786 



SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC. 



which was repelled by the British, who had 

 planted guns on the nearer hills, the bombard- 

 ment having been intermitted. An assault was 

 attempted after it had been prepared by artillery 

 fire, but British riflemen stole forward and fired 

 volleys on the Boers at close range, occupying in 

 one instance a trench that had just been dug 

 by the Boers, who finally retreated from the 

 ridge and kopjes they had" occupied adjacent to 

 the British position. They were demoralized by 

 the lyddite shells, against which Gen. Joubert had 

 protested as inhuman. More guns arrived later 

 from the Transvaal, and when the line of investi- 

 ture was complete Gen. Joubert detached several 

 thousand men, who occupied Colenso, blew up 

 the long lattice-girder railroad bridge across the 

 Tugela, began to destroy the railroad south of 

 that place, and in small parties raided the coun- 

 try as far as Weenen and the outskirts of Est- 

 court. The commando that advanced through 

 Zululand traversed the eastern districts. The 

 people of Pietermaritzburg were in a panic, and 

 the English colonists in Natal joined the volun- 

 teers. The Dutch farmers of the colony enlisted 

 under the Republican standard or aided the in- 

 vaders in other ways. At Estcourt a force of 

 about 2,000 British was concentrated under Gen. 

 Wolfe Murray. After the arrival of troops from 

 India there was no more fear that Pietermaritz- 

 burg or Durban would be captured by the Boers. 

 Armored trains from Estcourt tried to protect 

 the railroad to Colenso until a detachment of 

 about 500 Boers appeared on Nov. 15 with artil- 

 lery, entrapped a train by getting between it and 

 Colenso and throwing it off the track, and 

 brought their cannon to bear on the overturned 

 trucks. The engine, which was behind, was 

 brought away with 12 men, and others escaped 

 on foot, but 132 were made prisoners. With the 

 captured was the newspaper correspondent Win- 

 ston Churchill, who was held a prisoner of war 

 because he assisted the soldiers with a rifle, but 

 was allowed to escape afterward from Pretoria. 



For the first few days after the Boers closed 

 in around Lady^mith the British dreaded an as- 

 sault, and the naval gunners drew their fire while 

 all other troops were at work building breast- 

 works. These were so far complete at the end of 

 a week that the besieged were confident of holding 

 their own, which they did when a determined at- 

 tack was made on the works on Nov. 9. After 

 this failed the Boers gave up the effort to take 

 the place by storm and relied on shell fire to 

 compel a surrender. They mounted guns on all 

 points of vantage within range. They had not 

 completed their siege dispositions when Sir Fran- 

 cis Clery's relief force began to concentrate south 

 of the Tugela. When they had six guns in posi- 

 tion on Bulwana hill capable of dropping shells 

 into the town, and emplacements also on Tele- 

 graph Kopje and the other hills, the garrison, 

 cheered with the hope of relief, began to make 

 sorties, and more than once surprised the tired 

 Dutch gunners by night. Before the end of No- 

 vember the rigors of the siege were severely felt. 



The Isolation of Kimberley. Col. Kek'ewich, 

 an engineer officer, was sent to Kimberley before 

 the outbreak of hostilities, with a small detach- 

 ment of regular troops, to put the town into a de- 

 fensive condition. Cecil Rhodes arrived afterward. 

 A force of irregular cavalry was recruited in 

 Griqualand West, and a considerable body of vol- 

 unteers was raised among the townsmen." A ring 

 of fortifications was constructed that made the 

 toAvn practically impregnable to assault. Imme- 

 diately after the .expiration of the time allowed 

 by the Boer ultimatum bodies of Free State and 



Transvaal troops simultaneously crossed the 

 western frontier at various points between 

 Orange river and Mafeking. Except a small body 

 of cavalry under Col. Gough at Hopetown and 1 he 

 garrisons of Kimberley and Mafeking, the I'.iit 

 ish had no troops in this part of the colony. The 

 Boers destroyed the railroad in numerous places, 

 their plan being to isolate and then invest and 

 capture the two fortified towns. They blew up 

 the railroad bridge over the Modder river on < >!. 

 12, and a day later the force advancing on M.ite- 

 king cut olf its communication with Rhodesia ly 

 destroying the Maloppo bridge. Botha's com- 

 mando, advancing from Boshof, captured Bonier 

 Station on Oct. 13. Two days afterward Taungs 

 and Vryburg were occupied, half the inhabitants 

 of the latter town welcoming the Boers. River) on 

 was next seized and destroyed, and Klipdam and 

 Windsorton were occupied, and 14 streams also, 

 which the British evacuated on Oct. 15, after 

 which President Steyn proclaimed the annexa- 

 tion of Griqualand West to the Orange Free State. 

 To this Sir Alfred Milner responded in a count er- 

 proclamation. By Oct. 15 the investment of Kim- 

 berley as well as of Mafeking was complete. Tin- 

 artillery fire of the Boers, however, had little 

 effect, *and the defenders made some spirited 

 sorties, inflicting losses on the Boers at Spyt- 

 fontein on Oct. 10, and at Macfarlane's farm 'mi 

 Oct. 24. By Nov. 1 Gen. Cronje had concentrate <! 

 his force on Kimherley, and a closer invent nient 

 began. On Nov. 4 the Boers attacked the town 

 vigorously, but were beaten off. The Boer com- 

 inandant demanded the surrender of the to\\n mi 

 pain of bombardment, and Col. Kekrwidi in reply 

 invited him to effect its occupation as an opera- 

 tion of war. The bombardment of Kimberlry had 

 less effect than in the other beleaguered to\\n>. 

 On Nov. 7 and succeeding da\ -s the town was 

 hotly bombarded. The Boers encircled the place 

 with intrenchments, and when Lord Methin-n'* 

 relief column appeared on Orange river ( 'nmje 

 drew off his troops, leaving only a containing force 

 at Kimberley, and marched southward to nie-t 

 the advance. The artillery force was equipped 

 by Cecil Rhodes at the expense of the IV I Jeers 

 Company, and additional guns were made in the 

 company's workshops. The water supply ha \ ing 

 been cut off. wells were sunk. Pro\ i-i..n- had 

 been stored up for a nine months' siege. 



When the Boers hoisted the r'n rkli-ur at Vry- 

 burg on Oct. 18 and proclaimed the annexation 

 of r.eehuanaland to the Transvaal, Col. Kekewich 

 issued a proclamation warning all coloni-1- that 

 they would he dealt with as rebels and traitor- if 

 they joined the enemy's ranks. After the police 

 had left the native town and mission station of 

 Kuruman. a Boer force appeared and demanded 

 its surrender. The missionary in charge, who had 

 armed many natives and half-castes with ritles. 

 defied the Boers, who, after laying siege i.. the 

 town, withdrew. 



The Siege of Mafeking. Col. Rol>ert Baden- 

 Powell went out in the summer to take command 

 of the Bechuanaland protectorate fo'rces and de- 

 fend the border in the event of war. He ;ii 

 once began to put Mafeking in a state of defense- 

 tor the impending siege by surrounding the town 

 with wire entanglements, constructing barri- 

 cades, digging shelter trenches and bomb 

 pits, and mounting guns. He collected about 

 1.000 men and sent most of the women and chil- 

 dren down to Kimberley as soon a- a P.oer com- 

 mando on Oct. 6 laagered on the Transvaal border 

 at Rooigrond. The burghers, commanded by Piet 

 Cronje. advanced at once on Mafeking the da^ 

 that hostilities were declared, hoping to reduce 



