Loading...
Exeter Advocate, 1900-2-22, Page 3Fed a ..1 41ie trenches that aleng the Veldt before them. By one of those UNFORTUNATE AND UNFORGIV- ABLE ACCIDENTS of the i7111,is.,°,1,1n.hiya,PtililoToQfrlY',hei.nini'LellYi lioneeti(l)de Bthrieti; Jtilian Ralph Continues His Story Fight at Magers orrcein. . . . guns durina this short march, and i Dimly critics and. historians may say • Jr that this apprised the Boers of the SOME STARTLING INCIDENTS British approach. It is my belief, Three Times the Enemy Were Forced Out of Their Su- per ell Cho en Positions. Fusiliers to a ridge three miles north We had advanced 120 miles from the advanced base at De Aar, had march- ed more than forty miles into the en- emy's field, though all of it was past ..of one of the Crown. colonies, Three times the enemy had opposed us, each time teaching us more and more about their methods, their stub- bornness, and the queer game they play of facing us as loug. as they can damage us, and retiring when we reach the moment when we expect to demolish them. But each time the fact remained that we had forced them out of their superb and shrewd- ly-choseu positions. They learned a great deal in these reverses. They discovered that, sprinkle themselves as they would of this camp, overlooking the kopje infested by the Beers. The great gun shelled the hill wherever it was thought that the Boers could be soon, at ranges varying between 6,000 and 8,000 yards. The shells tore through the air with precisely the noise of an express train rushing at highest speed, and when they burst they seemed to envelop au acre of ground in heavy brown smoke, which lifted and floated over the kopje as if it were a mass of the pulverized earth. It was said that windows three and a half miles away were rattled by each discharge. The noise of each dischaeme was like the bark of a monster bull dog, and the bursting of each shell sounded sere744..)-e* .ee-e."• 'es?. /71 ;Zee s'ettreeree'7eieetr, Ikk ee Seeing the Guns—Death of Lord Roberts' Son. seer the sheer face of a rock-strewn hill, and hide as they might among the rooks to shoot us in the open or while we exposed ourselves on their billet, our valor would still lead us to storm their eyries and rush upon their aoldiers regardless of their superior numbers, their torrents of bullets, and their almost unbroken cover. Our officers had beeu taught at Sand- hurst that to successfully attack an entrenched foe requires a force three times as strong as the defenders. But we forced ahead, as indifferent to tench maxims as to the odds heaped high against us. The profit the Boer took from this lesson he applied at Modder River for the first time in his history. Our shells had searched be- hind and between his adamantine shelters, and our soldiers had climbed up and into them like lions which seek their prey IN ITS SECRETMOST LAIRS. Therefore the Boor, at Modder River, abandoned his rocks froni be- hind which he had thought to blow the British into the sea, and enscons- ed himself in a line of trenches on the open veldt—trenches fringed with laonghs and branches which melted into the lino of riverside trees behind them. When we advanced to the next battle, near hero, at Magersfontein, we hall seen a great kopje swarming with the foe, and we supposed that there was where we were to fight them—but this exhibition of their sur- plus numbers was a more "blind." Their mass was in trenches on the veldt; the hill was merely where they placed their guns and kept their rein- forcements. After the Modder River fight, on November 28, Lord Methuen halted us in camp until December 10, wait- ing, we believe, for the battalions of the Highland Brigade, for the great naval gun and the howitzer battery, which use lyddite, and for the sorely - needed cavalry, which came to us in the form of the 12th Lancers. The valiant Ninth Brigade of Yorkshire Light infantry, 5fili. 1;Torthumberlands, Loyal North Lancashires, Northamp- tonshires, 9i,h Lancers, and Mounted infantry, which HAD, DONE SUCH GALLANT WORK in the previous battles, was now to be scattered and in some measure sup- planted by the Argylls, Seaforths, Gordons, Black Watch, and Highland Light infantry of the fresher brigade. They were to take the center and form the bulk of the attacking line :with. the Guards Brigade. True, the King's Own Yorkshire Light, Infautry, the Mounted Infantry and the fith Fusiliers were to form tlte extreme right, and east of the Northampton Regiment was down at Graspan, Whore it had so bravely re- , eisted those Boers who cut our rail- way line and telegraph a few days be- fore. But the bulk of the hardened brig- ade were to remain itt the Modder River camp and hold this position against a rear attack during the Meg- ersfontein combat. On the afternoon of tinclay, the 10th, the great 4.7 gun, With its Cr OW of short, and stocky eailormen in broad -trimmed s traw hats coveted with khaki, was dragged by thirty -sin oxen and escorted by nion of the 5th LIKE THE COUGH OF A ,GIANT. The Tommies dubbed the gun "Joey," and thus introduced humor into a campaign that had been strangely deficient in that helpful ele- rnent, as well as placed a nick -name where it must stick while this war lasts. It is believed that the shells fell among the Boers several times during the afternoon. The gun remained on the ridge all night, and defined the extreme left of the next day's battle ground. This ground extended from the railway where the gun stood along the ridge facing the Boer kopje and then, when ' the ridge ended, straight over the veldt to the river, and along the river two miles to the southermost of two bridle fords to the Free State side of the stream. This position was four miles long from railway to river, and two miles longer beside the river. The ground is different from any on which we 'have fought before. It is all littered —ridge and veldt alike—with what the Boers call vaal bushes. They are shapely little frees from four to seven feet high, of round, full, generous shapes and dense foliage, every leaf in which is a silvery green. In such. a veldt as this before their hill the Boers had two miles of trenches full of men. Beyond this, still to the right, their trenches continued across THE MORE LEVEL AND OPEN PLAIN and then bent at right angles and fol- lowed the river—on our side. keeping between vs and it. If the reader understands this de- scription he will see that the trenches protected the kopje first, next they gave the Boers freedom to move be- hind those o11 the level veldt. in full exposure, yet out of range of our fire, so that they could get to a wagon ford within their lines and so across the river and down it towards Jacobscial. It was not two o'clock in the morn- ing when the last troops to leave the ,camp moved forward to the edge of the next scene of battle throe miles away. Tho Highland Brigade was ordered to the main position, roughly speaking from the left to the center. The Guards' Brigade was to continue the line to the river on the right, and then, as I have said, the Yorkshires held the drift on the extreme right, with a small break between them and the Guards. A small force of the Mounted Infantry supported the York- shires. The main body of this mount- ed troop went into battle with the Highland Brigade. It was about half -past three o'clock in the morniug, after a rainy and bitterly cold night, that the Highland Brigade, led by General Waucktoroe, advanced down upon the veldt. It was very dark and still biting cold. Tho men advanced, in quarter -col - until order. It is not a matter of military importance, but it is a fadt that they supposed they were to gross the veldt and attack the enemy on the kopjo. Therefore, it happened that they were a,t perfect ease, swinging along without a thought of immediate at- tack, chatting—even, to such an extent that their officers bade them make less noise. Neither officers nor mon knew of the existence of the formids that the Boers employed a scout to walk ahead and on. the extreme eight, of the British, and flash a light when they reached a certain point which had been agreed upon. The Scotch battalions — excepting the Gordons, who did not go into battle until later—kept in quarter -col- umn formation, met with a line of vaal bushes, and later a thicket of thorny cactus, and deployed out of the way of and around these. Suddenly the light was flashed on the right, a Boer rifle was fired on the left, and the whole long -hidden trench belched flame and riddled our ranks with bullets. Nothing could have been more of a surprise, more unexpected. A panic seized the troops, and would have possessed any other regiments in any other army—so fearful was the fire, so completely were the men taken off their aimed, and so like a general slaughter must it have seemed to those who saw their comrades dropping on both, sides and before them. They turned and ran, literally col- liding and climbing over one another in their confusion. A chaplain forward in the ranks was knocked down and trampled; as brave a man as any, and yet one who declar- ed that there lived no men who could have behaved differently. It had been as if the earth had open- ed, and form a Clift that ran as far as our men reached fire had belched and shot had swept the veldt. Out of two companies of the Black Watch ONLY FIFTY MEN ESCAPED. More than 800 were the casualties in that regiment. It was the same with the Seaforths, and almost the same with others. The fever of fright la.sted only while the men ran 200 yards, and then they regained some measure of order. Most of them reformed their ranks, fell under the commands of.their offi- cers, and faced the foe, lying down, of course, as must be the case in such warfare. Even then our advance line was only 320 to 400 yards from the trench- es, so close had the Boers allowed us to approach before they revealed themselves. In this incident lay the pith and almost the suin of the battle as far as the infantry were concerned. Our casualties at the end of a day of fif- teen hours were about 900, and vet not above 100 of these were inflicted unon us after that first three minutes —three minutes which saw the equal of a battalion swept away 1 To continue with the infantry, the Guards' Brigade advanced on the right to a point at which they could have demolished a visible enemy, and there they waged hot battle all the day. The Gordons were sent forward earl»h cand met with thrilling adventure at the start. The route took them to the middle of the field, where THEY PASSED A BOER TRENCH without provoking attack or sign of its existeame. After they had gone by and begun to met the fierce fire of the foe in the main entrenchment ahead of them, the Boers in the rear trench, who were slightly to the right, opened an enfilading fire, so that they were battered by volleys from front, rear and side. They fell upon their faces after a loss which seems trifling beside that of their compatriots earlier in the day—thirty or forty casualties of all kinds, I be- lieve. A more characteristic incident, far more agreeable to write. was that which occurred stili later in the day, when a composite party of Scotchmen —Argyles, Seaforths and others—a,ct- nally advanced to the Boer trenches. inflicting more' damage than they suffered. But it was an artillery fight, and had been planned as such. The Boers used few guns. Taught by past ex- perience that their guns have. played a small part as aids to them, and on the other hand have always drawn heavy and aceturate fire from us, they brought only four into action. They had two in use on the kopje and one in rear of their center on the veldt. They did us no damage with any. We, on the other hand. made splen- did use of our great naval gun, our howitzer battrey, horse artillery, and three field batteries of the Royal Ar- tillery. The great gun directed its fire mainly on the kopje, and we were afterwards told that the damage it did was very great. It is said that one shell fell among forty Boers and only five remained unhurt. Another destroyed a laa,ger. To me it seemed that by the close of fan day nearly the whole face of the hill had been under this fire. The howitzer battery helped in this work, and shelled the trenches as well. The horse artillery was aotually brought into the heavy rifle fire of the enemy and raked their trenches lengthwise and crosswise with terrible effeot. I This action was earteid out THE•VBRY JAWS OF DEATH, but it io not becoming( to report it bWaittiilleoutto oalalyriinagst ttlh.aetpitcolicnaloidurinitlir:r.- pidity of our artillerymai . has im- pressed every soldier ainong us. t ber's of Boers wore seen leaving the farther side of the kopje and moving toward the river and Free State bor- der. Whether they wore retreating) which was probably the fact or wore setting out to execute a flank attack upon our position we do not know. That such an attack was in their minds we strongly suspected. At all events, they found the Guards and the King's Own Yorkshires, control- ling the drifts and stoutly resisting the Boor fire all along the river. A very fierce attack was made upon their extreme right in an undoubted attempt to break through our line ata flank us. Five companies of the Yorkshires wore moved up to support them at this point, and the Boers abanaoned their object. The York- shiremen had not disappointed those .who had learned to look to them for VALOROUS ACTIVITY IN EVERY FIGHT. They had been sent to guard a drift and had found the Boers not only holding it, but also in possession of a ridge and two houses that were upon it'evell on the roar side of the river. The Yorkshiremen stormed this ridge and took it. Their casualties for the whole day were only nine. Lord Methuen complimented them on their part in the battle. On this part of the field—the ex- treme right—the mounted infantry were bringing in the wounded towards the close of the day, when the Boers • attacked them furiously. Three of the wounded infantrymen—all men of the Yorkshire readment serving iu the mounted corps—are declared. to have made it possible for this humane work to continue. They are Sergt. Casseh, Lance -Corp. Bennett Pte. Mawhood. They knelt down continu- ally in the open, and with utter dis- regard for their own lives did all they could by firing continuously and steadily. There was no lack of courage on that great field, and it distinguished high and humble alike. One wishes he could tell of every instance alike of the colonel of the Gordons standing erect and calling on his men until a bullet felled him, and even of the Scotch private who was found with his foot smashed. and was carried away by stretcher-bearers the while he loudly protested that he had been wounded twelve hours, had kept on fighting all the time, and was still as fit as any man in the army. At sundown our infantry retired. It is true that a large fraction—the ma- jor part, perhaps—of the Boers had done the same an hour earlier. But they held their trenches against the men in which our infantry had gain- ed no general advantage. They fired a few shells at us as we withdrew, and our guns answered them, and, more than that, were able to boast of the last notes in the tumult of the battle. IOn the next day and the next we gathered in our dead; roughly speak- ina. but little over a hundred, though scattered over six miles of the veldt. The Boers searched our ambulance aud stretcher men and blindfolded all whose duty led them near the trenches. Unfortunately, one man was found with a revolver upon him and he and the sergeant -major in charge uf the party were taken pris- oners and led into the Boer camp. But for his manner the man who had carried a pistol with his red cross might have been set free as the doctor was but he irritated the Boers, and they sent him to Pretoria. This dia- cident over, the relations between the Boers and our ambulance people assumed a very agreeable phase. The Boers were courteous, helpful and re- spectful. By not one word did they give offence. This was evidently the looked -for effect of our fairness throughout the war, of our generosity when they asked for medical aid after earlier battles, of the dignified tone in which Lord Methuen has complain- ed of their earlier breaches of the conventions of civilized warfare. JULIAN RALPH. CRACK rEGIMENTS FAMOUS BRITISH BATTALIONS FIGHT- alf-past Sour o'clock large num- ING IN SOUTH AFRICA. Pormation of English 'Regiments. Famous Names and Synonyms Handed Down—The FuL1eers, Ger- dou iiiilitudera and Blaelr Watch. lienPyright, 1900, by G. L. Kilmer.] NOLAND can - nOILN at Long Intervals. Pte. W. I3illson, of the 1st Cold - streams, who was in the Lincoln Po- lice Force when war was declared, writes home rather dolefully. "It's not fightng we grumbled at, it's the hardships. For instance, we hall dinner one day at twelve o'clock, and it was 33 hours before we got another meal except half a pint of coffee and a biscuit. Not only that, but water is very scarce. We have been 48 hours with Otto pint, and we drank that straght off. We don't aver- age above ono wash in two clays. Every man I have heard speak says he will be glad when. peace is proclaiin- ed, and so shall I." Private Edward Emanuel, of the 3rd Battalion Grenadier Guards, writ- ing home to Britonferry, Glamorgan: shire, says: "We lost a lot at the battle on 29 November, for the most part Welsh- ream—one by the name of Davies. Ho was a policeman at Britonferry. It was a pitiful sight to See them fall alongside of me, and not kuew but that your own time would eons() next Thank God I am quite safe Up to now, and hope to remain so. So have no fear of me, for if I fall I fall like a true Welshman, and so Welshmen home fsliMa before." not put an army or any size in the field without including some of her historic regiments. One reason for this is the peculiar composition of the British ar- my,t'egewherentaldense- ignation covers from six to nine battalions, each a unit and an- swering to a regiment in the United States army—that is to say, an organ- ization like the Coldstream guards or the Royal highlanders (Black Watch) includes two battalions of regulars, two of reserves and two to five of mili- tia and volunteers. The militia and volunteers are given local synonyms In addition to their regimental designa- tions, as, for instance; the Bedford- shire regiment, called also Bedford - shires, has now in the field two battal- lots of regulars and two of militia, called the Bedford militia and the Hertford militia. The Royal Irish regiment .,has the First and Second battalions on duty, and the Third, Isourtle and Fifth bat- talions, also known respectively as the Wexford, North Tipperary and the Kil- kenny militia, in motion for tbe front. One of the first commands to come into prominence in South Africa was the Eigbteenth hussars, which had the unenviable luck to suffer the loss of one whole squadron, cut off and cap- tured at the battle of Glencoe. This experience was especially humiliating at the time of it, became then the British went In expecting "to meet boys," but found themselves "van- quished by men." The Eighteenth hussars has a record dating from the Peninsula. Its flag bears the inscrip- tions, "Peninsula" and "Waterloo," the latter because, with the Tenth hussars, it completed the final rout of the French. The headdress of the Eight- eenth when upon parade is the Busby bag and plume of the pattern worn in Wellington's time. The second heavy capture of British by the Boers, which took place at Nicholson's Nek, near Ladysmith, in - eluded part of the Royal Irish fusileers, also called the Eighty-seventh foot. When captured, the fusileers were engaged in a daring flanking move- ment, and, with the Gloucesters and a battery, stood tight until hopeless-, ly surrounded. Nicholson's Nek was the third field of humiliation for the Ftoyal Irish fusileers. Five hundred of the regi- ment were captured by the French in the Netberlands in 1799, wben the regiment was new. In Brazil, in 1807, a small detachment was captured by a ruse de guerre. Organized in 1793, the fusileers, also called Faugb-a-Ballaghs ((Jlear the Ways), first saw service in Flanders. They next appeared in the West In- dies, where fever carried off enough to make a full regiment. In 1815 the com- mand went to India and remained in yeais, a brief visit to England in 1S25. For their faithfulness in India the Cr6W11 granted the title of "Royal" as a pre- fix to the original name, "Irisb fuse leers." For an adventurous career the Olou- cesters, which shared in the humilia- tion at Nicbolson's Nek, stand second to none in the British army. They fought in Canada side by side with American colonials. they battled against Wash- ington's ragged bands in the States, and bore their flag on the burning des- erts of Egypt and in the mountains of Spain and Portugal. The noble Wolfe fell at tbe head of this regiment on the plains of Abraham, and its officers to this clay wear a thread of black in their uniform lace as a memento of that day. And they were with Sir John Moore when he fell at Coruna, an event celebrated in one of the finest poems in the English tongue, be,girt- ning, "Not a drum was heard, not a funeral -note." When Washington was at White Plains, the Gioucesters charged with short swords and carried an important outpost, earning by the act the name of "Slashers," which has clung to them ever since. Among the great battles of the Glen- cesters during the 300 years of the regiment's existence it counts Ponte- noy, Ram illies; Almanea, siege of ,Ba- dajos, one of the bloodiest in history; Albuera, Waterloo, Alma, Inkerman Sevastopol. At Almanza the Glouces- tershire regiment was completely de- stroyed by death and capture. active seivice t here • GO • With Only 100 men out of a nominal roll of 800 of the Royal highlanders, or the Black Watch, answered to' their names after the battle of Magersfon- tein. The Black Watch belongs to the highland brigade, with General eletlita en's army, and its commander, General Wauchope, was killed at Niagarsfon- teln while leading the charge which dost so much Scottish blood. Taking a favorable position at night the high- landers dashed forward at, daybreak, but soon ran Into an ambush where the slaughter was so greet that they had to retreat. Then their leader fell. At the time of meeting the first fire of the 13oers the highlanders were within 200 yards of the foe, but didn't know It. Over 200 went down, at the kit volley. At 10 o'clock the Black Watch, avhieh had taken shelter ant reformed, made a second effort to carer the eastern spur ef the ridge where the Boers lay. This effort was slue repulsed with fearful loss. Two wen aimed Boer shells shattered the head, of column. The Black Watch bears the distine- tion of having been the first kilted - regiment le the British army. Odes. naliy an armed police force stationed 11 the inghlancle to prevent cattle steakee hag, they made a record which led th goverement to form the scattered ant Independent companies Into a regl- meat As the men belonged to differ- ent clans, it was necessary to adopt a combination in order to give uniform- ity to the dress. The One adopted waschieflyblack, chiefly black, and their color and occur pation caused them to be called by the clansmen the "Black Watch." , The first officers of the regiment be- longed to the nobility, and the rank and file were chosen from the higher walks of life. As the physical qualifi- cations were high the Black Wath be- came noted for its Inc looking eoldlerse Ween drst called upon to fight outside, of Scotland, the regiment refused and was taken to London by a ruse. The matter was settled 'with some blood- shed and in the first battle the high- landers wiped out whatever odium re-. mained. In fact, the whole affair was. more creditable to the regiment than to the government, and the leaders of the mutiny who were executed were - afterward held in high honor. After the mutiny the Black Watch was sent to the continent and fought their first pitched battle as a regiment at F'ontenoy, where they opened tbe. famous attack, ordered by the Duke. of Cumberland, upon the impregnable position of the French. Firing one vol- ley from thier muskets the Scotsmen threw aside the guns, drew their clay- mores and charged a regiment of French guards. Although veterans of the wars, the guards were not accustomed to ths rushing tactics of the highlanders: They fired a scattering volley, the. took up the bayonet, boping to maks short work of the impetuous moun- taineers. The result was that the bay- onet gave way before stout claymoree. and, as the French refused to yield be- fore new troops, they were almost an- nihilated. Through the blunders °tithe, English commander, who lacked the - ability to cope with Marshal Saxe, the British were terribly beaten and forced to retreat, with the Black Veatch COT-- ering the rear. After the campaign In Flanders the Black Watch passed ten years garri- soning the Ara erican colonies, with head- quarters at Albany. In 1757 they foug,ht the French at Cape Breton and about a year later fought at Ticonderoga. In this battle they impetuously rushed tiesintreuchments, intrenchments, some of them mounted,- and gained immortal glory at the cost of much heroic blood. In Napoleon's wars .tbe Black Watch served every- where, even in Egypt, and was recalled. Original type. Moderntype. SOLDIERS OF THE BLACK WATCH. from Ireland to march to Waterloo. In the frightfully desperate charge up the slopes at Alma, in the Crimea, the highlanders were led by a Campbell and in all their battles have had a Campbell or a Grant among the lead- ers. When the headgear of the Black Watch was adopted, the men asked to be allowed the distinctive mark of red heckle upon their bounets, but it was not allowed. In one of the early bat- tles in Flanders there was not an un- . wounded man in the regiment, and the men dyed their heckles in blood. King George, bearing of this, ordered them to retain the red. When the Highland brigade met with Its stunning repulse at elagersfontein, the Gordon highlanders, of another bri- gade, took up the fight. They made two charges upon the intrenched Boer kopje, meeting with the loss of Colo- nel Downuian and many men. Anoth- er battalion of the Gordons were. among the most conspicuous fighters. at Elandslaagte, where they charged to the crest of the main kopje with their pipes skirling and the bugle, sounding the highland calls. Tber were' led in this attack by, General. French, the officer who got out of' Ladysmith before the line was cut oft and reached Cape Colony to take up an independent command. i The Gordons of Elandslaagte are the, same as those at Dargai, tbe scene of the famous charge in Afghanistan.. They constitute the First battalion and wear for their distingtiishing mark a scutchcon of the royal tiger, coalmen's,- rative of service in India. The Second battalion, which is with Methuen's col- umn and fotight so well at Magersfon- tele, wears the sphinx as a souvenir of the pyramiche. At Ellandslangte a lieutenant of the Gordons dashed forward with a ban& ful to 'eater the Boer tine. As useal, the Boers ley low and at the proper time ehowered the British with bnliets. The lieutenant was bit three times in ' the right arm, also In the hand and thigh, and his sword, scabbard and belMet Were perforated. Being left heeded be still fights on witb the Ger. deli& GnOBOSt. KITALE14 sateeeilerret6seest.