CHAPTER XIII
.
SPION KOP.
Warren's Divisions cross the Tugela--The enemy entrenching--The artillery and transport cross--A long delay--Spion Kop bombarded--Lyttelton's feigned attack--The cavalry seize Acton Homes--Desultory movements before Spion Kop--Change of plan--Advance on the left ordered--Capture of Three-tree Hill and Bastion Hill--Death of Major Childe--Assault ordered and countermanded--Lyttelton's advance--Warren telegraphs for howitzers--Rumoured relief of Ladysmith--Another day of little progress--Pathetic humour--Assault ordered and postponed--Another council of war--Warren reinforced--The storming force--Ascent of Spion Kop--A Boer picket surprised--The storming force halts too soon--Tardy reinforcements--Botha determines to recapture the hill--Positions of the opposing forces--The Boers bombard the British position--Woodgate wounded--Thorneycroft put in command--A frightful struggle--Lack of artillery support--Boer attempts to rush the position--The King's Royal Rifles storm a ridge--Desperate straits--Confusion of commands--Thorneycroft determines to withdraw--Scene on the hill after the battle--Losses in the action--The retreat--Causes of the defeat.
[Sidenote: Warren's Divisions cross the Tugela.]
[Sidenote: [JAN. 16-17, 1900.]
All through the night of January 16-17 General Lyttelton's Brigade was crossing the Tugela at Potgieter's Drift, fording the river or ferrying over in the pontoons and ferry-boat. Before dawn the six 5-inch howitzers had followed the infantry and taken their post in the line of kopjes, at One Tree Hill, the foremost point which the British advance had reached. Meantime, General Hildyard with the Second Brigade, to impress the Boers with the belief that the main attack would be delivered from the east, and to divert attention from the west, had deployed his men and made as if to cross at Skiet's Drift. But, as night wore on, he too, had stolen off towards Trichardt's Drift, ten miles to the west, whither in eager haste all Sir Charles Warren's force was marching. Three brigades of infantry, six batteries of artillery, and almost all the cavalry and mounted infantry were concentrating upon this point. Rain fell in torrents, hampering the movement and delaying the transport; yet before dawn the combatants were in place and ready to begin. "It was not possible," says Mr. Churchill, "to stand unmoved and watch the ceaseless living stream--miles of stern-looking men, marching in fours so quickly that they often had to run to keep up, of artillery, ammunition columns, supply columns, baggage, slaughter-cattle, thirty great pontoons, white-hooded, red-crossed ambulance waggons, all the accessories of an army hurrying forward under cover of night--and before them a guiding star, the red gleam of war." The march through the mud, however, had wearied the men; still more so the alternations of running and halting, which showed that the staff, from unfamiliarity with the work of handling and moving large bodies of troops, had made faulty arrangements. And thus, when in the small hours of the early morning the column, anxious for action, looked down upon the river, and up across it at the solemn precipices of Spion Kop beyond, nothing happened. Perhaps the pontoons to bridge the stream had dropped behind on the muddy roads; perhaps the general thought it inexpedient to launch weary troops forthwith against the enemy. But to the men the delay seemed exasperating; they knew that they would pay dearly for it with their lives and that they had made haste in vain, since the Boers were to be allowed time to extend their lines yet further to the west, once more compelling a frontal attack.
[Illustration:
[_Photo by Middlebrook._
AMMUNITION COLUMN CROSSING THE TUGELA BY A PONTOON BRIDGE.]
[Sidenote: The enemy entrenching.]
[Sidenote: JAN. 17, 1900.] _Warren's Divisions Cross the Tugela._]
The night and the early hours of the day passed in inactivity. On the hills opposite the Boers were already at their work of raising stone breastworks and laboriously digging and blasting entrenchments, while hour after hour reinforcements poured in. To the Boer the spade was a weapon only one degree less useful than the rifle. Our soldiers, taught to despise cover and untrained in the use of entrenchments, watched with mingled contempt and apprehension these proceedings of the enemy, and, as line after line of defences showed faintly on the green and brown surface of the hills, wondered at the measured deliberation of their own generals, contrasting strangely as it did with the furious energy of the men opposed to them. At last, about 8 a.m. of January 17, the crossing began. A patrol of Light Horse rode down to the river; the Devons and West Yorkshires followed; the field batteries on the heights overlooking the drift drew up in line and prepared to open; from the right through the morning air came the thunder of the howitzers and the heavy thud of the naval guns on Spearman's Hill, telling that General Lyttelton was already in action. The uproar of battle re-echoed through this remote mountain land and reverberated in the lonely eyries of Taba Myama. Thick wet mist still enveloped the hill-tops and gave the country an air of eeriness and mystery; it lifted only towards mid-day as the sun's rays dispelled it. The West Yorkshires were the first to cross, ferried over in pontoons; the engineers set to work to build two bridges, both above the drift, the one of pontoons and the other of trestles. The first was completed in a couple of hours. The work was scarcely interrupted by the Boers. A handful of snipers fired a few shots at the British covering party of infantry and killed a soldier of the Devons, but beyond this the enemy showed no disposition to harass the attacking force, although, had they done so, there is little doubt that they could have inflicted considerable loss. Their unwillingness to leave cover, on this as on many other occasions during the campaign in Natal, permitted operations to be carried on with comparative safety, which a more enterprising enemy could have rendered highly dangerous, or even disastrous. With the Boers it was an object to risk as little as possible their lives and limbs; on our side the error was quite in the opposite direction.
[Illustration:
_A. J. Gough._]
DROWNING OF A TROOPER OF THE 13th HUSSARS.
Several men and horses were swept away by the current in the crossing of Wagon Drift, and one trooper was drowned in spite of Captain Tremayne's gallant attempt to rescue him.]
The British field batteries opened fire and searched the north bank of the river with a storm of shrapnel, while the infantry discharged a few volleys. There was no return of their fire by the Boers, and the cannonade died away.
[Sidenote: The artillery and transport cross.]
[Sidenote: [JAN. 17-18, 1900.]
After the West Yorkshires and Devons, General Hart's Irish Brigade streamed across the river and marched to a bivouac on the further bank. The cavalry and mounted infantry had to use a difficult and dangerous ford, known as Wagon Drift, a mile lower down the stream. Owing to the swiftness of the current, which runs here at something like ten miles an hour, there were some misadventures; several men were swept away, and were with difficulty rescued by their comrades; one unfortunate trooper of the 13th Hussars was drowned although every effort was made to rescue him. It now only remained to pass the artillery, the transport, and the waggons of the column across, but this proved by far the most tedious and troublesome part of the operation. Nearly 500 ox and mule-waggons, in addition to ambulances, guns, and ammunition waggons, were sent over. The work occupied all the afternoon and evening of the 17th and the morning of the 18th. The rest of General Hildyard's Brigade and the whole of General Woodgate's Brigade had already joined the battalions which were bivouacking without tents on the north of the stream. The army was across and ready to strike a blow when its transport would permit, halted in a land which was an earthly paradise--"a country of arable soil and splendid pasture, where brown-clad doves emit plaintive love songs, of twittering tomtits and green-plumaged sunbirds, of huge, gray-coated secretary birds and gaudy butterflies that would gladden the heart of the entomologist."
[Illustration: COMMANDANT GENERAL LOUIS BOTHA.
Was born in Natal some thirty-six years ago, and settled down in the Transvaal when he had nearly reached man's estate. He does not come of a fighting stock, but has hitherto been known as a successful farmer. In the early days of the war, however, he showed such conspicuous military ability that he was, upon Joubert's death, and despite his comparative youth, elected Commandant General of the Boer forces. He is fairly well educated for a Boer, and talks English fluently when he pleases. He is married to a lady of Irish descent, whose maiden name was Emmet, and who claims relationship to Thomas Addis Emmet, the United Irish leader of 1798, and to Robert Emmet, executed for high treason in 1803.]
[Sidenote: A long delay.]
The afternoon and evening of the 17th passed in inactivity so far as the infantry and artillery were concerned. Only a few shots were fired by the artillery to disconcert the Boers. There was much questioning in the British camp as to the reason for the long delay, since to the men rapid movement seemed essential for success against the enemy. The Boers could be seen everywhere, well out of range, at work upon the lines of defences on the hills and kopjes. The British army was sitting still and giving General Botha--who was now in command of the Boers at this point--ample time to concentrate his forces and make all his dispositions. The wait at Potgieter's was easy to explain, for that had not been the point chosen for the decisive attack. But the wait after crossing at Trichardt's Drift admitted of no such simple excuse. Everything depended upon celerity. The facts were that General Warren did not venture to leave his baggage in charge of a small rearguard and to push on along the Boer front, and that the crossing of such a river as the Tugela, with its high banks, awkward approaches, and difficult fords, was necessarily a slow and troublesome work, giving the enemy abundance of opportunity to gather men and oppose a determined resistance.
[Sidenote: Spion Kop bombarded. Lyttelton's feigned attack.]
[Sidenote: JAN. 18, 1900.] _A British Ambuscade._]
On the 18th General Lyttelton's Brigade advanced in widely extended order from One Tree Hill--as the chief of the kopjes near Potgieter's Drift was named--towards the Boer lines, supported by the fire of the naval guns and howitzers. The shells searched the eastern face of Spion Kop, which had been assiduously bombarded on the previous day, causing the Boers, as they themselves admitted, heavy losses, and interrupting communication between their camps and laagers. Clouds, now yellow and green with the fumes of lyddite, now brown with the dust which its explosion threw up, flecked the slopes of the hills. But the enemy made no reply whatever. The great war balloon rose slowly into the air near One Tree Hill, and the officer in the car signalled that he could see the Boers lining their entrenchments, but could discover no guns. Thereupon the British infantry--the Scottish Rifles on the left, the 3rd King's Royal Rifles in the centre, and the 1st Rifle Brigade on the right--pushed forward in a convex line, making all possible use of cover. The object was to draw the enemy, to distract their attention from Sir Charles Warren, and to discover their positions. But they obstinately refused to be drawn; instinctively they had divined our purpose. Only from the hill on the British right front, known as Brakfontein, came a few shots which wounded two men. A second line of kopjes, one mile in advance of One Tree Hill, was reached and gained without incident, and there the brigade halted till night, and then under cover of darkness fell back.
[Illustration: "THE OUTLOOK" OVER THE TUGELA.
An officer of the Scottish Rifles explaining to his men the dispositions of the enemy.]
[Sidenote: The cavalry seize Acton Homes.]
[Sidenote: [JAN. 18-19, 1900.]
During this interval of inactivity and demonstrations the mounted men under Lord Dundonald had been employed on more serious work. While Sir Charles Warren was collecting his baggage and transport, and moving his infantry force slowly a couple of miles northward, under the shadow of Spion Kop, the cavalry and mounted infantry rode six miles up the road to the north-west to the hamlet of Acton Homes. About mid-day a small force of Boers was made out, also moving west, and Major Graham of the Natal Carbineers, with 350 men of that body, of the Imperial Light Horse, and of the King's Royal Rifles' Mounted Infantry, was permitted to snare it if he could. He pushed forward rapidly, unobserved by the enemy, and seized a point commanding the road, where his men lay in ambush and waited. The Boers with unusual carelessness had sent out a German to scout, who reported that the way was clear. They came on unsuspectingly, and, but for a carbineer who fired before orders had been given, would have been destroyed to a man. As it was, at 300 yards range, they received a deadly volley and at once broke and ran over the smooth, open plain, some to the nearest kopje, others, more daring, across the veldt towards the Boer camps some miles away. The party which had taken refuge in the kopje was speedily surrounded, and an attempt was made--and abandoned when the Boer fire showed that it must cause unnecessary loss--to rush the position with the bayonet. "We got within fifty yards of the Dutchmen," said one of the King's Royal Rifles, "but it was too hot to go further." So the storming force retired, and a steady rifle fire was directed upon the kopje to bring the Boers to their senses. Once they showed the white flag without ceasing their fire, but the British troops had been warned what to expect, and paid no attention. Then a second time the white flag fluttered up and the shooting of the Boers stopped; with difficulty the British officers checked their indignant men. Several of the enemy rose and held up their hands; the kopje was taken. Twenty-four unwounded Boers were made prisoners, and, in addition to these, eight were found badly wounded. Ten more lay dead on the kopje, among them Field-Cornet de Mentz of Heilbron, who, though badly wounded at the beginning of the fight, had continued firing till he bled to death. Besides these losses, the party of Boers which had made its escape eastwards had also suffered to the extent of fifteen or twenty killed and wounded. The British casualties were only four--two men shot through the head and killed, and an officer and a private wounded. The affair, however, had no serious results and no strategical importance, though it showed that our Colonials were fully a match for the Boers in wiliness. To the Natal Carbineers the credit belongs.
[Illustration: BOERS AMBUSCADED BY BRITISH AND COLONIAL TROOPS UNDER MAJOR GRAHAM OF THE NATAL CARBINEERS.]
No sooner had the enemy surrendered, than the British soldiers vied with each other in striving to comfort and succour the Boer wounded. The soldiers crowded round them, "covering them up with blankets or mackintoshes, propping their heads with saddles for pillows, and giving them water and biscuits from their bottles and haversacks. In an instant anger had changed to pity. The desire to kill was gone," wrote Mr. Churchill. The British mounted troops were ordered to return after their success, as the news had been heliographed from Ladysmith that a large force of Boers was moving with guns to cut them off, and they were beyond the reach of infantry support. Thus the original intention of seizing the Boer line of communications to the Drakensberg was abandoned without further effort.
[Sidenote: Desultory movements before Spion Kop.]
On the 19th, in very leisurely manner, Sir Charles Warren began his infantry movement along the western foot of Spion Kop. That height was the pivot upon which the Boer centre rested; its slopes and precipices parted the two wings of the British army--the right wing under General Lyttelton at Potgieter's, watching the eastern face of the great mountain, the left wing, five miles away, watching the western face and endeavouring to work round it without delivering a frontal attack upon the works which crowned its ridges. The artillery vigorously shelled the Boer lines; the naval guns from Spearman's Hill enfiladed the eastern ridge of Spion Kop, and two brigades of British infantry in skirmishing formation pushed forward up the rocky slopes and ridges in the direction of Spion Kop, at once to guard the baggage from molestation and to occupy the enemy.
[Illustration:
[_Photo by Gregory._
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR CHARLES WARREN G.C.M.G., K.C.B., R.E.
A few facts concerning Sir Charles Warren's career are given below the small portrait on page 215. He was appointed by Lord Roberts (April 26, 1900) Military Governor of Griqualand West "while that part of the country is in a disturbed condition."]
[Sidenote: [JAN. 19, 1900.]
The transport was forwarded to Venter's Laager, an advance of four whole miles in the day, while the mildest kind of long-range fighting proceeded, and the troops wondered whether "make haste slowly"--"slowly" in this case being at the pace of the snail--was wise tactics. On the right of the British troops the Boers looked down from the hills--it might seem with ironical contempt--upon the half-hearted, purposeless moves of the great army below. They were active enough in ever extending their lines of defence to the north-east, whatever the British were doing. Yet, prudently guarding against possibilities, their heavy waggons were already on the road to the Free State and the Transvaal. Sir George White, they argued, might well break in upon their retreat if General Buller's army gained any success. In the afternoon the action slowly relaxed its vigour; the steady and continued rifle and cannon fire gave place to desultory sniping, and the troops bivouacked in their aerial perches among the rocky ridges.
[Illustration: BRITISH SOLDIERS TENDING BOERS AFTER THE BATTLE AT POTGIETER'S DRIFT. (See page 268.)]
[Sidenote: Change of plan.]
[Sidenote: JAN. 19, 1900.] _Frontal Attack to be Made._]
"In war," says the great Prussian organiser of victory, Scharnhorst, "what the general does matters little. Everything depends upon the unity of action and vigour with which he does it." And so it was no very reassuring symptom when, after reaching Venter's Laager, Sir Charles Warren assembled the generals, the staff, and the commanders of the artillery and engineers, and pointed out to them that there were two lines of advance--the one devious and round-about, by way of Acton Homes, the other passing up by Fair View and the centre of the Boer position to the western side of Spion Kop, at a point where the summit of the ridge dropped considerably. To move by Acton Homes, he urged, was impossible, as his food and provisions would not permit of it. To take waggons up the Fair View road would necessitate sending all the transport back to the south of the Tugela and capturing the enemy's positions by a frontal attack, the men marching with three or four days' provisions in their haversacks. The assembled generals acquiesced; and thus, in spite of a general order, which is said to have been issued by General Buller at the beginning of the flank movement, to the effect that there would be "no turning back from the relief of Ladysmith," the original flank movement was abandoned. A message was sent to General Buller couched in the following terms:--
"Sent 7·54 p.m. Received 8·15 p.m. "Left Flank, 19th January. "To the Chief of the Staff,
"I find there are only two roads by which we could possibly get from Trichardt's Drift to Potgieter's, on the north of the Tugela, one by Acton Homes, the other by Fair View and Rosalie; the first I reject as too long, the second is a very difficult road for a large number of waggons, unless the enemy is thoroughly cleared out. I am, therefore, going to adopt some special arrangements which will involve my stay at Venter's Laager for two or three days. I will send in for further supplies and report progress.--WARREN."
It will be observed that it did not in clear language state that a frontal assault was to be substituted for the flanking movement, yet it contained enough to tell the Commander-in-Chief in Natal that a radical change of policy was purposed. Sir Redvers Buller appears to have offered no objection. He answered to the effect that further supplies would be sent.
[Illustration: OFFICERS OF THE GERMAN CORPS UNDER GENERAL LOUIS BOTHA.]
[Sidenote: [JAN. 19-20, 1900.]
It would be supposed that this discovery might have been made by a personal reconnaissance two days earlier, as soon as General Warren's troops had effected their passage at Trichardt's Drift. The saving of these two days might well have meant the difference between victory and defeat. Even if the maps were bad--and General Buller described the march as a march "into an unknown country," while it is a fact that Spion Kop was not shown in the sketch of the country round Ladysmith, issued by the Intelligence Department--an examination of the lie of the land by the generals must have disclosed on the 17th what does not appear to have been realised till the evening of the 19th. The desperate straits of Ladysmith rendered prompt and rapid action of the most vital importance. Yet two days were spent in bringing the transport across, and then in making the discovery that it was the most dangerous encumbrance and had better have been left on the south side of the Tugela.
[Illustration: _F. C. Dickinson._] [_After a sketch by a British officer._
THE ACTION AT THREE TREE HILL.
In this sketch the Boer position is along the crests of the hills. Halfway up the hill near the centre the British are seen advancing; on the nearer hill are two batteries of Royal Artillery, and the Lancasters and Lancashire Fusiliers "sniping"; in the foreground the ambulances. In the actual battle little or no smoke was to be seen; it has been exaggerated in the sketch in order to make the positions clear.]
[Sidenote: Advance on the left ordered.]
On the 19th there had been nothing more than long-range skirmishing in which the British losses were comparatively small. On the 20th it was determined to force the attack. Accordingly, on the night of the 19th, General Warren instructed General Clery, with General Hart's and General Woodgate's Brigades, and the six field batteries, to push the advance on the extreme left, against the enemy's positions on the long ridge which ran down from Spion Kop to the north-east. The ground over which the British troops were to advance is described as a succession of ridges, intersected at right angles by watercourses, cutting deep gorges in the mountain side, and thus sundering and separating the attacking force. Of shelter there was little or none; the advance had to be made from ridge to ridge, always under the fire of the vigilant enemy.
[Illustration: MAP SHOWING THE MOVEMENTS OF SIR CHARLES WARREN'S ARMY UP TO THE NIGHT OF SPION KOP.]
[Illustration:
[_Photo by Bartlett, Shrewsbury._
MAJOR CHILDE.]
[Illustration:
_Alec Ball._]
PRIVATE TOBIN CAPTURES BASTION HILL.]
[Sidenote: JAN. 19-20, 1900.] _Capture of Three Tree Hill._]
[Sidenote: Capture of Three Tree Hill and Bastion Hill.]
[Sidenote: [JAN. 20, 1900.]
During the night of the 19-20th a forward move was made. General Woodgate pushed out from the British camp and seized Three Tree Hill--a bastion jutting out from the north-western flank of Spion Kop. The Boers offered no resistance. The hill was the centre of a vast amphitheatre, crowned on all sides by Boer entrenchments; and though far below the crests which towered above it, it was the best artillery position that could be found, and here three of the British field batteries were planted. When day broke, the battle opened with the usual bombardment on the part of the field guns, the naval guns from Spearman's Hill and the howitzers from Potgieter's shelling the Boer position on Spion Kop from the other side. All day "the hills crashed with guns and rattled with musketry. At a little distance you might have supposed," writes Mr. Atkins, "that the resonant noises came from some haunted mountain, for the hills looked sleepy, and peaceful, and deserted, and there seemed to be no reason for all these strange sounds--the bark of field guns, the crackle of musketry, the rapping of Vickers-Maxims, and the tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat of Maxims." All day the thin straggling lines of British infantry pushed slowly forward--almost invisible upon the slopes of the hills--but in spite of splendid efforts the progress was painfully slow. The advance was made at first by small scattered parties of men, quickly following each other and using all the cover that could be found, hurrying from kopje to kopje. Then in heavier masses the main body of the infantry followed. General Hildyard's Brigade was on the left, General Hart's in the centre, and General Woodgate's on the right. On the extreme left were the cavalry and mounted infantry, who accomplished the one great feat of the day--the capture of Bastion Hill.
[Illustration:
[_From a sketch on the spot by F. A. Stewart._
THE IRISH BRIGADE STORMING THE KOPJES NEAR WARREN'S CENTRE. January 20, 1900.]
Bastion Hill, like Three Tree Hill, ran out at right angles from the main range of Spion Kop. By Lord Dundonald's order the South African Light Horse under Major Childe were sent to examine it, and if they did not find it strongly held, to seize it. They extended, approached under a heavy fire from the Boers at over 7,000 yards--a range at which British field artillery is useless--and climbed in open order its steep, almost precipitous sides. A private named Tobin led them all. Alert and agile, he bounded up the slopes, and reached the summit ten minutes before the rest of his comrades. All watched him, expecting every instant to see him fall, but he found only a picket of Boers, who fled at his appearance. Turning round, he waved his helmet on his rifle, and the Light Horse rushed up and occupied the hill. There was something ominous in the ease with which it had been taken, and the Boer reason for leaving it unfortified was soon manifest.
[Illustration:
[_Photo by Caney._
CAPTAIN C. A. HENSLEY.
Killed at Venter's Spruit (see page 275).]
[Sidenote: JAN. 20, 1900.] _Bravery of the Irish Brigade._]
[Sidenote: Death of Major Childe.]
Behind it rose a crescent-shaped ridge, hardly visible from below, but which was now seen to command it. The top of Bastion Hill itself was bare of shelter, and upon it from this further crest was poured a murderous fire--shrapnel and rifle. Towards evening Major Childe was struck and killed by a well-timed shrapnel, which laid low six of his brave troopers. Upon him, in the days before the battle, the presentiment of death had sat heavily. He had asked the night before that on his grave should be placed this epitaph, with its words of eternal hope and consolation: "'Is it well with the child?' And she answered: 'It is well.'" His wish was fulfilled. Beneath Bastion Hill he lies to-day, and on the cross which marks his grave these simple words are carved. Around him, on the solemn hills, within sight of his resting-place, sleep the valiant comrades who in these sorrowful days of defeat laid down their lives for their country. And his epitaph is theirs.
[Illustration:
_R. Caton Woodville._]
THE DANGERS OF MERCY: INDIAN AMBULANCE BEARERS UNDER FIRE.]
[Sidenote: Assault ordered and countermanded.]
[Sidenote: [JAN. 20, 1900.]
Nearer Sir Charles Warren's centre the Irish Brigade under General Hart displayed all its usual and reckless valour. The men went forward with dash and fury, eager to wipe out old scores, and, had they been given a free hand, might have secured then the success which a month later their efforts and self-sacrifice achieved. Upon them the Boer artillery opened with great effect, the Pom-Poms and captured British 15-pounders from Colenso maintaining a rapid fire. The guns were hard to locate, and so were not easily silenced by the British batteries. There fell Captain Hensley, who had fought all through the war, in Natal, at Dundee, at Farquhar's Farm, and at Colenso--a man greatly beloved. Towards the middle of the afternoon it was determined to press home the assault on the enemy's position. The British batteries accordingly redoubled their fire; the grass along the amphitheatre of hills took fire, and great clouds of smoke rose, blowing down upon the Boer marksmen. But for some reason or other, not for the first time, the generals changed their minds. The assault was countermanded, and the troops fell back a very little from the most advanced positions. As the evening wore on, General Hildyard extended his left to Bastion Hill, driving back a small Boer commando, and sent a force of infantry to relieve the South African Light Horse. With darkness the firing died down, and the troops had again to bivouac on the bare mountain sides. The day had been one of scorching heat, and to it, as is not unusual at high altitudes, succeeded a night of bitter cold. The British casualties in General Warren's force from the arrival at Trichardt's Drift to the evening of the 20th were 34 killed, 293 wounded, and 2 missing, so that the losses were fast mounting up. What were the enemy's casualties it is impossible to say, but by their own accounts they suffered heavily from our shell fire. The Boers claimed a victory, and asserted that General Botha had checked the British advance. Nor were they altogether wrong, since we could show only the most trivial advantage gained. The one point in our favour was that the British casualties could be replaced, whereas the Boer casualties could not. Throughout the day the conduct of the civilian stretcher-bearers excited the most unstinted admiration and praise. They went forward stolidly to the very firing line, and could be seen bending over the dead and succouring and removing the wounded with faithful devotion and superb coolness amidst the hail of bullets and shells. The Boers fired on them with the utmost impartiality, for the enemy either could not or would not see the red-cross badge. Not a few of the bearers were themselves killed or wounded.
[Illustration: THE ROYAL LANCASTER REGIMENT CROSSING A DRIFT (WITH THEIR BOOTS ON) ON THE WAY TO SPION KOP.]
The conduct of the day's fighting provoked some bitter, perhaps intemperate, complaints of the British generals' tactics. It was said of one of the Brigade Commanders that "he took personal command of the York and Lancaster and the South Lancashire regiments, and ordered a futile bayonet charge at an enemy nearly fifteen hundred yards away. This attracted such heavy fire that the two regiments sought shelter and declined to follow their officers another yard."
[Illustration:
[_Photo by Chas. Knight._
MAJOR-GENERAL HART.
Major-General A. FitzRoy Hart, C.B., commanding the 5th Brigade of the 10th Division.]
[Sidenote: JAN. 20-21, 1900.] _Ineffectiveness of the British Guns._]
[Sidenote: Lyttelton's advance.]
On the afternoon of the 20th, to support Sir Charles Warren's attack, General Lyttelton advanced directly upon the Boer trenches which lined the eastern slope of Spion Kop and the southern slope of Brakfontein. This was a totally distinct movement from Sir Charles Warren's, and was directed from Potgieter's Drift. The howitzers and naval guns aided the infantry with their fire. At the same time Bethune's Mounted Infantry were ordered to move along the river to the east; they speedily came into contact with the enemy in strong force, and as their orders were to do nothing more than demonstrate, retired. But the presence of the enemy in strength in this quarter, close to Skiet's Drift, seriously menaced the British line of communications. Meantime, General Lyttelton pushed up to within 1500 yards of the main Boer entrenchments, and after long-range firing slowly fell back, with two killed and fifteen wounded or missing.
[Illustration: [_Photo by Barnett._
RUSSIAN DOCTORS WITH THE BOER ARMY PICKING UP BRITISH SHELLS.]
[Illustration: INDIAN AMBULANCE CART WITH BULLER'S ARMY.]
[Sidenote: Warren telegraphs for howitzers.]
[Sidenote: [JAN. 21, 1900.]
On January 21 Sir Charles Warren renewed the engagement on the left. The day again opened with an artillery bombardment conducted by the six field batteries. But though the guns fired thousands of shells they produced little effect. Being so far below the level of the Boer trenches, they could not direct their fire to advantage, and they failed to silence the enemy's works or to overpower the Boer artillery. This latter could use its range to advantage, while good positions for the British guns could not be found. Three Tree Hill--the trees on which had already vanished--was too far off for the capacity of our 15-pounders; on the steep slopes where the infantry were fighting it was impossible from the nature of things to handle artillery. Howitzers alone could do the work, and there were but six howitzers in General Buller's whole army, and all these at Potgieter's Drift with General Lyttelton. For them Sir Charles Warren telegraphed, but to move them from One Tree Hill to Three Tree Hill over mountains and along bad roads was necessarily the work of some time. Four were sent and arrived early in the morning of the 22nd.
[Sidenote: Rumoured relief of Ladysmith.]
All the morning of the 21st the advance continued in the centre and on the extreme left, where Generals Hildyard and Hart were engaged. The Boers were massing in this quarter, and two batteries had to be moved from the British right to the left to give additional support to the troops. As on the previous day, General Hart's Irishmen were again foremost in battle--"perched on the edge of an almost precipitous hill"--and suffered heavily. The men were gladdened and roused to the most desperate efforts by a rumour which ran along the line, to the accompaniment of cheering, that Ladysmith had been relieved by Lord Dundonald's cavalry while the enemy's attention was occupied by the infantry attack. Like other rumours this story was absurd; it needed little reflection to show that if the mounted men had not been able to remain at Acton Homes without fear of being surrounded, they could not have pushed through the very heart of the Boer position with waggons and stores. Their arrival in Ladysmith without supplies would have been only a serious embarrassment for the garrison; to move with a heavy train of transport under the Boer trenches was almost impossible.
[Illustration: ROYAL DUBLIN FUSILIERS AND THEIR MAXIM, FORMING PART OF HART'S IRISH BRIGADE.]
A curious fact, which illustrates the difference between British and Colonial methods of fighting, was observed on this day. A squadron of South African Light Horse held a kopje all day under heavy fire, but, by carefully taking cover, without losing a man. Near at hand two companies of British regulars held a hill under much the same fire, and, untrained in the art of concealing themselves, lost no less than twenty men.
[Illustration: _Frank Dadd, R.I., and S. T. Dadd._] [_After a sketch made on the spot._
GENERAL VIEW OF THE FIELD OF BATTLE BEFORE SPION KOP.]
[Sidenote: [JAN. 21, 1900.]
The fighting on the 21st precisely resembled that of the 20th. Ground was gained, but so slowly that it became evident the advance to Ladysmith at this rate would be the affair not of weeks but of months. Bastion Hill, captured on the previous day, had to be abandoned, as it was found shelterless and useless. Its loss was of no importance. And if the advanced Boer line of trenches was taken, with considerable loss, behind it showed a second line at a distance which varied from 400 to 1,000 yards, composed of earth redoubts, stone breastworks or schanzes, and deep trenches blasted or hewn with pickaxes and crowbars in the friable rocks. These defences gave ample cover; the artillery could not properly reach them; rifle fire made no impression upon them; and in front of them stretched a smooth, grassy slope forming a superb glacis. The text-books were useless; theory gave little help, for it had been anticipated that artillery would so shake the defenders' nerves as to destroy the accuracy of the enemy's fire and render assault possible. But whenever an attempt was made to rush the Boer positions, the enemy showed in the most unpleasant fashion that their nerves were not shaken and their fire was as well aimed as ever. Undoubtedly it would have been possible, with such superb troops as the seasoned veterans of Colenso, to storm the Boer line, but only with the heaviest losses. What prevented the attempt being made was the fear that behind this second system of defences might lie a third, and behind that again a fourth, so as to render the effort unavailing. Yet there were voices raised for this desperate and determined course, and a bold general might well have decided upon it, as likely to prove less bloody and less trying in the end than these days of protracted and ineffectual skirmishing.
[Illustration: ARRIVAL OF SUPPLIES FOR THE BOERS INVESTING LADYSMITH.]
[Sidenote: Another day of little progress.]
The painful fact was that Sir Charles Warren's army was assaulting a fortress of immense strength held by splendid soldiers--assaulting, too, without the assistance of an overpowering artillery and long-range field guns. No effort was spared by the brigadiers and subordinate officers. General Hart, sword in hand, was in his usual place, the van; the bravest of men, he sent his staff to cover, that the risks he faced might not be theirs. But the hopelessness of the work was slowly dawning upon everyone. At the close of the day, when the firing ceased, the army had again to mourn grievous losses. Twenty-four were killed, 223 wounded, and four missing, yet practically nothing had been accomplished beyond a display of splendid courage and endurance. Once more the troops bivouacked amongst the rocks, but it was evident that their efforts could not be indefinitely repeated.
[Sidenote: Pathetic humour.]
[Sidenote: JAN. 21-22, 1900.] _Buller holds Councils of War._]
A few incidents may be chosen from the many reported by the chroniclers of this arduous day to show the spirit of our troops and the tragi-comic humours of the battlefield. A lad of nineteen, says Mr. Churchill, sat behind shelter in the Irish Brigade's firing line. "His right trouser leg was soaked with blood. I asked him whether he was wounded. 'No, sir; it's only blood from an officer's head,' he answered, and went on munching his biscuit." Two soldiers sat side by side in one of the lulls of firing, the one eating biscuit, the other flicking stones at him. Something struck the eater a sharp blow on the neck, and he turned angrily to the other man. "What did you throw that stone at me for?" "I didn't throw it." "Liar!" And the two were ready to fight, when the red stain showed that the second spoke the truth. It was a bullet. A private was seen trudging into the firing line with a puppy under his arm. Did he wish for companionship in the loneliness of a modern battle, where each man has to stand or fall by himself?
[Illustration:
_Alec Ball._]
TOMMY'S TRUSTY COMRADE.]
[Sidenote: Assault ordered and postponed.]
On the 22nd General Coke's Brigade marched to reinforce General Warren, from Potgieter's Drift; the howitzers arrived, and two on each flank began to fire, while the infantry held the ground already won and made no more effort to advance. There was, all this and the following day, a desultory engagement in which no advantage was gained by the British troops. Early on the 22nd General Buller rode over to see what progress had been made. A council of war was held, and it was decided that the last hope of success was to storm Spion Kop. To reach this decision had taken nearly a week--a week of useless marching, counter-marching, and bloodshed for the army, a week of starvation and agonised suspense for Ladysmith. The orders were issued to General Coke to assault Spion Kop that night with his Brigade. The General, however, objected most strongly--and with good reason, after Stormberg and Magersfontein--to making such an attack over ground which he did not know and had not personally reconnoitred. In response to his objections Sir Charles Warren postponed the attempt till the night of January 23.
[Illustration: POISONOUS BULLETS TAKEN FROM A BOER PRISONER AT SPION KOP.
These bullets have a coating of metallic oxide, which could not fail to poison any wounds they might make. It is perhaps not necessary to suppose they were intentionally poisoned, but the use of bullets in such condition shows a callous and criminal disregard of the laws of civilised warfare.]
[Sidenote: [Jan. 23, 1900.]
[Sidenote: Another council of war.]
The morning of this day a fresh council of war was held, though councils of war have ever been considered the refuge of the irresolute. General Buller--Commander-in-Chief of the Natal army--"pointed out" that for four days Sir Charles Warren "had kept his men continuously exposed to shell and rifle fire, perched on the edge of an almost precipitous hill; that the position admitted of no second line, and the supports were massed close behind the firing line in indefensible formations," and that "it was too dangerous a situation to be prolonged." But the Commander-in-Chief gave no orders; he only told his subordinate either to attack or withdraw, and shrank from the responsibility of making the decision himself. To use his own phrase, he still "advocated" a turning movement by the left. But finally he assented to the storming of Spion Kop--it was the second time this question had been debated--though he thought General Woodgate better suited for the work, inasmuch as General Coke was still lame from a broken leg.
[Illustration:
[_Photo by the Absent Minded Beggar Corps._
THE 2nd LANCASHIRE FUSILIERS EMBARKING AT SOUTHAMPTON, December 2, 1899.
This battalion greatly distinguished itself under General Woodgate in the "week of battles" leading up to the attack on Spion Kop, and furnished the largest contingent for that bloody battle.]
[Sidenote: Warren reinforced.]
[Sidenote: JAN. 23, 1900.] _The British Silently Ascend Spion Kop._]
Throughout this day the troops were exposed to a heavy shell fire, which, without causing many casualties, was yet exceedingly galling, and it grew hourly clearer and clearer that there were no other alternatives but General Buller's "withdraw or assault." Steps were taken to prepare for the attack on Spion Kop. Careful reconnaissances were made, and the Imperial Light Infantry and other reinforcements were added to Sir Charles Warren's command. From Chieveley, where General Barton's Brigade had exchanged long-range fire with the Boers on the 19th and 23rd, two battalions were withdrawn and added to General Lyttelton's Brigade. In this direction nothing of importance had happened. On the 19th a picket of South African Light Horse, while scouting along the Tugela to the west of Colenso, had been ambushed by the Boers and six men captured; on the 23rd a patrol near Hlangwane had been surprised, but was able to make its escape. It was clear, however, that the enemy were in no great strength at Colenso, so that the two battalions left at Chieveley were ample to hold the rail-head. It is now known that General Joubert expected the main attack at Potgieter's Drift, and had concentrated most of his men opposite this point, leaving his left at Colenso and his right beyond Spion Kop, towards Acton Homes, excessively weak. On the Spion Kop side, according to Boer accounts, General Botha had but 2,000 men. The Boers persistently understated their real force, but it is possible that their strength in this quarter did not exceed 4,000.
[Sidenote: The storming force.]
At six in the evening the storming force paraded. It was composed of eight companies of the 2nd Lancashire Fusiliers, six companies of the 2nd Royal Lancaster, two companies of the 1st South Lancashire, 190 dismounted men of Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry, and half of the 17th Company of Royal Engineers--in all about 1,800 men. The officers--General Woodgate himself--carried rifles. The orders were the usual ones for night attack--no firing, but attack with the bayonet. The night was favourable--intensely dark with a fine rain--but if this concealed the approach of the forlorn hope from the enemy, it added greatly to the difficulty of climbing the precipitous mountain. Before the foot of the height was reached it was 10 o'clock. The ground traversed up to this point had been rough in the extreme, steep hillocks alternating with deep-cut watercourses and mimosa copses. Over these the men blundered in the dark, taking every precaution to hide their movements from the Boers. Smoking and talking were forbidden; the little force picked its way in silence. All was still but for the fitful sputtering of the rifle fire exchanged between the outposts, which echoed in the mountain hollows on the left. The cannon on Three Tree Hill were silent; the bivouacs and positions of the two combatant armies were veiled in darkness. Only from Three Tree Hill came the gleam of lanterns--the signals telling the column that all was well.
[Illustration:
[_Photo by Bassano._
MAJOR-GENERAL WOODGATE.
Edward Robert Prevost Woodgate, C.B., C.M.G., was a son of the Rector of Belbroughton, Worcestershire. Born 1845; entered the Army as ensign in the 4th (King's Own Royal Lancaster) regiment in 1865; served with the Abyssinian Expedition against King Theodore, 1868; in the Ashanti War of 1873-74; on the staff in the Zulu War of 1878-9, when he obtained the Brevet of Major; served as staff officer in the West Indies, 1880-5, and as regimental officer in India, 1885-89; promoted Lieut.-Col., 1893; C.B., 1856; and Colonel, 1897; appointed to command the Regimental District of the Kings Own at Lancaster, September, 1897; raised the West African Frontier Regiment in Sierra Leone, and suppressed the native rebellion, 1898-9; invalided home and made C.M.G., and given command of Leicestershire district. In December, 1899, he was appointed to the command of the Ninth Brigade in South Africa; he led the assault on Spion Kop, and was killed while defending the position gained upon that hill, January 24, 1900.]
[Sidenote: Ascent of Spion Kop.]
[Sidenote: [JAN. 23, 1900.]
At this point began the real ascent of the mountain by an exceedingly steep and narrow path, which worked up the almost precipitous slopes. After a short halt, General Woodgate and Colonel Blomfield led the way, in front of the Lancashire Fusiliers, and the whole force in Indian file moved upwards with the utmost caution. The mountain side abounded in boulders and brushwood, offering the best of cover for the enemy; there were many points where the track, which was at best only a goat path, ran along narrow ledges with a sheer drop on the outside, and here a single determined enemy might have caused heavy loss and even defeated the assault. Along this difficult and tedious route crawled the infantry in light marching order, expecting each moment to hear among the rocks the crack of the Boer rifles. But no sound or cry of alarm came, and, shrouded in obscurity, the forlorn hope slowly neared the shoulder where was known to be one of the "mauvais pas" of the mountain. Hereabouts a large white spaniel suddenly emerged from the darkness, and discovery seemed certain. Yet the animal came quietly up, and allowed a soldier to catch it, when it was promptly led to the rear.
[Illustration:
[_Photo by Caney._
THORNEYCROFT'S HORSE IN CAMP AT PIETERMARITZBURG.]
[Illustration: LIEUT-COL. (LOCAL BRIGADIER-GENERAL) THORNEYCROFT.
Lieut.-Colonel A. W. Thorneycroft, in command of Mounted Infantry in South Africa, was born in 1859. He was originally in the Militia; joined the Royal Scots Fusiliers in 1879; fought in the Zulu campaign, and in the Transvaal War of 1881, when he defended Pretoria; was appointed Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General in Natal in September, 1899, and formed the regiment of Irregulars which did service at Colenso and Spion Kop. Colonel Thorneycroft is a brave and daring leader and a great sportsman, and has trained his men to be excellent scouts.]
[Sidenote: JAN. 24, 1900.] _The Attacking Force Challenged._]
Those who have clambered among our British hills--and better those who know the Alps--will realise some of the perplexities of this night ascent. At times the path was lost, and was recovered with difficulty; no lantern could be used in awkward places, and the men had simply to trust to luck and to the fidelity of the guides, helping each other at every turn, and giving a hand at the points where the way was dangerous. General Woodgate, who was in bad health and had constantly to be assisted, was always in the very forefront. Progress was necessarily slow, and the greatest care had to be taken to prevent the men losing touch of each other. When the shoulder of the mountain was reached, Colonel Thorneycroft deployed his men to the left, while General Woodgate, with the Lancashire Fusiliers, took post in line on the right. The most critical moment of the assault had come.
[Illustration: _A. Pearse._] [_After a sketch by Ernest Prater._
BAYONETING THE BOER SENTRY ON SPION KOP.]
[Sidenote: [JAN. 24, 1900.]
[Sidenote: A Boer picket surprised.]
It was now half-past three of the morning of January 24--a day hereafter to be one of dark memory in the British army. Impenetrable blackness shrouded the summit of the mountain; a thick, wet mist encompassed it, and hid from the sight of the expectant officers and men the details of the strange new land upon which the forlorn hope had debouched. It could be felt rather than seen that the shoulder opened out to a plateau, which rose steadily towards the north, but how far it extended was not known. From below it had appeared only a narrow ridge, bounded on all sides, except that from which the night assault had been delivered, by sheer precipices, and the utmost caution had to be used in the obscurity, as at each step an abyss might open before the feet of the advancing line. In the preternatural stillness which prevailed upon the mountain top there was no token of the enemy's presence. No outposts had been encountered; the only sign of life visible was when from time to time the mist lifted, and far below and behind the lights of Three Tree Hill could be discerned twinkling in the darkness. The land seemed to lie lapped in sleep. And then suddenly the looked-for challenge came. Out of the mist sounded the shrill cry of a man in mortal terror. It said in Dutch, "Halt! Who goes there?" Instantly General Woodgate answered "Waterloo!" There was the flash of many rifles, a rush, a scuffle, and the Lancashire Fusiliers were among the Boers. It was only a weak picket, ten or fifteen men strong; the Boer sentry was bayoneted at once; half-a-dozen others who had taken refuge behind a stone wall were surrounded, and, though they made a gallant stand, were overborne by numbers. In this fight Colonel À Court, of General Buller's staff, had a narrow escape. Closing with one of the enemy, he tried to use his Mauser pistol, but in this critical moment found the safety catch was set, and had to snatch up a great stone, with which he felled his opponent.
[Illustration:
[_Photo by Middlebrook._
GENERAL VIEW OF SPION KOP FROM ACROSS THE RIVER.]
[Sidenote: The storming force halts too soon.]
This brush with the Boers took place a little south of the real summit, at a point where stood a grove of mimosa bushes, and where there was fair cover. But from this point onward no difficulty was encountered; the slope relented; the ridge opened out into one of those table-lands which are a feature of South African mountain scenery. Breathless and weary, the men pushed forward without any opposition, their movements veiled in the mist through which the first grey light of dawn was now breaking. They stood upon "a fog-bound island in the air." The plateau, 400 yards wide, seemed to trend away interminably to the north-east. And here the first great mistake, as after events proved, was committed. Instead of pushing on to the uttermost extremity of the summit, the forlorn hope halted about 5 a.m. at a Boer trench which was captured without episode. Possibly the troops, wearied by their seven hours' climb in the darkness, were incapable of any further desperate effort. They must needs be prepared to maintain their position throughout the day--a day which might well be one of the fiercest fighting--and so rest was essential.
Some attempt was made to provide cover while the mist still veiled the mountain top. Yet, by reason of this very mist, the exact position of the enemy could not be ascertained or the defences constructed where they were most needed. The surface of the hill was not favourable to entrenching; it was of rock, friable indeed, but not to be cut with spades, and the covering of earth was of the thinnest. Perhaps the weariness of the infantry and the want of sufficient entrenching tools would have precluded the construction of serious defences even had the ground been wholly favourable. The men were in no condition to set to work as navvies. All these things must be remembered when it is asked why the troops did not entrench themselves. Here, as at Majuba, the omission was fatal; here, as there, the same explanation will suffice for the neglect of so obvious a precaution. What trenches were made were only scratched in the thin soil, a few inches deep, and though serviceable enough against rifle fire, were utterly ineffectual against artillery. Stones to build breastworks were wanting; there were many boulders on the summit, but these were too large to be moved. The Boer works were remodelled as well as was possible under the circumstances. This done, the little force waited for the lifting of the mist, when the ordeal of battle would begin, and when for the first time the exact situation could be discerned.
[Illustration: BOERS FIRING A KRUPP HOWITZER.
The photograph was taken outside Ladysmith; guns and gunners were removed to Spion Kop when Warren developed his attack.]
[Illustration:
[_From a photograph taken at Newcastle Station._
PRESIDENT STEYN'S VISIT TO NATAL.]
[Sidenote: JAN. 24, 1900.] _The Attacking Force not Promptly Supported._]
[Sidenote: Tardy reinforcements.]
[Sidenote: [JAN. 24, 1900.]
Far below, the main body of the British army had heard the rattle of the Boer outposts' first volley and the sound of cheering, succeeded by silence, which told that the summit was won. As the dawn broke they prepared for another day of battle, supposing that this achievement would be followed by a general assault upon the enemy's positions. But reinforcements were not promptly sent to join the forlorn hope in its cloudland. No attempt was made to push artillery up to its support; the mountain battery, which was with the army for this special work, was not sent forward--and it is possible that its weak short-range pieces firing smoke-producing powder would have been only a source of embarrassment and loss. The way was so steep that it was doubted whether heavier guns could be sent up. Already there was evident that same want of energy and determination to conquer at all costs which had exerted such a detrimental influence on the fighting of the past week. From out of the mist could now be heard the occasional crack of rifles, indicating that the outposts on the mountain were exchanging shots. It was clear that the enemy had not fallen back, but was, on the contrary, prepared to dispute the very possession of Spion Kop.
[Sidenote: Botha determines to recapture the hill.]
Meantime, the remnants of the Boer picket had reached General Botha's headquarters and given the alarm. With quick decision and judgment, which proved his capacity, the General ordered that the mountain should be recaptured at all costs. It was the key of the position, unlocking the door to Ladysmith. Through the mist horsemen sped to the camps of the commandos, bidding them ride hard to the rescue. From all points the Boers began to stream along the ridges which meet at Spion Kop, and prepared to assault in their turn, encouraged by President Steyn, who was present upon the field in person. Their cannon, four Krupps or Creusot weapons, one at least of heavy calibre, and four or five "Pom-Poms" were trained in readiness for the mist to lift, to shower death and destruction upon the forlorn hope. A party of forty men worked forward along the ridge, and, even before the sun dispersed the clouds, opened a sniping fire.
[Illustration:
[_From a photograph._
TWO OF THE DEFENDERS OF SPION KOP.]
[Sidenote: Positions of the opposing forces.]
[Sidenote: JAN. 24, 1900. _The Boers Bombard Spion Kop._]
As the sun came through the mist, bringing the certainty of a fiercely hot day, the British garrison could at last perceive the real situation. The summit of Spion Kop had been but half occupied; the northern end was in the hands of the Boers, who held a trench upon it. Moreover, the table-land on the summit sloped down to the north, and lay open to the enemy's fire from kopjes, rising from the long mountain ridge, which surrounded it on three sides. The ridge forked at Spion Kop, whose summit thus formed a projecting natural bastion; one line of heights ran up to the north-west in the direction of Acton Homes--the line of heights which Sir Charles Warren's infantry had assailed day after day--another ran due eastward, prolonging the Boer positions in front of Potgieter's Drift. The British force on Spion Kop was thus most critically placed. It had no guns, yet it was exposed in the closest of formations to gun fire; reinforcements could only reach it by a long and arduous climb, whereas the Boers, by pushing their men along the ridges which they held, could arrive comparatively fresh; it could be attacked from every side except the south by a converging and enfilading fire; its cover was all but useless, for it was now seen that the trenches faced in the wrong direction. Added to this there was the curious want of attention to detail which had neglected the laying of a field telegraph so as to connect the summit with headquarters; a want of oil for signal lamps; and a paucity in the numbers of heliograph-operators and flag-signallers with the forlorn hope. This neglect of the means of communication disastrously affected the operations at every turn. Generals Warren and Buller did not know what was happening on the summit, and never went there to see. The British artillery, if report can be believed, fired repeatedly on the British troops, through inadvertence and ignorance of the precise positions occupied. Finally, when uncertainty as to who was in command on the mountain arose, it could not be immediately solved by an appeal to headquarters.
[Illustration:
_F. J. Waugh._]
THE FIGHT ON SPION KOP.
This drawing is based on a Boer photograph taken on the spot immediately after the battle. The concentrated fire of the enemy was so terribly effective that our men were compelled to shelter themselves behind the dead bodies of their comrades.]
[Sidenote: The Boers bombard the British position.]
From the British position on Three Tree Hill a breathless watch had been kept on the clouds that veiled the summit. As the fleecy whiteness was dispersed about 8 o'clock, the roll of musketry began. At the same time the artillery opened fire, the naval guns shelling two precipitous kopjes which rose just to the east of Spion Kop, while the field guns on Three Tree Hill thundered at the western ridge. The Boer guns had already broken silence and commenced a furious bombardment of Spion Kop, raining shells upon General Woodgate's force. Simultaneously the Boer marksmen in small parties poured in a deadly rifle fire from the kopjes on the three sides of Spion Kop; they began, too, to work towards the British trenches, taking all possible advantage of cover. All the early morning men were pouring in, and the assailants grew steadily in strength. The crackling of the rifles swelled into a heavy and continuous roar, and upon the portion of the mountain held by the British, shell, 94 lb., 15 lb., 12 lb., and 1 lb. in weight, fell at the rate of seven to ten a minute, throwing up dense clouds of dust, blowing human beings into unrecognisable fragments, inflicting the most ghastly wounds, terrifying those whom they did not slay. A cyclone of death had smitten the summit. No words can describe the appalling uproar and confusion; all around the thunder of the guns and the incessant roar of rifles; on the summit clouds of dust and the yells and oaths of the combatants; the groans of the wounded; the shrieks of the dying--man slaying man with every terrible circumstance that the imagination can picture.
[Sidenote: [JAN. 24, 1900.]
[Sidenote: Woodgate wounded.]
Under the stress of this terrible fire the British infantry held firm, Thorneycroft's volunteers on the left, Blomfield's Lancashire Fusiliers on the right. If a man showed his head or lifted his arm he was as good as out of the battle; so deadly, so overwhelming was the Boer fire, that he was sure to be hit. From the summit already trickled a steady stream of men towards the rear--towards the point where among the mimosas a hospital had begun its merciful work. With the wounded were a few unwounded--stragglers and skulkers--but not many. The British soldier in these dreadful moments is rarely untrue to the call of duty. He was at a grave disadvantage, for the rifle with which he was armed was awkward to load lying down; the Boer weapon with its clip holding five cartridges could be charged easily in a second or two. It may be that this was a trifle, but none the less the defect made its presence felt. So fierce, so breathless was the battle that no one had time for thought. From general to private on the summit the one concern was to hold the ground, to beat back the enemy, who came on like demons, to fling the dead from the trenches, and to remove the wounded. Here, as in the earlier battles of the war, there were some wonderful escapes. Colonel Thorneycroft, a man of great stature and extraordinary personal courage, was always upright among his men--always a mark for the enemy's bullets, which tore and riddled his clothing, but, strange to say, left him unharmed. General Woodgate had set a splendid example, walking coolly to and fro till, some time before 10 a.m., he was struck in the eye, while watching through his glass the effect of the British fire, and mortally wounded. He was borne off the field murmuring, "Let me alone! Let me alone!"
"It was as though hell had been let loose," was the concise description of a wounded officer. From below the sight was dreadful enough. "I saw three shells strike a certain trench within a minute," writes Mr. Atkins; "each struck it full in the face, and the brown dust rose and drifted away with the white smoke. The trench was toothed against the sky like a saw--made, I supposed, of sharp rocks built into a rampart. Another shell struck it, and then--heavens!--the trench rose up and moved forward. The trench was men; the teeth against the sky were men. They ran forward bending their bodies into a curve, as men do when they run under a heavy fire; they looked like a cornfield with a heavy wind sweeping over it from behind.... They flickered up, fleeted rapidly and silently across the sky, and flickered down into the rocks without the appearance of either a substantial beginning or end to the movement."
[Illustration: _H. M. Paget._] [_From a sketch made on the spot._
A LONG LADDER OF PAIN.
Bringing down wounded men from Spion Kop.]
[Sidenote: JAN. 24, 1900.] _Confusion of Commands._]
[Sidenote: Thorneycroft put in command.]
The Boers suffered heavily in their turn, but not so heavily, as they were in open formation, with better shelter, and out of sight of the British gunners. They had not to face the fearful shell fire which made of the British position a veritable shambles. As they gained ground and were able to enfilade one of our most advanced trenches, the situation grew more and more critical. Colonel Crofton, of the Royal Lancasters, upon whom the command had now devolved by seniority--General Woodgate having fallen--was greatly alarmed. Towards 10 o'clock he heliographed to headquarters this startling message: "Reinforce at once or all lost. General dead." It was clear that a crisis had arrived demanding every effort. Sir Charles Warren replied by ordering up General Coke with the 2nd Middlesex, 2nd Dorsetshires, and Imperial Light Infantry--the last a volunteer battalion raised at Durban, which was now to have its terrible baptism of fire--and by a message that Colonel Crofton must hold out to the last and must not think of surrender. But Colonel Crofton's words had roused the uneasiness of General Buller, who from Spearman's Hill was watching the battle. Apparently unaware that General Coke was on the way up, he telegraphed to Sir Charles Warren at Three Tree Hill--"Unless you put some really good, hard-fighting man in command on the top, you will lose the hill. I suggest Thorneycroft." General Warren complied with his Commander-in-Chief's "suggestion." Colonel Thorneycroft was appointed to command, "with local rank of Brigadier-General." Thus the confusion was made worse, as half the men on the top and most of those on their way up were unaware of this change. It was as at Sedan, where, in the space of a few hours, there were three commanders, with fatal results.
[Illustration:
[_From a photograph._
GENERAL SIR CHARLES WARREN GIVING INSTRUCTIONS DURING THE SPION KOP FIGHT.
General Warren was having a slight wound bound up when the photograph was taken.]
Besides the Middlesex Regiment, the Dorsets, and the Imperial Light Infantry, who had earlier in the morning moved up to the head of the valley dividing Three Tree Hill from Spion Kop, and who were now sent up to the actual summit of Spion Kop, other help had been despatched. With a soldierly intuition which did him infinite credit, General Lyttelton at Potgieter's Drift had seized the extremity of the emergency and had directed the 2nd Scottish Rifles to cross at Kaffir's Drift, above Potgieter's, and advance up the southern slope of the mountain. Yet, as the distance to be covered was great, it was not till late in the afternoon that they reached the scene of action. Further to the left Generals Hart and Hildyard made as though they, too, intended to assault the positions opposed to them, and had they been permitted so to do, it is certain that much of the pressure would have been taken off the forlorn hope on Spion Kop. However, a sharp fire was exchanged with the Boers, and then these two brigades fell to watching and waiting, unable to aid their comrades who were fighting for dear life on that grim summit. They could see the human anthill on the sky-line in confusion; tiny figures running to and fro; other figures with the gesture of command rallying the rout and restoring order. Instinctively they realised the tremendous gravity of the struggle.
[Illustration:
_R. Caton Woodville._]
REINFORCEMENTS FOR SPION KOP.
It was not until the night of the 24th that an attempt was made to get guns to the top of the hill. It was then too late; the hill had been abandoned, and the shattered remnants of the British force were already descending.]
[Illustration:
[_Photo by Wyrall & Son, Aldershot._
MAJOR-GENERAL COKE.
John Talbot Coke was educated at Harrow; entered the Army as 2nd Lieutenant in the 21st Foot in 1859, and was transferred to the 25th Foot (afterwards named the King's Own Scottish Borderers) in 1860; Captain, 1866; Major, 1879; Lieutenant-Colonel, 1885; Colonel, 1889; was put on half-pay, 1898. He served with the Suakin Field Force in 1888 during the investment of Suakin; was present in the engagement of Gemaizah; served in the operations on the Sudan frontier in 1889; was appointed senior officer at Mauritius in 1898, with local rank of Major-General, and left there to command the 10th Brigade of the South African Field Force, 1899.]
[Sidenote: JAN. 24, 1900.] _Thorneycroft allows no Surrender._]
[Sidenote: A frightful struggle.]
[Sidenote: [JAN. 24, 1900.]
As the morning wore on, the fight on the summit grew fiercer and fiercer. Fresh troops were continually arriving, for in the daylight the climb was not so excessively difficult, till the small space was packed with men. Just before the first reinforcements came up there was a moment when disaster was narrowly avoided. The British force in one of the outlying trenches was demoralised by its losses and by the fire. About twenty men threw up their hands and shouted that they would surrender to the Boers not a hundred yards away. On this, says Mr. Winston Churchill, Colonel Thorneycroft dashed to the spot. "The Boers advancing to take the prisoners--as at Nicholson's Nek--were scarcely thirty yards away. Thorneycroft shouted to the Boer leader: 'You may go to----! I command on this hill and allow no surrender. Go on with your firing.' Which latter they did with terrible effect, killing many. The survivors, with the rest of the firing line, fled 200 yards," but then were rallied and regained the lost ground. It was owned by the Boers themselves after the battle that the British soldiers had "fought with desperate bravery and died like men." Despite the disadvantage of the ground, despite the tremendous bombardment, they could not and would not be forced back. The heaps of dead grew higher; an awful breastwork of corpses was built to shelter the living; the trickle of wounded to the rear became a stream; but the fight flickered to and fro and the summit was still held.
[Sidenote: Lack of artillery support.]
From the shoulder of the hill by the mimosas, where the maimed men crowded in a heart-rending throng round the dressing station, the reinforcements emerged upon that bare plateau of death. There were now the best part of 5,000 men, crowded into an area of little over three acres. But no guns came, though all looked long and eagerly for them. A couple of "Pom-Poms," a pair of 15-pounders, would have restored confidence by their roar. But there were no "Pom-Poms" with the army, and the artillery officers could not undertake to move their guns up to the height by the precipitous track. It only remained to suffer and die. In that atmosphere, thick with the fumes of cordite, of melinite, and of the powder in bursting shells, suffocating with smoke and dust and heat, the burning thirst of the battlefield laid its parching grip upon the throats of the combatants, and men cried and screamed for water. Yet water there was none, or, if there had been, there was no time to seek it, and no chance of carrying it alive into the firing line. Units were now commingled, companies confounded with companies, battalions with battalions; so many officers were down that there were few to lead and inspire the men in the fighting line. About 2 p.m. a white flag was raised over part of the British trenches, and 150 of the 2nd Lancashire Fusiliers under Captain Freeth surrendered. In this battalion the losses of officers had been terrible, and the consequent demoralisation great. Among those who fell was the ill-fated son of Hicks Pasha, Captain Hicks. Blown to pieces by a shell, while bravely leading his men, no trace of him could be found, and his fate was for months uncertain.
[Illustration:
_F. J. Waugh._]
THE BRITISH TROOPS MEETING A BOER RUSH ON SPION KOP.]
[Sidenote: JAN. 24, 1900.] _An Officer's Experiences in the Battle._]
[Sidenote: Boer attempts to rush the position.]
The rifle fire of the British troops was so shaken by the hail of shells, that the Boers were able repeatedly to close, and were only driven back time after time by desperate bayonet charges. They had set their hearts upon repeating Majuba, and capturing or driving back in utter rout the British troops. Again and again their leaders called upon our men to surrender, and were received each time with derisive shouts, though some small parties raised the white flag. They asserted, indeed, that our officers slashed the men with swords to make them fight--a story which is disproved by the fact that, like the men, the officers carried rifles; and they further accused us of firing upon those who had been made prisoners. There may have been such incidents, but not through any set purpose or with the fixed deliberation which attended their own too frequent breaches of the laws of war.
[Illustration: LYDDITE SHELL FROM A BRITISH NAVAL GUN.
Fired at Spion Kop and not exploded. Presented by the finder to President Kruger.]
[Illustration: CAPTAIN HICKS.
Killed at Spion Kop. Was the son of Hicks Pasha, the unfortunate General who, with all his forces, was massacred in the Soudan, Nov. 1883.]
[Illustration: MAP OF THE BATTLE OF SPION KOP.
## Partly based, by permission, on the map in Mr. Winston Churchill's
"London to Ladysmith via Pretoria."]
[Sidenote: [JAN. 24, 1900.]
The personal story of a wounded officer of the 2nd Middlesex is worthy of repetition, as it gives a clear account of the afternoon's battle. "I crawled," he says, "a little way with half my company, and then brought up others in the same manner. The men of the different regiments already on the hill were mixed up, and ours met the same fate. It was impossible, under the circumstances, to keep regimental control. One unit merged into another; one officer gave directions to this or that unit, or to another battalion. I saw some tents on the far side of the hill to our front, and knowing the enemy must be there, opened with volleys at 1,800 yards, when we saw a puff of smoke, indicating that one of the Boer guns had just fired. We lay prone, and could only venture a volley now and again, firing independently at times when the shower of bullets seemed to fall away, and the shells did not appear likely to land specially amongst us. Everywhere, however, it was practically the same deadly smash of shells, mangling and killing all about us. The only troops actually close to me then were a party of the Lancashire Fusiliers inside a schanze, F Company of the Middlesex, and a mixed company of other troops on the left front. A good many shells from the big guns burst near us, and a lance-corporal of the Fusiliers was killed. The only point I could see rifle fire proceeding from was a trench, the third, I believe, occupied by our troops on the right, and looking towards Spearman's.
"Presently I heard a great deal of shouting from this trench, in which were about fifty men. They were calling for reinforcements, and shouting, 'The Boers are coming up.' Two or three minutes afterwards, I saw a party of about forty Boers walking towards the trench. They came up quite coolly; most of them had their rifles slung, and all, so far as I could observe, had their hands up. Our men in the trench--they were Fusiliers--were then standing up also, with their hands up, and shouting, 'The Boers are giving in, the Boers are giving in.' I did not know what to think, but ordered a company of my regiment to fix bayonets. We waited to see what would happen. Just then, when the Boers were close to the trench, someone--whether an enemy or one of our men--fired a shot. In an instant there was a general stampede, or rather a _mêlée_, my men rushing from their position and charging, while the Boers fired at the men in the trench, knocking several back into it dead. Previous to this, a Boer came towards me saying, 'I won't hurt you.' He looked frightened, and threw down his rifle. Immediately afterwards a Boer fired, and there was a frightful muddle. I fired at one Boer, and then another passed. We were fighting hand to hand. I shot the Boer and he dropped, clinging, however, to his rifle as he fell, and covering me most carefully. He fired, and I fell like a rabbit, the bullet going in just over and grazing the left lung. I lay where I fell until midnight. Subsequent to my being hit, parties of Boers passed twice over me, trying on the same trick, holding up their hands, as if they were asking for quarter. But our men refused to be taken in again, and fired, killing or driving them back." Thus it would seem that the Boers were guilty of acts even more questionable than those with which they charged our men.
[Illustration: BOER DOCTORS AND AMBULANCE.]
Early in the afternoon the Scottish Rifles arrived, and were at once thrown into the firing line. They served to defeat the last determined Boer attempt to rush the position, replacing the shattered fragments of the Lancashire Regiments. At the same time mules came up with a supply of ammunition, which had been running low, and with a certain amount of water, which was served out to the wounded. The most critical moment had passed, though the murderous shell fire still continued. So determined were the Boer rushes that at times the enemy came within thirty yards. Yet, as the day went on, and the sun began to sink, ground was distinctly gained.
[Sidenote: JAN. 24, 1900.] _Lyttelton's Attempt to Divert the Enemy._]
[Sidenote: The King's Royal Rifles storm a ridge.]
A second move of General Lyttelton's unquestionably contributed to the repulse of the Boers. Again, of his own initiative, he sent his finest battalion, the 3rd King's Royal Rifles, to assail the eastern face of Spion Kop. They marched by way of Kaffir's Drift, direct upon two precipitous kopjes which rose from the ridge a mile or so from the main summit, the left half battalion upon the western, and the right half battalion upon the eastern kopje. The resolute skill with which they went forward is described as the most splendid feat of the day. The Boer trenches succeeded one another, line after line, along the slope of the ridge; line after line they were carried with swift rushes. Repeated charges with the bayonet were made, but the enemy always fell back before coming to hand-grips. The attention of the Boers being mainly concentrated upon Spion Kop, the Rifles were not opposed with the fierceness that might have been expected; yet their advance was by no means bloodless. They left on the field some seventy or eighty men, but about 5 p.m. they effected a lodgment on the crest, and stormed the two kopjes. At this point, unhappily, they began to suffer from the fire of the British artillery on Three Tree Hill, which, unaware of their success, burst several shrapnel over them. Their position was isolated--between them and Spion Kop intervened a deep valley--and it was difficult to support them fully. They were, therefore, recalled from the heights they had won as evening drew on. They fell sullenly back, indignant at being called off just when it seemed to them that success was within their grasp; yet, in the light of after events, it was fortunate that they were not left at their post of peril. "We were wild at getting the order to retire after getting right up to the top," writes one of the King's Royal Rifles. "We had to come down again in the dark, nearly breaking our necks, falling over rocks and down into deep holes. I did not get back to our camp till 6 o'clock the next morning. I had been sitting all night with a chap that had got wounded, but I had to leave him in the morning, or I should have got captured by the Boers."
[Illustration: OFFICERS OF THE THIRD KING'S ROYAL RIFLES, WHO SERVED IN LYTTELTON'S BRIGADE AT SPION KOP.
Col. Buchanan Riddell, commanding, sits in the centre of the group, with the Adjutant, C. W. Wilson, on his right. Colonel Buchanan Riddell was killed on January 24.]
[Sidenote: [JAN. 24, 1900.]
[Sidenote: Desperate straits.]
Throughout the afternoon few messages and few signals had come from the summit of Spion Kop. The heliographs were shattered by the Boer fire; the flag signallers were struck down by the hail of bullets. Heliograms from Sir Charles Warren asking what the situation was remained unanswered. It was even doubtful whether General Coke or Colonel Thorneycroft was in command. Some time in the afternoon a report came in from General Coke couched in the most ominous terms. It stated that unless the British artillery could silence the Boer guns, it would be impossible for the force to endure another day on the summit, and described the situation as most critical. The report was fully borne out by the personal information of the war correspondent, Mr. Winston Churchill, who had made his way to the top, passing on his climb some hundreds of wounded or dying men. "Streams of wounded," he wrote, "met us and obstructed our path. Men were staggering along alone, or supported by comrades, or crawling on hands and knees, or carried on stretchers. Corpses lay here and there.... There was, moreover, a small but steady leakage of unwounded men of all corps. Some of these cursed and swore. Others were utterly exhausted, and fell on the hillside in stupor. Others, again, seemed drunk, though they had had no liquor. Scores were sleeping heavily.... We were so profoundly impressed by the spectacle and situation that we resolved to go and tell Sir Charles Warren what we had seen.... One thing was quite clear--unless good and efficient cover could be made during the night, and unless guns could be dragged to the summit of the hill to match the Boer artillery, the infantry could not, perhaps would not, endure another day. The human machine will not stand certain strains for long."
[Illustration: THE HELIOGRAPH.
The photograph represents the heliographs signallers in the besieged town of Ladysmith communicating with Buller's relief column.]
[Illustration:
_Frank Craig._]
SPION KOP DURING COLONEL THORNEYCROFT'S DEFENCE.]
[Sidenote: Confusion of commands.]
[Sidenote: [JAN. 24, 1900.]
News so disquieting proved the need for the most determined effort--even for the presence of General Warren in person upon the mountain, when all doubts as to who was in command would have been set at rest, and the dispirited troops reassured by the presence of their real leader. Instead of going, General Warren signalled to General Coke to withdraw all but two battalions from the summit, placing the men thus withdrawn under what shelter the southern slope afforded, and directed General Coke to come in person and confer with him. General Coke, unaware that Colonel Thorneycroft had been appointed to command, handed over his charge to Colonel Hill of the 2nd Middlesex, as Colonel Crofton, the next officer in point of seniority, had already been wounded. Thus was confusion worse confounded, and the uncertainty as to who was really in command further increased. There was no one in authority; no officer of high rank was there to reorganise the defence and cheer the men; no general to think of the future as well as of the moment. Colonel Thorneycroft, who was actually directing the fighting line, where his conduct was superb, could spare not a moment from the vehemence of the conflict. Worst of all, he did not know that at last guns and sandbags were coming up, with a large number of engineers to complete the entrenchments.
[Illustration:
[_Photo by Sir W. Armstrong, Whitworth & Co._
7-POUNDER MOUNTAIN GUN.
Showing how the gun itself takes to pieces. The wheels can also be quickly taken off the carriage for transportation, as shown in the illustration on page 249.]
[Illustration:
[_Photo by Miell & Ridley, Bournemouth._
SOME OF THE WOUNDED FROM SPION KOP AND COLENSO.
Photographed on their return to England.]
[Illustration: _A. Forestier._] [_After a sketch by Fred. Villiers._
DAWN ON SPION KOP: SORTING THE LIVING FROM THE DEAD.]
[Sidenote: JAN. 24, 1900.] _Victory Hangs in the Balance._]
It is said by Mr. Churchill that the artillery officers when questioned as to the practicability of moving guns up to the summit, replied that it was impossible, and that even if the guns could be got there they would be shot to pieces. Lieutenant James, of the Royal Navy, however, the officer in charge of the naval guns, replied that he could go anywhere, or at least make the attempt. Accordingly, two of his 12-pounders and the Mountain Battery were ordered to leave for the top. It is Mr. Churchill's opinion that the path was impracticable for field guns, and, as we have often seen, the British mountain guns were of such a pattern and so short-ranged that they could have done nothing against the Boer Krupps, Creusots, and "Pom-Poms." So that, after all, little was lost by failing to send up guns earlier. The movement of the guns did not begin till darkness was closing down. The crackle of rifles still proceeded from the summit of Spion Kop, but the heavy, incessant bombardment had now abated. Truth to tell, the Boers were in the most grievous discouragement. If we had suffered, they had suffered too. All their artillery fire had failed visibly to shake our soldiers' grip on the hill; from the rear of their firing line, as from ours, there was a procession of unwounded but faint-hearted men. Their numbers were less than ours, and their men were worn out with incessant fighting. As night fell, the signs of an imminent retreat were clearly manifest to observers in the Boer rear, at Ladysmith. The garrison made no effort to harry the enemy or precipitate the decision; weakened by hunger, it could only watch from a distance the terrific contest on which its fate hinged--watch and pray. As hour followed hour, it saw shell and shrapnel burst; saw the scurry of tiny figures on the summit of Spion Kop; saw, too, the victorious advance of the Rifles; saw the flight of large parties of Boers, north-westwards and northwards. And then darkness descended upon the doubtful field. But the Boers were in a mind for flight--so much was certain. Some hundreds of their men, as their surgeons afterwards owned, had been killed or wounded, and these hundreds could never be replaced. In fact, that moment had arrived which comes in all stubbornly contested conflicts, when the men on each side feel themselves beaten, and when all depends upon the general. The Boers had Louis Botha--young, brave, active, a born leader of men--who had held a small band steady through the evening, and had even succeeded in bringing up reinforcements. The British troops had no one but Colonel Thorneycroft, and he, weary with twenty-four hours of terrible conflict, appalled by the manner in which the force on the summit had melted and suffered in the struggle, unconscious that the enemy was equally hard hit, and with no knowledge that help was at hand, was in no condition to reach a cool and balanced judgment.
[Sidenote: [JAN. 24-25, 1900.]
[Sidenote: Thorneycroft determines to withdraw.]
In the darkness the firing continued, but intermittently. Straggling and skulking had increased; the trickle to the rear had swelled to a stream; there were even stories of panic and flight, which were eagerly caught up by the Boers from demoralised prisoners. But Mr. Churchill, who a second time visited the position in the darkness, tells us that the mass of the infantry were determined to hold on to the last. Already, however, the fatal decision had been reached. On his own authority, and in despite of the vigorous protests of Colonel Hill, Colonel Thorneycroft had determined to withdraw, though his orders were to hold the position to the last. He could not communicate with Generals Buller and Warren or receive the instructions which, had they only been present in person, they would undoubtedly have given. There was no oil for the signal lamps, a sad instance of the fatal result of the want of that attention to detail which has always marked the great commanders. It added irony to the event that the British Staff down below, in utter ignorance of what was proceeding above--and since the morning no Staff officer had appeared on the summit--was making arrangements for a general assault all along the line, as the retreat began. Many of the wounded had to be abandoned when the shattered companies and battalions, covered by a strong rearguard, withdrew through the darkness, and stole down the precipitous path. One of the bloodiest, certainly the most terrible, of the battles of the war had reached its end.
[Illustration: _R. B. M. Paxton._] [_After a sketch by Ernest Prater._
MAJOR WRIGHT DEMANDING POSSESSION OF THE WOUNDED.
The Boers at first refused to allow the British Volunteer Ambulance men to carry off the wounded. Major Wright, who had been wounded at Elandslaagte and was now serving under the Red Cross, persisted in his demand, claiming his right under the Geneva Convention, and finally carried his point in a personal interview with Commandant Botha.]
[Sidenote: Scene on the hill after the battle.]
[Sidenote: JAN. 25, 1900.] _Boer Estimates of Comparative Losses._]
Dawn broke upon the summit, and parties of Boers stole forward to renew the weary assault. But the place was tenanted only by the dead and dying--a vast charnel-house testifying gloriously to the devoted heroism of the resistance. Two hundred British corpses, many torn by shells and dismembered beyond recognition, lay upon the mountain top, and beside them lay many burghers in their last long sleep. "In some of the trenches and parts of the kopje where the fire was hottest," writes a Boer correspondent, "bodies were actually entangled, as if the dying men had clutched each other in the death struggle, the spirit of battle in their souls as they sped from earth. On all sides were mute evidences of the desperate nature of the battle. Dozens of stones were spattered with blood, and empty Lee-Metford shells lay about everywhere by the bucketful, testifying that the English had spent an enormous amount of ammunition. Many cartridge belts were found entirely empty." In one trench, raked steadily by the Boer fire, sixty bodies lay within a hundred feet. And all about was the strange pathetic litter of the battlefield; letters and papers, testaments, battered helmets, broken firearms. Here and there the long grass had caught fire, burning mules and men.
[Illustration:
[_Photo by Cribb._
FLAG SIGNALLING.
The impossibility of using this mode of communication was one of the minor causes of the loss of Spion Kop. (See page 297.)]
Even the Boers themselves were strangely moved by the evidence of the heroism with which their as heroic attacks had been encountered. Yet, in their usual fashion, they were not content with the victory which they had achieved, but must needs fall to magnifying it by misrepresenting alike the British losses and their own. They professed to have buried 620 dead on Spion Kop and placed our total loss in killed at 1,000. Mr. Webster Davis, an American official, who had been mysteriously converted to Krugerism at Pretoria, went over the battlefield and pretended to have counted 400 British dead, even after the 620 had been buried. Which, it may be said, only served to show that American politicians do not always tell the truth. Their own killed the Boer official version placed at 51, their wounded at 123, and this, they said, was the "heaviest loss yet sustained by our forces in any engagement." The pretty effort of fiction deceived no one. Though they were elated--and justly elated--at their great success, it is well known that the feeling of satisfaction passed when the losses were counted. One man, Louis Botha, had won the day; had the British army possessed its Botha, what might it not have achieved, asked even the plain burghers. And the time was coming when the British army should find a Botha--and a greater than Botha--a general who had skill to plan, faith to inspire, and capacity unflinchingly to execute.
[Illustration: ON SPION KOP THE DAY AFTER THE BATTLE.
One of many sad processions which merged into one long train at the foot of the hill.]
[Sidenote: [JAN. 25, 1900.]
The Boers placed the strength of the force which assaulted Spion Kop at half that of the total number of British left dead upon the field. That is to say, they pretended that 100 or 150 men dislodged between 4,000 and 5,000 British infantry, who, by even the Boer accounts, displayed remarkable bravery. It is needless to comment upon the story. Were it true, every officer and man who returned from Spion Kop deserved to be condemned as a coward. The evidence is strong that the Boers were numbered, not by the fifty or the hundred, but by thousands. They made their supreme effort in this quarter, and it succeeded. A word of reproach is due for the ghoulish and horrible photographs of the field of battle which the Boer generals allowed to be taken, and which the Boer Government permitted to be paraded in the shops of Pretoria and Johannesburg.
[Illustration:
1. Lieut. Otto (wounded). 2. The Hon. J. L. H. Petre (killed). 3. Capt. Knappe (wounded). 4. Lieut. Bosomworth. 5. ---- 6. Lieut. Prettijohn. 7. Dr. Bensusan. 8. Lieut. Steer. 9. ---- 10. Quartermaster Clipman. 11. Lieut. Brown (wounded). 12. Lieut. Martins (wounded). 13. Capt. Bettington (wounded). 14. Col. Thorneycroft. 15. Capt. Morris. 16. Lieut. Sargent. 17. Capt. Hendry. 18. Lieut. Flower-Ellis (missing). 19. Lieut. Jenkins (killed). 20. Lieut. Baldwin (wounded).
OFFICERS OF THORNEYCROFT'S MOUNTED INFANTRY. (_Numbered from left to right, and commencing with the back row._)]
[Sidenote: Losses in the action.]
It is difficult to ascertain exactly what were the losses on this terrible day. The official return lumped together the casualties for the week of battles, which amounted to 27 officers and 245 men killed, 53 officers and 1,050 men wounded, and 7 officers and 351 men missing. The vast proportion of the missing were prisoners, but a few were among the killed. Of the men lost, about 200 were killed and about 500 wounded on Spion Kop. By far the heaviest sufferers were the companies of Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry, which fought with such blind devotion on that blood-stained summit. They went up 194 strong; they returned with only 72 unwounded men. The 2nd Lancashire Fusiliers out of a total of 800 had to mourn a loss of 250, but of these many were prisoners. The Imperial Light Infantry, whose first battle this was, out of 850 men lost 31 killed and 91 wounded or missing. It is typical of the complete disorganisation which the fight produced that the one battalion, the Scottish Rifles, which preserved the best order, could muster only 270 out of 800 men at the foot of the mountain. The reason was, not that its losses were especially heavy, but that in the darkness and confusion no formation could be maintained.
[Sidenote: JAN. 25, 1900.] _Stories of the Wounded._]
The patience, the valour of the common soldier throughout the week, fully merited General Buller's epithet of "splendid." "The men," writes Mr. Treves, the distinguished surgeon with the army, "were much exhausted by the hardships they had undergone. In many instances they had not had their clothes off for a week or ten days. They had slept in the open without great-coats, and had been reduced to the minimum in the matter of rations. The nights were cold, and there was on nearly every night a heavy dew. Fortunately, there was little or no rain. The want of sleep and the long waiting upon the hill had told upon them severely. There is no doubt also that the incessant shell fire must have proved a terrible strain. Some of the men, although severely wounded, were found asleep upon their stretchers when brought in. Many were absolutely exhausted and worn out independently of their wounds. In spite of all their hardships, the wounded men behaved as splendidly as they always have done. They never complained. They were quite touching in their unselfishness and in their anxiety 'not to give trouble.' One poor fellow had been shot in the face by a piece of shell, which had carried away his left eye, the left upper jaw with the corresponding part of the cheek, and had left a hideous cavity at the bottom of which his tongue was exposed. He had been lying hours on the hill. He was unable to speak, and as soon as he was landed at the hospital he made signs that he wanted to write. Pencil and paper were given him, and it was supposed he wished to ask for something, but he merely wrote, 'Did we win?' No one had the heart to tell him the truth."
[Illustration:
_J. Greig._]
AFTER THE BATTLE OF SPION KOP.
Whilst the Boers treated our wounded with tenderness they did not hesitate to turn out the pockets of the dead and dying.]
[Sidenote: [JAN. 25, 1900.]
There were many striking instances of gallantry. Captain Murray, of the Scottish Rifles, though wounded in four places, essayed to lead a charge on the Boer trenches, and so doing was shot dead. Captain the Hon. J. H. Petre, of Thorneycroft's, displayed throughout the most determined valour; twice wounded, he remained in his place and was killed. Sergeant Mason, of Thorneycroft's, a crack shot, engaged in a terrible contest with three Boers. One he knocked over at his first shot, the second he mortally wounded, the third saw him and took cover before he could fire again. Five bullets passed through his helmet; others tore his clothes; one at last struck his right shoulder. He changed his rifle to his left shoulder and finally hit his adversary. The Boer fell forward with his head over a boulder, and Mason crawled away to have his wound dressed. In the dressing station on the brow of the hill the army doctors displayed their wonted bravery under fire. One man at least was killed in the surgeon's hands; others were wounded afresh while they were being bandaged.
Among the strange incidents of the day was this, which is vouched for by Mr. Burleigh. While the Boers were attacking the Lancashire Fusiliers, a man in khaki, who looked like an officer, suddenly appeared in one of the British trenches and ordered those holding it to move out of it, as they were of no use where they were. Several obeyed, when they found that he was leading them towards a strong force of Boers among the rocks. "They are friends," said the supposed officer, as the men hesitated. But, fortunately, a private, who had his suspicions aroused, challenged the man in khaki, and, when he could give no satisfactory explanation of his presence, bayonetted him. Nearly all the British party were thereupon shot down.
[Illustration:
[_Photo by Colour-Sergeant Morris._
SURVIVORS OF THE 2ND MIDDLESEX WHO FOUGHT AT SPION KOP.
Non commissioned officers transferred to the new 3rd Battalion Middlesex Regiment at Woolwich.]
[Sidenote: The retreat.]
When morning came, Generals Buller and Warren learnt to their surprise and consternation that the position had been abandoned. General Buller's first intimation of the true situation was when a naval officer on Mount Alice gazed through the naval telescope and saw that there were only Boers and ambulance men upon the summit. The general seemed to have grown suddenly older; he looked wearied and depressed. Forthwith he rode out to Trichardt's Drift and at last assumed command. A general retreat was ordered upon the spot; all the troops were to withdraw to the south of the Tugela as soon as the baggage could be moved across.
Fresh from a reverse more disastrous than that of Colenso, the army was yet able to retire unmolested; the bridges themselves were taken to pieces for future use, General Buller being the last man across. On the morning of the 27th the enemy dropped a few shells into the river without effect, and the turning movement was a thing of the past.
[Sidenote: JAN. 25-27, 1900.] _The Army Recrosses the Tugela._]
In his telegraphic report, General Buller especially praised the conduct of the Scottish Rifles, King's Royal Rifles, Lancashire Fusiliers, and 2nd Middlesex. He pointed, too, with a satisfaction which caused deep uneasiness at home, because it seemed to show that the British Army was in very truth a beaten force and had been on the very edge of disaster, to the ease with which the 20,000 British soldiers had been withdrawn to the south of the river.
[Sidenote: Causes of the defeat.]
The causes of the defeat were many. In the first place must be set a faulty military system. The Boers, observes Mr. Churchill, would have placed 300 men on Spion Kop, who, by taking cover and shooting carefully among the rocks, would have suffered but little from the artillery fire. The British generals massed first 2,000, and then 5,000 men upon the height--a target for every shell. The failure to construct serviceable entrenchments has already been noticed, and in some degree explained, but it is possible that if the British infantry had been regularly trained to the use of the spade, the difficulties would have been overcome. The fog was an element by no means favourable to our success; it prevented the troops from seeing where to advance, and gave the enemy time to rally and collect. The breakdown of all organisation and organising power at the close of a day of desperate and prolonged conflict is not altogether to be wondered at.
"If at sundown the defence of the summit had been taken regularly in hand, entrenchments laid out, gun emplacements prepared, the dead removed, the wounded collected, and, in fact, the whole place brought under regular military command, and careful arrangements made for the supply of water and food to the scattered fighting line, the hill would have been held, I am sure," wrote General Buller. "As this was not done I think Colonel Thorneycroft exercised a wise discretion."
In his despatch, covering and commenting upon the various reports, Lord Roberts gave the final and well-balanced judgment of a great soldier. He held that General Buller's original plan for a turning movement had been well conceived and had every probability of success if only it had been executed. He blamed, for the failure upon Spion Kop, General Buller, because of his "disinclination to assert his authority and see that what he thought best was done"; Sir C. Warren, because of his "errors of judgment" and "want of administrative capacity," and because he had not himself visited the summit in the hours of crisis; and Colonel Thorneycroft, because of his "unwarrantable and needless assumption of responsibility." But the nation will not forget that while the gravest mistakes were made, they were made by generals who were brave, patriotic Englishmen, under the stress and anxiety of conflict. It is painful to have to record the fact that the man who was probably least to blame was the one singled out for punishment. Colonel Crofton was retired from his command, because of the brief message he had signalled to headquarters announcing the dangerous position on Spion Kop. Some months later, after the publication of the despatches, Sir C. Warren was recalled from Natal and given an administrative post in Griqualand West.
[Illustration: AN AMBULANCE WAGGON STUCK FAST ON A BROKEN BRIDGE NEAR POTGIETER'S DRIFT.]
[Illustration: NAVAL 6-INCH GUN ON ITS SPECIALLY-DESIGNED TRUCK.]
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