SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC. 



TS5 



They lost about 100 killed and 200 prisoners, in- 

 cluding wounded, nearly a third of their entire 

 force, while the British casualties were 253. The 

 Transvaal commando expected to be re-enforced 

 by the Free State troops north of Ladysmith, but 

 these remained away. 



Lucas Meyer with the Utrecht and Vryheid 

 commandos, re-enforced by the column of Eras- 

 mus, closed in again on the British camp. 



The converging movement on Dundee had failed 

 for the moment because Commandant Erasmus 

 did not arrive at the rendezvous. Nevertheless, 

 a hasty retreat to Ladysmith was all that could 

 save the force of Gen. Symons, now commanded 

 by Gen. Yule. Gen. Symons, mortally hurt, and 

 the other British wounded were left in the hands 

 of the Boers in the town of Dundee, for the gal- 

 lant charge of the British infantry had accom- 

 plished nothing. Piet Joubert was advancing 

 with a powerful body by way of Hatting Spruit. 

 Evacuating Dundee and abandoning the camp be- 

 tween Dundee and Glencoe and everything in it, 

 Gen. Yule, when the Boers appeared in force on 

 the northern road on Oct. 21 and began shelling 

 the camp ineffectually as before, for the shells 

 did not burst tried to retire by way of Glencoe. 

 He intended to take up a defensive position there 

 and hold the Boers in check for some time, think- 

 ing that the victory at Elandslaagte had restored 

 railroad communications, and that his cavalry 

 could intercept the defeated Boers when they at- 

 tempted to recross Biggarsberg pass. Finding the 

 Boers in possession of the Glencoe route, and the 

 railroad bridge over the Waschbank destroyed, 

 he took up a defensive position on a hill, which 

 he evacuated in the night of Oct. 22, and by 

 forced marches made his way to Ladysmith by 

 the longer western road that passes through 

 Beith, coming into touch with the garrison in 

 the night of Oct. 25, Sir George White having 

 averted an attack by the Boers at Besters by 

 moving out a force to meet Gen. Yule's troops, 

 which held the Free Staters in check at Rietfon- 

 tein, near Modder Spruit. The British, com- 

 manded by Gen. French, consisted of 4 cavalry 

 and 4 infantry regiments and 3 batteries, and 

 they lost 19 killed and 91 wounded, but did not 

 succeed in driving out the Boers, whose artillery 

 lire was remarkably good. The Boers not only 

 failed to intercept the column, but their invest- 

 ment was not completed in time to stop consid- 

 erable re-enforcements that came up by railroad, 

 the most important being a naval detachment 

 with ship's guns mounted on special carriages, 

 without which the artillery in Ladysmith would 

 have been outranged by the heavy guns of the 

 Boers. 



The force concentrated at Ladysmith numbered 

 more than 12,000, including 4 regular cavalry 

 regiments and the colonial mounted troops, 6 

 field batteries, a mountain battery, and the naval 

 battery. On Oct. 28, two days after Gen. Yule 

 entered Ladysmith, the Boers began to close 

 round the place and to plant position guns on the 

 neighboring hills. Lucas Meyer's force, which 

 had pursued Gen. Yule's retreating column, 

 brought up several heavy guns and began to 

 bombard the town at a distance of more than 

 6,000 yards. Gen. White, on Oct. 30, made a 

 sortie with his whole garrison, moving out in 



3 columns in the night, cavalry scouts having 

 on the previous day ascertained the nature of one 

 of the enemy's main positions and the number "of 

 his guns. A brigade under Col. Grimshaw, with 



4 field batteries, was directed against the Boers' 

 l<'ft : one under Col. Ian Hamilton, with 3 field 

 batteries and a mountain battery, moved upon 



VOL. xxxix. 50 A 



their right; Col. Carleton, with 2 battalions and 

 a mountain battery, was ordered to seize Nichol- 

 son's Nek in order to turn their right flank; while 

 Gen. French, with the cavalry manoeuvring on 

 the same flank, attempted to draw them out from 

 their position. The position previously observed, 

 on which they had mounted guns, a hill 5 

 miles north of Ladysmith, was the vulnerable 

 point toward which the evolution was directed, 

 but when this was reached it had been evacuated. 

 Instead of converging on the Boer position, one 

 of the columns found itself a mark for the Boer 

 artillery posted in a semicircle around it, and 

 the others had to hurry to its aid. One 

 of the British columns, however, that com- 

 manded by Col. Carleton, which advanced early 

 to inclose the position where the enemy was 

 supposed to be, became isolated, and was sur- 

 rounded by a superior force after it had first 

 been thrown into confusion by the stampede of 

 the mules attached to the mountain battery. The 

 result was, that the guns were lost and the Irish 

 fusileers and the Gloucester regiment had to sur- 

 render at Nicholson's Nek. The number cap- 

 tured was 843, while 52 were killed and 150 left 

 wounded. A like fate would have overtaken Col. 

 Grimshaw's brigade, which was attacked on both 

 flanks by the enemy that was supposed to be in 

 front, but the guns that had been shelling the 

 empty hill quickly changed front and covered the 

 retreat, facilitating also the recapture of 2 field 

 pieces that had fallen into the enemy's hands. 

 The battalions \vere ordered to retire because the 

 Boers had made a feint on Ladysmith from the 

 north, and were thrown into confusion when 

 crossing an open space under fire. The quick-fir- 

 ing naval guns arriving at a critical moment si- 

 lenced the Boer siege artillery and enabled the 

 British to bring off their forces and silence the 

 great Creusot siege gun that had dropped 13 

 shells into Ladysmith. 



The result of Gen. White's unfortunate sortie, 

 for which he held no one responsible but himself, 

 was to reduce the garrison to fewer than 10,000 

 men. The Orange Free State BoeYs joined hands 

 with Gen. Joubert, and before the end of October 

 four commandos were laagered in a semicircle 

 round the north side of the town at a distance of 

 less than 10 miles. A few days later the town 

 was beleaguered on all sides by a force estimated 

 at 18,000. It was not a well-chosen position, be- 

 cause it was commanded at long range by hills, 

 from which the Boers fired shells into the town 

 daily, which caused few casualties, however, as 

 the garrison soon constructed intrenchments and 

 pits, which were strengthened day by day. Many 

 of the women and children, the sick and wounded, 

 and other inhabitants were permitted to leave 

 the town by Gen. Joubert. The rest deserted their 

 dwellings and lived in bomb-proof caves. Cavalry 

 and light artillery sallied out several times, but 

 accomplished nothing to recompense them for 

 their losses. Armored trains went back and forth 

 from Colenso until that place was occupied on 

 Nov. 2, the garrison retiring to Estcourt, the day 

 on which the bombardment of Ladysmith was 

 begun in earnest. On Nov. 6 a cavalry action 

 took place near Dewdrop. in which the British 

 lost 28 men, including 2 officers, the object being 

 to drive the Boers from their commanding posi- 

 tion at Groblers Kloof and recover Colenso, which 

 they had not yet occupied in force. A Boer com- 

 mando marched through Zululand, raising the 

 Transvaal flag. The northern part of Natal was 

 declared to be annexed to the South African Re- 

 public by a proclamation from Pretoria. On Nov. 

 9 the Boers made a general attack on Ladysmith, 



