But Their Attempt To Convey
Their Feelings To Their Countrymen In The Field Ended In Tragedy.
Two Of Their Number, Morgendaal And Wessels, Who Had Journeyed To
De Wet's Camp, Were Condemned To Death By Order Of That Leader.
In
the case of Morgendaal the execution actually took place, and seems
to have been attended by brutal circumstances, the man having been
thrashed with a sjambok before being put to death.
The
circumstances are still surrounded by such obscurity that it is
impossible to say whether the message of the peace envoys was to
the General himself or to the men under his command. In the former
case the man was murdered. In the latter the Boer leader was within
his rights, though the rights may have been harshly construed and
brutally enforced.
On January 29th, in the act of breaking south, De Wet's force, or a
portion of it, had a sharp brush with a small British column
(Crewe's) at Tabaksberg, which lies about forty miles north-east of
Bloemfontein; This small force, seven hundred strong, found itself
suddenly in the presence of a very superior body of the enemy, and
had some difficulty in extricating itself. A pom-pom was lost in
this affair. Crewe fell back upon Knox, and the combined columns
made for Bloemfontein, whence they could use the rails for their
transport. De Wet meanwhile moved south as far as Smithfield, and
then, detaching several small bodies to divert the attention of the
British, he struck due west, and crossed the track between
Springfontein and Jagersfontein road, capturing the usual supply
train as he passed. On February 9th he had reached Phillipolis,
well ahead of the British pursuit, and spent a day or two in making
his final arrangements before carrying the war over the border. His
force consisted at this time of nearly 8000 men, with two
15-pounders, one pom-pom, and one maxim. The garrisons of all the
towns in the south-west of the Orange River Colony had been removed
in accordance with the policy of concentration, so De Wet found
himself for the moment in a friendly country.
The British, realising how serious a situation might arise should
De Wet succeed in penetrating the Colony and in joining Hertzog and
Kritzinger, made every effort both to head him off and to bar his
return. General Lyttelton at Naauwpoort directed the operations,
and the possession of the railway line enabled him to concentrate
his columns rapidly at the point of danger. On February 11th De Wet
forded the Orange River at Zand Drift, and found himself once more
upon British territory. Lyttelton's plan of campaign appears to
have been to allow De Wet to come some distance south, and then to
hold him in front by De Lisle's force, while a number of small
mobile columns under Plumer, Crabbe, Henniker, Bethune, Haig, and
Thorneycroft should shepherd him behind. On crossing, De Wet at
once moved westwards, where, upon February 12th, Plumer's column,
consisting of the Queensland Mounted Infantry, the Imperial
Bushmen, and part of the King's Dragoon Guards, came into touch
with his rearguard.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 343 of 435
Words from 177340 to 177862
of 225456
