As A General Statement It May Be
Said That During The Months To Come There Was No British Garrison
In
Any one of the numerous posts in the Transvaal, and in that
portion of the Orange River Colony which lies
East of the railway,
which was not surrounded by prowling riflemen, there was no convoy
sent to supply those garrisons which was not liable to be attacked
upon the road, and there was no train upon any one of the three
lines which might not find a rail up and a hundred raiders covering
it with their Mausers. With some two thousand miles of railroad to
guard, so many garrisons to provide, and an escort to be furnished
to every convoy, there remained out of the large body of British
troops in the country only a moderate force who were available for
actual operations. This force was distributed in different
districts scattered over a wide extent of country, and it was
evident that while each was strong enough to suppress local
resistance, still at any moment a concentration of the Boer
scattered forces upon a single British column might place the
latter in a serious position. The distribution of the British in
October and November was roughly as follows. Methuen was in the
Rustenburg district, Barton at Krugersdorp and operating down the
line to Klerksdorp, Settle was in the West, Paget at Pienaar's
River, Clements in the Magaliesberg, Hart at Potchefstroom,
Lyttelton at Middelburg, Smith-Dorrien at Belfast, W. Kitchener at
Lydenburg, French in the Eastern Transvaal, Hunter, Rundle,
Brabant, and Bruce Hamilton in the Orange River Colony. Each of
these forces was occupied in the same sort of work, breaking up
small bodies of the enemy, hunting for arms, bringing in refugees,
collecting supplies, and rounding up cattle. Some, however, were
confronted with organised resistance and some were not. A short
account may be given in turn of each separate column.
I would treat first the operations of General Barton, because they
form the best introduction to that narrative of the doings of
Christian De Wet to which this chapter will be devoted.
The most severe operations during the month of October fell to the
lot of this British General, who, with some of the faithful
fusiliers whom he had led from the first days in Natal, was
covering the line from Krugersdorp to Klerksdorp. It is a long
stretch, and one which, as the result shows, is as much within
striking distance of the Orange Free Staters as of the men of the
Transvaal. Upon October 5th Barton left Krugersdorp with a force
which consisted of the Scots and Welsh Fusiliers, five hundred
mounted men, the 78th R.F.A., three pom-poms, and a 4.7 naval gun.
For a fortnight, as the small army moved slowly down the line of
the railroad, their progress was one continual skirmish. On October
6th they brushed the enemy aside in an action in which the
volunteer company of the Scots Fusiliers gained the applause of
their veteran comrades. On the 8th and 9th there was sharp
skirmishing, the brunt of which on the latter date fell upon the
Welsh Fusiliers, who had three officers and eleven men injured. The
commandos of Douthwaite, Liebenberg, and Van der Merwe seem to have
been occupied in harassing the column during their progress through
the Gatsrand range. On the 15th the desultory sniping freshened
again into a skirmish in which the honours and the victory belonged
mainly to the Welshmen and to that very keen and efficient body,
the Scottish Yeomanry. Six Boers were left dead upon the ground. On
October 17th the column reached Frederickstad, where it halted. On
that date six of Marshall's Horse were cut off while collecting
supplies. The same evening three hundred of the Imperial Light
Horse came in from Krugersdorp.
Up to this date the Boer forces which dogged the column had been
annoying but not seriously aggressive. On the 19th, however,
affairs took an unexpected turn. The British scouts rode in to
report a huge dust cloud whirling swiftly northwards from the
direction of the Vaal River - soon plainly visible to all, and
showing as it drew nearer the hazy outline of a long column of
mounted men. The dark coats of the riders, and possibly the speed
of their advance, showed that they were Boers, and soon it was
rumoured that it was no other than Christian De Wet with his merry
men, who, with characteristic audacity, had ridden back into the
Transvaal in the hope of overwhelming Barton's column.
It is some time since we have seen anything of this energetic
gentleman with the tinted glasses, but as the narrative will be
much occupied with him in the future a few words are needed to
connect him with the past. It has been already told how he escaped
through the net which caught so many of his countrymen at the time
of the surrender of Prinsloo, and how he was chased at furious
speed from the Vaal River to the mountains of Magaliesberg. Here he
eluded his pursuers, separated from Steyn, who desired to go east
to confer with Kruger, and by the end of August was back again in
his favourite recruiting ground in the north of the Orange River
Colony. Here for nearly two months he had lain very quiet,
refitting and reassembling his scattered force, until now, ready
for action once more, and fired by the hope of cutting off an
isolated British force, he rode swiftly northwards with two
thousand men under that rolling cloud which had been spied by the
watchers of Frederickstad.
The problem before him was a more serious one, however, than any
which he had ever undertaken, for this was no isolated regiment or
ill-manned post, but a complete little field force very ready to do
battle with him. De Wet's burghers, as they arrived, sprang from
their ponies and went into action in their usual invisible but
effective fashion, covered by the fire of several guns.
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