It Was An Hour Before Dawn That The Guns
Started, And The Riflemen Followed Close Behind The Last Limber, So
That The First Light Of Day Fell Upon The Black Sinuous Line
Winding Down Between The Hills.
A spectator upon the occasion says
of them:
'Their faces were a study. For the most part the
expression worn was one of determination and bulldog pertinacity.
No sign of fear there, nor of wavering. Whatever else may be laid
to the charge of the Boer, it may never truthfully be said that he
is a coward or a man unworthy of the Briton's steel.' The words
were written early in the campaign, and the whole empire will
endorse them to-day. Could we have such men as willing
fellow-citizens, they are worth more than all the gold mines of
their country.
This main Transvaal body consisted of the commando of Pretoria,
which comprised 1800 men, and those of Heidelberg, Middelburg,
Krugersdorp, Standerton, Wakkerstroom, and Ermelo, with the State
Artillery, an excellent and highly organised body who were provided
with the best guns that have ever been brought on to a battlefield.
Besides their sixteen Krupps, they dragged with them two heavy
six-inch Creusot guns, which were destined to have a very important
effect in the earlier part of the campaign. In addition to these
native forces there were a certain number of European auxiliaries.
The greater part of the German corps were with the Free State
forces, but a few hundred came down from the north.
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