We Have No Means Of Ascertaining The Losses Of The
Boers, But They Were Probably Slight.
On our side we lost 109
killed and wounded, of which only 13 cases were fatal.
Of this
total 64 belonged to the Gloucesters and 25 to the troops raised in
Natal. Next day, as already narrated, the whole British army was
re-assembled once more at Ladysmith, and the campaign was to enter
upon a new phase.
At the end of this first vigorous week of hostilities it is
interesting to sum up the net result. The strategical advantage had
lain with the Boers. They had made our position at Dundee untenable
and had driven us back to Ladysmith. They had the country and the
railway for the northern quarter of the colony in their possession.
They had killed and wounded between six and seven hundred of our
men, and they had captured some two hundred of our cavalry, while
we had been compelled at Dundee to leave considerable stores and
our wounded, including General Penn Symons, who actually died while
a prisoner in their hands. On the other hand, the tactical
advantages lay with us. We had twice driven them from their
positions, and captured two of their guns. We had taken two hundred
prisoners. and had probably killed and wounded as many as we had
lost. On the whole, the honours of that week's fighting in Natal
may be said to have been fairly equal - which is more than we could
claim for many a weary week to come.
CHAPTER 7.
THE BATTLE OF LADYSMITH.
Sir George White had now reunited his force, and found himself in
command of a formidable little army some twelve thousand in number.
His cavalry included the 5th Lancers, the 5th Dragoons, part of the
18th and the whole of the 19th Hussars, the Natal Carabineers, the
Border Rifles, some mounted infantry, and the Imperial Light Horse.
Among his infantry were the Royal Irish Fusiliers, the Dublin
Fusiliers, and the King's Royal Rifles, fresh from the ascent of
Talana Hill, the Gordons, the Manchesters, and the Devons who had
been blooded at Elandslaagte, the Leicesters, the Liverpools, the
2nd battalion of the King's Royal Rifles, the 2nd Rifle Brigade,
and the Gloucesters, who had been so roughly treated at
Rietfontein. He had six batteries of excellent field artillery - the
13th, 21st, 42nd, 53rd, 67th, 69th, and No. 10 Mountain Battery of
screw guns. No general could have asked for a more compact and
workmanlike little force.
It had been recognised by the British General from the beginning
that his tactics must be defensive, since he was largely
outnumbered and since also any considerable mishap to his force
would expose the whole colony of Natal to destruction. The actions
of Elandslaagte and Rietfontein were forced upon him in order to
disengage his compromised detachment, but now there was no longer
any reason why he should assume the offensive. He knew that away
out on the Atlantic a trail of transports which already extended
from the Channel to Cape de Verde were hourly drawing nearer to him
with the army corps from England. In a fortnight or less the first
of them would be at Durban. It was his game, therefore, to keep his
army intact, and to let those throbbing engines and whirling
propellers do the work of the empire. Had he entrenched himself up
to his nose and waited, it would have paid him best in the end.
But so tame and inglorious a policy is impossible to a fighting
soldier. He could not with his splendid force permit himself to be
shut in without an action. What policy demands honour may forbid.
On October 27th there were already Boers and rumours of Boers on
every side of him. Joubert with his main body was moving across
from Dundee. The Freestaters were to the north and west. Their
combined numbers were uncertain, but at least it was already proved
that they were far more numerous and also more formidable than had
been anticipated. We had had a taste of their artillery also, and
the pleasant delusion that it would be a mere useless encumbrance
to a Boer force had vanished for ever. It was a grave thing to
leave the town in order to give battle, for the mobile enemy might
swing round and seize it behind us. Nevertheless White determined
to make the venture.
On the 29th the enemy were visibly converging upon the town. From a
high hill within rifleshot of the houses a watcher could see no
fewer than six Boer camps to the east and north. French, with his
cavalry, pushed out feelers, and coasted along the edge of the
advancing host. His report warned White that if he would strike
before all the scattered bands were united he must do so at once.
The wounded were sent down to Pietermaritzburg, and it would bear
explanation why the non-combatants did not accompany them. On the
evening of the same day Joubert in person was said to be only six
miles off, and a party of his men cut the water supply of the town.
The Klip, however, a fair-sized river, runs through Ladysmith, so
that there was no danger of thirst. The British had inflated and
sent up a balloon, to the amazement of the back-veld Boers; its
report confirmed the fact that the enemy was in force in front of
and around them.
On the night of the 29th General White detached two of his best
regiments, the Irish Fusiliers and the Gloucesters, with No. 10
Mountain Battery, to advance under cover of the darkness and to
seize and hold a long ridge called Nicholson's Nek, which lay about
six miles to the north of Ladysmith. Having determined to give
battle on the next day, his object was to protect his left wing
against those Freestaters who were still moving from the north and
west, and also to keep a pass open by which his cavalry might
pursue the Boer fugitives in case of a British victory.
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