The Harried Boers Moved A Hundred Miles North To
Rustenburg, Followed By Methuen, Fetherstonhaugh, Hamilton,
Kekewich, And Allenby, Who Found
The commandos of De la Rey and
Kemp to be scattering in front of them and hiding in the kloofs
And
dongas, whence in the early days of September no less than two
hundred were extracted. On September 6th and 8th Methuen engaged
the main body of De la Rey in the valley of the Great Marico River
which lies to the north-west of Rustenburg. In these two actions he
pushed the Boers in front of him with a loss of eighteen killed and
forty-one prisoners, but the fighting was severe, and fifteen of
his men were killed and thirty wounded before the position had been
carried. The losses were almost entirely among the newly raised
Yeomanry, who had already shown on several occasions that, having
shed their weaker members and had some experience of the field,
they were now worthy to take their place beside their veteran
comrades.
The only other important operation undertaken by the British
columns in the Transvaal during this period was in the north, where
Beyers and his men were still harried by Grenfell, Colenbrander,
and Wilson. A considerable proportion of the prisoners which
figured in the weekly lists came from this quarter. On May 30th
there was a notable action, the truth of which was much debated but
finally established, in which Kitchener's Scouts under Wilson
surprised and defeated a Boer force under Pretorius, killing and
wounding several, and taking forty prisoners.
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