On May 10th Lord Roberts's Force, Which Had Halted For Three Days
At Smaldeel, Moved Onwards To Welgelegen.
French's cavalry had come
up by road, and quickly strengthened the centre and left wing of
the army.
On the morning of the 10th the invaders found themselves
confronted by a formidable position which the Boers had taken up on
the northern bank of the Sand River. Their army extended over
twenty miles of country, the two Bothas were in command, and
everything pointed to a pitched battle. Had the position been
rushed from the front, there was every material for a second
Colenso, but the British had learned that it was by brains rather
than by blood that such battles may be won. French's cavalry turned
the Boers on one side, and Bruce Hamilton's infantry on the other.
Theoretically we never passed the Boer flanks, but practically
their line was so over-extended that we were able to pierce it at
any point. There was never any severe fighting, but rather a steady
advance upon the British side and a steady retirement upon that of
the Boers. On the left the Sussex regiment distinguished itself by
the dash with which it stormed an important kopje. The losses were
slight, save among a detached body of cavalry which found itself
suddenly cut off by a strong force of the enemy and lost Captain
Elworthy killed, and Haig of the Inniskillings, Wilkinson of the
Australian Horse, and twenty men prisoners. We also secured forty
or fifty prisoners, and the enemy's casualties amounted to about as
many more.
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