TRANSVAAL. 



679 



by the Canadians, the Gordon Highlanders, and 

 the Shropshire regiment on May 2, the Dutch 

 forces were withdrawn from the hills around 

 Thaba Nchu and massed northward and eastward, 

 where they clung to the flanks of the columns that 

 marched along the Winburg road. Brandfort was 

 occupied on May 3, Gen. Delarey retiring his forces 

 to the hilly country to the northeast, into which 

 Lord Roberts refused to be enticed. The effective 

 British field force operating in South Africa con- 

 sisted of 128,000 regulars, 1,000 marines, 20,000 

 militia, 8,000 yeomanry, 10,000 volunteers, 25,000 

 colonial troops raised in South Africa, and 8,000 

 from other colonies, making a total of 200,000. 

 The last contingents from England consisted of 17 

 battalions of militia and 3,000 yeomanry, and from 

 the colonies S.'OOO. 



The beginning of the British advance brought 

 about new dispositions of the Boer forces. The 

 bulk of the besieging force was recalled from 

 Mafeking just as Col. Mahon's relieving column 

 which had formed a junction with Col. Plumer's 

 party, making a force of 2,300 men, came to the 

 succor of the starved and exhausted garrison on 

 May 17. A Boer commando attacked the column 

 on May 13, inflicting a loss of 31 men, and on the 

 same morning Capt. Eloff led a storming party of 

 150 men, which forced an entrance into the town, 

 was cut off in the rear, and found internal forti- 

 fications that stopped further advance, and after 

 fighting all day and losing 29 killed and wounded, 

 surrendered, the British loss having been G killed 

 and 11 wounded. 



To prevent the concentration of all the Boer 

 forces on his front Lord Roberts ordered a simul- 

 taneous advance from Kimberley against the 

 burgher divisions in the west and in Natal upon 

 the Biggarsberg line of defense. The advance to 

 Winburg and Kroonstad could not be safely made 

 until the gap southeast of Bloemfontein was effec- 

 tually closed by the occupation of the line from 

 Thaba Nchu to Ladybrand. The Boers prepared 

 for the invasion of the Transvaal by ordering all 

 British subjects .to leave the country. The Boers 

 had prepared to defend Brandfort stoutly, 4,000 

 strong, but were forced to retreat hastily to escape 

 being surrounded. The British reached the Vet 

 river on May 5, and Gen. Button's mounted in- 

 fantry had a severe engagement with the Boers, 

 who retreated when their right flank was turned. 

 At Smaldeel junction a quantity of stores were 

 captured. The British were now in possession of 

 the railroad, which was not much injured except 

 that the bridge over the Vet was gone. Gen. Ian 

 Hamilton's force, with Gen. Broadwood's cavalry 

 and some mounted infantry, advanced independ- 

 ently toward Kroonstad, driving the Boers out of 

 a strong position at Houtnek, reaching Neal Wel- 

 kot on May 4, and on May 6 taking possession 

 of Winburg. Senekal was occupied, and the col- 

 umn moved on to Ventersburg. The principal ad- 

 vance of the British was along the line of the 

 railroad, and the main body of the Republican 

 troops fell back toward the Zand river and Kroon- 

 stad. The country was hilly, and yet not well 

 adapted for defense. The Boers made a stand 

 north of the Zand at Rietspruit, where Lord Rob- 

 erts attacked them on May 10 with 35,000 men. 

 They occupied a line much too widely extended 

 for their numbers, intending to fight for delay. 

 The greatly superior strength of the British broke 

 through their defense without difficulty, and on 

 May 12 Lord Roberts entered Kroonstad without 

 further opposition. A demonstration against 

 Thaba Nchu was attempted by the Boers prior 

 to the last battle, but this did not divert Lord 

 Roberts from his objective because Gen. Rundle's 



division, re-enforced by Gen. Brabant's force, could 

 deal with the countermarching commandos. Pres- 

 ident Steyn removed his Government to Lindley, 

 but fled from there when Ian Hamilton's cavalry 

 arrived on May 17 to capture him. The Boera 

 had defended their position on the Vet with little 

 spirit, and when the British forces approached the 

 intrenched position that they had prepared on the 

 Rhenoster river they abandoned their fortifica- 

 tions without a blow, and retired across the Vaal, 

 destroying one span of the railroad bridge at 

 Vereenigung after they had crossed. On May 26 

 the British vanguard crossed the Vaal near Parys, 

 and on the following day the main body encamped 

 in the Transvaal, having crossed in four places 

 with a front of 35 miles without encountering 

 serious opposition, the Boers having been misled 

 as to the passage by Gen. Hamilton's operations 

 at Lindley and Heilbron and the British having 

 rapidly changed their front from northeast to 

 northwest. The rapid advance on Vereenigung 

 saved the coal mines on both sides of the river 

 from being crippled as those in northern Natal 

 w y ere to prevent the British from using the rail- 

 roads for transport. By a march of 20 miles on 

 May 28 the main column reached Klip river and 

 drove away the Boers who were there to contest 

 the advance. At Klip River Berg they were erect- 

 ing fortifications to defend the approach to Jo- 

 hannesburg from this direction. Lord Roberts had, 

 however, sent Gen. French's cavalry to make a 

 detour to the west of Johannesburg. While the 

 Boers were still busy preparing for the defense 

 of the Witwatersrand, the British vanguard passed 

 on to Germiston, and seized the railroad junction. 

 The mounted troops that went round the Boer 

 positions on the left seized the railroad at Elands- 

 fontein, and thus stopped the re-enforcements com- 

 ing from Heidelburg and Natal. The advance was 

 so rapid that the Boers had no time to organize 

 effective opposition. The lines of communication 

 were held by the British, although an attempt to 

 cut the railroad between Heidelburg and Pretoria 

 had failed, the mobile column sent round on the 

 east having been beaten. Gen. Botha had prepared 

 several positions where he intended to oppose the 

 British, but his men abandoned their unfinished 

 fortifications when the enemy came near. The 

 kopjes and ridges south of the Rand were cleared 

 by Gen. Hamilton's column, which worked round 

 to the west of Johannesburg, while Gen. French's 

 cavalry seized the important positions on the other 

 side and two whole divisions followed, taking posi- 

 tions on the north and the south. The main body 

 of the British consisted of two infantry divisions 

 with auxiliary arms. The mounted troops under 

 Gen. French and the column under Gen. Ian Ham- 

 ilton moved from the Vaal drifts westward and 

 advanced in a parallel line against the Boer camp 

 at Klip River Berg. On May 28 Major-Gen. George 

 Pretyman, who was appointed Military Governor 

 at Bloemfontein, proclaimed the annexation of the 

 Free State under the designation of the Orange 

 River British Colony. On May 28 Gen. French's 

 column engaged the 'Boers under Gen. Louis Botha 

 at Gatsrand, and were held in check until re- 

 enforcements arrived, when the Boers retired. 



Pretoria was not provisioned for a siege and was 

 deprived of the guns that were formerly mounted 

 in the forts, but were taken away to be used in 

 the Natal campaign and could not be brought 

 back. At the request of the United States consul, 

 Adelbert Hay, the Boer authorities before leaving 

 liberated 20 British officers with the object of pre- 

 venting disturbances among the British prisoners 

 of war. President Kruger and the other Trans- 

 vaal officials went to Waterval Boven on the way 



