnaissance with a small force south of the Tugela, 
 against Pietermaritzburg and attempt to destroy the com- 
 munications between that town and Durban. Accom- 
 panied by Assistant-General Louis Botha with 1,600 
 men, on the fifteenth of November, they succeeded at 
 Frere in removing a rail behind an armored train that 
 was reconnoitering north from Estcourt. Awaiting its 
 return in ambush, they disabled a car with the first shell 
 and destroyed the train without serious casualties to 
 themselves, capturing seventy-two prisoners, amongst 
 whom was Mr. Winston Churchill, one of these armed 
 correspondents who pleaded that his right to defend him- 
 self did not justify the aggressive force in making him 
 a prisoner, but the Boer commander refused to be coerced 
 and he was sent with his companions to Pretoria, where 
 he qualified to lecture on the war. 
 
 The burghers passed through Weenan (weeping), 
 where in 1838, Dingaan, the Zulu chief, had massacred 
 
 52 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 282 old men, women and children, with their 252 native 
 servants. These formed the camp of sixty-six able-bodied 
 men, under command of Piet Retief who had been, a few 
 days previously surrounded and killed by the same Kaffir 
 chief at the instigation of the British, the whole force 
 being the original settlement of Boers who had bought 
 the territory they occupied from this savage, at the time 
 they were forced by persecution to flee from their homes 
 in the Cape Colony. 
 
 At the monument in commemoration of this event, the 
 small army in 1899, under Joubert, had now an oppor- 
 tunity to renew their memory with the price of blood 
 this country had cost their race, to be again lost, for the 
 British in 1842 finding it fruitful and capable of annexa- 
 tion drove the original settlers further north beyond the 
 Drakensburg range into the Transvaal and Free State. 
 
 From Weenan the small Republican command continued 
 its further progress south. With little opposition they 
 passed through Greytown where they secured horses, 
 then to Highlands, a station between Estcourt and the 
 Blood river, where they destroyed the railroad and tele- 
 graph wires. This cut off the base and all direct com- 
 munications of the garrison of 4,000 men under Colonel 
 Hilyard at Estcourt, leaving him no resort but the helio- 
 graph to make his critical situation known in Pieter- 
 maritzburg. This condition caused an unnecessary alarm 
 to the inhabitants of Durban, who issued a call to arms 
 to the citizens under the absurd assumption that Joubert's 
 small force of 1,600 men, were threatening this strongly 
 garrisoned town. 
 
 An outpost of Boers took up a position on Beacon Hill 
 overlooking Estcourt on November 22, but were dislodged 
 by the British, who upon the Republicans' reinforcing 
 were in turn forced to evacuate and retreat into town. 
 
 S3 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 This fight took place in the night and during a fearful 
 rain storm accompanied by vivid lightning which killed 
 a Boer artilleryman and several British soldiers, upon 
 the extreme crest of the mountain. In the keenness of the 
 encounter the lightning was the only means of distin- 
 guishing friend from foe, each flash being followed by 
 the report of the rifles, and positions were noted, to be 
 possessed in the intervals of inky darkness. The British 
 called this the battle of Willow Grange and they left eleven 
 killed and sixty-seven wounded in the hands of the Boers. 
 General Joubert, while encouraging his burghers in the 
 first alarm, was injured by the falling of his horse, 
 causing the internal complaint from which he ultimately 
 died. 
 
 British troops were now rapidly reaching Pietermaritz- 
 burg from Durban, of which the Federals were well-in- 
 formed. In consequence of General Barton massing his 
 men at Weston on the south side of the Mooi river, the 
 news of the engagements of Graspan and Belmont in the 
 Orange Free State not being altogether favorable, and 
 President Kruger desiring the subjection of Ladysmith, 
 General Joubert decided to retreat to the Tugela and take 
 that river as a line of defense until Ladysmith coul4 be 
 reduced and the force used in this siege released. 
 
 The retreat to Colenso was safely effected without loss 
 and this expedition will always remain the one brilliant 
 and redeeming feat of Joubert in this war. He had cut 
 himself off from his base and for twenty days overrun a 
 large territory, denuding the country of stock and threat- 
 ening with siege a garrison nearly three times the number 
 of his own troops, defeating them in every skirmish and 
 effectually in the only engagement, only relmquishing his 
 sway when his retreat was most hazardous, and threatened 
 by the large force from the south, who were attempting to 
 
 54 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 relieve Colonel Hilyard. It is also illustrative of the 
 demoralization of the organized British troops, by the 
 defeats in northern Natal, without which feature it would 
 have been impossible for the Federals to harass and defy 
 with impunity a force so much their superior in men and 
 guns. 
 
 The scouting had been done by volunteers from the dif- 
 ferent commandos and had been most complete, although 
 the service was greatly assisted by friendly farmers who 
 fed and cared for the scouts in a manner which made 
 daily reports without information to impart, unnecessary. 
 
 The Boer heliograph service, invaluable on this and 
 similar excursions, was proved quite sufficient for the need 
 of the entire army. The corps had been formed in 1890 
 and gradually increased, until in the fall of 1899 it num- 
 bered seventy operators under command of Lieutenant 
 Paff. They used a fourteen inch and a seven inch glass, 
 having ranges of ninety and fifty miles. One operator 
 and instrument being assigfned to each general, flying 
 column or scouting expedition of sufficient importance. 
 
 By reason of the number of unidentified foreigners and 
 Boers killed at Elandslaagte, there was an attempt made 
 to issue identification cards under the auspices of the Red 
 Cross society. This never became popular. Burghers 
 accepted the cards but seldom kept them. The Cape- 
 Colonials were permitted to have two addresses, one their 
 true address in the Cape Colony, was recorded in Pretoria 
 and a fictitious address was placed on the card they car- 
 ried, to mislead the British in the event of their becoming 
 prisoners. The record of the true addresses came into 
 possession of the British at the fall of that capital and 
 furnished them with evidence that has since caused the 
 death by hanging or confiscation of property of many of 
 the unfortunate owners. 
 
 55 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 In connection with the Red Cross many ambulances 
 were fitted out under the management of the RepubUcan 
 governments, or as a direct gift from local and European 
 sympathizers with the Boer cause. So many were there 
 that they were out of proportion to the needs of the coun- 
 try, and this branch of the service became an abuse. 
 Ambulance corps of doctors and assistants could be found 
 hidden away in some ideal sylvan camping ground only 
 to come forth when their well-supplied commissariat 
 needed replenishing, or the stock of medicinal brandy had 
 become exhausted. Furnished with the best of every- 
 thing both in transport and in edibles, it was difficult to 
 find doctors when their services became a real need; but 
 few were zealous enough to seek the location of an ex- 
 pected fight, and as there were none to give them orders, 
 it occurred frequently that only one or two over-worked 
 ambulances would attend a battle which had probably al- 
 ready been in progress a few days. As an illustration, one 
 of our messmates was wounded by a shrapnel bullet in 
 the shoulder, the fourth day of Spion's Kop fight, and we 
 were forced to make him ride five hours in the rear ol the 
 position before we could find an ambulance or doctor to 
 set his arm or dress the wound. 
 
 The government had impressed or otherwise comman- 
 deered the most easily riding vehicles to be found in Jo- 
 hannesburg for this service. The body of the wagon 
 remained unchanged, and by simply hoisting a white flag 
 with a red cross they were recognized as ambulances. 
 The light delivery wagons of the merchants were found 
 the most suitable, and these were sought eagerly for the 
 service. There was a touch of grim humor in the sight of 
 one of these conveyances flying the emblem of mercy, with 
 "Alson's Meat Delivery," or " Balson, The Butcher," 
 painted in bright glaring letters beneath the Red Cross 
 
 56 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 flag, but the Johannesburg Police went one better than 
 this by commandeering for the ambulance of their com- 
 mand a long wagonette which carried on its side, in gilt 
 letters the sign " Thornton's Picnic Van." We imagine 
 a wounded man carried from the field in one of these 
 conveyances might forget his injury if not too serious, 
 in the consciousness of the satire. 
 
 The British garrison in Ladysmith and the relieving 
 force south of the Tugela river, had each a long distance 
 heliograph station, whereby they could exchange views 
 and they also had perfect communication by means of the 
 search light using their own codes. The Boer search- 
 light could harass and interrupt the correct reading by 
 flashing on the same clouds and obliterating the punctu- 
 ation, but it was only a temporary annoyance, and with 
 patience they would succeed in holding their conversa- 
 tion. They could also ascend in the balloon to a sufficient 
 elevation to read heliograph messages from the separated 
 camps, but the jerk of the balloon from its anchors made 
 an answer most difficult and only possible under most 
 favorable circumstances. 
 
 Messengers, both white and black, the negro preferred, 
 were constantly going between their besieged garrisons 
 and the columns attempting their relief. By reason of the 
 number of personal servants the Boers used it was next 
 to impossible to identify a strange negro. The burghers 
 did not use at this time a continuous line of pickets and 
 seldom doubled outposts. All that was necessary to get 
 into their camp was to leave the beaten path and climb 
 over the hills in the least accessible manner, thereby pass- 
 ing the guards on the foot trails. Once inside you could 
 talk, dress or act in any manner or language you de- 
 sired with an extreme chance of anyone becoming curious 
 enough to ask questions, which could be easily parried by 
 
 57 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 a rudimentary knowledge of the names of the local camps 
 and commands, and the excuse of hunting a horse. 
 
 The life for a few weeks became a series of picket 
 duties and it was weird at night to see the searchl ight^ 
 crawling all over a hill on which you were croScEmg at 
 the base of the offensive side. By its brilliant light it 
 showed every twig of underbrush, every shape amongst 
 the boulders, lingering as if it had discovered something, 
 it might be your picket, with nothing behind this great 
 eye but inky impenetrable darkness, holding possibilities 
 of sudden rushes, cold steel and all the terrors of the 
 unknown power of the dark. 
 
 The camps gradually became more organized, forges 
 were fitted up and blacksmiths employed for the repairs 
 of wagons and the shoeing of horses who suffered much 
 from tender feet on account of the rocky nature of the 
 country. Some of the horses also began to die from 
 " horse-sickness," but the Republicans did not lose many 
 in proportion to the loss of unacclimatized animals im- 
 ported by the enemy. The majority of the horses already 
 captured fell victims to this disease, but that did not pre- 
 vent the most daring attempts to obtain more. The gar- 
 rison of Ladysmith were compelled to place their horses 
 to graze on the flat in the bend of the Klip river, and 
 burghers, descended on foot by night lying concealed close 
 to the feeding ground until morning. When the horses 
 commenced to scatter, the raiders dashed in between them 
 on foot, and separating some from the herd, drove them 
 towards the Boer lines. This drew down upon them a hail 
 of rifle and maxim fire, from which the stock were the 
 general sufferers, but the raiders usually succeeded in 
 returning to camp the richer by one or two sound animals, 
 the British losing many more killed by their own fire. 
 
 The health of the army was wonderful when you con- 
 
 58 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 sider that the greater proportion of the men had been used 
 to the best of care and shelter before the rapid mobiHza- 
 tion. It had rained almost continuously since the out- 
 break of hostilities, and the few intervals of sunshine were 
 of so short duration, they presented little drying capabil- 
 ities. Blankets were always wet and caked with mud 
 from lying on the bare ground without tents, clothing was 
 in the same state, light shoes refused to stand the strain, 
 breaking from the soles and allowing the mud free pas- 
 sage. Socks were unobtainable, and the food was bad 
 and irregular. The bread was baked in Pretoria by Boer 
 women who had volunteered for the service, but beside 
 not being very delectable it also became green and mouldy 
 before it reached the army. In spite of the enormous 
 stores of biscuits and canned goods captured at Dundee, 
 owing to a disorganized and badly manipulated commis- 
 sariat, these stores imperatively needed to fill an emer- 
 gency gap, were, through imperfect distribution almost in- 
 visible, and to some commandos, unknown. Coffee was 
 hard to obtain but there was an abundance of fresh meat 
 which was the chief article of sustenance. Cooking vessels 
 were also difficult to procure, the ones most used, being 
 looted household utensils. Waterpots, wash-boilers, tins 
 and other articles never designed for such purposes, every 
 article capable of holding water being utilized, mostly too 
 large and totally unpractical for small messes. With these 
 vessels we baked, stewed or roasted the recurring meats 
 supplemented by supplies of vegetables and poultry for- 
 aged from the neighboring farms. Yet lawyers, doctors, 
 professional men and farmers rivaled each other in these 
 culinary efforts, smiling through their untrimmed beards 
 in an attempt to impress each other that the one thing 
 better than being continually wet, was to eat insufficient 
 and unwholesome food. 
 
 59 
 
chapter V 
 
 Assault on Federal guns— Boer discipline— Surprise Hill— Death 
 of Spannier— Manufacture and repair of guns in Pretoria- 
 Arrival of Buller— Artillery duel— The Boer positions— Battle 
 preliminaries— The battle— Captured guns and prisoners— Am- 
 bulance incident Gen. Botha — English newspaper reports — 
 
 Foreign attachesX-' 
 
 THE Federal siege gun had been moved from the 
 original position and placed on a hill called Gun 
 Hill southeast of the town under the krame 
 (brow) of Lombard's Kop. On December 8 — 800 Colo- 
 nial troops from Ladysmith made a night attack upon this 
 position and succeeded in bursting the breech and muzzle 
 of the Creusot, completely destroying a six-inch Howitzer 
 and capturing a maxim Lee-Metford, which had been 
 taken from Jameson in his raid of 1896. It was well 
 planned and daringly carried out. Missing the cluster of 
 pickets at the foot of the hill, the 300 who did the work 
 reached the top before being challenged from behind. 
 The picket, possibly asleep, aroused by the sound of the 
 falling rocks, which the scaling force dislodged, shouted 
 a warning too late, and although in proximity to the Brit- 
 ish reserve, they gamily commenced to fire into the rear of 
 the expedition. The guards of the gun relying on the 
 picket, were also asleep, and being awakened by the storm- 
 ing party they fled, when the Colonials deliberately com- 
 pleted their mission without anything to contend with 
 but the picket they had passed at the foot of the hill. 
 
 This small force of eight men among whom was the 
 sixteen-year-old son of State Secretary Reitz, oflFered what 
 resistance they could. Lying in the dark they watched the 
 return of the expedition, heard the pass-words and were 
 
 60 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 remonstrated with for shooting, the English thinking they 
 were part of their own force who had made a mistake. 
 Alone, they succeeded in capturing five prisoners, killing 
 and wounding twenty-two, Captain Paley of the British 
 force being killed. The Boer picket of the original eight 
 lost three killed and two wounded, but the three sound 
 survivors brought in their prisoners and received praise 
 for their stamina in staying at their position and inflicting 
 the damage they had succeeded in doing. By reason of 
 the lack of discipline and inclemency of the weather there 
 were only ten men in the position at the guns, the men 
 having shirked their duty in a manner to make the assault 
 effectual. We had been transferred to the Tugela posi- 
 tion some days before, and welcomed the change on ac- 
 count of the exposed position the guns were left in every 
 night through this negligence. With a maximum guard 
 of forty men it had been our nightly duty to toil through 
 the mud and rain to this hill, a mile from the nearest 
 camp from which reinforcements were possible. If noth- 
 ing occurred it had been the habit of the burghers to 
 stand their guard and then retire to camp or some con- 
 venient shelter which offered less exposure to the weather. 
 Tents were nearly unknown and beyond crawling beneath 
 a wagon, the entire day and night was passed in the open, 
 when other shelter was not to be secured. The result was 
 that to greet the daylight a guard of only five or six men 
 constituting the morning watch were available. Those 
 whose sense of duty constrained them to stay had to lie 
 in the rain after their watch. Wet through, in an exposed 
 position and rolled in their soaking blankets, weariness, 
 and the natural heat generating steam from the wet 
 clothes, forced them to sleep, to awaken at daylight so stiff 
 and miserable in body and mind that an energetic resist- 
 ance was beyond human power. 
 
 6i 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 Commandant Weilbach of the Heidelberg Commando 
 and Major Erasmus of the Staats-Artillerie were court- 
 martialed for this reverse and disrated. Commandant 
 Weilbach had figured bravely in the capture of Jameson, 
 and the maxim now lost. His only fault was being un- 
 able to persuade the burghers to an obnoxious duty he 
 could not enforce. Major Erasmus was afterward rein- 
 stated, but never recovered the confidence of his men, 
 many crediting him with liability for the disaster. 
 
 The Imperial troops, not to be outdone by their volun- 
 teer comrades made an attack two nights later on Surprise 
 Hill north of the town, and succeeded in destroying an- 
 other six-inch Howitzer under very s-milar conditions to 
 those of the first attack. One sad event was the death of 
 Mr. Spannier, an American for a few years associated 
 with the consulate of his country in Johannesburg. Fall- 
 ing back on the trenches from the advance picket at the 
 time of this assault he was challenged, but replied in 
 English with a request not to shoot. As this was a ruse 
 frequently used by the enemy, he was fired at and shot by 
 his Dutch comrades whose cause he had espoused. Fall- 
 ing wounded, he was despatched with bayonet thrusts by 
 the British when they took the field. His body was re- 
 covered the next day with the one rifle wound and the 
 four bayonet stabs administered afterward. The Re- 
 publicans expressed great regret at this sad mistake and 
 he was accorded the exceptional honor of a military 
 funeral in Johannesburg. After these two reverses the 
 discipline was better enforced, although the rank of tlie 
 burghers in no way regarded the loss of the guns a calam- 
 ity but rather as a matter of humor, recounting the various 
 details of the events which had led to the possibility of 
 their destruction. 
 
 The six-inch Creusot was shipped to Pretoria where the 
 
 62 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 shop improvised by the government under the supervision 
 of Leon and Grundberg (representatives of the Creusot 
 gun-works) successfully shortened the muzzle eight 
 inches, and cut twelve inches off the breach. They 
 drilled a new chamber, fitted it with a new breach, and, the 
 gun being indented by a charge exploded on the top, it 
 was bored out and newly rifled, and after a successful 
 trial returned to the armory with no loss but a thousand 
 metres of its range. They also replaced the Howitzer with 
 a completely new gun, in no way inferior to the one 
 destroyed and entirely manufactured in the government 
 shops. In the construction eight inch steel was used for 
 the barrel and twelve inch iron for the jacket, with an 
 additional bronze jacket shrunk on, a feat most creditable 
 to the government and the engineer who completed the 
 work. 
 
 A dynamite gun was also manufactured in Johannes- 
 burg but burst on its first discharge at the artillery trial 
 grounds in Pretoria. There were no casualties as it was 
 fired by a long lanyard, the general make-up of the gun 
 not meeting the approval of the operating artillerymen. 
 
 To return to the armies, the British south of the Tugela 
 hnd been growing more active for some days, and with 
 the arrival of Sir Redvers Buller, who had made his boast 
 that he would eat his Christmas dinner in Pretoria, it 
 caused the Republicans to reinforce their positions at 
 Colenso with all the available men to be spared from the 
 investment of Ladysmith. 
 
 The Tugela river averaged about 120 feet in width and 
 was fordable in five or six places in the immediate neigh- 
 borhood of Colenso, when not swollen by rain. It ran 
 swiftly, being broken by falls and cataracts surrounding 
 which were deep holes and dangerous crossings, but the 
 Boers except for a period in November, used the fords 
 
 63 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 for wagons and horses (as the quickest method of cross- 
 ing) in preference to driving or riding around to the 
 bridges. 
 
 On December lo, as if to announce the arrival of the 
 new commander-in-chief, and the terrible punishment he 
 had in store for all who interfered with his dinner en- 
 gagement, we were surprised to see in the afternoon, a 
 cloud of dust toward Chieveley. There had been no pre- 
 vious demonstration against the Boer positions and we 
 wondered what was going to occur. As the dust ap- 
 proached we saw it was raised by a battery of artillery 
 supported by a squadron of cavalry. They wheeled into 
 position and unlimbered at 3,500 yards range, and the 
 manoeuvre was not so impressive that we failed to take 
 cover and await developments. We had not long to wait 
 for they commenced at once with shrapnel to search the 
 hills where we had disappeared. The Boers had one 
 Creusot field gun, the crew of which had received orders 
 not to fire or expose their position unless there was a 
 direct attack, but fortunately for us who considered this 
 sort of thing a little one-sided, one of the British shells 
 killed the pet horse of the artillery sergeant, and on his 
 own initiative he fired the first Republican shot. It was a 
 solid one, which landed directly between the enemy's guns, 
 and he quickly followed it with six more, the last of which 
 threw one of the centre guns in the air. The demonstra- 
 tion was apparently finished and five guns and a squadron 
 of cavalry retreated, raising a little more dust than they 
 did in the advance, followed until out of range by shrapnel 
 from the offended artillerymen. 
 
 Immediately a Red Cross ambulance came down and 
 picked up their wounded, the broken gun remaining on 
 the field until night, when it was removed under cover 
 of darkness. It was a most impressive and inspiring 
 
 64 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 sight to us who had not been accustomed to the manoeu- 
 vres of regular army drill. The perfect precision with 
 which they had wheeled into position and unlimbered 
 made the impression, but the inspiration was drawn from 
 the easy manner the one French gun disposed of their 
 aggressiveness. 
 
 The shrapnel used by the British in this demonstration 
 was different from that which was used afterwards. It 
 was either very out of date or an experiment, and ap- 
 peared to ascend upon the discharge and expend its force 
 in soaring, instead of striking laterally. The sound on 
 the iron roof of a shanty in which many of us took refuge, 
 gave the impression of a hailstorm as the pellets fell, and 
 many burghers, as they exposed themselves were struck 
 by the bullets without receiving a bruise. 
 
 Most of the Republican positions for the defense of 
 Colenso were on the north slope of the river shed and 
 were generally formed by six small hills opposite Colenso 
 and in a bend of the river. This was the centre, the 
 west flank being a trench on the open slope running 
 parallel to the river for 2,500 yards where it adjoined 
 Grobler's Kloof in which was eschanzed one Creusot field 
 gun. On the east they had possession of Hlangwana 
 mountain, on the south bank of the river, and due east 
 of the centre, two thousand yards. The British had per- 
 force to advance down the south shed without cover ex- 
 cept what the houses in the town afforded, and the nu- 
 merous fortifications they had built themselves around 
 the town, before they abandoned this position in the be- 
 ginning of November. 
 
 About noon of December 13, General Buller advanced 
 six naval guns within 7,000 yards of the hills in the 
 centre, and bombarded incessantly for six hours with 
 lyddite, solid shot and shrapnel, but without response, or 
 
 65 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 indication that there was a gun or a Federal within the 
 hammered area, although 2,500 men under Louis Botha 
 were watching anxiously every discharge of these new 
 engines, to them an unknown quantity. The next day he 
 advanced his guns a thousand yards and shelled for many 
 hours, following the hills rock by rock but could get 
 nothing from them to indicate they contained anything 
 a;live. 
 
 It was our amusement to picture the chagrin of these 
 artillery officers throwing tons of death-dealing material 
 without the satisfaction of seeing even a runaway horse to 
 denote the terror and destruction these big guns and lyd- 
 dite were to create. 
 
 The third day the British, under command of General 
 Sir Francis Clery made an attack simultaneously in three 
 columns. Hlangwana Hill, the Boer left, was a moun- 
 tain about 600 feet high of precipitous nature, covered 
 with scrub timber, cacti and tremendous boulders. It 
 stood isolated on the south bank and was undoubtedly 
 the key to the Colenso situation as its possession by the 
 British would allow an enfilading fire to rake every posi- 
 tion possible to hold on the north side of the river, in 
 dispute of the passage of the troops at the fords. 
 
 Instead of making it the centre of operations the 
 cavalry and one battery attempted its capture. They were 
 repulsed after a short engagement with the loss of one 
 life and two wounded, to the force of 500 Boers, to whom, 
 without artillery, the defense had been entrusted. The 
 British cavalry, composed of volunteers were severely 
 punished, and the position was never threatened. 
 
 The attack on the right wing of the Federal position 
 was made by infantry supported by artillery, across an 
 open decline of 3,000 yards sloping to the banks of the 
 river. It was an impossible task and a massacre, from 
 
 66 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 the time they came within range of the rifles. The Re- 
 publican Creusot field gun at Grobler's Kloof was all the 
 artillery available to repel this attack, but with the Swa- 
 zieland Police entrenched on the north bank, supported 
 by a Lee-Metford maxim captured from the British at 
 Dundee, an excuse for the failure to force this passage 
 of the river was unnecessary, but the commanding officer 
 of the British considered it advisable to state in his report 
 that wire entanglements were placed in the river, which 
 there were not, and that the ammunition was exhausted, 
 which is possible, as the British infantrymen carried only 
 seventy-five rounds in this battle, but this did not bear 
 on the situation, as holding their positions on the open flat 
 with or without ammunition was an impossibility. 
 
 The Republicans had already destroyed the railroad 
 bridge to guard against assault by siege train, which to 
 them, was then also an unknown force, and the centre pro- 
 tecting the town fords and the iron wagon bridge, was 
 the most threatened. The weight of artillery thrown 
 against these hills was terrific. No one on either side had 
 before now, any conception of what it meant to receive 
 the bombardment of seventy modem guns of all calibres 
 over an area of less than 400 acres. Although the 
 Boers endured it often at later dates, none who have not 
 been through the experience can conceive how impossible 
 it appears, at the first initiation, for anything to preserve 
 life in the threatened area. 
 
 The noise of the traveling and exploding shells was 
 without cessation for four hours. The whir-r-r-r of pass- 
 ing projectiles, the terrific concussion of exploding lyd- 
 dite, the song and the bu-z-z of the irregular fragments 
 hurled with fearful velocity in every direction from the 
 point where these masses of iron burst, accompanied by 
 a continuous rattle of musketry so regular that no rifle 
 
 67 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 but your own seemed to have an individual sound, made 
 every man realize that we were engaged in the most 
 serious affair of life and death hitherto encountered. We 
 personally concluded it was the time to cash in, for the 
 most our chips were worth : working our rifles until the 
 intense heat seared our hands and arms with blisters, and 
 shooting at every man that came within range, in efforts 
 to secure a foothold under cover of their artillery fire on 
 the banks of the river. 
 
 This attack was also made by infantry, and the British 
 hardihood in placing two batteries within 900 yards of 
 the river, was calculated to shake the confidence of the 
 most sanguine. The two Pom-Poms and the one Creusot 
 field gun handled by the Staats-Artillerie, were operated 
 by the Boer youths forming that force, who by their ag- 
 gressiveness concentrated the enemy's ponderous artillery 
 fire upon themselves, but continued work fearlessly until 
 eleven o'clock, when the enemy shot from their advanced 
 guns, took refuge in a donga (washed-out sluit) a few 
 feet in the rear, from where they found it impossible to 
 advance or retreat. 
 
 We watched and tried to frustrate the two plucky at- 
 tempts to save the isolated guns, in one of which the son 
 of Lord Roberts lost his life and we saw but could not 
 hinder the third and successful trial, when the British 
 took two of the guns away under circumstances of great 
 difficulty and bravery. The Boers marveled and so ex- 
 pressed themselves, that human life should have so slight 
 a valuation, that it should be wasted to regain these pieces, 
 which represented to them nothing but dollars and cents, 
 and a mistaken view of honor to the British, who were 
 willing to lay down their many lives to retain, that for 
 which the Boer would not risk anything. The burghers 
 knew that the British had endless facilities for replacing 
 
 68 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 the guns and they did not count their victories by guns 
 captured, but by the men slain and strategical advantages 
 gained. 
 
 The advanced British who were able, made a hurried 
 retreat, and mustering on Chieveley Hill, they were re- 
 formed, and in plain view, made three advances in skir- 
 mishing order to cover or recover the ten guns remaining 
 on the field. When within range each attempt was met 
 by a well-directed shrapnel fire from the Republican guns, 
 causing them to hastily retire. In their second failure they 
 were greeted on their return by the fire of their own guns, 
 and in the third, in view of both armies, in addition to 
 enduring their own guns, they were charged by cavalry 
 riders, probably officers, and we could see the flash of 
 sabres, wielded in the endeavor to stop the stampede, but 
 without success, the panic-stricken troops streaming past 
 them in a wild scramble to reach safety. 
 
 Although this coercion of their own troops with their 
 artillery had been previously employed at Dundee, and 
 was afterward repeated, this was not the first time it had 
 been used this day. The troops who had succeeded in 
 gaining the town and the toll-house on the south end of 
 the bridge had, on the retreat, dreaded to cross the zone 
 of fire necessary to reach safety. To help their decision, 
 their own guns had been turned on them, forcing them 
 to take the least evil and fall back. There was no possi- 
 bility of mistake, there was not a Republican within 900 
 yards of these men, and the British officers knew it. Both 
 incidents occurred within plain view of all the Republicans 
 watching from the central defense, conjectures being ex- 
 pressed as to why fire was so directed, until the gruesome 
 conviction became obvious, when the Dutch had too much 
 chivalry to shoot on troops in so humiliating a predica- 
 ment. 
 
 69 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 The battle was over, 2,500 men, two field guns and two 
 Pom-Poms had successfully repulsed the attack of 25,000 
 men and seventy guns, with a loss to themselves of three 
 killed and twenty-two wounded. Louis Botha did not 
 care to expose in the open, any of his small force on the 
 opposite side of the river as long as the phalanx of infan- 
 try hung threateningly on the hill. The Boers took many 
 months to learn the extent to which the British regular 
 troops became demoralized after a severe defeat. 
 
 After leisurely taking a lunch of the contents of the 
 saddle-bags and going to the river to wash and water 
 their horses, as the British made no further movement, 
 some of the more adventurous burghers, crossed the fords 
 and took prisoners the 228 men still lying in cover behind 
 the deserted guns. Then they started by hand to drag 
 the guns down closer to the river, with a view of protect- 
 ing them with rifle fire until night, when some method 
 could be devised to get them across under cover of dark- 
 ness. The stragglers, picking up the v/eapons discarded 
 in the flight, scattering on the slope toward the British 
 forces, got so close to the enemy as to afford an extempore 
 outpost and develop the extraordinary fact that the defeat 
 had paralyzed their power of offensive. They were on 
 the defensive against 2,500 men. Rising to the situation, 
 the Republican commanders quickly sent for the only two 
 available artillery teams, and the cannon were pulled 400 
 yards up the railroad toward the enemy to enable them to 
 cross the railroad embankment, then 600 yards parallel 
 toward the approach of the bridge, which they crossed, 
 following the exposed road for a thousand yards on the 
 north bank before the gun could be placed in cover behind 
 one of the hills that formed the Boer defense. These two 
 teams made this extraordinary trip in the open, seven 
 times in the afternoon, before they had the ten guns and 
 
 70 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 thirteen limbers under cover, without once being fired 
 upon by the remainder of the British artillery. 
 
 The cannon were in good order, but had been un- 
 sponged during the morning fight. The limbers contained 
 1,250 rounds of ammunition, disposing of the report that 
 they had been handled until they ran out of ammunition. 
 
 The prisoners were marched across the ford, declared in 
 Buller's despatches impassable on account of high water, 
 which in no place reached the stirrup. An accident oc- 
 curred in connection with these prisoners, two burghers 
 with rifles slung on their backs were slightly in advance 
 of the force intended to disarm the British, under the 
 mistaken impression that they had surrendered. They 
 were met by a volley which killed one of them named 
 Hans Nel which made the third Federal death of an 
 eventful day. The British were quickly surrounded and 
 warned by Commandant Derksen to surrender at once, 
 which they decided to do. Colonel Bullock in command, 
 thought that to yield to the burghers it was necessary 
 to fall into line and stack arms, an illusion soon dispelled 
 when a Boer seized his revolver, unbuckling the belt for 
 him. In an effort to save his coveted field-glasses from 
 the same fate and preserve the dignity he considered 
 necessary for these functions, he got into an altercation 
 with another burgher, which ended in failure to save the 
 glasses and a discolored eye. 
 
 Another incident which might be mentioned : Immedi- 
 ately upon the retreat and before the Boers had occupied 
 the field, twelve British ambulance wagons rolled down 
 toward the river. General Botha sent word under the 
 flag of truce, that if they did not stay off the field until 
 the possession of the guns was decided, he would turn his 
 artillery upon them, and the ambulances at once with- 
 drew. This course was fully justified by evidence gath- 
 
 71 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 ered as« regarded the use of ambulances, or ambulance 
 equipments by the enemy, and one of their generals is 
 reported to have said that it was legitimate warfare to 
 employ the Red Cross teams for a gun that would be 
 otherwise disabled. 
 
 Even on a battle field there is always humor, and the 
 advice showered on General Botha by the men of his 
 command gave its share of amusement to those unfamiliar 
 with the burghers. His age being but thirty-six many of 
 the older burghers had most strenuously opposed his ap- 
 pointment to the command. Even after this victory they 
 were not completely satisfied, and insisted as they crowded 
 around him, in delivering at the top of their voices, cau- 
 tions as to the method to be adopted in becoming pos- 
 sessed of the guns. Now as afterwards he listened to 
 every man carrying a rifle, but allowed them in no way to 
 balk his magnificent grasp of economy in every unit, 
 with an army taxed to its utmost resources, and his keen 
 knowledge of detail necessary to defending a great terri- 
 tory against overwhelming odds. 
 
 We read with amusement later in the English papers 
 about the Englishmen that crossed the river and stormed 
 the hills, we read of a gallant bugler that bugled in this 
 storm, winning for himself a silver bugle presented by 
 the hands of royalty. The only English that crossed that 
 day went over under an escort, as prisoners, \\1ien an 
 army that finds it necessary to shoot down its own men 
 in the field, has to be bolstered at home with this absurd 
 sort of pageantry, there must be something very rotten 
 in its formation or the cause in which they were elected 
 to fight. 
 
 On the battle field were scattered a number of General 
 Sir Francis Clery's orders for the day, from which the 
 Republicans were able to see the strength and distribu- 
 
 72 
 

 o 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 tion of the forces with wHich they were engaged. The 
 English loss was reported at 897 killed and wounded with 
 ten guns captured and one destroyed, probably the one 
 mentioned in the artillery duel of the tenth. 
 
 The Federal artillerymen not understanding the mech- 
 anism of the captured Armstrongs, these guns were 
 shipped to Pretoria and experimented with until enough 
 men became proficient in their use, when they were sent 
 to the Free State to reinforce the artillery on that border, 
 which was extended over a larger fighting area than the 
 forces in Natal. One of the favorite British fables was 
 that the Federal artillery was entirely officered by for- 
 eigners, when the direct opposite was the fact. Beyond 
 Sam Leon who instructed them in the use of the six 
 inch Creusot and Major Albrecht naturalized for twenty- 
 five years in the Orange Free State, the guns were en- 
 tirely manned by citizens of the country, and of such 
 youthful years as to cause comment to all spectators. 
 
 The foreign attaches were not permitted to join the 
 British forces at this battle, but were afterwards given 
 the information necessary for them to possess by General 
 BuUer, three days after the fight. In contrast to the con- 
 duct of the Republics who placed no restrictions on the 
 members of the foreign armies assigned to duty with their 
 forces. These officers freely circulated at will and no 
 information they desired was held from them, and they 
 succeeded in seeing everything in the neighborhood they 
 wished. Their reports, although not completely in favor 
 of Boer military methods, are a glowing commendation 
 of the general conduct of the war, all returning to their 
 countries ardent Pro-Boers. 
 
 73 
 
Chapter VI 
 
 Sir William Butler — The situation on the fighting lines — Buller's 
 message — Christmas day — Flies — Patroling — Helmets — The bat- 
 tle of the Platrand — Villebois Muriel — Ignatius Vermaak — 
 Football under diiBculties — Mrs. Krantz. 
 
 GENERAL SIR WILLIAM BUTLER, before re- 
 lieved of his command as chief of the British 
 forces in South Africa, for alleged sympathy 
 with the Republics and attempting to dissuade his country 
 from forcing a war, had seen clearly the probable course 
 of events. He had advised the abandonment of Northern 
 Natal to the Tugela. a garrison of fifty thousand on this 
 river to stem the further southern advance of the Re- 
 publicans, and an army of 100,000 to make the march 
 upon Pretoria via Bloemfontein. He was relieved as in- 
 competent to be succeeded by Sir George White, Sir 
 Redvers Buller, and Lord Roberts in succession, the latter 
 adopting his plan of campaign. After Northern Natal 
 had been overrun, with loss of prestige to the British, 
 the situation was all Sir William Butler had predicted, 
 excepting the siege of Ladysmith. 
 
 The position, roughly, on December 20, was that the 
 Federals were attempting with 30,000 men to hold an 
 unbroken cordon of over 700 miles and keep in siege three 
 garrisons, aggregating 28,000 men and 100 guns. At- 
 tempting to relieve these garrisons and opposed to their 
 lines of defense were, in Natal, Buller at Frere, having 
 at his command 39,000 men, eighty-four field guns, a 
 mountain battery and twelve naval guns. The 4.7 guns, 
 used lyddite, solid shell and shrapnel, the naval 12 
 pounders using solid shell. White was invested in the 
 rear of the Republican line of defense, with 21,000 men 
 
 74 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 and seventy guns, causing a constant menace to the 15,000 
 burghers endeavoring to control both forces. 
 
 In the Cape Colony, General Methuen was at Modder 
 river in the extreme west, with 20,000 men and thirty- 
 eight guns. General French was at Naaupoort with 4,000 
 cavalry and twelve field guns. General Gatacre formed 
 the centre at Sterkstroom with 33,500 men, twenty-six 
 field guns and six Howitzers. All the towns in the rear 
 of these British forces or on their lines of communication 
 were also garrisoned, and a force under Colonel Plumer 
 was threatening the Republics on the north, whose defense 
 was crippled by the siege of Kimberley and Mafeking. 
 The Federals were conscious that any break in their long- 
 drawn line meant the downfall of their entire system of 
 defense, yet their critics gravely argue that they ought to 
 have assumed greater offensiveness against numbers nu- 
 merically so superior in both men and guns. So both 
 forces lay watching each other, the English, fearing fur- 
 ther defeat, awaited reinforcements, the Republicans were 
 afraid to make an advance and leave the invested cities 
 with their garrisons in the rear, fearing they would break 
 through their chains and outdistance them to Pretoria. 
 In Natal no large conflict occurred for ten days after 
 the battle of Colenso, but Boer scouts would cross the 
 river or went out from Hlangwana Hill to obtain food, 
 capture horses, or harass the enemy's outposts, and daily 
 skirmishes occurred. 
 
 General BuUer's message to the besieged force, that he 
 could not render them further aid for some period, was 
 an open secret among the burghers. There was no censor 
 or even any attempt at secresy among the members of the 
 war councils, in regard to subjects discussed by those 
 bodies. If it did not vitally concern some important pro- 
 jected movement, the judgment of these councils was 
 
 75 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 debated in the rank and file immediately the members 
 were released, and communications between the opposing 
 generals were open to inspection and comment from the 
 humblest, but, beyond this, all intercepted messages, 
 correspondence, and other information gained by the in- 
 telligence department, if not absolutely demanding sup- 
 pression for the benefit of the states, was treated to the 
 same democratic usage. This being the case although 
 throwing the Republican army open to severe oflfsets, 
 placed every intelligent member of it in a position to in- 
 struct many of the highest of the enemy in the plans of 
 the commanding generals of both forces. 
 
 In the pastime of mud-slinging in which the British war 
 office chiefs are now indulging, the information that BuUer 
 had advised a surrender of the besieged garrison has 
 fallen as a bomb upon his own army and the English 
 public, nearly two years after the delivery of the message. 
 For that period the burghers had known it as an assured 
 fact and only now marvel that England has not gained 
 this knowledge before. Probably when the generals have 
 vilified each other sufficiently, England will be equally 
 surprised to learn that Sir George White, after receiving 
 the message, not only made one attempt but several to 
 obtain dignified terms whereby he could surrender the 
 town, coupled with the individual liberty of himself and 
 his men, and that only the uncompromising stand of 
 General Joubert for an unconditional surrender, prevented 
 this modified submission being an assured fact. Yet this 
 is part of the known but hitherto unwritten history of the 
 siege, and the reason why such events should now call for 
 so much criticism in England belongs to the category of 
 those mysteries which has been studiously suppressed 
 throughout, by the war office and its satellites. 
 
 Christmas was spent in the trenches. The British sol- 
 
 76 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 dier had, as we were informed by the English papers, re- 
 ceived a box of chocolate from their Queen, and other 
 seasonable delicacies from the general public. The women 
 of the Republic, under the leadership of Mrs. Reitz, the 
 noble-hearted wife of the state-secretary, organized to 
 cook cakes and pastry for the men of the Federal army. 
 Through this means, and an open subscription among the 
 non-combatant residents, the burghers were supplied with 
 all manner of luxuries for this anniversary, which even 
 took the form of silk handkerchiefs, spurs and other 
 articles dear to the heart of one campaigning. Sports 
 were indulged in, liberal prizes given in money and kind, 
 and the dawn was welcomed by volleys of rifle fire and 
 cannon, directed toward Ladysmith, the shells having had 
 their explosive charges withdrawn, and plum puddings, 
 cakes and billet-doux substituted for the original death- 
 dealing material. 
 
 In idle hours, rifle practice was indulged in, ammuni- 
 tion being recklessly wasted, and every sort of target 
 used, until it became dangerous to hunt horses in the 
 hills. Several accidents were reported before any attempt 
 was made by those in command to restrain this wanton 
 waste. In spite of threatened fines and other punish- 
 ments, this interference was abortive and this state of 
 affairs continued until their armies were driven east of 
 Pretoria, when ammunition became so scarce the burgh- 
 ers were satisfied to harbor the supply as a means of self- 
 preservation. 
 
 T. M. C. Nourse, a Johannesburg man and distant rela- 
 tive of General Botha's wife, then serving with the British 
 intelligence department, was captured in company with' 
 Glendinning, an ex-butcher of Pretoria, while trying to 
 locate a new ford to cross the river. As prisoners they 
 were greeted by many who had known them before the 
 
 77 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 war. These reunions constantly occurring between mem- 
 bers of the opposing forces. 
 
 By the numbers of unburied horses that had died of 
 sickness or of wounds and the period the camps had been 
 in one location, the flies now became an intolerable nui- 
 sance. There was no peace for horse or man from day- 
 light to dark. They settled in swarms on the eyes of loose 
 horses, or on any part where the skin had been broken 
 and caused great sores, the heads of many horses pre- 
 senting, when discovered, a horrible appearance. Cook- 
 ing without a liberal assortment of flies mixed in the food 
 was a luxury unknown. The intense heat and impossi- 
 bility of rest without perpetual motion, forced a more 
 strenuous activity, and volunteers could always be found 
 for any demonstration or excursion suggested. The 
 English dead on the neutral territory between the armies 
 were a horrifying sight. In spite of the armistice granted 
 the British after the fight, for the purpose of burying 
 the dead, this office had been insufficiently performed, 
 and vultures tore" at their awful feast within view of both 
 combatants. 
 
 At the commencement of hostilities both armies were so 
 uncertain of the prowess of each other, that, as the work 
 of making themselves better acquainted advanced, a 
 variety of curious incidents were ever occurring, which, 
 but for the grave attending danger, would have been most 
 amusing. Those to whom scouting duties had been as- 
 signed contributed their fair proportion of interest to their 
 comrades. One of these happened during the manoeuvre, 
 the day before, and preliminary to the battle of Modder- 
 spruit. Ordered out in company with twenty-nine others, 
 under Veldkornet Barend Badenhorst, for the purpose 
 of reconnoitering the positions facing Lombard's Kop, 
 was one of the authors. Mounted as we were, rapid and 
 
 78 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 most incautious progress was made through the stunted 
 thorn trees until four of us, acting as forerunners, pass- 
 ing over a slight elevation, found ourselves in the front of 
 a whole battalion of men not fifty yards away, who, lying 
 prone behind the dip of a creek, were all aiming at us 
 ready for the order to fire, " Alamaghtig " (God Al- 
 mighty) exclaimed one named Van der Ness, abruptly, 
 and throwing himself forward until almost level with the 
 saddle, he wheeled his horse about and made for the rear 
 with an amazing momentum and without further com- 
 ment. The remaining three at once directed their gaze 
 toward the cause of alarm, and " Mij Got I " (My God) 
 exclaimed William Davel, emulating the example of Van 
 der Ness. Frans Botha, the third and his remaining com- 
 panion, when they discovered the soldiers, simply expe- 
 dited matters without offering any excuse, deeming the 
 same superfluous, the entire incident occupying less time 
 than it takes to tell it. For some time the British soldiers 
 had been patiently observing the entire body moving for- 
 ward, and they were only waiting for the force to sur- 
 mount the rise and get together, when, with a volley they 
 hoped to annihilate the whole force, but by reason of the 
 alarm the volley never came, and the enemy were cheated 
 of their anticipated scoop. No time was lost in carrying 
 the alarm to the main body behind, but Badenhorst, true 
 to his reputation for daring, refused to believe it until 
 he had seen for himself, and taking one of the original 
 four with him, they dismounted and proceeded to investi- 
 gate, going a little to the left of the first point of ob- 
 sei-vation. The only cover after the sloping ground had 
 been overcome was a solitary stone too small to shelter 
 two men, but for this both made. They at once became 
 the targets for the battalion of the King's Royal Rifles 
 opposite, who now realized they had been discovered. 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 The scouts crouched until it became so hot, that finally 
 one, then the other dashed out, running for the rear and 
 shelter, a distance of about 400 yards. The shower of 
 rifle bullets was so great that, although both miraculously 
 escaped unhurt, the veldkornet had no fewer than seven 
 punctures in his clothes and shoes. The other was 
 awarded the enviable notoriety by his comrades of having 
 broken the world's record. The British soldiers, had 
 they not exposed their heads with their ponderous helmets, 
 could not have failed capturing or killing our small force, 
 as we most certainly would have walked unsuspectingly 
 into the ambuscade. Throughout the campaign these hel- 
 mets, covered with khaki duck, have served sometimes 
 as a beacon of warning, and at others as a death warrant 
 of their wearers, and it is nothing short of a marvel that 
 they are worn by the English army in South Africa even 
 to-day. 
 
 A most determined effort was made to become pos- 
 sessed of Ladysmith on January 6, which was also a new 
 feature in the fact that the Republicans with a bravery 
 difficult to equal, stormed continuously for twelve hours, 
 positions strongly held and defended, and considering that 
 it was their first aggressive attempt, to capture a fortifi- 
 cation in a hand-to-hand combat, they acted most credit- 
 ably. On the afternoon of the fourth all the laagers were 
 asked for volunteers to hold themselves in readiness, 
 with one day's provisions, for a destination unnamed. 
 Great stress was laid on the fact that the expedition was 
 dangerous, to give to those of weak spirit a chance to 
 drop out, and at ten o'clock on the night of the fifth 
 these volunteers commenced to concentrate toward Caesar's 
 Hill, from the various commands scattered along the lines 
 on the Tugela. 
 
 Cffisar Hill was a table land about a mile square, ad- 
 
 80 
 
;- s 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 joining and overhanging Ladysmith, with a gentle slope 
 toward the south, where it broke off perpendicularly in 
 a ravine about 300 feet deep, which climb had to be nego- 
 tiated under fire, before the Boers came in contact with 
 the British firing line. Wagon Hill was a further rocky 
 eminence, standing alone on the table land or platrand, 
 and guarding the western approach. It was therefore 
 a position of considerable strategical importance and 
 strongly fortified. 
 
 The attack, made at three in the morning under com- 
 mand of General Louis Botha, succeeded in getting a foot- 
 hold at two points. The defenses were a complete wall 
 built around the crest of Caesar's Hill, and loopholed in 
 a manner to make it impossible to see anything of the 
 defenders. The Federals held their advantage until day- 
 light, when the British having reinforced, the fighting 
 became most keen. Three times the Boers were repulsed 
 from their hold on the summit, to again take possession. 
 Wagon Hill, from which the English had retreated, was 
 untenable for either combatant. Again and again the 
 Federals took possession, to reluctantly retreat under the 
 rifle fire from the British intrenchments. Every attempt 
 was led by Ignatius Vermaak, veldkornet of Utrecht, a 
 splendid old patriot of sixty-two years of age, who with 
 flowing white locks and accompanied by four sons was 
 the first to charge and the last to evacuate, until shot 
 diagonally through the neck and in shoulder, he died, 
 leaving seven grown sons in arms to avenge his death. 
 
 Sir George White gave the credit for saving the day, 
 and consequently the town for the English, to the Im- 
 perial Light Horse, a regiment raised from Johannesburg 
 men, who had seven officers wounded. This corps showed 
 considerable bravery, their superiority in markmanship 
 making them more formidable than the regular soldier. 
 
 81 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 It was impossible to carry the Republican wounded 
 from the engagement by reason of the fire-swept flat 
 adjoining the battle field, and as Dum-Dum bullets were 
 used freely by the English, the majority of the wounded 
 died in the positions from the serious wounds made by 
 these missiles. At no time were the forces far apart, con- 
 versations and taunts passing between them. One British 
 soldier excelled in mimicry and would repeat suggestions 
 made by the Boer officers, crying " Storm, burghers, 
 storm ! " and the proportion of British who used the Dutch 
 language for the purpose of lure or satire demonstrated 
 that the positions were principally held by troops from 
 the South African colonies. 
 
 Colonel Villebois Muriel, a French officer and a daring 
 soldier, whose opinion had great weight with the Re- 
 publican leaders, accompanied the forces to the fighting 
 line, where after scaling the hill, it was possible to snatch 
 a gun from an unsuspecting Britisher, as he placed the 
 muzzle through one of the portholes in the four-foot made 
 wall, which surmounted the rimrock. With this wall the 
 sheer ascent averaged about nine feet, and once a posi- 
 tion was assured beneath it, it was necessary for the 
 British soldier to lean over the top in order to dislodge a 
 man. By hugging the wall close and keeping your eyes 
 along the top, you could make this a dangerous experi- 
 ment, but often attempted on account of the irritation 
 to Tommy of having his gun snatched from him, as he 
 aimed at your compatriots in the rear. The method to 
 have made the assault of such a position a success, with 
 the force at command, would have been by the use of hand 
 grenades, which could have been tossed over the wall, 
 making the British positions untenable, but without some 
 such method, to attempt to scale such a wall in the face 
 of the bayonets was certain death. 
 
 82 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 Christian De Wet, by his deliberate courage became 
 noticeable in this assault, the Gordon Highlanders receiv- 
 ing most of his attention, although from this action it 
 would have been guess-work to predict that in twelve 
 months his reputation as an irregular cavalry general, 
 would be beyond parallel in history. General Joubert 
 was earnestly besought for reinforcements to sustain the 
 hold already obtained, victory being always in sight, and 
 the situation was repeatedly placed before him by courier 
 and heliograph, but he refused to issue any orders, say- 
 ing we were losing enough men. As a compromise he 
 kept up a futile bombardment of the town from the east, 
 to withdraw the British attention from the threatened 
 point, which caused no relief to the over-tried burghers. 
 
 At five in the afternoon a heavy rainstorm fell adding 
 to the discomfort of the storming force, who had been 
 active and without food for twenty hours. Giving 
 up hope of aid, under cover of the storm and approach- 
 ing dark, ?. last attempt was made to force a permanent 
 hold, to be beaten back, and the evasive replies of the 
 Commandant-General becoming known, they retreated at 
 dark, carrying most of their wounded who had survived 
 the rain and the nature of the wounds inflicted by the am- 
 munition used. 
 
 Worn out with fatigue though they were, and conscious 
 of their own heavy losses which totalled 183 in killed and 
 wounded, the burghers were loud in their praise of the 
 splendid effort made by the defenders, and it was a pity 
 that anything should have occurred to mar the feeling 
 so expressed, but it was learned on the afternoon of the 
 day following the battle, that the body of the veteran 
 leader, Ignatius Vermaak, had been found stripped of 
 all clothing by ghouls among the enemy, and his face hor- 
 ribly disfigured by rifle-butt or stone, so as to be, except 
 
 83 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 for his flowing white beard, unrecognizable. This was 
 further accentuated by the later discovery, that the body 
 of Japie de Villiers, the popular veldkornet of the Har- 
 rismith commando, who, it was known, had been only 
 wounded in the thigh by a rifle bullet; had the neck 
 wrung until the bone was completely broken. Apart 
 from the wound in the thigh, there were marks on the 
 wrists and body indicating a terrible struggle, and the 
 face gave eloquent testimony of the agony this brave 
 man suffered before death came to his rescue. With the 
 knowledge of these facts, the first feelings of generosity 
 gave way to one of contempt and anger. 
 
 It was obvious at the time, and afterward confirmed 
 by the English general, Sir George White, that with more 
 resources the day would have been won by the Repub- 
 licans, but at this time General Joubert's age affected his 
 mind, practically amounting to senility. His love for his 
 countrymen, and his womanly fear of bloodshed in criti- 
 cal issues, made the subjection by storm of the Ladysmith 
 garrison distasteful to him, and hearing of the large loss 
 his burghers were suflFering, he refused to risk any more 
 lives, whereby the effect of the loss already sustained 
 was nullified, and Ladysmith went with his timidity. 
 
 The men who had fought were disgusted with their 
 treatment, and Louis Botha in charge of the operations, 
 insured his future position by the redoubled confidence 
 of the burghers. There was no further hope of winning 
 Ladysmith by assault, and the slow process of starvation 
 was continued as the alternative. The Boers had proved 
 their ability to act on the offensive against a strong and 
 difficult position, under circumstances creditable to any 
 force, but wet and hungry, returning to their separate 
 laagers that night, the soreness of being thus forsaken 
 and unsupported was in the air, and the reader of signs 
 
 84 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 knew that no further attempt would ever be made, no 
 matter how protracted the siege. The British reported a 
 loss of 498 killed and wounded. 
 
 The armies again settled down to the humdrum of camp 
 life and investment, watching each opposite move, with 
 nothing to enliven the time but an occasional artillery 
 duel, a raid for horses, or a minor affair with the scouts. 
 If the besieged garrison appeared active, a few shells 
 would remind them they were still under surveillance. 
 If the Boers became too familiar on the south side the 
 Tugela a demonstration would be made to prove that the 
 English still disputed this territory, otherwise life was 
 given to bathing, reading, fighting flies, discussing the 
 fights in the Orange Free State, and circulating wild re- 
 ports of deaths among the English generals. 
 
 General Joubert permitted Lady Ava, daughter-in-law 
 to Earl Duflerin to enter the beleaguered city, that she 
 might nurse her husband who had been seriously wounded 
 on January 6. By the courtesy of the Republican leaders, 
 six mules and a Boer ambulance wagon met her on the 
 Tugela river, and escorted her through the lines to her 
 destination. 
 
 The besiegers by no means possessed the entire mo- 
 nopoly of sport and humor during the weary months of 
 waiting and watching, interrupted now and then by a 
 spirited artillery duel between the Boer gun " Long Tom " 
 on Insimbulwana Hill, and the British naval guns in the 
 town and on Cassar Hill. Inside Ladysmith the be- 
 leaguered garrison strongly contested any such aspira- 
 tions, and between them, furnished many an instance in 
 which death and irony struggled for ascendancy. At 
 times this would take the form of a game of innocent 
 football, quite close to the banks of the Klip river run- 
 ning through the town, but within plain view of, and only 
 
 85 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 4,000 yards distant from the young Boer artillerymen. 
 The contestants would first appear, and then line up for 
 the game, then numerous figures, presumably the specta- 
 tors would be observed moving about on the slope and 
 along the river bank. At once the artillerymen were bust- 
 ling about, and the crack shots took hold, under the lead- 
 ership of Lieutenant Pretorius, the best of all. The game 
 would commence, and develop into a heated scrimmage, 
 when suddenly the French Creusot would thtinder forth, 
 and in a twinkling an exploding shell would be tearing 
 its way through both opponents, and touch down an un- 
 disputed first goal. Whenever they had time for it, a 
 general scramble always succeeded, but it not infrequently 
 occurred that after the smoke cleared away the game was 
 resumed. This will be conceded no mean sport when it 
 is told that upon one occasion a shell plunged into the 
 centre of a scrimmaging party killing four. More fre- 
 quently than otherwise the games were uninterrupted, and 
 the Boer boys would form themselves into distant spec- 
 tators, even taking sides, and warmly debating the issue. 
 As a rule a few field glasses passed at short intervals from 
 one to the other. It has occurred that whilst one spec- 
 tator was most deeply interested in a move in progress, 
 another whose turn had come would ask for the glasses, 
 and being frequently told to wait, pull it out of the other's 
 hands. Invariably such action was followed by an ex- 
 change of compliments. A young soldier of the Gordon 
 Highlanders, captured at Bester's Farm, expressed his re- 
 gret to a member of the Vryheid commando, that he had 
 been scooped, as he belonged to a team which was to play 
 a couple of days later. He also said that there were 
 many games undecided owing to the unwelcome entry 
 of a third contestant. 
 
 During the summer, when the flies tried all the combat- 
 
 86 
 
Martha Kuantz 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 ive energy of both armies, as a diversion, frequent forays 
 after fruit would be made by one party, or the other, to 
 Bester's Farm, on the southwest of the town and within 
 gun shot of both lines. With one of these parties was 
 Mrs. Krantz, wife of the German commandant of that 
 name, who came so near being captured that she was com- 
 pelled to climb into the loft and hide herself among a 
 quantity of paraphernalia stored there, just as a fatherly- 
 looking corporal and squad, entered the house from the 
 other side. 
 
 " I tell you it was a man with a mackintosh on — they 
 were all men," contended one of the men. 
 
 " Look 'ere, lad — no bloke can't fool Billy Soames, as 
 'as been marking time with a mate like Julia for seventeen 
 year and four months. Wait till yer shod, cut dem things 
 wot's called eye-teeth, and get your whiskers singed — 
 then talk — you'll see straight then ! " Relieving himself 
 of this mild remonstrance which produced immediate 
 silence, the corporal went on to say, " Lord, I don't want 
 to take her no way. I wouldn't care to give no woman 
 over to the Major, — even if she was me enemy — not me ! " 
 With this they passed out and started back, enabling the 
 fair looter to escape. Such small expeditions, while en- 
 tertaining, were always accompanied with danger, as at- 
 tempts to obtain fruit never failed to produce sniping, 
 and on one occasion a young Boer was shot while on the 
 peach tree. 
 
 87 
 
Chapter VII 
 
 In the Free State— Colonial irregulars— The alleged Dutch plot 
 — De Aar — Belmont — Graspan — Massacre of Deerdepoort — 
 Modder river — Magersfontein — Boer inertia — Stormberg — 
 Rensburg siding — Lord Roberts arrives — Cronje outflanked — 
 Kimberley relieved — Cronje's retreat. 
 
 THE Struggle in the Free State and northern Cape 
 Colony was being desperately contended, during 
 this time, and it would be as well to review the 
 situation and see how the Republicans had fared. The 
 country, different to Natal was completely open, only 
 broken by rivers and sluits, which cut deep into the red 
 sandy soil, and by chains of small isolated kopjes, form- 
 ing but slight protection to the operating forces. The 
 undulating veldt was covered by a scrub mimosa brush 
 unavailable for strategical purposes. 
 
 At the commencement of the war the British had but 
 comparatively few regular troops in the northern part of 
 Cape Colony, but they were supplemented by 7,000 ir- 
 regulars, formed of mounted PoHcej,Ca2e Rifles^ and in- 
 numerable militia corps ofjmiaUJited .infantry, who were 
 composed of recruits from the loyaLfarmers, and were far 
 more formidable than ihe European product. Their 
 colonial training gave them the advantage ot their com- 
 patriots, in horsemanship, marksmanship and sense of 
 locality. Their higher degree of intelligence made them 
 more capable of taking advantage of all available covers, 
 a most necessary precaution against a cool and daring 
 foe of undoubted cleverness in the same arts. 
 
 The northern part of the colony was quickly overrun 
 by the Republicans and several inhabitants joined their 
 forces. If the Dutch plot had existed which the English 
 
 88 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 claim, for the overthrow of the Enghsh power in their 
 own colonies, now would have been the time for these 
 colonies to rise, and by throwing their weight with the 
 Republicans, they could have changed the balance of 
 power and the English would have had to commence their 
 reconquest from the coast. But this, as many of the 
 ante bellum statements, had its birth in the editorial offices 
 of the Jingo press, and the Republicans relied alone on 
 their own resources to maintain their independence. 
 
 The important junction on the Kimberley- Johannesburg 
 Railroad, at De Aar with military stores valued at $2,600,- 
 000 was garrisoned by but 800 infantrymen. Although 
 extensively operating in the district this fact never be- 
 came known to the Republicans until the garrison was 
 strongly reinforced. They had considered the assault 
 of the town, even it captured, not worthy of the neces- 
 sary cost, a great error on their part and a severe criticism 
 of their intelligence department, supposed to be exception- 
 ally complete at this period, on account of the friendly 
 attitude of the farmers in the invaded territory. 
 
 Stormberg and Naaupoort were occupied in the first 
 advance, without much opposition by the regular troops 
 and the irregular colonial forces, who had answered the 
 first call to arms. They fell back to await reinforcements, 
 on Sterkstroom and Middleburg, where the British were 
 making every effort to concentrate their troops and repel 
 further invasion of their territory. 
 
 De Aar was strengthened by General Methuen, who 
 advanced on the Kimberley-Cape Town Railroad as far 
 as the Orange river, where he arrived on November 12. 
 Not considering his force sufficient to take the aggressive, 
 he waited here until the twenty-second, when, with his 
 field command, numbering 10,000 men, he advanced 
 against the Federal position at Belmont. The Boers were 
 
 89 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 intrenched in four small ranges of hills and General 
 Methuen made a night advance, attacking the position at 
 four A. M. Opposed by a resistance of short duration, 
 with a frontal attack in which he lost heavily, the first 
 positions were captured at the point of the bayonet. The 
 Boers immediately evacuated the other ranges which were 
 successively occupied by the British. The Republican 
 laagers, trekking from under cover of the last hills, were 
 but a short distance on their road when Methuen became 
 possessed, but in spite of the open country beyond the 
 hills, incapable of an ambush, he failed to follow and 
 make the capture, pleading in his report that his troops 
 were exhausted. The loss to the British was 308 killed 
 and wounded, with a large proportion of officers, as the 
 English had not then discarded all insignia of rank, a 
 course found necessary later to overcome the excessive 
 mortality in this branch of their service. 
 
 The Boers lost three killed and seventeen woimded, 
 some ammunition and several wagons which the British 
 destroyed although short of transports themselves. Fol- 
 lowing his advantage, Methuen, two days later £^ain at- 
 tacked the Federals at Graspan, which resulted in another 
 defeat for the Boers, inasmuch as they lost their position 
 and territory which it governed. Methuen opened with 
 a frontal attack in which he lost considerably, but on 
 adopting flanking tactics, the Boers left with slight loss 
 to themselves. The British suffered casualties to the 
 number of sixteen killed and 169 wounded in their first 
 attack, a form of aggressiveness responsible for the great 
 proportionate losses, in all the early engagements of Gen- 
 eral Methuen, General Gatacre and General Buller, and 
 obstinately followed until constrained by these enormously 
 costly experiences to follow more common-sense methods. 
 
 90 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 In the centre of the operations, the British were ad- 
 vancing under General Gatacre, who reoccupied Naau- 
 poort on November 19, but on the east, the RepubHcans 
 were slowly pushing their way further east. Commandant 
 Oliver being in command. 
 
 The Federal troops now heard with horror, the news 
 of the massacre of Deerdepoort, on November 25. The 
 Linchwe and Bakathla Kaffirs on the northwest border 
 of the Transvaal, aided by English non-commissioned 
 officers and two machine guns, attacked a small town 
 named Deerdepoort. All the white inhabitants were put 
 to the sword, and many of both sexes murdered. Bar- 
 nard, the member of the Volksraad of that district, was 
 killed in attempting to save the defenseless inhabitants. 
 The disgust of the burghers at this mode of warfare can 
 be imagined by any one familiar with their character, and 
 the struggle they had had to subdue these Kaffirs so 
 greatly superior to themselves in numbers. That Eng- 
 land, with her vast resources should stoop to accept the 
 aid of the natives, only bore out the Boers' idea of the 
 depth to which their arch enemy was willing to descend. 
 Not satisfied with the evidence found in Dundee regard- 
 ing the employment of natives in the war, this was offered 
 as a further proof. Now, they are also known to have 
 been employed for the defense of Mafeking, and other 
 savage races have been incited to commit depredations 
 on the northern boundary, but to further the humiliation, 
 at the present writing they are used throughout South 
 Africa, as armed police with great license, when the white 
 inhabitants are not permitted weapons, thereby disgust- 
 ing the loyal colonials, who recognize the danger of these 
 ignorant and blood-thirsty natives, once taught the power 
 of their weight in number, and armed by a nation only 
 
 91 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 anxious to use every means in their present need, un- 
 conscious of any sense of duty to those who perforce 
 must abide in the country. 
 
 This contrasts strangely with the attitude forced by 
 the Boers upon the natives, who were never permitted 
 or known by their sanction ; to fire a shot at the English. 
 A case in point can be mentioned of the Kaffir servant 
 of Commandant Grobler of the Vryheid commando, hav- 
 ing been sent to hunt horses near the enemy's line ; he sur- 
 reptitiously carried a gun, and discharged it at a British 
 picket. Upon this misdemeanor being reported by an 
 eye-witness from another commando, the offending na- 
 tive was flogged most severely, as a lesson to others who 
 contemplated a similar abuse. 
 
 Sarel Eloff, grandson of the president, was immediately 
 sent with sixty police to avenge the deed. The Kaffirs 
 were driven over the border and their kraals burnt, but 
 the white men were never located, though probably the 
 roll-call of Colonel Plumer's forces at this time would 
 furnish a clue to their identity. 
 
 General Cronje arrived on the southwest border with 
 3,000 men, and grasping the situation, immediately wished 
 to storm Kimberley, but was forbidden by the govern- 
 ment in Pretoria. Then withdrawing all the available 
 force from the investment, he took up a position south 
 of the town on the Modder river to stem the advance of 
 Methuen. On November 28, the enemy in a desperate 
 frontal attack upon his line of defense, forced in the west 
 wing of the Federals and secured a position on the river 
 bank, from where they could enfilade the remaining 
 Boer trenches. The possession of the railroad bridge 
 was bitterly contended, but also lost, and the British artil- 
 lery fire then became concentrated on a smaller area. 
 The Boers, unable to dislodge the enemy from their hold 
 
 92 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 in the river, decided to evacuate in the night, and they 
 retreated toward Jacobsdal, with a loss of twenty-eight 
 killed and wounded. One of Methuen's batteries was re- 
 ported to have fired 1,500 shells in the day, or for one 
 gun, twenty-five an hour for ten hours. The British gave 
 their loss as seventy-eight killed and 413 wounded, 
 among the killed being the chief of the stafif. Colonel 
 Northcote. This high rate of mortality was again due 
 to direct attacks. 
 
 Methuen, in reporting his casualties, termed this battle 
 " one of the hardest fights in the annals of the British 
 army," but perhaps this is a trifle extreme, as his loss 
 would have been considerably less, if he had not stumbled 
 on the mode of attack, and stubbornly insisted on its ful- 
 filment, but by winning the position, he had succeeded in 
 making forty-five of the seventy-five miles of his con- 
 tested march from Orange river to Kimberley. 
 
 General Cronje and General De la Rey, taking to heart 
 the lesson learned at Modder river, of the increased 
 casualties caused by firing along the ground instead of 
 from an elevation, intrenched their men at the foot of the 
 Magersfontein Hill, keeping the laagers and impedimenta 
 only, in the hills to the rear. Two hundred and fifty yards 
 in front of the trenches was a stout barbed-wire fence, 
 nearly four feet high, forming a ready made picket and 
 line of defense. General Methuen reinforced until he 
 commanded 13,000 men, six batteries and five naval guns, 
 submitted the hills to tremendous bombardment on the 
 afternoon of the tenth, but the Republicans in the trenches 
 a quarter of a mile closer, were unnoticed and unharmed. 
 That night it began to rain. 
 
 Having, by the bombardment, given notice that an at- 
 tack was to be made, the Highland Brigade under Gen- 
 eral Wauchope started a night advance. In the impene- 
 
 93 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 trable darkness and wet, marching in quarter columns, 
 held in position by ropes, they succeeded in reaching the 
 fence in the grey of dawn, 4 a. m. Still thinking the 
 Republicans at some distance, the front rank, without 
 changing the formation began to climb the wire, and the 
 wire sung. The Boers at once poured a deadly fusillade 
 into the packed mass at a range of 250 yards. Some one 
 shouted the order to retire. Probably it coincided with 
 the views of the entire brigade as the correct thing, and 
 the contemplated assault became a panic. Before the 
 light was strong, when a man's form looked like a long 
 grey shadow, the result was decided. In ten minutes the 
 battle was won. Twenty per cent of the Highland Brig- 
 ade were killed or wounded before they could get out of 
 range of the awful hail, and many lay down among the 
 scrub mimosas which covered the veldt, where they re- 
 mained concealed the entire day, only retreating under 
 cover of dark. 
 
 The division that was to have simultaneously attacked 
 the Republican left, made a determined demonstration to 
 cover the defeat and retreat of the Highlanders. The 
 Republican Scandinavian corps in a heroic but mistaken 
 attempt to take advantage of an elevation, were deci- 
 mated, losing of their force of fifty-two, their commander 
 Berendsen, Veldkornet Flyere, and forty-three men. 
 
 The horses and crews of six British batteries shot away, 
 the guns stood deserted within sight of the Federals. 
 Colonel Albrecht, commander of the Orange Free State 
 Artillery, gallantly working his guns under the superior 
 range of the heavy British artillery, balked every attempt 
 of the enemy to recover their field pieces during daylight. 
 The English, short of transports, and demoralized, were 
 handicapped in tlneir retreat to Modder river, but Cronje 
 was so well satisfied, with this, the first decisive victory 
 
 94 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 in the Orange Free State, and saddened by his own loss, 
 which comprised 200 killed and wounded, including the 
 son of General De la Rey, that he made no attempt to 
 follow his advantage and prolong the rout. Praising his 
 burghers for their steadiness under the assault of a su- 
 perior force, he said they " had done sufKcient for the 
 day." If he had incited them to further effort, the course 
 of events would have been materially changed, but his 
 contempt for the British, and his confidence in being able 
 to defeat them under any circumstances, lulled him to 
 inactivity. The advantage won by the gallantry of the 
 artillery under Colonel Albrecht, was lost, and the de- 
 serted batteries, allowed to remain isolated until night, 
 when the British returned and recovered them. 
 
 General Wauchope, in command of the Highland Brig- 
 ade, who was killed, is reported to have made an ante 
 mortem statement to his men, saying, " don't blame me, 
 lads, it was not my fault " and it is stated that in a letter, 
 written the night before the battle, he said, " this is the 
 last letter I shall ever write. I have been ordered to do 
 an impossible task." These statements sound a little 
 drawn, but they received credence in most of the Eng- 
 lish papers. Whatever the truth, the error of the attack 
 was evident, and a loss of 2,000 men in this and the pre- 
 vious engagements, for the advantages gained, was suffi- 
 cient to considerably change the tactics adopted by the 
 British in future attacks. 
 
 Methuen reported the loss of 900 killed and wounded, 
 with fifty prisoners of the Highlanders, who, unable to 
 retreat or defend themselves, threw down their guns and, 
 with raised arms, ran towards the Federal trenches, from 
 where they viewed the finale. 
 
 The lethargy of Cronje, although momentarily meeting 
 the approval of his burghers, lost him a good deal of the 
 
 95 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 confidence of the general army, and when, after further 
 mistakes, he was captured from a false sense of security, 
 the event was finally conceded an advantage to the 
 Republics. 
 
 Lack of offensiveness after a victory, was the one un- 
 redeemed fault of the Republicans in the early part of 
 the war, until their generals realized that Cronje's as- 
 sumption, that the capture of a few batteries was just 
 an event deferred, was not practical, and few such errors 
 were allowed to creep in, when the seriousness of the 
 struggle was finally grasped. The burghers, as a fight- 
 ing force, were unexcelled by any army, and equaled by 
 few, but it was evident throughout the history of their 
 defense, that while they possessed abundant force for 
 obtaining victory, they were sadly deficient in the neces- 
 sary energy, born of the most rudimentary discipline, to 
 drive victory home, and insure the fruits of the sacrifice. 
 
 In the centre of the contending armies. General Gat- 
 acre, on November 20, was at Queenstown in command 
 of the British forces, but advancing, he reached Putter's 
 kraal, Sterkstroom and Bushman Hoek on November 22, 
 24, and 27, leaving a garrison at each village to protect 
 his line of retreat, whereby he utilized 2,500 of his force 
 between Putter's kraal and Queenstown. 
 
 The Boers, advancing to the hills of Stormburg, which 
 commanded the railroad and the surrounding veldt, they 
 fortified it, then destroyed the railroad to call attention 
 to themselves, and give the British an invitation to come 
 out of Putterkraal and fight. 
 
 In the meanwhile, to the south and east of Stormburg, 
 the Federals were holding the positions they had taken, 
 and Commandant Oliver, in command, advanced to Dord- 
 recht on December 2. Finding many in sympathy with 
 him among the inhabitants, he proclaimed the territory 
 
 96 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 part of the Republics, and received as recruits those who 
 were willing to bear arms. 
 
 General Gatacre desired to reestablish railroad com- 
 munications with General French at Naaupoort, for which 
 the possession of Stormburg Junction was necessary, he 
 therefore decided to accept the Republican invitation and 
 attack their position. Making an advance by rail to Mol- 
 teno, from there he marched by night to the assault. He 
 did not know the road, nor had he information of how 
 the Boers were situated, beyond vague reports from 
 Kaffirs that they were in Stormburg Hill, which he had 
 never seen, yet with this slight information he attempted 
 a night surprise. After marching most of the night, and 
 thoroughly wearying his troops, he found the Boers, just 
 before daylight of the ninth of December. 
 
 The alarm of the British advance was given by A. J. 
 Liebenberg, a farmer living near by, who on the night of 
 Gatacre's approach, happened to have been on a visit to 
 his neighbors at Onverwacht. Aroused in the early morn- 
 ing by the noise of the passing artillery, he hurriedly 
 dressed, and seizing his gun and ammunition, followed 
 on ithe flank of the column, until he found shelter in a 
 sluit within 400 yards of the marching soldiers. In an 
 agony of fear that his companions would be surprised, 
 as he discerned in the dim light the van preparing to 
 scale the hill, he poured into them a continuous fire from 
 their rear, this and the answering fire giving the alarm, 
 and producing in the enemy the dreaded suspicion that 
 they had been outwitted, and a force attempted to dislodge 
 him, but the alarm was already given and the Republicans 
 alert. The 450 men that formed their entire command, 
 quickly occupied all the strategical positions and the stam- 
 pede shortly followed, leaving the spoils to the victors. 
 With a loss to his force of two guns, two maxims, three 
 
 97 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 ammunition wagons, 683 prisoners, and 307 killed and 
 wounded, Gatacre retreated to his garrison at Bushman 
 Hoek, the Boers following and sniping the force, until 
 they obtained shelter in the camps. 
 
 Between General Gatacre and General Methuen, was 
 General French, with the cavalry brigade at Naaupoort. 
 He had taken possession of the town on November 21, 
 the Boers evacuating without determined resistance. 
 Here he remained inactive over a month, then, by leaving 
 the railroad on his right, he succeeded, by a well conceived 
 flank movement, in ousting the Republicans from Coles- 
 burg on January i, the Boers still retaining the railroad 
 between Colesburg and Naaupoort. To gain control of 
 this communication, an attempt was made in a night at- 
 tack, to surprise them on a kopje which commanded Rens- 
 burg siding, but the Boers were prepared and retained 
 the hill, inflicting a loss of 112 killed and wounded on 
 the Suffolk regiment, who had made the assault under 
 Colonel Watson. This forced the evacuation of Coles- 
 burg by French, who again fell back on Naaupoort. 
 
 Qn January 10, Lord Roberts, the new Commander-in- 
 Chief of the British' forces in South Africa, accompanied 
 by Lord Kitchener, arrived at Cape Town, and they com- 
 menced the concentration of troops in Cape Colony, for 
 the projected relief of Kimberley, and invasion through 
 the Free State. By^ Februa ry. 10. Roberts was at Modder 
 river, with all arrangements made to cut off Cronje's com- 
 munications with Bloemfontein. Cronje had defeated 
 General Hector MacDonald in a direct advance along the 
 railroad, and he was nursing the idea that this was the 
 only road possible for a British advance. General Chris- 
 tian De Wet had different ideas, and regarded with sus- 
 picion the movements of the British to the east of the 
 railroad, finally detaching himself from the main com- 
 
 98 
 
a 
 
 o 
 OS 
 
 a 
 ■< 
 
 H 
 
 K 
 o 
 a 
 
 M 
 
 n 
 
 Pi! 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 mand to watch this manoeuvre. His observations proved 
 that the.jenemy. were making a circuit of the Republicans, 
 which Jie ^attempted to stay on Riet river, close to Jacobs- 
 dal^Jbiit— they— outflanked, him, ^cros^ing lower, down. 
 Sending_:Kord-to_Qronje of the impending danger, and 
 being himself in too .small a force to successfully oppose, 
 he commenced to harass the British _ column, hoping to 
 delay the advance and give Cronje/aft oJjpcMrtuntity Jo 
 
 withdraw. '"■;',•'/' "■' 
 
 General French after reoc'cap'yirig Colesburg, haci' 
 moved west to join Lord Roberts; 'and on the tenth, he." 
 started from Modder river, jfiis' forced cavalry /pij^reh, tD 
 relieve Kimberley. Making an exti;enie"/d,et6uF aqliesv- 
 ing the intervening Boer forc'es and' railroad on his right-,, 
 he raised the siege of Kimberlfey.on the fifteenth, by. a' 
 most brilliant march, without transport,, only accompjpied'. 
 by his field artillery. He met but'sliElk,"fesistqnj:e>jfe"'tlTe. " 
 cordon of Boers under General ¥emp:3,''yfV&iM inv§ste*d 
 the town, had been considerably weakened to* I'einforce 
 Cronje's attempt to stop Lord Roberts. The small re- 
 maining force of besiegers were industriously bombard- 
 ing the town from the east, as French entered from the 
 southwest, but they then immediately withdrew with their 
 artillery toward Bloemfontein. The garrison, under 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Kekewich, besieged for 122 days, los- 
 ing 166 men, were never seriously threatened during the 
 entire siege. 
 
 The enormous dumps of waste dirt from the mines, sur- 
 rounded the town with a natural fortification of loose 
 sand, varying from twenty to a hundred feet high, diffi- 
 cult to scale, perfect protection from artillery fire, and 
 an almost impossible proposition for assault, which was 
 never but once meditated, and abandoned at the inter- 
 vention of the Republican government. 
 
 99 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 General French had the Boer laagers who had formed 
 the besieging force at his mercy, as they retreated toward 
 Poplar Grove, but with his exhausted horses he failed to 
 push the advantage, remaining in the town two days to 
 recuperate both horses and men. 
 
 General Cronje, on the report from De Wet, and the 
 
 threatening " pqsition of French, had started to retreat 
 
 , from-, M6AA^r dyer; . As the colonials that had thrown 
 
 , iri-.their portioiiswith'tTie RepubHcans, had brought their 
 
 . "^ire herds of cattle ',aad sheep, he was hampered in the 
 
 '.•retreat by the impedifaienta of women, children and stock, 
 
 ■sv^sich fp'rcQd.him.to follow the bed of the river to obtain 
 
 tVe.riepes&at^ 'T^^alier,; considerably retarding his progress. 
 
 ^-The British followed him up on both banks, and as he 
 
 l«efused to abandon^ anything, he was forced to fight a 
 
 'w>ntinuous rear-gUard, action, by parking his lighter 
 
 . *wa"gons, ;and« hdJdiog the enemy until the slower moving 
 
 herds aiid' irarispo,rts had advanced some distance, when 
 
 the rear guard'would again make connection in the night, 
 
 to renew the same tactics when overtaken the following 
 
 day. 
 
 French's occupation of Kimberley became a new source 
 of danger, threatening the retreat from the north, but the 
 state of his horses, gave Cronje two days' grace. The 
 British east flank, having passed General Christian De 
 Wet, left at Waterval Drift, to follow the column, their 
 main convoy of 200 ox wagons, under a guard of 200 in- 
 fantry men. This was De Wet's opportunity, and attack- 
 ing the convoy near Enslin, on the fifteenth, he captured 
 150 of the wagons and 2,ocx3 oxen, being a most severe 
 blow to the British ; as the wagons and stores captured, 
 constituted over fifty per cent of the transports for the 
 entire army engaged in the eastern movement, under the 
 personal command of Lord Roberts, and it delayed that 
 
 100 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 movement yet another day. De Wet, destroying what he 
 could not take away, and considering it inadvisable to 
 rejoin Cronje, broke away to the east. Several other 
 commandos detached themselves from the doomed army 
 and went out north between the horns of the two British 
 wings now rapidly closing. 
 
 lOI 
 
Chapter VIII 
 
 Paardeberg — Pom- Poms — Surrender — Laager conditions — A 
 Krygsraad — The Presidents — Poplar Grove — Abram's Kraal 
 — Bloemfontein occupied — Peace overtures — March from Coles- 
 berg — Johannesburg police. 
 
 ON February 17, two brigades of cavalry left KiniT 
 berley and succeeded in blocking Cronje from an 
 escape to the north, and that night he went into 
 laager at Paardeberg. In spite of the assurance of his 
 scouts and conscious of the presence of French on his 
 north, he still refused to believe that Roberts had out- 
 flanked him on the south, calmly preparing to spend the 
 night in the position from which he never escaped. 
 
 The Modder river at this point was 120 feet wide, but 
 at that time quite easily fordable at any point, with 
 steep banks of red sandy loam on either side. He placed 
 his camp on the north bank, and in the morning it was 
 evident that he was nearly surrounded, escape being im- 
 possible, except by a dash and abandonment of his impedi- 
 menta. The country took the usual character of that dis- 
 trict, being quite level except for a few broken hills a 
 mile to the southeast. Beyond, the banks of the river and 
 a grove of trees 400 yards to the west of the laager, the 
 terrain offered no natural or strategical defensive ad- 
 vantages. 
 
 The most progressive leaders, his own cousin Andries 
 Cronje, Froneman and Villebois Muriel, after an effort 
 to persuade him to take this course of escape, without 
 success, took their own following and cut their way 
 through east, by the farm at Stinkfontein, where they sur- 
 prised a post from the not yet completed cordon; and 
 capturing this force of six officers and fifty-eight men 
 
 102 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 who belonged to Kitchener's horse, they made toward 
 Bloemfontein. 
 
 Roberts now strengthened the siege and Cronje was 
 surrounded with nothing to extricate him but a reHeving 
 army, or a dash for Uberty with the remaining horsemen, 
 involving the abandonment of the wagons. The bom- 
 bardment commenced and continued all day, with a de- 
 termined attempt to take the laager by storm and avenge 
 all previous defeats at the point of the bayonet, but the 
 Republicans steadily withstood every attempt, inflicting 
 great loss to the storming party. 
 
 On the nineteenth, Cronje, without doctors or medical 
 comfort, endeavored to get an armistice to bury his dead, 
 and to allow the Federal ambulances at Jacobsdal to re- 
 join his force. Both requests were refused, the British 
 appropriating the Boer ambulances for the use of their 
 own wounded, and Lord Kitchener, who had promised to 
 cease fire during the negotiations, advanced a body of 
 infantry, as he explained " to receive the prisoners, under 
 the impression they were about to surrender." Of course 
 they were fired upon and the British had another incident 
 to pin their reiterated story of the abuse of the white flag. 
 
 The bombardment of the ninety cannon recommenced 
 and was pluckily replied to by the four pieces in pos- 
 session of the Boers, until their ammunition was ex- 
 hausted on the twentieth, when, having no f urthei- use for 
 the guns the breech blocks were destroyed. The Boers 
 had until this date held the farm and kopje at Stink- 
 fontein, against frequent attempts at its capture, and con- 
 stant communication by heliograph and bearer was held 
 between General Cronje and the Republican forces out- 
 side. On this day, Wednesday, it was obvious that rein- 
 forcements could not arrive from Natal in time to effectu- 
 ally aid the besieged, and as Generals Oliver, Lemmer, 
 
 103 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 and Grobler with the next most important army in the 
 Free State, were still east of Colesberg, relief from this 
 quarter was also impossible, therefore Commandant 
 Froneman returned to the laager and again endeavored to 
 persuade Cronje to cut loose from everything <)Vriooi;;^fj^ 
 with his mounted men fight his way out to the ea^t>»^^ 
 last channel of hope still being open through the.vStjijIf- 
 fontein farm, but his effort had no effect on the; stubborn 
 old general, although Froneman illustraited, the ease witjh 
 which it could be accomplished, by taking, spme,of his own 
 men and going through the British lines. -The enemy then 
 determined to cut off this open passage, and French at- 
 tacked the Stinkfontein Farm, and General Chermside the 
 kopje. The Boers who had held these positions under 
 De Wet were then forced to evacuate, but still remained 
 in touch with the British lines, in hopes that Cronje would 
 alter his decision, and attempt the dash for liberty. 
 
 The next two days were given up to constant bom- 
 bardment, the artillery attaining great accuracy under the 
 supervision of the balloon. Roberts sending in a bearer 
 on the twenty-second — saying that he " had just been 
 informed that there were women and children in the be- 
 sieged laager " and offering them transportation to safety. 
 This delayed act of grace was worse than completely ig- 
 noring the fact that was patent to both forces, and as 
 the women had already been placed in bomb proof exca- 
 vations, they elected to remain, to see the fate of their 
 men folk and tend the wounded. Cronje therefore re- 
 fused the offer, indeed considering it nothing but a ruse, 
 designed to ascertain the condition of the laager. 
 
 On the twenty-third, Saturday, it commenced to rain, 
 and continued for the next four days, increasing the com- 
 fort of camp by reducing the intense heat, washing away 
 many of the dead stock killed in the bed of the river, 
 
 104 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 and making the water once again drinkable. It somewhat 
 purified the rank air, rising from the putrid flesh of the 
 dead animals, but in turn, the escape south was now im- 
 practicable except by bridging the stream, by reason of 
 the swollen, unfordable river. The forces under De Wet 
 on this day again attacked the kopje on the Stinkfontein 
 Farm, in an attempt to make a diversion, under which 
 Cronje could escape, but they were repulsed and re- 
 treated. On the same night, Saturday, Danie Theron 
 of Krugersdorp, the bravest of the Boer scouts, by great 
 daring, returned to the laager with despatches from 
 Froneman, De Wet, Andries Cronje, and Fourie urging 
 Piet Cronje to make an effort, as relief was impossible, 
 still he stubbornly refused and Theron returned to the 
 generals who had sent him, who now knew beyond doubt, 
 that Cronje and his force were doomed. The British were 
 continuously industrious, and they had advanced their 
 trenches until the slightest exposure in the laager became 
 dangerous. The Boers realizing their predicament, started 
 upon Sunday to build a chain bridge across the river, 
 using their ox-chains as material, but by the treachery of 
 their Kaffir servants who had deserted them, the experi- 
 ment was discovered, and the concentrated British artillery 
 upon the work, rendered the scheme abortive. 
 
 Oji Monday, in addition to the ninety-eight guns, the 
 British introduced^another feature,, surprising- the -Boers 
 by the use of some Vicker's maxims, or Pom-Poms^ which 
 they now adopted for the .first time in-their operations. 
 This is the most demoralizing gun used in warfare, and 
 had been used exclusively by the Republicans in this war 
 up to date. It fired a one-pound shell with tremendous 
 accuracy, at a range of 3,300 yards, and had been of untold 
 benefit to the Boers in repelling any advancing force in 
 all previous engagements. Now at the latter day of this 
 
 105 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 siege, this new weapon must have been most galling to 
 endure. During the night of the twenty-sixth, the 
 Canadians, who had held a position in the grove of trees 
 to the west of the laager on the north bank, advanced 
 their trenches to within 200 yards of the defenders. With 
 these new dangers all hope was now lost ; the unsanitary 
 condition of the laager, the uncared-for wounded, and the 
 numberless carcasses had become unendurable, and at a 
 Krygsraad (war council) held on Tuesday the twenty- 
 seventh of February, anniversary of Majuba day, the 
 commandants were in favor of an unconditional sur- 
 render; General Cronje and Commandant Roos en- 
 deavored to alter the decision, but were overruled, and 
 after a heroic defense of eleven days, the white flag was 
 displayed in token of surrender, for the first time by 
 a Boer general. 
 
 The condition of the laager was fearful and the British, 
 when they became possessed, were appalled at the sight 
 and stench. Seventy per cent of the draught animals and 
 stock had been killed by the artillery fire, the carcasses 
 lying in the river bed or open camp unburied. The 
 wounded had none but the roughest of care and the gen- 
 eral condition was such that further opposition was im- 
 possible. Yet Cronje would have attempted it, but that, in 
 the Krygsraad always held in the Republican armies to 
 discuss any pending movement, every commander of what- 
 ever rank, general, commandant or veldkomet, has an 
 equal vote, and it is possible for the majority of minor 
 leaders to overrule their superiors without appeal. In 
 this case, the opinion was unanimously against the gen- 
 eral and his lone supporter, and he was forced to abandon 
 his heroic but useless resistance. There was never a doubt 
 in the Boer military circles, that had Cronje persisted in 
 his resolve, to fight to the death, he would have been 
 
 106 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 overpowered by his subordinates, or even shot ; owing to 
 the terrible state of unavoidable suffering ever present. 
 
 The British captured four Krupp quick-fire guns, and 
 two Vicker's maxims, but the breeches of the guns were 
 lost. There were 4,081 prisoners including sixty officers, 
 among whom was Major Albrecht, the brave chief of the 
 Free State Artillery. Everything was counted to make 
 this number, the old men and boys belonging to the ac- 
 companying families were not missed, but forced to leave 
 their women and join the prisoners. The British had 
 besieged the force since the sixteenth, with ninety guns 
 of all calibres, and 40,000 men, and they had to find 
 at least ten per cent of their own numbers in the garrison 
 to extract their due amount of glory, the enemy losing 
 in the siege 253 killed and 1,209 wounded. 
 
 Piet Cronje, patriot, sixty-five years old, by his under- 
 estimation of a brave enemy in force, had shaken the 
 credit and faith of his countrymen, in the ultimate triumph 
 of their cause. His surrender spread dismay through all 
 the troops and was the indirect cause of General BuUer 
 crossing the Tugela. Defiant and stubborn, in a few 
 months his capture was regarded as a wholesome lesson, 
 and many Boers regretted the confidence that had per- 
 mitted him the power to give his cause the crushing blow 
 which his surrender dealt. 
 
 The English, with the additional news, on the twenty- 
 eighth, of the relief of Ladysmith, and the Free State 
 lying open to them until the Boers could reinforce from 
 Natal, considered the war as finished, but Louis Botha 
 arriving before his men, restored confidence in the rem- 
 nant of burghers on the field, who were leisurely retreat- 
 ing ahead of the army, yet offering no opposition. An 
 effort was made to again give battle in the open country 
 to the invaders on their march to Bloemfontein, and at 
 
 107 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 Poplar Grove the Republicans remobilized under De Wet, 
 forming a force of 2,500 men and seven guns. They pre- 
 pared defenses with but little hope of offering any ef- 
 fectual resistance to the advancing legions. 
 
 President Kruger, virho had a vs^arm personal friend- 
 ship for, and faith in Cronje, on having heard of his im- 
 pending disaster, hurried from Pretoria with the inten- 
 tion of using his influence upon the General, but arrived 
 too late. Overcome with grief, he joined President Steyn 
 at Bloemfontein, and from there proceeded to Poplar 
 Grove where the presidents exhorted the small force to 
 do their best, within their limited ability, until reinforce- 
 ments should arrive from Natal. The cheerful, optimistic 
 patriotism of these two grand men, with the news of the 
 ciipture and destruction of two of the English supply 
 transports, by General Oliver, somewhat restored their 
 confidence and with renewed hope they fought the battle 
 of Poplar Grove, under the eyes of their presidents, but 
 were outflanked and once more compelled to retreat to- 
 ward Abrams Kraal, losing one gun in the engagement. 
 
 This retreat was conducted in perfect order, and 
 freed of the flanking movement, the advance was con- 
 tested at every vantage. Here the wagons of the Russian 
 and Netherlands military attaches with the Republican 
 army, broke an axle. They were captured and threatened 
 with deportation to Europe, but finally permitted to sail 
 from Cape Town to Lorenzo Marques, and reaching the 
 Boer lines from there, they resumed their duties. 
 
 General Christian De Wet, with his command, then 
 proceeded east toward Wepener and General De la Rey, 
 who had been successfully holding back the British at 
 Colesberg, and only forced to leave by Cronje's surrender, 
 undertook to make a further stand with 1,500 men at 
 Abrams Kraal. Here the Johannesburg police made a 
 
 108 
 
THE. MOBILE BOER 
 
 brave and determined defense, refusing to render up their 
 positicifi? until their ammunition was exhausted, when, 
 outflanked, they reluctantly made a dash for safety. 104 
 deadlDurgliers were left on the field as evidence that the 
 spififof freedom still remained in the fighting remnant. 
 The'*British casualties were 424 killed and wounded. 
 
 Nothing now stood between the English and Bloem- 
 fontem, the capital of the Free State, which was entered 
 on the thirteenth of March without the firing of a shot. 
 The town vf as bflilt on the undulating flat characteristic 
 of' that Staite, atid was therefore impossible of defense 
 by the force available, as the only protection was a single 
 fort builf in 1848 to withstand Kaffirs, and defended by 
 muzzle loading guns captured from the British in an 
 early^ waf." " ' 
 
 The British obtained much rolling stock, as the viaduct 
 over which t'he tfack ran to the engine house had been 
 treacherously destroyed by some English employes of the 
 Republican government, who had been satisfied, for wages, 
 to aid them against their countrymen, until the hour of 
 need, when they forsook them, giving this parting stab. 
 By the destruction of this bridge it was, of course, im- 
 possible to remove the engines from the sheds, and thirteen 
 becalTle aTi easy spoil. The government clerks just suc- 
 ceeded in removing the archives from the offices, and 
 leaving on the last train with President Steyn, they 
 reestablished the capital at Kroonstad where both govern- 
 ments united in addressing an appeal to England to cease 
 war and resort to arbitration. That nation, drunk with 
 its long-deferred successes, abruptly refused, replying that 
 unctynditional surrender to absolute subjection without a 
 shr'6d of independence were the only terms available. For 
 once the British ministers had been caught napping by 
 the less artful Boer leaders, who did not excel in tricky 
 
 109 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 diplomacy. The Free Staters had been giving up their 
 arms and returning to their farms under the favorable 
 promises of the British commander-in-chief, and with this 
 desertion, some of the Transvaal Boers considered a like 
 course their only possible salvation. The presidents saw 
 that nothing but the expression of the enemy's true spirit 
 would renew the drooping confidence, hence this appeal 
 was made, and the known answer had the electrical effect 
 of reestablishing, in the burghers, the spirit of independ- 
 ence that had wavered. This ruse was so successful that 
 it was again worked on the British after the fall of Pre- 
 toria, with the same result. 
 
 Generals Oliver, Lemmer and Grobler, of the Federal 
 central column, who had been operating south and east of 
 Colesberg with success, learning of the proximity of 
 Roberts to Bloemfontein, decided that to avoid disaster 
 a retreat north was imperative, and a march around the 
 British was begun. Leaving Colesberg on March 12, 
 with a united army of S,ooo burghers, were 700 wagons 
 loaded with supplies and farm produce, belonging to the 
 families of that colony, who followed the army with the 
 hope of some day crossing a Jordan that was impassable 
 to their enemies. This great trek of wagons with herds 
 of stock, straggled over the road a distance of twenty 
 miles during the whole march. The men and followers 
 composing die trek, were forbidden even to appropriate 
 for themselves or horses, the corn which grew in the 
 fields along the road, but had to subsist as best they could 
 on dried meat and food purchased individually. The Eng- 
 lish had not then started the practice of desolating the 
 country, and the Boers never did, although they now knew 
 the entire region and crops would be left to the mercy 
 of their enemies. Marching through Donkerpoort, Be- 
 thulie, Smithfield, Rouxville, Wepener, and Ladybrand to 
 
 J 10 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 Winburg, only once being threatened at Ladybrand ; with- 
 out losing a man or a gun, they covered with slow-, 
 moving ox-wagons and herds of cattle, sheep and goats, 
 a distance of 300 miles in thirteen days. 
 
 The Transvaal Police who so often distinguished them- 
 selves, taking the brunt of every fight where the less or- 
 ganized burghers could not be induced to make a defense, 
 were a splendid body of drilled, mounted infantry and 
 a constant proof of what the Republicans would be capable 
 of, under a stricter form of discipline. When they first 
 arrived in Natal they fought courageously at Nicholsen's 
 Nek, under command of Commandant Van Dam who was 
 wounded, and from there on, they constantly called atten- 
 tion to themselves for united or individual bravery. 
 When first in the field they numbered 500 mounted men 
 and 700 infantry, but as horses became procurable, many 
 of the infantry joined the mounted men, and they were 
 then the most formidable body in the Republican army, 
 the first to every fight or skirmish in the neighborhood 
 and the last to leave, and a large proportion of the daring 
 personality characteristic of the war fell to their credit. 
 
 In December this force was withdrawn from Natal to 
 act as a reserve in Johannesburg, but in February the 
 need of men on the Free State borders was so great, they 
 rejoined the fighting lines at Colesberg. Always to the 
 fore, they remained constantly on duty until their remnant 
 of organization was decimated east of Pretoria, when the 
 survivors scattered to join the laagers where they had 
 relatives, and thereon served as ordinary burghers. 
 
 The Swazieland Police were a separate body of 300 
 men, used to police Swazieland, and were as useful and 
 prominent wherever needed, as their Joihannesburg 
 brethren. 
 
 Ill 
 
chapter IX 
 
 Natal — ^Ladysmith Dam — British trek west — The Boshrand — 
 Trickhard's Drift — Spion's Kop captured — Fireworks — Barend 
 Badenhorst — Spion's Kop recaptured — White flag again — Herr 
 Von Brusewitz — After the battle. 
 
 WE left the operations in Natal after the attempt 
 at Ladysmith on January 6, in which Buller, 
 although knowing of the attack, gave his 
 countrymen no aid beyond a demonstration of activity 
 among his troops, and the bombardment of the Republican 
 positions at Colenso. 
 
 Ladysmith was built on a flat at the foot of some small 
 hills which ran around a semicircle or horseshoe bend 
 of the Klip river. The town was at the apex of the shoe, 
 the area inside the semicircle being an open flat, upon 
 which the British could run their horses and stock, as it 
 was protected by their positions on the hills extending 
 to the points of the shoe, and also with trenches and 
 maxims on the north bank close to the town. 
 
 The Republicans, unable to attack across the flat from 
 the south, conceived the idea of damming the river a mile 
 below the town, to flood the low-lying defenses, cover 
 the open flat and force the defenders from their positions 
 into the hills. This work was started, the dam being 
 formed by bags filled with sand, laid with a base of 300 
 feet, but as the water rose its presence immediately be- 
 came known to the British, who kept up a constant shell- 
 fire on the work which was thereon pursued at night, but 
 never completed. Twice it was broken by floods, and 
 finally when the city was relieved it had only reached 
 twenty of the necessary sixty feet in height. With the time 
 and material at hand, from an engineering view, it was 
 
 112 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 an impossible undertaking, although the government had 
 taken the best advice to be had. If completed it would 
 have confined one of the largest bodies of dammed water 
 in the world, the complete area of the horseshoe ap- 
 proximating five square miles. 
 
 In the middle of January General Buller again began 
 to show signs of activity and long lines of transports were 
 seen to trek to the west for some unknown desination, 
 but probably to make an attempt to cross the river higher 
 up. A call for volunteers with three days' rations was 
 issued to follow the movement in the hills on the north 
 side of the river, and as the British general's intention 
 became manifest, a line of underground telegraphic com- 
 munication was laid, connecting all the threatened fords 
 with the headquarters of General Botha at Colenso. 
 
 On the sixteenth, General Buller placed his naval guns 
 on the Boshrand, an eminence opposite Pont Drift on the 
 south side of the river, which commanded many of the 
 approaches to the hills on the north bank and gave him 
 heliographic communications with Ladysmith. A branch 
 line of railroad had been for some days in course of con- 
 struction from the main track close to Chieveley to the 
 point indicated, a distance of about eighteen miles. This 
 line was no doubt intended to serve when completed, as 
 an emergency feeder to the army, in its operations on the 
 upper Tugela. For two days Buller kept up with his 
 heavy guns, a bombardment on the position opposite, and 
 400 Federals trembled in their hastily constructed de- 
 fenses, fearing an advance before sufficient reinforcements 
 arrived, but on the eighteenth it was reported by the 
 scouts that the British column had already crossed at 
 Trickhard's Drift, five miles further west. This consid- 
 erably extended the Republican line, and hastily following 
 the hills to the threatened road they verified the report. 
 
 "3 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 The troops and artillery were already across and the 
 only possible defense was the rolling slope on the ridge 
 of hills running parallel, at 3,000 yards from the river. 
 Only two shovels were procurable from a deserted farm 
 in the rear, but with these the burghers managed that 
 night to scrape some narrow trenches guarding the road, 
 and in this improvised shelter they underwent the next 
 day a bombardment of six batteries. It was pathetic, 
 this small body hanging on the brow of the hill in trenches 
 not much deeper than the sod. Within 1,600 yards range 
 were eighteen guns and at 2,500 yards were eighteen more, 
 and thousands of troops manoeuvred within hailing dis- 
 tance. If the British had only walked up the hill there 
 was nothing to offer them serious opposition, and they 
 were in Ladysmith but it is one of the precepts of that 
 great people that it is necessary to bombard the position 
 they intend to assault for at least a day before the actual 
 attempt, which always gave a mobile force like the Boers 
 an opportunity to strengthen their position sufficiently, to 
 make an attack, if successful, at least hazardous. This 
 day the Republican force available, by shooting at every 
 man who attempted to reconnoitre their position, must 
 have conveyed to the English officers, the impression that 
 the hills were strongly held. That night a Vicker's maxim 
 arrived with about 400 recruits. They also brought am- 
 munition, food and shovels and the latter were plied dili- 
 gently tlie entire night, the men not working, lying awake 
 on the alert for an attack, but no advance was made and 
 in the morning the British had lost their best chance of 
 getting to Ladysmith via Trickhard's Drift. 
 
 For the succeeding four days, determined attempts were 
 made with progressive trenches to force the Federal posi- 
 tions on the west, but without success, every rush ending 
 in failure with loss to the storming party. The first night 
 
 114 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 500 men could have chosen their own point for taking 
 possession, but after the reinforcements arrived and ade- 
 quate defenses were made for the guns and men, this 
 opportunity was lost. In two days after the first cross- 
 ing, the Boers had two Creusot field guns, one Krupp, 
 and two Vicker's maxims, on the field, which were splen- 
 didly served under tremendous difficulties until the climax 
 of the twenty-fourth. 
 
 On the nineteenth, there was an attempt of an extended 
 cavalry flanking movement by the west, through Acton 
 Holmes. 3,000 men and a battery, under command of 
 General Dundonald, started, and immediately came in 
 contact with a hundred Republicans who rode en masse 
 into them unawares, and only escaped by a dash that left 
 seven dead and twenty prisoners in the hands of the Brit- 
 ish. This was great carelessness, that they had no fore- 
 guard and the commandant was severely censured by his 
 own men. A force was organized to follow and stop the 
 expedition with success, and the ownership of the Brit- 
 ish battery was for some time in question, but its fate was 
 solved by the enemy falling back on their main column, 
 which caused General Warren, in command, to report 
 that on account of supplies, a flanking movement was im- 
 practicable and he considered the direct route the easiest. 
 
 Spion's Kop, a broken hill several hundred feet higher 
 than the rest of the range, and within 2,000 yards of the 
 road which the English desired to follow, had been unde- 
 fended up to the twenty-third. The Republicans con- 
 sidered that its inaccessibility for artillery from the south 
 would protect it from assault, but with increased forces a 
 picket was entrusted with its defense. This picket of 
 forty men of all commandos, having partly built their 
 trench on the brow of the hill, were resting in the early 
 part of the night from their labors, with no idea of an 
 
 "5 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 attack. The drizzly mist enveloped everything and they 
 crouched in the new-formed defense trying to gain shelter 
 from the damp. Occasionally one would step out to 
 return with a large stone to complete some part of the 
 wall, with which he was not satisfied. With their usual 
 carelessness, as all men were awake, there was no ad- 
 vance guard, and as the Boers were moving around in 
 search of suitable rocks for construction, no attention was 
 paid to shadows that moved temporarily in the mist, and 
 passed to the right or to the left, until one happened to 
 strike directly on the trench, stepped on the shoveled 
 dirt, raised a pair of field glasses to his eyes and demanded 
 of the man a few feet behind him, in accents more often 
 heard on Piccadilly than in South Africa, "Aw, where are 
 the Boah's?" 
 
 It came as a shock to the men cowering in the excava- 
 tion at his feet, expecting and fearing nothing but the 
 damp, and six or seven rifles were immediately discharged 
 against the breast of the interrogator, who was sky-lined 
 in the scant light above them. 
 
 On the discharge of the rifles they quickly found they 
 were practically surrounded. The undefined forms they 
 had noticed passing them, were British soldiers on the 
 same quest as the unfortunate who had succeeded in dis- 
 covering the Boers. They now commenced to converge 
 from every direction, and officers were heard to order 
 their men not to shoot; the picket realized the danger 
 and prepared to escape by running in the dark among the 
 enemy. The darkness and the direction from which they 
 came, puzzled the British and protected them long enough 
 for them to get beyond the vicious jabs tliat were sent 
 after them, when Tommy found he had nearly been run 
 over by a hated Boer. One American of the picket, 
 fleeing with the rest, after discharging his gun at the in- 
 
 Ii6 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 quisitive officer, got between two English soldiers; giv- 
 ing one a push, he was fired at by the other but missed, 
 with considerable danger to his companion. Tommy then 
 swung with his bayonet, but our friend striking about the 
 knees an unseen rock, pitched six feet down a declivity, 
 the bayonet just opening the back of his neck as he fell, 
 shooting following him in the dark, at random. The 
 American found himself in a hole, and as he rustled in 
 his recovery, the soldiers attempted to feel him with 
 their bayonets. Regaining his feet and extricating him- 
 self he again commenced to run, when the next thing he 
 struck in the blackness was a larger rock about waist 
 high. The force of his momentum turned him a com- 
 plete somersault over the rock. He fell on the other 
 side, as he momentarily imagined, a hundred feet, but 
 gathering himself together unhurt, he found he was ten 
 feet down the hill on the north side and in safety. 
 
 The sound of the loose rocks rolling around him and 
 scrambling heard, denoted that several of his comrades 
 had also arrived thus far in safety, and on a reunion 
 where they had left their horses at the foot of the hill 
 (the natural Boer meeting ground in danger) the entire 
 picket was found to have lost but one member, the rest 
 having no further injuries than a few minor bayonet 
 wounds. They could hear the British cheering on the 
 top of the hill with cries of " Hurrah for Majuba ! " and 
 " Majuba avenged ! " the same cries reaching the other 
 Federal positions, and filling the occupants with alarm 
 and doubt as to the extent of the disaster, their own 
 predicament being serious if the British maintained their 
 position. 
 
 But the enemy was satisfied to make no further active 
 demonstration during the night, their almost bloodless 
 victory being the incident which formed the foundation 
 
 II 17 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 for the despatches which declared Ladysmith relieved, and 
 caused England to celebrate that event as an acknowledged 
 fact. Ladysmith, signaled by rockets of the success, an- 
 swered by the same brilliant illuminations, which must 
 have carried some significance to those who could read 
 the meaning of the many colored lights, and appeared a 
 most ominous foreboding to the Boers as their trenches 
 were lighted by the various hues. 
 
 Part of the picket stayed at the foot of the hill to watch 
 any further advance, and others scattered to inform the 
 various commandos of the extent of the disaster and the 
 necessity of reinforcements to take the hill. Hendrik 
 Kay, one of their number, although wounded in the arm, 
 
 mounted his horse to inform General B of what 
 
 had occurred. On delivering his message the general in 
 a horrified manner said, " What ! The English have 
 Spion's Kop ! " and without a word of explanation ordered 
 his horse and disappeared, to rejoin his command only 
 after the hill had been retaken. Kay, not seeing any 
 satisfaction in this, hunted up Louis Botha, who imme- 
 diately sent out an urgent call for volunteers and artillery, 
 with the message that " Spion's Kop must be retaken that 
 day." 
 
 Before daylight a picked force of all commands re- 
 ceived orders to proceed up the hill under cover of dark- 
 ness, and to get as close to the British trenches as possible 
 and there find cover. This was done. Crawling stealthily 
 through the rocks they got within eighty yards of the 
 enemy before they were challenged by a volley. Every 
 man nestled close to the earth, and as silently as possible 
 piled rocks for his protection. Every few minutes a rock 
 carelessly placed would slip and make a noise, when, at 
 the first sound, all went to the ground, as it was invariably 
 answered by the whe-e-e of the bullets, accompanied by 
 
 Ii8 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 the blaze of the discharge all along the British line. So 
 they worked these early morning hours, with no event but 
 an occasional sound impossible to avoid, and the certain 
 answer, the sudden illumination and the spontaneous 
 rattle of musketry, with the clip of the striking bullets. 
 The noise of the rock was warning sufficient, and before 
 the rifles spoke, all were hugging their shelter, wait- 
 ing until the stillness permitted them to resume their 
 labors. 
 
 The morning dragged on and daylight at last came, 
 but the mist hung so close to the ground, nothing was 
 visible over ten feet. The force lay and waited for what 
 the South African knew to be the certain consequence of 
 the heat of the sun, the lifting of the mist. Hoarse orders 
 were heard, " Company C to the right, E Company Lan- 
 casters to the centre, Thornycrof ts form companies ! " 
 Yes, the enemy was yet there but nothing was visible. 
 
 About seven o'clock a slight breeze arose. In a few 
 seconds there was not a sign of the mist except the dew 
 on the grass ; the two forces saw each other within eighty 
 yards, and a roar of musketry immediately broke forth. 
 The Boers taking advantage of the ledge of the hill now 
 displayed to them for the first time, began to deploy, 
 utilizing every rock in forcing the enemy's wings, until 
 they had completed a semicircle around the north side of 
 the battle field. Nor was the centre idle, working its way 
 rock by rock until the firing lines were within a few feet, 
 dealing death at so close a range that looki:ig along the 
 rifle, you distinguish the color of the eyes you desired 
 to close with a bullet. 
 
 With few casualties to the storming party, the British, 
 by reason of their density, were losing heavily from the 
 start. They were packed so closely in the insufficient 
 defenses that they could not all secure wyer, and faced 
 
 119 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 by men that seldom missed at 500 yards, their fate was 
 foredoomed. 
 
 Barend Badenhorst, veldkornet of Vryheid, many 
 times a hero was shot by a bullet directly between the 
 eyes. Refusing to take sufficient cover, he had stood 
 behind a rock to shoot when he was struck. Swinging 
 on his heel he sank with a groan in a sitting posture, 
 his back supported by the rock he so lately fired over. 
 Hour after hour he sat with wide open eyes. His death 
 certain, no one moved him. Here was — a panorama of 
 the operations of the last few months. Ladysmith, the 
 town costing so much, backed by the Drakensburg range 
 lay below and before this dying warrior. Men with spare 
 ammunition hurrying past would give this well-known 
 man a glance of pity as he sat with open eyes, and angry 
 wound, on the crest of the hill he had given his life to 
 repossess. The noise of the battle and the passing men 
 had no apparent effect on the deadened brain or staring 
 gaze, but sitting erect until noon, suddenly, with a gut- 
 teral ske-e-e-t (shoot) a stream of blood poured from the 
 hole in his forehead and the bravest man we ever knew 
 sank dead and limp to the earth. 
 
 Slowly the first and second defenses were won, and the 
 trenches having been built in progressive order, the Eng- 
 lish were falling back on the relays as they retreated up 
 the slope of Spion's Kop. Still the daring Federals kept 
 encroaching on their flanks. Panicstricken a British 
 company would dash to a trench in the rear, losing many 
 in attaining this temporary shelter, soon to find that the 
 certain wings, as arms, had again secured an enfilading 
 power on their new position. These flankers were not 
 many, but they sent no bullets through the air on a sing- 
 ing mission. Every ring of a Mauser had an answering 
 splud, as it echped, it§ deadly mission fulfilled, and this 
 
 120 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 certain and unavoidable death was sapping their courage. 
 Small detachments would attempt, with a bayonet charge, 
 to dislodge these sharp-shooters, and, temporarily they 
 withdrew this deadly fire from the trenches to themselves. 
 None succeeded, the respite was only momentary, long 
 enough to ring the changes of the storming party when 
 the certain allotment would again commence among the 
 battalions in the trenches. Malherbe, Botha, De Roos, 
 leaders of these daring few, died only to be replaced by 
 others as eager. The fire never ceased, all knew that the 
 day was not yet won, that men's work was yet to be done. 
 Solomon Grobler of Vryheid, the remaining veldkornet, 
 shot through the hand, led and cheered the Vryheid 
 command into every new advantage. The English were 
 becoming demoralized at this certain death, from this re- 
 lentless and tireless pressure. They saw no appeal. The 
 mass of men were being driven foot by foot, by the few, 
 every rifle rang death to one ; a despairing charge would 
 be made to regain a lost trench, and by common instinct 
 every Republican rifle sought and stayed it, then returned 
 to dealing death to the rank and file, now huddling in 
 fear in the limited and overpacked trenches. Officers 
 charged wildly about among the British, preaching cour- 
 age by word and example, to be followed by the hail of 
 lead that stilled the voice. The holocaust could not be 
 stopped and they were forced to take possession of the 
 last trench, the one from which the Republican picket 
 had been forced the previous night, and necessarily built 
 for a defense from the north side, and offering the scanti- 
 est cover against assault from that direction. 
 
 Several hundred Englishmen found no refuge behind 
 this slight excavation, and retreated to a cull or basin 
 in the rear, with the Federals now above them, able with 
 their position? pn the rim, to shoot down and into this 
 
 121 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 mass of humanity paralyzed with the apparently inevit- 
 able doom of annihilation. Here the scene was too awful 
 and every shot, though fired, while " seeing red," seemed 
 a murder, to those not habitually lustful of blood. The 
 fire-swept incline behind these troops ended in a bluff 
 forty feet high, and the huddled men, incapable of further 
 action, still held by inherent discipline, were dropping 
 fast, without any attempt to reply to the stream of death 
 poured into their midst. 
 
 The British that had secured a position in the trench, 
 still kept up a reply to the Republicans, ensuring the cer- 
 tain death of their less fortunate comrades, who were 
 completely exposed, and upon whom all the rifles not 
 engaged with these sharp-shooters were turned. The 
 end was in sight. Getting beyond human endurance, and 
 during a temporary cessation of fire from the British, 
 which misled the Republicans, handkerchiefs of every 
 degree of white were raised in the formation behind the 
 trenches, until fully forty fluttered in token of surrender. 
 With a cheer and a sigh of relief, as a welcome change 
 from this revolting butchery, forty Boers left their cover 
 and ran toward them, intending to assist in disarming 
 their supposed prisoners. When they were well in the 
 open, a red-faced, excited officer, said to be Colonel 
 Thornycroft, of Thornycroft's Horse, ran forward from 
 the cover of the trench and screaming in choler that there 
 was no surrender, he ordered his men in the defenses to 
 fire. 
 
 As the small band of Republicans were now exposed, 
 and within a few yards of the muzzles of the enemy's 
 rifles there was no escape, and eleven died from the 
 volley. Having fought gallantly all day until they con- 
 sidered the day won, they gave their life for their no- 
 
 122 
 
Q 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 bility, which had too hurriedly welcomed the cessation 
 of the unnecessary slaughter. Among the eleven killed 
 here was Schmidt-Dumont, of the German commando, 
 who had distinguished himself by his bravery in the as- 
 sault, and also Herr Von Brusewitz, an ex-officer of the 
 German army who had also conducted himself with great 
 courage. The latter had become notorious the world over, 
 about the year 1891, by the murder of a civilian in a cafe 
 at Carlsruhe, in Baden, the word Brusewitzing being now 
 used in Germany as a term applying to any abuse of a 
 citizen by the military. There was a rumor that he had 
 sought the death he found on the top of Spion's Kop in 
 many climes since this incident. Whatever his past fault, 
 he atoned this day, showing no evidence of cowardice 
 then, but died as a brave man should, defending a just 
 cause with his face to the foe. 
 
 After this unhappy incident, the Federals that escaped, 
 retreated to cover, using a trench the British had evacu- 
 ated, and without mercy the carnage was resumed. Other 
 individual attempts were made to use a white flag but 
 obtained no recognition, the hail of lead being relent- 
 lessly poured into their midst until the British had been 
 forced out of their last trench, when, with terror they 
 threw themselves over any part of the bluff they encoun- 
 tered in their dash for safety. Shortly before the sur- 
 render, a number of soldiers who had been displaying evi- 
 dences of distress and anxiety to submit by waving hand- 
 kerchiefs, raising both hands up, and reversing their rifles 
 while elevated, were beckoned to by members of our force 
 to come over, and a veldkomet shouted to them to do so. 
 As many rose up preparatory to complying, the per- 
 emptory voice of an officer could be distinctly heard to 
 order " Down, down ! " and as about thirty dropped their 
 
 123 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 guns and rushed out toward us, the order " Fire ! " fol- 
 lowed, and about eight of the men fell, shot from behind. 
 The remainder gained our trenches in safety. 
 
 When the enemy's fire had ceased, the Republicans 
 again advanced and disarmed 280 Britishers, which still 
 remained on the field. For pity's sake their life 
 was spared them, after their own countrymen had legiti- 
 mately signed their death warrant, but the Federals 
 welcomed the cessation of firing as an opportunity for 
 them to again take chances of treachery, if thereby they 
 could put a stop to the ghastly slaughter. There was no 
 further resistance and the most daring assault in history 
 had been successfully accomplished. 
 
 General Louis Botha's orders that " the hill must be 
 retaken that day," had been made an accomplished fact, 
 by himself and 450 men of mixed commands, who repre- 
 sented every district and foreign corps in the field, but 
 to Louis Botha, and the representatives of the Carolina, 
 Pretoria, Vryheid commandos and the German corps, 
 every burgher concedes the first places in the honors of 
 the day. 
 
 Despatch riders, sent by General Botha, when the first 
 successful assault on the hill became known, had brought 
 some spare guns from Colenso, thirty miles distant, which 
 arrived before the battle started, and by mounting them 
 on the hills on each side of Spion's Kop, to guard the 
 approaches from the south side, although swept by the 
 superior number and calibre of the British guns, again 
 directed by the balloon, they had been so handled as to 
 prevent any attempt of the 27,000 British troops on the 
 river, from reinforcing their countrymen on the hill, 
 thereby making it possible for the small force under Louis 
 Botha to complete the victory. 
 
 The British lost 1,800 men in killed, wounded and miss- 
 
 124 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 ing, among whom were General Woodgate and many dis- 
 tinguished officers. The greater number fell victims to 
 the force of 450 who did the actual storming of the hill. 
 At the foot of the bluff in the rear of the last position were 
 many torn and mangled forms which had dared death in 
 this manner in preference to remaining on the summit, 
 fearing to throw themselves on the mercy of the men, 
 they had outraged by the only means of mercy in war- 
 fare. 
 
 The British gave various excuses for this disaster to 
 their troops, scarcity of water, failure of reinforcements, 
 and incompetence of officers being the most prominent, 
 everything but the manly one that while holding the 
 superior positions and having the advantage of men and 
 artillery, they were fairly whipped by better strategy, and 
 superior marksmanship of an inferior force. Upon the 
 evacuation of the hill they immediately commenced their 
 retreat across the river, to a camp on the south bank, 
 the Republican Creusot field gun keeping up during day- 
 light, a constant fire on their pontoon bridge, making 
 the passage both hazardous and disorderly. Their rear 
 was still protected by their artillery, and the naval guns 
 on the Boshrand, five miles down the river, but it is 
 probable that if the Republicans had attempted to follow 
 them they would have added, if not guns, many wagons to 
 the glories of the day, as the retreat was most irregular. 
 The Boers, never bloodthirsty, considered the distressing 
 sight on the battle field and the experiences endured as 
 sufficient offering to be poured out in any cause in the 
 allotted time, and contented themselves with thanks- 
 giving services to the glory of the God which had per- 
 mitted them this victory. 
 
 The artillery fire from the British naval guns on the 
 Boshrand now became so concentrated on the battle field, 
 
 125 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 that beyond the removal at night of the Boer dead, it 
 was impossible to do anything with the dead English de- 
 manding attention. 
 
 General Botha sent a despatch to the British that they 
 would be permitted to bury their countrymen if they 
 would send burial companies to do the duty, and to 
 identify the rapidly decomposing corpses. The answer 
 from General Buller was that the Republicans could bury 
 them, and when they sent in the bill of costs the English 
 general would pay it. It is not difficult to surmise that 
 such a message to a people naturally independent, should 
 be regarded as a gratuitous insult, and if it was possible 
 of any other interpretation, for instance a wish for the 
 appearance of the scene of carnage to be unknown in 
 the British rank and file already discouraged, then it could 
 have been worded differently, and in a courteous manner, 
 to have at least hidden the chagrin the general felt at 
 his defeat, administered by a few men of the race they 
 pretended to despise. A man would have to be severely 
 warped by military association and effect of a servile 
 following, before he could write such a letter with any 
 doubt of its reception. Finally on General Botha refusing 
 to ask his volunteers to do a loathsome task for the 
 British, they had the grace to cease firing on the field for 
 twenty-four hours and allow one of their own burial 
 parties to partly cover the remains of their comrades. It 
 is quite in the range of possibility that if the Republicans, 
 out of humanity had consented to do the task. General 
 Buller would have taken a pleasure in forwarding to 
 each Boer that had been engaged, the tv.enty-five cents 
 the British think a fair equivalent for a day's work. 
 
 A few days later when a party of visitors from America 
 including the Hon. Webster Davis, were on the battle 
 field, the dead which had been dragged in the trenches 
 
 126 
 

 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 and sprinkled with loose dirt were protruding in a dis- 
 gusting manner, many more entirely neglected, lying 
 where they had fallen, and being unidentified would 
 naturally be broadly returned on the list of missing. The 
 ghastly state and stench precluded the Republicans from 
 putting the hill in a state of defense as the burghers re- 
 fused to do duty upon it, but needless to say the British 
 never again threatened it. 
 
 127 
 
Chapter X 
 
 British trek east— Poisoned bullets— Pont Drift- Alec Brand 
 — Night scenes — Artillery practice — Qeanliness — Anecdotes — 
 Hlangwana Hill— British, cross the Tugela — Pieters Hill — Piet 
 Geldenhuis — Red Cross '^tntilligence men — The flight — Long 
 Tom again. 
 
 AS the British transport was again moving east, a 
 patrol was left on guard, the Federals following 
 the course of the enemy on the north bank. 
 Their naval guns still remained opposite Pont Drift, but 
 they made no further demonstration, therefore a guard 
 was also left to watch this crossing, the remainder of the 
 participants in the late engagements separated to rejoin 
 their various laagers at Colenso and around Ladysmith. 
 From among the pernicious statements in the English 
 press, the Boers learnt at this time, they were using 
 poisoned bullets. We had become used to the assertion 
 that we were poisoning the wells and rivers with cyanide 
 of potassium obtained from the mines, and it is needless 
 to say this latter accusation was equally baseless and 
 cowardly in its effort to malign an honorable foe. The 
 Mauser cartridges supplied before the war were known 
 among the Dutch as the short Nek and the long Nek. 
 In other words they were bottle-shaped and the distance 
 between the primer and the part shrunk to the calibre 
 of the bullet was not the same. 
 
 The short Nek was in the greatest quantity and un- 
 fortunately it was too short to correctly fill the chamber 
 of the rifle, the vacuum created causing a great recoil 
 and sometimes bursting the barrel at the breech. From 
 their proportion in the quantity of ammunition available, 
 these shells had to be used, so in reloading them the gov- 
 
 128 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 emment advisers conceived the idea of giving the bullet 
 and cartridge a heavy coating of grease, which rolling 
 up as the cartridge was forced home, filled the empty 
 space in the chamber and killed the recoil. It is unneces- 
 sary to repeat that this grease was quite harmless, but its 
 color being greenish it was seized upon as an illustration 
 of the barbarity of the most humane fighters in the world. 
 The English soldiers and doctors knew from experience 
 its true character, but no event in this war has been too 
 trivial for the press of this great nation to misrepresent 
 in its effort to prejudice the civilized powers against their 
 opponents, hoping to turn the searchlights of truth away 
 from the true issue. 
 
 The Republicans had scarcely left Pont Drift when the 
 British again became demonstrative, and the volunteers 
 were hurriedly summoned to reinforce the positions. The 
 balloon had begun to be regarded by the Boers as almost 
 as sure a sign of a meditated British attack, as a bombard- 
 ment, and this ill-omened war bird could now be seen 
 hovering on the south bank of the river. 
 
 Val Krantz, a small hill on the north of the river from 
 Pont Drift, was completely surmounted by a semicircle 
 of rough, broken hills, that made it strategically of no 
 importance to either combatant. The Republicans formed 
 the mistake of defending it, the British the mistake of 
 taking it by assault and attempting to hold it. On the 
 day the British crossed the river and attacked, forty of 
 the Johannesburghers were in the position, and after a 
 short defense found themselves surrounded. They 
 fought most gallantly until but few remained, when 
 these made a break to escape to the JBoer lines.. ., Eight 
 succeeded; thirty-two losing their lives in the sharp de- 
 fense. Among those that escaped were J. N. King and 
 Paddy Richardson, two Americans who had attained a 
 
 129 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 reputation for reckless bravery throughout the Republi- 
 can army. The Americans who died are worthy of men- 
 tion, having served their adopted cause with great cour- 
 age and won the hearts of the people for whom they 
 gave their lives. Paddy Fahey, Mat Brennan, Oscar 
 Maximitz and Jim TuUy are the four who should be re- 
 membered of this American clique. Fahey, when he saw 
 his three comrades and countrymen killed, refused to 
 attempt to escape with the few, but hurled lead and abuse 
 at the storming British, until, riddled with bullets, the 
 bayonets stilled him forever. 
 
 Alec Brand of the same party, son of a president of the 
 Orange Free State, wounded in three places, fell between 
 the lines in the last dash for liberty. He lay for two 
 days in great agony, his wounds open, and crazed with 
 the plague of flies from which he was unable to protect 
 himself. A bullet in the hip forbade him to crawl, and 
 with a hail of death constantly passing over him, burnt 
 by the sun at day and chilled by the bitter cold nights he 
 prayed the British, close to whose defenses he lay, for 
 aid and food, but received nothing but curses on his 
 nationality. His cries were audible to both forces and 
 the second night J. N. King, the American scout, crawled 
 with a Boer comrade to the British line. Under a tre- 
 mendous fusillade from both sides, caused by the impres- 
 sion that the rocks unavoidably displaced in their passage 
 denoted a storm from the enemy, these two heroes 
 brought Brand to medical comfort and his people, to re- 
 cover and rejoin the fighting ranks within three months 
 of his distressing experience. 
 
 The scenes at night during the time of this battle were 
 most lurid. The Republicans holding the surrounding 
 hills on the defense feared a night attack. There were 
 no pickets on account of the storm of steel constantly 
 
 130 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 exchanged between the opposing trenches. Hence every 
 defender lay on his gun in the positions, with a view of 
 immediate resistance if there was an attack. A burgher, 
 half asleep, seeing a shadow, or hearing a noise which 
 alarmed him, would fire. His companions trusting in 
 his judgment, or possibly sleepier than he, would join 
 the fusillade, thence it would work around the semicircle 
 like a slow match until the complete position was a rim 
 belching sheets of fire. The British probably thinking 
 the shooting was a night attack, would reply. Every 
 position on both sides would then be denoted in the inky 
 darkness by a blaze of light, forming one of the most 
 impressive spectacles ever witnessed. 
 
 Thousands of rounds would be thus fired until confi- 
 dence would be restored, then it would gradually cease, 
 those more tenacious than the others dropping the last 
 shots, dotted through space by a single streak of light 
 and a single report, to eventually die to complete silence 
 and darkness, only for the entire sound and scene to 
 recommence and be repeated at the first foreign noise. At 
 other times the British in Ladysmith, and those south of 
 the river would illuminate the skies with all colored 
 rockets telling stories the purport of which we could only 
 surmise, but if it was a promise of a speedy relief they 
 were to be disappointed, for on the third day the Repub- 
 lican artillery arrived, and aided by a Vicker's maxim 
 they quickly made the British position on the north bank 
 untenable. Without warning they re-crossed the river in 
 the night, destroying their pontoon bridges, and the Re- 
 publicans, on opening fire in the morning, found their 
 positions undefended. Upon occupation we saw the 
 graves of their hastily buried dead, and our enemy could 
 then be seen trekking toward Chieveley. A few scouts 
 crossing the river reported it possible to cut off a portion 
 
 131 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 of their transport, but no effort was made to put the 
 suggestion into effect: leaving guards to watch unex- 
 pected developments on the upper Tugela the commando 
 returned to their former stations to pick up the old life, 
 and await new events. Commandant Ben Viljoen of the 
 Johannesburg commando shocked by the tremendous pro- 
 portionate loss in his force, broke down in mind and body 
 and returned to Johannesburg to recuperate. There was 
 some possibility of the Republic losing the services of 
 this brave soldier, and there was a feeling of relief in 
 the army among the burghers when he returned to the 
 front, completely recovered and filled with his former 
 zeal. 
 
 The artillery duel, or tjie daily bombardment, were 
 now trifles we should have been disappointed to miss, and 
 the practice of the naval guns and the merits of the gun- 
 ners, were discussed with what news we could obtain of 
 the doings in the Free State. The contending search- 
 lights afforded entertainment at nights, crawling over 
 every point and the efforts of the British to locate and 
 destroy the Republican lights, with their heavy guns, 
 would make life interesting to those who, after dark, had 
 made their beds to sleep outside of the trenches. 
 
 The Boer pickets on the open river bank was another 
 feature not wholly devoid of danger. The enemy's light 
 would creep along the bank silhouetting every blade of 
 grass, and the pickets blinked at the strong light and 
 wondered if it was thrown to enable sharpshooters lying 
 in its shadows to obtain a shot at their exposed persons, 
 or an alligator wallowing in the shallow water and sand, 
 or breaking reeds on the opposite bank would call the 
 guard to repel an imaginary launching of pontoons. 
 
 The Republican trench, running continuously across 
 the flat, between the Colenso hills and Grobler's Kloof, 
 
 132 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 for months had been undergoing a daily bombardment. 
 The defenders scattered on the level stretches behind the 
 trench, indulging in games of leapfrog, football, running, 
 jumping, or any exercise to break the monotony and fur- 
 nish exercise for persons of healthy mind and body. An 
 outlook always on duty, would see the flash of one of the 
 English naval guns on Chieveley Hill, and give warning. 
 Constant familiarity had taught them they had thirty- 
 five seconds to get cover, from the time the flash was seen 
 until the missile reached its destination, and the dash to 
 the trench was often done in very creditable time for 
 amateur athletes. The shell would pass with a vicious 
 scream, striking the playground which immediately be- 
 came alive again with these boyish men, resuming their 
 games at the point where they had been interrupted, only 
 to once more flee at another warning flash and the cry 
 of "I spy!" or " Slaat Blitz!" (lightning-struck) from 
 the sentinel. Sometimes the shell would fail to burst, 
 when many volunteers craving exercise would man 
 shovels to excavate it, the lyddite being dug out with 
 sticks and the case shipped to relatives at home, as a 
 souvenir of Colenso amenities. The British, with the aid 
 of their glasses, became cognizant of this trait of curios- 
 ity, and cured it by attaching a minute and a half time- 
 fuse to the shell. The first of these shells sank into the 
 ground, apparently lifeless, to be immediately surrounded 
 by shovelers. In a short period when the work of exca- 
 vation was well under way, it exploded, fortunately with- 
 out injury to the burghers. From then on, unexploding 
 shells were allowed sufficient time to cool in their resting 
 place, before any effort at investigation was made. 
 
 Something was evidently wrong in the uniformity of 
 the explosive used in discharging the projectile of these 
 guns. Their artillery never succeeded in the feat of hit- 
 
 133 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 ting the same place twice. This trench, a mile in length, 
 on a slope towards the guns, was only struck twice in 
 three months of daily bombardment. At first it filled all 
 with dread when they would follow a line with consecu- 
 tive shells, gradually decreasing the distance between the 
 explosion and the trench, but experience taught us that 
 if they succeeded in getting the exact range with a 
 scratch shot, although they knew where it struck, the 
 next shell was invariably wild. 
 
 The first of the two effectual shots in the three months, 
 although striking the trench, injured nothing but a live 
 chicken that a provident burgher was preserving for 
 dinner. The second struck the sand-bags and exploded 
 over the trench. A burgher lying on his back at the 
 bottom, received the full force of the explosion, and was 
 literally reduced to a pulp or crushed flat without the skin 
 being in any way injured. Two others were badly torn 
 by dirt but recovered, this being the extent of the casual- 
 ties produced by the tons of metal thrown at this position 
 during this period. 
 
 It must have been annoying to the English artillery 
 officers to in no way be able to stop for a longer period 
 than that taken by the passage of their missiles, the 
 games and sky-larking among these fun-loving people, 
 who seldom, under forty years of age, seemed to lose 
 pleasure in the exercise or horse-play so characteristic of 
 freedom, health and morality. Among the many names 
 the English have applied to these people, probably the 
 most frequent has been " the dirty Boers." The dividing 
 river, the Tugela was crowded in the favorite bathing 
 pools, from daylight to dark by many of the Dutchmen, 
 who spent part of every day in this delightful pastime, 
 ignoring the shell fire they invariably drew on them- 
 selves by the practice, they continued to disport, daring 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 both shells and alligators. Seldom have we seen on the 
 most arduous marches, an opportunity of bath or wash 
 neglected, and their clothing was invariably sweet, in 
 pleasing contrast to their vermin-infested traducers, so 
 constantly handled as prisoners. 
 
 There are times when even the grim arbitrament of war 
 has its prerogative terrors encroached upon, and with 
 the very large number of Boer youths in their teens, num- 
 berless humorous incidents occurred during the siege of 
 Ladysmith. Not a few were furnished by Piet and Jan, 
 two Boer boys of fourteen and fifteen, respectively, al- 
 ways to be found around the Hoofd (head) laager, or 
 the artillery quarters near by. Who has ever been around 
 Ladysmith during this eventful siege, that did not know 
 or hear of Piet, Jan or " Klein " BuUer. Piet and Jan 
 were both boys from the Pretoria district, and general 
 favorites in the various camps. At the battle of Modder- 
 spruit, a small mountain gun, painted khaki color, (a 
 seven-pounder), was captured from the enemy, but there 
 being no ammunition, it was thrown aside. When the 
 two boys arrived, the little gun, lying on its side, neg- 
 lected, and almost covered with mud, was at once adopted 
 by them and christened " Klein " Buller. They had no 
 ammunition, as there was none to fit the gun, but that 
 did not prevent these young geniuses from beginning 
 active practice with it. Looting the artillery stores of a 
 number of six-pound shell already captured, powder and 
 fuse, and dragging away an old tent during the night 
 from one of the camps, it soon became known that the 
 besieging force had been reinforced by an additional gun. 
 For the first week all sorts of attempts were made to 
 work this gun, frequently almost resulting in loss of life ; 
 sometimes by an overcharge the gun would jump over 
 on its back, and fire the shell in the air when there would 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 be a general scramble for cover. Then the shot would 
 roll out, as it were, and drop in amongst our own pickets, 
 resulting in the air being filled with threats of dire con- 
 sequences, and not seldom it struck just a few feet in 
 front, producing a general stampede on explosion. But 
 Jan and Piet finally got it to work, and with a couple of 
 oxen dragged it to the top of Pepworth Hill facing an 
 English fort, and there until a relieving force entered the 
 town, operated it with considerable accuracy. This was 
 done by lashing the projectile tightly with strips of 
 canvas, until it could only be made to fit the gun by being 
 driven in with a heavy pole, then powder was filled in 
 behind and an improvised fuse applied. The boys built 
 a breastwork to protect themselves, and in the emplace- 
 ment provided for the weapon, four posts were planted, 
 to which the gun was bound with raw-hide thongs. 
 During the evening as many as twenty shells would be 
 provided for the following day, and with da%vn, Piet 
 and Jan commenced their bombardment of the fort, a 
 distance of over three thousand yards, hurUng shell after 
 shell into it. There were rare occasions when they missed 
 their mark, and if one or the other failed to make a hit, 
 he would be terribly chaffed by the more fortunate. Jan 
 would have his shot while Piet watched the result and 
 vice versa, but one of the important duties of the boy 
 on guard was to give warning of the flash of the respond- 
 ing British cannon. For sighting the gun it was lifted 
 and wedged by stones at such an angle that they ran no 
 danger of competition. They would beg, borrow or steal 
 canvas, powder or shells, and their bombardment went 
 on uninterrupted, while many marveled what became of 
 this or that tent, canvas horse-trough, or bag of powder, 
 ct cetera. " Pas op, Piet! " (Look out, Piet) and a dash 
 was made for the schanze, until the screaming British 
 
 136 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 shell had passed and spent its force by explosion, or 
 " raak " (bull's-eye) as one of the partners would shout, 
 indicating that the shot the other had fired found its billet. 
 It was not infrequent that a powder charge exploded 
 prematurely, blackening their faces and hands, and caus- 
 ing general dismay to the interested spectators, but these 
 fine specimens of budding warriors did not mind such 
 small trifles, continuing to find amusement for their com- 
 panions until the siege was raised. 
 
 In the middle of February, General Buller began to 
 show renewed activity, and made a demonstration against 
 Hlangwana Hill, showing that he at last realized that this 
 was the true key to all operations conducted on the 
 Tugela at Colenso. On the thirteenth, the Krugersdorp 
 command, having had notice that they would be relieved 
 from the defense of this post, withdrew in the careless 
 manner of the Federals, without awaiting the new garri- 
 son. Commandant Buys of the Heidelberg command, 
 whose duty it was to take charge, crossed the river, but 
 failed to go into the position that night. This fact be- 
 came known to the British, who, without opposition occu- 
 pied the hill on the morning of the fourteenth, which 
 necessitated the supporting Republicans to the west, en- 
 trenched on the north bank in the Colenso hills, to fall 
 back on the foothills, leaving the passage of the Tugela 
 practically uncontested. Only a small force of Swazie- 
 land Police, stayed to harass the advance guard of en- 
 gineers, until compelled to retreat by number. 
 
 The abandonment of these positions had been so un- 
 expected that the searchlight was lost, and owing to the 
 limited supply of dynamite available, the railroad bridges 
 were left intact. Having crossed their guns and camps, 
 the British took up positions in the hills lately occupied 
 by the Boers, being given an opportunity of seeing and 
 
 137 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 judging the entrenchments, that had permitted the burgh- 
 ers to cook, eat and sleep in safety during the three 
 months' bombardment they had undergone. Then they 
 attacked Grobler's Kloof on the extreme west of the Re- 
 publican lines, and on the main road to Ladysmith, but 
 failing to force a passage, they retreated with their artil- 
 lery across the river and confined their attention to the 
 extreme right where the Federals still retained Monte 
 Christo Hill, and Asvogel Kop, on the south bank of the 
 river. These hills now underwent a terrific bombardment 
 with occasional assaults which failed to shake the Re- 
 publican hold. 
 
 On the night of the seventeenth, for some unknown 
 reason, and without giving notice, the Middleburg and 
 Standerton commandos, who had been entrusted with the 
 defense of these positions, took panic, forsook their 
 horses and retreated across the river, leaving the hills 
 entirely unprotected. Louis Botha attempted to stem this 
 flight, but they were beyond control, the Standerton men 
 never stopping until they were north of the Klip river, 
 abreast of Ladysmith, and sixteen miles from the de- 
 serted trenches. 
 
 Other commandos were exhorted to defend the aban- 
 doned hills, but with the obstinacy of the race, refused, 
 not through fear, but on account of the manner in which 
 their countrymen had acted. Early next morning a 
 party crossed the river, to save the horses that had been 
 left to their fate, and the reconnoitre developed the ex- 
 traordinary fact that the British were also retreating. 
 Monte Qiristo, Asvogel, and even Hlangwana, were 
 scouted and scaled without meeting a single Britisher. 
 Two armies were retreating from each other. The Boers 
 had abandoned the former hills and retreated across the 
 fiver, and the British had abandoned Hlangwana moun- 
 
 »38 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 tain and the assault of the other positions and were nov/ 
 in retreat towards Chieveley. Hurried word was sent to 
 the Federal generals, but they were unable to convince 
 the burghers of the true situation, who refused to cross 
 the river again and retake their position. From some 
 source of treachery, probably flash or flag signals, the 
 British became possessed of the knowledge of the true 
 state of affairs. It was certainly not through their scouts, 
 for not a scout came near the hill where the few Boers 
 awaited in hope for assistance. Whatever the source, 
 organized discipline succeeded where the opposite failed 
 and they returned at eleven o'clock, drove the scouts from 
 Hlangwana and commenced bombarding Asvogel, under 
 cover of which they charged the hill, to find no one what- 
 ever to defend it. 
 
 Some of us watched the event from the next rise and 
 listened to the elated shouts of the surprised Britishers, 
 who, from the cries had again avenged Majuba. The 
 "Hurrah for Majuba" and "Majuba avenged!" had 
 apparently become a battle cry, to be used at every blood- 
 less victory of the campaign. Hurrying down to the river 
 with our spoils of forty horses and saddles, one of our 
 companions, Tage Andersen, was drowned in the cross- 
 ing, under the rifle fire of the enemy, who quickly 
 swarmed over the hills intervening, between the scene of 
 the late victory and the river bank. 
 
 The bridge built by the Republicans at the base of 
 Pieters Hill was made of Karree wood railroad ties, 
 bound by rails, and its destruction was entrusted to Cap- 
 tain Richardi of the Italian corps. His failure to effectu- 
 ally do this threw open the opportunity for crossing the 
 Tugela, when the building of a pontoon would have been 
 most difficult and hazardous, which free passage made 
 it possible for them to make their attack on Pieters Hill, 
 
 139 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 which culminated in the relief of Ladysmith. The Re- 
 publicans, being unable to contest the crossing, the enemy 
 quickly effected a lodgement on the north bank, the 
 bridge furnishing them with speedy service in supplies 
 and reinforcement, and the lines were again drawn with 
 six hundred yards between the opposing forces. 
 
 From the twenty-second, to the twenty-fourth, the 
 British made continual assaults on the Boer position, 
 using every method to force their troops to fight, again 
 turning their cannon on their own men, when they were 
 repulsed, and mowing them down within sight of their 
 enemies. But it availed them nothing, the Boers deter- 
 minedly held the positions, their courage being sustained 
 in this protracted battle by examples of individual bravery 
 which would have won all manner of comment in an 
 organized army. 
 
 The intervening space between the fighting lines was 
 an open flat with the railroad on the east side, running 
 parallel and within twenty yards of the British position. 
 The flat had been a Boer camp and was covered with a 
 debris of provisions, the supply of which from the laagers 
 had commenced to fail, and daring attempts were made 
 with success to exploit these abandoned supplies until 
 they too became exhausted. Then there still remained a 
 box-car of bread which stood alone on the track under 
 the barrels of the British rifles. The first man that tapped 
 this food mine, was seriously wounded in the delay of 
 opening the door, afterward dying of his wound, but that 
 did not deter others from making the two hundred yards' 
 dash across the open necessary to gain the car, fill a sack 
 with bread and return, the holes in the bread testifying 
 how close he had been to the real thing. 
 
 There was an old man named Piet Geldenhuis, about 
 sixty years of age, who used to advance before daylight 
 
 140 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 to a slight dip, under cover of which he would lie the 
 entire day, making the service of the British maxim 
 within forty yards of his cover a most costly arm of the 
 offense. His two sons, well-educated youths of about 
 sixteen and eighteen would accompany him, the three 
 spending the day under a broiling sun, harassing every- 
 thing living that exposed itself. Retreat was impossible, 
 as the father was old and slow, and the sons would not 
 have left him, so they had to advance and retire under 
 cover of night, with certain death or capture if discovered. 
 The deliberation and devotion of this feat made even 
 the bravest Boers envious. 
 
 One of the scenes at night was the thousands of tiny 
 fires which composed the British camp. The soldiers 
 carried their own rations, each having a separate fire for 
 cooking purposes, and the effect in the wild, rugged 
 mountains was most picturesque, so many lights, as stars, 
 dotted in the darkness. 
 
 On the twenty-fourth an armistice was granted to the 
 British to bury their dead, the troops retreating across 
 the river. Rendered possible by the lack of discipline, 
 the burghers freely intermingled with the Red Cross 
 bearers, who were permitted to come within the trenches, 
 thereby obtaining information invaluable to their side, 
 as regarding the small numbers of the defending force 
 and their distribution. Though again and again proven 
 that the British Red Cross combined their mission of 
 mercy with the duties of officers of the Intelligence de- 
 partment, the Boers saw nothing sinister in permitting a 
 uniformed Britisher with a Red Cross on his arm, to 
 take observations from the Federal trenches with the 
 field glass they carried to discover their dead,, nor yet 
 in the interrogations which they were permitted to make , 
 to the loquacious of these simple people, somewhat proud 
 
 141 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 of their ability to speak a little English, and their prowess, 
 from the point of numbers, in repelling an attack. They 
 could not realize that all such bravado was stored 
 to return and be visited on themselves and their com- 
 rades. 
 
 With the information gathered the British recrossed 
 the river on the twenty-fifth, attacking a position pre- 
 viously unassailed, which was defended by only twenty- 
 five men, having a defensive area of only sixty yards, 
 after the stormers turned the crest of the hill. Although 
 repulsed for two days' continuous attack, on the twenty- 
 seventh they succeeded in forcing a foothold, and with 
 an enfilading fire they swept the top of the hill, forcing 
 the Krugersdorpers to evacuate the key defense. This 
 fierce but despairing defense cost the gallant Krugers- 
 dorpers the lives of many of the most noted fighters of 
 the war, among them being the adored acting command- 
 ant Lonnie Beyers who was carried dying from the 
 trenches, also De la Rey, of Dundee fame, and Paddy 
 Richardson the fearless American. In the nineteen others 
 which made up the sum total of the fallen, were two 
 sisters attired in men's clothes, said to be Mrs. Van der 
 Merve and Miss Marais, since missing, who refused to 
 desert their male relatives. Three days before Command- 
 ant Potgeiter of the same commando was severely 
 wounded and Beyers had succeeded him. On the same 
 day Commandant Derksen of Boksberg was likewise 
 badly wounded, and twenty minutes after his retirement, 
 his successor was also killed, depriving that body for 
 some time of a leader. 
 
 The Republicans tenaciously held the position on both 
 sides of the captured trench, and urgent messages were 
 sent to the generals by these old warriors, who saw noth- 
 ing lost that could not be retaken. Although Lukas 
 
 142 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 Meyer was within a mile, with four hundred of the Stan- 
 derton commando, the news of Cronje's surrender and 
 General Joubert's weakness had paralyzed their offensive 
 ambitions, and no attempt was made to reinforce the 
 overtired defenders, who awaited patiently, holding "their 
 ground until the last of the messengers returned with 
 the information that General Joubert had raised the siege 
 of Ladysmith. This was the final blow. It isolated the 
 few that were opposing Buller, and made their escape 
 problematical. The weakest part of the Boer nature was 
 touched, their retreat was threatened, and always filled 
 with the dreaded prospect of banishment across the sea, 
 they at last began to waver. Night came, and with the 
 killed hope of reinforcements, nothing remained but to 
 make the best retreat possible, confident that with any 
 support the day was yet theirs. They reluctantly left the 
 trenches they had clung to so tenaciously for seven days. 
 Omitting the armistice, they had endured for that period, 
 the constant assault and bombardment of a hundred guns. 
 Now broken in spirit the exhausted few with bloodshot 
 eyes and attenuated frames, staggered to the rear. Sick 
 in mind and heart, disgusted with themselves for a sacri- 
 fice so costly and ineffectual, reproaching their comrades 
 for weakness almost amounting to treachery, they made 
 their way to their camps only to realize how completely 
 they had been abandoned. Wagons and horses gone, 
 they were hungry, worn and afoot, between two hostile 
 armies. Staying their hunger with food thrown away 
 in the deserted laagers, these wearied men threw them- 
 selves on their blankets and slept oblivious of all danger. 
 With no further thought of the manner they would es- 
 cape, they gave themselves up to the sweet consciousness 
 of relaxation from the tremendous strain they had under- 
 gone during the past protracted battle. 
 
 143 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 Some of the less fatigued arose at daylight, and to 
 enable themselves and companions to escape, went into 
 the hills to round up the sick and disabled mules and 
 horses, which had been left as useless. The circuit of 
 Ladysmith now no longer controlled, had to be negotiated 
 with the probability of an elated and inspired garrison 
 attempting to wreak vengeance on the forces of those 
 who had caused them so much suffering. The English 
 swarming in the hills south of them, seeing the now 
 collected mules and horses, and the large stand of empty 
 tents, imagined the Republicans in force, and having 
 learned caution, although the camp was in the open, 
 they turned the maxims on the tents, which quickly 
 aroused those that had been preparing food, and others 
 were awakened for the first time from their deadened 
 slumber, by the klip of the bullets through the canvas. 
 All was instantly confusion, guns were hurriedly seized, 
 and the first available quadruped that could stand on its 
 feet was saddled and started down the road in pursuit 
 of those who already had taken time by the forelock, and 
 were on the Ladysmith road with the intention of making 
 a circle around the east of the town. It was an amusing, 
 though perilously slow race while they were under fire. 
 Mules balked and horses gave down from some unnoticed 
 ailment in the hurried selection. The more fortunate ones 
 took their companions up behind them, the race lasting 
 for six miles, and, in spite of the handicaps, they suc- 
 ceeded in making the Klip river, crossing ahead of the 
 British right wing of cavalry. 
 
 Here were entrenched in the river bank the Boer 
 stragglers who had determined to contest the crossing, 
 until their steeds could recuperate and the dismounted 
 burghers were able to scour the country for any old 
 abandoned animal fit to ride. There was a tremendous 
 
 144 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 bombardment toward Ladysmith and to our north, sKow- 
 ing too plainly the garrison was conscious of the events 
 that were transpiring. Toward the foot of Ontabagoni 
 Hill we also heard a tremendous rattling of iron, mingled 
 with shouts in all keys and several languages. This 
 proved to be teamsters drawing the siege gun which had 
 threatened Ladysmith so long from the south. It had 
 been deserted by most of the Boers in the first panic, 
 and the artillerymen had requested Colonel Blake, an 
 American in command of the Irish brigade to assist 
 them in an attempt to save it. Colonel Blake quickly 
 responded, and collecting his corps around the gun, he 
 helped to dismount it, then escorted it to the railroad 
 at Elandslaagte, forming the rear guard of this extensive 
 flight. When we arrived, the heavy gun had safely 
 reached the foot of the hill nearly 400 feet in height, and 
 it now lumbered past, drawn by thirty-six oxen. Much 
 of the ammunition was abandoned, by reason of the 
 draught animals having been stolen the night before, the 
 burghers considering their personal effects of more value 
 than the ammunition, the property of the government. 
 They were unaccustomed to regard such supply of am- 
 munition as a common possession, but wasted or aban- 
 doned it with a happy carelessness and confidence in the 
 government being able to replace it. 
 
 The British still continued the bombardment, most of 
 the shells falling in the late position of the gun. On 
 inquiry from the artillerymen as to what force was draw- 
 ing all this fire, the reply was " none." The slim Boer 
 when he transhipped the gun to its traveling bearings on 
 the carriage, had left standing the tripod used. The Eng- 
 lish seeing the tripod, imagined an attempt was being 
 made to move the gun, and as long as the tripod remained 
 standing, they considered it unaccomplished, and these 
 
 145 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 inoffensive pieces of pipe were the sole recipients of this 
 tremendous cannonade. 
 
 Slowly the cannon crawled over the rough road. There 
 was always a possibility of a sortie from the garrison, 
 and to add to the downcast spirits of the hungry rear 
 guard, it commenced to rain. That night the gun and 
 its escort out-spanned abreast of Ladysmith, the oxen 
 were too beaten to travel further. The scouts had in- 
 formed us that General Dundonald with the left wing 
 of the British cavalry had entered the town, and there 
 was no further doubt that the garrison now knew we were 
 in retreat. Hourly during the wet night we expected 
 an attack, with the certain loss of the gun, but with day- 
 light, nothing, happily, had disturbed us. The oxen were 
 again yoked and they crawled with the gun past Lady- 
 smi^ within sight of the British outposts. The be- 
 draggled guard followed the laboring team, ready to for- 
 sakp their charge at any display of force, and it looked 
 as/if only a miracle could save the gun, but the day 
 passed without hostile demonstration, and Long Tom 
 arrived in Elandslaagte, a point six miles north of Lady- 
 smith at dark, where Generals Botha and Joubert were 
 holding a small force to protect the rear of the trans- 
 ports. Joy at the safe arrival of the piece was freely 
 expressed, Colonel Blake being highly commended for 
 his conduct, and willing hands quickly ran the gun on 
 a flat car. The tired escort had the satisfaction of seeing 
 the train steam out of the station while they rummaged 
 among the store-houses hunting crackers, tinned goods 
 or anything appetizing among the abandoned supplies. 
 
 146 
 
chapter XI 
 
 The great trek— Kruger and Joubert— A day of humiliation and 
 prayer — A commandant-general — Louis Botha — Revision — 
 Leave of absence — Friction — Proclamations — Karree Siding 
 — Sannah's Post — Captured correspondence — Reddersburg — 
 Wepener — James Foster — Dutch leniency — Death of Ville- 
 bois Muriel. 
 
 THE main column followed the railroad to Wash- 
 bank, while part of the forces under Lukas 
 Meyer, went toward Wessels Nek, where a scene 
 of the wildest confusion reigned. Hundreds of canvas 
 topped wagons converging to the narrow road, formed 
 on the side of the hill a great solid triangle, two miles 
 at the base and visible for miles. The recent rain had 
 made the pass most difficult, every wagon having to be 
 assisted over the steep incline with double teams. The 
 clamor was fearful, each tried to be first, forcing their 
 own vehicles into every crevice, in the hope of passing 
 others, only to cause a more hopeless lock. The mounted 
 men had carelessly gone before, seeking rest, regardless 
 of this mass of wagons and field guns constituting the 
 entire transport of the west wing, an inviting spoil for 
 capture. Fortunately the British were busy holding cele- 
 brations and by the heroic labor of the teamsters, the 
 tangle was worked clear in twenty-four hours. The last 
 wagon made the passage safely the following night, with- 
 out any threatening demonstration from the British. 
 
 The danger was passed, the entire army of the Tugela 
 had made the perilous circuit of forty miles, without the 
 loss of a gun or wagon not abandoned, and proceeding 
 by slow stages, they commenced to recover their spirits. 
 There was no recklessness or lawlessness, the English 
 farmer and farm-houses were left unmolested. Even a 
 
 147 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 storehouse and hotel which had some British govern- 
 ment stores, plainly billed to the Natal Carbineers, was 
 passed unharmed, beyond the loss of a case of beer, 
 which was irresistible to the first discoverers. The 
 obvious falsehood of the British storekeeper that he had 
 bought the supplies of the government was sufficient to 
 secure their protection, and he was left unmolested with 
 his own property intact, and that of the volunteer corps 
 for which he had lied. The Boers slowly drifted toward 
 the Biggarsburg range, where they entrenched them- 
 selves and recuperated, remaining inactive for six weeks. 
 
 President Kruger had arrived at Glencoe, to meet the 
 generals and encourage the burghers to further resist- 
 ance. In his address to the commandos, the old " Lion 
 of Rustenburg," while exhorting the burghers to fresh 
 deeds of valor, paid a high tribute to the lofty patriotism 
 and former military renown of General Joubert, for whom 
 he held a brotherly regard. But the keynote no one 
 doubted and on conclusion all felt that the star of their 
 faithful old general had set forever. The fact of his 
 lifting the siege of Ladysmith and refusal to reinforce 
 the weary defenders on the Tugela, whom he had practi- 
 cally left to their fate, was recalled, and the opinion was 
 freely expressed among the burghers, that his recent ex- 
 hibition of weakness and indecision had shown him irre- 
 sponsible. The truth which had been painfully evident 
 for months past, was at last acknowledged, but, alas, it 
 was too late, the mischief was done, and Ladysmith which 
 ought never to have been relieved, was lost to the Re- 
 publics. As the result of a meeting of a Krygsraad, 
 General Joubert retired to Pretoria, and at his own re- 
 quest, Louis Botha was appointed acting Commandant- 
 General. 
 
 According to and in harmony with the devout character 
 
 148 
 
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 The Latb Genbkal Piet Joubkrt, and SECRETABir 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 of these embattled farmers, the charges now having been 
 disposed of, public prayer and humiliation was called for. 
 Some of the commandants and recognized leaders in the 
 churches of the district to which they belonged, eloquently 
 reproached the burghers for waning faith in their God, 
 and un-Christian pride in their early victories. The most 
 lofty appeal was that of the Reverend Bosman, of Pre- 
 toria, which will never be forgotten by any of those who 
 were present. 
 
 General Joubert had been suffering from injuries 
 sustained by a fall from his horse, of so serious a nature 
 as to have forbade him riding for some time, and with 
 impaired health and mind, resulting from the magnitude 
 of his task, added to the feebleness of his advanced years, 
 he gladly returned to his home. His injuries proved fatal, 
 for shortly after, complications set in, and, filled with 
 grief for the cause of his people, he died on March 26, 
 in the sixty-ninth year of his age, loved by all for his 
 sterling qualities and past services. He had shown mental 
 signs of his age for some years, but the glories he won 
 for his people in the Boer-English war of '81, could no 
 longer blind them to his inability or lack of force in '99. 
 A younger and more progressive leader would have in- 
 fused greater activity and achieved more, probably even 
 reversing entirely the sad state of affairs at the time of 
 his death. The office of Commandant-General had been 
 elective and nothing could be more natural than that his 
 patriotic and grateful countrymen should allow him, dur- 
 ing active hostilities, to fill the office in preference to 
 an untried, younger man. It was commonly known, 
 nevertheless, that the old man's heart was never in this 
 war. He had delayed the ordering and shipment of 
 artillery bought in France, until it was lost to his coun- 
 try, and his was the only voice raised in the executive 
 
 149 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 council, advising the acceptance of the arbitrary dicta- 
 torial conditions that England sought to impose upon the 
 Republics. With this knowledge, combined with the 
 memory of his mistaken leniency in the pursuance of the 
 present war, it is not surprising the burghers were re- 
 signed to the destiny that called him. 
 
 The Commandant-General, in times of peace, formed 
 one of the executive council, his entire working force 
 consisting of a commander, ten clerks and the artillery. 
 He was responsible only to the president and first Volks- 
 raad, and had complete control of the artillery and the 
 purchase of the munitions of war, subject only to the 
 vote of the Volksraad. The Orange Free State had no 
 such office as Commandant-General, their Hoofd-Com- 
 mandant (Head-Commandant) being nominal only, and 
 subject to President Steyn, who assumed this authority. 
 
 Louis Botha, the new commander of the South African 
 Republic, was bom on a farm near Greytown, in Natal, 
 and in his early youth attended school in that town, and 
 in Pietermaritzburg, later emigrating to the New Re- 
 public, subsequently the Vryheid district, where he saw 
 service in Kaffir wars. A young man of only thirty-six, 
 his ability to control men and seize every vantage in a 
 regular war, had already been proven before Colenso, 
 and General Joubert in an ante mortem statement, begged 
 the president and his countrymen to retain him in com- 
 mand. Colonel Villebois Muriel, the French military ex- 
 pert was enthusiastic in praise of Botha. In the early 
 part of the war, before his prowess became widely known, 
 Muriel declared him to be the greatest strategist he had 
 ever known. Botha's appointment was confirmed, not 
 however, without opposition from the older burghers who 
 favored General De la Rey, the older men flocking 
 under the immediate command of the latter, the younger 
 
 ISO 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 under Botha, a distinction at once noticeable on riding 
 into either laager. 
 
 Cronje was captured and Ladysmith was relieved after 
 I20 days' siege, having lost a thousand men of the gar- 
 rison, with but one day's provisions between them and 
 capitulation, as admitted by their commander. Buller's 
 casualties in the final assault, were returned at 2,100 
 killed and wounded. Roberts was in Bloemfontein, and 
 London was wild with delight at the relief, and all forces 
 settled down to recuperate and reinforce. 
 
 New rules were formulated for the Republican forces 
 and offensive and defensive measures were sanctioned. 
 The cordon system was discarded, flying columns organ- 
 ized, transports reduced, regular scouting corps formed 
 and an attempt was made to regulate the system of Verlof 
 or leave of absence, a rule being made permitting ten 
 per cent of the burghers leave in rotation. This latter 
 regulation was never lived up to, a burgher who con- 
 sidered an injustice done to him, or overcome by home- 
 sickness, on failing to get transportation by railroad, 
 would quietly pack one horse, saddle another, and jog 
 down the road homeward. Regardless whether it took 
 five days or ten, he knew his destination. 
 
 Many of the southern Free State burghers, by reason 
 of Roberts' proclamation promising respect to property 
 and freedom of person to those who surrendered, laid 
 down their arms and took an oath of neutrality. This 
 started a feeling of outspoken bitterness between the 
 citizens of the two Republics, emphasized by mutual re- 
 criminations. The Orange Free Staters being " cowards," 
 and " white flag " men were greeted with yowls and 
 " hands up ! " The Transvaalers were accused of being 
 the cause of the war, and of ingratitude for aid rendered. 
 This spirit continued until the occupation of Pretoria, 
 
 151 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 the forces often refusing to cooperate, but by that time 
 the Free Staters had proved the hoUowness of British 
 promises to respect property, and they returned to the 
 field to make cause against the common enemy. 
 
 With the English in possession of Bloemfontein, it 
 was certain that the Free State was the future field of 
 action, and General Meyer was left in command of the 
 Repulicans in Natal to act on the defensive in the Big- 
 garsburg mountains, retaining the smallest force actually 
 necessary. The remainder of the burghers went to the 
 more open country of the Free State where their need 
 was greatest. Lord Roberts had established his head- 
 quarters in Bloemfontein, but was delayed from further 
 action on account of having to reestablish his communi- 
 cations and rest his troops. No serious active hostilities 
 occurred either in Natal or the Free State for six weeks. 
 During the alarm which followed the occupation of the 
 Free State capital, the railroad bridges between Smalldeel 
 and Bloemfontein had been effectually, if prematurely 
 destroyed, considerably handicapping the Republican 
 government's transport to its headquarters at Brandfort. 
 
 The English had troops operating in the Thabu N'Chu 
 territory east of Bloemfontein, trying to disperse small 
 bodies of Federals who were threatening their communi- 
 cations, and incidentally opposing the effort which was 
 made to intercept the retreat of Generals Oliver, Lemmer 
 and Grobler, on their historic march from Colesberg to 
 Winburg. Many burghers who had not ceased in their 
 flight after the defeat on the Tugela, until they got to their 
 farms, now began to return to their commandos. They 
 had been shamed into returning by the old men and 
 women, who gave them less peace in their own homes 
 than was attainable in the field. A great many wives 
 refused to receive their husbands who had fled in this 
 
 152 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 manner, and instances are recorded of women bringing 
 their husbands down to the train and forcing them to 
 leave for the front, without being allowed to greet their 
 children or cross their own thresholds. With these re- 
 cruits and the members of the commands from Colesberg, 
 the united Free State defense would now approximate 
 7,000 men, with a headquarters on the railroad, at 
 Brandfort, thirty miles north of Bloemfontein, and this 
 Liliputian force again prepared to contest every foot of 
 Roberts' further march north. 
 
 On March 16, Captain Danie Theron, the most daring 
 leader of the scouts, destroyed the important railroad 
 bridge at Modder river, called the Glen, which although 
 the British had been in Bloemfontein four days, they had 
 neglected to defend and thereby save this necessary ad- 
 jutant of their further advance, within thirteen miles of 
 their camp. 
 
 Shortly before the arrival of Roberts in Bloemfontein, 
 proclamations had been issued which threatened dire con- 
 sequences if looting did not cease in the English army and 
 also promising protection of property and stock to the 
 resident farmers, combatant or non-combatant, but as the 
 further advance commenced, and when it was supposed 
 that they had influenced all the burghers to yield who 
 were likely to, the proclamations assumed a different tone 
 and the armies were instructed to live on the country, and 
 if the inhabitants refused to sell at the low prices dic- 
 tated, their stock was to be seized and receipts given. On 
 all farms where the proprietors were absent, either by 
 being prisoners of war or still in arms, the entire stock 
 was to be confiscated without recompense. Such arbitrary 
 measures did much to assist the Republican governments 
 in their efforts at remobilization, and the burghers re- 
 gained heart for the cause, in hearing of these abuses. 
 
 153, 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 Louis Botha in command made it understood that the 
 entire duty of the scouting corps was to get information 
 for the generals to whom they were attached. With the 
 regular and irregular scouting in search of food, fruit or 
 loose horses, very little escaped the observation of the 
 continually active burghers. The constant demand for 
 horses was probably the source of the best information. 
 A burgher with a sick horse and little prospect outside 
 of his own effort to replace it, would take desperate 
 chances in any affair with the enemy's scouts, in prefer- 
 ence to the possibility of being left afoot. 
 
 On March 25, the British advanced to Karree siding, a 
 small station in a range of hills, about half way between 
 Bloemfontein and Brandfort. After a short engagement 
 with the Republican pickets in which they lost severely 
 the English obtained possession, which left nothing but 
 an open flat of ten miles between them and the nearest 
 Boer laagers around Brandfort. 
 
 On the thirtieth of March the scouts under Danie 
 Theron informed De Wet at Brandfort that General 
 Broadwood was falling back from Thabu N'Chu in the 
 direction of Bloemfontein. Ordering his men to supply 
 themselves with three days' rations, discarding all trans- 
 ports except ammunition carts, taking five field guns and 
 the foreign military attaches, with a force of 1,200 men, 
 he made an afternoon and night march of forty miles, 
 intercepting the British at the Bloemfontein water-works. 
 He made most of this splendid march at night, through 
 a territory infested with the enemy, with only three stops 
 to feed and rest his men and horses. At intervals during 
 the entire journey, he was informed of the enemy's move- 
 ments by the scouts, and before daylight he took pos- 
 session of a deep sluit in the Bloemfontein road, a mile 
 in advance of the sleeping British camp, his brother, 
 
 154 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 Piet De Wet occupying a small kopje which would flank 
 the expected line of retreat. 
 
 At daylight, the British, lulled into false security, in- 
 spanned their transport wagons and started them on the 
 road without an advance guard. One by one the heavy 
 ox wagons lumbered down through the drift, the look 
 of surprise on each driver's face being duplicated on the 
 next when they found the sluit full of Republicans. De 
 Wet, himself, signaled each to proceed into the sluit, 
 where they were removed and their positions quickly 
 taken by burghers, who kept the train moving. Through 
 an unavoidable delay in effecting these transfers the 
 wagons became blocked in the ford, causing an officer to 
 ride forward to inquire into the trouble. Encountering 
 De Wet, who, in an unassuming manner, was acting as 
 wagon master for the con-'^oy, he became pale and speech- 
 less with amazement. De Wet refused to accept his 
 sword, requesting him to return to his advancing troops, 
 which were within a few hundred yards, and order them 
 to surrender, at the same time pointing out to him how 
 useless resistance would be. The officer gave his promise 
 to do so, but on reaching his company, after a few 
 moments' debate, they fled. De Wet fired the prearranged 
 signal shot at the fleeing officer, who paid the penalty 
 of his broken word, and at once the firing became general 
 all along the line. 
 
 Immediately the British camp was in an uproar and 
 wildest confusion, but finally the artillery opened from 
 the camp ground on their own blocked wagons. Oxen 
 were killed, wagons broken and the loaded ammunition 
 scattered by the fire, but no harm was done to the Fed- 
 erals. The cavi.lry attempted to storm the position in the 
 sluit but were quickly repulsed while the burghers were 
 gradually enveloping the entire column. A portion of the 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 cavalry with their commanding officer and five guns 
 escaped to the southeast, and though they were harassed 
 for some distance, they eventually outdistanced their pur- 
 suers. De Wet, at a cost of three dead, nine wounded 
 and an arduous march, had to his credit 430 prisoners, 
 160 killed and wounded, with seven cannons and 150 
 wagons and teams, loaded with a vast amount of ammu- 
 nition and provisions. The wounded were gathered by 
 the British field ambulance, who were allowed to attend 
 to their own men. The captured wagons were put in 
 order and started north with the prisoners, to avoid the 
 certain attempt at retaliation by the enemy for this daring 
 raid, and reinforcements for the British shortly arrived 
 from the east only to find the field deserted. Lieutenant 
 Nix of the Dutch Netherlands army, attached to the Boers, 
 was unfortunately killed while watching the engagement. 
 
 Among the captured baggage of the general, docu- 
 ments were found that substantially confirmed those of 
 similar nature found at Dundee. There were the same 
 routes and surveys, but there was also evidence proving 
 that an organized band of traitors was within the Boer 
 lines, who were in constant communication with the Brit- 
 ish, by heliograph, messengers, and night signals. This 
 was the first definite evidence that the Republicans ob- 
 tained of a practise of which the effect had long been 
 felt. Every important movement of the Republicans had 
 been tipped off for past months, notably Caesar Hill, 
 Hlangwana and Pieter's Hill, and from such or similar 
 sources, the British had always been enabled to strike in 
 the weakest point of the defense. From the information 
 gained, efforts were made to locate these men, but the 
 general retreat shortly following, nothing was discov- 
 ered. 
 
 Four days later, with the same force, De Wet rounded 
 
 156 
 
o 
 
 a, 
 
 o 
 
 a. 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 up 500 Irish Rifles and Northumberland Fusileers at 
 Reddersburg, who were following the British pastime of 
 searching for arms and intimidating the women unpro- 
 tected on the farms. After inflicting fifty casualties and 
 taking the rest prisoners, De Wet had succeeded within 
 the week in putting 1,200 men out of action, and cap- 
 turing seven guns, 2,000 rifles, and a large amount of 
 supplies with a force of 1,500 men. The captured men 
 belonged to Gatacre's column, and this reverse resulted 
 in that general's enforced retirement. 
 
 Supported by Commandant Piet De Wet at Dewets- 
 dorp, and General Oliver at Thabu N'Chu, General De 
 Wet transferred his operations southeast of Bloemfontein 
 to Wepener, where he attacked Colonel Dalgetty and his 
 command of 2,000 colonial troops, which had invaded 
 the Orange Free State from Aliwal North. In a short 
 but spirited engagement, De Wet who assumed the of- 
 fensive from the start and forced the fighting, compelled 
 the colonials to entrench themselves and submit to a 
 siege of seventeen days, during which about 30D of their 
 men were disabled, and most of their horses destroyed. 
 We are acquainted with the reasons which have been 
 advanced by the other side for the escape of Dalgetty, 
 but the Boer commander gives the real one, a lack of 
 ammunition, forcing him to remain passive for the last 
 four days, and only arriving too late, in fact but a few 
 hours before the van of the relieving columns came into 
 conflict with his pickets. The British despatched ten 
 separate forces aggregating 30,000 men, under Generals 
 Bruce, Hamilton, Smith-Dorrien, Pole-Carew, French, 
 Rundle, Brabant, Chermside, Ian Hamilton, Hart, Steven- 
 son, and Broadwood, to relieve Wepener and corral De 
 Wet who was forced by this weight of numbers to abandon 
 his siege and retreat toward Thabu N'Chu. 
 
 157 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 The treatment of the inhabitants by the Republicans 
 as compared to that of the British, was the extreme op- 
 posite, the former being absurdly tender, while the latter 
 was peremptory and harsh. As an example of the second, 
 it might be mentioned that on the occupation of Wepener 
 by De Wet, immediately after its hurried evacuation by 
 Dalgetty, the jail was found packed with white political 
 prisoners and Kaffirs of both sexes huddled together, all 
 of whom were promptly released by order of the Boer 
 general. Among the prisoners whom the timely arrival 
 of the burghers saved from death, was one named H. D. 
 Viljoen, a resident before the war of Aliwal North,, and 
 consequently a British subject in the eyes of the law. 
 Viljoen, on the occupation of his town by the Federals 
 allowed himself to be elected a veldkomet, and joined 
 issue with his blood kinsman, on account of which he had 
 now been tried for treason and pronounced guilty. A 
 telegram from Lord Roberts to Dalgetty, only a day 
 old, found among the captured papers of the English 
 colonel, bore eloquent testimony to the close shave which 
 the convicted man had. The telegram read thus " A su- 
 perior officer has been despatched for purpose of presiding 
 and passing death sentence on infamous rebel Viljoen." 
 The unfortunate man had been warned of his fate for two 
 days, and on his release was found to have turned com- 
 pletely grey in that time from mental agony. 
 
 During the brief siege of Dalgetty's column, some 
 daring exploits were planned and executed, principally 
 by small parties of the foreign contingent with De Wet, 
 aided by two or three burghers. The most noted of 
 these stand to the credit of an American named James 
 Foster, or " The Arizona kid," who had deserted from 
 the British transport service at Dewetsdorp, and promiscU' 
 ously threw in his lot with the Republicans, in whose 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 service he found a number of his countrymen. Foster 
 and a Boer companion, one night, penetrated the enemy's 
 lines by crawHng past the picket and was making for 
 the camp intent on stirring a commotion, during which 
 he hoped to stampede their horses and drive them over 
 to his friends, when he suddenly and unexpectedly en- 
 countered a colonial captain whom he knew and had it 
 in for. Ordering the captain (an ex-Johannesburger 
 speaking Dutch fluently) to throw his hands up, he forced 
 him at the point of his gun to run past the pickets, who 
 fired at them, but they finally delivered their prisoner 
 safely to the Boer commando. On arrival in camp, the 
 captain who had spoken Dutch continually with Foster's 
 companion, rated the enterprising American unmercifully 
 in language not unmixed with epithets. The strangest 
 part was the attitude of the Boer, who actually sympa- 
 thized with the captain, until Foster, a stranger among 
 strangers, was made to feel he was the real victim. 
 
 Foster who had been in the U. S. army service, both 
 at home and in Cuba during the war, was a typical 
 American cowboy from Arizona, frolicsome, lithe and 
 reckless, always ready for the sake of excitement, to take 
 part in any sort of enterprise no matter what desperate 
 chances were involved. In consideration of the sum of 
 fifteen dollars and a return passage, he had agreed to 
 accompany a cargo of mules from New Orleans to Cape 
 Town as caretaker. On his arrival at the latter port, 
 the English government paid him the fifteen dollars, but 
 declined to send him or his companions back, alleging 
 that the agreement was, they were to deliver the mules 
 at the front, wherever that might be. Not being able 
 to return or find employment in Cape Town which was 
 overcrowded with refugees, he, together with the other 
 Americans had no other alternative but to go to the front, 
 
 159 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 where as related he deserted on the first opportunity. 
 Such men as Foster make the very finest irregular troops 
 in the world, and the possibilities of the United States 
 in war time can be gauged when it is known that such 
 material is still abundant in the middle west, and south- 
 western states. 
 
 As an illustration of Republican leniency the following 
 is cited : " Louw du Plooy, an Orange Free State burgher 
 who had given up his rifle to the British on the capture 
 of Bloemfontein, was permitted by Lord Roberts to re- 
 turn to his farm on the Modder river. Shortly after he 
 accepted service with the British and led them in their 
 occupation of Karree siding and Tafle Kop. General De 
 la Rey, hearing of this action was incensed and re- 
 quested one of his scouting corps to endeavor to capture 
 the traitor, du Plooy with the British advance fifteen 
 miles between him and his betrayed countrymen, consid- 
 ered he was sufficiently protected, and complacently re- 
 tired to his farm, satisfied in his new role as spy and 
 general informer to his country's enemies, but the scouts, 
 after a night's forced march, passed the pickets, and seiz- 
 ing him in his home, brought him out and delivered him 
 to General De la Rey. Court-martialed he admitted his 
 guilt in the abstract, pleading in extenuation that he was 
 forced by threats into doing wrong. Notwithstanding the 
 evidence was overwhelmingly against him, to the surprise 
 of everyone, particularly the scouts who had risked cap- 
 ture, he was condemned to remain with the burgher 
 army, given an opportunity of vindicating himself, and 
 only verbally censured. Of course he left the very first 
 night to rejoin the British. His capture had cost the 
 enemy two lives and his guilt was proven, yet the Re- 
 publicans again turned him loose to work them harm, 
 in preference to taking the life of an unarmed man. 
 
 l6o 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 What a contrast if the position had been reversed, — if 
 it had been a Britisher; to be captured and judged by 
 the British. If he had survived his captors, his shrift 
 would have been short with the judges. 
 
 Colonel Villebois Muriel, the French officer, made a 
 general by the Republican government, was surrounded 
 at Boshof, on April 6, while attempting with an absurdly 
 small force to fight a passage through the British lines, 
 and join the Federals on the extreme west at Fourteen 
 Streams, where he hoped to harass the British communi- 
 cations south of Bloemfontein. His course was most 
 reckless and in spite of the Boers in his command re- 
 fusing to accompany him, he continued to press forward 
 until surrounded, when he lost his life with forty of his 
 company, twenty becoming prisoners. Of his entire force 
 none escaped, but some stragglers following in his wake 
 saw the tragedy, and returned to Brandfort witK the 
 report. 
 
 l6l 
 
Chapter XII 
 
 The advance — An affair on Sunday river — De la Rey — Kaffirs 
 and soldiers — Thabu N'Chu — Vet river — Sand river — Kolbe 
 — Kroonstad abandoned — Lines of communication — Mafeking 
 relieved — Rhenoster river — The Vaal crossed — Destruction of 
 property — Free State proclaimed — ^Johannesburg occupied^ 
 Farewells — The plunder — Newspapers suppressed — The prison- 
 ers' grievances — The conduct of officers. 
 
 THE British, in three columns, disposed in the fol- 
 lowing order, were now ready for an advance 
 movement, with Pretoria as the objective. Gen- 
 eral Roberts, for the centre, to follow the Bloemfontein- 
 Johannesburg railroad. General Methuen to the west, by 
 the Kimberley-Mafeking-Bulawayo railroad, and General 
 Buller in Natal by the Durban- Johannesburg railroad. 
 
 In Natal, the Boers, with renewed hopes, advanced their 
 guns on the night of April 9, to a position overlooking 
 the British camp at Elandslaagte on the Sunday river 
 and surprised the army under Sir Francis Clary, while 
 with their kits spread on the ground, they were under- 
 going Sunday inspection on parade. The troops, on this 
 unexpected aggressiveness from an enemy lately so 
 passive, were taken completely unawares, and fleeing in 
 disorder toward Ladysmith, they forsook their camp, 
 leaving the burghers masters of the situation. The 
 Federals were in too small a force to be actively aggres- 
 sive, and they failed to follow the advantage, or even 
 wreck the camp, but satisfied with the humor of the coup 
 they directed a shell-fire from their two guns at the fleeing 
 troops until they got beyond range, when limbering up, 
 they returned to their camps in the Biggarsburg. 
 
 Brandfort still remained the Boer supply centre for the 
 Orange Free State, and here flocked all the correspondents 
 
 162 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 and attaches in their efforts to obtain news, and sift the 
 many doubtful rumors. Almost anything could be ob- 
 tained here except reliable information, and there was a 
 general uncertainty of what movements were transpiring 
 to the east and west. For a few days we were able to 
 meet the gifted Irishman Michael Davitt, ex-M. P., who 
 was visiting his countrymen-in-arms on the Republican 
 side, and during his visit the comment was frequently 
 heard that if Ireland had many such forceful .sons en- 
 listed in the cause of her welfare, much might then be 
 effected for Ireland's good. 
 
 Howard C. Hillegas, the special correspondent of the 
 New York World was also there, untiringly collecting 
 information for his paper, and the Republicans have cause 
 to be grateful to him, for the impartial manner in which 
 he has since placed their cause before the American 
 people. 
 
 This war, like others, has proved the grave of many 
 a popular hero, while raising to eminence many an un- 
 known man. Among the first may be counted Joubert, 
 Cronje, Lukas Meyer. Apart from the credit which will 
 fall to him from Magersfontein, and his heroic defense 
 at Paardeberg, Cronje, the Buller of the Boers, will of 
 a certainty be outshone by Botha, De Wet, De la Rey, 
 Ben Viljoen, and possibly by Kritzinger and Hertzog. 
 Like Buller, Cronje belonged to a school fast disappear- 
 ing, and his fall was foredoomed. It is probable that in 
 the future there will always be a certain heroic sentiment 
 surrounding both, but it is safe to predict that no condi- 
 tion will arise which will lift it beyond that, and the 
 Imperial and Republican bull-dogs will in time find that 
 consolation born of a comm.on brotherhood in adversity. 
 The only popular leader before the war who has en- 
 hanced his reputation is Johannes De la Rey and his 
 
 163 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 success has been solely due to his striking personality and 
 progressive tendencies. About middle-aged with a long 
 irregular black beard touched with grey, and bright 
 black eyes, he is above the height of his brother leaders, 
 being six feet and one inch. As a rule he is very quiet, 
 observant without demonstration, of pale complexion, 
 aquiline nose, small mouth. He would strike a careless 
 observer as loosely formed but he has a well-knit flexible 
 body, and his appearance speaks of a refinement which no 
 condition of dress could add to or detract from. It would 
 be hard to erase from the memory the splendid smile 
 of this man. When he gives his orders it is in a subdned 
 even tenor, but decisive and convincing, speaking of tre- 
 mendous reserve and determination. Like Botha, De Wet 
 and Cronje, he is principally of Huguenot extraction and 
 spent his early life in Griqualand West, Cape Colony, 
 removing later to Rustenburg District, S. A. R., which 
 of recent years he represented in the Volksraad. 
 
 The Jameson raid brought him into prominence as a 
 military leader and since then he has been regarded 
 somewhat in the light of Cronje. Unlike De Wet, during 
 the stirring period immediately before the war he coun- 
 seled moderation, but when matters had reached a stage 
 that there was no alternative between war and surrender, 
 he threw his whole remarkable personality and strength 
 into the task of preparing for the combat. Except for 
 the latent suspicion of sadness caused by the loss of a 
 son and a brother fallen in the war, his demeanor cannot 
 be said to have undergrne any change. 
 
 The force at the command of General De la Rey, al- 
 though considerably weakened by the operations to the 
 east, successfully repulsed the British in their first attack 
 on the thirtieth of April. But on the third of May, they 
 again advanced on both- sides of the town, De la Rey 
 
 164 
 
General J. Ue la Kky 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 deploying to the east with a section of his command, gave 
 battle to the enemy's wing, advancing in that direction, 
 and most gallantly succeeding in forcing them back by 
 an attack delivered in the open against a superior force. 
 The Heidelberg commando, Irish Brigade, the remainder 
 of De la Rey's force left behind at Brandfort, after 
 bravely defending that town against a frontal attack, 
 were outflanked on the west, and the combined Republi- 
 can forces, forced to fall back on Smaldeel. 
 
 ■General Roberts now split his centre column again into 
 three divisions and the eastern wing advanced to dis- 
 lodge the Federals from the hills around Thabu N'Chu. 
 General Smith-Dorrien, in command of the Shropshires, 
 the reorganized Gordon Highlanders, and the Canadians, 
 forced an arm between the Federals by reoccupying 
 Thabu N'Chu on April 27. Scouting toward the water 
 works the Federals passed through the deserted farm 
 of Christian Richter, in the garden of which a profusion 
 of delicious tomatoes were found growing. This farm 
 was afterward completely denuded and the dwellings 
 destroyed because it was alleged that the British were 
 fired upon from the latter while it flew the white flag. 
 Helping ourselves to some forage from its well-stocked 
 barn, we called down on us a severe reprimand from the 
 commander, who, although well aware it would fall into 
 the enemy's hands, and enable him to move more quickly 
 by having supplies ready at hand, yet held to his scruples, 
 which was the one inexcusable fault of every general in 
 the Republican army. 
 
 On the twenty-eighth, Generals Pole-Carew and Dixon 
 fought an engagement at Leeuwkop, southeast of Win- 
 burg, which ended in the capture of Paard Kraal, south- 
 west of Winburg, and at once threatened our retreat. 
 Urgent appeals from De Wet caused most of the foreign 
 
 165 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 corps to move east, making demonstrations against any 
 hostile force threatening this communication. A notice- 
 able feature of the operations in this quarter, was the 
 almost entire absence of Kaffirs who at other times were 
 very numerous in the Thabu N'Chu district. The dome- 
 like kraals which dotted the country everywhere were 
 always found deserted, only now and then an isolated 
 man being encountered, but women, except very old, not 
 any. All met with, were in abject terror of the British 
 soldiers, for very good reasons as we later discovered, 
 east and near to Houtnek. Passing by a kraal at the 
 foot of a hill, a body of burghers attracted by indistinct 
 cries from a human being, rode up to ascertain the cause, 
 when they fell in with a lone and very old Koranna 
 woman of probably seventy years of age in a condition 
 of intense suffering. Inquiries elicited the knowledge that 
 she, among others, had been outraged by a patrol of 
 " Khaki's " which had passed that morning. She gave 
 her name as Kaatje Swanepoel. Her final words, per- 
 haps the last she uttered, as the command moved on were : 
 " Schiet-hulle-mij bass ! Schiet hulle ! Hulle es nie 
 mensch-nie!" (Shoot them, my boss, shoot them, they 
 are not human beings !) The general as he turned away 
 with disgust remarked in a subdued tone that the wretched 
 woman had indeed been " khakeed." 
 
 Under General Philip Botha, brother of the com- 
 mander-in-chief, an eflfort was made to stay Pole-Carew 
 and Hamilton at the range of hills west of Thabu N'Chu. 
 The incline to the position was for the most part very 
 steep on the west side. The burghers occupying the Neks 
 only, and lowest range, gave the enemy an opportunity 
 to possess themselves of the summits, and in dislodging 
 them, although successful, the foreign volunteers suf' 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 fered severely, losing nineteen men, among them Colonel 
 Maximoff of the Russian corps, severely wounded. 
 
 One of the strangest incidents of the war occurred 
 during this engagement, by a peculiar accident to the 
 one Boer Vicker's maxim. A Lee-Metford bullet fired 
 from a Colt's Automatic with a storming party entered 
 the barrel and exploded the shell in the chamber, blow- 
 ing out the breech and of course completely disabling 
 the gun. The Boers held their positions until outflanked 
 on the north at Houtnek, when we fell back toward Win- 
 burg and Ventersburg. 
 
 At this time the Republicans were in retreat across the 
 entire state, and with De la Rey ousted from Smaldeel, 
 the forces started to converge toward the railroad, and 
 protect Kroonstad. On May 5, General De la Rey with 
 six guns, a thousand men, and twelve miles of defense, 
 attempted to make a stand at Vet river, the bridge being 
 first destroyed. Once more outflanked, they retired dur- 
 ing the night to Sand river, offering opposition wherever 
 cover was available. Winburg was occupied on May 5, 
 without opposition, the Federals now being intent on the 
 defense of Sand river at the railroad, where miles of 
 trenches were dug and the bridge destroyed. Then they 
 decided that the river was unsuitable for defense, and 
 fell back seven miles upon a new position, in a ridge of 
 hills. 
 
 Presidents Kruger and Steyn were in Kroonstad mak- 
 ing every effort, to inspire the burghers with courage to 
 defend the new capital. The old president had just 
 arrived from Pretoria where the Volksraad had met to 
 debate on the situation and all the surviving members 
 had laid aside their rifles and donned their black con- 
 ventional garb. Lukas Meyer, chairman of the Raad 
 
 167 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 opened the meeting with prayers for the missing dead 
 of the parliament, then the president offered a resolution 
 for the continuation of the war, which passed unan- 
 imously, and the burgher senators adjourned, quietly 
 dispersing to their various commands to resume their 
 rifles. 
 
 General Kolbe, an estimable old gentleman farmer re- 
 siding, before the outbreak of the war at Kaalspruit, eight 
 miles from Bloemfontein, had not until now attracted any 
 special attention, beyond a reputation well-merited for 
 gentle manners and good nature. At this time, however, 
 he came prominently into notice, by fighting, with a fol- 
 lowing of only 125 men, a splendid rear-guard action 
 during the retreat, and by rapidly falling back, en- 
 trenched himself in the drift on Sand river, which, it 
 was expected, the enemy would surely make an effort to 
 seize. By this manoeuvre he undoubtedly checked the 
 turning movement contemplated, as on the arrival of Hut- 
 ton's scouts, he was discovered already in possession and 
 strongly entrenched. Such a movement if successfully 
 effected, might have been very disastrous to the Re- 
 publicans, who could hardly have prevented the capture 
 of the major portion of their transports. It was then 
 generally conceded that Kolbe gave evidence of pos- 
 sessing ability to lead men. In character, general con- 
 duct, and, it might be said, almost in looks, he resembled 
 General De la Rey of the Transvaal forces, in fact he 
 might be appropriately styled the De la Rey of the 
 Orange Free State. Kolbe's usefulness was limited be- 
 fore his merits were discovered, because his sphere of 
 action had been proportionately reduced, through large 
 numbers of surrenders from his command on the occupa- 
 tion of Bloemfontein. 
 
 The elaborate trenches on the north of Sand river again 
 
 168 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 proved abortive, news being brought that the English had 
 effected a crossing thirty miles to the east. There was 
 no alternative but to fall back toward the Vaal, the Eng- 
 lish making every effort to reach Pretoria on the twenty- 
 fourth of May, the anniversary of the late Queen's birth- 
 day. 
 
 Kroonstad was abandoned and Heilbron to the north- 
 east proclaimed the capital, and it became the temporary 
 resting place of the government, the main colunm of 
 Transvaal burghers falling back on the Rhenoster river. 
 Roberts reached Kroonstad on May 12, where he rested 
 his forces for eight days, rebuilding the railroad bridges 
 and reestablishing his lines of communication. 
 
 There was little further concerted opposition to the 
 British advance, and the Republican hopes now rested in 
 the British communications. Every day's advance in- 
 creased the enemy's difficulties, and the Federals' only 
 remaining plan of campaign was, while resisting capture 
 to attack the long-extended lines of communication wher- 
 ever practicable. 
 
 On May 13, Colonel Mahon, following the Kimberley- 
 Mafeking railroad, joined Colonel Plumer at Nasebi, west 
 of Mafeking. The relief force for the garrison was now 
 close, and on the seventeenth, three days after this junc- 
 tion, at a Krygsraad held by the besieging commanders, 
 it was decided to make a final effort to carry the place 
 by storm, before it was lost to them. The more timid 
 had overruled their superiors when this action had been 
 suggested. They disliked the thought of rushing the 
 trenches, and the vote of a subordinate officer being equal 
 to that of a general, the proposition had been defeated 
 whenever it had been previously made. Now, however, 
 with the relieving army in sight, they realized that the 
 town had to be reduced without delay or never. 
 
 169 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 That momentous question settled in the affirmative, 
 Sarel Eloff, the grandson of President Kruger, at the 
 head of a handful of volunteers, stormed on the night of 
 the seventeenth, capturing the market place in the centre 
 of the town, and reduced the defenders to a few dug out 
 trenches impossible for a continued resistance. After a 
 siege of 215 days, this small force demonstrated what 
 could have been done earlier in the siege, toward sparing 
 Baden-Powell, the undeserved, hero-comic hysteria of a 
 people grasping at any shadow capable of being inter- 
 preted as glorifying a dishonorable war of revenge. The 
 attacking party instead of forcing the advantage gained, 
 was so elated by its success that it began to celebrate 
 with the English canteen supplies in the captured com- 
 missariat, until Eloff in turn was besieged by the reliev- 
 ing force arriving in the rear, and made prisoner on the 
 eve of success with most of his officers. 
 
 This was the second time in this war that liquor caused 
 a disaster to the Republican army, but the more cautious 
 had slipped away when the debauch commenced, and re- 
 joining General Snyman with the reserve, they watched 
 the relief of the garrison, and the jubilation which fol- 
 lowed, when with the artillery they started a forlorn 
 march to Johannesburg. Among the assaulting party and 
 the one who guided them into the town, was an Irishman 
 name Tottie Hayes, who had deserted from Baden- 
 Powell's force and joined the burghers. On arrival in 
 the market place he had the novel experience of reading 
 a posted notice of a reward for himself dead or alive. 
 He had been sentenced to severe punishment for striking 
 a superior officer but escaped to the Republicans with 
 whom he enlisted, succeeding later, in one of the British 
 sorties, in killing the officer he had struck, and getting his 
 sword as a trophy. He was accepted in perfect faitli 
 
 170 
 
o 
 
 
 
 O 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 by his new compatriots as a daring and desperate man. 
 No risk was too great that permitted him to wreak his 
 vengeance on his former comrades, and choosing by 
 preference the territory over which they operated, he fol- 
 lowed them untiringly, happy only when he returned to 
 camp with the gun or horse of one of their pickets or 
 scouts. 
 
 On May 22, the position on Rhenoster river was out- 
 flanked by Roberts and the same tactics followed on May 
 26, at the positions on the Vaal which were very unsuit- 
 able for defense if attacked, but the English wing crossed 
 at Bosch Bank, thirty miles east of the positions, and 
 the Republicans were forced to fall back reluctantly on the 
 range of hills on Klip river, fifteen miles south of Johan- 
 nesburg. 
 
 Rumors were in the air of all sorts of dire things 
 which would happen when we reached Johannesburg, 
 and there was without doubt an element bent in defiance 
 of the government on destroying the gold mines on the 
 Rand and wreaking vengeance on the owners and workers 
 who had caused this disastrous war to the Republic, but 
 the spirit of conciliation and Christianity prevailed, and 
 the mines and personal property of their bitterest enemies 
 left intact, in fearful contrast to the policy of extermin- 
 ation and destruction carried out by the British against 
 the humblest homestead. In the retreat through Natal, 
 the enemy's territory, stores were left untouched, and if 
 the British storekeepers refused to sell their goods to the 
 needy Federals, no power was used to compel them, the 
 burghers being even forbidden to take a stick of wood, 
 either, that hauled to the houses or in any way part of 
 the fixings, fences, etc. 
 
 In the early part of the war. Sir Alfred Milner had 
 addressed a note to the governments of the Republics, 
 
 171 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 when their troops were occupying Natal, threatening 
 severe retribution if the abuse of private property 
 was permitted and pointing out that it was no part of 
 civilized warfare. The governments needed no such re- 
 minder of their duty as Christians and feared not the 
 menace, but in what contrast have Sir Alfred Milner's 
 countrymen acted in Republican States, burning, looting, 
 and destroying. Widows made homeless because a son 
 or brother was fighting, aged parents forced on the veldt 
 roofless, because their male offspring were not near them, 
 wives and daughters, with scant apparel to cover their 
 bodies, turned adrift at the mercy of Kaffirs; not even 
 the homes of prisoners of war in distant St. Helena and 
 Ceylon were spared, all because of some daring raid in 
 the neighborhood of their farm. Every habitable shack 
 was destroyed by dynamite and fire only to inflict misery 
 of the women and children of the men that continued to 
 oppose them. What a cruel revenge for 300,000 men, 
 backed by a powerful nation to wreak on 30,000 homely 
 farmers, simple and patriotic. 
 
 In Natal during the operations, there were English 
 farmers on the line of defense that used to revile the 
 Republicans who passed their homesteads. They would 
 barely consent to sell them milk and butter, always freely 
 expressing their hopes of the outcome of each engage- 
 ment. These men lost not one sheep, nor was there ever 
 a guard placed to watch if they carried information, and 
 the burghers would laugh good-naturedly when told by 
 them of their own enormities. 
 
 On the twenty-fourth of May the Queen's birthday. 
 General Roberts proclaimed the Orange Free State as a 
 British possession, under the name of the Orange River 
 Colony. He had possession of the railroad but the com- 
 batant Free Staters, none of whom crossed the Vaal re- 
 
 172 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 mained in their own country to dispute the right of pos- 
 session. How effectually every one knows, the British 
 at no time being safe beyond the range of their own forti- 
 fications. 
 
 The next day F. R. Bumham, the American scout, 
 who had served the British in all the late Kaffir wars, 
 destroyed the railroad between Elandsfontein and Pre- 
 toria, which cut of? the retreat by rail from Johannesburg 
 to Pretoria, the British troops occupying Germiston, the 
 junction, after a sUght skirmish. For two days further, 
 De la Rey and Ben Viljoen, contested every possible hill 
 south of Johannesburg, but the weight was too much 
 for them, and an extended flanking movement to cut off 
 their retreat to Pretoria, with a movement through 
 Krugersdorp, forced them to abandon the town. A few 
 of the more adventurous, and the Johannesburg Police, 
 in an endeavor to snatch a farewell with their families, 
 stayed till the last moment, fighting a street to street con- 
 flict with the advance guard before they effected their 
 escape. 
 
 The defense of Johannesburg was impossible without 
 terrible loss to non-combatants. The one fort built after 
 the Jameson raid, at a cost of $250,000 to command the 
 town and Jail, was of no service in this emergency, and 
 its one muzzle loading, fifteen centimetre gun was aban- 
 doned with the fort as useless. 
 
 Many of the Boer auxiliaries were captured. Others 
 threw away their arms and posed as non-combatants con- 
 sidering the struggle at an end. Doctor Fritz Krause, 
 the late Assistant State Attorney, who then filled the 
 office of governor of the town, delivered up the keys to 
 the invaders, and many of the time-served officials re- 
 mained to take office under the British administration, 
 forming an efficient secret service, which caused their 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 countrymen much suffering, and illustrated the woeful 
 manner in which British gold had won most of their 
 successes. The inhabitants were in the wildest confusion 
 from the sounds of the cannon so near, and the weirdest 
 stories of d3aiamite mines and universal destruction were 
 told. It made the scenes very distressing to men seeing 
 their wives and children possibly for the last time, forced 
 to leave them to their uncertain fate. How few then 
 pictured the awful reconcentrado camps into which the 
 women would be forced from their comfortable homes, or 
 guessed the terrible mortality in these pens of filth, where 
 refined women and children have by mouldy and in- 
 sufficient food and exposure, died at the rate of two and 
 a half per cent a month or, in other words, extermination 
 of a race in a little over four years. 
 
 By the destruction of the railroad the British secured 
 nineteen locomotives and all the Natal rolling stock pre- 
 viously captured by the burgher army. Their troops had 
 done some splendid marching on scant food, to reach 
 the town and attempt the interception of the Republicans, 
 who left all too hurriedly. With a little organization the 
 rolling stock could easily have been rendered useless to 
 the captors. One infantry regiment is recorded to have 
 made seventeen miles a day for eight days, and others 
 to have made as good a showing. On arrival in Johan- 
 nesburg they confined their activity chiefly to satisf)'ing 
 their hunger by a door-to-door canvass, the Boer wives 
 being as sympathetic as the foreign residents. 
 
 One of the first acts of the new military authorities 
 was the suppression of the Republican organ, the Stan- 
 dard, and Digger's Nezvs edited by ]Messrs. Mendels- 
 sohn and Bruce, which, with the Volkstcem published 
 in Pretoria, had printed the government official news and 
 formed the only medium whereby the hope and justice 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 of the cause was carried to the higher court of public 
 opinion in the outside world. 
 
 On the twenty-eighth, James Smith, the American mes- 
 senger boy, arrived in Pretoria with an address signed by 
 29,000 school children of New York, Boston and Phila- 
 delphia, sympathizing with President Kruger and his 
 people in their affliction. The following day the un- 
 wisdom of defending Pretoria, having been generally rec- 
 ognized and accepted. President Kruger, accompanied 
 by the majority of his advisers with the state archives 
 and available currency, left for Machadodorp. 
 
 The greater proportion of military stores had been 
 shipped to Machadodorp and Lydenburg, and in addi- 
 tion 900 of the British prisoners had been transshipped 
 by rail from their camp at Waterval, to Nooitgedacht. 
 An outcry had been made of alleged neglect of the gov- 
 ernment to supply all the wants of the prisoners, and 
 demands were constantly being pressed for materials 
 which were beyond the power of the government to fur- 
 nish. Cots were supplied to the hospitals, and lumber 
 given to enable the sound men to make their own bunks. 
 Bathing places were also constructed as soon as it was 
 possible, but the principal grievance was that vermin in- 
 fested the camp. In extenuation, fresh relays of con- 
 stantly arriving prisoners were making cleanliness diffi- 
 cult, and changes of clothing, a most embarrassing 
 problem ; for a government without sufficient clothes for 
 their own soldiers in the field. 
 
 Committees were appointed among their officers, and 
 Lieutenant Nesbit, captured at Mafeking, placed in 
 charge of all arrangements, with permission to go into 
 the town and buy necessaries and such luxuries as their 
 means permitted. Complaints were made that exorbitant 
 prices were being charged, but this was regarded as 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 purely a matter of business between themselves and the 
 merchants, who on account of scarcity, had raised prices 
 for the general public on every article of clothing, as 
 burghers and prisoners were both anxious to buy at any 
 price. Facilities were given through the U. S. consul 
 for forwarding and distributing all mail and supplies sent 
 them by their sympathizers in the colonies and England. 
 The officers at the commencement, were confined in the 
 model school situated in the heart of the town, and were 
 privileged to purchase anything for their own personal 
 comfort that they desired, but they behaved in a manner 
 unbecoming even the most depraved trooper in their 
 command. By making filthy gestures and using obscene 
 language they constantly insulted ladies, who, probably 
 from curiosity, had the temerity to pass the building in 
 which they were located. These ofifenses grew so bad 
 that the women of the general public petitioned, and the 
 government removed them to the buildings specially con- 
 structed, immediately outside and east of the town. This 
 is no vilification, and while we are prepared to acquit a 
 great many of such conduct, we claim the statement to 
 be an uncontrovertible fact. 
 
 176 
 
Chapter XIII 
 
 Pretoria abandoned and why — Scenes in town — Buller in the 
 Transvaal — The Biera expedition — The new government — 
 Hoisting the flag — The arsenals — Ammunition — Small arms — 
 Government shops — The work of the dynamite factory — Colo- 
 nial volunteers. 
 
 THE intelligence that the government had deter- 
 mined not to defend Pretoria now reached the 
 Federal army, which was slowly falling back 
 on that town. At first it created some surprise, as for 
 many reasons it had been looked upon as the next point 
 for a combined stand, but the wisdom of the authorities 
 was obvious, inasmuch as the town defense would have 
 meant the bottling up of the entire aggressive force of 
 the army, a weary disconcerting siege, and eventual dis- 
 aster. The capital in this Republican country, unlike 
 European capitals was by no means the heart or life of 
 its existence. The troops were able to subsist on the 
 country even where the others would starve, oblivious of 
 the existence or otherwise of a capital, and remain on 
 the aggressive. But had they submitted to a siege, they 
 would have had to hold miles of defenses, requiring 
 every available man, with no hope of ultimate success. 
 The four forts, built at a cost of $250,000 each, were 
 utterly useless against the heavy siege train the English 
 had brought from the coast, containing two nine and a 
 half inch and four six and a half inch Howitzers, the 
 former throwing a 780 pound shell, against which no 
 loose dirt and brick fort could possibly stand. With 
 such an armament the besiegers would simply have bat- 
 tered the life out of all resistance with their heavy weight 
 batteries, or calmly awaited the inevitable result while 
 
 177 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 they occupied the surrounding country and railroads with 
 the surplus from their huge army. The gold mines wpuld 
 have again started milling, many of their troops would 
 have been recalled and the conquest declared complete, 
 and the remnant of the Republican army with its cry 
 for liberty, would have been relegated to the wilderness, 
 and except now and then a spasmodic gasp unheard, the 
 dying struggle would be strangled in the boasted resump- 
 tion of commercial activity and the elation of the con- 
 querors. 
 
 From the time Pretoria was abandoned, the power of 
 England has steadily declined, each day adding to their 
 difficulties, until the situation, at one time very dismal for 
 the Republics, has become reversed. Time and again the 
 enemy have been forced to pursue defensive policy. By 
 every fresh advance they enlarged the field of operations, 
 the contending forces became more equalized, and the 
 danger to the invaders proportionally greater, until the 
 area effectually occupied by them in June, 1900, has 
 steadily decreased, and the advantage gained by the 
 partial control of the railroad become more imaginary 
 than real, there being no longer safety for a British patrol 
 in any district of South Africa. Although it had not been 
 made public, it had some time previously been decided 
 by the two presidents that it was for the best interest of 
 the Republic to evacuate Pretoria, the wisdom of which 
 the burghers, now retiring from Johannesburg were slow 
 to recognize. They were sick at heart and weary from 
 a long, tedious retreat, and were hurrying toward the 
 capital where it was expected a determined resistance 
 would be made, such as would furnish a sadly needed 
 diversion. Disappointed, these citizens, half-hunter, half- 
 soldier turned mechanically toward the open veldt, and 
 from that day the war assumed an entirely new phase. 
 
 i;8 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 There were to be no more aimless flights so destructive 
 to men and animals. 
 
 Slowly they fell back, fighting sharp engagements, 
 with the east wing at the Springs, and inflicting loss at 
 every step. The dynamite factory containing large sup- 
 plies of explosives was mistakenly spared, in deference 
 to the Continental share-holders, friendly to the Republics. 
 Again they resisted at Six Mile Spruit, just six miles 
 from Pretoria, where they were successful in again caus- 
 ing delay and loss, capturing two British field guns and 
 recapturing a Vicker's maxim, but it was only temporary 
 for the superior weight soon made itself felt, and forced 
 them to the town, then alive with excitement. Every- 
 where little groups were encountered, each man anxious 
 to advance a theory or air some affected grievance. The 
 Grand Hotel and Transvaal Arms were crowded with 
 newspaper correspondents and foreigners, undecided what 
 course to pursue or intent on getting a last square meal. 
 
 The government stores were thrown open, the remnant 
 of the supplies piled in the street for the benefit of the 
 burgher families remaining behind, and looting was rife 
 among the more lawless and the Kaffirs. Bands of armed 
 men streamed in, weary from the protracted fighting, 
 hungry for something to eat. The government bakeries 
 had been closed, and men took what came to hand; offi- 
 cers trying to find supplies for their men were dashing in 
 every direction, foreign volunteers were giving up their 
 arms and abusing the government for its flight, and all the 
 while the fighting raged outside the town where General 
 Botha with a handful of men were contesting every van- 
 tage against the advancing hordes. The passage of armed 
 men became more frequent, and it was plain that things 
 were going badly. Finally a few heavy shells, hurled 
 at the fort, all of which had been dismantled and aban- 
 
 179 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 doned, fell in the town near the U. S. consulate, and 
 further resistance seemed suspended. 
 
 Among the last to pass through the town was Louis 
 Botha, mounted on a white horse, bleeding from the 
 shoulder, surrounded and followed by a faithful body- 
 guard, who always kept close to him. Botha's magnifi- 
 cent rally at Six Mile Spruit had given the frightened 
 inhabitants and the undecided, three days' grace, but at 
 last the British were hammering at the gates of the 
 capital, and as the long straggling bodies of hungry and 
 disheartened men wended their way in and CBUt to the 
 east, mounted on their tired horses, who dragged their 
 feet as only overworked ponies can, the whole presented 
 Ian extremely forlorn and dirty appearance; illuminating 
 in a most vivid manner the picture of real war with all 
 its horrors. Many of the burghers reached Middleburg 
 and even as far as Machadodorp before they drew rein 
 or could be induced to return to join their commanders. 
 Botha as he passed along, threatened, remonstrated and 
 exhorted the men to stand firm and fight for the freedom 
 dearly bought by their fathers, and his splendid example 
 alone was again the salvation of the army. In ten days 
 they were prepared to offer a resistance as stubborn as 
 before. 
 
 Buller, whom Roberts had relied upon to cut his way 
 through the Natal lines, and from the southeast to inter- 
 cept the Boer retreat, had failed for the time, to overcome 
 the opposition of Christian Botha, an older brother of 
 the commandant-general, but by a flanking movement 
 through the Biggarsburg by way of Helpmaakar, which 
 gave him Dundee, he eventually succeeded in threatening 
 Botha, who immediately fell back, whereon the English 
 commander advanced his lines to Laings Nek. Here, 
 again, the right of way was disputed, and some sEarp 
 
 Ii8q 
 
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 O 
 
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 K 
 
 9 
 
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THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 fighting resulted, but once more Buller flanked, now pre- 
 ferring such methods to direct attacks, and by this means 
 he forced a passage over the border to Standerton, oc- 
 cupying that town on June ii. The Republicans, dispir- 
 ited with news from Pretoria, and now menaced in the 
 rear by Roberts, moved away to the north. General 
 Buller, after the many boasts credited to him, had ncrw at 
 last reached the coveted Transvaal territory, but alas for 
 him, too late to lend any material aid in immediately sub- 
 duing the Republican inhabitants, who had by this time 
 almost completely recovered from the panic attending 
 the fall of Pretoria and were prepared to go on con- 
 testing the ownership of the country in spite of proclama- 
 tions. 
 
 An elaborate expedition had been fitted out about April 
 in Durban, under Colonel Carrington, who, with 5,000 
 men and horses was transported to Biera, where taking 
 advantage of a treaty with the Portuguese, which per- 
 mitted that port to be used for the passage of troops, 
 if the Rhodesian territory was threatened, they moved 
 the troops across this neutral territory with the object of 
 threatening the Federals from the north in conjunction 
 with Buller and Roberts. But fever among his troops, 
 and the Tseti fly, the bite of which is certain death to a 
 horse, somewhat upset the calculations of Colonel Car- 
 rington, who, with these disadvantages to combat, only 
 succeeded in reaching Tuli, on the northern border, in 
 June. In an attempt to reach Johannesburg from there, 
 he fell a victim to General De la Rey at Deerdeport, 
 who, sent to intercept him administered a severe defeat 
 and again drove him beyond the border. 
 
 Thus General Roberts' two flanking movements. Gen- 
 eral Buller from the south and Colonel Carrington from 
 the north, haying for their object an attack on Pretoria, 
 
 181 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 simultaneously with the main column, miscarried, and 
 the Republicans had no difficulty in making their escape. 
 This plan, if it had succeeded, would have isolated the 
 burgher main bodies in a circumscribed area, and brought 
 the war to an early close after Pretoria, by the capture 
 of these bodies, and if that was the object aimed at, as 
 a purely military measure it was well conceived, but it 
 had no chance of succeeding in the nature of things, 
 which Lord Roberts would have known if he had been 
 familiar with the climatic disadvantages, or knew his wily 
 foe. 
 
 Pretoria was entered on June 5, and General Maxwell 
 put in complete control. A policy of seeking out sympa- 
 thizers with the Republicans was at once inaugurated, 
 and in this they were ably aided by a few traitorous em- 
 ployes of the late government, who enrolled themselves in 
 the secret service for the purpose of ingratiating them- 
 selves with the new powers that were. Late members 
 of the Republican army who remained with their families, 
 and all suspected persons were put under surveillance and 
 forced to report daily, but a real outrage was inflicted on 
 the women in Johannesburg, to whom, upon application, 
 permits were issued to remain in the town, conditional 
 upon their appearing to report once a day in the public 
 market-place. The British administrators must have 
 been so pricked with the humiliation which this abuse of 
 the burghers' wives brought on them, that they made 
 strenuous efforts to recover and destroy the evidence by 
 recalling these permits. When they were not forthcom- 
 ing, prices were offered ranging from five dollars to 
 seven dollars and a half, to induce the women to part 
 with them, but although many were without food, they 
 recognized the satire embodied in their possession, and 
 retained them to show their husbands, an opportunity 
 
 182 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 occurring when they were expelled from the town and 
 their homes in July. 
 
 On the British occupation the houses were searched 
 both in Pretoria and in Johannesburg for arms, and all 
 personal provisions were commandeered for the British 
 army. The remainder, after the army's wants had been 
 supplied, was sent to the market places where it was 
 disposed of at high prices to the original owners, or 
 doled out as charity to those who had not the means 
 wherewith to purchase. 
 
 The British, on marching into Pretoria, found lined 
 along the street 3,000 men and 148 officers, all of whom 
 had been prisoners, but had come into the town on their 
 guard being withdrawn. A grand parade of 26,000 men 
 and no guns followed. The Imperial flag was hoisted 
 on the government building amidst cheers and the strains 
 of the national air, and Pretoria became a military gar- 
 rison. While all this was in progress, a small column 
 of Federal scouts crept up to Irene Station, where, by 
 destroying the bridge, they cut the railroad communica- 
 tion between Johannesburg and Pretoria, and then gen- 
 erally made things lively in the rear. With the capital, 
 the invaders became possessed of twenty locomotives, 225 
 cars loaded with merchandise in the railroad yards, and 
 500,000 rounds of Mauser ammunition which the gov- 
 ernment had been unable to remove to the east. 
 
 The arsenals were the most efficient military feature 
 in Pretoria, being a complete catacomb of tunnels, cut in 
 the western hills close to the artillery camp. They con- 
 tained at the beginning of the war. 
 
 Shell Shrapnel Cannister 
 
 Long Toms 3,970 3>98o 759 
 
 Howitzer 12 centimetre 2,864 i>ii4 ••• 
 
 CreuSQt quick fire 75 millimetre. . . 4,946 5,575 488 
 
 183 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 Shell Shrapnel Cannistei 
 
 Krupp quick fire 37 millimetre... 3,402 1,966 23a 
 
 Nordenfeldt 75 millimetre i,977 37° 136 
 
 Vicker's Maxim Nordenfeldt S6,3ii 
 
 The furnished list of small arms they were said to con- 
 tain was : 
 
 Mauser Rifles 26,785 
 
 Mauser Carbine Rifles 6,034 
 
 Martini-Henri Rifles 3>i90 
 
 Westley Richards Rifles 8,954 
 
 Guedes, Lee-Metfords, Krag Jorgensens, 
 
 and other rifles 4,000 
 
 Webly and Mauser pistols u . . . 6,000 
 
 In all about 40,000 magazine rifles and 15,000 of West- 
 ley Richards and Martini-Henri patterns with 6,000 
 modem revolvers sufficient to supply every burgher of 
 both states with an efficient weapon according to their 
 choice, the older rifles of which every burgher already 
 possessed one, being discarded, broken or hidden to avoid 
 the trouble of returning them to the government. 
 
 There was no scarcity of small arms ammvmition as the 
 following summary will show : — 
 
 17,000,000 Mauser. 
 
 10,500,000 Martini-Henri, black smoked powder. 
 
 10,500,000 Guedes, (Stal points,) Krag Jorgensens. 
 
 1,000,000 Lee-Metfords. 
 
 1,871,176 Martini-Henri Maxims, smokeless. 
 
 1,576,100 Lee-Metford Maxims. 
 500,000 Revolver. 
 
 The Orange Free State having in their arsenal 
 
 1,628,000 Mauser. 
 3,500,000 Martini-Henri. 
 
 1184 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 The ammunition not specially designated was smoke- 
 less, but notwithstanding the enormous quantity, even 
 this became scarce after the first ten months of hos- 
 tilities. 
 
 Twenty thousand projectiles were manufactured for 
 the Krupps and captured Armstrongs, and 6,000 for the 
 Vicker's maxims, at the various shops in Johannesburg 
 and Pretoria, organized by the government under the di- 
 rection of skilled labor, and the superintendence of Leon 
 and Grundberg, both agents of Schneider and Company 
 in France, who had arrived in the Republic to inspect the 
 mounting of the six -inch Creusots bought from their firm 
 for the Pretoria forts. The larger proportion of the 
 shells were manufactured at the shops of Begbie and 
 Company and Wright, Boag and Company, of Johannes- 
 burg, the government supplementing the necessary ma- 
 chines from material collected in the different shops on 
 the mines, until the most complete plants were established. 
 They also experimented upon incendiary shells, but they 
 were not a success. The body of the shell would be 
 lengthened and combustibles, such as resin, and phos- 
 phorus inserted with the intention of firing buildings, 
 but they failed upon experiment to do the work designed. 
 The work of these shops was commenced so late that 
 they had just demonstrated their success in April, when 
 destroyed by an incendiary explosion which wrecked the 
 entire neighborhood. The mine, with great ingenuity 
 was exploded by the electric lighting wire being connected 
 with a detonator in the store room, the switching on of 
 the current in the evening, causing the death of nearly the 
 entire force employed. Many arrests were made, but 
 in the limited time preceding the British occupation they 
 failed to locate the perpetrators in a country full of 
 British spies, it only resulting in the majority of the 
 
 185 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 remaining British subjects being put over the border. 
 As they had in other manners made themselves ob- 
 noxious, while enjoying protection, publicly promoting 
 champagne dinners and festivals whenever a success was 
 given to their countrymen over the Republicans, little 
 sympathy was felt for them. 
 
 The government also fitted shops for the repair of 
 small arms and artillery in Pretoria where the experts 
 improved and perfected a time fuse for the Creusot guns. 
 The fuse already used in the shrapnel of these guns had 
 been found unreliable by breaking on the discharge of the 
 gun rendering the explosive charge in the shell ineffec- 
 tual, and consequently innoxious to the enemy. 
 
 The Krupp guns were easily repaired, but the Creusots, 
 from a very bad recoil, needed constant attention, and 
 were more difficult to keep in order. Messrs. Delfos 
 Brothers, enterprising machinists, proved invaluable in 
 supervising the extraction of lead from the mines east 
 of Pretoria, near Donkerhoek, and also in repairing the 
 heavy ordnance and doing the gun-turning when re- 
 quired. 
 
 The dynamite factory, situated in an isolated position 
 at Modderfontein five miles west of Zurfontein on the 
 Johannesburg-Pretoria railroad, the subject of so much 
 earlier controversy, was as Oom Paul had intimated 
 before the war, " The corner stone of the state." With- 
 out this plant the army would have been without am- 
 munition or explosives early in the year. Under the 
 superintendence of M. Vorstman acting as direct agent 
 of the government, and the subsidiary shops of Pretoria 
 and Johannesburg taking the orders from them, they re- 
 ceiving the finished shell and reloading them prior to 
 delivery, insuring their reliability beyond the power of 
 tampering from agents of the British who filled the 
 
 i86 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 country, using money to corrupt any branch of the 
 public service found amenable. 
 
 This factory experimented and succeeded in manu- 
 facturing a smokeless powder equal to the best already 
 used, reloaded 250,000 Mauser cartridges, extracting the 
 smoke-powder from 200,000 Martini-Henri cartridges, 
 and refilled them with this product of their own manu- 
 facture. Besides keeping a constant supply of dynamite, 
 they succeeded in producing a lyddite explosive, but too 
 late to be of service, the entire supply falling into the 
 hands of the British on occupation. In addition to such 
 experiments they manufactured all the supplies necessary 
 for artillery, time-fuses, primer tubes, percussion fuses 
 complete, friction primers, composite rings for fuses, 
 ballistite, quick match, fulminite of mercury, and hydro- 
 chloric acid, the whole forming a most complete plant 
 and making the Republicans altogether independent of 
 imports for their artillery, until the factory was lost to 
 them. 
 
 They were also successful in manufacturing a form of 
 torpedo, designed by a German volunteer for destroying 
 railroad tracks and trains, the torpedo, being placed on 
 the track and exploded on the passage of anything on 
 the rails. The capacity of this plant in peace time had 
 been 210,000 fifty-pound boxes of d3'namite in the year, 
 150,000 boxes of which were stored as a reserve of the 
 Republican government, but beyond a limited quantity 
 transshipped, tlie greatest bulk of the explosives fell to 
 the British on their advance against Pretoria. 
 
 The colonial troops had borne the brunt of the rapid 
 advance through the Free State, always being placed in 
 the van, and while, because of the greater license enjoyed, 
 they were more given to excesses in their conduct toward 
 the defenseless inhabitants than the regular soldiers, they 
 
 187 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 were the more formidable by reason of superior shooting 
 and general knowledge of distances and topography. The 
 statement of Winston Churchill M. P. that 3,000 Amer- 
 ican citizens had been engaged on the British side, can 
 be dismissed as utterly absurd, there being not many 
 more than that number in hundreds, and they, for the 
 most part, consisted of such men as Foster, previously 
 mentioned, who having been stranded from the mule 
 ships had no choice but to enlist or starve. 
 
 It has been stated on reliable authority that in the be- 
 ginning of April, 1900, there were 12,000 colonial vol- 
 unteers from Australia, New Zealand and Canada in 
 South Africa. Sir Alfred Milner asserted in the Cape 
 Parliament, that, in addition to the foregoing, there were 
 24,000 British South Africans serving as volunteers 
 under the Imperial flag, which together with the Indian 
 contingent of 3,000 irregulars, made a force of 40,000 
 colonials, who taken together were equivalent in offensive 
 fighting to the 166,227 regular troops shipped from Eng- 
 land. Of the colonials, those of South African birth we 
 must give the credit of being the most dangerous, and 
 also the most lawless. They set the pace and the others 
 made the running. 
 
 Looking at the totals in men and guns, one marvels that 
 the Republicans have withstood for so long a period the 
 onslaught of the mighty battalions with all the latest 
 death-dealing appliances hurled against them. It sends a 
 ray of hope into the breast of the plain mortal who yearns 
 for expatriation from the thralldom of princes, lords, and 
 plutocrats, and establishes a new era in freedom of heart 
 and action, which is undaunted even by bayonets. 
 
 The present struggle of the Boer is understood by but 
 a few, but the time will come, when for the splendid 
 lesson taught, they will be glorified by many of the free, 
 
 188 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 sovereign peoples of tHe earth, who have yet to 
 win their freedom, which can only be attained by such 
 consolidation of individual effort and lofty patriotism as 
 the burgher armies represent. 
 
 189 
 
Chapter XIV 
 
 Donkerhoek — Proclamatiopsr^De la Re/s activity — Bronkhorst- 
 spruit — Pienaar — Farm burttTng — Krugersdorp proclamation. — 
 Paardekraal — Deportation of women — A big trek — Farewell to 
 Middleburg. 
 
 THE burghers no longer with homes or wives to 
 visit, the question of furlough sank out of ex- 
 istence. Every one was willing to stay till the 
 last in the field, which was now his home and source of 
 supply. Reorganized and confident again, they defended 
 Donkerhoek in the open country with a ridge of hills 
 the only possible defense. For two days against a tre- 
 mendous bombardment, they fought desperately, their 
 own siege gun, mounted on a railroad car doing great 
 service. The tell-tale balloon employed after the first 
 brush, bore evidence of uncertainty and that the repulse 
 had somewhat staggered the English. After suffering 
 great loss the enemy started a flanking movement, and 
 the Boer column wisely fell back, on June 12, to Bal- 
 moral, the next possible point of defense, on the Pre- 
 toria-Lorenzo Marques railroad. The British failed to 
 follow and court another action, but left a battalion to 
 garrison the hills, the great bulk of the forces returning 
 to the Free State to hunt President Steyn and De Wet, 
 who had taken the aggressive and were controlling many 
 points of the railroad, cutting the British off from their 
 base of supplies. 
 
 Lord Kitchener who was in personal command, only 
 just missed being captured at Leuuspruit on the ninth. 
 His personal baggage and papers, however fell into the 
 hands of De Wet, who. jocosely remarked that he had 
 assumed the railroad traffic managership. 
 
 After the occupation of Standerton on June 17, by 
 
 190 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 General Buller, and his joining hands with Lord Roberts 
 at Johannesburg, Durban became a new base of supplies 
 for the invading army, nor did the Republicans fail to 
 share now and then from this bountiful source. The 
 Federals had made great efforts to destroy Laings Nek 
 railroad tunnel by discharging a car of dynamite in the 
 centre and blowing up both ends. But in a week the 
 British army engineers had cleared the road for traffic, 
 thereby relieving the congestion of the thousand mile 
 Cape Town- Johannesburg railroad. 
 
 On July I, Roberts, chafing over his failure to reduce 
 the Orange Free State by military measures, issued a 
 proclamation, practically, withdrawing belligerent rights 
 from all burghers, who failed to make their submission 
 in fourteen days. All former proclamations were revoked 
 and war on private property (called military expedients) 
 actively commenced. 
 
 General De la Rey, taking advantage of the diversion 
 created by the operations in the Free State, made a demon- 
 stration toward Rustenburg, and the British garrison 
 taking alarm, fled hastily towards Pretoria, the Re- 
 publicans, after a close pursuit, failing to overtake them, 
 then, supported by General Erasmus, suddenly invested 
 Waterval, and subjected the garrison of that town to 
 defeat, capturing their supplies and forcing them like- 
 wise to seek safety in flight. The activity of the burgh- 
 ers at this stage, knew no bounds, and increased so 
 menacingly that the enemy became naturally alarmed. 
 Daring raids were frequent occurrences in the environs 
 of Pretoria, at times within three miles of the town, 
 where outlying camps were shelled and garrisons invited 
 to combat. No military post seemed immune from at- 
 tack, and among the English and non-combatant element, 
 a general feeling of restless anxiety prevailed. 
 
 191 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 June 29 found the active De la Rey opposing Methuen 
 at Oliphant's Nek, then on his way to relieve Baden- 
 Powell besieged in Rustenburg, but on his being flanked, 
 he wisely abandoned the siege, allowing the relieving 
 column to accomplish its mission. Moving away rapidly 
 to the northwest, the same Boer commander three days 
 later, fell on a British convoy at Deerdepoort, distant 
 eighty miles from Rustenburg. This column was part of 
 the long-delayed force of Carrington's just arriving after 
 their exhausting trip from Biera and laboriously making 
 their way to join the commander-in-chief in Pretoria. 
 Fearing greater disaster, Carrington assumed a defensive 
 attitude and fell back over the border. De la Rey de- 
 stroyed the Mafeking-Kimberley railroad, then returned 
 once more to his favorite positions in the neighborhood 
 of Waterval, north of Pretoria. His appetite appeared 
 to be only increased with his successes for becoming 
 fiercely aggressive on July 13, he rushed the British camp 
 at Moszeliekats Nek, garrisoned by five companies of 
 Highlanders, and captured the entire camp and wagons, 
 with two field guns, a maxim and a hundred prisoners, 
 besides inflicting sixty-eight casualties, only a few escap- 
 ing to tell the story in Pretoria. The same day an out- 
 post at Swartkopjie, within five miles of Pretoria, was 
 driven into the garrison, being forced to abandon their 
 camp. 
 
 Compelled by stress of events which brought them face 
 to face with the inevitable struggle for existence, then 
 only beginning, the Republican armies ever3rwhere in the 
 extensive field of operations, were rapidly undergoing a 
 phase which for lack of an adequate expression might be 
 called reorganization. Duties became more exacting and 
 less optional, with a corresponding healthy increase in 
 the activities. Chris Botha, commanding in the south- 
 
 192 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 east, although brushed aside by General Buller, made a 
 raid into Natal from Utrecht, and after defeating the 
 garrison at Ingogo, he destroyed the railroad. General 
 Louis Botha, to the east, was not idle although seriously 
 hampered by the responsibility of protecting the govern- 
 ment. He feared a flanking movement by a flying column 
 from the south aimed at Machadodorp, which would 
 threaten the government officers and depots and drive a 
 wedge in between his own and his brother's commands. 
 In spite of this he advanced his camps from Balmoral 
 across the open country to Bronkhorstspruit, the scene 
 of the disaster to the English in the war of '8i at which 
 place their force engaged was nearly annihilated with a 
 loss of but one man to the Boers attacking. This fight 
 was fought in the open, and not in a ravine as British 
 historians would have the world believe. The_English 
 soldiers were atiack«d-OH an -open^road- while-marching, 
 and although armed with breech-loading rifles, while their 
 opponents had only old muzzle loaders, they werejcon- 
 teatjo^fire^only one volley at the advancing foe^ before 
 fomiing-into a- hollow square- with fixed bayonets, to 
 receive what they expected would be a charge. The 
 charge never came, for the burghers, advancing in loose 
 formation to within two hundred yards, simply, dropped 
 into the Jong grass,^ and poured a steady hail of lead into 
 the closely packed ranks. The return fire was ineffectual, 
 as the rifles were afterwards found sighted for six hun- 
 dred yards, the distance at which their first volley liad 
 been fired, and the dazed troops, withjFhat_magnificent 
 lack of initiative, the pride of the subordinate. British 
 officer, maintamed their suicidal square until rou.t__en- 
 sued. This is in brief the story of that old but mis- 
 represented action, which sounded the death-knell of the 
 former famous system of British warfare, although later 
 
 193 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 employed against Arabs, and. Asliaatees. The treachery 
 and ambush story existed only in the imagination of the 
 story teller or medal-seeking officer, the massacre being 
 the simple result of the antiquated defense against sharp- 
 shooters. 
 
 To return to the present operations, Louis Botha now 
 threatened the garrison at Donkerhoek and Pienaar's 
 Poort, and daily skirmishes with the enemy became the 
 order. 
 
 Similar demonstrations made toward the Springs south 
 of Pretoria, aimed at menacing the railroad connection 
 between that town and Johannesburg, succeeded with 
 each raid in destroying a bridge or in some manner 
 crippling the road. The enemy's outpost at Vlakfontein 
 was continually harassed by General Pienaar from Bronk- 
 horstspruit, their position once being forced at Wit- 
 poortje, and camp and wagons destroyed, after which on 
 a vastly superior force making a vigorous movement 
 against the captured positions, Pienaar withdrew to avoid 
 isolation or capture, only to return once more and strike 
 when the garrison was again weakened. 
 
 General Pienaar was a splendid type of the South 
 African burgher, who not only feared no death himself, 
 but was accompanied by his two grown sons whom he 
 despatched with any scouting expedition which involved 
 a greater hazard than usually fell to this service. Phy- 
 sically he was good to look upon, tall, broad, erect, with 
 open countenance, speaking English fluently, with a 
 friendly appreciation of all the foreign volunteers in the 
 service of his country. For his personal courage and 
 strategy in action, and his tact and courtesy in camp, 
 he deservedly became extremely popular with this branch 
 of the army. Descended from two of the oldest Soutli 
 African families, his was a history resembling that of 
 
 194 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 many of the older families. His father had been among 
 the " Voortrekkers " (advance pioneers) and had been a 
 commandant and member of the Volksraad in the Orange 
 Free State for the first colony of emigrants. The present 
 general had emigrated to the Transvaal in 1885 where 
 he held government offices and the post of captain of 
 the Johannesburg volunteers. At the presence of war in 
 the fall of 1899, he had left Johannesburg as veldkornet 
 with 500 burghers, capturing the first English train in 
 Natal and taking part in the battle of Elandslaagte under 
 Ben Viljoen. At this battle his two sons Philip and 
 Ernest, seventeen and fifteen years of age both became 
 prisoners, but escaped from the prison camps at Simons- 
 town, Cape Colony, after eight months' captivity. The 
 youngest was recaptured and banished to St. Helena. 
 The elder, after trudging two months and four days, 
 sometimes stealing rides, and in constant hiding, rejoined 
 his father's command at Bronkhorstspruit east of Pre- 
 toria, having traveled 1,400 miles from his prison 
 through a country overrun and partially occupied by the 
 enemy. 
 
 The general's wife at the capture of Pretoria was 
 detained by the English for a month when she managed 
 to escape, and, alone with her two younger children she 
 drove in a cart to the east in search of her husband, 
 passing through a territory wherein two Kaffir chiefs 
 were at war, and constantly viewing the evidence of this, 
 in the corpses of the slain at the roadside. After eight 
 days of this thrilling experience she succeeded in finding 
 a Boer commando who directed her to her husband's 
 camp at Bronkhorstspruit where she again met her son 
 who had been so long a prisoner. For two days after 
 her arrival she failed to meet Pienaar, but could hear 
 the sounds of the rifles and cannon a few miles to the 
 
 195 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 south at Witpoortje where the general was fiercely con- 
 tending the right to this temporary resting place, for- 
 tunately with success, and he returned to welcome the 
 wife and children who had dared so much to be once 
 more reunited. After such manner, this war has broken, 
 not one, but all the families of the burghers, yet, with 
 farms destroyed, and property lost, these brave people 
 look forward to a union of all surviving members under 
 happier circumstances and freedom. 
 
 Although started in March, the British policy of farm- 
 burning was now in full swing, without concealment. 
 Any excuse, real, absurd, or concocted would be used as 
 justification for leaving women and children destitute 
 on the veldt. An attack on the railroad in the neighbor- 
 hood of a farm, the discovery of a gun or ammunition 
 on the premises, without which no home was safe from 
 the prowling and lawlessly incited Kaffirs, the alleged 
 harboring of their countrymen or the unaccounted ab- 
 sence of any male member of the family was considered 
 sufficient evidence. In fact no pretense was overlooked 
 and the following proclamation which was soon after 
 withdrawn and modified, supplies an eloquent and in- 
 controvertible testimony of the policy of violence pur- 
 sued by the invaders against the women and children of 
 burghers defending their country. 
 
 V. R. 
 
 PUBLIC NOTICE 
 
 It is hereby notified for information that un- 
 less the men, at present on commando, belonging 
 to families in the town and district of Krugers- 
 dorp, surrender themselves and hand in their 
 arms to the Imperial authorities by the twentieth 
 
 196 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 of July, the whole of their properties will be con- 
 fiscated and their families turned out destitute 
 and homeless. 
 
 By Order. 
 
 G. H. M. Ritchie, Captain K. Horse, 
 
 District Superintendent of Police. 
 
 Krugersdorp, July Ninth, 1900. 
 
 Perhaps the most revered name among the burghers 
 next to that of their God was Paardekraal. It embodied 
 to them the true interpretation of liberty. In 1877, stung 
 by the unjust taxation of the English, the fathers of the 
 nation had met secretly to deliberate if it were possible 
 to throw off the yoke that galled them. This meeting 
 was held at Paardekraal close to Krugersdorp, and it was 
 then decided that whatever England's might, they would 
 endeavor to gain their independence. To emphasize a 
 solemn oath to this effect every man present was to place 
 a stone in a cairn as a token of his faith, and although 
 their numbers were few each tried to outdo the other in 
 the size of the stone he placed on the heap. 
 
 After the war had been fought and won, the spot 
 was perpetuated by a monument, but the rocks, by their 
 numbers and size remained the more eloquent testimonial 
 to all observers. In the latter part of 1899 when war with 
 England seemed again inevitable, a call for a second 
 meeting at this historical spot was issued by the burghers. 
 Many that had placed the original stones answered, sur- 
 rounded by grown and stalwart sons. While the burgh- 
 ers had increased, so also had the power of England and 
 the situation was gravely discussed. In their simple faith 
 it was once more decided that if God had given them 
 victory before, he would on appeal give them victory 
 
 197 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 again, and the solemn oath of devotion to country and 
 Hberty was renewed. The English have, since their oc- 
 cupation of Krugersdorp, removed all the signs of these 
 sacred rites. Such methods cannot obliterate its glory, 
 for with no visible distinction, it marks the death of some 
 near and dear relative of every family in South Africa, 
 and is therefore impossible to erase. No matter what 
 means are used, the blood would call from the barren 
 earth, the silenced voices would still preach the same 
 gospel. 
 
 As chroniclers of military operations, which, up to the 
 present have been, either most inadequately treated, or 
 unreliably reported, we disclaim any intention of enter- 
 ing into any discussion of the sentimental aspect of the 
 war, purely for the sake of sentiment, although there 
 cannot be a doubt of our deep feelings, for we appreciate 
 the fact that war is — war after all, that a measure of 
 injustice to some is unavoidable, violence to a great many 
 inevitable, and discomfort to all a sure consequence. 
 When we have previously called attention to cruelty 
 against the inhabitants of both sexes, and color, by the 
 Imperial authorities and soldiery, and where we shall 
 continue to do so, the object has been twofold. First to 
 draw to the reader a comparison between the Republican 
 farmer, showing the operation of Christianity in war, and 
 the conduct of the Imperials as evidence of the feelings 
 which have prompted their acts. Secondly, to draw out 
 vividly the baleful influence such sweeping violence has 
 had on the struggle, and thereby to illustrate the under- 
 lying motives which surround the fierce, unyielding re- 
 sistance of these moral citizens. Had the British states- 
 men been such students of human nature as they are 
 wonted to be believed, they would have profited by the 
 revolt of the colonies which culminated in the United 
 
 198 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 States of America and this war, even aimed at conquest, 
 would have been conducted on different lines or better 
 still, not at all. 
 
 Each day has witnessed an increase of violent measures, 
 with corresponding increased resistance, until we now 
 stand in the presence no longer of war as such, but of 
 an inhuman combat where moral existence struggles for 
 life against extermination. However the .final resuUs^of 
 the contest might now terminate as -aff.&ting: ownership . 
 of land, it is bound to redound to Jrlte 'iistiiig benefit; ,of ' 
 mankind, and to nations, as an aqdilsjiulation of wisdom.. 
 The Imperial invaders, sobered .an'd penitent after their' 
 drunken fury, will then stand aghast at .the, mad iolly 
 which wrought their ruin, but=all huinatiri^^' will reap'. the 
 priceless riches bequeathed by, the. fallen giant, and the 
 once despised Boer will be exalted, among men. The- 
 Republican farmers of all South' A'ftida, — now no longer,- 
 the Republics alone, — by the wahton ,a,£tS' =of thoi,r= sp-"- 
 ponents, became earnestly imbued with.fhet'ifapreksipn 
 that their enemies belong to a lower type 'of marihood, 
 and that yielding meant abasement for them. All who 
 have followed closely the trend of events, since farm- 
 burning, with accompanying horrors, commenced, will 
 have read this boldly stamped in every phase. Under 
 cover of this quoted sample and similar proclamations, 
 outrages were committed past belief, families, even little 
 girls, suffered terrible indignities at the hands of treach- 
 erous Kaffir servants and levies, and women, old and 
 young, were driven through destitution to throw them- 
 selves on the tender mercies of the military camps. 
 
 On the eighteenth of July Lord Roberts decided to 
 send some of the women and children from Johannesburg 
 to the Boer lines to be fed, notwithstanding that the ma- 
 jority had been abundantly supplied with provisions by 
 
 199 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 their husbands, fathers and relatives before the evacu- 
 ation. This emergency arose from the confiscation of 
 privately owned provisions for the British troops, leaving 
 the unfortunate families nothing to subsist on, and few 
 with the means necessary to purchase back from the Im- 
 perial stores their own seized produce. Now, in the 
 middle of winter, they were deported to the Boer lines 
 on the^V^lilt; with no other object than to impoverish the 
 ssjourees x>i-ihb. army. 
 
 \ „ yo'the nuftiD©r of. six hundred they arrived by railroad 
 
 in Pienaar's poort-,''but'the bridges having been destroyed 
 
 in the rear of the Republicans at Elands river and Bronk- 
 
 hqtstspruit,.tlie Fedetals were forced to resort to wagons 
 
 .•iorih'fttratEgCCrtatibn of the families to Balmoral. Under 
 
 cover of this movemejit, (ind ignoring a strict agreement 
 
 to the contrary, thg'British made a general advance. In 
 
 •yje northeast, Ggilefal' Stevenson brushed aside Erasmus, 
 
 'ajs^ .©a JtiJy'>';24V'"on^ account of the inadequate defense, 
 
 •the'whpfef ngctherh Federal line was pushed in from 
 
 Elatfds fiver, 'and the Federals, now hotly pursued by 
 
 the enemy, and threatened from the south by the cavalry 
 
 brigades in command of French, were forced as a measure 
 
 of escape, to hastily retreat to Balmoral. 
 
 Hampered by a transport already overtaxed, the Re- 
 publican retreat from Balmoral was most memorable. 
 Hundreds of wagons of families and household goods, 
 formed miles of an unbroken trek. At night, with the 
 veldt fires to light the road and destroy the grass, this 
 scene made a picture difficult to describe. The enormous, 
 wide, clumsy prairie schooners, lumbering along with 
 their draught of eighteen, twenty and twenty-two oxen of 
 all ages; the old grandfather and grandmother sitting 
 in the fore of the hood ; one grown son of perhaps forty, 
 walking alongside, with his ten foot bamboo whip-stock 
 
 200 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 over his shoulder; the wives and children of the second 
 and third generations gathered in the Sack of the wagon, 
 exchanging queries with the passing horsemen, or peer- 
 ing anxiously to catch a glimpse of some of their men- 
 folks coming to obtain food, from the incessant fighting 
 in the rear; with grown girls riding their ponies astride, 
 driving a few head of milch cows snatched from the 
 wreck of a home; and indiscriminate bunches of sheep 
 and goats being urged on by the Kaffir servants to keep 
 pace; baskets of chickens and ducks, slung under the 
 wagons; and the housedog running by the side mutely 
 questioning the cause of such unusual things, and every 
 wagon varying but slightly in general make-up, number 
 of stock, and method of locomotion. 
 
 Fatigued burghers relieved from duty protecting the 
 rear against the extreme British advance, in their at- 
 tempt to catch the commissary and satisfy hunger, would 
 ride hour after hour past this apparently endless stream 
 of wagons and stock. Every detail was vividly portrayed 
 in the lurid glare of the burning grass, the flames licking 
 around the dead and dying animals which had fallen 
 by the roadside in their final trek. Now and again the 
 air was rent by the plaintive cry of a dying horse attract- 
 ing the attention of those nearby to a scene of unspeak- 
 able agony and despair, as the poor animal among the 
 flames lifted his head and wistfully looked at his depart- 
 ing friends, who in compassion ended his suffering by 
 a timely bullet and the spirit departed of another friend 
 of man. 
 
 The riding burghers encountered the anxious gaze and 
 inquiry of wives and mothers, eager for news of kindred, 
 or listened to the lighter-hearted singing hymns and popu- 
 lar songs in English to the accompaniment of cracking 
 whips and gruff shouts to the oxen, to be broken only 
 
 301 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 long enough to ascertain the nearness of the enemy, or 
 momentarily watch the flash of the cannon in the distant 
 rear. And with such a scene before them the burghers 
 inwardly determined as they hurried past intent on 
 breaking a long fast, that these simple, liberty-loving 
 women folks of theirs, so cheerfully bearing their share of 
 the discomfort, beyond all fear of death or personal loss, 
 should secure, God willing, the independence they craved. 
 
 Mile by mile, winding in and out, this enormous trek 
 followed the road, until they arrived in safety at Middle- 
 burg on the twenty-seventh, making only short halts at 
 the watering places to rest their stock and cook their food. 
 Then the families began to separate, and in parties with 
 their stock sought refuge in the bushveldt to the north, 
 where they were free from immediate further annoyance 
 or possibility of being followed, as it was a country 
 bountifully covered with grass and protected by a thick 
 undergrowth of bushes, which made the operations of an 
 invading force extremely hazardous, and easily repulsed 
 by a few daring and active foes. There was nothing 
 further to fear except a famine in flour, as game was 
 here abundant, and they penetrated the jungle until their 
 trail was lost, when they made kraals for their stock and 
 went into laager to await the course of events. 
 
 The extreme rear of this trek was formed by the Long 
 Tom siege gun which had, on account of its weight, been 
 dragging behind on the continual eve of capture, some- 
 times with a guard, more often without. The youthful 
 light-hearted artillerymen drove the oxen with their 
 horses conveniently saddled, to allow their individual 
 escape, if necessary, but determined to bring in the gun 
 if untiring energy and unswerving obedience to duty 
 would accomplish it. 
 
 In a despairing war such incidents as these long treks 
 
 203 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 were not without their bright spots. The fortitude and 
 resignation of all, with the absence of oaths or abuse was 
 always noticeable and pleasing. Without any apparent 
 flurry the male guard would walk by his oxen, cracking 
 his whip, exchanging a good word with a passing horse- 
 man, or conversing with the grandad in the front. He 
 would cheerfully assist other wagons in distress by the 
 loan of his own team, and would be always willing to 
 lend his personal labor. The laziest and most obstinate 
 ox in the team would invariably be named " Englishman " 
 and if there was a black ox equally useless, they named it 
 " Kaffir." These two would be inspanned together to add 
 to " Englishman's " humiliation and the Boer's sense 
 of humor. Riding by the team a guttural sound would 
 suddenly burst forth " En — gle — e-s-m-a-a-n ! " as the 
 long rawhide lash sang through the air and descended 
 with a welt on " Englishman," who with a mighty jerk 
 would strain on the yoke, intent on pulling the entire load. 
 A moment later by reason of " Englishman's " suddenly 
 inspired energy, " Kaffir " would call for similar atten- 
 tions, when " Englishman " would hang back right away, 
 and concede precedence to " Kaffir " now extremely anx- 
 ious to bear his portion of the burden. 
 
 After forming laager the oxen would be cared for, the 
 food cooked, experiences exchanged, and their evening 
 devotions held within plain view of the hundreds of tiny 
 fires which denoted the English camp, all being done 
 with an easy carelessness and confidence sublimely fas- 
 cinating. With perfect freedom they would lie down in 
 the laagers and sleep soundly without pickets or thought 
 of danger, until two or three o'clock, when all was again 
 activity. Inspanning quickly and quietly they proceeded 
 to place ten miles between themselves and the inevitable 
 daylight advance of their enemies. 
 
 203 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 On the evening of the twenty-seventh, all transport, 
 except the heavy siege-gun and a few crippled wagons 
 reached Middleburg, and the following morning the ma- 
 jority of burghers passed on through, leaving such 
 families and members of different commands as needed 
 food and supplies to restock from the government stores, 
 where provisions were given to whomever would carry 
 them away. The town lying in an open valley was utterly 
 incapable of defense, and its abandonment by its inhabi- 
 tants was already begun. Some sadly needed undergar- 
 ments were obtained here, but boots and shoes, the most 
 desired commodity, were eagerly but fruitlessly sought, 
 the supply at the command of the Republics having been 
 completely exhausted. 
 
 The progress of the enemy had not been overlooked, 
 and the railroad bridges carefully destroyed to further 
 embarrass them. Early in the afternoon of the arrival in 
 town, a cloud of mist arose growing in density until it 
 became a penetrating rain. The high altitude and the 
 open country made the air bitterly cold and discom- 
 forting. The pickets by order of the generals were with- 
 drawn to the town, no guards remained on duty, and 
 Long Tom was temporarily forsaken on the open veldt 
 by all excepting the crew who manfully stayed at the 
 post. The cold was so intense, the weather so terrible 
 that the horses either broke loose from their fastenings 
 or died in their tracks. The British, within a few miles, 
 had out-traveled their transport, and as a result, many 
 of their troops died of exposure, besides reporting a loss 
 of 3,000 transport animals on this night and in the rapid 
 march preceding it. By the early dawn, we who had 
 found a welcome roof, under which, although supperless, 
 we had snatched some sleep with gratitude for the escape 
 from the storm, now prowled around like ravenous 
 
 204 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 wolves after supplies of coffee and raw meat from which 
 to improvise a hurried meal. 
 
 The siege gun arrived at eight and was followed by a 
 few wagons in every degree of distress, which were 
 drawn by mixed teams of donkeys, horses, oxen and 
 mules. Not a single wagon was lost on this famous trek, 
 although the more dilapidated ones with the siege gun 
 camped for four nights within sight of the enemy's picket- 
 fires, and escaped only by obtaining a few hours' start 
 in the mornings. The wagons hurrying through to the 
 east presented a peculiar appearance as they wound their 
 way in long dark lines over the undulating country. With 
 the roads heavy, and the loads increased by the saturated 
 condition, the progress was slow, and they were visible 
 for miles to the English advancing from the west. 
 
 Led by General Pienaar, commanding the Johannes- 
 burgers, a few burghers whose fallen spirits had revived 
 with the first promise of sunshine, in an effort to delay the 
 enemy's advance and give the overdone transport a few 
 miles start, took up positions on the strategic points in 
 the hills to the west. The panorama, though despairing, 
 was a magnificent one, the entire British movement being 
 visible for miles, with the long surreptitious arm of 
 cavalry to the south making the inevitable flanking move- 
 ment, designed to steal a march and cut off our retreat 
 to the east. As the mist lifted, the sun came forth, im- 
 parting warmth and cheer, to the toilers. Few traces of 
 the rain were left at twelve o'clock. Indeed, such is the 
 nature of this country, that shortly after noon, the wagon- 
 train became marked by miles of dust, like the smoke of a 
 great prairie fire, rising from a circuitous course through 
 the low hills and floating in a dense bank to leeward, 
 enveloping everything, and rendering individual objects 
 invisible. 
 
 205 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 The enemy, bringing up their guns, shelled our out- 
 post, which had succeeded thus far in checking all that 
 had advanced against them by carefully observing every 
 separate movement, and meeting them at the threatened 
 spot with the entire force at command. This continued 
 until exhausted horses and the galling artillery fire in 
 the exposed positions compelled us to fall back in the 
 afternoon on the town, with the intention of defending 
 the wagon bridge over the Oliphant river, which formed 
 the only exit east ; until word could arrive that the camps 
 had reached Pan in safety. When this event became 
 known, many, after partaking of some refreshment, at 
 the village hotel as a farewell, followed the camp to get 
 a little required rest, while others staid behind until night, 
 with the intention of exchanging a few parting shots with 
 the enemy when they advanced to occupy the town. 
 They had their wishes gratified with the running skir- 
 mish which developed after dark in the streets, and firing 
 as they went, they leisurely retreated across the bridge, 
 leaving the British in possession. 
 
 206 
 
Chapter XV 
 
 Belfast — A brief respite — Prinsloo's surrender — Scarcity of horses 
 — Infantry corps — More proclamations — More women deported 
 — .Cordua executed — Two worlds — Dalmanutha — The police — 
 The South African Republic proclaimed — Council of war — 
 Prayer. 
 
 ANOTHER disaster was aveHied in this latest re- 
 treat. The enemy was simply outmarched, not- 
 withstanding his vastly superior resources, and 
 while two days later, he followed us to Pan station, 
 twenty miles further, our main column was already re- 
 cuperating at Belfast, with outposts at Wonderfontein. 
 Twenty days' respite ensued, only interrupted by the ex- 
 change of courtesies between the opposing scouts and 
 pickets, during which time the British army welcomed 
 a rest while waiting on Buller, now once more in trouble 
 with Chris Botha, who had again invaded Natal, de- 
 stroying the railroad where he could, interrupting the 
 communication, and causing general embarrassment to 
 the enemy. Finally the ill-starred English commander 
 came up, and in the meanwhile Lord Roberts was busy 
 depopulating Middleburg of women and children, tear- 
 ing them from their homes and sources of supply, forcing 
 them frequently with only what they stood in, to join 
 the colony of reconcentrados at the camps in Johannes- 
 burg, where naturally they became a public charge. 
 Their abundant provisions were seized and the British 
 unctuously applauded themselves for their philanthropy 
 in feeding the wives and children of the men who con- 
 tinued to oppose them. 
 
 In spite of the Hague convention and previous procla- 
 mation, no respect was paid to personal property, but 
 
 207 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 families were driven from their farms like cattle, the 
 stock appropriated and the houses destroyed by fire, and 
 such walls as withstood the flames by dynamite. The 
 flood of devastation was rising and there was no power 
 to dispute its authority. Every protest or remonstrance 
 only increased the tide of its wrath, and resulted in a 
 still greater torrent until it spent itself in these tongues 
 of flame, which sent its tale of anguish heavenward, and 
 left the charred and blackened country in its train. 
 
 The government of the Republics from ordinary mo- 
 tives of precaution and comfort, was at this stage in- 
 stalled in the cars of a special train, at Machadodorp, 
 from where they began to reorganize their defenses. The 
 broken and mountainous country now occupied, renewed 
 the confidence and determination to contend every ad- 
 vantage. President Steyn, coming through the British 
 lines from the Orange Free State, to consult with Presi- 
 dent Kruger, brought with him an installment of thirty- 
 five Canadian prisoners, captured at Greylinstaad by 
 General De Wet, which number, added to those already 
 at Nooitgedacht and the additions from General De la 
 Rey and De Wet, had steadily increased the original 900 
 brought from Pretoria, to a strength of 1,800. 
 
 News of De Wet's and De la Rey's successes were 
 constantly reported, which inspired the army of 3,000 
 men at Belfast with courage. Communications with these 
 distant forces were complete, men going to De la Rey 
 in the northwest through the bushveldt, or southwest to 
 the Free State, through Standerton, without hindrance 
 or interruption. The intelligence of Commandant Prins- 
 loo's surrender in the Free Stat^ on July the thirtieth, 
 cast a temporary gloom over the Republicans, but that 
 was dispelled by a report from De Wet, that General 
 Oliver had escaped, and that the force surrendered had 
 
 208 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 been culled a few days previously by De Wet, who, with 
 the picked men were in safety. Those who became pris- 
 oners, he had regarded as so much impedimenta, and 
 they had been abandoned to their fate. As this may 
 sound paradoxical, it must be explained that the burgher 
 armies, embodying as they did, practically an entire popu- 
 lation of males of all ages, and in every condition of 
 health and constitution, had been hampered from the out- 
 set by quite a large number of men totally unfit for field 
 service, corresponding to the coffee coolers of the Ameri- 
 can civil war. Many of these men were cripples, others 
 old and feeble, while numbers had become war-worn and 
 despairing of ultimate success. There is no doubt that 
 De Wet considered that they hampered the mobility, and 
 possibly the spirit of such a campaign as he knew it was 
 necessary to wage, and with this idea in view he had 
 practically left them to work out their own redemption, 
 choosing the more ambitious for his personal following. 
 The most trying difficulty of the war was now keenly 
 felt in the scarcity of horses. Many burghers, in the re- 
 treat through the Free State and east of Pretoria had lost 
 their mounts and arrived in Machadodorp on foot. The 
 supply would not meet the demand, necessitating all 
 available brood stock over two years of age being im- 
 pressed into service and thereby, to some extent, filling 
 the gap, but in no way overcoming the problem, owing 
 to the constant death-rate among the horses already in 
 use. The government endeavored to organize both the 
 dismounted burghers and volunteers in infantry corps, 
 and the burghers received orders to join the commands 
 in their separate districts, and the volunteers of different- 
 nationalities were placed under the command of Dr. 
 Krieger, a German medico of the Carolina district. 
 Neither burghers nor volunteers were satisfied, however, 
 
 209 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 as, in these days of rapid movement, persons on foot 
 were at great disadvantage. The method of fighting was 
 against the system, for the Republicans held a position 
 until a further defense foretold serious loss, when they 
 left trusting to mobility to outdistance the enemy. 
 This of course, could not fail to make certain victims of 
 those dismounted, and as a natural consequence they de- 
 clined to take the chances involved, preferring to form 
 separate camps close to the railroad, and use that medium 
 of escape in case of necessity. 
 
 By the adoption of the second alternative, a useless 
 corps came into being, which, unable to help themselves, 
 received little aid from the government, and only bur- 
 dened the resources of the commissary in forwarding 
 supplies to the fighting lines. The greater proportion 
 were foreigners, unable to keep horses if they were ob- 
 tained, in a country where horse flesh was at such a pre- 
 mium that many were willing to risk moral disintegra- 
 tion to effect the loan of an animal to tide over present 
 necessities. The problem was solved only later by the 
 dismounted body crossing the Portuguese border and 
 taking refuge on neutral territory, relieving the Repub- 
 lics of the burden of their protection and keep, and re- 
 leasing the mounted men to more mobile action. 
 
 On August II, Lord Roberts issued another proclama- 
 tion revoking earlier proclamations which promised im- 
 munity to burghers who had already taken the oath of 
 neutrality, or had remained on their farms as non-com- 
 batants, and declared his intention of burning and de- 
 stroying farms as a measure of retaliation. This meant 
 that burghers who had yielded under previous proclama- 
 tions were to be transported, their wives and children 
 placed in reconcentrado camps, and their farms destroyed 
 and stock confiscated in any district in which an alleged 
 
 210 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 outrage (really a legitimate act of warfare) was com- 
 mitted against the British troops. 
 
 By an ingenious method of running telegraph wires 
 upon the long strings of fences, and underground, the 
 Republicans at Machadodorp still had perfect communi- 
 cation with De Wet in the Heilbron district of the Orange 
 Free State. By this clever piece of strategy, we were 
 enabled to dispense with messengers to the mystification 
 of the British, who marveled at the prompt news service 
 so much in evidence. 
 
 General Buller, having succeeded in establishing the 
 Durban communication, pushed in the Republican forces 
 at Bethel, and again inflicted a reverse to the Ermalo 
 and Carolina commandos at Carolina. On the fifteenth 
 he was thereby enabled to make a junction with General 
 French at Wonderfontein, which increased the force al- 
 ready threatening the Republicans at Belfast, by 40,000 
 men. 
 
 On August 18, Lord Roberts decided to move out more 
 of the Boer women, — " because their men were fighting 
 against the English," was the reason given. He might 
 have added, — to embarrass the enemy on the eve of an 
 attack, and if British military communications had 
 truthfully conveyed the real intention, it is safe to predict 
 that this would have been the only one given. These 
 women and children arrived at Belfast in open trucks, 
 after two days' exposure in fearful weather, traveling 
 during the night to prevent their seeing the extent of the 
 British defenses, besides being side-tracked for every 
 army transport moving forward. The nights were bit- 
 terly cold, and as many of the unfortunates had no rela- 
 tives with the army, their men having already been killed 
 or captured, the government had to be appealed to, for 
 shelter and food. 
 
 211 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 Their escort consisted of English officers, who, with 
 refreshing impudence, during their brief sojourn within 
 our lines, appeared to enjoy the now peculiarly British 
 pastime of distributing handbills among the burghers, 
 upon which were printed their commander's latest en- 
 deavor to end the war by proclamation. This grotesque 
 performance so delighted the recipients, who were at last 
 beginning to appreciate British humor, that had General 
 Ben Viljoen not ordered the visitors to desist, their stock 
 in trade would have been very soon depleted. 
 
 An attempt to kidnap Roberts in Pretoria resulted in 
 the trial and execution by shooting of young Lieutenant 
 Cordua of the States-Artillery, who had been taken at 
 Pretoria and paroled. The ex-burgher detectives, re- 
 duced to act as British secret agents, to maintain their 
 liberty and credit with their new masters, had become 
 " Agents Provocateurs," lodging complaints of any one 
 against whom they had a personal grievance during the 
 Republican regime. Among these was one Gano, a 
 naturalized American, known in Brooklyn, U. S. A., as a 
 " bad character." He approached several Americans and 
 Afrikanders, well known to sympathize with the Repub- 
 licans, who had remained on sufferance in the Capitol to 
 insure the safety of their property, with proposals for 
 kidnapping the British Commander-in-Chief. Failing, 
 however, to influence any of these, he resorted to other 
 measures, and Cordua, a young man of twenty-three, 
 brave and imaginative, careless but enthusiastic, and 
 somewhat inclined toward wine, was the victim. Work- 
 ing on the peculiar qualities of his character, particularly 
 the first and the last, Gano kept him in a con- 
 tinually irresponsible condition of semi-intoxication, 
 and trapped him into a clumsy plot conceived entirely by 
 the British agent who supplied the Imperial uniform and 
 
 212 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 • 
 
 arms, in and with which, Cordua was captured in Gano's 
 company, while proceeding to an imaginary rendezvous. 
 Tried before a mihtary court he was sentenced to death 
 on August 1 6, and the judgment confirmed by Lord 
 Roberts on August 23. Three days later at daylight, he 
 faced a firing party with eyes unbound, and meeting death 
 unflinchingly, he uttered as his last words : That " he 
 was paying the penalty of failure." In his final utter- 
 ance he displayed the youthful imagination which formed 
 one of the agents of his ruin. This murder was the more 
 unjustifiable when compared with the extraordinarily le- 
 nient treatment shown to all spies and traitors in the Brit- 
 ish service, who fell into Republican hands. There has 
 never been an instance of one of these being even injured, 
 much less shot, until very recently. The execution of this 
 youth has been placed outside the pale of defense by 
 Lord Roberts' own assurance to the war office, that the 
 " plot was clumsy," and that " he was never really 
 threatened." 
 
 On August 22, we learned that the late Boer officials 
 in the towns of Zeerust, Rustenburg and Klerksdorp, west 
 of Pretoria, had been again reinstated in their respective 
 offices by the Republicans recapturing these places. We 
 also had news that a severe fight had occurred between 
 the Federals under General Grobler, and Baden-Powell, 
 north of Pretoria, in which the Boers were again 
 victorious. 
 
 On the twenty-third, BuUer, taking the south flank, ad- 
 vanced to a point fifteen miles south of Belfast, which 
 town had been occupied by French with little opposition. 
 The Federals moving to a low broken range of hills, 
 within rifle range of the burg, which range, with an alti- 
 tude 6,557 fsst. constituted the highest point in the Trans- 
 vaal. A beacon on the greatest eminence indicated this 
 
 213 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 fact and occupied the centre of a scene bitterly contested 
 during the following days. 
 
 From this ridge, as though forming a dividing wall 
 between the opposing forces, a view could be obtained 
 of two distinct landscapes, drawn by lines so sharp and 
 contrasting that they resembled two separate worlds. 
 Toward Belfast and the surrounding table-land, to the 
 west and south, the country sloped gently away as far as 
 the eye could reach, relieved only by gradual undulations, 
 and covered by a black and barren expanse of burnt 
 prairie. To the east from the same point of observation 
 the decline was rapid, and broken by canons, ravines and 
 sharp torn foothills, clustering around and clinging to 
 a number of rugged mountains, of great height and 
 majesty, yet beneath the observer, with here and there a 
 white farm dwelling and green patch, nestling in the 
 embrace of a crevice forming a brilliant spot of color 
 amongst the red-brown landscape. Surrovmding the dis- 
 tant mountains and yet still beneath, was a grey-blue 
 sky that gave the impression that the vision had reached 
 the great infinite beyond and it was empty. This ridge 
 constituted a great backbone, dividing two countries of 
 entirely opposite nature. Warmth from cold, fever from 
 health, rank, semi-tropical vegetation from a bare, tree- 
 less veldt and buffalo grass. Glancing toward the west, 
 the mind dwelt on exposed camps and flanking move- 
 ments impossible to check, while to the east was a 
 broken territory, capable of endless defense, with swift, 
 certain raids on convoys extended over difficult passes. 
 Hopes arose, of harassing an enemy on chosen ground, 
 adapted to defense by the few against the many, and the 
 burgher felt cheered by the thought that at last the con- 
 test would be less unequal. Bravery, marksmanship, and 
 individual strategy would offset the advantage of over- 
 
 214 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 whelming numbers, now grown wearisome, and with re- 
 newed confidence they were prepared to contest every 
 inch. 
 
 On the hnes of the RepubHcan defense, the open flat 
 in the cailon, through which the railroad passed, was 
 held by the Johannesburg Police. To the south, and 
 distant about 400 yards from them, was Commandant 
 Gravett, who in turn was supported on his left by the 
 Ermelo and Carolina commandos. To the north in con- 
 secutive order were the Krugersdorp, Johannesburg, 
 Middleburg, Boksburg, and Lydenburg commands em- 
 bodying the entire Republican army of 4,000 men, ex- 
 tended along a fighting line of forty miles. Obviously 
 they could not offer a very effectual resistance to the 
 enemy, provided any certain point was singled for the 
 attack, and backed by 40,000 men and 120 guns. 
 
 On August 23, in the south, BuUer, essaying to feel 
 his position, got two companies of a Liverpool regiment 
 surrounded, and decimated with a loss of no of the 
 total. Two days later, the British made a general ad- 
 vance and tried to force the south wing but failed. 
 They then transferred their attention to the north wing 
 and succeeded on forcing back the Federals nearly a 
 mile, but with fearful loss to themselves. On the follow- 
 ing day another movement was checked when the enemy's 
 guns in their centre became isolated, and the troops com- 
 pelled to retreat, but this was no further advantage to 
 the Federals, who were unable to effect a capture of the 
 abandoned guns. The weather, although clear, was bit- 
 terly cold, the winds being most penetrating, and the 
 troops, with the constant night-work, suffered consider- 
 ably. 
 
 On August 27 the attack was once more renewed on 
 the north, and the small army of 4,000 burghers rein- 
 
 215 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 forced the positions to the utmost of their power. This 
 manoeuvre was found to be a feint, and BuUer, advanc- 
 ing the centre along the railroad, stormed the police posi- 
 tion at Bergendal, where seventy-five police, with a Pom- 
 pom withstood the tremendous fire of six batteries with 
 siege guns for four hours, gallantly shooting back every 
 attempt to carry their position by storm, imtil their loose 
 dirt intrenchment had been swept level with the ground 
 by the fearful hail of shrapnel. With exhausted ammu- 
 nition and a loss of thirty per cent of their number, 
 among whom was Commandant Ousthuizen, and all their 
 officers, these men having stood and shot until within 
 reach of the enemy's bayonets, were compelled to retreat 
 across a flat a mile in width. All attempts to bring up 
 horses for removing the maxim were futile and that, too, 
 was lost. In the meantime. Commandant Gravett of the 
 Krugersdorp commando on both flanks of the brave 
 police, by reason of the open flats between, was unable 
 to assist them, and the burghers became spectators of 
 the unequal combat, sullenly wondering how much longer 
 this heroic resistance could be continued, until it almost 
 came as a positive relief when the police broke. At a 
 glance it could be seen that the positions along the entire 
 line were now lost, through the centre being forced, and 
 without unnecessary orders the stream of burghers com- 
 menced to converge toward Dalmanutha, leaving only 
 the more daring behind, who became fascinated with the 
 progress of the remaining forty police across the fire-swept 
 plain. The storm of iron and lead was such, that it 
 seemed impossible for a blade of grass to escape yet the 
 few struggled across at various paces of weariness, and 
 finally found refuge behind the Federal siege gun, two 
 miles in the rear of their disaster. 
 The only channel whereby horses could travel to es- 
 
 2l6 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 cape from the many other positions, was along the nu- 
 merous converging cafions, leading into the one the 
 British had already forced a hold upon. Exciting races 
 of men and guns ensued, all straining every nerve to 
 reach the open road, and cross the zone of fire before the 
 enemy could block the opportunity. Except the Pom- 
 pom captured from the police, all the artillery escaped, 
 and but for the loss of a very few men, knocked off their 
 horses by shell fire during the flight, the police sustained 
 the majority of the casualties in the four days' continuous 
 fighting, which cost the British over 400 in killed and 
 wounded. It was thought the advantage in numbers had 
 been discounted, but as these successive engagements 
 progressed, the weight of the enemy grew so menacing, 
 that it became obvious that sooner or later, from sheer 
 exhaustion, we would be forced to yield the positions. 
 It was a lucky escape for men and guns, and by taking 
 time by the forelock even the wagons were saved, as the 
 laagers had been started before daylight the same morn- 
 ing. Seizing the advantage offered by a chain of hills in 
 the direction of Machadodorp, the Republicans retired 
 with their artillery east and northeast, on a wagonroad 
 leading to Waterval, where the government, prompted 
 by a natural anxiety for the safety of the president, had 
 already moved the Capitol, now on wheels, which precau- 
 tion the British gave ample reason for by successfully 
 dynamiting a railroad culvert east of the town. 
 
 In consideration of the blow suffered by the invaluable 
 Police, small comfort was drawn during the retreat from 
 the news which was received, that Danie Theron, at the 
 head of 250 men, had again destroyed the railroad south- 
 west of Krugersdorp, and inflicted inj^uriM^ and that De 
 Wet had escaped from the cordons striving to surround 
 him. The fortunes of the Republicans in the Orange 
 
 21^ 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 Free State were not so bright. General Oliver was sur- 
 rounded and taken prisoner near Winburg, while at- 
 tempting to eflfect the capture of that town, by which 
 disaster the Republicans lost a brave and capable leader. 
 
 Hotly pursued to Waterval, the Federals fought con- 
 tinuous rear-guard actions and succeeded in covering 
 the retreat of all their transport. The siege gun, as 
 usual at the end, narrowly escaped capture on several 
 occasions, and was the cause of many affairs of minor 
 importance. 
 
 The arrival of Lord Roberts at Machadodorp, which 
 like Pretoria, was undefended, was the occasion for a 
 proclamation by him on September i, annexing the South 
 African Republic to the Empire, under the designation 
 of the Transvaal Territory. This notwithstanding, he 
 effectually occupied less than one-third of the country 
 claimed, and was opposed by more than two-thirds of 
 the Republican citizens who took the field at the begin- 
 ning of the war. While on the line of retreat we de- 
 stroyed the cog-road, which ascended from Waterval- 
 onder, to a tunnel passing through the mountain to 
 Water valboven. The engine employed in hauling trains 
 up this steep incline of about 4,000 feet in length, suf- 
 fered the same fate, and in that manner the probable main 
 feeder of the British army was temporarily rendered use- 
 less in the event of rapid pursuit. 
 
 Affairs had reached such a climax that decisive steps 
 for the future became imperative, and a council of war 
 of civil and military leaders resulted. Grave men and 
 stolid veterans bared their heads in invoking a blessing 
 from the Divine Ruler on their deliberations. Then a 
 lengthy discussion followed, and it was decided that the 
 last combined effort to hold a line of defense had been 
 made, and that the only hope left was in mobile columns, 
 
 218 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 so distributed as to be possible of concentration on short 
 notice and whenever circumstances warranted. Lastly 
 the government was to remove to Nelspruit, while Botha 
 with 1,500 men and a siege gun, was to fall back on 
 Lydenburg, and General Ben Viljoen, with all the dis- 
 mounted men and impedimenta were to follow the rail- 
 road to Nooitgedacht, and release the 2,000 prisoners 
 held there. A most impressive chapter in South African 
 history was closed by a prayer to the " God of the Peo- 
 ple, that He do not turn His face away in their darkest 
 hour of sore need, that in Him their fidelity would rest 
 unshaken, and that for freedom, His most priceless of 
 gifts, they would patiently struggle, until, in His own 
 good time, as He had always done, He would vouchsafe 
 His blessings to them." 
 
 '2ig 
 
Chapter XVI 
 
 Ben Viljoen — Prisoners released — White flags again — Ambu- 
 lance scouts — Lord Roberts' letter — Botha's answer — The 
 army reorganized — Spitz Kop — Barberton — Fever — Crocodile 
 Poort — President an,d burghers — The foreign attaches leave 
 Reitz — Artillery destroyed — Last of Long Tom — J. N. King, 
 Dynamite Dick — Komati Poort — The president in Marseilles — 
 De la Rey — Lord Roberts departs. 
 
 OF the prominent actors on the Republican side, 
 none can be said to have achieved greater well- 
 merited notoriety than General Ben Viljoen. 
 Although he might be cited as a direct contrast to Boer 
 conservatism, — an element at least hitherto found neces- 
 sary to attract recognition, — his has been a meteoric 
 career, and unless the unexpected happens, every indica- 
 tion seems to point him out as one of the great leaders 
 of the Afrikander people in the future. To convey an 
 idea of his extraordinary rise it will only be necessary 
 to relate that six years before the outbreak of hostilities, 
 he arrived on the Goldfields, Johannesburg, and found 
 employment as a patrolman in the Johannesburg foot 
 police. A short while after he was promoted to the 
 mounted police, then commissioned an officer of the same 
 body. His resignation was followed by election to the 
 Volksraad as representative for Johannesburg, and as 
 such he was a vigorous champion of the " no surrender " 
 policy. In the exciting times preceding this war he stood 
 in the fore-front of the Republicans, and as a conse- 
 quence was prominent in many exciting affairs with the 
 ultra-Jingo Imperialists of the league party. General 
 Viljoen looks the fighter he is. Broad, thick-set, below 
 medium height, he has a light complexion, eyes, and 
 
 220 
 
Genlkal Hen Viljoen 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 wavy hair, with a fine mouth, clean-cut, which tKe owner 
 is given to bringing together with a snap. On the sur- 
 face he appears genial, and not unfrequently leaves the 
 observer with that impression, but he can be quite irri- 
 table and quick-tempered without warning. At the out- 
 set of the war he was traduced by enemies, but they have 
 since shrunk into oblivion. He is quick to recognize and 
 appreciate the merits in a friend, just as he makes the 
 very worst kind of enemy. 
 
 General Viljoen, with his characteristic energy at once 
 started to execute his mission, and passing down the 
 Crocodile River Caiion, he fought a rear guard action at 
 Helvetia, falling back on Nooitgedacht. The tempera- 
 ture here formed a pleasant contrast to that of Belfast, 
 and the men made haste to discard all unnecessary blan- 
 kets, which gave their horses a well-deserved rest. 
 
 A rumor that the government intended to ship the 
 prisoners to Barberton reached the ears of the British 
 officers confined in a separate but adjacent camp to that 
 occupied by the bulk of the prisoners. Then it became 
 known that it was intended that only the officers should 
 be sent to Barberton and the rank and file released to 
 rejoin their people. Some of the officers foiled this in- 
 tention in part, by hiding themselves among the privates, 
 and as no one identified them, they escaped with the rest. 
 The announcement of the release was made by General 
 Viljoen, in a dignified and conservative speech, and they 
 were cautioned to keep to the road, avoid looting, and 
 not to straggle, to prevent a possible mistake by our out- 
 post. On conclusion there was an outburst of cheering, 
 followed by three cheers for the general, and a great 
 crowd gathered around him, anxious to shake his hand 
 as he sat on his horse among them. After another round 
 of cheers, the men — many of whom had been confined a 
 
 221 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 year and over, started up the canon, carrying everything 
 they possessed in blankets, food and cooking utensils, 
 but soon realizing the task of walking to the British lines, 
 they discarded as they went along, according to their 
 various stages of weariness, all but the barest necessities, 
 until the road was literally strewn with blankets, pots, 
 pans, sacks of coffee, rice, etc. 
 
 At nightfall a few of Irish origin returned, and begged 
 permission to shoulder a rifle for the Republican cause, 
 against what they argued was their hereditary enemy. 
 They were accepted, after some indecision, armed, and 
 placed under Uitlander officers, who were required to 
 vouch for them. The responsibility was cheerfully taken, 
 it being generally agreed that any one willing to take 
 the chances of a deserter, at this late stage of the game, 
 would be hardly likely to act treacherously to his adopted 
 cause in apparently such desperate straits. While hold- 
 ing Nooitgedacht, the Republicans tried to communicate 
 with the British commander by means of a white flag, 
 in regard to the prisoners then being released, so that 
 they should be received and not fired on by their own 
 people. Two burghers were despatched up the caiion 
 with the message, but although displaying the white 
 sheet they carried, they were fired upon as soon as they 
 came within range of the British pickets at Watervalon- 
 der. One of the horses was killed, and they took cover 
 behind a rock, exposing the flag until firing ceased, when 
 they advanced and delivered the message, narrowly 
 missing being detained themselves. The officer in com- 
 mand, when remonstrated with for his conduct, asserted, 
 apparently on his own authority, that the British no 
 longer recognized a flag of truce, or the Boers as com- 
 batants. Naturally from then on there was a diffidence 
 of volunteering for this dangerous duty, which, under 
 
 222 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 the rules of war necessitated the bearer going unarmed 
 on his mission, and the opportunity of carrying the pro- 
 test of General Viljoen against this action, was not 
 eagerly sought. Finally, Richard Hunt, an American 
 lieutenant with the Boer army, offered his services, with 
 the full knowledge of the antipathy with which English- 
 speaking members of the Boer forces were regarded by 
 the enemy. The thought of being shot while unarmed 
 is naturally very distasteful, even to a soldier, and we 
 were relieved when he returned to us, with an apology 
 from the general in command, for the previous incident, 
 and a promise to punish the offending officer, but Hunt 
 fully satisfied himself, in his brief acquaintance with the 
 members of Kitchener's Horse, that the fate of an Uit- 
 lander volunteer with the Republicans, who fell into 
 their hands, would be decided a good deal according to 
 the method and publicity with which he arrived there. 
 
 Upon the release of the prisoners, the main army 
 dropped back down the caiion to Grodwan's River, a 
 knowledge most necessary for the English not to possess. 
 It was the intention of the government to transfer to the 
 British lines some of the fever patients and convalescent 
 prisoners, to enable them to reach their friends, but it 
 was not desirable that the enemy should bring into the 
 town their ambulances and discover the undefended 
 state it was in. There was therefore some surprise, when 
 on the second day, six fully equipped ambulances rolled 
 into the burg. General Viljoen was in a dilemma as to 
 what he should do, but as the ambulances were before the 
 fighting lines, he was perfectly justified in his consequent 
 action, namely, appropriating the entire outfit for the 
 benefit of the burghers. We have before remarked upon 
 the use of ambulances, and there is no law of war that 
 could justify them in acting as an advance guard through 
 
 223 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 a country most difficult to scout, and we were all satisfied 
 with the decision that the train was lawfully seized. 
 
 From Watervalonder to Godwan River Station, the 
 railroad and wagon road ran down a canon 400 feet deep 
 with no other means of egress, except for horsemen, than 
 each end of this tremendous declivity tumbling down 
 toward the sea. It had tributary to it many subsidiary 
 canons of similar character, which made effectual hostili- 
 ties from the plains it intersected impossible, on account 
 of tlie ravines which had to be headed, the absence of 
 cover, anct danger of being cut off, that such positions 
 would offer. Consequently the Boers felt very confident 
 of repelling any advance on the direct road, although 
 they did not desire ambulances to scout it, and only feared 
 a flanking movement by Barberton or Lydenburg. 
 
 On September 2, Lord Roberts addressed a communi- 
 cation to General Botha, in which he denied the existence 
 of organized resistance except by the army commanded 
 by Botha, declared his intention to destroy farms and 
 confiscate stock in districts where any act of aggression 
 was made, and threatened to transport from Pretoria and 
 Johannesburg all women, including Mrs. Kruger, and 
 Mrs. Botha, to the Republican lines, because as he al- 
 leged, the women were transmitting information to their 
 people. Four days later. General Botha sent the follow- 
 ing reply, which is reprinted verbatim, and the dignity 
 of which speaks for itself. 
 
 Commandant-General's Camp, September 6, igoo. 
 
 To Lord Roberts, Field Marshal, Commander-in-Chief, 
 of the British troops in South Africa: 
 
 Your Excellency — In reply to your Excellency's 
 letter of the 2nd inst., I have the honor to state the 
 following : 
 
 224 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 Inasmuch as our entire armed force is only a small one 
 in comparison with that of your Excellency, it cannot, of 
 course be expected that strong commandos should be in 
 the field everywhere, and it naturally follows that now, 
 as during the war, what is incumbent upon us must be 
 done by small forces. Moreover we have been compelled 
 to still further scatter our commandos in order to be 
 able to check the looting patrols under your Excellency's 
 chief command, who scour the country to carry off cattle 
 and provisions from the different farms. ir^^ 
 
 2. As regards your contention that, with the%ccq)tion 
 of the burgher forces under my command, no offler Boer 
 forces should be in existence, I most strongly deny this, 
 since our armed forces are still disposed and directed in 
 the same manner as in the beginning of the war, and 
 in accordance with the country's laws. 
 
 3. In paragraph 3 of your letter, with which I am 
 now dealing, it is already known to me that barbarous 
 actions of this kind are committed by your troops under 
 your command, not only alongside or near the railway, 
 but also in places far removed from railways. Wherever 
 your troops move, not only are houses burned down or 
 blown up with dynamite, but defenseless women and 
 children are ejected, robbed of all food and cover, and 
 all this without any just cause existing for such pro- 
 ceedings. 
 
 4. With regard to paragraph 4 of your Excellency's 
 letter, I extremely regret to learn that my burghers' and 
 my own determination to persevere in the struggle for 
 our independence, is to be visited on our wives and chil- 
 dren, and this is the first instance of this kind known to 
 me, in the history of civilized warfare. I can only pro- 
 test against your proposed measures as being in oppo- 
 sition to all principles of civilized warfare, and exces- 
 
 225 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 sively cruel toward the women and children, cruel espe- 
 cially toward elderly women, and above all toward the 
 wife of his Honor, the President of the state, who as 
 you must be well aware, is not able to travel without risk 
 to her life, so that it would be simply murder to compel 
 her to take such a journey. The pretext alleged by you, 
 viz. : that by so doing your Excellency desires to protect 
 yourself, against transmission of information to us, 
 
 [ks all substance, since such proceedings were 
 sred necessary at a time when our troops were 
 ' in the immediate neighborhood of Pretoria. 
 
 Hess to state that we have never, by means of 
 women and children, received information regarding 
 operations of war. 
 
 5. If your Excellency still intends to persevere in 
 carrying out your Excellency's plans, which I hope will 
 not be the case, I request your Excellency to give me 
 timely notice of the period and particulars of the expul- 
 sion, as I wish to arrange for the direct transport of the 
 families to Europe. With regard to your Excellency's 
 remark about proper accommodation, I am prepared to 
 send proper carriages to a place to be indicated, and also, 
 if required, a Cog-wheel engine, for the track between 
 Watervalboven and Watervalonder, provided that your 
 Excellency guarantees the safe return of such carriages 
 and engine. 
 
 6. In conclusion, I desire to give you the assurance 
 that nothing you may do to our women and children, will 
 deter us in continuing the struggle for our independence. 
 
 I have the honor to be, etc. 
 
 Louis Botha, Commandant-General. 
 
 This kind of warfare could be characterized as any- 
 thing but chivalrous, but the burghers, although familiar 
 
 226 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 with this correspondence, accustomed as they were to 
 burnt homesteads, barely made comment. 
 
 At Godwan River Station, with advance posts at 
 Nooitgedacht, the government issued orders for reor- 
 ganization of the army on a financial basis, the veldkor- 
 nets being limited from loo to 200 men, the command- 
 ants from 300 to 500. Every man was listed to draw 
 pay, for the first time during the war, at the rate of five 
 shillings a day, seven pounds to be paid every two 
 months, the balance of four pounds ten shiAgs per 
 month, at the end of the war. Each general, djjJBmand- 
 ant, veldkornet and corporal was expected to"return 
 weekly reports regarding the health, absence, etc., of his 
 command. 
 
 The burghers resented this as a limitation to their in- 
 dependence, and the foreigners refused it because it put 
 a price on their services, heretofore given freely, and 
 rendered for no pecuniary recompense, but it had the ad- 
 vantage of reducing the numberless officers who were 
 without commands, and free lances which were never 
 available when anything was doing. Many prominent 
 officers had seen their entire command shrink from them, 
 but still held court in petty state while others did duty. 
 This was a most galling condition to the active members 
 of an overworked force. 
 
 On September 7, the enemy under French attacked 
 Botha at Spitz Kop, close to Lydenburg. He drove the 
 Republicans from their positions and destroyed 5,000,000 
 rounds of Martini ammunition, which had been stored, 
 rather to prevent its capture, than for any ultimate use, 
 as the Martini-Henri rifle had been entirely discarded. 
 Simultaneously the enemy advanced south of the railroad, 
 on the Carolina-Barberton road, and with frequent sharp 
 skirmishes forced in the defense. The centre, under Vil- 
 
 227 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 joen, who had withstood all attacks, with these two arms 
 encircling them, were forced to fall back on Nelspruit 
 to prevent their retreat being intercepted. Falling back 
 through the Duivel's Kantoor, a fearfully rough road, 
 they reached Nelspruit just before the victorious column 
 from Lydenburg, in an endeavor to cut them off from 
 the north. 
 
 The British entered Barberton September 13, without 
 opposidon, and captured forty-three locomotives with 
 rollin^^»ck. The town officials, of English origin, al- 
 thou^HBirghers, were known to be traitors to their 
 country, working for the advantage of the enemy, and in- 
 stead of leaving the country at the outbreak of the war, 
 had stayed and administered their offices in this interest, 
 culminating in the capture of so much rolling stock and 
 stores. The town was simply a hotbed of discontent and 
 sedition, and had the distinction of being the only one in 
 the Republics which failed to send an organized com- 
 mando into the field. 
 
 Barberton is known as the early gold-mining district 
 of the Transvaal, and most of the burghers had attained 
 their citizenship in 1883, when one year's residence was 
 sufficient to naturalize anyone wishing to adopt the coun- 
 try. In the controversy leading to the Jameson raid, it 
 was clearly proven to what abuse this law could be put, 
 and it was revoked in favor of the other extreme, called 
 the " fourteen-year franchise." The most influential 
 official of the government, said personally to one of the 
 authors, that the conduct of these same officials of Bar- 
 berton during the course of the raid, justified their action 
 in refusing a franchise to those so willing to forget their 
 obligations, and gave the government a solid foundation 
 on which to base their judgment, and the present incident 
 still further proved it. 
 
 228 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 Trekking down to the Crocodile Poort, tHe wagons 
 were abandoned and everybody took the train over this 
 impracticable pass for horses to Hectorspruit, where they 
 struck the low, flat, fever country of the Crocodile river, 
 the whole terrain of which was covered by a scrub bush 
 of camel-thorn from eight to ten feet high, varied by 
 small trees twelve to fifteen feet high, of acacia, creating 
 a density that rendered any object invisible a hundred 
 )'ards from the rider. 
 
 Hectorspruit was a small hamlet in the centre of the 
 fever belt, and beyond the railroad servants, the native 
 officials, and hunters, few cared to court the chances of 
 an)rthing more than a hurried passage through this terri- 
 tory. From Avoca to the seacoast, we state without ex- 
 aggeration, the land became a graveyard to would-be 
 residents. Wayside stations had as many as twelve con- 
 secutive operators in the twelve months, the eleven 
 either resting under mounds in the garden, or invalided 
 to other climates in a state of ruined health. Hunting 
 parties in search of a few days' sport among the big 
 game (lions, hippopotami and antelope being plentiful), 
 have been known to be lost beyond trace, or possibly one 
 or two surviving members would straggle back to the 
 railroad, wrecks in mind and body. With such condi- 
 tions, it is needless to say, a prolonged sojourn was not 
 anticipated by the Republican army, although these men 
 were somewhat acclimated. The effect on the raw in- 
 vaders bred to a city life, trying to oust these forces, 
 may be imagined. 
 
 J. N. King, the American detailed in charge of the 
 dynamite, left Crocodile Poort Station with the last 
 train. The railroad, as it passed down the canon, was a 
 splendid sample of engineering, and as the roadbed, 
 blasted in the solid, grey, sand rock, wound around the 
 
 229 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 edge of precipices the train seemed to be clinging to its 
 slight hold on the face of the cliif. The passage through 
 the canon is about eight miles in length, with a very 
 steep grade, and King found many opportunities to use 
 his explosives to good effect, in two places sending the 
 entire roadway down the mountain side, leaving no sign 
 except the hanging rails, of a former possible passage 
 for a train. From there he descended to Avoca, where 
 in spite of the English being in possession of Barberton, 
 he took his train up the branch line, to within four miles 
 of that town, and systematically destroyed every bridge, 
 culvert, station-house and car, on the road, as he fell 
 back on Hectorspruit. 
 
 The Republican forces were rejoined at Hectorspruit 
 by Botha from the north, and the columns from Barber- 
 ton, when a Krygsraad was called and it was decided 
 that the state president on account of his great age, pre- 
 venting him from riding, should proceed to Europe on 
 a six months' leave of absence, and General Schalk Bur- 
 ger, was appointed acting state president in his stead. 
 
 This was in accord with the wishes of the burghers, 
 who feared that the presence of the president would make 
 a centre of attack, with possible disaster. The president 
 was slow to admit of this reasoning and wished to re- 
 main, until he was convinced it was for the benefit of 
 the state that he should leave. If he had remained it 
 would have forced Louis Botha to constantly act on the 
 defensive. Such is the veneration with which the presi- 
 dent is regarded that he retained the same control of his 
 people, even though temporarily absent, as he had when 
 amongst them. And any burgher, whether in South 
 Africa, America or Europe, obeys now his verbal com- 
 mands as implicitly as ever, with unshaken faith in bis 
 judgment. 
 
 230 
 
State Secretary F. W. Rbitz 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 From Hectorspruit on, with the loss of the railroad, 
 the direct communication with foreign countries was li- 
 able to interruption, and, with the fighting corps more 
 difficult to follow, the various attaches decided to leave 
 for their home governments. Reitz, the gifted state- 
 secretary, with bandoliers on his shoulder and rifle in 
 hand had made the final arrangements for the president's 
 departure, and as he swung into his saddle to follow, 
 with his two sons, the fortunes of the states under Louis 
 Botha, the attaches crowded around him to bid him 
 farewell. It did our heart good to see the appreciation 
 this Christian man had won from these representatives 
 of all nations except England, who could not say suffi- 
 cient to convey their regards. Reitz, by his courtesy and 
 culture, had won all hearts with whom he came in con- 
 tact, and these foreigners recognized the pathos of his 
 discarding the office and picking up the rifle, so that he 
 might become a unit of the limited number available to 
 defend their country against the invaders. We venture 
 to suggest that few of these men will forget their last 
 glance at the open, kindly countenance, or fail to remem- 
 ber this splendid example of devotion to a cause. 
 
 All burghers on foot were to follow the railroad to 
 Komati Poort, when, after assisting in the destruction 
 of the government stores, they were to take refuge in the 
 Portuguese territory, to avoid transportation. All who 
 were well-mounted were to follow Botha and Viljoen 
 north, into the Lydenburg district to continue the resist- 
 ance. 
 
 The ground around the depot was littered with artil- 
 lery in all stages of repair. Limbers, carriages and muz- 
 zle loaders, spoils of the former war of 1881, had been 
 brought down to this station and thrown in great stacks 
 from the cars. These, with many field guns, for which 
 
 231 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 the Jiepublicani. had long since jExlwustedJ:he,,aiIiniuni- 
 tion, were dragged to their final resting place on the 
 banks of the river, where they were destroyed by dyna- 
 mite and sunk to the bottom of the stream. Two British 
 i2-pounders and a British mountain gun, shared this 
 fate with two Nordenfeldt maxims, two 7S-millimetre 
 Creusots, two Krupps, a 75-millimetre Nordenfeldt, and 
 three muzzle-loading 12-pounders. 
 
 Sadly the dismounted Dutchmen and foreigners, under 
 command of General Pienaar, took leave of their com- 
 rades following the railroad to Komati Poort, where 
 they destroyed some tons of stores in flour, canned stuflE 
 and ammunition. The Selati branch railroad, a single 
 track was banked solid with ten miles of trucks, loaded 
 with all the remaining government stores, and to these 
 fire was applied wherever it would burn. 
 
 The " Long Tom," injured in the British assault at 
 Ladysmith and afterward repaired, was carried across 
 the Crocodile river where " Dynamite Dick " King acted 
 as its executioner. With dynamite a drug on the market, 
 it was filled full of this explosive and broken literally 
 into pieces of only a few inches in size. 
 
 The same course of procedure followed now, as in each 
 rapid flight since Bloemfontein in March. The second 
 to the last train to leave was the Red Cross train, picking 
 up the sick and wounded, after which came the d)Tiamite 
 train, in charge of King, or " Dynamite Dick," who 
 seemed determined on leaving nothing behind capable of 
 use in any form by the British, that could be moved by 
 dynamite or destroyed by fire. He had followed behind 
 every evacuation since Pretoria, doing his work systemati- 
 cally and without fear of personal risk, firing station 
 houses, or destroying bridges and culverts as he moved 
 awaji. Here at Komati Poort, though the town was al- 
 
 232 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 ready abandoned, he returned and fired the store rooms 
 and trains of provisions located there. He also destroyed 
 much of the ammunition, doing his work so thoroughly 
 that he and his lone assistant were surprised by three Brit- 
 ish scouts. The Britishers were so dumbfounded by the 
 cool deliberation displayed, that, without difficulty King 
 made them prisoners, and locking them disarmed in his 
 car, he proceeded in his work, scattering coal-oil over 
 anything reluctant to burn. A few car loads of six-inch 
 ammunition puzzled him, but with infernal ingenuity he 
 devised a scheme of scattering among the shells, on the 
 floor of the cars, a box of detonators. Two days later, 
 the British, in an attempt to unload these heavy shells, 
 exploded a detonator, resulting immediately in the death 
 of thirteen and the injury of twenty men. 
 
 King hoped to make the destruction of the Crocodile 
 river bridge the last act of his useful career in the Boer 
 service, and twice had the charges laid for this purpose, 
 but President Kruger was led by the representatives of the 
 Portuguese government, to believe that the safety of the 
 refugees on Portuguese territory depended on the bridge 
 being left intact. He telegraphed to this effect to Gen- 
 eral Pienaar, and King reluctantly relinquished his wish. 
 The failure to destroy this important bridge was a sad 
 mistake, for within two days of its abandonment, the 
 enemy had established communications with Pretoria, 
 and thereby gained another base for the army. The 
 Portuguese thereupon relinquished their embargo on 
 contrabands of war, and ammunition and supplies were 
 freely shipped from Lorenzo Marques to the Capitol over 
 this route. 
 
 King's one assistant was a German who followed him 
 faithfully and fearlessly, obeying his orders in every de- 
 tail and answering to the sobriquet " Germany," — a quiet, 
 
 233 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 wizened, little blond with blue eyes, the very last person 
 an ordinary observer would imagine capable of the des- 
 perate exploits which he undertook with the utmost 
 equanimity, at the bidding of his self-imposed " boss." 
 Following the retreat from Hectorspruit they had dis- 
 covered a Russian ambulance surgeon, sick with fever, 
 and unable to ride, whom they placed in a shady spot, 
 and proceeded with the work of blowing up a culvert 
 in the neighborhood. The doctor, in pain and shaking 
 with fever, emitted some groans, which attracted the at- 
 tention of " Germany " who, on inquiring, was informed 
 by the doctor that he wanted to die. He immediately 
 transmitted the information to King, and on the " boss " 
 carelessly remarking "better kill him," Germany, with- 
 out any comment and unnoticed, picked up his carbine 
 to satisfy the doctor's desires. The helpless medico 
 noticing his would-be executioner's suspicious actions, 
 while the latter was manoeuvring into a position intended 
 to avoid waste of ammunition, raised a great outcry, 
 causing King to look up and inquire what was the 
 matter. With a puzzled look on his face, as if the matter 
 was beyond his comprehension, " Germany " replied : 
 " he don't vant to die dis vay, and say I give him some 
 medicine, he vill recover." King, with some difficulty 
 persuaded his colleague that they had better let the doctor 
 try his own method, so together they placed him in their 
 car, and after firing the fuse of the charge in the culvert, 
 they proceeded to Komati Poort, where to the surprise of 
 the little Teuton, the patient did recover with his own 
 medicine. 
 
 On September 23, the Guards under Pole-Carew en- 
 tered Komati Poort, and a few burghers stayed to 
 exchange greetings at the bridge, which, to the regret 
 of all having the Republican cause at heart, had to be 
 
 234 
 
J. N. King 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 left intact; then breaking their weapons, these men 
 walked over the border to Rosanna Garcia, to find trans- 
 portation in open trucks to Lorenzo Marques, where 
 seven hundred took refuge. 
 
 The British now had a field day, and on the occasion 
 of an inspection by Portuguese officers, Pole-Carew re- 
 ceived the congratulations of the Kinr- of Portugal, "in 
 having established communications with the sea, through 
 his territory. The officials were banqueted and mutual 
 laudations were the order of the day. Meanwhile, the 
 same premature congratulations between Pretoria and 
 London on the end of the war were exchanged. 
 
 Roberts followed up the event by publishing another 
 proclamation, calling the burghers' attention to the fact 
 that President Kruger had left the country and that their 
 struggle was hopeless. He promised that burghers now 
 surrendering would not be transported, excepting mem- 
 bers of the late government and those responsible for 
 the war, and ended by an appeal to them to yield fo.- 
 the sake of their wives and families; but hi; alternative 
 proclamations, threatening imprisonment and farm-burn- 
 ing, with others offering inducements to yield, had lost 
 their power through lack of sincerity, and this one had 
 no eflfect beyond making the remaining men more de- 
 termined to continue the struggle. 
 
 On September 26, the " Herzog " left Lorenzo Marques 
 with Postmaster-General Van Alphen, Assistant Secretary 
 of State Grobler, and State Treasurer Malherbe, to be 
 followed in October by President Kruger on the Nether- 
 lands war-ship, " Gelderland," which arrived in Mar- 
 seilles on November 22, where the President made his 
 first public appeal to the European nations in these words : 
 
 " The war which is being waged against the two Re- 
 publics has reached the utmost limits of barbarity. In 
 
 235 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 my life I have had occasion to fight many times with the 
 savage tribes of Africa, but the barbarians with whom we 
 have now to fight are much worse than the others. They 
 have gone so far as to arm the Kaffirs against us. They 
 burn our farms which we have built with so much diffi- 
 culty. They hurt the women and children whose hus- 
 bands and fathers have been killed or taken prisoners. 
 They leave them without protection, without wood, and 
 often without bread. But whatever may happen we shall 
 never surrender. We will keep until the end, our great 
 and immovable confidence in the Almighty, in our God. 
 Our cause is just and if the justice of men fails us, 
 the Almighty God who is above all nations, and to 
 whom the future belongs will not abandon us. I can 
 assure you that if the Transvaal and the Orange Free 
 State are to lose their independence, it will be because 
 the two Boer people will have been destroyed, with their 
 women and children." 
 
 The aspect of affairs around Pretoria in regard to De la 
 Rey, remdined the same as when we left there, and except 
 for an incursion here and there, he still hovered around 
 his favorite old haunts, pursuing the same offensive and 
 defensive tactics and continued to threaten every exposed 
 outpost. Elaborate plans of a sweeping nature, involving 
 thousands of men and horse, intended to bring this Boer 
 commander's career to a premature end, were carefully 
 matured in Pretoria, but the wily old fox who was to 
 be the principal actor, not being consulted, failed to 
 materialize at the exact time and place expected. These 
 sweeping movements were repeated at various intervals 
 with the same sure result until it imparted an air of 
 despair to the business, and kept the telegraph operators 
 burning midnight oil, cabling to London long reports 
 of cattle, horses and wagons captured from the enemy 
 
 236 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 during their flight. London vibrated and sighed, society 
 yawned, and the clubs formulated opinions while poor 
 Tommy Atkins, attracted by the promised sport of pig- 
 sticking, cursed the fate that brought him to the land 
 of phantom horsemen, veldt and kopjes. 
 
 The enemy, while accusing us of being brigands were 
 sailing dangerously near the practice themselves. Acting 
 on the theory that if you cannot catch a Boer, catch a 
 cow; stock was collected by cattle-rangers in Pretoria 
 district, belonging to Colonel Morgan's force. These 
 men were organized in bands of twenty-five, and paid a 
 bounty according to the number of cattle with which they 
 returned to camp. Stock of all ages and condition came 
 under the ban of these marauders, and farms belonging 
 to Whites and Kaffirs, were denuded to gain the prize 
 money, causing endless unnecessary suffering to the in- 
 habitants. House-burning, still in full blast, was now 
 indulged in for pastime, and no longer called forth open 
 rancor, nor even comment. The time for outward ex- 
 pression of feeling had passed. It had been better for 
 the Imperialist otherwise, for the unspoken utterance 
 sank deep into the hearts of the defenders, to form a 
 latent store of force in the resistance which has followed. 
 It was to be a struggle to the death, a simple problem, 
 involving Boer patriotism and resentment, backed by 
 the well-known tenacity of the Dutchman on one side, 
 and the British exchequer on the other. Losses of a 
 few companies were to be only so many incidents in the 
 general result. 
 
 Lord Roberts, who had delayed his projected departure, 
 on account of the sickness of one of his daughters, finally 
 left for England on November 2, leaving Kitchener to 
 unravel the turmoil of a vast and demoralized army, with 
 extended lines, unable to act on the offensive, distributed 
 
 237 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 in locked garrisons, or futile, immobile columns, who 
 considered the capture of a Boer family hidden in the 
 bush, as a feat to be cabled over the seven seas for its 
 glorification. Lord Roberts, in a farewell proclamation, 
 eulogized the troops for their valor, patriotism, endur- 
 ance and humanity, and reiterated his now historic 
 declaration that the war was ended. Lord Kitchener 
 assumed supreme command over the forces in South 
 Africa, and Lord Roberts sailed for England, via Natal, 
 fearing to go to Cape Town overland, through the al- 
 ready " conquered " Orange Free State, to report to his 
 grateful sovereign the result of his year's campaign, 
 having lost 40,075 men in casualties, exclusive of the 
 sick and wounded in hospitals, besides 12,809 broadly 
 reported as missing, which, in other words, means un- 
 buried, — a sum total nearly twice as great as the largest 
 force the Federals ever had at one time in the field. 
 
 On November S, Prince Christian Victor, one of the 
 English royal princes, having died of fever, was buried in 
 Pretoria, by command of the queen. 
 
 23S 
 
Chapter XVII 
 
 A chapter of Christian De Wet — Roodeval — De Wet corralled — 
 Prinsloo's reasons — Pieter De Wet surrenders — Commando 
 Nek — De Wet's insanity — To Cape Colony and back — Thabu 
 N'Chu — De Wet's methods — As a companion — The three 
 envoys — As a citizen — The new warfare — The situation — ^And 
 conclusion. 
 
 WHEN the Transvaal burghers crossed the Vaal 
 from the Orange Free State in May, Presi- 
 dent Steyn and Generals De Wet, Oliver, 
 Prinsloo and Lemmer, with Commandants Brand and 
 Kritzinger remained in their own country and had un- 
 tiringly harassed the enemy's communication. In April, 
 after Generals De Wet and Oliver's force abandoned the 
 siege of Colonel Dalgetty at Wepener, 30,000 men, under 
 twelve of England's best leaders, undertook to rid their 
 army of this scourge, but the phantom general escaped 
 to a broken line of hills east of Winburg, which town 
 he attacked in May, obtaining temporary advantage. 
 Then he dashed north and hovered around the new capital 
 of Heilbron, to protect President Steyn and his officers. 
 On May 31 he attacked Lindley, south of Heilbron, and 
 east of Kroonstad, and captured, after two days' siege, 
 the garrison, of 500 Imperial yeomanry, who with little 
 credit yielded without serious loss to themselves, except 
 two guns. General Colville to whom this force belonged, 
 was afterwards recalled in disgrace and his command 
 taken from him, for not having reinforced the garrison, 
 but he was not altogether to blame as De Wet, having 
 gained control of the telegraph communications, had de- 
 luded him by sending assuring despatches from the be- 
 sieged force, completely misleading the general by using 
 
 239 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 one of the British government ciphers. On June 3, he 
 surrounded and captured 180 Highlanders and a convoy 
 of fifty-five wagons, within thirty miles of Lindley, and 
 close to Heilbron. Two days later he attacked the Derby- 
 shire regiment at Leuuspruit, south of Roodeval and 
 east of Heilbron, which force he surrounded and captured 
 with a loss to the Imperials of their colonel and 140 men. 
 The troops were raw, just arrived from England, and 
 De Wet, the previous day, had watched them from the 
 neighboring hills, pitching their tents and straightening 
 their camp in the most approved Aldershot manner, with- 
 out thought of impending danger. He then turned his 
 attention to the neighboring railroad station of Roodeval, 
 which was garrisoned by Canadians under Captain Grant 
 and Captain Archie McDonald. Having cut the tele- 
 graph communications south to Kroonstad and north to 
 Leuuspruit, with 1,500 men and five guns, he surrounded 
 this force, which were firmly intrenched behind bags of 
 provisions and bales of clothing. De Wet sent in a 
 messenger informing the garrison they were surroimded 
 and cut off and gave them a half hour's grace to sur- 
 render, an offer they declined, defending the garrison 
 gamily for six hours, until the burghers' steadily en- 
 croaching sharp-shooters demoralized the force and they 
 yielded 180 prisoners, after losing Lieutenant Blanchard 
 and thirty-seven men killed and wounded. 
 
 This engagement was fought on De Wet's own farm, 
 Rooival, and the post was the advance of the British 
 reestablished communication with Cape Town, conse- 
 quently the yield in spoils was large, including two trains, 
 fifteen hundred bags of accumulated mail for Pretoria, and 
 the entire winter outfit and uniforms for the invading 
 army, including 13,000 suits of underclothing. There 
 was a train load of ammunition for the twelve, fifteen 
 
 240 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 and 240 pound guns, and $325,000 in specie, forming tfie 
 delayed pay of the troops. The enormous supply of 
 stores captured caused De Wet to facetiously remark that 
 it was a better crop than he had ever raised on his farm 
 at any previous season. He destroyed the large railroad 
 bridges at Roodeval and Rhenoster river, reconstructed 
 recently after three weeks' work by the engineers, and 
 blew up every culvert for twenty miles north to Vredefort, 
 and three miles to the south. After dividing the spoils 
 in specie and appropriating clothing and food needed, 
 the burghers piled the remainder of stores around the 
 trains and station-house, and fired it, then marching the 
 prisoners to De Wet's homestead, some distance away 
 from the railroad, they watched, with increasing fasci- 
 nation as twilight sank into night, the flames rising to 
 great heights, illuminating the country for miles around, 
 and carrying far and near a message to the amazed 
 columns gathering for pursuit, that the Flying Dutch- 
 men had made another successful coup. If anything was 
 wanting to complete a grand spectacle, it was supplied 
 by innumerable sparks and burning timbers hurled sky- 
 ward hundreds of feet after the great explosions, the 
 burnt fragments passing through the air like shooting 
 stars, in all directions, to the tune of screaming and 
 bursting siege gun shells. 
 
 Although threatened by columns under Hunter, Bra- 
 bant, Clery, Clements, Colville and Rundle, he quietly 
 rested on his farm for two days, dividing the loot among 
 his men, who were all delighted in the sudden acquisition 
 of new boots and underclothing. His scouts, everywhere, 
 with never a pause for rest, brought the latest informa- 
 tion of his pursuer's movements, while their companions 
 and horses recuperated. On the second day, it was re- 
 ported, a force from the north, under Kitchener, and 
 
 241 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 one from the south under Methuen, expected to make a 
 junction the next day at Roodeval, and with that un- 
 erring decision that has made him famous, De Wet 
 determined to anticipate his pursuers. He gathered up 
 his command and made a midnight attack on two trains, 
 directly between the two advancing forces, which were 
 engaged in repairing the bridges at Leuuspruit. 
 
 The Imperial force thus attacked, numbering 200, were 
 of the Pioneer railway corps, under the command of 
 Major L. I. Seymour, an American citizen employed 
 before the war as consulting mining engineer for the 
 Rand Gold mines at Johannesburg, an English mining 
 corporation. Among the killed was the major, and his 
 whole force yielded after an hour's defense. De Wet 
 destroyed the two trains, on one of which was Lord 
 Kitchener's personal baggage, and burnt the half-con- 
 structed bridge and material, then crossed the railroad 
 and headed for the northwest. This feat insured him the 
 title of Railroad Traffic Manager, and Regulator of the 
 Mails, gracefully bestowed upon him by the British rank 
 and file, and he has most conscientiously lived up to this 
 assumed vocation for the past two years, if one may judge 
 by the fact that there have been no complaints of neglected 
 duties. 
 
 De Wet's prisoners now numbered nearly that of his 
 own force, between 1,400 and 1,500, and as they were 
 necessarily dismounted, they hampered his movements. 
 He tried to induce the officers to give their parole for 
 themselves and men. This, the officers, well-knowing 
 his predicament, refused to do. Oliver rejoined De Wet 
 from the east, and at a Krygsraad it was decided that the 
 former should convey the prisoners east while De Wet 
 engaged the enemy. Oliver marched his captives to a 
 little village called Reitz, and soon after put them over 
 
 242 
 
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 General Chhistian De Wet 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 the border into Natal, rejoining De Wet at Bethleheim 
 with the captive officers whom he had retained. 
 
 Here the Federal forces were cornered by pursuing 
 columns, and the glad tidings, cabled to London, filled 
 the specials at short intervals with startling headlines, 
 such as " De Wet Surrounded," " A Matter of Moments," 
 " De Wet Captured." All available British troops were 
 requisitioned to make capture complete, and escape 
 seemed impossible. The cordon was regarded so for- 
 midable that storming was considered an unnecessary 
 expenditure of life and energy, and continual bombard- 
 ment was resorted to. During the last night the British 
 pickets reported that the Federals were moving camp, and 
 the troops are said to have lain on their arms, awaiting 
 the charge which was thought necessary for the Boer 
 general to escape. They heard the hoarse shouts of the 
 teamsters, and cracking of whips which continued until 
 daylight, to their surprise, without any advance. Untiring, 
 the shouting seemed to ring, the commotion was certainly 
 caused by the loaded wagons being dragged over the 
 rough ground, and every now and again they heard the 
 rattle of a piece of artillery as it clattered over the rocks. 
 What could it mean? Surely the Dutch would not wait 
 until daylight to charge a superior force? But daylight 
 came without any demonstration and the British could 
 see the motionless expanse intervening between them- 
 selves and the Boer camping-ground and it contained 
 nothing hostile. Chagrined when they expected to bay 
 their quarry, they made an assault, but met no resistance. 
 De Wet and Oliver had slipped away over a bridle path, 
 considered by the British impassable, with all the wagons, 
 artillery, and transport. Two wagons had been loaded 
 with sheet-iron and scraps to make a noise in imitation 
 of artillery, and had for the benefit of the English watch- 
 
 243 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 ers been industriously driven around the camp all night 
 by two faithful Kaffir servants. By the time the slower 
 Imperials with their huge equipments came to a realiza- 
 tion of the truth, De Wet had put eight hours between 
 them, and with the knowledge that he could out-march 
 them a half day in a day, added to the fact that the 
 British were now, fortunately for him, centred, his mind 
 was temporarily free of anxiety on their account. 
 
 Making his way toward Honingspruit, he again at- 
 tacked a train near to Rhenoster river, on which was 
 Kitchener, without, however, effecting his capture. But 
 a week later he managed, on July 2, to destroy the rail- 
 road at Honingspruit, then heading south he made his 
 way to Winburg, where he was again bayed by six 
 columns, and his certain capture once more reported, 
 but fighting a three days' fight in the kopjes he forced 
 a passage over Rundle, and taking 1,500 men and his 
 favorite five guns, he left Oliver and Prinsloo to work 
 out their own salvation, retreating east to Fouriesburg, 
 closely followed by Hunter and Rundle. By a forced 
 march he shook off his pursuers just in time to encounter 
 Broadwood on July 19, at Palmeitfontein, south of Beth- 
 leheim, and in a sharp fight left eight of his dead be- 
 hind. Accompanied by President Steyn, he again crossed 
 the railroad, and pointing for Honingspruit, destroyed 
 railroad communications and the telegraph lines as he 
 went. The pursuit now became very warm, all the avail- 
 able forces from Pretoria, consisting of three cavalry 
 brigades, were hotly on his trail. His horses and trans- 
 port animals were succumbing every moment to the tre- 
 mendous day and night race, to elude the close pursuing 
 columns. Again, he recrossed the railroad, making his 
 way this time to Reitzburg, in the northwest of the state, 
 
 244 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 leaving to Broadwood several wagons and many strag- 
 glers whose horses had given out. 
 
 The force De Wet had left at Fouriesburg, under Pieter 
 De Wet, Oliver, and Prinsloo were hard pressed, but 
 Oliver taking his own following succeeded in escaping 
 toward Harrismith. Pieter De Wet also escaped, but 
 went to his farm near Lindley. Prinsloo was surrounded 
 with the balance, most of them being camp-followers, 
 weary of the war. Prinsloo, seeing no hope asked for 
 four days' armistice which was declined. He then asked 
 individual liberty for himself and burghers with the 
 right to keep their horses and possessions and return 
 to their farms, which General Hunter also refused to 
 concede, and on July 26, he surrendered unconditionally, 
 with 980 men and one Krupp gun. Driscoll's scouts en- 
 tered Fouriesburg under General Paget on the twenty- 
 sixth, and the English reported this as a great victory, 
 quoting the number of prisoners at 5,000, and Prinsloo 
 is said to have stated that his burghers forced him to 
 surrender, which is probably untrue, in view of the fact 
 that De Wet abandoned him and his force to their fate, 
 thereby clearly indicating his estimate of both general 
 and men. 
 
 A few days later, Pieter De Wet, a brother of General 
 Christian De Wet, rode from his farm with his staff 
 into Kroonstad, and gave up his arms. Christian had 
 long despaired of Pieter, as lacking the qualities neces- 
 sary for a soldier or a patriot, and their relationship 
 had been strained for some time on account of jealousy 
 on the part of Pieter, in regard to the preferment of his 
 brother in the matter of command. 
 
 Broadwood took up a position in High Hills, seven 
 miles from the Vaal and close to Reitzburg to prevent 
 
 245 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 De Wet from crossing the Vaal into the South African 
 Republic. Methuen arrived at Potchefstroom on July 
 28 with the same object, watching Schoeman's Drift in 
 the river. With De Wet was President Steyn who de- 
 sired to consult with the heads of the Transvaal gov- 
 ernment, in the eastern part of that state, and the duty 
 of escorting him to the safe guardianship of the Trans- 
 vaal troops, De Wet would entrust to none, and it con- 
 sequently devolved on himself, and the chances of his 
 responsibility caused him grave concern for the safety 
 of the chief magistrate. 
 
 The British infantry troops made extraordinary 
 marches in this pursuit, the Shropshire regiment being 
 reported to have done forty-three miles in thirty-two 
 hours and the city Imperial volunteers thirty miles in 
 seventeen hours, but De Wet, after resting his horses 
 a week succeeded in forcing a passage through De Wet's 
 Drift in the river. He had not had an opportunity to 
 mount the men who had lost their horses, or replenish 
 his transport, and therefore he had no choice but to sacri- 
 fice two guns and thirty men as prisoners on the passage, 
 but notwithstanding the straits he was reduced to, he 
 succeeded in crossing the Potchefstroom-Krugersdorp 
 Railroad, at Welverdriend five days later. When march- 
 ing north he tried the passage at Commando Nek, but 
 found it in possession of Baden-Powell. The horses 
 belonging to his command were dreadfully exhausted 
 and giving out daily, and fearing an attack in this 
 dilemma, he resorted to a clever ruse. Sending a mes- 
 senger in under a flag of truce, he demanded the im- 
 mediate surrender of the English commander, but did 
 not take the trouble to wait for a reply, simply directing 
 the bearer where to rejoin him and immediately started 
 with his exhausted army to make a detour of the obstruc- 
 
 246 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 tion. Colonel Baden-Powell, either awed, or overcome 
 by his sense of humor, replied, asking on what terms 
 he would be permitted to surrender, but De Wet did not 
 receive the answer until he was safely scurrying east in 
 the rear of the hero of Mafeking, and when that com- 
 mander inquired into his failure to receive an answer, he 
 found his slim opponent had once again given them the 
 slip. 
 
 De Wet arrived on the Crocodile river on August 19, 
 where he relinquished his charge of the President to 
 General De la Rey who safely escorted him to the seat 
 of the government at Machadodorp. On this day, De 
 Wet was within fifteen miles of Pretoria, at a picnic 
 resort named Wonderboom, but on a demonstration by 
 the British, he fell back on the Bushveldt, to the Pyra- 
 mids. The object of his mission, namely to convey the 
 President in safety through the British lines, having 
 been accomplished, he rtcrossed the railroad at Bank 
 Station, between Welverdriend and Krugersdorp, where 
 he captured a supply train of provisions bound to 
 Methuen at Potchefstroom. After burning the train and 
 destroying the railroad and telegraph communications, he 
 continued south across the Vaal into the Free State, 
 closely followed by Colonel McKinnon, who had made, 
 up to August 24, the phenomenal march in pursuit, of 
 224 miles in fourteen days, and yet had not come within 
 touch of the elusive Boers. 
 
 Roberts cabled to England that De Wet's force had 
 been broken up and consisted of 300 men, but we next 
 hear of the indefatigable leader on the Vet river, where, 
 in a bold attempt to destroy the railroad bridge, he en- 
 countered General MacDonald, of Majuba and Omdur- 
 man fame, with his Highland brigade, who captured 
 thirty wagons from the Repubhcans, and forced him to 
 
 24Z 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 retreat into the northeast of the state. Both forces, pur- 
 suers and pursued being thoroughly worn, now recu- 
 perated. De Wet was tired out, but so were all the 
 columns available for pursuit. The only move of im- 
 portance before both combatants settled down to a 
 month's rest, was a British advance on the towns of 
 Reitz, Linley and Heilbron, which they reoccupied on 
 August 26, driving the Republicans west, where later 
 President Steyn rejoined the burghers after his con- 
 ference at Machadodorp, having returned on the southern 
 circuit through Barberton and Standerton, and the 
 Orange Free State capital was reestablished at Essen- 
 bosch, northeast of Bothaville. 
 
 " De Wet's army was destroyed, lost, De Wet himself 
 wandering aimlessly about with only a body-guard for a 
 following. De Wet had become insane." Such were 
 the statements cabled to the four points of the earth by 
 the English, and repeated and reiterated time and again. 
 The fact is, the pace kept up during the previous three 
 months had grown unendurable to any mortal and they 
 were mutually satisfied to settle down for a month of 
 well-understood truce. In the month so spent, except 
 for short trips by small patrols to Rhenoster river, the 
 territory of Bothaville, and Vredefort, no movement of 
 any importance transpired on the Republican side, and 
 the enemy were too busy repairing the damaged railroads, 
 revictualing the army, and gathering its resources for 
 the spring campaign, besides watching the Republican 
 armies in the north to go out of the way to hunt trouble 
 with De Wet. The resting ground chosen by the Free 
 Staters supplied warmth and good grazing for the stock, 
 and as a result, De Wet was the first to become active. 
 On October 5, he opened up the spring campaign by, 
 
 248 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 making a demonstration against Vredefort, held by the 
 Canadians under Colonel Lisle. De Wet's command, far 
 from being destroyed or lost, consisted as usual, of 1,500 
 men and five guns, for which number he seemed to have 
 a peculiar attachment. The demonstration developed 
 what De Wet wanted to know, which was, in what 
 proximity the English columns available for relief were 
 to each other and being satisfied he could do no im- 
 mediate good in this region, he swung round, crossed 
 the railroad without doing any damage, and dashing to- 
 ward Lindley, forced the British garrison on October 
 9, to retreat on Kroonstad, following and sniping the 
 column all the way, inflicting severe loss. Recrossing 
 the railroad and striking north, five days later he sur- 
 prised and captured a detachment of Cheshires at Reitz- 
 burg, all of whom he immediately released after dis- 
 arming them. 
 
 The scouts reported a large body of the enemy coming 
 from the east, and at once he set out for Parys, near 
 the Vaal, intending to swing around the force and attack 
 their rear, but Knox, who had been duped so many times 
 became wise, and as a consequence, De Wet found him- 
 self at bay at Frederickstadt on November 27. After 
 some spirited skirmishing he broke away with a loss of 
 two guns and five wagons, going to Geneva south of Sand 
 river, and capturing there a mail train and ninety pris- 
 oners. Then he turned his hand to destroying the rail- 
 road and telegraph communications, and being unmo- 
 lested, took his time, until interrupted by a strong force, 
 when he moved away to the northwest. On November 
 8, south of Bothaville, he encountered another force, pre- 
 sumably under De Lisle. There was no doubt they were 
 after him, and the urgent necessity for horses impressed 
 
 2.49 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 him with the wisdom of care. Therefore he struck across 
 the state for the south where Hertzog and Fourie were 
 operating. 
 
 This movement did not at once occasion any surprise, 
 because it was not understood, but no sooner had it be- 
 come so than it created consternation among the Im- 
 perials, and columns were, without loss of time set in 
 motion, to foil what they believed to be a threatened 
 invasion of the Cape Colony. To some extent this 
 suspicion had ground, but De Wet's object was to pro- 
 cure badly needed remounts, which he did by crossing the 
 Orange river in spite of the columns, two weeks later, and 
 joining Hertzog, who had made it his business to com- 
 mandeer all the horses he could lay his hands on. On 
 his return one of a cordon of columns, tried to head 
 him off with temporary success, but on November 21 he 
 found a passage between Warringham's Store and Alex- 
 andria, and with his force augmented to 2,300 men by 
 Hertzog, he rapidly moved north and surprised in a night 
 attack his birthplace, De Wetsdorp, which was garrisoned 
 by the Irish rifles and Highland Infantry, and with the 
 capture of the force he made good his two guns lost 
 to Knox some time previous. 
 
 Knox, on the railroad at Edenburg, south of Bloem- 
 fontein, started to avenge this daring attack, and he drove 
 De Wet south to Rouxville, in the extreme southeast of 
 the state. Outdistancing his pursuers with the intention 
 of crossing the Caledon river and again moving north, 
 De Wet got into the triangle formed by the junction of 
 that and the Orange river, but from the wet weather, 
 both the rivers were swollen, and, as the enemy now 
 declared, impassable, and again they were sure they had 
 him. After several attempts he essayed Karriepont 
 Drift, on the Orange river, then tried the Commissie 
 
 250 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 bridge on the Caledon but failing to force a passage 
 at either, he crossed at a drift lower down, and imme- 
 diately flew north gathering on December lo, 120 of 
 Brabant's horse, on his way, whom he disarmed and 
 turned loose, the horses making a welcome addition to 
 his equipment. Hotly followed, he met on December 12, 
 the British forces from the north, fifteen miles east of 
 Thabu N'Chu, and his position again began to become 
 serious. He found himself completely surrounded by 
 overwhelming numbers, holding strong position in the 
 hills on every side. Never before had the British a more 
 propitious opportunity to make good their oft-repeated 
 reports of the capture of De Wet, but the dashing leader 
 was equal to the occasion, and abandoning his heavy 
 wagons, he made, with his horsemen, a feint in force 
 at one of their strongest positions, when, suddenly wheel- 
 ing, the 2,500 men, with their artillery, led by President 
 Steyn, Fourie and Hertzog, dashed in between two forts 
 on separate hills. De Wet, the last man, watching the 
 safety of his men, succeeded in reaching safety with the 
 loss of but one gun and twenty-five men, in this splendid 
 charge, and once clear he quickly made his way to Win- 
 burg, leaving his enemy behind at Senekal. 
 
 De Wet was again free. Aided by his lieutenants he 
 has since tirelessly followed every advantage within rea- 
 sonable measure of safety. For two years he has har- 
 assed the British with success, inflicting tremendous 
 losses with a minimum to himself. He changes his field 
 of operations whenever hard pressed or the country fails 
 to support him, forcing the English to continually extend 
 the area of their activities until their operations have 
 degenerated into a round of hurried visits, no place being 
 eflfectually occupied outside the principal depots. He re- 
 duced the enemy's garrisons over an enormous territory 
 
 251 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 to the point of a nervous tension wKich precluded any- 
 thing but the necessity of defense. 
 
 As observed by an American newspaper, " the many 
 attempts of the British generals to verify the reports of 
 their commander-in-chief that De Wet was surrounded 
 and had no guns, always proved that he was well sup- 
 plied with these weapons, and was thoroughly conversant 
 with their use." His success can be brieily summarized as 
 first, an absence of unwieldy transport, second, the power 
 of accepting success or defeat with an even grace, a 
 virtue shared by his force, third, his capacity to subsist 
 good-naturedly on whatever happened to be available in 
 the matter of food, officers and men emulating him, living 
 for days on mealies eaten dry from the ear, or boiled 
 in water without salt, varied occasionally by such other 
 food as his men foraged and the game of the country 
 supplied, but above all, his splendid corps of scouts, 
 who did most of their work at night, never faiUng to 
 report any movement within forty miles. Beyond this 
 what has probably played the most important part in his 
 operations, has been his fine rear-guard actions, enabling 
 his transports to get a start, and his ability to disband 
 his entire army on short notice with instructions to as- 
 semble three, five, or ten days later at a given point. Each 
 unit confident of De Wet's judgment, was willing and 
 anxious to make the rendezvous by their different routes, 
 mutually exchanging notes and congratulations on the 
 conclusion of the strategy. The knowledge of this 
 manoeuvre, frequently used, effectually disposed of the 
 reports so persistently circulated, that De Wet terrorized 
 over his men. 
 
 This silent, usually austere, farmer needed only this 
 occasion to develop the military genius lying dormant 
 under his rough exterior. As it now stands, he has 
 
 252 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 baffled tfie ablest and most proficient masters in tHe mili- 
 tary science, that the British army has been able to send 
 against him, and by wearing out, with 2,000 men the total 
 number of columns available for mobile action, in the 
 Free State, in a hot campaign over a treeless country, 
 he has demonstrated that an army need not be accepted 
 as whipped until it is captured. 
 
 As a companion, De Wet is complete, the soldier being 
 out of evidence, except in actual conflict. When neces- 
 sity called for it, he is known to have shared his food, 
 and even his clothes, with protesting members of his 
 command. He supplied his prisoners with the best treat- 
 ment and food in his power, believing that the kindness 
 would return to his people by the acts being reported to 
 the civilized world, the only door he possessed to the mil- 
 lions watching the unequal struggle. He has an un- 
 bounded faith in the justice of his cause and the ultimate 
 triumph of the Republic, with a sensitive regard for the 
 opinions of the enemy, and an almost childlike delight 
 in the eulogies his brilliant campaigns have called forth. 
 He treated the base untruths of inhumanity with the un- 
 quenchable humor that never failed him, which bubbled 
 over in the most critical positions, when, to one less 
 sincere, the danger to himself and command would have 
 precluded any levity. He took all advice offered until 
 the time for action arrived, when the real commander 
 was in evidence, giving his orders promptly and de- 
 cisively, with confidence in his own judgment, and brook- 
 ing no opposition. 
 
 As an illustration, in March, 1901, the British sent 
 to De Wet three envoys from Kroonstad, who were to 
 scatter proclamations, and do their utmost to influence 
 the rank and file to lay down arms and surrender. These 
 three faithfuls were Andries Wessels, Morgandal and 
 
 253 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 Walker, the latter an Englishman naturalized in tfic 
 Orange Free State. Had the position been reversed no 
 reader would need to be told what kind of fate these 
 men met. Two at least were known to be spies and 
 English sympathizers. De Wet, upon discovering their 
 mission placed them under arrest. Morgandal was 
 tried and executed, evidence being foimd on him to war- 
 rant this act of war. Wessels was retained and kept 
 under guard, while Walker, given every facility for doing 
 so, made his escape back to his employers. In spite of 
 Wessels writing to inform the British commander that 
 Walker had escaped and he was retained by the Re- 
 publicans, horrible accounts were cabled by Lord Kitch- 
 ener to London, giving the killing of all three envoys 
 as an assured fact, and filling in the details of their 
 torture and death, with no other object than to work 
 on the sympathy of the foreign world. The envoy's 
 story was a fabrication intended to justify, when the time 
 arrived, the wholesale murder of these farmers, who had 
 handled thousands of British prisoners with considera- 
 tion and mercy. A month later, when Lord Kitchener 
 imagined he had De Wet corralled in the fork of the 
 Caledon and Orange rivers, he issued orders to give no 
 quarter, and although we are aware that Mr. Richard 
 Cartwright, the editor of the South African News, Cape 
 Town, has been sent to prison because he failed to pro- 
 duce documentary evidence in support of the same state- 
 ment, we modestly beg leave to reiterate it. 
 
 On October 20, six months later, Lord Kitchener, as 
 an afterthought, cabled that it was a mistake, and that 
 two of the envoys sent to the Boers were alive and im- 
 harmed, practically admitting he had been guilty of gross 
 exaggeration. Discussion was in active progress in the 
 British official circles and press, as to the best manner 
 
 254 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 of disposing of De Wet, and the hope, at first only 
 breathed, that he should be killed, was later openly 
 avowed, giving it a tone of public opinion. Yet it excites 
 wonder that this order should emanate from a commander 
 of a great army, whose soldiers, for eighteen months past 
 had been surrendering by hundreds with an approximate 
 loss of two per cent, confident of kind treatment and free- 
 dom from abuse. The latter six months they did their 
 best to avoid even this two per cent, by giving up whole- 
 sale, with little or no resistance, well knowing the Re- 
 publicans had no facilities for keeping them and that they 
 would soon be returned uninjured to their friends, and 
 this murderous order was directed against the brave, 
 humane leader, who was responsible for fifty per cent 
 of these captures. As related by an English commis- 
 sioned officer, the men who had been through De Wet's 
 hands, " sickened at heart when they heard the command, 
 and is it a wonder, we felt glad when, by his splendid 
 strategy, he evaded the massacre?" No matter how it 
 affected their own fortunes, they thought so chivalrous a 
 foe deserved a better fate. Patriotic Englishmen can 
 blush for the good name of the country made odious 
 by this war. 
 
 We have endeavored to outline the career of De Wet, 
 the remarkable and ideal citizen-soldier. Now for a short 
 retrospect of the former peaceful farmer. Although De 
 Wet indicates Holland Dutch parentage, he is, by descent, 
 two-thirds Huguenot. Son of Pieter Jacobus De Wet, a 
 voortrekker from the Cape Colony, he was born forty- 
 nine years ago at De Wetsdorp, on the site of the present 
 township of that name, presented by his father to the 
 government of the Orange Free State. In height, five 
 feet ten, broad-shouldered, his face is square-set and 
 heavy, with short, scraggy, iron-grey, black beard, and 
 
 255 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 eyes ever alert. He is a silent man, with unexpected out- 
 bursts of good-humor, and though usually preoccupied, 
 is quick and methodical in action. His education was 
 only such as the limited facilities of a wild, undeveloped 
 country afforded, and consequently, his early youth, ex- 
 cept for farm duties, and occasional incursions of war- 
 like natives, was uneventful. At a little over twenty, 
 he purchased a farm in the Carolina district of the South 
 African Republic, where he went to live, and shortly 
 after, he was returned as member of the Volksraad for 
 that district. The next we hear of him was in "Si, when 
 at the age of twenty-nine, he was appointed veldkomet 
 and served in that capacity in the first war of independ- 
 ence. On the conclusion of peace, he returned to the 
 Orange Free State and took up his abode near Heilbron, 
 on Rooival, the farm which he purchased. Later, he was 
 returned to the Orange Free State Volksraad for the dis- 
 trict of his birthplace, De Wetsdorp, and occupied his 
 seat in the National Legislature, until '97, when he re- 
 signed for the purpose of contesting the seat for the 
 district where he lived, but the war intervened, and the 
 election never occurred. A father of six children, he 
 carried three sons and two nephews with him into the 
 field, who continue to be his constant companions. When 
 the relations between the South African Republic and 
 Great Britain became strained to the breaking point, and 
 war seemed inevitable, he made a hurried visit to Pre- 
 toria and urged President Kruger to lose no time in 
 forcing the British government to show its hand. He 
 stuck close to the old man, and was probably the most 
 strenuous advocate of the so-called ultimatum. 
 
 From here on, owing to the large number of flying 
 columns and patrols on both sides, scattered over an 
 ever-increasing area, each hunting the other at one time, 
 
 356 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 or being in turn hunted, the difficulty of guiding the 
 reader through the rapid change of events will be ap- 
 preciated. We could only write in a general manner, 
 for at times, in so far as being an aggressive factor, the 
 Boers are non-existent. We do not mean to suggest 
 that organized resistance on the part of the Republicans 
 is at an end, or that it has degenerated into what is com- 
 monly known as guerrilla warfare, indeed, we strongly 
 object to the latter term being applied to the Boer meth- 
 ods at any stage of the hostilities. Even now it is 
 true that De Wet and other leaders, such as Botha, De 
 la Rey, Ben Viljoen, and Kritzinger have resorted, 
 through expediency, to new tactics, but they have been 
 entirely of their own creation without precedence in the 
 annals of other countries. Events have shown that there 
 never was a time when concentration for combined action 
 justified it, that the forces necessary were not, at short 
 notice, at the point desired. The Boers have given to 
 the world an example of heroism unsurpassed. They 
 have taught an entirely new lesson in the art of national 
 citizen defense. They have demonstrated that the " born 
 soldier " is a reality, not an euphemism. Why, then, now 
 withhold from them that well-merited modicum of praise 
 which nations yet unborn will gratefully bestow? Why 
 call their splendid resistance " guerrilla warfare " with 
 the implied dishonor affixed? Why, indeed, not call it 
 the "new warfare," or Boer warfare? It cannot be 
 denied that the example has already borne fruit. Which 
 of the great nations would now care to enter upon the 
 conquest of a smaller one for spoils with that equanimity 
 of two and a half years ago? And for the preservation 
 of the smaller race, and comfort of the prospective con- 
 queror to whom are we indebted? 
 De Wet, at intervals, for reasons of his own, or when 
 
 25^ 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 hard pressed by battalions sometimes aggregating 30,000, 
 divides his force into two bodies numbering from five to a 
 hundred. Raids and counter-raids by flying columns, 
 captures and recaptures of towns, have followed with 
 certain succession, garrisons are constantly captured and 
 turned loose, after being disarmed, numerous others have 
 been forced to evacuate their post, followed and sniped 
 at, until they found refuge in some more strongly forti- 
 fied depot. Because the Boer has few cannon in the 
 field besides those in safe keeping, somewhere beneath 
 the earth, to say that he is a bandit is 'as unjust as it 
 is absurd. At least British soldiers know that the Boer, 
 without a cannon, is a most dangerous foe as he has a 
 sure and certain manner of getting at short range with- 
 out notice. As a matter of fact, experience has taught, 
 that extreme mobility of the character now used by the 
 Boer generals precludes any but light field-weapons. 
 
 We have endeavored to follow as closely as possible 
 the course of this great struggle. But since we left the 
 scene of action, the authentic reports are so tangled and 
 vague, that it is impossible to do more than generalize. 
 Up to the period chronicled the facts are from personal 
 observation or close knowledge of detail gained from 
 association with the participants, and we have no hesi- 
 tation in offering the substance herein contained as a 
 statement of things as they were. 
 
 England now insists that the war is over and the 
 country conquered, while hourly adopting more strenu- 
 ous methods to subdue the inhabitants. Weekly they 
 ship fresh troops to replace the war-worn men in the 
 field and monthly the effectually occupied territory be- 
 comes less, until there now remains in South Africa but 
 a thin strip on the coast wherein the British troops are 
 safe beyond their fortifications. 
 
 258 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 The English generals seeking approbation from a crit- 
 ical foreign public, have considered no alleged outrage 
 too contemptible to cable the world over, while a battery 
 is lost or a company decimated with barely a press 
 notice. They have destroyed the property of these pa- 
 triots as rebels and placed ropes around their necks as 
 traitors. 
 
 Hence, with a weekly expenditure of seven million 
 dollars and an army six thousand miles from its base of 
 supplies England continues to wage a war against these 
 men ; who have seen their houses burnt, stock seized, and 
 families driven to the hills, or herded in the deathly 
 reconcentrado camps, to die at a rate of mortality that 
 practically means the extermination of the women and 
 children of their race in three years. 
 
 Is it not reasonable to suppose that these people now 
 living on the land with everything to gain by continued 
 resistance and all lost by surrender should remain in the 
 field with the determination to win that independence 
 so much desired, hoping in the darkest hour to carry the 
 war to ultimate success, and yet build a republic on the 
 ruins of their homes and the graves of their kindred, to 
 rival that of any self-governed country in the world? 
 
 Fighting as a nation, for an assailed military honor, 
 England has reduced the situation to a condition that if 
 she wins the country she loses, for by the attempted con- 
 quest she has increased her large national debt a fourth 
 in the past two years. It has cost her a billion and a half 
 dollars to war against two republics that only had a 
 combined white population of 250,000 souls. With 
 this great amount of treasure wasted, with a loss of 
 100,000 men and a steadily increasing list of casualties, 
 England's statesmen refuse to grasp the hopelessness of 
 the conquest, or recognize that the war has sown seeds 
 
 259 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 of hatred that would make the assimilation of the races 
 under their government impossible. 
 
 No pen can adequately describe the struggles of these 
 people or the physical torture they have endured for 
 the past two years. Hunted like wolves for months, ex- 
 posed to all weathers, barefooted, and with insufficient 
 food, their endurance has been remarkable. 
 
 The authors of this work hope that they have, in their 
 attempt to portray the struggle of these people touched 
 a responsive chord in the heart of the reader, whose sym- 
 pathy will go forth to these patriots in their distress. 
 
 If such an object has been attained we trust that it 
 will be the cause of some practical outcome toward these 
 true Republicans and in such, we shall feel our labor 
 has been abundantly repaid. 
 
 260 
 
Chapter XVIII 
 
 A chapter of brief deductions on modern war — ^Artillery — Shrap- 
 nel — Mobility — Heavy guns — ^A mounted infantryman — Scouts 
 —Necessity of good shooting — Balloons — Barbed wire — A sug- 
 gestion for American military experts in their own country. 
 
 IN the early part of the war the pronounced superiority 
 of the quick»&re"Crcusot -guns over the British 
 ArnistroBg was necessarily a subject of self con- 
 gratulation to the Federals. When Villebois Muriel, the 
 French colonel, informed us that the modern French 
 field-gun was as far ahead of our Creusot as the Creusot 
 was ahead of the Armstrong, we felt a great respect for 
 the modern French artillery. It took the Boer artillery- 
 man little time to discover that the utmost range of the 
 Armstrong was 3,500 yards, and with a range of 4,200 
 yards for their quick-fire Krupp, and upwards of 5,000 
 for their Creusot, they were not slow to take advantage 
 of the situation and harass the British artillery unmerci- 
 fully, until the arrival of the naval twelve pounders and 
 the 4.7 guns, which introduced the habit of firing at 
 everything within four or five miles, a matter of consid- 
 erable discomfort to our previously jubilant burghers. 
 
 In point of numbers of cannon, the British had the 
 best always. But their shrapnel shell was not so destruct- 
 ive as that of the Republicans, after the time fuse had 
 been perfected. The first shrapnel used by the British 
 was out of date, but that used later, had a very narrow 
 distribution, probably on account of an overcharge. Un- 
 less exploded high it would tear a swath in the turf 
 barely six inches wide and twenty-five feet long, striking 
 with unnecessary force, but seldom doing any damage. 
 They also tried a shrapnel which was to discharge its 
 
 261 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 contents from the rear of the shell, with the object of 
 " firing back " over a position, at an enemy in trenches 
 protected only on one side. These shells could be easily 
 distinguished from the noise they made on explosion, the 
 cap falling off beneath the point of discharge, but we 
 never heard of any dangerous result from their use. 
 
 The mobility of a gun i_s the key to artillery practice. 
 The power to move to or from a threatened position, 
 covering the entire area with one gun, formed one of 
 the features of Boer success. A commando, probably 
 possessing but one gun, on taking a position, would 
 place the field piece where the officer thought it would 
 be the most effectual, but at the same time, stands were 
 sought, excavated, and fortified in the numerous other 
 positions which it might be thought necessary to defend. 
 In this manner, with tireless artillerymen, every point 
 would give the impression to the enemy, of containing 
 artillery. _A positioii,-J)£CQming known by- the .fla^h of 
 the gun would call down the concentrated. firfiZof the 
 British cannon upon it, which only causedjhe gun to 
 be moved and operated from a more favorable location 
 while the enemy continued to bombard the former place, 
 satisfied that they had at least silenced one gun. 
 
 The flash of a gun and dust of the recoil is the only 
 means of locating the position of a modem smokeless 
 gun. Baden-Powell used the ingenious idea of shooting 
 through a blanket to avoid the flash and thereby disguise 
 the positions of his battery. The Boers never imitated 
 this example, but they well might, for in this respect the 
 enterprising colonel's idea contains most practical sense. 
 
 The British field drill with artillery was always a sub- 
 ject of admiration to the burghers, and the effect of per^ 
 feet discipline was much in evidence, but for practica- 
 bility, when the ragged, ungroomed mules were hitched 
 
 262 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 to the Boer gun, they were seldom caught, except by a 
 chance shot disabling the team. Outriders were aban- 
 doned early in the war, and the team was driven in a 
 long swinging trot by rein from the limber, and a twelve- 
 foot whip stock. In cases of emergency, the artillery 
 crew, mounted on horseback would aid in forcing the 
 mules into a gallop by riding on both sides of the team, 
 and in this manner they would keep up for two or three 
 hours in succession, with a command going ten miles an 
 hour. A flying column in a gallop thus accompanied, 
 was most inspiring, the feet of the many horses beating 
 a rhythm to the clang of the gun until the threatened 
 danger by pursuit or flanking was outdistanced. 
 
 The ordinary heavy field ordnance has to be separated 
 from its firing bearings to transport it, but a weapon of 
 great utility with large movements is a heavy gun with 
 which this is not necessary. The British 4.7 guns were 
 equipped this way _but.weie_very curnbersome to move, 
 requiring" thirty-two span of oxen. The Boer Tix-inch 
 Creusot gun had to be transshipped, and the tripod being 
 high and easily discernible, the £nemy always knew 
 when the gun was coming into, or^ going out of action. 
 This caused it to be the object of fire that was not only 
 dangerous but liable to injure the tripod, thereby com- 
 pletely crippling and probably causing the abandonment 
 of the gun. 
 
 Traction engines may now be used between railroad 
 depots and camps as we have before observed. It is, 
 however, doubtful whether they will be found practicable 
 on a protracted march, as the average engine requires 
 water every two miles. Drawing their own coal, it is 
 possible to keep pace with an infantry march, but in the 
 positions it is found necessary to now place the guns in a 
 hurried defense, manual labor or draught animals are 
 
 263 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 the only practical power. A traction engine would be as 
 lost and helpless as a gun. 
 
 The most effectual gun used in the war was the. maxim 
 Vickers, firing a shell a little over a pound in weight. 
 This was a most exasperating weapon, accurate, fast , 
 and not likely to get out of order. It is built on a light 
 carriage and is extremely mobile, capable of being placed 
 in almost any position, able to accompany flying columns 
 wherever a horse could travel, and up to 3,300 yards, 
 tremendously demoralizing to an advancing or retreat- 
 ing force. Howitzers of large calibres are much to be 
 dreaded on account of their trajectory, making any re- 
 laxation behind the trenches in a protracted siege almost 
 impossible. The Colt Automatic gun used by the British, 
 on account of its inclination to jam, was not pronounced 
 a success. 
 
 From our deductions, made in this conflict, the success- 
 ful aggressiveness, of the future in open territory, will 
 be operated in mobile columns and guided by efficient 
 scouts. For such movements, the heaviest field ordnance 
 should be discountenanced for a compromise between the 
 small calibre Colt Automatic gun, and the Vickers- 
 maxim. Such a weapon, employed during rapid descents, 
 would carry consternation. in to„the ranks of infantry, and 
 prove demoralizing even to artillery within the range for 
 which it is intended. It should be an autornatjc ^ick- 
 fire, with telescopic sight, constructed of thejyjest, gun- 
 metal, somewhat on the principle of the Colt, and as 
 light as safety, compatible with being carried on a horse 
 or mule would warrant. The gun must be easily as- 
 sembled and dissembled, and made to be handled in ac- 
 tion, mounted on a pair of light wheels or a tripod, the 
 calibre about forty-five, the bullets solid steel of the 
 armor-piercing pattern, about one inch and a half long, 
 
 264 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 and the range not less than 3,000 yards. Such a weapon 
 will be found quite practical, with a proportionate 
 strengthening of the barrel, and tlie cartridge lengthened, 
 thereby making allowance for the heavy charge necessary 
 to propel the projectile the desired distance. It is known 
 that concentrated Mauser fire, has been able within 1,000 
 yards' range, to silence batteries of field artillery, so it 
 will be clearly seen that the possibilities of this weapon 
 as outlined, it is difficult to over estimate. It would 
 render a column almost immune from pursuit, and in a 
 night attack it would do terrible execution before the 
 demoralization could be remedied. Mounted in the fight- 
 ing top of a ship such a gun would be a model, as its 
 solid steel projectile, fired with great velocity would 
 penetrate all steel not over an inch and a half in thick- 
 ness. 
 
 Having reference to artillery it does not seem to be 
 appreciated by military students that shell of the high 
 explosive order of lyddite might be made more destruc- 
 tive by arming them with an element of uncertainty. 
 For instance, if a number of shells were fired at an 
 entrenched garrison, or even on the field, timed to ex- 
 plode at different periods of from five seconds to ten 
 minutes after landing, it would create consternation 
 among troops. It will only be necessary for one or two 
 to be exploded unexpectedly, to make them an object of 
 terror. Of the Republicans killed by shell fire, more have 
 fallen victims to shell accidentally exploding after they 
 descended than any other. Apart from the terrible con- 
 cussion, the present lyddite shell is not very effective in 
 the field, for while it stains the skin, creates nausea, and 
 its gas asphyxiates, besides setting dry grass on fire, 
 it invariably destroys by blowing to pieces the very ma- 
 terial with which it is proposed to do the damage. 
 
 265 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 There is a good deal to be desired in the improvement 
 of shells. The shrapnel of the English inflicts a severe 
 wound, because of its dimension, but the shell contains 
 a limited quantity, and consequently hits but few. If a 
 piece of quarter-inch iron, perfectly square were to be 
 cut off by quarter-inches and packed solid into a shrapnel 
 shell, the wound inflicted would be little worse than that 
 of the present, but the damage to the enemy would be 
 about five times as great, because of the wider zone. 
 
 It is a peculiar fact that nearly every army has adopted 
 different methods of arming, drilling and organizing 
 their mounted troops. The American regular army 
 comes nearer our idea of perfection than any previously 
 brought forward, but we would much like to give our 
 views from deductions drawn in this war. Necessarily 
 we advocate as many as possible mounted men in any 
 form of warfare, loiitside of permanent fortifications, to 
 be composed of mounted infantrymen, armed with a 
 heavy calibre revolver, or one with a small calibre, using 
 an expansive bullet, and a three-quarter rifle, to be fitted 
 with telescopic sights. Something to take the place of 
 the unwieldy shovel carried by the British engineers, is 
 urgently needed, and we propose to supply the want by 
 having the butt of every rifle capped with a finely tem- 
 pered, adjustable steel hook, so fitted with a strong steel 
 handle that it could be taken out and used for levering 
 stones not too heavy, and arranged so that the discarding 
 of the tool would not render the rifle butt the less com- 
 fortable for the shoulder. 
 
 If no form of soft-nose or expansive bullet is used, the 
 calibre of the English Lee-Metford 303, is none too 
 small to give it a decisive stopping power, the present 
 adopted Boer Mauser, 270 calibre losing much in this 
 case. If warfare is to be waged ruthlessly for the quick- 
 
 266 
 
o 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 est and most convincing results, nothing can supersede 
 the soft-nosed bullet, which combines the two essential 
 qualities of lightness and destructiveness, and is prefer- 
 able in being more accurate than the ordinary dum-dum, 
 for the reason of its perfect spherical shape following 
 the pattern of the nickel-coated bullet, avoiding the air- 
 resisting or snub-nosed model, which is necessarily de- 
 ficent in accuracy and penetration. Of this ammunition 
 it is practicable for a mounted man to carry from two to 
 four hundred rounds without fatigue to himself or his 
 horse, and obviating the lack of ammunition so much 
 to be deplored when the emergency arrives. Bandoliers 
 and belts seem the easiest method of carrying the ammu- 
 nition, each stowing sixty cartridges. They are con- 
 venient in action and easily disposed of or donned in 
 moments of inaction. Any amount considered necessary 
 over two hundred rounds, could be carried in bags, in 
 the saddle pockets, to be attached to the belt when re- 
 quired. 
 
 There is no method now known that can equal the 
 Mauser clip for rapidity in reloading, the Lee-Metford 
 being as far behind that gun in this point as the Krag- 
 Jorgensen is behind the Lee-Metford. For saddles the 
 American fork or tree should be used, being more dur- 
 able, commodious and healthful for the horse's back, and 
 fitted with the American wooden stirrup in preference 
 to the thin iron hoop used by the European cavalry, 
 which would obviate all danger of a wounded man being 
 dragged when unhorsed, and give the feet both warmth 
 and comfort. To the saddle a leather bucket on the 
 right side and slung level with the stirrup, in which 
 to place the butt of the gun on going into action, 
 saves the mounted man from carrying his weapon across 
 the saddle and bears much of the weight. To carry 
 
 367 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 on horseback for many hours a weapon slung to the 
 shoulders is both tiresome and inconvenient. 
 
 Swords for both officers and men^should be entirely 
 discarded, the officefs~3eing~grven Jhe preference of 
 carrying a carbine or only directing the_fij:e-otJ^nien 
 with his field glasses, of which there should always be a 
 few pair with each expedition in scouting. These corps 
 should be drilled in smallbodies, great care Jjemgjexer- 
 cised to obtain responsible non-commissioned officers, 
 able to take complete charge and act decisively whenever 
 they became in any way isolated with their troop from 
 their superior officer. The men should be taught to 
 operate independently in small bodies without relying on 
 outside aid, being drilled in charges for cover, hurried 
 dismounting, and care of horses before going in action, 
 the bridles of each four horses being tied with members 
 of the troop left in charge to attend to their needs, de- 
 tach wounded horses, or be prepared for sudden retreat 
 or any emergency that might transpire. 
 
 They should also be drilled in rudmientary_scouting, 
 trailing tracks, reading signs of smoke, dust or atnything 
 that denoted a foreign movement or presence. They 
 should be taught the value of care to a horse, such as 
 washing the backs, riding at ease without slouching, and 
 the cause and cure of incidental ailments, as colic, found- 
 ers, interfering, etc. 
 
 For equipment, khaki or dull green for both uniforms 
 and tents, fawn-colored felt hats, U. S. A. pattern, stout, 
 neat, high-cut waterproof shoes, to fasten with clasps,- 
 and surmounted with leather leggins (lined or not ac- 
 cording to climate) and also fastened with clasps to 
 economize time in washing, rest, etc. Breeches in sum- 
 mer and trousers in winter should be made with straps 
 and buckles at both hips to obviate the necessity of a 
 
 268 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 belt or suspender. This must not be thought to render 
 the belt unnecessary as we strongly recommend one. Let 
 it be of strong linen cord, so arranged that it can be un- 
 wound and made to do service as a picket line, or, with it 
 hitched to a light maxim, and made fast to the saddle the 
 troopers could gallop the gun out of action and danger. 
 Underclothing as needed, nothing of course being used 
 but natural, uncolored wool; a four-fold saddle blanket 
 capable of use as a horse blanket at night, and all leather 
 tan-colored to preserve the material. A full-length mili- 
 tary blanket to be carried behind the saddle, and also a 
 mackintosh coat lined, but light, and khaki-colored, the 
 blanket, before being fastened to the saddle, rolled in a 
 rubber sheet seven feet by three, of the same color. 
 Saddlebags, on the fore of the saddle should accommo- 
 date the rations carried, for which small canvas sacks 
 could be supplied for the different articles, and also an 
 emergency ration, made after the British model, com- 
 posed of a highly concentrated chocolate and beef, only 
 to be used in case of necessity. 
 
 Light, strong, two-wheeled carts drawn by two or 
 four mules should be available to carry into any position 
 found necessary, rations, ammunition, hand-maxims, or 
 medical comforts for the wounded, and capable of ac- 
 companying the command wherever desired, with suffi- 
 cient munitions to make that force independent of aught 
 but water and forage for three days, and able to retreat 
 as precipitately as the cavalry, if such a course was 
 expedient. 
 
 Having briefly told what we think the successful modem 
 unit must be, and not overlooking a stout jack-knife, and 
 well-covered enamel canteen, there is still a caution to 
 add: neither the man nor his horse should be loaded 
 with an ounce more than is necessary ! 
 
 269 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 Scouts will alwajs form one of the most important 
 features of modern warfare, as the entire relaxation of 
 an army depends on this part of the service being 
 efficient. There are different features to be contended 
 with in every country and climate, which would make 
 fixed rules for these men impossible, but there will al- 
 ways be a rudimentary training which is essential beyond 
 that advocated for the mounted infantrymen. For day 
 work scouts must be trained to recognize any track left 
 by man or animal, and to tell the approximate number 
 of wagons, guns, horsemen or infantry that have crossed 
 or traversed the route his duties assigned him to. He 
 should know about the period they had passed, their 
 probable starting point and destination, and be able to 
 follow, noting if any forces had reinforced them or been 
 detached. He should be capable of judging for the use 
 of the army, the water and grass in the territory he 
 traveled, and draw conclusions from all disturbances, 
 such as dust rising in the distance, the alarm of wild 
 animals, and domestic stock, particularly horses, and he 
 should know enough to read the significance of dead 
 camp-fires, judging from the camp the character of the 
 late occupants, if armed, with what weapons, whether 
 they had shot, whether they slept, how often they had 
 eaten, and with what stock they were accompanied, all 
 of which can be estimated by the traces in or around the 
 fire; broken bushes, the peculiarly different tires of 
 wagons and artillery, a dropped cartridge, and similar 
 observations, denoting indications to the scout, from 
 which chapters of incident may be drawn, telling of the 
 army to which the force belonged, and their probable 
 object in being thus isolated. Then there is the duty of 
 protecting an army on the march, watching every move- 
 ment in the van, on the flanks or in the rear ; the quickly- 
 
 270 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 gained knowledge of riding where he is the least con- 
 spicuous, yet keeping everything in his own view, avoid- 
 ing all contrasting background or prominent ridges, 
 where he is expected to scout by the enemy. Then, the 
 inevitable advance within the zone of the enemy's fire, 
 with a full knowledge of his existence, but with orders 
 to prove it. He advances by alternate paces of cautious- 
 ness and recklessness, expecting every moment to re- 
 ceive assurances of his foe's presence with a probable 
 fatal volley, yet he must continue until the volley has put 
 the point beyond doubt. Perhaps the hidden force permits 
 him to ride within two hundred yards, conscious of their 
 own immunity until the denouement could hardly end in 
 any other manner than casualty to himself or horse, yet 
 he is a scout, and scouts must ascertain the position of 
 the enemy. 
 
 Horses, well trained are a great aid in this service, 
 and they should be taught to lie or stand wherever left 
 alone. To overcome their habit of whinnying at night 
 when hearing other horses, they could wear a light per- 
 forated leather nose-bag or muzzle, which would restrain 
 such impulses, with a considerable increase in the peace 
 of mind of the scout, who would possibly be several 
 hundred yards away, listening to the conversation of the 
 enemy's picket. Night work is the most unpleasant but 
 much the most effectual, and it is as necessary at night 
 as by daylight, to avoid riding on skylines and any un- 
 necessary jingling equipment of the saddle or bridle. 
 With common sense and nerve, the night work offers 
 far more adequate return than that done by day, but we 
 should wish the reader to bear in mind that his horse is 
 the important feature in a case of getting away, and he 
 cannot lavish too much attention on this friend. When- 
 ever permissible, the saddle should be removed to rest 
 
 271 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 his back ; or the bit, to enable him to graze, as sucH dis- 
 comforts tend to make him restless, and consequently a 
 noisy and dangerous companion. When the scout has 
 attained the condition outlined, there remains another 
 accomplishment to complete his education. He must be 
 taught to understand and answer readily to a soundless 
 sign, in short schooled in a complete code of noiseless 
 and practically invisible signals. Firecrackers about a 
 half ounce in weight, making the sound of a rifle on 
 discharge, might be found very useful, supplied to scouts 
 for the purpose of lessening the danger to themselves at 
 night, while feeling an enemy's position and strength. 
 By being thrown from a catapult some distance from the 
 operator, they would help to withdraw a lire from them- 
 selves when heard indistinctly. With these points in 
 mind and a previous knowledge of weather indications, 
 and locality, an ordinary man can hope to be an eflScient 
 scout. 
 
 On the merits of rifles upon our impression, there is 
 very little to say, beyond that already treated. We 
 found the Krag-Jorgensen the best sighted, and up to 
 600 yards the most accurate, otherwise, it was the in- 
 ferior of the Mauser in every respect. The Mauser ac- 
 tion and reloading is the most rapid, but in its lock and 
 barrel inferior to the Lee-Metford. The perfect rifle, in 
 our opinion would be a combination between the Man- 
 lacher and the Lee-Metford, of the 303 calibre, the action 
 of the former with the lock and barrel of the latter, com- 
 bining the greatest accuracy and rapidity. The use of 
 the dum-dum does not seem to indicate that war is to 
 become more humane than it has been, and if the most 
 destructive ammunition is to be advocated, then we un- 
 hesitatingly suggest the soft-nose, or lead-tipped bullet, 
 with the nickel base. 
 
 272 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 Among the nations except England, there has been a 
 disposition to treal'lightlythe many lessons taught by 
 tHis"wair!!~Tt musFnot be thought froni anything we have 
 saicTthat the splendid defense of the citizens of the Re- 
 publics warrants the assumption that we advocate an en- 
 tire reliance on citizen-soldiers. On the contrary it is 
 probable that an efficient army lightly equipped, and. sub- 
 sisting on the country invaded, could considerably en- 
 croach on the resources of a nation, relying on citizens 
 for defense, before a condition of readiness could be 
 reached. A well-equipped and perfectly trained- skeleton 
 army is of paramount importance to any nation whose 
 territory offers the remotest possibility of successful in- 
 vasion, and this applies with special force to the United 
 States of America. Whatever their tactics no army can 
 succeed whose shooting is inferior to that of their oppo- 
 nents. The ideal soldier we have in mind must be taught 
 to shoot^raight at stationary or moving objects, and is 
 expected to hit those objects at distances of his own judg- 
 ment. A soldier's efficiency must not be judged on his 
 general bearing, or his precision in swinging his gun, 
 and marking time on drill. These, beyond the implied 
 manual training, are only secondary. If he is opposed 
 to one who shoots better, he will of a certainty perish. 
 In every army there could be grades for marksmen, and 
 inducements held out to every man by advancement and 
 money prizes. Practice incessantly throughout the year 
 is necessary, and no quantity of ammunition so expended 
 can be considered wasted. Mounted men should be re- 
 quired to gallop at full speed, suddenly dismount and 
 fire ten shots at a moving object without being told the 
 distance. If he make one hit, he is adjudged a marks- 
 man, and if two, three or four, his reward increased in 
 proportion, and placed in line of promotion over the less 
 
 273 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 skillful. We go further and recommend the adoption of 
 a standard and that every recruit be given one year to 
 qualify, after which period failure to do so can be fol- 
 lowed by retirement. A small army of perfect fighters 
 will be found under all conditions in war, a far more re- 
 liable arm, than a huge unwieldy force, made up of use- 
 less men and equipments. 
 
 It might be argued : " But have you not extolled the 
 defensive measures of the South African Republics ? " 
 In answer we would modestly submit that the Boer is a 
 unique citizen soldier, because he is a bom hunter, and 
 did not fight as a citizen, but as an accumulation of 
 hunters. It is improbable that his equal will be found 
 in future modern wars, because the conditions which 
 created him are unlikely to again exist. 
 
 Experience has taught that cowardice in war is the 
 exception and not the rule. By this we mean that nearly 
 any body of men will advance from a thousand to two 
 thousand yards under fire, taking shelter as they progress 
 until within striking distance of the opponent, and there- 
 fore very little can be gained by commencing action with 
 small arms at long range, unless, of course the enemy 
 is massed, which seems now, unlikely; or in such over- 
 whelming force that there is no intention to court decisive 
 action. What should be aimed at is to strike a sudden 
 blow at short range, say from 400 yards, and deliver such 
 a shock as will, temporarily, at least, unbalance the morale 
 of the foe. This must not be taken to mean volleys, for 
 volleys, we consider, ineffectual, but rifle shots in rapid 
 succession, each being aimed at a man. Approximate 
 shooting is discountenanced at all times, and for small 
 arms it cannot be said that any rifle at present in service 
 is more than approximate beyond 1,300 yards. Anything 
 to the contrary is an exception and therefore unreliable, 
 
 274 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 because a lone man is too imperfectly visible beyond that 
 range. If there is artillery or machine guns, the opening 
 range of fire should be increased, and men and horses 
 shot down and put out of action without delay. 
 
 The German military authorities have realized this 
 feature of the sudden shock, and with their characteristic 
 thoroughness have tried to arrive at the most positive 
 method of reaching it. It is only surprising they have 
 selected an unwieldy lance, which, as a weapon for the 
 object contemplated is, in our opinion, suicidal- 
 
 T^_ main object of flying col^umns wiU.bfi..tQ suddenly 
 attack armies on the move, and make rapid.^dsscenJtSv into 
 an enemy's country to destroy isolated, garrisons, com- 
 munications, etc. In order to minimize the danger of 
 this, even the most efficient scout cannot be depended 
 upon, but an auxiliary, employed in the form of a balloon 
 kept constantly in service with the force threatened, will 
 considerably increase the safety of those bodies. Bal- 
 loons were of great value to the British in South Africa, 
 and their utility demonstrated beyond doubt. At night 
 they are of a special value as a means of ascertaining the 
 strength of the enemy by observations of their camp- 
 fires. 
 
 The automobile comprises an element of far-reaching 
 possibilities and is worthy of serious consideration. As 
 they were not employed in this war we cannot offer com- 
 ments drawn from experience, but we do know that 
 there have been cases where an automobile would have 
 been of immense value to the Republicans as ambulances, 
 and for purposes of running ammunition or light machine 
 guns, to a vital point in an open country they could 
 be used to great advantage in this manner. No army 
 should be considered equipped which is not supplied with 
 a goodly number of rolls of barbed wire, not too heavy 
 
 275 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 for two horsemen between them to spin out across a field 
 at a gallop. Many of these laid loosely, or pegged at 
 intervals might easily prove the death of an excursion, 
 as it is a certain obstruction to cavalry and horse artil- 
 lery, and equal to hundreds of rifles. 
 
 We humbly present the information contained believ- 
 ing it to be worthy of study and thought to all who re- 
 gard seriously the chances of modern war. France and 
 Germany by the reports of their fall military manoeuvres 
 seem to have scorned every lesson their attaches saw the 
 British pay the price of in this war. In so doing we 
 believe they place themselves at a disadvantage with the 
 proud power that has been willing to learn modem war 
 from the South African farmers. We feel that it is 
 demonstrated that countries like South Africa, North 
 America, Brazil and Australia, given a temperate or tor- 
 rid climate, and defended by the citizens once armed with 
 a modern rifle, and satisfied with the justice of their 
 cause, are incapable of subjection or control, regardless 
 of the loss of things that make up the supposed riches 
 of nations. The lance and the sabre has seen the day of 
 its utility, and with equal division of artillery and Jprces 
 the bayonet could be made as harmless. With guns 
 sufficient to prevent the placing of artillery close enough 
 to use cannister and suppress the fire of the enemy's bat- 
 teries, nothing, night or day could live to cross a space 
 of a hundred yards before trenches defended by two tier 
 of men capable of reinforcement, familiar with the use 
 of the rifle and determined to do their duty. 
 
 Five hundred desperate men, armed with rifles using 
 the same ammunition as the government, placed in Colo- 
 rado, with two machine guns, and led by men knowing 
 such warfare and country, could cause the mobilization 
 of the American army, form the inhabitants in posses, 
 
 276 
 
THE MOBILE BOER 
 
 terrorize the whole west, inflict millions of dollars dam- 
 age in life and railroad property, and finally, if neces- 
 sary, escape over one of the borders without capture, to 
 return when those slower moving states, with their more 
 limited resources pressed them. A force of men with a 
 price on their heads, or desperate from other causes, fa- 
 miliar with horses and camp life, and in sufficient num- 
 bers to sweep by or capture an outpost, present possibili- 
 ties far more formidable than the Apaches which the 
 American government had so much trouble to suppress. 
 This supposition flavoring of the dime novel, is not pre- 
 sented by us without a knowledge of the territory sug- 
 gested, and is worthy of contemplation to those who 
 think that the Boer tactics are entirely accounted for by 
 the inefficiency of the English generals. These com- 
 mandos work in a territory far inferior to the west for 
 such warfare, and in a country where an effort has been 
 made to denude it of everything living or growing that 
 could in any way sustain man or beast. 
 
 FINIS 
 
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