There Were Sixty-Two Casualties Out Of Eighty Among The
Scottish Horse, And The Yorkshires Were Practically Annihilated.
Altogether 123 Men Fell, Out Of About 160 On The Ridge.
'Hard
pounding, gentlemen,' as Wellington remarked at Waterloo, and
British troops seemed as ready as ever to endure it.
The gunners were, as usual, magnificent. Of the two little
bullet-pelted groups of men around the guns there was not one who
did not stand to his duty without flinching. Corporal Atkin was
shot down with all his comrades, but still endeavoured with his
failing strength to twist the breech-block out of the gun. Another
bullet passed through his upraised hands as he did it. Sergeant
Hayes, badly wounded, and the last survivor of the crew, seized the
lanyard, crawled up the trail, and fired a last round before he
fainted. Sergeant Mathews, with three bullets through him, kept
steadily to his duty. Five drivers tried to bring up a limber and
remove the gun, but all of them, with all the horses, were hit.
There have been incidents in this war which have not increased our
military reputation, but you might search the classical records of
valour and fail to find anything finer than the consistent conduct
of the British artillery.
Colonel Benson was hit in the knee and again in the stomach, but
wounded as he was he despatched a message back to Wools-Sampson,
asking him to burst shrapnel over the ridge so as to prevent the
Boers from carrying off the guns.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 762 of 842
Words from 203986 to 204242
of 225456
