One
of Colonel Hickie's Yeomanry patrols was roughly handled near
Brakspruit upon November 13th, but with this exception the points
scored were all upon one side. Methuen and Kekewich came across
early in November from Zeerust to Klerksdorp, and operated from the
railway line. The end of the year saw them both in the Wolmaranstad
district, where they were gathering up prisoners and clearing the
country.
Of the events in the other parts of the Transvaal, during the last
three months of the year 1901, there is not much to be said. In all
parts the lines of blockhouses and of constabulary posts were
neutralising the Boer mobility, and bringing them more and more
within reach of the British. The only fighting forces left in the
Transvaal were those under Botha in the south-east and those under
De la Rey in the west. The others attempted nothing save to escape
from their pursuers, and when overtaken they usually gave in
without serious opposition. Among the larger hauls may be mentioned
that of Dawkins in the Nylstrom district (seventy-six prisoners),
Kekewich (seventy-eight), Colenbrander in the north (fifty-seven),
Dawkins and Colenbrander (104), Colenbrander (sixty-two); but the
great majority of the captures were in smaller bodies, gleaned from
the caves, the kloofs, and the farmhouses.
Only two small actions during these months appear to call for any
separate notice. The first was an attack made by Buys' commando,
upon November 20th, on the Railway Pioneers when at work near
Villiersdorp, in the extreme north-east of the Orange River Colony.
This corps, consisting mainly of miners from Johannesburg, had done
invaluable service during the war. On this occasion a working party
of them was suddenly attacked, and most of them taken prisoners.
Major Fisher, who commanded the pioneers, was killed, and three
other officers with several men were wounded. Colonel Rimington's
column appeared upon the scene, however, and drove off the Boers,
who left their leader, Buys, a wounded prisoner in our hands.
The second action was a sharp attack delivered by Muller's Boers
upon Colonel Park's column on the night of December 19th, at
Elandspruit. The fight was sharp while it lasted, but it ended in
the repulse of the assailants. The British casualties were six
killed and twenty-four wounded. The Boers, who left eight dead
behind them, suffered probably to about the same extent.
Already the most striking and pleasing feature in the Transvaal was
the tranquillity of its central provinces, and the way in which the
population was settling down to its old avocations. Pretoria had
resumed its normal quiet life, while its larger and more energetic
neighbour was rapidly recovering from its two years of paralysis.
Every week more stamps were dropped in the mines, and from month to
month a steady increase in the output showed that the great staple
industry of the place would soon be as vigorous as ever. Most
pleasing of all was the restoration of safety upon the railway
lines, which, save for some precautions at night, had resumed their
normal traffic. When the observer took his eyes from the dark
clouds which shadowed every horizon, he could not but rejoice at
the ever-widening central stretch of peaceful blue which told that
the storm was nearing its end.
Having now dealt with the campaign in the Transvaal down to the end
of 1901, it only remains to bring the chronicle of the events in
the Orange River Colony down to the same date. Reference has
already been made to two small British reverses which occurred in
September, the loss of two guns to the south of the Waterworks near
Bloemfontein, and the surprise of the camp of Lord Lovat's Scouts.
There were some indications at this time that a movement had been
planned through the passes of the Drakensberg by a small Free State
force which should aid Louis Botha's invasion of Natal. The main
movement was checked, however, and the demonstration in aid of it
came to nothing.
The blockhouse system had been developed to a very complete extent
in the Orange River Colony, and the small bands of Boers found it
increasingly difficult to escape from the British columns who were
for ever at their heels. The southern portion of the country had
been cut off from the northern by a line which extended through
Bloemfontein on the east to the Basuto frontier, and on the west to
Jacobsdal. To the south of this line the Boer resistance had
practically ceased, although several columns moved continually
through it, and gleaned up the broken fragments of the commandos.
The north-west had also settled down to a large extent, and during
the last three months of 1901 no action of importance occurred in
that region. Even in the turbulent north-east, which had always
been the centre of resistance, there was little opposition to the
British columns, which continued every week to send in their tale
of prisoners. Of the column commanders, Williams, Damant, Du
Moulin, Lowry Cole, and Wilson were the most successful. In their
operations they were much aided by the South African Constabulary.
One young officer of this force, Major Pack-Beresford, especially
distinguished himself by his gallantry and ability. His premature
death from enteric was a grave loss to the British army. Save for
one skirmish of Colonel Wilson's early in October, and another of
Byng's on November 14th, there can hardly be said to have been any
actual fighting until the events late in December which I am about
to describe.
In the meanwhile the peaceful organisation of the country was being
pushed forward as rapidly as in the Transvaal, although here the
problems presented were of a different order, and the population an
exclusively Dutch one.
