London to Ladysmith via Pretoria by Winston Spencer Churchill

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There were many halts, and no one hurried, so that at two o'clock the
whole cavalry formed a line of observation along the lower kopjes by
the river about five miles long. The composite regiment was not,
however, to be seen. Major Graham, who commanded it, had been observed
trotting swiftly off to the westward. Two hundred Boers had also been
reported moving in that direction. Presently came the sound of distant
musketry--not so very distant either. Everyone pricked up his ears. Two
miles away to the left was a green hill broken by rocky kopjes. Looking
through my glasses I could see ten or twelve riderless horses grazing. A
mile further on a group of Boers sheltering behind a kopje from the
continual fire was visible. Suddenly one galloped away madly, and even
at the distance it was possible to see the cloud of dust from pursuing
bullets. A straggling column of Boers was trekking away across the plain
back to their main position. Then came reports and rumours. 'Ambuscaded
the Dutchmen--shot 'em to bits--some of them cut off--come and bag the
lot.' Behind the rumours Barnes, adjutant of the Imperial Light Horse,
joyful, with a breathless horse; he explained how they had seen two
hundred Boers moving towards distant hills, to make sure of their line
of retreat by the Acton Homes road into the Free State; galloped to cut
them off; reached the hills first, with just five minutes to spare;
dismounted, commanding the road, and waited.

The Boers admitted afterwards that they thought that the squadrons
visible on the other hills two miles back were the head of our column,
and they also blamed their scouts, particularly one, an Austrian. 'It
all comes of trusting these cursed foreigners! If we had only had a
_veldt_ Boer out we should never have been caught.' Caught, however,
they undoubtedly were. The Carabineers and the Imperial Light Horse held
their fire until the scouts walked into their midst, and then let drive
at the main body, 300 yards range, mounted men, smooth open grass plain.
There was a sudden furious, snapping fusillade The Boer column stopped
paralysed; then they broke and rushed for cover. The greater number
galloped fast from the field; some remained on the ground dead or
wounded. Others took refuge among the rocks of the kopjes and apparently
proposed to hold out until dark, and hence the arrival of Lieutenant
Barnes demanding reinforcements, 60th Rifles, Mounted Infantry, and
anything else, so as to attack these fellows in flank and 'bag the lot.'
Meanwhile Lord Dundonald had arrived on our hill. 'Certainly, every man
we can spare.' Off gallops the Mounted Infantry and one squadron of the
South African Light Horse, and later on some of Thorneycroft's, and
later still the Brigadier himself. I arrived in time to see the end. The
Boers--how many we could not tell--were tenaciously holding the black
rocks of a kopje and were quite invisible. The British riflemen curved
round them in a half-moon, firing continually at the rocks. The squadron
of South African Light Horse had worked almost behind the enemy, and
every Dutchman who dared make a dash for liberty ran a terrible
gauntlet. Still the surrender did not come. The white flag flickered for
a moment above the rocks, but neither side stopped firing. Evidently a
difference of opinion among the enemy. What do we care for that? Night
is coming on. Let us rush them with the bayonet and settle the matter.
This from the Rifles--nobody else had bayonets. So a section pushes
forward against the rocks, crawling along the ground. Anxious to see the
surrender, I followed on my pony, but on the instant there broke out a
savage fire from the kopje, and with difficulty I found shelter in a
donga. Here were two of the Natal Carabineers--one a bearded man of the
well-to-do farmer class, the other a young fair-haired gentleman--both
privates, both as cool as ice. 'Vewy astonishing outburst of fire,' said
the younger man in a delicate voice. 'I would recommend your remaining
here with your horse for the present.' Accordingly we lay still on the
grass slope and awaited developments. The young gentleman put his helmet
over the crest on the end of his rifle, and was much diverted to hear
the bullets whistle round it. At intervals he substituted his head for
the helmet and reported the state of the game. 'Bai Jove, the Rifles
are in a hot place.' I peered cautiously. A hundred yards away the
Mounted Infantry section were extended. The dust spurts rose around the
men, who remained pinned to the earth, scarcely able to raise their
heads to fire. Whatever passed over them came whizzing in our direction.
The Natal Volunteer, however, was too much interested in the proceedings
to forego his view. 'Deah, deah, they've fixed bayonets! Why, they're
coming back. They've had someone hurt.' I looked again for a moment. The
line of riflemen was certainly retiring, wriggling backwards slowly on
their bellies. Two brown forms lay still and hunched in the abandoned
position. Then suddenly the retiring Riflemen sprang up and ran for
shelter in our donga. One lad jumped right in among us laughing and
panting, and the whole party turned at once and lined the bank.
First-class infantry can afford to retire at the double, sure that they
will stop at a word. 'We got to within fifty yards of the Dutchmen,'
they said; 'but it was too hot to go further. They've shot two fellows
through the head.' Eventually we all retired to the main position on the
ridge above us. Lord Dundonald and his staff had just arrived.

'There! there's the white flag again. Shoot the devils!' cried a
soldier, and the musketry crashed out fiercely. 'What's to be done,
sir?' said the Captain, turning to the Brigadier; 'the white flag has
been up off and on for the last half-hour, but they don't stop firing,
and they've just killed two of my men.'

'Give them one more chance.' 'Cease fire--cease fire there, will you?'
for the men were very angry, and so at last the musketry died away, and
there was silence. Then from among the rocks three dark figures stood up
holding up their hands, and at this tangible evidence of surrender we
got on our horses and galloped towards them waving pocket handkerchiefs
and signalling flags to show them that their surrender was accepted.
Altogether there were twenty-four prisoners--all Boers of the most
formidable type--a splendid haul, and I thought with delight of my poor
friends the prisoners at Pretoria. This might redeem a few. Then we
searched the ground, finding ten dead or dying and twenty loose horses,
ten dead and eight badly wounded men. The soldiers crowded round these
last, 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. Anger had turned to pity in an instant.
The desire to kill was gone. The desire to comfort replaced it. A little
alert officer--Hubert Gough, now a captain, soon to command a
regiment--came up to me. Two minutes before his eyes were bright and
joyous with the excitement of the man hunt. He had galloped a
mile--mostly under fire--to bring the reinforcements to surround the
Boers. 'Bag the lot, you know.' Now he was very sad. 'There's a poor boy
dying up there--only a boy, and so cold--who's got a blanket?'

So the soldiers succoured the Boer wounded, and we told the prisoners
that they would be shown courtesy and kindness worthy of brave men and
a famous quarrel. The Boer dead were collected and a flag of truce was
sent to the enemy's lines to invite a burying and identification party
at dawn. I have often seen dead men, killed in war--thousands at
Omdurman--scores elsewhere, black and white, but the Boer dead aroused
the most painful emotions. Here by the rock under which he had fought
lay the Field Cornet of Heilbronn, Mr. de Mentz--a grey-haired man of
over sixty years, with firm aquiline features and a short beard. The
stony face was grimly calm, but it bore the stamp of unalterable
resolve; the look of a man who had thought it all out, and was quite
certain that his cause was just, and such as a sober citizen might give
his life for. Nor was I surprised when the Boer prisoners told me that
Mentz had refused all suggestions of surrender, and that when his left
leg was smashed by a bullet he had continued to load and fire until he
bled to death; and they found him, pale and bloodless, holding his
wife's letter in his hand. Beside him was a boy of about seventeen shot
through the heart. Further on lay our own two poor riflemen with their
heads smashed like eggshells; and I suppose they had mothers or wives
far away at the end of the deep-sea cables. Ah, horrible war, amazing
medley of the glorious and the squalid, the pitiful and the sublime, if
modern men of light and leading saw your face closer, simple folk would
see it hardly ever.

It could not be denied that the cavalry had scored a brilliant success.
We had captured twenty-four, killed ten, and wounded eight--total,
forty-two. Moreover, we had seen the retreating Boers dragging and
supporting their injured friends from the field, and might fairly claim
fifteen knocked out of time, besides those in our hands, total
fifty-seven; a fine bag, for which we had had to pay scarcely anything.
Two soldiers of the Mounted Infantry killed; one trooper of the Imperial
Light Horse slightly, and one officer, Captain Shore--the twenty-third
officer of this regiment hit during the last three months--severely
wounded.

CHAPTER XVII

THE BATTLE OF SPION KOP

Venter's Spruit: January 25, 1900.

It is the remarkable characteristic of strong races, as of honourable
men, to keep their tempers in the face of disappointment, and never to
lose a just sense of proportion; and it is, moreover, the duty of every
citizen in times of trouble to do or say or even to think nothing that
can weaken or discourage the energies of the State. Sir Redvers Buller's
army has met with another serious check in the attempt to relieve
Ladysmith. We have approached, tested, and assailed the Boer positions
beyond the Tugela, fighting more or less continuously for five days, and
the result is that we find they cannot be pierced from the direction of
Trichardt's Drift any more than at Colenso. With the loss of more than
two thousand men out of a small army, we find it necessary to recross
the, river and seek for some other line of attack; and meanwhile the
long and brave resistance of Ladysmith must be drawing to a close.
Indeed, it is the opinion of many good judges that further efforts to
relieve the town will only be attended with further loss. As to this I
do not pronounce, but I am certain of one thing--that further efforts
must be made, without regard to the loss of life which will attend them.

I have seen and heard a good deal of what has passed here. I have often
been blamed for the freedom with which I have written of other
operations and criticised their commanders. I respectfully submit that I
am as venomous an amateur strategist as exists at this time. It is very
easy--and much more easy than profitable--when freed from all
responsibility to make daring suggestions and express decided opinions.
I assert that I would not hesitate to criticise mercilessly if I was not
myself sobered by the full appreciation of the extraordinary
difficulties which the relief of Ladysmith presents; and if there be
anyone who has any confidence in my desire to write the truth I appeal
to him to be patient and calm, to recognise that perhaps the task before
Sir Redvers Buller and his subordinates is an actual impossibility, that
if these generals are not capable men--among the best that our times
produce--it is difficult to know where and how others may be obtained,
and finally to brutally face the fact that Sir George White and his
heroic garrison may be forced to become the prisoners of the Boers,
remembering always that nothing that happens, either victory or defeat,
in northern Natal can affect the ultimate result of the war. In a word,
let no one despair of the Empire because a few thousand soldiers are
killed, wounded, or captured Now for the story as plainly and briefly as
possible.

When Buller had arrived at Potgieter's he found himself confronted by a
horseshoe position of great strength, enclosing and closing the
debouches from the ford where he had secured a practical bridgehead. He
therefore masked Potgieter's with seven battalions and twenty-four guns,
and sent Warren with twelve battalions and thirty-six guns to turn the
right, which rested on the lofty hill--almost mountain--of Spion Kop.
The Boers, to meet this turning movement, extended their line westwards
along the heights of the Tugela valley almost as far as Acton Homes.
Their whole position was, therefore, shaped like a note of interrogation
laid on its side, --/\, the curve in front of General Lyttelton, the
straight line before Sir Charles Warren. At the angle formed by the
junction of the curve and the line stands Spion Kop--'look-out hill.'
The curved position in front of General Lyttelton has been already
described in a previous letter. The straight position in front of Sir
Charles Warren ran in two lines along the edge and crest of a plateau
which rises steeply two miles from the river, but is approachable by
numerous long _aretes_ and dongas. These letters have completed the
chronicle down to the evening of the 18th, when the successful cavalry
action was fought on the extreme left.

I do not know why nothing was done on the 19th, but it does not appear
that anything was lost by the delay. The enemy's entrenchments were
already complete, and neither his numbers nor the strength of his
positions could increase.

On the 20th Warren, having crept up the _aretes_ and dongas, began his
attack. The brigades of Generals Woodgate and Hart pushed forward on the
right, and the Lancashire and Irish regiments, fighting with the usual
gallantry of her Majesty's troops, succeeded, in spite of a heavy fire
of rifles and artillery, in effecting lodgments at various points along
the edge of the plateau, capturing some portions of the enemy's first
line of entrenchments. On the extreme left the cavalry under Lord
Dundonald demonstrated effectively, and the South African Light Horse
under Colonel Byng actually took and held without artillery support of
any kind a high hill, called henceforward 'Bastion Hill,' between the
Dutch right and centre. Major Childe, the officer whose squadron
performed this daring exploit, was killed on the summit by the shell
fire to which the successful assailants were subjected by the Boers. In
the evening infantry reinforcements of Hildyard's Brigade arrived, and
at dawn the cavalry handed over the hill to their charge. The losses
during the day did not exceed three hundred and fifty officers and men
wounded--with fortunately, a small proportion of killed--and fell mainly
on the Lancashire Fusiliers, the Dublin Fusiliers (always in the front),
and the Royal Lancaster Regiment. They were not disproportioned to the
apparent advantage gained.

On the 21st the action was renewed. Hart's and Woodgate's brigades on
the right made good and extended their lodgments, capturing all the Boer
trenches of their first defensive line along the edge of the plateau. To
the east of 'Bastion Hill' there runs a deep _re-entrant_, which
appeared to open a cleft between the right and centre of the Boer
position. The tendency of General Hildyard's action, with five
battalions and two batteries, on the British left this day was to drive
a wedge of infantry into this cleft and so split the Boer position in
two. But as the action developed, the great strength of the second line
of defence gradually revealed itself. It ran along the crest of the
plateau, which rises about a thousand yards from the edge in a series of
beautiful smooth grassy slopes of concave surface, forming veritable
glacis for the musketry of the defence to sweep; and it consisted of a
line of low rock and earth redoubts and shelter trenches, apparently
provided with overhead cover, and cleverly arranged to command all
approaches with fire--often with cross-fire, sometimes with converging
fire. Throughout the 21st, as during the 20th, the British artillery,
consisting of six field batteries and four howitzers, the latter
apparently of tremendous power, bombarded the whole Boer position
ceaselessly, firing on each occasion nearly three thousand shells. They
claim to have inflicted considerable loss on the enemy, and must have
inflicted some, but failed utterly and painfully to silence the
musketry, to clear the trenches, or reach and overpower the Dutch
artillery, which did not number more than seven or eight guns and two
Maxim shell-guns, but which were better served and manoeuvred and of
superior quality. The losses in the action of the 20th were about one
hundred and thirty officers and men killed and wounded, but this must be
regarded as severe in the face of the fact that no serious collision or
even contact took place.

During the 22nd and 23rd the troops held the positions they had won, and
the infantry were subjected to a harassing shell fire from the Boer
guns, which, playing from either flank, searched the _re-entrants_ in
which the battalions sheltered, and which, though they did not cause a
greater loss than forty men on the 22nd and twenty-five on the 23rd,
nevertheless made their position extremely uncomfortable. It was quite
evident that the troops could not be fairly required to endure this
bombardment, against which there was no protection, indefinitely. Nor
was any good object, but rather the contrary, to be gained by waiting.

Three alternatives presented themselves to the council of war held on
the 22nd. First, to attack the second Boer position frontally along the
crest by moonlight. This would involve a great slaughter and a terrible
risk. Secondly, to withdraw again, beyond the Tugela, and look elsewhere
for a passage: a moral defeat and a further delay in the relief of
Ladysmith; and thirdly, to attack by night the mountain of Spion Kop,
and thence to enfilade and command the Boer entrenchments. Sir Redvers
Buller, who has always disdained effect, was for the second
course--unpalatable as it must have been to a fearless man; miserable as
it is to call off infantry after they have made sacrifices and won
positions, and to call them off a second time. The discussion was an
informal one, and no votes were taken, but the General yielded to the
advice of his subordinate, rightly, I hold, because now at least we know
the strength of the enemy's position, whereas before we only dreaded it;
and knowledge is a better reason for action than apprehension.

It was therefore decided to attack Spion Kop by night, rush the Boer
trenches with the bayonet, entrench as far as possible before dawn, hold
on during the day, drag guns up at night, and thus dominate the Boer
lines. There is, of course, no possible doubt that Spion Kop is the key
of the whole position, and the reader has only to think of the
horizontal note of interrogation, and remember that the mountain at the
angle divides, commands, and enfilades the enemy's lines, to appreciate
this fact. The questions to be proved were whether the troops could hold
out during the day, and whether the place could be converted into a fort
proof against shell fire and armed with guns during the following night.
Fate has now decided both.

General Woodgate was entrusted with the command, and Colonel
Thorneycroft with much of the arrangement and direction of the night
attack. It does not seem that anything but good resulted from this too
soon broken co-operation. Thorneycroft declined to attack on the night
of the 22nd because the ground had not been reconnoitered, and he
wanted to be sure of his way. The infantry therefore had another day's
shelling on the 23rd. Good reconnaissances were, however, made,
Lyttelton was strengthened by two Fusilier battalions from Chieveley,
Warren was reinforced by Talbot Coke's Brigade and the Imperial Light
Infantry, and at one o'clock on the morning of January 24 General
Woodgate started from his camp with the Lancashire Fusiliers, the Royal
Lancaster Regiment, two companies of the South Lancashires, and
Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry. Guided by Colonel Thorneycroft the
force made its way successfully up the southern spur of the mountain,
over most difficult and dangerous ground, and surprised the Boers
guarding the entrenchments on the summit. At three o'clock those
listening in the plain heard the sudden outburst of musketry, followed
by the loud cheers of the troops, and knew that the position had been
carried. Ten soldiers were killed and wounded in the firing. Six Boers
perished by the bayonet. The force then proceeded to fortify itself,
but the surface of the hill was extremely unsuited to defence. The rocks
which covered the summit made digging an impossibility, and were
themselves mostly too large to be built into sangars. Such cover,
however, as had been made by the Boers was utilised and improved.

Morning broke, and with it the attack. The enemy, realising the vital
importance of the position, concentrated every man and gun at his
disposal for its recapture. A fierce and furious shell fire was opened
forthwith on the summit, causing immediate and continual loss. General
Woodgate was wounded, and the command devolved on a regimental officer,
who, at half-past six, applied for reinforcements in a letter which
scarcely displayed that composure and determination necessary in such a
bloody debate.

Sir Redvers Buller then took the extreme step of appointing Major
Thorneycroft--already only a local lieutenant-colonel--local
Brigadier-General commanding on the summit of Spion Kop. The Imperial
Light Infantry, the Middlesex Regiment, and a little later the
Somersets, from General Talbot Coke's Brigade, were ordered to reinforce
the defence, but General Coke was directed to remain below the summit of
the hill, so that the fight might still be conducted by the best
fighting man.

The Boers followed, and accompanied their shells by a vigorous rifle
attack on the hill, and about half-past eight the position became most
critical. The troops were driven almost entirely off the main plateau
and the Boers succeeded in reoccupying some of their trenches. A
frightful disaster was narrowly averted. About twenty men in one of the
captured trenches abandoned their resistance, threw up their hands, and
called out that they would surrender. Colonel Thorneycroft, whose great
stature made him everywhere conspicuous, and who was from dawn till dusk
in the first firing line, rushed 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 hell. 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 two hundred yards, were rallied
by their indomitable commander, and, being reinforced by two brave
companies of the Middlesex Regiment, charged back, recovering all lost
ground, and the position was maintained until nightfall. No words in
these days of extravagant expression can do justice to the glorious
endurance which the English regiments--for they were all
English--displayed throughout the long dragging hours of hell fire.
Between three and four o'clock the shells were falling on the hill from
both sides, as I counted, at the rate of seven a minute, and the strange
discharges of the Maxim shell guns--the 'pom-poms' as these terrible
engines are called for want of a correct name--lacerated the hillsides
with dotted chains of smoke and dust. A thick and continual stream of
wounded flowed rearwards. A village of ambulance waggons grew up at the
foot of the mountain. The dead and injured, smashed and broken by the
shells, littered the summit till it was a bloody, reeking shambles.
Thirst tormented the soldiers, for though water was at hand the fight
was too close and furious to give even a moment's breathing space. But
nothing could weaken the stubborn vigour of the defence. The Dorset
Regiment--the last of Talbot Coke's Brigade--was ordered to support the
struggling troops. The gallant Lyttelton of his own accord sent the
Scottish Rifles and the 3rd King's Royal Rifles from Potgieter's to aid
them. But though their splendid attack did not help the main action;
though the British artillery, unable to find or reach the enemy's guns,
could only tear up the ground in impotent fury; though the shell fire
and rifle fire never ceased for an instant--the magnificent infantry
maintained the defence, and night closed in with the British still in
possession of the hill.

I find it convenient, and perhaps the reader will allow me, to break
into a more personal account of what followed. It drove us all mad to
watch idly in camp the horrible shelling that was directed on the
captured position, and at about four o'clock I rode with Captain R.
Brooke, 7th Hussars, to Spion Kop, to find out what the true situation
was. We passed through the ambulance village, and leaving our horses
climbed up the spur. Streams of wounded met us and obstructed the 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. Many of the wounds were of a horrible nature. The splinters and
fragments of the shell had torn and mutilated in the most ghastly
manner. I passed about two hundred while I was climbing up. 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. Fighting was still proceeding, and
stray bullets struck all over the ground, while the Maxim shell guns
scourged the flanks of the hill and the sheltering infantry at regular
intervals of a minute. The 3rd King's Royal Rifles were out of reach.
The Dorset Regiment was the only battalion not thrown into the fight,
and intact as an effective unit.

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