Several dashing sorties were carried out under the
leadership of Captain Humby and Lord Longford.
The latter was a
particularly dashing business, ending in a bayonet charge which
cleared a neighbouring ridge. Early in the siege the gallant Keith
met his end. On the fourth day the Boers brought up five guns. One
would have thought that during so long a time as three days it
would have been possible for the officer in command to make such
preparations against this obvious possibility as were so
successfully taken at a later stage of the war by the handful who
garrisoned Ladybrand. Surely in this period, even without
engineers, it would not have been hard to construct such trenches
as the Boers have again and again opposed to our own artillery. But
the preparations which were made proved to be quite inadequate. One
of the two smaller kopjes was carried, and the garrison fled to the
other. This also was compelled to surrender, and finally the main
kopje also hoisted the white flag. No blame can rest upon the men,
for their presence there at all is a sufficient proof of their
public spirit and their gallantry. But the lessons of the war seem
to have been imperfectly learned, especially that very certain
lesson that shell fire in a close formation is insupportable, while
in an open formation with a little cover it can never compel
surrender. The casualty lists (80 killed and wounded out of a force
of 470) show that the Yeomanry took considerable punishment before
surrendering, but do not permit us to call the defence desperate or
heroic. It is only fair to add that Colonel Spragge was acquitted
of all blame by a court of inquiry, which agreed, however, that the
surrender was premature, and attributed it to the unauthorised
hoisting of a white flag upon one of the detached kopjes. With
regard to the subsequent controversy as to whether General Colvile
might have returned to the relief of the Yeomanry, it is impossible
to see how that General could have acted in any other way than he
did.
Some explanation is needed of Lord Methuen's appearance upon the
central scene of warfare, his division having, when last described,
been at Boshof, not far from Kimberley, where early in April he
fought the successful action which led to the death of Villebois.
Thence he proceeded along the Vaal and then south to Kroonstad,
arriving there on May 28th. He had with him the 9th Brigade
(Douglas's), which contained the troops which had started with him
for the relief of Kimberley six months before. These were the
Northumberland Fusiliers, Loyal North Lancashires, Northamptons,
and Yorkshire Light Infantry. With him also were the Munsters, Lord
Chesham's Yeomanry (five companies), with the 4th and 37th
batteries, two howitzers and two pom-poms. His total force was
about 6000 men. On arriving at Kroonstad he was given the task of
relieving Heilbron, where Colvile, with the Highland Brigade, some
Colonial horse, Lovat's Scouts, two naval guns, and the 5th
battery, were short of food and ammunition.
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