This Drive, Which Was
Over The Same Ground, But Sweeping Backwards Towards The Heilbron
To Wolvehoek Line, Ended In The Total Capture Of 147 Of The Enemy,
Who Were Picked Out Of Holes, Retrieved From Amid The Reeds Of The
River, Called Down Out Of Trees, Or Otherwise Collected.
So
thorough were the operations that it is recorded that the angle
which formed the apex of the drive was one drove of game upon the
last day, all the many types of antelope, which form one of the
characteristics and charms of the country, having been herded into
it.
More important even than the results of the drive was the discovery
of one of De Wet's arsenals in a cave in the Vrede district.
Half-way down a precipitous krantz, with its mouth covered by
creepers, no writer of romance could have imagined a more fitting
headquarters for a guerilla chief. The find was made by Ross's
Canadian Scouts, who celebrated Dominion Day by this most useful
achievement. Forty wagon-loads of ammunition and supplies were
taken out of the cave. De Wet was known to have left the north-east
district, and to have got across the railway, travelling towards
the Vaal as if it were his intention to join De la Rey in the
Transvaal. The Boer resistance had suddenly become exceedingly
energetic in that part, and several important actions had been
fought, to which we will presently turn.
Before doing so it would be as well to bring the chronicle of
events in the Orange River Colony down to the conclusion of peace.
There were still a great number of wandering Boers in the northern
districts and in the frontier mountains, who were assiduously, but
not always successfully, hunted down by the British troops. Much
arduous and useful work was done by several small columns, the
Colonial Horse and the Artillery Mounted Rifles especially
distinguishing themselves. The latter corps, formed from the
gunners whose field-pieces were no longer needed, proved themselves
to be a most useful body of men; and the British gunner, when he
took to carrying his gun, vindicated the reputation which he had
won when his gun had carried him.
From the 1st to the 4th of May a successful drive was conducted by
many columns in the often harried but never deserted Lindley to
Kroonstad district. The result was propitious, as no fewer than 321
prisoners were brought in. Of these, 150 under Mentz were captured
in one body as they attempted to break through the encircling
cordon.
Amid many small drives and many skirmishes, one stands out for its
severity. It is remarkable as being the last action of any
importance in the campaign. This was the fight at Moolman's Spruit,
near Ficksburg, upon April 20th, 1902. A force of about one hundred
Yeomanry and forty Mounted Infantry (South Staffords) was
despatched by night to attack an isolated farm in which a small
body of Boers was supposed to be sleeping.
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