Four Months Besieged: the Story of Ladysmith

CHAPTER III. Ladysmith Invested

LADYSMITH INVESTED

The exodus of the townsfolk--Communications threatened--Slim Piet Joubert--Espionage in the town--Neglected precautions--A truce that paid--British positions described--Big guns face to face--Boers hold the railways--French's reconnaissance--The General's flitting--A gauntlet of fire--An interrupted telegram-- Death of Lieutenant Egerton--"My cricketing days are over"--Under the enemy's guns--"A shell in my room"--Colonials in action--The sacrifice of valuable lives 15

CHAPTER IV. Early Days of the Siege

EARLY DAYS OF THE SIEGE

Moral effects of shell fire--General White appeals to Joubert-- The neutral camp--Attitude of civilians--Meeting at the Town Hall--A veteran's protest--Faith in the Union Jack--An impressive scene--Removal of sick and wounded--Through the Boer lines--How the posts were manned--Enemy mounting big guns--More about the spies--Boer war ethics--In an English garden--Throwing up defences--A gentlemanly monster--The Troglodytes--Humorous and pathetic--"Long Tom" and "Lady Anne"--Links in the chain of fire-- A round game of ordnance 30

CHAPTER V. The First Boer Assault

THE FIRST BOER ASSAULT

Joubert's boast--The preliminaries of attack--Shells in the town-- A simultaneous advance--Observation Hill threatened--A wary enemy--A prompt repulse--Attack on Tunnel Hill--The colour-sergeant's last words--Manchesters under fire--Prone behind boulders--A Royal salute--The Prince of Wales's birthday--Stretching the Geneva Convention--The redoubtable Miss Maggie--The Boer Foreign Legion-- Renegade Irishmen--A signal failure 58

CHAPTER VI. A Month Under Shell Fire

A MONTH UNDER SHELL FIRE

The first siege-baby--An Irish-American deserter--A soldierly grumble--Boer cunning and Staff-College strategy--An ammunition difficulty--The tireless cavalry--A white flag incident--What the Boer Commandant understood--The Natal summer--Mere sound and fury--Boer Sabbatarianism--Naval guns at work--"Puffing Billy" of Bulwaan--Intrepid Boer gunners--The barking of "Pom-Poms"--Another reconnaissance--"Like scattered bands of Red Indians"--A futile endeavour--A night alarm--Recommended for the V.C.--A man of straw in khaki--The Boer search-light--Shelling of the hospital--General White protests--The first woman hit-- General Hunter's bravado--"Long Tom" knocked out--A gymkhana under fire--Faith, Hope, and Charity--Flash signals from the south--A new Creusot gun 69

CHAPTER VII. The Sorties of December

THE SORTIES OF DECEMBER

Retribution--Sir Archibald Hunter's bold scheme--A night attack-- Silently through the darkness--At the foot of Gun Hill--A broken ascent--"Wie kom dar?" "The English are on us!"--Major Henderson thrice wounded--Destroying "Leviathan"--Hussars suffer under fire--Rejoicings in town--Sir George White's address to the troops--Boer compliments--A raid for provender--A second sortie-- The Rifles' bold enterprise--An unwelcome light--Cutting the wires--Surprise Hill reached--The sentry's challenge--Rifles' charge with the bayonet--Boer howitzer destroyed--The return to camp--Cutting the way home--Serious losses 103

CHAPTER VIII. After Colenso

AFTER COLENSO

The Town-Guard called out--Echoes of Colenso--Heliograms from Buller--The Boers and Dingaan's Day--Disappointing news--Special correspondents summoned--Victims of the bombardment--Shaving under shell fire--Tea with Lord Ava--Boer humour: "Where is Buller?"--Sir George White's narrow escape--A disastrous shot-- Fiftieth day of the siege--Grave and gay--"What does England think of us?"--Stoical artillerymen--The moral courage of caution--How Doctor Stark was killed--Serious thoughts--Gordons at play--Boers watch the match--A story by the way--"My name is Viljoen"--How Major King won his liberty--A tribute to Boer hospitality--"We rely on your Generals"--General White and Schalk-Burger--A coward chastised--"Sticking it out" 128

CHAPTER IX. A Christmas Under Siege

A CHRISTMAS UNDER SIEGE

Husbanding supplies--Colonel Ward's fine work--Our Christmas market--A scanty show--Some startling prices--A word to cynics-- The compounding of plum-puddings--The strict rules of temperance--Boer greetings "per shell"--A lady's narrow escape-- Correspondents provide sport--"Ginger" and the mules--The sick and wounded--Some kindly gifts--Christmas tree for the children-- Sir George White and the little ones--"When the war is over"--Some empty rumours--A fickle climate--Eight officers killed and wounded--More messages from Buller--Booming the old year out 155

CHAPTER X. The Great Assault

THE GREAT ASSAULT

Why the Boers attacked--Interesting versions--A general surprise-- Joubert's promise--Boer tactics reconsidered--Erroneous estimates-- Under cover of night--A bare-footed advance--The Manchesters surprised--The fight on Waggon Hill--In praise of the Imperial Light Horse--A glorious band--The big guns speak--Lord Ava falls-- Gordons and Rifles to the rescue--A perilous position--The death of a hero--A momentary panic--Man to man--A gallant enemy--Burghers who fell fighting--The storming of Caesar's Camp--Shadowy forms in the darkness--An officer captured--"Maak Vecht!"--Abdy's guns in play--"Well done, gunners!"--Taking water to the wounded-- Dick-Cunyngham struck down--Some anxious moments--The Devons charge home--A day well won 180

CHAPTER XI. Watching for Buller

WATCHING FOR BULLER

Sir Redvers Buller's second attempt--A message from the Queen--Last sad farewells--Burial of Steevens and Lord Ava--At dead of night-- Relief army north of the Tugela--Water difficulties surmised--A look in at Bulwaan--Spion Kop from afar--What the watchers saw-- The Boers trekking--Buller withdraws--The "key" thrown away-- Good-bye to luxuries--Precautions against disease--"Chevril"--The damming of the Klip--Horseflesh unabashed--One touch of pathos-- Vague memories of home--Sweet music from the south--Buller tries again--Disillusionment--The last pipe of tobacco 209

CHAPTER XII. After One Hundred Days

AFTER ONE HUNDRED DAYS

Boer paean of victory--Rations cut down--Sausage without mystery-- The "helio" moves east--Sick and dying at Intombi--Famine prices at market--Laughter quits the camps--A kindly thing by the enemy-- Good news at last--Heroes in tatters--The distant tide of battle-- Pulse-like throb of rifles--Two sons for the Empire--British infantry on Monte Cristo--Boer ambulances moving north--"'Ave you 'eard the noos?"--Rations increased--Bulwaan strikes his tents-- "With a rifle and a red cross"--Buller "going strong"--Cronje's surrender--A sorry celebration--"A beaten army in full retreat"-- "Puffing Billy" dismantled--General Buller's message--belief at hand 224

CHAPTER XIII. Relief At Last

RELIEF AT LAST

The beginning of the end--Buller's last advance--Heroic Inniskillings--The coming of Dundonald--A welcome at Klip River Drift--A weather-stained horseman--The Natal troopers--Cheers and tears--A grand old General--Sir George White's address-- "Thank God, we have kept the flag flying!"--"God save the Queen"-- Arrival of Buller--Looking backward--Within four days of starvation--Horseflesh a mere memory--Eight hundred sick and wounded--A word of tribute--Conclusion 237

ILLUSTRATIONS

Sir George Stewart White, V.C., G.C.S.I. (from a photograph by Window & Grove) Frontispiece

The Royal Hotel, Ladysmith (showing the ruins of Mr. Pearse's bedroom wrecked by a shell from "Long Tom," 3rd Nov. 1899) Face page 26

A shell-proof resort (a culvert under a road used as a living place by day for civilians, who returned to their houses when the shelling ceased after sunset) 50

The British position at Ladysmith (looking north towards Rietfontein and the Newcastle Road) 96

The British position at Ladysmith (looking nearly due south) 128

The British position at Ladysmith (looking south-east) 162

The British position at Ladysmith (looking eastward) 202

PLANS

Sketch-map of positions round Ladysmith, Nov. 1899 Face page 60

Siege of Ladysmith, after two months of bombardment 175

The environs of Ladysmith 180

Military map of Ladysmith End of vol.

CHAPTER I. Introductory

INTRODUCTORY

The declaration of war--Sir George White and the defence of Natal--The force at Glencoe--Battle of Talana Hill--General Yule's retirement--Battle of Elandslaagte--Useless victories--Enemy's continued advance.

Before taking up the history of the siege proper it will be well here to pass briefly in review the events which led up to the isolation and investment of Ladysmith. When war was declared by the Government of the Transvaal in its despatch of the 9th October 1899, it found Her Majesty's Government in very great measure unprepared. A month earlier, however, reinforcements of 10,000 troops had been ordered to Natal from India and elsewhere, and the major part of these were already in the Colony. General Sir George White, who had arrived at Durban on 7th October, had strongly advocated the abandonment of the northern district of Natal, but allowed himself to be overborne by the urgent representations of Sir W.F. Hely-Hutchinson, who believed the withdrawal would involve grave political results. Sir William Penn Symons believed that the districts in question could be defended by a comparatively small force, and he was allowed to make the experiment. At that time there were with him at Glencoe three battalions of infantry, a brigade division of the Royal Artillery, the 18th Hussars, and a small body of mounted infantry. The enemy crossed the borders immediately upon the expiry of the term stipulated in the ultimatum, and on the 20th October was fought the battle of Talana Hill.

This first battle of the campaign demonstrated at once the soundness of Sir George White's views. General Symons's little army worthily maintained the military traditions of their race, and in the face of a terrible fire from modern rifles, in the hands of the stubbornest of foes, rushed the enemy's position and swept him from the heights. But victory demanded heavy toll. The gallant commander nobly expiated the mistaken judgment which had led him so seriously to underrate the strength of the invaders, and nearly forty officers killed, wounded, and taken prisoners, figured on a list of about 430 casualties. So heavy a price was paid for a brief success and the knowledge that the enemy was too strong to make it safe to hold the Glencoe position longer.

General Yule, who now took command of the column, abandoned his camp on the 22nd October, and withdrew by a circuitous route to Ladysmith, which was reached on the 26th. In the meantime, however, on the 21st, the Boers marched from the north-west, having cut the railway and captured a train of supplies at Elandslaagte to the north of Ladysmith. Sir George White therefore ordered out a force, under General French, to clear them from the line and to restore communication. Here again the hostile positions were stormed with reckless gallantry, and the Boers were swept back in headlong flight, suffering heavy losses. But again our loss, especially in officers, was very serious, and again it soon became apparent that victory, quite apart from the price of it, had not improved our position. The Boers, thrust back for the moment at one point, steadily continued their advance. General White's force was again engaged on the 24th October, when, in order to prevent the enemy crossing the Newcastle road from west to east, and falling on the flank of General Yule's retiring column, an attack was made in force upon the enemy at Rietfontein, near Elandslaagte, and the Boers, after six hours' fighting, were driven from the hills.

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