  THE EVENTS OF FEBRUARY AND MARCH 1902 TRANSVAAL (EAST)General B. Hamilton’s three months’ effective efforts resulted in the departure of Botha, and the complete clearance of the enemy from the district. It was now impossible to locate bodies of Boers in any part of that region. Rumour said that Botha had betaken himself to Vryheid to seek rest and change of scene for himself and his hunted horde. So, on his track went the British sleuth-hounds. The movement began on the 25th, and early in March they located their man in the neighbourhood of Vryheid. Meanwhile General Plumer, Colonel Pulteney, and Colonel Wing, in the angle formed by the upper waters of the Vaal River and the Standerton-Volksrust Railway, gleaned remnants from Botha’s sheaf of Boers, Plumer’s Queenslanders bringing in twelve, and Wing’s men eight. General Gilbert Hamilton, during his operations east of Springs, was sharply attacked on the 18th of February, and a lamentable incident occurred. Boers, estimated to number 500, had been hanging around Klippan (twenty miles S.E. of Springs), seeking an opportunity to take vengeance. A portion of the Scots Greys, detached to one flank, was cut off, surrounded, and partially captured. They made a gallant fight for it, during which Major Feilden and Captain Ussher were mortally wounded, while Lieutenant Rhodes and two men were killed, and six men wounded. The Boers lost eight killed, and Commandant Van Niekerk was shot in the knee. After this sorry affair General Gilbert Hamilton was joined by the 28th Mounted Infantry, and from Springs he proceeded to hunt down the commando which had caused the trouble. To make up for the mishap two successes were reported during the operations of General Fetherstonhaugh north of the Delagoa line. On the 20th February Colonel Park’s column with 300 National Scouts, after a tedious night march, swooped down on two laagers at Nooitgedacht and Grootrievlei. Among the prisoners taken—164 in all—were Field-Cornets Du Toit, G. Joubert, H. de Jager, Lieutenant A. J. Vilgoen. Hinton and Trichardt, two pernicious guerillas, succeeded in escaping. But there was a goodly haul of horses, waggons, mules, cattle, &c. Colonel E. Williams’ men on the southern slopes of the Bothaberg secured some more prisoners, and on the 21st they surprised a laager at Buffelskloof and captured twenty more. A co-operative movement was now organised for the purpose of making a descent on Langkloof (near the junction of the Olifant and Wilge Rivers), where the Boer Government was shortly expected to arrive, but owing to the nature of the rocky and intersected country, the arrangements were impeded. The said Government, by the time the troops surrounded the place, had got some hours’ start and were well on their way to Pietersburg. Colonel Park, TRANSVAAL (WEST)Operations continued in February as before, save that Colonel Von Donop at Wolmaranstad had succeeded temporarily to the command of Lord Methuen’s mobile troops. On the 23rd an empty convoy of over one hundred waggons was despatched to refill at Klerksdorp and bring back supplies to Wolmaranstad. The escort was composed of 5th Imperial Yeomanry, three companies 1st Northumberland Fusiliers, two guns and a pom-pom, under Colonel W. C. Anderson (Imperial Yeomanry). Till the 25th all went well. Then, before dawn, as the convoy was moving from its bivouac ground ten miles south-east of Klerksdorp, a furious attack was made on the advance guard from the darkness of dense bush on the left. Flashes and forks of flame only showed where the enemy plied his rifles, but on this point the guns and pom-pom at once opened fire. The waggons of the convoy, which had stampeded back to the old camping-ground in the midst of the first shock of attack, were again closed up as rapidly as possible from the rear. A second and a third attack upon the rearguard were boldly and indeed brilliantly repulsed. Then Colonel Anderson, fearing the increased pressure on his rearguard, ordered the convoy to proceed towards Klerksdorp, instructing his transport officer to try and trot the waggons clear of the fire. He then made noble efforts to extricate his force, supporting the hard pressed rearguard, as it struggled to cover the retirement, with his guns and such troops as could be collected from the front. But without avail. The enemy under Delarey and Kemp, old and accomplished hands, kept the advantage. They had had the first word in the darkness; they were superior in numbers; they pressed triumphantly forward and caught the convoy where they had expected to catch it—in crossing the Jagd Spruit. The difficulty of the operation, the terror and stampede of natives and beasts in the hail of bullets that fell on them, contributed to the disaster. The convoy was lost. The escort, gallant and stubborn, was overpowered; 5 officers and 53 men fell, 6 officers and 123 men were wounded. The remainder, with the exception of 3 officers and 106 men, who reached Klerksdorp, were captured. They were subsequently released. Though the pursuit of the Boers was at once taken up, little could be done. The empty waggons were burnt, and the captors had dispersed as rapidly as they had assembled. In order to intercept, if possible, the captured guns, and prevent Delarey from moving to the Marico district, Lord Methuen resumed the vigorous pursuit of him in which he had for sometime previously been engaged. To this end the column started from Vryburg on the 2nd of March. Colonel Kekewich was directed to send a column from Wolmaranstad towards Rooirantjesfontein, there to meet the column under Major Paris (R.M.A.), from Vryburg, while Colonel Rochefort was directed to cross the Vaal from Orange River Colony and drive Delarey towards the columns heading for Rooirantjesfontein. Drawing by C. M. Sheldon The movement seemed excellently planned, and every precaution to avert surprise taken, but nevertheless Delarey and Kemp made an overwhelming and successful attack on Lord Methuen, with the result that this commander, who has worked with indefatigable zeal throughout the war, was dangerously wounded and taken prisoner. Since the details of this unfortunate affair have
Lord Methuen concluded by saying that should he have omitted to bring to notice some who had distinguished themselves during the action Major Paris would supply the deficiency. Of the General’s staff of six, five were wounded. Lieutenants Venning and Nesham, Royal Field Artillery, were killed while gallantly serving their guns with case. Lieutenant Hartley, Steinacker’s Horse, also lost his life. Among the wounded were Colonel Wilson, 3rd York and Lancashire Regiment, Captain Outram, 3rd Highland Light Infantry, Lieutenant Dennis, Yeomanry, Lieutenant Nash, Cape Police, and Lieutenant Logan, Yeomanry. Lord Methuen was taken to the Boer laager, but was subsequently allowed by Delarey to proceed with Colonel Townsend, who was also wounded, to the hospital at Klerksdorp. Drawing by Allan Stewart from Sketches supplied by a New Zealand Officer ORANGE RIVER COLONY—MAJUBA DAYAfter some days’ rest, the troops which had formed the cordon to enclose De Wet’s force were engaged in a new and far-reaching scheme of operations. This was divided into two phases, in the first of which two simultaneous movements were to be made to the east, one between the Heidelberg-Standerton Railway and the Wolvehoek-Frankfort-Tafel Kop blockhouse line; the other, from the line Kroonstad-Ventersburg-Doornberg up to the blockhouses between Lindley and Bethlehem. For the second phase, it was arranged that whilst the northern columns, then on a line between Standerton and Tafel Kop, made a right wheel on to Botha’s Pass-Tafel Kop blockhouses, with Tafel Kop as a pivot, the southern columns should move east to the Wilge, and in conjunction with the troops at Harrismith, hold the line of the Wilge between Strydpoort and Majoor’s Drift. Finally, with the line of the Wilge so held to the west, and the passes of the Drakensberg closed to the enemy from the east by the troops from the Natal command, the northern line of columns was to move south from the Tafel Kop-Botha’s Pass position, right down to the blockhouses between the Van Reenan’s Pass and Elands River Bridge, near Harrismith. These brilliant operations, on the principle of previous “drives,” began about the middle of the month, and culminated on Majuba Day in the capture of 728 Boers, 25,000 cattle, 2000 horses, 200 waggons, and 50,000 rounds of ammunition. Various efforts were, of course, made to break through the encircling cordon, but none so violent as that which took place at the last stage of these proceedings. At dawn on the 23rd a general advance to the south was made towards the Van Reenan’s Pass-Elands River Bridge blockhouses. It was timed to take four days. At night, at the close of the first day’s march, another dashing attempt on the same principle as the last was made by De Wet to escape the net into which he had been driven by the advancing columns. In darkness, eighteen miles south of Vrede, at the point where Byng’s right and Rimington’s left joined, the noted chief, with his mob of cattle rapidly driven by natives, attempted his gallant rush. The New Zealanders of Garratt’s column, commanded by Major Bauchop, with characteristic dash, gallantly resisted and repelled the attack made, and the 3rd New South Wales Mounted Rifles brought heavy fire to bear on the enemy, but De Wet and Steyn themselves succeeded in breaking through the toils. Still, the whole of the Boer cattle and vehicles were captured, and thirty-one Boers, while 160 horses were killed at the place where the gallant Colonials made their notable resistance. Our own casualties were severe, two officers and eighteen men were killed, five officers and thirty-three wounded, the majority of whom belonged to the New Zealand contingent. On the 26th Colonel Nixon repulsed a like attack made upon the line of the Cornelis River, but on the 27th the sweep down to Harrismith closed with the surrender to Colonel Sir H. Rawlinson of Commandant Truter and 650 men. Colonel Lawley and Major Du Cane made more captures in the vicinity of the Doornberg, and Colonel Barker’s troops groped for Boers in the kloofs and caves of the western slopes of the Wittebergen. Before the 25th, owing to Colonel Barker’s various activities, he collected 30 prisoners, 725 cattle, and 280 horses. The Boers, as may be imagined, began to accept these convincing proofs that further resistance to the British was little else than suicide. THE CAPE COLONYOn the 2nd of February the general disposition of troops in the Cape Colony stood thus: Those under Crabbe, from Beaufort West, and those under Capper and Lund, from Sutherland, converging towards Fraserburg, where a concentration of the enemy had taken place; those under Haig and under Kavanagh and Wyndham moving from Clanwilliam upon Calvinia; the intervening space watched by Doran, forty miles north-east of Clanwilliam, and by Callwell near Sutherland. Crewe’s Colonial troops occupied both the Elandsvlei and Sutherland. On the 30th January Colonel Crabbe’s column (acting as a screen to a convoy of donkey waggons which, under its own escort, was some distance in the rear) was suddenly menaced by a swarm of Boers. Their attitude and their numbers warned the Colonel to take up a defensive position at Rietfontein (twenty-five miles east of Fraserburg). That done, he there fought tenaciously, determined to hold his own till Colonel Capper and Major Lund could arrive from Sutherland to his support. Foiled in their effort to overpower Crabbe’s men, the Boers promptly decided to assail the convoy. This, guarded by 60 District Mounted Rifles and 100 men of the 4th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment, under Major Crofton, was halted on the night of the 4th some forty miles south-east of Fraserburg. The Boers in great strength rushed on the British prize. All through the night fighting was fierce and sustained, and in the end the Boers were triumphant. They secured and destroyed the waggons. Though Colonel Crabbe promptly rushed to the scene he was unable to act. The waggons were wrecked, and the assailants too strong to be handled by his column unaided. He awaited the troops under Colonel Capper and Major Lund, and with them proceeded to trounce and disperse the rebels, and hunt them north-east of Fraserburg. The losses during these engagements were considerable, Major Crofton, another officer, and 11 men being killed, and 1 officer and 47 men wounded. On the 5th of February there was a tussle at Calvinia between Theron’s men and Colonel Haig’s, when the Boers were driven north with the loss of two killed and two wounded. Considerable loss on our side was sustained on the 6th. Colonel Doran, with 100 men, then on the hunt for Gelhenhuis, a rebel leader, was assailed by the enemy during his return march to Calvinia. In the pitch darkness his little band had to fight a prolonged rearguard action to cover their withdrawal over the mountains. This conflict led to the loss of 3 officers and 7 men killed, 17 men being wounded. The main body of rebels—some 600 of them—heartened by their capture of the convoy on the night of the 4th, assembled on the 16th thirty miles east-north-east of Fraserburg, with a view to earning fresh laurels. But their hopes were nipped in the bud. General French had his eye on them. The congregating evil must be arrested, and the columns under General Stephenson were disposed upon a general line from Nelspoort Station, by Beaufort West, to Rhenosterfontein (fifteen miles north-west of Beaufort West), Colonel Doran on the right, Colonel Capper and Major Nickalls in the centre, and Colonel Crabbe and Major Lund on the left. An advance to north-west towards Williston was begun on the 17th—but the Boers were shy. No sooner did they come in contact with our troops than they dispersed. Some were wounded and some captured on the 18th, among them being Judge Hugo, who subsequently died of his injuries; but the rest got off. Malan’s group doubled round Doran’s right flank and scuttled over the rail towards the midlands, The pursuit of Malan to the east now occupied the column under Major Wormald and two squadrons of the 9th Lancers. This force had already chased the remnants of Kruitzinger’s band, under Wessels, out of the midlands well to the west. Colonel Haig, with Colonels Kavanagh and Williams, skirmished and hunted in the Calvinia and Van Rhynsdorp districts, and on the 13th Bouwer’s laager was rushed by Kavanagh’s braves, and eleven prisoners, with horses, rifles, and ammunition, &c., were secured. In the midlands the enemy straggled about on the hills for the most part of the month. The rebels daily found an increasing difficulty in procuring food and necessaries from their quondam sympathisers, and their diminished popularity served somewhat to damp their activities; but early in March FouchÉ and Myburg made a dash across the East London Railway, whither they were chased to the south of Steynsburg by Colonels Price and Baillie. |
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