CHAPTER VII. FOURTH ATTACK ON THE WATERKLOOF.--DEATH OF LIEUT.-COL. FORDYCE, AND OTHER OFFICERS.

On the morning of the 4th of November the camp was left standing, guarded by the invalids and least efficient men of each regiment, and we marched, under command of Lieut.-Col. Fordyce, up the Blinkwater Pass, and bivouacked at Eastlands, the enemy being reported to be re-assembling on their former ground. The whole of the grassy plain was glowing with bright gladiolus, blue lobelia, everlasting flower, and the graceful sparaxis, of which we found a variety, peculiar to this mountain, of a deep indescribable colour, almost approaching to black.

The next day the 74th Highlanders moved to the head of the pass to cover the ascent of commissariat waggons. We lay under the shade of a spreading mimosa, a merry party, little dreaming this would be the last time we should all be together; some sketching, some sweeping the vast panorama with their glasses, and others practising long ranges with their rifles at the aloes on the opposite side of the kloof. The united contributions of our haversacs, spread on the grass, made a plentiful, but heterogeneous meal, of which, however, very shortly not a vestige remained, our voracity, with constant living in the open air, having become quite chronic.

During the day the other columns of attack were collecting from all quarters, and marching on their assigned rendezvous, in readiness for the grand simultaneous movement to be made the following morning at dawn.

Lieut.-Col. Michell's Brigade proceeded to the Blinkwater camp, to be ready to work along the foot of the Kromme and Fuller's Hoek. Lieut.-Col. Sutton, with two squadrons of the Cape Corps, and the Horse Brigade of guns, moved round the base of the Kromme Range, and past Haddon, to a point at the foot of Bush Neck, where he was to be joined by all the Fingo Levies, and detachments from Lowie and the Mancazana district. We remained in our camp of the night before. The evening passed in anticipation of the coming struggle, which it was generally thought would be decisive, if not severe. Our Colonel, who had just ridden in from Post Retief, joined us, and we remarked that he appeared more than usually interested that evening, and walked from fire to fire, conversing with each group of officers in a quiet tone of the movements of the other brigades during the day, the supposed strength of the enemy, and the prospects of the weather, which had become threatening since sunset. After our customary pipe, we wished each other an early good night, as we were to march to the attack before daylight, and withdrew to our patrol-tents.

At half-past four o'clock (November 6th), the word was given to move off in quarter-distance column of sub-divisions; not a bugle sounded, and with feelings of unusual excitement the brigade quitted its ground, and marched across the open flats towards the head of the Waterkloof Pass. The mountain was enveloped in clouds so dense that we could not see more than twenty yards before us, until about six, when a gentle breeze cleared the summit of the ridge, and left the clouds floating like a vast sea below our feet, completely shutting out the lower world, the tops of one or two of the higher hills, appearing through the motionless expanse, looked exactly like islands, some wooded, others bare and rocky, with jutting peninsulas stretching out, as it were, into the smooth water.

At seven o'clock Lieut.-Col. Sutton's force was reported to be moving up along the Waterkloof valley towards its head, and to cover its advance Colonel Fordyce immediately placed his brigade in position on the ridge, and extending four companies of our regiment, supported by two of the 12th, advanced towards the belt of bush intersecting the enemy's position, which we entered without much opposition, and occupied for the next six hours.

The village at the head of the Pass having been rebuilt, in a great measure, since our last attack, an order was given for volunteers to advance and set fire to it, and, with a party of four men, I had the pleasure a second time of burning the whole of the huts to the ground, with all they contained, together with a large quantity of bullocks horns and hides, stored up for future trading. I had a narrow escape of being shot by the Rebels, who kept up an irregular fire upon us from the wood the whole time; a ball whirring close past my ear as I was kneeling down blowing away at a bunch of lighted dry grass which I had stuck into the wall of a hut, and sending the reeds and mud plaster flying into my face. The village being destroyed, skirmishers were again thrown forward into the forest, and we were ordered to work our way through it to turn the left flank of the enemy's position on a ridge of rocks, unapproachable from the front. An occasional bang, bang, from the thickets, followed by the crashing of balls through the cover, as we advanced, kept us all on the qui vive. Nothing more difficult and trying can be imagined than our laborious progress through this all but impracticable forest, studded throughout with enormous masses of detached rock, overgrown with wild vines, twining asparagus trees, endless monkey ropes and other creepers, so strong, and so thickly interlaced as almost to put a stop to our advance; covered with dense thorny underwood, concealing dangerous clefts and crevices, and strewed with fallen trees in every stage of decay, while the hooked thorns of the "wait a bit" clinging to our arms and legs, snatching the caps off our heads, and tearing clothes and flesh, impeded us at every step.

The advantages which the Kaffir possesses on such ground over regular troops is immense; armed only with his gun, or assegais, free and unencumbered by pack, clothing, or accoutrements, his naked body covered with grease, he climbs the rocks, and works through the familiar bush with the stealth and agility of the tiger, while the infantry soldier, in European clothing, loaded with three days rations, sixty rounds of ball cartridge, water canteen, bayonet, and heavy musket, labours after him with a pluck and perseverance which none but British soldiers possess, and which, somehow or other, in spite of every obstacle in every clime, ever wins its way in the end. Sir Harry Smith, in his despatch of the 18th of December, 1851, to Earl Grey, gives a very just estimate of the character of the formidable enemy with whom we had thus to contend, whom he describes, as fully as much so as the Algerines or Circassians, and says, "Fraternized with the numerous and well-trained Hottentot race, they are, in their mode of guerilla warfare, most formidable enemies, as much so as I ever encountered; and I speak with some experience in war, to which I may lay claim." The situation of the officer on such occasions is one of no small danger and responsibility; himself leading through all impediments, a coveted mark to every lurking Tottie or Kaffir, he has not only to exercise the greatest vigilance to prevent his men being separated and cut off, but must carefully mark his proper route and bearings, lest he wander into the endless mazes of the trackless forest, and not only lose his whole party, but involve co-operating bodies in disaster.

After leading our flank into the bush in person, and giving his final orders, Colonel Fordyce proceeded to the left of the regiment to direct their movements against the fastness held by the enemy, from the shelter of which they kept up an annoying fire. At this moment he had advanced to the edge of the bush in front, and was in the very act of directing the attack upon it, when he was shot through the body, and fell to rise no more; the last and only words of our brave chief were, "Take care of my regiment:" he was borne to the rear, and breathed his last in a few minutes.

Though our heavy loss was not immediately known, the regiment was for a moment thrown into confusion in consequence of his last orders having been but partly delivered. The rebels yelled in exultation, but the next instant were silenced by an avenging volley, which drove them in again behind the shelter of their protecting trees and rocks, which the regiment boldly and steadily advanced to storm under a fatal fire, which told fearfully among our ranks. Carey fell, pierced through the body, at the head of his company, and was carried off the field a corpse; and immediately afterwards Gordon was mortally wounded by a ball which passed through both thighs, and lodging in the body of a soldier close by, killed him on the spot. The loss in the ranks was equally severe; one man was cut down after another, until, maddened by the fall of their officers and comrades, the regiment, under Captain Duff (on whom as senior officer the command had now devolved), rushed to the fatal barricade with such infuriated and irresistible determination, as to clear all before them, killing numbers of the enemy, chiefly rebel Hottentots, who fled in confusion, and carrying the position, which we maintained almost unmolested until the troops were withdrawn in the afternoon.

Beside our deeply lamented officers, the casualties among our brave fellows were very heavy; Sergeants Cairnie and Diarmid, and two rank and file were killed; a Lance-corporal and one private mortally wounded; and a Corporal and five men severely, two of whom afterwards underwent amputation.

In the meantime Lieut.-Col. Sutton's Brigade had ascended the heights by Mundells Krantz, on our extreme right; and Lieut.-Col. Yarborough, with the 91st regiment, occupied the left of the position; while the 12th, lying down in extended order across the open, watched the belt of bush in the right centre, occasionally exchanging a shot or two at intervals with a few fellows perched in the trees. The guns, however, were got into position opposite this, the enemy's only remaining point of occupation, and dropped shot and shell among them wherever they appeared, with such precision that they must have suffered severely, and were finally obliged to abandon their last stronghold.

During this, we were holding the position gained at such cost; and while we lay half hidden among the forest-clothed rocks, along the edge of the ridge, observed the branches of the trees above our heads cut in two, and their trunks scored in all directions by the fire of the late encounter. Among the crevices of the rocks, which here were in cubical blocks of all sizes, from that of a large four storied house downwards, we found several of the enemy's caches, containing axes, bullet-moulds, lead, and cast bullets, and the usual assortment of ornaments and articles such as we generally found in every village.

After about two hours, the enemy,—who had again crept up to within range, at an angle of the forest which even the Fingoes had found impassable,—fired one or two shots at random into our cover, to see if we were still there, the balls dropping right among us. Presently a couple of black heads were slowly raised over the edge of a rock, but seeing us, were withdrawn so instantaneously that we had not time to fire. Some of our men lying flat on the large slabs of stone, and peering down into the deep forest on the sloping mountain side, made signs to me, pointing below, and quietly reaching their position, I had an opportunity rarely afforded of watching a party of Kaffirs cautiously advancing along the bottom of the thicket immediately below us, creeping stealthily through the underwood, perfectly naked, and armed with assegais and guns. Stopping every few feet to listen, they peered into the bush before them, their well greased bodies shining in the occasional gleams of sunshine that streamed down through the thick foliage of the trees, and again moved on, avoiding every rotten twig, and preserving a noiselessness perfectly marvellous. It was most exciting, as we lay crouched among the huge grey rocks, from which our bush dress was hardly distinguishable, to watch them pursuing their deadly mode of warfare in their own fastnesses. Our men waiting the moment to fire, had gradually brought the muzzles of their arms to bear; and without moving their heads, and hardly drawing breath, silently indicated to each other the whereabouts of fresh comers.

With rifles pointed through the creepers at the edge of the rock on which we lay stretched, we waited with fingers on the trigger for a fair shot, and I fancied I could hear my heart beating. At a signal, bang went twenty muskets, echoing from crag to crag in the silent wood, and the treacherous savages met the death they had been plotting for us.

We still remained here for some hours, the General requiring the position to be held during his other movements; the men took out their pipes and smoked to allay their hunger, which they had no chance of satisfying until the night's bivouac, while an occasional bullet lodged in the trees around us, fired by some skulking Tottie or Kaffir. One or two of us were so fatigued that notwithstanding the roar of the big guns, we fell asleep.

At three in the afternoon the clouds again settled on the ridge, and the fog became so heavy that all further operations were at an end, and the enemy having evacuated all his positions, and being nowhere visible, we were withdrawn from our tiresome duty of occupation. The whole of the troops were called in, and assembled in column on the open; a mule waggon came down for the wounded, and we bivouacked for the night on the bare bleak ridge close by.

The troops moved mournfully about their duties, every soldier appearing to feel the heavy loss we had sustained; the cries and groans of the wounded, which could be heard in every part of the little camp, added to the general feeling of sadness; and, like a pall hanging over the gallant dead that lay in the solitary tent, in front of which there slowly paced a sentinel, the cold dark clouds rested on the lonely peak, and enveloped us in a mist so dense that our evening fires were hardly visible at a few yards, and our moving figures loomed through it like giants. We went to take a farewell look at the bodies of our late gallant Chief, and poor Carey, as brave a young fellow as ever lived, highly talented, and beloved by us all. They lay side by side with the men who had fallen that day, the corpses ranged on the grass, each covered by a blanket; reverently uncovering their heads, we gazed silently on their familiar faces; the Colonel's was as tranquil as though he were sleeping, which, but for the blood that covered his uniform and hands, might have been supposed. A change had passed over poor Carey's. The men lay with fixed and rigid features, some with their stony eyes still open, or their lower jaws fallen; it was a mournful and touching spectacle. I could scarcely realize the death of two officers, whom I had daily met for years, and had only a few hours before conversed with in the full vigour of life. Slowly and silently we left the tent, and without speaking sought our own fires.

The wounded, who lay on their stretchers on the ground, received every possible attention; their own comrades, on such occasions, rough as they may appear, move gently about the sick man, anticipating such wants, and administering such comforts as are in their power, with a woman's delicacy and forethought. Poor Gordon, over whose head we had built a shelter of green boughs, suffered dreadful agonies all night. The doctors, when questioned as to his case, shook their heads in doubt; the ball had entered the outside of the right thigh, and, passing through it, entered the inside of the left one fracturing the bone close to the socket, and leaving two frightful lacerated wounds. So close was the Kaffir who fired it, that Gordon had attempted to seize his gun.

Soon after dark a drizzling rain came on, and the wind swept piercingly cold over our lofty resting place; the men threw up little walls of the loose stones and rock that lay about, or dug holes in the softer parts, and piling the earth round them and large slabs of stone over, crept in for shelter, and all but the orderly officers and weary sentinels were soon slumbering after the fatigues of the day, in happy forgetfulness of its horrors.

A white frost covered the ground when we were roused at dawn by the bugle's rÉveillÉ; the clouds still hung round us, and rolled along in the deep valley beneath, while officers and men crowded indiscriminately round the few still burning fires in vain endeavours to warm their half frozen feet and fingers. The bodies of the dead were placed in a mule waggon for burial at Post Retief, fifteen miles across the table-land, for which place it set off, accompanied by a party of officers, who had obtained permission from the General to join in this last sad office. I followed slowly after them with a strong escort guarding the wounded, accompanied by our surgeon, Frazer. Poor Gordon, from the nature of his wounds, was unable to bear the motion of a waggon, and was carried on a stretcher the whole distance, by the men of his company.

As we proceeded across the wide grassy plain, its cheerfulness after the dusky bush, and the brilliant flowers, as they waved joyously in the bright morning sun, seemed in strange contrast with our sad cortÈge. The whole ridge literally glowed with gladiolus, amaranth, aphelexis, and a host of other beautiful flowers; the slopes of the little Winterberg Mountain rising verdant from the plain, about half a mile off, were covered with patches of the scarlet gladiolus, which were so brilliant and thickly studded, that, as even the men observed, they looked like pieces of red cloth spread out on the grass. All along the way we gathered mushrooms in such quantities that we were soon laden with as many as we could conveniently carry. In one or two places belts of bush, running up from the wooded kloofs below, encroached on the green plain, and as Kaffir spies were hovering round, we kept out of musket range of the treacherous cover.

Heavy firing from the artillery in our rear now announced that our Division was again engaged, and we fervently hoped with happier results than the day before. After a few miles farther we looked down on our right into the celebrated Kat River Valley, well known, as the birthplace of the Hottentot rebellion, and one of the finest and most fruitful districts in the whole colony. Surrounded by vast chains of fine mountains, this extensive valley spread its smiling uplands and fertile holms, picturesquely relieved by belts of valuable timber, and watered by the winding Kat River; the villages and farms now levelled with the ground, and silent and deserted except by prowling Kaffirs and wild beasts. The whole hill-side was here covered with the Protea grandiflora, a bush about eight or ten feet high, very much resembling the rhododendron in leaf and general appearance, and bearing a large pink and white cup-shaped flower, something like an artichoke.

Gordon's sufferings were very great, though borne with a fortitude only equalled by his courage in the field; his thirst was insatiable. When about half way, one of the stretcher poles broke in two; we had, however, taken the precaution to bring a spare stretcher, which was laid on the ground, the other placed gently on it, its poles withdrawn, and we went on again as before.

We were still four miles from the end of our march, when it became evident that we were going to have a mountain storm; the lowering sky deepened into an intense indigo behind the distant mountains; eddying clouds of sand, dry grass, and leaves, caught by successive whirlwinds, came sweeping along our desolate track, until a bright blinding flash shot from behind the dark peak of the Didama, and the oppressive silence was suddenly broken by a terrific peal of thunder, followed, before its prolonged echoes had ceased among the crags, by a downpour of hail and rain, such as we never before witnessed. The hailstones were literally the size of walnuts, and fell with such force that the horses became frantic, and in a couple of minutes we ourselves were soaked to the skin. As we entered a narrow glen, down which foamed a genuine Highland stream, the road became much rougher, and was most trying to the wounded men, who yelled with agony as the waggon jolted over the rocks; seeing me removing the large loose stones out of the way of the wheels, a private, named M'Coll, with his left arm in a bandage, after amputation of the fingers, jumped out and walked the rest of the way, assisting me with his one hand.

At a turn in the narrow road, the little fort appeared about half a mile before us, standing dreary and lone on a rising ground in the centre of an amphitheatre of dark mountains half hidden in the clouds. As we approached it a detachment of the 12th came out to meet us, and helped to carry the sufferers into the hospital, already half full of wounded men. I was in time to take a last look at the bodies of our chief and poor Carey, which were laid out in the commissariat forage store, before the Sergeant-Major nailed down the hastily made coffins. The funeral will never be forgotten by those who were present. The thunder, mingled with the booming of the distant artillery, rolled grandly and solemnly among the mountains, as the motley groups from each regiment assembled in their worn and ragged uniforms. As the rough deal coffins were borne out, the "firing party," dripping wet, and covered with mud, "presented arms," the officers uncovered, and we marched in slow time out of the gate and down the road, the Pipers playing the mournful and touching "Highland Lament," to where the graves had been dug, a few hundred yards from the post, and close to three others newly made, the last resting place of our gallant men who had fallen on the 16th of October.

The funeral service was read by Captain Duff, the men with swarthy faces, and tattered dress, standing round, resting on their "arms reversed," while the thunder rolled unceasingly, and the inky black clouds threatened another downpour.

Captain Carey, C.M.R., stood by the grave side of his brave young kinsman, and as the bodies were lowered into the graves and solemnly committed to the earth, every one was visibly affected; the customary military honours were paid; three times the roar of a hundred muskets reverberated among the hills; the last faint echo died away in the distance; the hoarse word of command broke up the motionless group; one after another we stepped to the grave sides to take a farewell look; and marched back in silence to the Fort.

During our absence, a miserable barrack room with roughly paved floor, and smoke blackened rafters, had been hastily cleared for poor Gordon, into which we carefully bore him, and adding every obtainable blanket or plaid to the thin straw mattress, and doing all in our very limited power to cheer him and alleviate his sufferings, left him for the night with his trusty and attached servant Stuart.

On entering the crowded hospital, the groans of the wounded men were heart-rending, and their sufferings most acute, the heat of the climate and the loathsome flies and vermin (which no care can keep away from the smallest wound), adding to their misery. A Sergeant of the 12th and one of the 74th had each undergone amputation of the leg, and hardly appeared to understand our words of encouragement. We learned from one or two, who spoke feelingly of his kindness, that our late gallant chief had personally visited, and inquired into the wants of the sick, the very evening before he was killed (when it will be remembered he rode over from our camp), and the commissariat officer of the post showed us an order the Colonel had written on the spot, for every possible comfort for the wounded—wine, porter, sago, tea, milk, &c., to be provided at his own expense and responsibility. These were the last words he ever wrote.

We found Ricketts of the 91st, who was mentioned as dangerously wounded on the 14th of October, in the Waterkloof, lying alone in a small room in a very precarious state; he had no belief whatever in his danger, and talked gaily of what he should do when he got out again—though constantly interrupted by coughing and spitting blood, which bubbled out of the wound in his chest at every breath.

The hospitable detachment gave us, notwithstanding the great scarcity of provisions, a more substantial meal than we had seen for a long time, to which we sat down twenty-one in number, at a long deal table, in a bare whitewashed room; but as our kind entertainers had been unexpectedly sent up to the empty fort from the field in "patrol order," it was a much more difficult affair to provide a dinner service than a dinner. At night we lay in our blankets on the floor, side by side, and as we listened to the mountain storm raging without, congratulated ourselves on sleeping under a roof, a luxury we had only once before enjoyed since leaving Cork.

We visited Gordon again in the morning before starting for the camp, and assisted the surgeon to dress his wounds and arrange his bed; and sat as long as we possibly could wiping his brow and moistening his lips. On leaving, he begged us to come over as often as we could to see him during his probable long confinement in this lonely place, which we promised to do, but never saw him again. After three days of excruciating agony, the broken limb suddenly mortified, and he was carried off in a few hours; so died this young soldier, alone in a wild mountain fort, thousands of miles away from home and relatives, with only a servant to witness his last moments.

Poor Ricketts, whose exquisite songs had so often enlivened our long evenings, died the same day, having been gradually sinking for some time previously. His death, which occurred some hours the first, was purposely kept from Gordon, but the sound of the funeral volleys reached his ear, and in a quiet voice he blamed his servant for not telling him of it; in two hours after, a like salute was fired over his own grave. His loss was sincerely mourned both by officers and men, his honest sterling qualities, kindly heart, and dauntless bravery in the field having endeared him to all.

Having commissariat cattle to escort to the camp for the troops, I gave them in charge of the Fingoes, following in rear with the escort. When little more than half-way back to where we had left our camp, we saw the whole Division about two miles off, with its long retinue of waggons, trekking across the open plain, and while wondering what it could mean, a mounted express rode up, with an order from the General for us to continue on the road as far as the top of the Blinkwater Pass, where we halted till the division came up; eager to hear the results of their operations on the previous day.

They had cleared the whole of the Waterkloof Range, the 12th, 74th, 91st, and Levies, having succeeded in driving the enemy from the forest, with the exception of a few small scattered parties (doubtless in attendance on the wounded), who played at hide and seek with the wearied troops, and baffled all attempts to dislodge them. They had, however, suffered very severely; twenty bodies were found, and a much greater number must have fallen in the thick bush from the admirable practice of the howitzers. On our side, Captain Davenish, of the Levies, was mortally wounded, and seven men of different regiments more or less severely.

The road down the hill was almost impassable after the heavy rain; tremendous gullies, in many places four feet deep, constantly threatened to overturn the waggons, and it was several hours before we reached our old camp in the Blinkwater valley. It had been held in the interim by detachments of the 2nd and 6th regiments, which now marched out on one side for Fort Beaufort, as we entered at another. We were rejoiced to find ourselves once more under canvas. In the evening the following Division Order, on the death of our late Colonel, was published in camp:—

"Camp Blinkwater, November 9, 1851.

"It is with the deepest regret that Major-General Somerset announces to the Division the death of Lieut.-Col. Fordyce, commanding the 74th Highlanders.

"Lieut.-Col. Fordyce fell, mortally wounded, in action with the enemy, on the morning of the 6th, and died on the field.

"From the period of the 74th Highlanders having joined the 1st Division, their high state of discipline and efficiency at once showed to the Major-General the value of Lieut.-Col. Fordyce as a commanding officer; the subsequent period, during which the Major-General had been in daily intercourse with Lieut.-Col. Fordyce, so constantly engaged against the enemy in the field, had tended to increase, in the highest degree, the opinion which the Major-General had formed of Lieut.-Col. Fordyce as a commander of the highest order, and as one of her Majesty's ablest officers, whom he now so deeply laments (while he truly sympathizes with the 74th Highlanders in their irreparable loss) as an esteemed brother soldier. * * * *

"By command,
"C. H. Bell,
"Lieutenant, Field Adjutant, 1st Division."

This was followed a few days afterwards by the subjoined General Order:—

"General Order, No. 197.
"November 13, 1851.

"The Commander-in-chief has this day received the report from Major-General Somerset that the gallant and enterprising Lieut.-Col. Fordyce, 74th Highlanders, has fallen in action with the enemy on the 6th instant. His loss to her Majesty's service is a severe one, and his Excellency conceives he cannot express his regret in terms more applicable, than in the Division Order of Major-General Somerset, which is herewith published.

"Gallantly thus falling in the service of his Queen and country will perpetuate the memory of Lieut.-Col. Fordyce.

"The service has also to regret the loss of Lieutenant Carey, 74th Highlanders, a rising and promising officer.

(Signed) "A. J. Cloete, Lieutenant-Colonel,
"Deputy Quartermaster-General."

The day following was Sunday, and a small party of us having got leave set off on horseback to attend divine service at Fort Beaufort, this being the first time that any of us had had an opportunity of going to a church since landing in the country. Our dress excited no other emotion than respect among the well-dressed congregation, though our weather-stained and soiled uniform, patched with leather and every kind of cloth, and our worn-out boots burnt to a reddish brown, looked strangely out of place. As we once more heard the service read and chanted, a host of thoughts came crowding on my mind of home, and bygone days and scenes, with a feeling of thankfulness at having been preserved through so many dangers.

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