The Distribution Of The British In
October And November Was Roughly As Follows.
Methuen was in the
Rustenburg district, Barton at Krugersdorp and operating down the
line to Klerksdorp, Settle was in
The West, Paget at Pienaar's
River, Clements in the Magaliesberg, Hart at Potchefstroom,
Lyttelton at Middelburg, Smith-Dorrien at Belfast, W. Kitchener at
Lydenburg, French in the Eastern Transvaal, Hunter, Rundle,
Brabant, and Bruce Hamilton in the Orange River Colony. Each of
these forces was occupied in the same sort of work, breaking up
small bodies of the enemy, hunting for arms, bringing in refugees,
collecting supplies, and rounding up cattle. Some, however, were
confronted with organised resistance and some were not. A short
account may be given in turn of each separate column.
I would treat first the operations of General Barton, because they
form the best introduction to that narrative of the doings of
Christian De Wet to which this chapter will be devoted.
The most severe operations during the month of October fell to the
lot of this British General, who, with some of the faithful
fusiliers whom he had led from the first days in Natal, was
covering the line from Krugersdorp to Klerksdorp. It is a long
stretch, and one which, as the result shows, is as much within
striking distance of the Orange Free Staters as of the men of the
Transvaal. Upon October 5th Barton left Krugersdorp with a force
which consisted of the Scots and Welsh Fusiliers, five hundred
mounted men, the 78th R.F.A., three pom-poms, and a 4.7 naval gun.
For a fortnight, as the small army moved slowly down the line of
the railroad, their progress was one continual skirmish.
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