On The 5th Of August He Had Made His Way To Rustenburg
And Drove Off The Investing Force.
A smaller siege had been going
on to westward, where at Elands River another Mafeking man, Colonel
Hore, had been held up by the burghers.
For some days it was
feared, and even officially announced, that the garrison had
surrendered. It was known that an attempt by Carrington to relieve
the place on August 5th had been beaten back, and that the state of
the country appeared so threatening that he had been compelled, or
had imagined himself to be compelled, to retreat as far as
Mafeking, evacuating Zeerust and Otto's Hoop, abandoning the
considerable stores which were collected at those places. In spite
of all these sinister indications the garrison was still holding
its own, and on August 16th it was relieved by Lord Kitchener.
This stand at Brakfontein on the Elands River appears to have been
one of the very finest deeds of arms of the war. The Australians
have been so split up during the campaign, that though their valour
and efficiency were universally recognised, they had no single
exploit which they could call their own. But now they can point to
Elands River as proudly as the Canadians can to Paardeberg. They
were 500 in number, Victorians, New South Welshmen, and
Queenslanders, the latter the larger unit, with a corps of
Rhodesians. Under Hore were Major Hopper of the Rhodesians, and
Major Toubridge of the Queenslanders. Two thousand five hundred
Boers surrounded them, and most favourable terms of surrender were
offered and scouted. Six guns were trained upon them, and during 11
days 1800 shells fell within their lines. The river was half a mile
off, and every drop of water for man or beast had to come from
there. Nearly all their horses and 75 of the men were killed or
wounded. With extraordinary energy and ingenuity the little band
dug shelters which are said to have exceeded in depth and
efficiency any which the Boers have devised. Neither the repulse of
Carrington, nor the jamming of their only gun, nor the death of the
gallant Annett, was sufficient to dishearten them. They were sworn
to die before the white flag should wave above them. And so fortune
yielded, as fortune will when brave men set their teeth, and
Broadwood's troopers, filled with wonder and admiration, rode into
the lines of the reduced and emaciated but indomitable garrison.
When the ballad-makers of Australia seek for a subject, let them
turn to Elands River, for there was no finer resistance in the war.
They will not grudge a place in their record to the 130 gallant
Rhodesians who shared with them the honours and the dangers of the
exploit.
On August 7th Ian Hamilton abandoned Rustenburg, taking
Baden-Powell and his men with him. It was obviously unwise to
scatter the British forces too widely by attempting to garrison
every single town. For the instant the whole interest of the war
centred upon De Wet and his dash into the Transvaal. One or two
minor events, however, which cannot be fitted into any continuous
narrative may be here introduced.
One of these was the action at Faber's Put, by which Sir Charles
Warren crushed the rebellion in Griqualand. In that sparsely
inhabited country of vast distances it was a most difficult task to
bring the revolt to a decisive ending. This Sir Charles Warren,
with his special local knowledge and interest, was able to do, and
the success is doubly welcome as bringing additional honour to a
man who, whatever view one may take of his action at Spion Kop, has
grown grey in the service of the Empire. With a column consisting
mainly of colonials and of yeomanry he had followed the rebels up
to a point within twelve miles of Douglas. Here at the end of May
they turned upon him and delivered a fierce night attack, so sudden
and so strongly pressed that much credit is due both to General and
to troops for having repelled it. The camp was attacked on all
sides in the early dawn. The greater part of the horses were
stampeded by the firing, and the enemy's riflemen were found to be
at very close quarters. For an hour the action was warm, but at the
end of that time the Boers fled, leaving a number of dead behind
them. The troops engaged in this very creditable action, which
might have tried the steadiness of veterans, were four hundred of
the Duke of Edinburgh's volunteers, some of Paget's horse and of
the 8th Regiment Imperial Yeomanry, four Canadian guns, and
twenty-five of Warren's Scouts. Their losses were eighteen killed
and thirty wounded. Colonel Spence, of the volunteers, died at the
head of his regiment. A few days before, on May 27th, Colonel Adye
had won a small engagement at Kheis, some distance to the westward,
and the effect of the two actions was to put an end to open
resistance. On June 20th De Villiers, the Boer leader, finally
surrendered to Sir Charles Warren, handing over two hundred and
twenty men with stores, rifles, and ammunition. The last sparks had
for the time been stamped out in the colony.
There remain to be mentioned those attacks upon trains and upon the
railway which had spread from the Free State to the Transvaal. On
July 19th a train was wrecked on the way from Potchefstroom to
Krugersdorp without serious injury to the passengers. On July 31st,
however, the same thing occurred with more murderous effect, the
train running at full speed off the metals. Thirteen of the
Shropshires were killed and thirty-seven injured in this deplorable
affair, which cost us more than many an important engagement. On
August 2nd a train coming up from Bloemfontein was derailed by
Sarel Theron and his gang some miles south of Kroonstad.
Thirty-five trucks of stores were burned, and six of the passengers
(unarmed convalescent soldiers) were killed or wounded.
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