The Storming Party Consisted Of
Some Hundreds Of Picked Volunteers From The Heidelberg (Transvaal)
And Harrismith (Free State) Contingents, Led By De Villiers.
They
were supported by several thousand riflemen, who might secure their
success or cover their retreat.
Eighteen heavy guns had been
trained upon the long ridge, one end of which has been called
Caesar's Camp and the other Waggon Hill. This hill, three miles
long, lay to the south of the town, and the Boers had early
recognised it as being the most vulnerable point, for it was
against it that their attack of November 9th had been directed.
Now, after two months, they were about to renew the attempt with
greater resolution against less robust opponents. At twelve o'clock
our scouts heard the sounds of the chanting of hymns in the Boer
camps. At two in the morning crowds of barefooted men were
clustering round the base of the ridge, and threading their way,
rifle in hand, among the mimosa-bushes and scattered boulders which
cover the slope of the hill. Some working parties were moving guns
into position, and the noise of their labour helped to drown the
sound of the Boer advance. Both at Caesar's Camp, the east end of
the ridge, and at Waggon Hill, the west end (the points being, I
repeat, three miles apart), the attack came as a complete surprise.
The outposts were shot or driven in, and the stormers were on the
ridge almost as soon as their presence was detected.
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