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II.
A MILITARY HISTORY OF PERTHSHIRE
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LITARY HISTORY OF rlTHSHIRE
sr tm MASU-HiONESS OF ITLLIBARDINB
WITH A ROLL'
OF THE PERTHSHIRE MFN OF THF :. PRESENT
DAY WHO HAVE SEEN ACTIVE- SERTK-B
UNDER THE BRITISH FLAG
THE EDITOR 6f !ANF C. C, MAC' DONALD
WITH
R. A. tf J.'IMY
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J.MAC; WILLIAM BROWN
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A MILITARY HISTORY OF PERTHSHIRE
1899—1902
EDITED BY
THE MARCHIONESS OF TULLIBARDINE
t
WITH A ROLL [,' <
OF THE PERTHSHIRE MEN OF THE PRESENT
DAY WHO HAVE SEEN ACTIVE SERVICE
UNDER THE BRITISH FLAG
COMPILED BY
THE EDITOR & JANE C. C. MACDONALD WITH PORTRAITS, ILLUSTRATIONS, AND MAPS
PERTH f-
R. A. & J. HAY
GLASGOW J. MACLEHOSE fcf SONS
EDINBURGH WILLIAM BROWN
1908
Dfl
Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON &•» Co. At the Ballantyne Press, Edinburgh
TO
PERTHSHIRE SOLDIERS AND SAILORS
PAST AND PRESENT
AS A SMALL TRIBUTE TO THE SERVICES THEY HAVE RENDERED TO THEIR COUNTRY
PREFACE
THIS volume is intended in the first instance as an appreciation of the services rendered by Perthshire men who served in South Africa during the late war, and indirectly, as a tribute to British soldiers and sailors in general. The names (and in most cases the portraits) of the Forfarshire men who took part in the earlier stages of the South African War were recorded in "The Muster-Roll of Angus," published in 1900, and Miss Jane C. C. Macdonald, who had been one of the promoters of the Angus book, undertook, at the suggestion of some friends in Perthshire, to compile a similar record for this county. The work was begun during the course of the war, but in the absence of the many officers and men who were then serving abroad, considerable difficulty was experi- enced in obtaining the necessary information.
In the winter of 1902-1903, some months after my return from South Africa, I was invited by Miss Macdonald to complete the record which she had inaugurated, and after some months of preliminary work I finally accepted the responsibility of the editorship. Though only too conscious that on the grounds of literary experience I had no qualification whatever for the work of an editor, I felt that, as the wife and sister of Perthshire men who had served in South Africa, I could not but do what in me lay to further the compilation of such a record, and that my connection with the Army might afford me facilities for procuring informa- tion. Generous help in the way of amassing material had already been given by the parish ministers and others resident in the county ; the kindness of the officers commanding the depots of the various Scots regiments now procured me additional lists ; and the information obtained from local sources was, wherever possible, verified and supplemented from regimental records. The result has been the collection of brief records of some 170 officers and 1370 non-commis- sioned officers and men, with portraits of the great majority of the officers and men in question.
Under the original scheme the book was to record only the services of men who had served in the South African War, but at an early stage I felt that it would gain in interest, and would not be enlarged to any considerable extent, if it included the names of the Perthshire men who had served in the Soudan Expedi- tion of 1898 and the various campaigns on the Indian Frontier during the ten years previous to 1903 — the year in which I took up the work. So far, therefore,
viii Preface
as I have been able to trace them, a brief outline is here presented of the services of all the Perthshire men, living or dead, who saw active service under the British flag from 1893 to 1903, and of such survivors of earlier campaigns as were living in the latter year. But no one is more aware than I that, with the best will in the world, such a record must necessarily be incomplete, and I would fain ask forgiveness beforehand of those officers and men whose names may have been inadvertently omitted from these pages.
It should be added that space has been found in the Roll for a mention of the men of the Yeomanry and Scottish Horse, who, enlisting for active service towards the end of the South African War, arrived in South Africa to find that peace had been concluded.
As the term " Perthshire man " is open to different interpretations, I may here explain that, following the lines on which the book had already been begun, I have included not only natives of the county, but men who, though not born in Perthshire, have resided therein in a civilian capacity for a period of not less than five years. The definition may perhaps be regarded as too comprehensive, but in a record such as this I would rather be accused of including too many than too few. It will, however, be readily understood that so wide a category has considerably added to the difficulties of compilation.
From the first Miss Macdonald had intended that the records of the Perth- shire men of the present day should be accompanied by letterpress, including some essays illustrative of the military achievements of the county in the past. The last four years have seen so wide a development of the historical portion of this scheme, besides a large increase in the number of records amassed, that it has been found impossible to publish all the material within the limits of one volume, and it has further been felt desirable that the work, instead of appearing, as originally proposed, under the name of " The Muster-Roll of Perthshire," should bear the more distinctive title of a " Military History " of the county from 1660 onwards. The present volume, therefore, besides the records and portraits of officers and men of the present day, and appreciations of three distinguished men connected with the county who lost their lives in the late South African War, includes only articles dealing with that war. All historical matter prior to 1899 will be found in " A Military History of Perthshire, 1660-1902," which is published uniformly with this volume.
The extension of the historical portion of the book is chiefly responsible for the fact that the publication has been delayed so long beyond the date originally contemplated ; but few perhaps will realise what incessant correspondence and laborious work have been involved in the arrangement, amplification, and verifica- tion of the records of service, or how long it was before I was able to seriously
Preface
IX
devote my attention to more purely literary matters. Indeed it was not until many months after I had set to work that some of the regimental depots to which I had applied were able to furnish me with all the necessary information.
In a work the material for which has been gathered from so many different sources, editor and compiler alike are indebted to many for assistance. In the first instance thanks are due to the respective contributors of the articles on the Black Watch in South Africa, the account of the principal engagements in which the Scottish Horse took part, and the three appreciations already referred to ; also to Captain Lord George Stewart Murray and Captain the Hon. Maurice Drummond, adjutants respectively of the ist and 2nd Battalions of the Black Watch, for help in compiling the table showing the services of the officers of their regiment in South Africa. The illustrations to the articles on the Black Watch are the work of the respective authors of those articles ; while the compilers are indebted to Miss Jane B. Constable for her admirable sketch of a Scottish Horse trooper ; to Lord Tullibardine for the map showing the engagement at Moedwil ; and to Mr. Colin B. Phillip, A.R.W.S., for permission to reproduce a picture which he generously gave to be disposed of for the benefit of a fund for providing copies of this book for the non-commissioned officers and men whose services are recorded herein.
In the initial stages of the work Miss Macdonald derived much assistance from the late Mr. David Farquharson, A.R.A., Mr. John Hassall, R.I., Mr. W. G. Burn-Murdoch, the late Dr. Hugh Macmillan, and the late Mr. Ness of Braco. And from first to last, long is the list of those who have assisted in the collection of the soldiers' records and portraits. Ministers of the Established and other Churches (especially the Rev. James Meikle, at Alyth) have rendered invalu- able help ; and among others to whom the compilers owe a debt of gratitude on this score are Miss H. M. O. Wedderburn, Miss Jean Hope, the late Miss Buchanan of Leny, Miss E. J. Bairnsfather, Miss Murray MacGregor, Captain R. M. Christie, late 4th Volunteer Battalion The Black Watch, Lieutenants T. Buchanan and C. Willison and Sergeant-Instructor G. Strathearn, all of the 5th Volunteer Battalion, Sergeant T. Robertson, late 5th Volunteer Battalion, Dr. John Irvine, Mr. A. Stuart Erskine, Mr. R. Doig, Scone, and Mr. J. Roberts, Dunkeld. But above all they are indebted to Miss Mary Masterson, Honorary Treasurer and Secretary of the Perthshire Branch of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Families Associa- tion, for her untiring zeal in procuring information with regard to the many men belonging to Perth, whose names are to be found in this book.
I must also record my thanks to the officers commanding the various regi- mental and departmental depots to which I applied, also to their respective staffs, and to the Permanent Staff of the two Volunteer battalions in the county,
X
Preface
for their kindness in furnishing me with the requisite information. The labour involved in preparing the lists of the men of the Black Watch must have been particularly heavy, and I am most grateful to Colonel E. G. Grogan, C.B., late commanding the 42nd Regimental District, for his never-failing courtesy in replying to my queries, and to Quartermaster-Sergeant Alexander Kelman, and Private Angus McPhee, who, under his direction, compiled voluminous tables for my benefit.
I should like to take this opportunity of thanking the many contributors to the Soldiers' Copies Fund already referred to, and Captain R. M. Christie and the members of the Dundee and Celtic Football Clubs, who most kindly gave the proceeds of a football match to help towards the considerable expenditure in- volved in the production of the book. I wish to thank also the many soldiers' and sailors' relatives who entrusted the compilers with photographs for repro- duction.
Mrs. William J. Watson (Miss E. C. Carmichael), editor of The Celtic Review, has very kindly read through the proofs of this volume, and I have received from her much helpful advice on various points. I am also indebted to Miss C. G. Barclay and Captain Arthur Ramsay for help in correcting the proofs of the records of service, and to my husband and Lieutenant-Colonel Angel Scott, 3rd (Militia) Battalion The Black Watch, for information on various technical points.
Though full explanations of the scheme of arrangement are given in the text, it may perhaps be mentioned here that the officers' records are arranged alpha- betically, grouped in two parts, according to the connection of each individual with Perthshire. The records of the non-commissioned officers and men, on the other hand, are arranged according to regiments, the different units being given in the correct order of precedence, and the records of each regiment being in alphabetical order. The portraits of officers have been grouped wherever possible according to family or clan ; those of non-commissioned officers and men under their respective regiments, though such pictorial effect as was possible has been preferred to an alphabetical arrangement. As will readily be believed, the expense of reproducing so many photographs has been considerable, and the portraits of non-commissioned officers and men being especially numerous, it was found impossible to include them except in a very small size. In many cases the photographs of non-commissioned officers and men sent could not be repro- duced without another process. This was skilfully accomplished by Messrs. D. Milne and Son, photographers, Blairgowrie. It should be added, in fairness to Messrs. Carl Hentschel, Limited, who are responsible for the reproduction of the illustrations, that many of the photographs sent to them were of an extremely
Preface
XI
faulty nature, and that under the circumstances they have produced surprisingly good results.
A reference to each portrait included will be found in the corresponding record, and as the scale on which the portraits of non-commissioned officers and men have been reproduced precludes the possibility of printing the names below them, each photo has been numbered, and a Portrait Index has been included, to which the numbers on the photos are the key. Finally, the extremely careful Indexes which have been compiled by Mr. Andrew Ross, Ross Herald, and his son, Mr. Alastair Ross, make it a simple matter to refer to any person or regiment mentioned in the book. A list of the abbreviations used in the records and the Indexes will be found on page 64.
Indian place-names mentioned in the text of records of officers and men I have, as far as possible, spelt as in Wilson's Gazetteer. The names of the various clasps on medals, however, have been reproduced as on the clasps themselves. Names of regiments, past or present, I have given as in con- temporary Army Lists, and the records of all officers of the Imperial forces have been verified — indeed, mainly compiled — from the same source.
It is the earnest hope of the compilers that this tribute to the Perthshire soldiers and sailors of the present day may serve to stimulate the patriotism of their descendants, and that in the future, as in the past, Perthshire men, by their readiness to share in the toils, the privations, and the dangers incident to war, will show that even that terrible scourge of humanity, when entered upon in vindication of just rights or principles, may call out the noblest qualities alike in the individual and the nation.
In conclusion I should like to record my thanks to the subscribers, who, with so much kindly patience and forbearance, have awaited the publication of this volume.
K. M. TULLIBARDINE.
BLAIR CASTLE, 1907.
CONTENTS
THE BLACK WATCH IN SOUTH AFRICA
1899-1902
PACK
I. The First Battalion, 1901-1902. By An Officer .... 1 II. The Second Battalion, 1899-1902. By A Company Officer . . 4
Appendix I. Table showing Services, Promotions, Casualties, &c., of officers of The Black Watch in South Africa, 1899-1902 :—
A. Officers of the 1st and 2nd Battalions 22
B. Officers attached to the 2nd Battalion from the Reserve of
Officers 27
C. Officers of the 3rd (Militia) Battalion 27
D. Officers of the Volunteer Battalions . . . 27
E. Officers attached to the 2nd Battalion from other units . 28
F. Civilian attached as Officer to the 2nd Battalion ... 28
Appendix II. N.C.O.s and Men of the 2nd Battalion The Black Watch
who received rewards for services in South Africa .... 28
Appendix III. N.C.O.s and Men of the 2nd Battalion The Black Watch
who were mentioned in despatches for services in South Africa . 29
THE SCOTTISH HORSE
The Raising and Organisation of the Regiment. By the Editor . . 30
The Scottish Horse in Action. By A Squadron Officer —
Bakenlaagte (October 30th, 1901) 38
The War in the West—
Moedwil (September 30th, 1901) 49
Rooiwal (April llth, 1902) 55
xiv Contents
PACE
Appendix I. Officers and Men of the Scottish Horse who received re- wards for services performed while with the Regiment ... 60
Appendix II. Officers and Men of the Scottish Horse who were mentioned
in despatches for services performed while with the Regiment . . 61
List of Abbreviations used in Records of Officers, Warrant Officers, Non-commissioned Officers, and Men ; in the Table showing the Services of Officers of The Black Watch, pp. 22-28; and in the Indexes to Portraits, to Persons, and to Military Units and Depart- ments ............ 64
ROLL OF PERTHSHIRE OFFICERS WHO HAVE SEEN ACTIVE SERVICE
Parti 67
Part II 90
David William Stanley Ogilvy, eighth Earl of Airlie, 1856-1900. By
A. Francis Steuart 97
Lieutenant-Colonel the Hon. Andrew David Murray, 1863-1901. By
Lieutenant-Colonel Lord Lovat, C.B., C.V.O., D.S.O. ... 99
Lieutenant- Colonel William Henry Dick-Cunyngham, V.C., 1851-1900.
By the Hon. Mrs. Forbes of Brux ....... 101
ROLL OF PERTHSHIRE WARRANT-OFFICERS, NON-COM- MISSIONED OFFICERS, AND MEN, WHO HAVE SEEN ACTIVE SERVICE
Royal Navy 147
Australian Naval Brigade —
New South Wales Section . . . . . . .147
The Army—
The Cavalry —
2nd Life Guards 147
Royal Horse Guards (The Blues) 147
2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays) . . . . .147
II.
Contents xv
The Cavalry (continued) — PAGB
4th (Royal Irish) Dragoon Guards . . . . . .148
6th Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers) . . . . . .148
2nd Dragoons (Royal Scots Greys) . . . . . .148
6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons 150
7th (The Queen's Own) Hussars ...... 150
9th (The Queen's Royal) Lancers 150
10th (The Prince of Wales's Own Royal) Hussars . . .151 12th (The Prince of Wales's Royal) Lancers . . . .151
13th Hussars 151
14th (The King's) Hussars 151
17th (The Duke of Cambridge's Own) Lancers .... 152
18th Hussars 152
19th (Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own) Hussars . . . 152 20th Hussars 153
Royal Regiment of Artillery —
Royal Horse Artillery ........ 153
Royal Field Artillery 153
Royal Garrison Artillery —
Mountain Division . . . . . . . .154
Garrison Companies . . . . . . . .154
Corps of Royal Engineers ........ 155
The Foot Guards- Scots Guards .......... 156
Infantry of the Line, Militia, and Volunteers —
The Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment) ..... 159 The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment) . . . .160
The Buffs (East Kent Regiment) 160
The Royal Scots Fusiliers 161
The South Wales Borderers 162
The King's Own Scottish Borderers . . . . . .162
The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) 163
The Worcestershire Regiment . . . . . . .164
The Border Regiment 164
The Hampshire Regiment .164
xvi Contents
Infantry of the Line, Militia, and Volunteers (continued) — PAGE
The Welsh Regiment 165
The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) 165
The King's Royal Rifle Corps 188
The Duke of Edinburgh's (Wiltshire Regiment) . . .188
The Highland Light Infantry 188
Seaforth Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs, The Duke of Albany's) 192
The Gordon Highlanders 197
The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders ..... 201
The Royal Irish Rifles . .204
Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise's) . . 204
The Royal Dublin Fusiliers 208
Scottish Cycle Corps 208
Army Service Corps ......... 208
Royal Army Medical Corps ........ 209
Army Ordnance Department ........ 209
Army Pay Department 209
Army Post Office Corps 209
Remount Department 210
Imperial Yeomanry —
4th Battalion —
7th (Leicestershire) Company . . . . . .210
28th Company (Compton's Horse) 210
5th Battalion —
16th (Worcestershire) Company ..... 210
6th Battalion —
18th (Lanarkshire) Company ...... 210
20th (Fife and Forfarshire Light Horse) Company . . 210
107th (Lanarkshire) Company ...... 212
108th (Queen's Own Royal Glasgow) Company . . . 212
llth Battalion—
34th (Middlesex) Company 212
15th Battalion —
57th (Buckinghamshire) Company 212
Contents xvii
Imperial Yeomanry (continued) — 17th Battalion—
PAGE
50th (Hampshire) Company . . . . . .212
18th Battalion—
70th (Sharpshooters) Company ..... 213
72nd (Rough Riders) Company 213
21st Battalion—
81st (Sharpshooters) Company ...... 213
22nd Battalion —
78th (Rough Riders) Company 213
24th Battalion (Metropolitan Mounted Rifles) .... 213 26th Battalion (Younghusband's Horse) —
121st Company 214
31st Battalion (Fincastle's Horse) 214
37th Battalion (Highland Horse) 214
Duke of Cambridge's Own Imperial Yeomanry . . . 215
Corps partly Imperial Yeomanry and partly Irregular —
Lovat's Scouts . . . . . . . . .215
The Scottish Horse 216
Indian and Colonial Volunteer and Irregular Corps —
Ashburner's Light Horse 225
Bethune's Mounted Infantry 225
Canadian Mounted Rifles ....... 225
Cape Garrison Artillery ........ 225
Cape Pioneer Regiment ........ 225
Cape Railway Sharpshooters ....... 225
Cape Town Highlanders ........ 225
Ceylon Mounted Infantry . . . . . . 226
Colonial Scouts 226
Commander-in-Chiefs Bodyguard 226
Diamond Fields Horse 226
Duke of Edinburgh's Own Volunteer Rifles .... 226
Durban Light Infantry . 226
Eastern Province Horse ........ 226
Imperial Light Horse 226
xviii Contents
Indian and Colonial Volunteer and Irregular Corps (continued) — PAGE
Imperial Light Infantry 227
Indian Ambulance Corps ........ 227
Johannesburg Mounted Rifles ....... 227
Kimberley Mounted Corps 227
Kimberley Rifles 227
Kitchener's Fighting Scouts .... . 228
Kitchener's Horse 228
Lumsden's Horse . . . 228
Marshall's Horse 228
Mennie's Scouts 228
Natal Carbineers 229
Natal Volunteer Artillery 229
New England Mounted Rifles 229
New South Wales Mounted Rifles 229
New Zealand Mounted Infantry 229
New Zealand Rough Riders 229
Prince Alfred's Volunteer Guard 230
Prince of Wales's Light Horse 280
Roberts' Horse 230
Scott's Railway Guards 230
South African Light Horse 230
Steinaecker's Horse • 230
Strathcona's Horse 231
Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry ...... 231
Volunteer Ambulance Corps ....... 231
Western Province Mounted Rifles 231
Town Guards —
Kimberley Town Guard 231
Port Elizabeth Town Guard 232
Constabulary and Police —
British South Africa Police 232
Cape Police 232
South African Constabulary 232
Index to Portraits of Warrant Officers, Non-commissioned Officers, and Men 269
Contents xix
Addenda — PAGE
Roll of Officers, Part 1 286
Roll of Non-commissioned Officers and Men —
The Highland Light Infantry 287
Seaforth Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs, The Duke of Albany \) 287
Imperial Yeomanry (6th Battalion) —
18th (Lanarkshire) Company 287
South African Constabulary ........ 287
Subscribers' Index 288
Index to Persons 293
Index to Military Units and Departments . . . . . .812
ILLUSTRATIONS
Schiehallion from the Head of Loch Tummel . . . Frontispiece
(From a Water-colour Painting by Colin B. Phillip, A.R.W.S. Original presented by the Artist for the benefit of the Soldiers' Copies Fund)
Trek Companies of the Black Watch fording the Wilge River,
near Tafelkop, O.R.C To face page 3
Block-house held by Detachment of the 1st Battalion The
Black Watch on Reitz Hill, near Harrismith, O.R.C. . „ 3
A Trooper of the Scottish Horse ...... ,,30
(From a Water-colour Drawing by Jane B. Constable)
Gun-carriage of the 84th Battery, R.F.A ,,30
(Presented by the War Office in recognition of the gallantry of the Scottish Horse at Bakenlaagte, 30th October 1901)
Portraits of Officers ......... Page 105
Portraits of Non-commissioned Officers and Men , 239
MAPS AND PLANS
PACE
Sketch Map of Magersfontein, llth December 1899 .... 7
Sketch Map of Paardeberg, 18th February 1900 11
Sketch showing Highland Brigade Marches from 21st July to 9th
August 1900 16
Hand Sketch showing Disposition of Troops at Retief s Nek, 23rd and
24th July 1900 17
Sketch Plan of the Action at Bakenlaagte, 30th October 1901 , showing roughly the lie of the ground where Colonel Benson made his last stand 42
Sketch Map of the Action at Moedwil, 30th September 1901 . . 51
THE BLACK WATCH IN SOUTH AFRICA
1899-1902
L— THE FIRST BATTALION
1901—1902
BY AN OFFICER
TOWARDS the end of 1901 it was rumoured that certain regiments from India, including the ist Battalion The Black Watch (which was then quartered at Kampti, hi the Central Provinces), were about to take the place of some of the war-worn battalions in South Africa. After a few weeks of suspense, these rumours were happily confirmed by the receipt, on the i3th of November, of orders for the Black Watch to proceed at once on active service. A large number of time-expired men availed themselves of the bounty then offered, and extended their service in order to accompany the regiment to the front.
On the 6th of December, 22 officers,1 2 warrant officers, and 953 non-commis- sioned officers and men, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel E. G. Grogan, embarked on board the transport Armenian at Bombay, and after a calm but very hot voyage, lasting sixteen days, reached Durban on the 22nd of the same month.
On the afternoon of the 24th the battalion started up-country in two trains, its destination being Standerton, in the Transvaal. The first train, under Major Wolrige-Gordon, arrived there early on Christmas morning, just about the hour at which the Boers were rushing the Yeomanry camp at Tweefontein.
Consequent on this disaster, the second train was stopped by a telegram twenty miles south of Standerton, and the whole regiment was ordered to turn and join Lieutenant-General Sir Leslie Rundle's diminished force in the Orange River Colony as quickly as possible.
On the morning of the 27th of December, headquarters and four companies reached Harrismith. One company was left there, and the remainder immediately set out on an eighteen-mile march to Elands River Bridge, where they were joined, twenty-four hours later, by the rest of the battalion, with the exception of the company left in Harrismith. Considering that it was the hot weather,
1 Seven officers joined the battalion in South Africa. For the names of the officers who served with the ist and 2nd Battalions respectively, see Appendix I. of this section.
II. A
2 A Military History of Perthshire
and that the men had been seventeen days on board ship and three consecutive days in the train, they covered the distance very well, and a flattering letter was received from the General to that effect.
Somewhat over a week was spent at Elands River Bridge, during which time the regiment was employed in throwing up a fort, and in covering the construc- tion of a line of block-houses to Elands River Drift. It then joined General Rundle's headquarters near Tweefontein, and during the next two or three weeks helped to construct block-houses between Harrismith and Bethlehem.
On the afternoon of the 8th of January 1902, the force made a short march of about four miles to Tyger's Spruit. Unaware of this, a party of Boers, returning to De Wet's commando from the direction of Witzies Hoek, stumbled right upon the camp in the dark. They were met by a heavy fire from the picquets, and — according to information supplied several weeks afterwards by two separate batches of Boer prisoners — sustained some seventeen or eighteen casualties from the fusillade.
The next five or six nights were cold, and heavy rain fell, accompanied by the violent thunder and lightning peculiar to South Africa. During these un- pleasant hours of darkness the " clip-clop " of the Boer Mauser was no unfamiliar sound, and at a place called Hattingsdal, where the force bivouacked on the I3th of January, one of our sentries was killed by a Boer sniper, a few paces in front of his picquet.
Before the end of January block-houses had been run up as far as Bethlehem, and headquarters and four companies had been withdrawn to Harrismith to form part of the garrison. The defences of the town were placed in charge of Colonel Grogan ; and by the middle of February the whole of the battalion, (except C and G Companies), had joined headquarters at Harrismith.
Later in the month the battalion formed the greater portion of what might be called the " bag " of a huge net, into which our mobile columns drove about 1000 Boers, thus forcing them to surrender to us.
Immediately after this " drive," A and H Companies, under Major Burton and Captain Lloyd, and F and E Companies, under Captains Grant-Duff and Walker, joined Colonel Rimington's and Colonel S. D. Gordon's columns respectively, in relief of four companies of the 2nd Battalion, which had had several months of hard trekking.
The greater part of G and C Companies meantime had taken over from the East Yorks a line of twenty block-houses extending from Elands River to Tradouw. In the course of one of the " drives " which followed, we lost a most promising young N.C.O. (Lance-Corporal W. Scott), who was in charge of a new block-house, specially put up for a big " drive " organised by Major-General Locke Elliot. Scott was killed at a range of over a mile on the night of the 27th of March, during an unsuccessful attempt made by the Boers to break through our line.
With Rimington's column, Major Burton's and Captain Lloyd's companies inarched through the Orange River Colony, Eastern Transvaal, and Natal,
TREK COMPANIES OF THE BLACK WATCH FORDING THE WILGE RIVER, NEAR TAFELKOP, O. R. C.
BLOCK-HOUSE HELD BY DETACHMENT OF THE 1ST BATTAUON THE BLACK WATCH ON REITZ HILL, NEAR HARRISMITH, O. R. C.
The Black Watch in South Africa 3
between the ist of March and sist of May, chiefly in pursuit of De Wet. Captain Grant-Duff's and Captain Walker's men joined Colonel Gordon's column (forming part of Colonel Garratt's force) at Elands River on the 3rd of March, and participated in much the same " drives " as A and H. The four companies marched over a thousand miles before the conclusion of hostilities on the 3ist of May, and the combined efforts of the several columns engaged in these " drives " resulted in the capture of a considerable number of prisoners and cattle.
The following " Force Order " was published by Colonel Rimington on the break-up of his column after peace had been declared. " The O.C. Column desires to thank the officers, N.C.O.s, and men of the ist Black Watch for the excellent work they have done with this column, and to place on record his high opinion of their soldier-like qualities, good discipline, and magnificent marching powers, and further to thank them for the cheerful way in which they have helped the transport at difficult drifts, &c."
Colonel Gordon also wrote to Colonel Grogan as follows : —
" MY DEAR COLONEL GROGAN, — Your two companies under Captain Grant- Duff have left my column this morning to join your headquarters, and I wish to place on record with you my high appreciation of their discipline and behaviour whilst under my command. We have not fought any battles during this period, but there has been plenty of hard work ; long weary marches, especially for them, and much trying night picquet duty. During these marches I have always felt my baggage to be safe in their charge, and at night I knew my most exposed flank was safe in their hands. I never heard of any grumbling or slackness, and anything I asked them to do was done as I wished it. I cannot give them higher praise than this, and what I say of the men of course applies in even a greater degree to the officers. I shall always be proud to have had them under my command, and can only hope I shall be equally lucky on some future occasion."
. The close of the war found the whole of the regiment at Harrismith, the two battalions meeting for the first time in their history.
About the middle of September the 2nd Battalion received orders to be ready to proceed to India, and 238 N.C.O.s and men were accordingly transferred from the ist Battalion, 170 N.C.O.s and men not qualified to serve in India being received in return. On the 24th of September the ist Battalion left Harrismith for Durban on its way home, with a strength of 22 officers, 2 warrant officers, and 635 non-commissioned officers and men.
The casualties of the ist Battalion in South Africa were : — 3 N.C.O.s and men killed and died of wounds ; 2 men died of injuries or disease, and 3 men wounded.
4 A Military History of Perthshire
II.— THE SECOND BATTALION
1899-1902
BY A COMPANY OFFICER
BEFORE beginning his meagre record the narrator feels he owes a humble apology to the honoured memory of his brave comrades for being so little able to do one tithe of the justice due to the gallant soul of the regiment. The company officer's view is so restricted that he can only describe what happens on a mile or two of ground, and therefore all his impressions are those of a man looking at a picture while standing a few inches from the canvas.
1899. The mobilisation order for the ist Army Corps, of which the 2nd Battalion The Black Watch was a part, reached Aldershot on the yth of October 1899. On the nth came news of the ultimatum. Then our reservists, every one of whom reported himself, arrived from Perth : — 27 officers, 954 rank and file (of whom 430 were reservists) embarked in the Orient (Captain Symons) at Tilbury, on Sunday the 22nd of October, and 59 more came by a second ship shortly afterwards. The Daily Chronicle of the 23rd of October said of the regiment at Tilbury, " A more splendid body of men has never been seen on any parade ground since the substitution of short for long service in the Army."
After a most comfortable voyage we dropped anchor in Table Bay on the evening of the I3th of November, and came alongside on the following afternoon.
We at once loaded up two trains, and were away up the line early on the 15 th across the dreary Karroo, arriving at De Aar on the I7th, where we found the General, Andrew Wauchope, our old Colonel, with his staff.
A few days afterwards we left by rail for Naauwpoort Junction, where a culvert over which we had just passed was blown up. On the 23rd Captain Cumming-Bruce's company (C), when acting as part of an escort to General French's reconstruction train, came under the fire of a few Boers near Arundel. Three of the mounted infantry escort and five Boers were wounded.
At Naauwpoort we left our claymores and sporrans. To replace the sporran an apron of khaki drill was worn. All ranks carried the rifle.
On the ist of December came news of Modder River fight and sudden orders to entrain, one half-battalion being railed through to Modder River, the other marching from Orange River (fifty-five miles). On the yth the Boers made an attempt to cut the railway behind us at Enslin, and on the same day we heard of Captain H. Scott Turner's death while bravely leading a successful sortie
The Black Watch in South Africa 5
from Kimberley on the 28th of November. In him the regiment lost a most gallant, capable, and popular officer.
At Modder River we came under Lord Methuen's command, and the High- land Brigade was coUected together— the ist Highland Light Infantry, the 2nd Seaforth Highlanders, the ist ArgyU and Sutherland Highlanders, and ourselves.
The total force under Lord Methuen must have been some 14,000 men of all arms.
At 2.30 P.M. on Sunday the loth of December, in pouring rain, the Highland Brigade paraded for the attack on the Magersfontein kopjes. At the same time the gth Lancers and four batteries of artillery moved off, the Lancers protecting our right flank. In the brigade every one carried a blanket (an unwieldy piece of furniture), a rifle, and 150 rounds of ammunition in pouches. Every man had his mess tin, and every other man a one-pound tin of beef.
A and B Companies of the regiment were the advanced-guard. We proceeded some three miles in a north-easterly direction and then lay down while all our artillery — field-guns, howitzers, and 4.7 naval guns — poured a tremendous hail along the upper ridges of Magersfontein Hill. From Dr. Ramsbotham, then head of the Free State Ambulance, the narrator heard long afterwards that not a single Boer was killed, and only two or three slightly wounded, by this storm of projectiles.
The rain stopped during the afternoon, but a heavy thunderstorm broke in the evening. At dark the brigade fell back, and bivouacked under the shelter of some rising ground in mass of quarter columns — i.e. each company behind the other, at a distance of eight paces.
During the evening Colonel Coode explained to all his officers General Wauchope's instructions : — that we should advance at 12.30 A.M. in brigade mass of quarter column ; that Major G. E. Benson, R.A., would lead us a little to the east of the most northerly point of the hill before us ; that at the foot of the hill the brigade would deploy (i.e. form line for attack) to the left ; that the H.L.I. (the rear battalion) would form the " second line " ; that each of the other three battalions would at first have two companies in the firing line, two in support, four in reserve ; that the crest of the hill was held by the enemy, and had to be taken by this partial turning movement ; and that the General would be with the H.L.I.
At 12.30 A.M. on Monday the nth of December we moved off, the Black Watch leading. While charging magazines two rifles were accidentally dis- charged in the brigade, but the storm must have prevented the report being heard at any distance. The left guide of each company held a rope knotted every ten yards. It was a pitch-black night, and ever and again the glare of the Kimberley search-light would flash on us and intensify the sur- rounding darkness. At about 2 A.M. the thunderstorm was at its height. The only human noise was caused by men stumbling and falling as we moved over the rocky ground. On the right there was occasionally confusion owing to men from other companies and other regiments losing touch in the darkness, and
6 A Military History of Perthshire
some men of the Seaforth got as far forward as our second company. The General marched on the left at the head of the column behind Major Benson, who was assisted by Captain Cumming-Bruce. There were constant halts to check the direction, but we veered about a good deal, as the lightning affected the magnetic compasses. The Boers had a lamp showing on the hill at one time during the night, but it was probably not for signalling purposes. At about 2.30 A.M. the rain ceased. Shortly after 3 A.M. we came on a thick line of bushes, through which the two leading companies moved in " fours." The brigade again formed up on the other side of these, our right close to a barbed- wire farm fence. The dawn was beginning to show behind the hill to our right front, so that we seemed to be considerably to the west of the line we were intended to take. The General then sent back to order the three leading battalions to deploy to the right instead of to the left, and, under Colonel Coode's orders, A, the leading company, went forward, extended to five paces interval, while B Company, with each half -company in single rank, followed as support.
A had advanced a hundred and fifty yards, with B seventy yards behind, when the foot of the hill in front of them burst into a sheet of fire. A Company received orders direct from the General, who, with Colonel Coode, had moved forward with it, to lie down and fire, evidently whilst waiting for the brigade to deploy. B then doubled up in line, fixing bayonets as it did so. The fire was going high, but a good many men were hit. Captain Cumming-Bruce was mortally wounded just behind A Company, and close by fell the Colonel. General Wauchope must have been killed almost at once, as he never spoke, although his galloper was asking for him near the spot where he was afterwards found dead. Part of C Company under Lieutenant Edmonds ran forward into the ranks of A and B, so that the men were almost shoulder to shoulder. Part of F under 2nd Lieutenant Maurice Drummond (who was almost at once hit in the thigh), also came into the ranks of A at a place where 2nd Lieutenant Nunneley and a few men were in a small trench. Lieutenant F. G. Tait also brought some men of F into the ranks of B, but the bulk of this company, under Major (now Lieutenant-Colonel) Mowbray Berkeley, deployed with the rest of the battalion to the right. The confusion was due to the new orders for deploy- ment having scarcely reached every one when the enemy's fire first began.
In the position in which the leading companies found themselves they were enfiladed by a slight fire from both flanks, and were some three hundred yards from the Boer trenches. Two rushes were made to enable the men to spread out a little, and then they settled down to good deliberate firing. A sharpish fire was also coming from the rear, where another regiment, which did not know of our companies in front, had lain down and was replying to the Boer fire — the heaviest we ever experienced during the war, not excepting Paardeberg. As daylight broke this advanced party, of whom a large number had been hit, found itself isolated by a spur jutting out on its right which the Boers had occupied, but by collecting ammunition from dead and wounded and by firing only when
The Black Watch in South Africa 7
a Boer exposed himself, fire was kept up until after 10 A.M. At about 5 A.M. our guns began and kept the Boer fire down, and although a shell would occa- tionaUy burst back (two of our men being hit thus), the benefit done by keeping the enemy quiet could not be over-estimated. This body— originally some 200
SKETCH MAP OF MAGERSFONTEIN, IITH DECEMBER 1899
strong — waited all day for a reinforcement, and, weakened as it was by heavy casualties, could not charge the trenches alone. At daylight, from the spot where Lieutenant Tait, hit in the leg, lay under a small thorn tree, to where some hundred and twenty yards away the General's galloper, Lieutenant Arthur Wauchope, was lying, wounded in both legs, there were not fifteen men untouched. It was here that our casualties were heaviest ; our General some forty yards to the left of Lieutenant Wauchope, Colonel Coode just between A and B Com-
8 A Military History of Perthshire
panics, Lieutenant Edmonds some yards to the Colonel's left, and Captain Cumming-Bruce, were all killed. A Company had 23 killed, 28 wounded ; B 15 killed, 40 wounded ; and C about the same. The summer sun and the innumerable flies were maddening to the wounded men.
Receiving no order to retire, this small force hung on until dark, and then those who could walk fell back, led by two of the company officers who were unhit — about twenty-five men in all, at whom, as they withdrew, the Boers most chivalrously forbore to fire. They reached the bivouac of the brigade at about 9 P.M. and got food — their previous meal having been at mid-day on Sunday.
To return to the greater portion of the battalion. When the fire commenced they moved to the right at the double, and each company turned to its front as soon as it got clear. Owing to the brigade having closed up, the rear company, after turning " fours right," had to incline a little to the right, and so in some way interfered with the front companies of the Seaforth. D, E, and F Com- panies went through two wire farm fences, and shortly after going through the second wire fence, Lieutenant Nigel Ramsay, who was leading the left half of D Company, was killed — not more than two hundred yards from the Boer trench. Owing to the small spur shown on the map west of B, all these men lost touch with the men of A, B, and C Companies on the left of the spur. A certain number of men with Captain MacFarlan, the Adjutant (who had been hit in the wrist in the first fire), went up the hill at the point marked B on the sketch. They were stopped by a sudden fire in front, whereupon they lay down and returned the fire, but were eventually driven down by our own artillery, and fell back somewhere near F (see map). Captain MacFarlan walked back along the line doing most noble work, and was killed close to where he started up the hill.
Lieutenants Cox and Wilson of the Seaforth also led a mixed company of our men and theirs round by the point marked F — to which place Sergeant Fraser of the Black Watch managed to bring some more of our men — so that the Boers were almost taken in rear. This party, however, was enfiladed by the enemy, and was driven down by our own artillery fire, five men being taken prisoner. It was our own shrapnel too that made the companies at the north point D fall back at about 7 A.M. to the line EE, under a severe enfilading fire from the Boer trenches on the right. This line EE they held — ammunition being passed along from some unknown supply on the left — until 10 A.M., when the casualties were so heavy that this could no longer be done, and the ammunition gave out. The line then fell back a short way facing still more to the right, i.e. east-north-east, on to a supporting line of the Seaforth.
Our right flank was now in touch with the Guards Brigade, which was in the bushes shown in the sketch running south to the Modder River, and at about i P.M. Colonel Hughes-Hallett gave an order to the centre to retire. This retire- ment gave the Boers a chance they were quick to seize of pouring in a tremendous fire, which caused many casualties. A second position was taken up further back, but there^as little fighting in this part of the field after 4 P.M. The
The Black Watch in South Africa 9
brigade was finally brought back to a spot just west of the bivouac occupied on the previous night.
The bitter cold after the heat of the daytime was very trying to the wounded, most of whom lay all night where they had fallen. The Boers gave them water, but they had no medical attendance until next day. Our medical officer, Lieu- tenant H. E. M. Douglas, was severely wounded after doing magnificent work under fire, for which he subsequently received the Victoria Cross ; but there is no space to tell of the countless individual acts of heroism performed that day. Our roll of dead and wounded should speak for itself : — 7 officers, 88 N.C.O.s and men were killed, and n officers, 207 N.C.O.s and men wounded, of the 25 officers, 918 rank and file who went into action ; 42 men, some of whom were wounded, were captured on the hill when they fell back at the commencement of our artillery fire.
The following morning we stood to arms at 3.30 A.M., and the order to march back to Modder River came as a very bitter blow to the regiment, as we had scarcely realised that we were not to have one more chance of trying to take the hill.
Lord Methuen then sent out parties of men to bring in our wounded and bury the dead. General Wauchope's body was brought to Modder River, and the regiment he had once commanded, that loved him as he loved it, paid him the last honours at his grave. Captain Elton, Lieutenant Ramsay, and twenty- five rank and file were also laid to rest at Modder River that day. The others were buried where they fell on the field of Magersfontein.
Some comment was afterwards caused at home by the fact that no return was sent in of men of the Black Watch who had distinguished themselves in this engagement. The Commanding Officer decided that where all had done their share it would be unjust to select names.
The next few weeks were full of hard work for the shrunken battalion.
ipOO. On New Year's Day the Caledonian Society of Capetown sent up every man in the brigade a pint of beer and a generous gift of tobacco, and during this time presents arrived from numerous kind friends at home.
On the 23rd of January Major-General Hector MacDonald, C.B., arrived and took command of the brigade. Colonel Carthew-Yorstoun came from the ist Battalion to command us ; Lieutenant Grieve, adjutant of the Royal Scots of Sydney, was attached to the regiment, and all the officers and men who had not been severely wounded rejoined during these weeks. Sixty-five of our 3rd Battalion also arrived.
On the 3rd of February a force under General MacDonald, consisting of the Highland Brigade, two squadrons gth Lancers, the 62nd Battery R.F.A., and a detachment R.E., with pontoons, started for Koedoesberg, some twenty-four miles west down the left bank of the Riet River. We had a long halt on the 3rd, and arrived after a hot march on the 4th, whereupon the Boers fell back from Koedoesberg Drift (which they had occupied on hearing of the movement of our force), on to a hill behind. In the next two days the brigade crossed and
io A Military History of Perthshire
occupied the southern crest of the " berg." On the yth the brigade cleared the hill, but we lost two most valuable officers — one mortally wounded, the other killed outright — Captain Eykyn and Lieutenant Tait.
The Boers rode away in a north-easterly direction, a cavalry brigade arriving too late to intercept them. The casualties in the regiment were 2 officers and 2 men killed, 7 N.C.O.s and men wounded.
We heard afterwards that this feint of a move to the relief of Kimberley had puzzled the Boers most successfully.
The whole force arrived back at Modder River on the gth, and found that Lord Roberts had come up. He made a most complimentary speech to the brigade on the following day.
On the I2th of February the brigade, which now formed part of the gth Divi- sion under General Colvile, moved by rail to Enslin (eighteen miles south), and starting on the I3th at 6 A.M., crossed the frontier of the Orange Free State.
During the next few days we made long marches, but saw no fighting until we reached the Modder River at Paardeberg Drift, which we did shortly before midnight on the I7th of February. There, owing to the capture of a large convoy by the Boers at Waterval Drift on the i5th, we were only served with half-rations of biscuit and tea, but we had a full ration of meat.
We bivouacked on the morning of the i8th close to Paardeberg Drift, and, just before " breakfasts " were " up " at 5.30 A.M., we heard shots fired at some mounted infantry from the opposite (the right or northerly) bank of the river, and the brigade fell in.
We marched a quarter of a mile to the east in single file, and then turned to our left and faced the river, from the banks of which, as also from a ridge on our right, broke a sharp fire. These banks were precipitous, and about ten or twelve feet high, covered with bush and stunted thorn. On the right bank several Boers had climbed into the trees, but little damage was done by the enemy's fire. Cronje's main laager was to the brigade's right front. General MacDonald was on the extreme left of the brigade (at a point where some bushes are shown on the left of the sketch), and behind us was " Kitchener's Kop," where stood Lord Kitchener, who was in command of all three divisions. By 7 A.M. some of the companies on the left of the brigade — A and B Companies of the Black Watch and a company of the Seaforth under 2nd Lieutenant McClure — were at the river bank. The river was in spate and said to be unfordable. However, one of our officers and a piper, Donald Cameron (Doune), tested it, and the officer, thinking that if he could cross he could clear the bush on the right bank of snipers, proceeded to call up his widely-extended company to the spot where a crossing was possible. Each lot of ten as they came up linked arms, hung their ammunition pouches round their necks, and plunged in. A bugler, Purdie, was nearly swept away, but was seized by Sergeant Millar (Alyth) and saved. The water was up to the men's waists. Piper Cameron was the first across, and helped the officer out ; he received the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his gallantry on this occasion. Two more companies of the Black Watch and the
The Black Watch in South Africa ii
company of the Seaforth followed across, and extended at right angles to the river, with their right moving along the river bank ; but owing to the formation of the ground the three companies on the left got rather widely separated from the directing company. As the four companies moved forward they were met by a sharpish fire from a deep donga, and to their left front sixty mounted Boers rode away at a gallop. After advancing some six hundred yards along the bank,
SKETCH MAP OF PAARDEBERG, iStH FEBRUARY 1900
and being then three hundred and fifty yards from the donga, the officer in charge received orders from the left bank to halt, and hold on to the ground gained, as these companies were now masking the fire of the rest of the brigade on the opposite side of the river.
A fourth company of the Black Watch and some more men of the Seaforth now reinforced the left companies of this detachment, while the right company on the river bank was reinforced by some of the Shropshire Light Infantry. The pioneers of the regiment, under Sergeant Howden (who also has received the Distinguished Conduct Medal for this engagement) brought over large supplies of ammunition. At about 3 P.M. the igth Brigade (our sister brigade) made a
12 A Military History of Perthshire
charge over the open in which all the companies of our brigade on the right bank of the river took part — except our extreme right company, which was too far in advance to form part of the charging line. This charge failed to get home, though it cleared the donga and drove the Boers into the laager.
Meantime on the right, across the river, the remainder of the battalion was firing into the double tier of small trenches near the laager on the right bank and into another row of trenches on the left bank, at about seven hundred yards. The right bank being higher than the left, the Boers had practically three tiers of fire, but in spite of this E Company fought its way to the left bank of the river. It was here that Colonel Carthew-Yorstoun, Major Maxwell, and Major Berkeley were wounded. The battalion was for twelve hours fiercely engaged until night- fall, when the whole force withdrew, with the exception of the company on the right of the river, which, with a company of the Shropshires, entrenched itself, as if it had fallen back the snipers could have again occupied the bushes near the donga. Other men who received the Distinguished Conduct Medal for this day were Sergeant Millar, Lance-Corporal Forrett, Private J. Smith, and Pioneer Hastie.
We lost a most excellent officer killed, who was attached to one of the com- panies north of the river — Lieutenant J. G. Grieve, of the New South Wales Permanent Forces. Our total casualties were i officer, 18 N.C.O.s and men killed, 5 officers, 74 N.C.O.s and men wounded, out of 15 officers, 640 N.C.O.s and men who went into action.
The following day the battalion, which had now only eight officers (one other being down with enteric), was employed on reconnaissance with the Argylls, while the company across the river, which had found four dead Boers and several horses in the deserted donga, was relieved at about 10 A.M. by some of the igth Brigade. This company was rationed at mid-day, after having been thirty- six hours without a meal. The rumour of Cronje's surrender on Monday the igth raised every one's spirits to the highest pitch, so that, when it proved false, the next few days of constant bombardment fell rather flat.
On the night of the 26th of February two companies, A and B, were sent over to General Smith-Dorrien, and formed part of the picquet line surrounding the laager, with orders to prevent any Boer stragglers breaking away. During the night the 6-inch howitzers spoke from time to time. At 2 A.M. on the 27th (Amajuba Day), the Canadians, who had sapped to within forty yards of the laager, and the Shropshire Light Infantry, at a much longer range, began pouring in a heavy fire towards the laager, from which we were five thousand yards distant. It was very dark, so the fire must have been unaimed. The Boers replied to it, but the Canadians were the only sufferers. The moon rose at 2.20, and at 3.30 the firing ceased. As soon as it was light the laager, which had been knocked to pieces by our shells, was seen to be displaying white flags everywhere, and news of Cronje's surrender with 3700 Boers reached us at 7 A.M.
Three Krupp guns, one quick-firing gun, quantities of ammunition, and
The Black Watch in South Africa 13
plenty of food were found in the laager. The ground was littered with clothing, tins, letters, books, and carcases of horses and oxen. The smells were appalling. The trenches, which extended for a mile and a half on both banks, were each about six feet long, five feet deep, and thirty inches wide, beautifully constructed, and well concealed. A small building in the laager was used as a hospital, with a German doctor in charge.
Several officers and men joined us during this week from various hospitals and from home.
On the 4th of March we started again, trekking towards Bloemfontein. We had had a very damp week of it at Paardeberg, and the drinking water had been very yellow and smelly, so we were glad to get on the move. Our clothes and shoes also were much in need of repair, but the Queen's telegram of congratulation on the Paardeberg capture was a very pleasing incentive to spur us all on.
We were now moving on the right bank of the Modder River.
On the yth of March we left Makouw's Drift at 5.15 A.M., the brigade being in front of the gth Division, in Echelon from the right. At about 7 A.M. one of the enemy's guns opened fire on us from a steep kopje on the other (south) side of the river at a range of five thousand yards. Our three naval 12-pounders replied. The Argylls were on the bank of the river, we next them, and beyond us the Seaforth. General Colvile ordered B, C, and A Companies of the regiment to push on along the river with the Argylls, but the brigade was considerably delayed by the fact that we were ahead of all the cavalry on the left bank, owing to their having to make a long detour. As we advanced the enemy ran like rabbits, after firing a few shots at fourteen hundred yards, and one or two of our picked shots made very pretty shooting at this range. We found meat cooking in the hastily- dug trenches the enemy had deserted, and three or four miles further east could see their waggons trekking as hard as possible towards Bloemfontein. They left tents, blankets, and ammunition behind them.
From where we were we saw our whole army spread out — the 6th Division on our left, then the mounted infantry and igth Brigade, while on our right were the cavalry and the 7th Division. There were eight casualties in the gth Divi- sion, none in the regiment. The 6th Division captured two guns. At 4.30 P.M. we reached the farm-house at Poplar Grove just quitted by Steyn and Kruger. On the 8th we recrossed the Modder River to the left bank.
On the loth of March the 6th Division was hotly engaged at Driefontein, but we were not under fire — although as no clasp was given for Poplar Grove, we received the " Driefontein " clasp. A company was detailed as a burying party and buried no of the enemy's dead.
We proceeded on our march, averaging sixteen miles daily, through a pleasant enough country, and on the I3th of March arrived at Ferreira Spruit, five miles south of Bloemfontein. We moved to Bloemfontein town commonage on the I5th of March, and proceeded to try to refit in the shops. This town, of some 10,000 inhabitants, is now well known — a well-kept, clean little place. Our camp, owing to the incessant rains, soon became a veritable quagmire, but never-
14 A Military History of Perthshire
theless the brigade suffered less from sickness than any other part of the force which was lying there.
In about a week the railway was opened, and after that all the reservists of Section D (many of whom had joined on hearing the news of Magersfontein), the Militia Reserve of our 3rd Battalion, the ist Volunteer Company under Captain R. Millar, old officers who had volunteered for the " Reserve of Officers," all came pouring in and swelled the regiment to 31 officers and nearly 900 rank and file.
On the 3ist of March the battalion formed part of the force which, under General Colvile, marched to Sanna's Post, to try to recover the seven guns of U and Q Batteries, R.H.A. ; but we reached Waterval Drift (twenty-four miles) too late. We were never under heavy fire that day, and had no casualties, the only ones in the brigade being two men of the Argylls, wounded. We arrived back in Bloemfontein on the 3rd of April.
On the 24th of April General Colvile's command, consisting of the Highland Brigade, two naval 4.7-inch guns, one battery R.F.A., and fifty mounted men, moved east very lightly equipped, leaving tents and all surplus baggage at Bloemfontein.
We started marching north on the 2nd of May with the town of Winburg as our objective. The battalion as advanced-guard carried on the 4th of May a big hill named Baviansberg, with a loss of 3 men wounded — a fight of which Lord Roberts wrote in his daily report — " The Black Watch distinguished themselves and were very well led." We arrived on the 6th at Winburg, which had sur- rendered to General Ian Hamilton the previous day. E Company left us here, and joined Lord Roberts' main army as escort to the naval guns of the nth Division. This company took part in the actions of Johannesburg, Diamond Hill, and Belfast, and rejoined the battalion in November 1900.
We left Winburg at 9 P.M. on the iyth and reached Ventersburg (thirty-four miles) at 3 P.M. next day. On the 23rd we again moved on, having been reinforced by 5 officers and 100 men. We made an eighteen-mile march on the Queen's birthday. On the 25th and 26th we were opposed when going into Lindley by a force of some 1000 Boers under Prinsloo. The battalion lost i killed and 9 wounded ; but owing to the way in which the brigade was handled it had altogether only a few casualties and hardly met with a check, although our small mounted force, which had suffered greatly, had shrunk to thirty-five men. That evening we were sniped in our camping- ground outside the town.
At Lindley we had expected a reinforcement of Imperial Yeomanry under Colonel Spragge, but as General Colvile had to be in Heilbron by the 30th of May we pushed on next day without them. The regiment was the rearguard, and was sniped at all day during the seventeen-mile march by some fifty Boers, who hung about two thousand yards behind us. On the 28th the Seaforth and Argylls bore the brunt of the fighting on the right flank and in rear. The Boers, whose total force must have numbered fully 2800 men, under the two De Wets and Prinsloo, opened fire with two guns from a kopje three thousand yards to our left front, but our naval guns quickly persuaded them to move. We know
The Black Watch in South Africa 15
that the enemy suffered severely, as we afterwards found many of their wounded in Heilbron.
The following day they avoided coming within any reasonable range, and tried to check our advance by fire from three guns placed on a hill named Spitz Kop, outside Heilbron (these guns were always on this hill to greet us on every subsequent occasion on which we marched by this road). After a long march we arrived in Heilbron on the night of the 2Qth — a hundred and twenty-six miles in eight days. All our advanced, rear, and flank guards had been performed by infantry, so many men must have covered an average of well over twenty miles a day. There was no falling out or straggling, and in brigade orders General MacDonald said of his force — " Their coolness and discipline through the long and trying march was most marked, and only for their cheerful determina- tion to overcome all obstacles and gain their destination on the date appointed by Lord Roberts, I feel certain the distance could not have been completed in face of the opposition met with."
We had for some time been on half-rations of everything but meat, and on the 4th of June a convoy of 160 details, bringing provisions from the railway, eighteen miles distant, failed to reach us. However there was plenty of flour in the town, and we were never really short of provisions, and could have reached the railway at any time if it had been necessary. The Boers, said to number 4000, sniped the picquets daily, but did no damage.
On the 2nd of June our force was increased by a most useful body of men — 100 Lovat's Scouts — another 100 of whom joined the brigade later.
On the yth of June Lord Methuen came in from Lindley with three infantry regiments, fourteen guns, and 1500 yeomanry. The battalion and 50 Lovat's Scouts, all under Colonel Carthew-Yorstoun, went out with them on the gth to bring back a convoy.
On the loth we were going south, and were west of the railway line, when we heard several explosions on it, and at about i P.M. the regiment found itself in face of three small kopjes, which were strongly held. The enemy, however, did not wait, and we could see 600 to 1000 Boers riding south over the veld. We had one man wounded (at two thousand yards), took nine prisoners, and found three dead Boers.
We came straight on the ransacked camp of the unfortunate Derbyshire Militia — a pitiful sight, with the graves close by.
On the igth of June we met with some opposition when returning to Heilbron.
We were out from the 2yth to the 2Qth on the Kroonstad road, but failed to get in touch with the enemy — some 1000 Boers with three guns — who trekked south.
The branch railway to Heilbron had now been open a few days, and on the ist of July three battalions of the Highland Brigade, together with a large mounted force, moved off with fourteen days' supplies to join General Hunter at Frankfort, thirty miles east of Heilbron. The Argylls remained as a temporary garrison to Heilbron. We averaged fourteen miles a day, and early on the gth of July reached Bethlehem, which General Clements had occupied on the 7th.
The Black Watch in South Africa 17
The town lies 5300 feet above the sea, and is some seventy-five miles south of Frankfort. Owing to the altitude the nights were bitterly cold.
On the 22nd of July the brigade moved out of Bethlehem to Vaal Krantz Farm, five miles north of Retief's Nek. The sketch below represents the general appearance of the hills from a kopje just south of the farm.
The situation roughly was as follows :— Inside a semicircle of high precipitous hills, resembling the giant parapet of a redoubt, lies the little town of Fouries- burg. This natural redoubt is fifteen miles from north to south, forty miles from east to west, and its gorge is closed by the Caledon River— the Basutoland march. Inside the mountain parapet is a rich and more level country. The whole is known as the Brandwater Basin, and the hills are the Wittebergen. There are only five entrances into the basin — Commando Nek in the south-west
HAND SKETCH SHOWING DISPOSITION OF TROOPS AT RETIEF'S NEK, 23RD AND 24TH JULY 1900
corner, Slabbert Nek on the western side, Retief's Nek in the north-west corner, Naauwpoort Nek on the north, and the Golden Gate on the east.
Inside the basin were, when we arrived at Bethlehem, 8000 Free Staters under Steyn, Christian De Wet, and Prinsloo. Steyn and De Wet, with 2000 men, seeing the net being drawn round them, on the night of the I5th of July managed to pass out of Slabbert Nek within a mile of a British column, without being detected. On the 22nd, when supplies reached us, a general advance was made on all the western entrances.
The night of the 22nd was bitterly cold, and the snow was lying three inches deep on the ground. General Hunter was with the brigade, and had besides Lovat's Scouts, Rimington's Guides, one battery artillery, and two 5-inch guns, while the Sussex Regiment and an additional battery R.F.A. co-operated with the brigade on the extreme right. Lovat's Scouts having thoroughly recon- noitred the two north-eastern neks, the Black Watch was sent at 4.30 A.M. on the 23rd to the round hill (marked B.W. on the sketch), with a view to gaining the saddle-backed hill behind. The two 5-inch guns, from a small kopje on the plain below, rained their shells into the nek, and the noise of Paget's guns away to the west firing into Slabbert Nek sounded as if the British were clamouring at the fortress gates for admittance. The H.L.I, in the centre were firing
II. B
1 8 A Military History of Perthshire
at the big hill to the left of Retief's Nek. The Sussex, who had had a very long march, appeared at mid- day, and in most gallantly advancing towards the right of the nek, which was impregnable, lost more than fifty men. However, the Black Watch on the left managed to press forward, and at 6 P.M. rushed fourteen hundred yards of bare valley under cover of the fire of two companies left on the round kopje, topped the saddle-back, and opened a heavy fire on the flying Boers at two hundred yards range. This saddle-backed kopje commanded the whole of the back of the big hill on the left of the nek, and our possession of it rendered the nek untenable by the enemy. Here we bivouacked. At day- break the Boers, who had not disclosed a gun on the 23rd, fired a few shells at us from two guns, but by 8 A.M. were on the move south. The Seaforth moved up on our left and fired at them as they fled down a deep donga running east- south-east.
On the 24th Slabbert Nek was also evacuated by the enemy.
On the 23rd at Retief's Nek we suffered a very heavy loss in the death of Major Ernest Willshire, who was mortally wounded. Our other casualties were i man killed, I officer and 15 men wounded. The Boers lost a good many killed. On the night of the 24th we bivouacked inside Retief's Nek.
The next day General Hunter went on to Fouriesburg, while the brigade, under General MacDonald, joined General Bruce Hamilton's force, and marched outside the mountain wall to Naauwpoort Nek, the battalion on the 26th carrying a position held by the Harrismith Commando at Davels Rust with a loss of six wounded. Meantime the Camerons and Lovat's Scouts, assisted by the 5 -inch guns, captured Naauwpoort Nek.
On the 29th General Hunter heliographed the welcome news of Prinsloo's surrender with 5000 Boers inside the basin — the biggest capture made during the war.
Our portion of the force went on to Harrismith, which we entered on the 4th of August. The hoisting of the Union Jack was greeted enthusiastically by the inhabitants, of whom a large number were Scots.
From Harrismith we returned via Bethlehem and Lindley to Heilbron, which we reached after an engagement in which the H.L.I, on our right flank had fifty casualties, mostly caused by shell-fire from Spitz Kop.
From the i4th to the 26th of August we rested after our daily marching, and managed to get in some sadly-needed stores of clothing and shoes. From Heilbron we went to Kroonstad and then back to Winburg, marching daily some fifteen miles and scouring the country as we went ; but it was not until the I3th of September that we ran into a convoy of 700 Boers under Haasbroek at Karree- fontein, twenty-five miles south of Winburg. The Boers broke at once, pursued by Lovat's Scouts. Eight prisoners and thirty waggons of stores were captured, also 80,000 rounds of rifle and 75 rounds of big-gun ammunition, and dynamite besides. We continued our marching through this country, and on the I7th of September formed part of a combined movement on the Doornberg, a long hill north of Winburg, where General Rundle captured four guns and thirty waggons.
The Black Watch in South Africa 19
After trekking north we were ordered into Kroonstad, and sent down by rail to Bloemfontein, whence we marched out to Ladybrand.
Up to the I3th of October 1900 the battalion had covered by road (not in- cluding any deviations for fighting and flanking movements) well over twelve hundred miles.
IpOO-Ol. From the I3th of October 1900 to the 25th of September 1901 we formed the garrison of the Ladybrand district. Our picquets, which enclosed over a hundred square miles of country, formed part of a chain of posts running from Bloemfontein to the Basutoland border. The Boers never tried to break through our part of the line, though occasionally our outer posts were fired at and our various mounted infantry posts were constantly in touch with the enemy. Until the 22nd of August 1901 we were invariably successful, but on that date a force of fifty mounted infantry which had been detached to surprise a farm named Evening Star, found itself surrounded at dawn on an isolated kopje. In order to guard the horses the party was split up round the base of the hill, and after fourteen hours' fighting, the ammunition being exhausted, each small section of the force was successively overpowered, i man being killed and i officer and 4 men wounded. This was the only capture of any of our men during the war, with the exception of the forty-two men on the hill at Magersfontein, and two men, one of whom lost his way, and the other of whom was engaged on telegraph work at Heilbron.
In September 1901 the battalion was railed to Natal to help to meet Louis Botha's threatened attack, and a detachment was sent on to Zululand.
IOOI-02. From November 1901 to February 1902 four companies were with Colonel Rimington's column and took part in the great " drives " in the Orange River Colony. One N.C.O. was killed on the 23rd of February. Two other companies which also took part in these " drives " were with Colonel Byng, and three were with General Spens. The ist Battalion relieved these companies in March 1902.
A mounted infantry company from the 2nd Battalion served with Colonel Western's column in the " drives " in the Western Transvaal which were carried out by General Walter Kitchener in March, and by Sir Ian Hamilton in May 1902. This company also took part in the successful surprise of Schweizer Reneke by Colonel Rochfort in April. In March it covered a hundred and fifty miles in less than three days without losing a man or horse.
A smaller detachment of fifty was in all the " drives " in the Northern Trans- vaal, and one officer, twenty-five N.C.O.s and men, formed the garrison of No. 9 Armoured Train from July 1901 onwards.
From March 1902 until the end of the war (3ist May 1902) the battalion formed part of the garrison of Harrismith, which (as related elsewhere) also included our ist Battalion. The two battalions therefore, for the first time on record, had the pleasure of serving together.
After having been two years and seven months on active service the 2nd Battalion sailed for India in October 1902.
20 A Military History of Perthshire
Throughout the campaign 77 officers, 2437 N.C.O.s and men passed through the ranks of the battalion ; n officers (including Lieutenant Grieve, attached), 119 N.C.O.s and men were killed or died of wounds while serving with it ; 71 men died of disease ; 17 officers and some 340 N.C.O.s and men were wounded.
In addition, both of our medical officers were wounded — Lieutenant H. E. M. Douglas (who subsequently received the V.C. and D.S.O.) at Magersfontein, and Captain G. H. Goddard at Paardeberg.
Scattered on the lonely veld are the graves of those who fell in South Africa. Over many the wail of " Lochaber no more " never sounded, but the gaps in the ranks are filled, and still the red hackle and dark tartan are guarding the marches of the Empire.
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APPENDIX III
N.C.O.s and Men of the 2nd Battalion The Black Watch who were mentioned in despatches for services in South Africa.
Sergeants- Major J. Anderson (twice), W. Fowler, and E. Parker.
Colour-Sergeant A. Millar (twice).
Pioneer-Sergeant T. Howden (twice).
Signalling- Sergeant G. L. Weir.
Sergeants J. Baxter, D. Grant, H. Harrison, C. Leicester, J. Niven, and
A. Wilson (twice). Lance- Sergeant G. Gaynor (twice). Corporals A. Hamilton and D. Miller.
Lance-Corporals W. Forrett (three times), J. Mclntosh, and J. Noble. Pipers G. Burns and D. Cameron (twice). Pioneer J. Hastie (twice). Privates G. Foote, R. McGregor (twice), A. Murdoch, R. Ormonde, and
J. Smith.
THE SCOTTISH HORSE
THE RAISING AND ORGANISATION OF THE REGIMENT
BY THE EDITOR
WHEN in November 1900 Lord Kitchener took over the command of the forces in South Africa, preparations were immediately begun for a vigorous campaign which was to be mainly conducted by mounted troops. For this more mounted men were urgently required, and the formation of various new regiments of mounted infantry was accordingly sanctioned without delay. Among other offers of help came a suggestion from the Caledonian Society of Johannesburg that a corps should be raised under the name of " The Scottish Horse," to be recruited from Scotsmen in South Africa. As the Society could guarantee a number of men, and as the name of the corps seemed one calcu- lated to attract the numerous South Africans of Scots descent, the Commander- in-Chief readily agreed to the proposal. No well-known Scotsman, however, was immediately forthcoming as commanding officer, and recruiting for the new corps hung fire for a week or two, until Lord Kitchener offered the command to Captain the Marquess of Tullibardine, D.S.O. (Royal Horse Guards), who was then at Newcastle in Natal — wiring to him to "send out the fiery cross." The raising of the new corps then commenced in earnest. Lord Tullibardine ap- pointed Captain A. Blair, D.S.O. (King's Own Scottish Borderers) and Captain Sir William Dick-Cunyngham (the Black Watch), second-in-command and adjutant respectively, and started at once for Johannesburg, sending Captain Blair to recruit in Cape Town, and Sir William Dick-Cunyngham to enlist the help of the Caledonian Societies of Durban and Maritzburg, and of the leading Scots- men in Natal. The Scottish Horse was gazetted on December the I5th, igoo,1 and within a week Lord Tullibardine had established a recruiting office and regimental depot at Johannesburg, and had raised there his first troop. He then returned to Maritzburg, where for the next five weeks he was busy recruit- ing, organising, equipping, and training his men. Recruiting was not easy, as so many new corps were being raised, but Lord Tullibardine and his officers worked hard ; Caledonian Societies and Scotsmen generally gave what help they could ; and, though the Commanding Officer was very particular as to the class of men he enlisted, by the beginning of February 1901 the Scottish Horse
1 Lord Tullibardine was given local rank of major and shortly afterwards local rank of lieutenant- colonel while commanding the Scottish Horse. Captain Blair was given local rank of major.
30
A TROOPER OF THE SCOTTISH HORSE (From a Water-colour Drawing by Jane D. Constable)
GUN-CARRIAGE OF THE 84™ BATTERY R.F.A., PRESENTED BY THE WAR OFFICE IN
RECOGNITION OF THE GALLANTRY OF THE SCOTTISH HORSE AT
BAKENLAAGTE, 30™ OCTOBER 1901
The Raising of the Scottish Horse 31
was a regiment four squadrons strong,1 with full complement of officers, and included besides, fifty special scouts and fifty picked cyclists.
The men were recruited mainly from Natal, though about a squadron came from the Cape ; more than half were Scots or of Scots descent. The enlist- ment was for six months only, and the pay (as in all the South African Irregular Corps) was 55. a day for a trooper, other ranks being paid in proportion. Lord Tullibardine was fortunate in securing from the first the aid of several capable and experienced officers, who rendered valuable service. One of the first to join was Captain " Pete " Rattray, a Perthshire man, who was shortly followed by his three brothers.
Early in February IQOI the Scottish Horse left Maritzburg for Johannesburg, and from thence was sent to join a column commanded by Colonel Flint, then operating in the Western Transvaal. Under Colonel Flint, and later under Colonel Shekleton, the regiment was for some weeks busily engaged in help- ing to clear the Losberg and Gatsrand Mountains and the basin of the Vaal — a fertile region which up to that time had been De Wet's base of supplies. The column did its work so thoroughly that De Wet was never afterwards able to get supplies from that district. Towards the end of March Brigadier-General Cunningham assumed command of the column, and operations were then begun in the Magaliesberg Mountains and the surrounding country — ground which the men of the Scottish Horse were to know well before the end of the war.
In the meantime Lord Tullibardine, wishing to command a more representa- tive Scots corps, had obtained Lord Kitchener's leave to apply for Scotsmen from Home and from Australia. He accordingly wired early in January 1901 to ask the Highland Society of London and the Caledonian Society of Melbourne to get him recruits. A ready response came from Australia that 250 Victorians were ready to join him. They sailed shortly afterwards, and landed in Cape Town on March the 8th — a fine body of men, well educated, of sturdy, inde- pendent character, and first-rate horsemen. Several officers were appointed from their number. As the regiment which had already been raised in South Africa was up to the requisite strength, the Australians became the nucleus of a second regiment of Scottish Horse, and the organisation of this new unit\ proceeded apace.
The Highland Society of London was as ready to help as the Victorian Government, but the military authorities at Home were at first afraid that if recruiting for the Scottish Horse were sanctioned it might interfere with the extensive recruiting which was then going on for the Yeomanry. With the help of the Duke of Atholl, however, Sir Fitzroy Maclean and a deputation from the Highland Society finally arranged the matter with the Secretary of State, and in February, March, and April, 4 officers and 397 men, of whom 309 were Scotsmen, were sent out in successive drafts to the Scottish Horse. They were classed as Imperial Yeomanry, but from the day of their arrival in
1 Squadrons A, B, C, and D.
3 a A Military History of Perthshire
South Africa they were directly under Lord Tullibardine — not the Yeomanry authorities. They were enlisted for a year, or until the end of the war. Most of these men were sent to join the Australians, and completed the establishment of the 2nd Regiment.
It was decreed however, to the great disappointment of the Commanding Officer, that the two regiments were not to be kept together in the field, and it thus henceforward became impossible for him to be permanently with either. In view of this and of the constant recruiting necessitated by the short period for which the South Africans and Australians were enlisted, Lord Kitchener judged it best for Lord Tullibardine to establish his headquarters at Johannes- burg— from thence to pay visits in turn to both regiments, to keep them con- stantly supplied with fresh drafts of men and horses, and, while controlling both, to leave the actual command of the regiments in the field to commanding officers who could be permanently there. The wisdom of this step was fully justified by events; the Scottish Horse increased steadily in numbers — not by recruiting in South Africa (where it soon became almost impossible, owing to competition, to get a good class of men), but by further drafts from Home and from Australia ; the regimental organisation was immensely improved, and the officers and men in the field were kept supplied with horses, transport, clothing, food-stuffs, &c., in a way which would have been impossible had there been no central regimental staff at Johannesburg.
In March 1901 Lord Tullibardine appointed Major F. D. Murray (the Black Watch) and Captain Michael Lindsay (Seaforth Highlanders) — both most gallant and capable officers — commanding officer and adjutant respectively of the 2nd Scottish Horse. About a fortnight was spent at Middleburg in organisa- tion, equipment, and training, and by the middle of April the new regiment took the field — a fine corps, four squadrons strong,1 composed equally of Australians and Scotsmen from Home.2 These men had the good fortune to be placed in a column commanded by that most able officer, Colonel G. E. Benson, R.A. (who had as intelligence officer Lieutenant-Colonel Wools Sampson), and for many months they trekked continuously, and with great success — sometimes north of the railway line to Delagoa Bay, sometimes south of it — but always in the Eastern Transvaal. Colonel Benson wrote of the 2nd Scottish Horse that " both men and horses were excellent," that " their organisation was one to be copied," and that he " defied any troops to scout better." A system devised by Lord Tullibardine, under which native scouts, commanded by one of their own chiefs, were attached to each regiment, was also much praised by Colonel Benson. The chief undertook to have a certain number of men always with the regiment, and as he was made responsible for their behaviour and could enforce obedience, the work done by these scouts was admirable.
From April to October 1901 the 2nd Regiment took part in several gallant fights and many forced marches (frequently by night), resulting in large captures
1 Squadrons E, F, G, and H.
2 In May a fifth squadron (L), composed of men from Home, joined the 2nd Regiment.
The Raising of the Scottish Horse 33
of Boers with their horses, cattle, and ammunition. A fight at Elandskloof on the 3rd of July deserves special mention ; there Major Murray and some twenty- six officers and men withstood the attack of sixty Boers for three-quarters of an hour. The firing was at close quarters and very hot, but the Scottish Horse held its own until reinforcements came, when the Boers withdrew. Several officers and men were recommended for gallantry on this occasion, and Lieu- tenant W. J. English was awarded the V.C. Colonel Benson and his column were known and feared throughout the Eastern Transvaal ; the enemy fled ever at their approach ; and it was only when Botha had concentrated a large body of men for his attempted invasion of Natal that the Boers dared to attack them, determined if possible by their superior numbers to wipe out this small force which had done them so much harm. The engagement which followed is described later ; it suffices here to say that on October the 3oth, near Baken- laagte, the Boers overwhelmed the rearguard of Colonel Benson's column, killing Colonel Benson himself, Major Murray, Captain Lindsay, and three other officers and twenty-eight men of the Scottish Horse. The regiment also had four officers and thirty-six men wounded, most of whom were hit in several places. No words can describe the loss the Scottish Horse suffered that day; but that heroic stand on the ridge by the guns was not in vain ; it saved the camp and the rest of the column from total destruction, and it remains for all time an instance of that self-sacrifice and devotion to duty in the face of overwhelming odds, for which the British soldier has ever been famous.
But to return to the ist Scottish Horse. In April, after an engagement at Slipstein Kopjes in which the cyclist corps suffered some loss, the command of the column was given to Brigadier-General Dixon. Shortly afterwards Major C. E. Duff (8th Hussars) was appointed to command the regiment, with Major Blair as second-in-command; and as Sir William Dick-Cunyngham at the same time took up the duties of regimental adjutant at the headquarters in Johannes- burg, Captain H. A. F. Watson (Lancashire Fusiliers) became adjutant ist Scottish Horse. Early in May Lord Tullibardine obtained leave to recruit men from the ist Volunteer Service Companies of Scots regiments. These companies were about to return Home, but about a hundred men joined the Scottish Horse and formed a very fine squadron — J — which was sent to the ist Regiment, and which subsequently gained for itself a reputation extending far beyond the column with which it trekked. Another squadron — K — consisting of a contingent from Home which arrived about this time, was also sent to the ist Regiment. Some of the ist Scottish Horse were present during the latter part of the engagement at Vlakfontein in May 1901 ; they arrived on the scene at a critical moment of the fight and rendered very good service. In June a good many of the South-African-enlisted men left the ist Regiment, owing to the expiry of their engagement, but Lord Tullibardine, anticipating this, had already cabled to the Duke of Atholl to raise him two more squadrons. The Duke immediately arranged with the War Office to open recruiting stations for the Scottish Horse at Inverness, Aberdeen, Perth, Stirling, and Edinburgh.
IT. c
34 A Military History of Perthshire
He himself was put in charge of the recruiting, and the result was the despatch in June of a fine body of Scotsmen, 224 strong, with four officers. These men arrived in July, and after training at Elandsfontein, were sent out to the ist Regiment as squadrons C and D, to replace two of those originally raised. In August the ist Scottish Horse once more changed its column commander — but for the last time ; henceforth it was under Colonel Kekewich (the defender of Kimberley), and led by him, with Major Duff as its Commanding Officer, the regiment made many successful treks and large captures of Boers and stock.
But, like the 2nd Regiment, the ist was also to have its hour of trial. Early on the morning of September the 3Oth, Delarey and Kemp, seizing an occasion when Colonel Kekewich's force was temporarily isolated and reduced in numbers, made a fierce attack on his camp at Moedwil. An account of this fight is given elsewhere, but it may be mentioned here that Colonel Kekewich's column made a most gallant stand, and that the attack was repulsed, though with terrible loss. The Scottish Horse had three officers (including its very capable adjutant, Captain Watson) and seventeen men killed, besides twelve officers and forty- one men wounded. The losses occurred chiefly among the men of the two new squadrons, who stood their ground nobly, though receiving their baptism of fire. Major Blair was severely wounded, and Sir William Dick-Cunyngham became second-in-command of the ist Scottish Horse. On October the 3Oth the regiment, though reduced in numbers and sadly short of officers, captured seventy-five Boers at Beestekraal, on the Crocodile River, after a long night march.
To replace the casualties at Moedwil Lord Tullibardine obtained permis- sion to apply for two more squadrons from Home, and the Duke of Atholl accordingly once more began recruiting. After the further losses at Bakenlaagte, a month later, the raising of yet another two squadrons was sanctioned ; but no difficulty whatever was found in getting men — and men of the right sort. They were keen, brave, well-disciplined, and good shots, and though they could not ride when they left home, a month's training under a good riding-master at Johannesburg made them fit for trek.
More Australians too were to come. Most of the first contingent had returned to Australia in September — their time being up — but another draft of two hundred took their place, and many of the original contingent returned when they heard of the casualties among their comrades at Bakenlaagte. What had been Colonel Benson's column was given after his death to Lieutenant- Colonel C. J. Mackenzie (Seaforth Highlanders) ; Major A. Jennings-Bramly (igth Hussars) was appointed to command the 2nd Scottish Horse, and Captain G. A. Thomas, an Australian officer, became adjutant. Major Bramly was killed, however, near Lake Banagher on the 2Oth of December 1901 — a great loss to the regiment. His place was filled by Major L. C. Jones (Indian Staff Corps), who commanded the 2nd Regiment until the end of the war, during which period Colonel Mackenzie's column, ever on the move, took part in the " drives " organised by General Bruce Hamilton in the Eastern Transvaal.
The Raising of the Scottish Horse 35
Changes had also taken place in the ist Regiment, for in November 1901 Captain Lord George Stewart Murray (the Black Watch) was appointed adjutant, and in December Major H. P. Leader (6th Dragoon Guards) became commanding officer vice Major Duff, who left to take up the command of the 8th Hussars. Till the end of the war the ist Scottish Horse was trekking continuously in the Western Transvaal, and ably led by Major Leader, the regiment helped to score many successes for Colonel Kekewich's column. One notable engagement was at Gruisfontein on February the 5th, 1902, where the Scottish Horse, after a night march in which the mounted troops of Colonel Hickie's column also joined, surrounded Commandant Sarel Alberts' laager just before dawn, and though met by a hot fire, captured his entire force, 139 strong.1
Another very successful, though minor, affair was a raid made by Lord Tullibardine and sixty Australian recruits on a Boer remount farm some miles out from the Standerton-Ermelo line of block-houses. Though pursued by a force of more than double its number and engaged in a heavy rearguard action for about eighteen miles, this small party succeeded in bringing back to the block-house line over 150 horses, most of which were utilised as remounts.
In March 1902 the 2nd Scottish Horse was divided into two wings, one of which, composed of Scotsmen, was given to Major Blair, who had by now recovered from his wounds. The other, consisting entirely of Australians, remained under the command of Major Jones. The Right (or Scots) Wing was transferred to Colonel Kekewich's column, so that henceforth all the men who came from Home — and they now formed the majority of the ist Regiment — were together. This immensely increased the esprit de corps which from the beginning had been a marked characteristic of the Scottish Horse. Together the ist Regiment and Right Wing of the 2nd Regiment withstood the Boer attack at Rooiwal2 on the nth of April, and greatly distinguished themselves there, though two of the squadrons of the Right Wing were under fire for the first time that day.
One more " drive " from Klerksdorp right across to Maf eking and back was to end the treks of the ist Scottish Horse and Right Wing, while General Bruce Hamilton's operations in the South-Eastern Transvaal, in which the Australians of the Left Wing had for six months borne a continuous and arduous part, were also brought to a close by the signing of peace on the 3 ist of May.
Another squadron — M — making the tenth sent from Home, had been raised by the Duke of Atholl in April. The men were recruited in only nine days, but they could not be embarked before May the I7th ; they consequently landed at Cape Town — to their great disappointment — too late for hostilities.
After despatching at extremely short notice a contingent of officers and men to represent the Scottish Horse at the Coronation, both regiments were brought into camp near Johannesburg for disbandment, and for a month all who wished
1 Major Leader, who was in command of the troops, received a brevet of lieutenant-colonel for this capture.
* An account of this engagement is given later.
36 A Military History of Perthshire
to remain in South Africa were busily engaged in finding situations. Lord Tulli- bardine had been beforehand in obtaining offers of employment for his men, and partly owing to his exertions, and partly to the men's own good character and to the fact that most of them were trained to some trade, about seven hundred were settled in the country. A hundred officers and men joined the Natal Mounted Police on the understanding that they should be kept together as a squadron, and that they should be allowed to retain the black-cocks' tails in their hats, and other distinctive badges of the Scottish Horse.
Two hundred and fifty Australians returned to their homes, and the remainder of the corps — about seven hundred men — came back to Scotland, and were dis- banded in Edinburgh on September the 3rd, after having been entertained at luncheon by the Corporation — a great honour, and one much appreciated both by officers and men.
The main feature to be noted in connection with the Scottish Horse was its truly Imperial character — the men being drawn, as has been seen, not only from Scotland, but in large numbers also from South Africa and Australia. The corps included besides New Zealanders and Canadians, and it is probable that had the war not ended when it did, negotiations in which Lord Tullibardine was then engaged would have resulted in a large draft being sent from the Dominion.
From first to last, some 3500 men passed through the ranks, but owing to the short period for which the Colonials enlisted, the numbers were continually fluctuating, and this necessitated constant recruiting and reorganisation. 1843 officers and men in the field (exclusive of those on the high seas or at Home) was the highest number reached at any one time — a considerable increase this on the total of 500, which was originally to have been the strength of the Scottish Horse. Mere numbers, however, would have been nothing without the esprit de corps for which Scotsmen all over the world are famous, or without the splendid services rendered by the officers, both Regular and Irregular, whose help Lord Tullibardine was fortunate enough to secure. The Regular officers were more numerous than in most Colonial corps, and to this fact, and more especially to the work done by such officers as Lieutenant-Colonel Duff, Lieutenant-Colonel Leader, Major Blair, Major Murray, Major Jones, and others too numerous to mention, the success of the regiment was in great measure due. The Irregular officers too, of whom the greater number were Australians and South Africans, did extremely well, and there were many fine squadron-leaders among them. The men were for the most part of such a high class that it was possible to replace by promotion from the ranks the majority of the losses in officers caused by the fights at Moedwil and Bakenlaagte. Forty-six officers in all were appointed in this way.
From the first Lord Kitchener gave the Commanding Officer a very free hand in the management of the Scottish Horse, with the result that the corps was run on its own lines — a system which completely succeeded. Some special features have already been noticed, but another one may be mentioned, i.e. the
The Raising of the Scottish Horse 37
establishment of an advanced depot for each regiment at a point on the railway line near the district in which the regiment happened to be trekking. These advanced depots became also remount depots, and by this means the Scottish Horse was more easily and quickly supplied with fresh horses than most other corps.
Another special feature was the establishment, in January 1902, of a con- valescent camp, to which every man on leaving hospital was sent before return- ing to duty. This ensured that the men did not get lost by being drafted down country to distant convalescent camps, which was often otherwise the case.
With the Commanding Officer lay the appointment and promotion of every officer, Regular or Irregular, though the appointments had to be ratified by the Commander-in-Chief. What an immense responsibility this was will be seen, when it is realised that altogether 157 officers served with the corps, and that the permanent establishment at the end of the war was 91.
In all, 1250 officers and men went from Home to join the Scottish Horse, and for the raising of 831 of these the Duke of Atholl was personally responsible. He also rendered valuable service in connection with the drafts sent out in the spring of 1901.
It should be mentioned that, before leaving Johannesburg, Lord Tullibardine helped to organise two regiments of Scots Volunteers — one a mounted, the other an infantry, corps — which, entitled respectively " The Transvaal Scottish " and " The Scottish Horse," carry on the tradition of his regiment in South Africa. He is their honorary colonel ; the infantry therefore have kilts of Atholl tartan, and both regiments wear the characteristic black-cocks' tails in their hats.1
Early in 1903 Lord Tullibardine was appointed to raise and command a regiment of Imperial Yeomanry, to be recruited from Argyllshire, Perthshire, Aberdeenshire, Banffshire, and Morayshire, a part of Scotland which, generally speaking, has hitherto produced but few mounted troops. This corps has now reached its establishment of some 950 officers and men, and is divided into two regiments, the first of which has been raised entirely in Perthshire. It per- petuates the name of the Scottish Horse in this country, and it may be con- fidently anticipated that the reputation gained by the old regiment in South Africa will be honourably upheld by the new one.
The foregoing pages, as has been seen, deal chiefly with the personnel and organisation of the Scottish Horse. How officers and men bore themselves in action will be told in the following accounts of the three principal engage- ments in which they took part.
1 1907. Since this article went to press, the Scottish Horse has been disbanded by the new Transvaal Government.
38 A Military History of Perthshire
THE SCOTTISH HORSE IN ACTION1
BY A SQUADRON OFFICER
BAKENLAAGTE— MOEDWIL— ROOIWAL
BAKENLAAGTE, MOEDWIL, and ROOIWAL are the three especial " honours " of the Scottish Horse. A corps composed of men of all classes, upbringings, pro- fessions, and occupations — farmers, soldiers, lawyers, business men, Highlanders, Lowlanders, Australians, South Africans, moulded together and united partly by a semi-feudal idea, partly by a semi-clannish instinct, partly by an excellent organisation, primarily by a stolid sense of duty to their country — the Scottish Horse came into the field at a time when service was more irksome than during the earlier stages of the war.
At Bakenlaagte, Moedwil, and Rooiwal they were tried and passed their test, emerging from the war with a record for phlegmatic gallantry which was beyond question, and which in the eyes of the world placed them in the front rank of fighting corps, Regular or Irregular.
Yet what they chanced to do on those particular three days, they would have done whenever asked on any other occasion, and their conduct, " abound- ing in a spirit of courage and zeal, should neither be disfigured nor forgotten."
BAKENLAAGTE 2 (October 30^, 1901)
" Stranger, go tell the Lacedaemonians that we died in obedience to their laws."
— Epitaph of the Spartans at Thermopylae.
The column under Colonel G. E. Benson, R.A., acting upon information received by its intelligence officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Wools Sampson, had been operating in the Bethel District, Eastern Transvaal, and on the evening of the 2gth of October was encamped at Quaggaslaagte, about forty miles south of Brug Spruit. Few of the enemy had been seen on the preceding days, but Boers had been reported to be concentrating in force on the high ground to the north-west, and the column commander had judged it advisable to fall back upon the line of block-houses until the situation could be met by a force of greater strength.
1 It should be borne in mind that this article has been written chiefly with a view to showing the part taken by the Scottish Horse in the engagements described. Comparatively little mention there- fore has been made of other regiments which distinguished themselves on the same occasions. — [En.]
'J The paper on Bakenlaagte has already in substance appeared in vol. v. of The Times History of the War, this article and the preceding one — as the only material available with regard to the Scottish Horse — having been lent in response to a request for information about the regiment.
In case the use of the terms "front" and "rear" in this paper should not be clearly under- stood, it must be explained that these terms are used in their relation to the column as a whole, and not to any position taken up by the rearguard. Thus the ground between the rearguard and the rest of a column is termed the "front," even when the rearguard is faced about and in action. — [En.]
The Scottish Horse at Bakenlaagte 39
The column marched from camp at 4.30 A.M. (daylight) on the soth of October. The rearguard, consisting of three companies l of the 3rd Mounted Infantry (180 rifles), one company of infantry (80 rifles), and a pom-pom ("CC" Section), was under the command of Major F. G. Anley (Essex Regiment). The 2nd Scottish Horse at this time formed part of the main body, and marched on the right of the transport in company with the remainder of the infantry and guns.
The terrain is a slightly undulating country. Viewed from a distance, the veld hereabouts rolls gently like an Atlantic sea on a calm day. The rise and fall are so gradual that the traveller finds it hard to say at what moment he is upon the highest point of the undulation. Hence dominating ground is not easily distinguishable.
The day was cold with a thick mist ; rain was imminent, and the ground being heavy and holding, the going could hardly have been worse for transport.
As soon as the force moved off parties of Boers began to press upon the rear- guard, and soon the front and flanks of the column were also engaged. Though firing was at extreme ranges, one man of the rearguard was killed as early as 4.45 A.M. A little later, the convoy and main body were slowly crossing a drift, while the mounted men of the rear party were clinging to the high ground some 4000 yards behind. A little band of Boers stole round the mounted screen and captured seven stragglers of the infantry ; shortly afterwards these men were returned to the main body stripped of all but their shirts. At 9 A.M. the com- pany of infantry, being somewhat exhausted, was ordered forward to join the waggons, and the officer commanding the company was told to take up defensive positions covering the mounted troops, whenever the convoy should halt. The rearguard now consisted only of two companies of the mounted infantry and the pom-pom. Flanking parties of the third company — the Dublin Fusiliers — were kept out very wide, as the rearguard commander feared that the enemy might work round between him and the main body.
Till nine o'clock the day was only threatening, but at about that hour a cold rain began to fall, driving such dense sheets into the faces of the men of the rearguard that they could see no further than a hundred paces behind them, and making it impossible to tell where the full force of the Boer attack would fall. The march of the column, however, continued unchecked, and the convoy still laboured slowly forward ; but waggons kept sticking fast in the clammy ground, and by one o'clock two of these had sunk so deep into the mud that they had dropped a considerable way behind the rest. The rearguard therefore halted upon some higher ground close to a reedy marsh, while the rest of the column proceeded on its march, and never halted again until it came into laager at Bakenlaagte farm. A second pom-pom (" R2") was shortly afterwards sent back to reinforce the rearguard.
The rain and mist now came on more heavily than ever, and the main body
1 i.e. one company each of the Yorkshire Light Infantry, the North Lancashire Regiment, and the Dublin Fusiliers.
40 A Military History of Perthshire
had no sooner moved off than a hot fire was opened on the rear screen from almost every quarter of the compass (as it seemed) but chiefly from the rear — the increased severity of the attack being due to the arrival of Botha with a force of some 1000 men, and to the fact that the Boers on the front and flanks of the column, disliking the rain in their faces, had worked round to the rear in order to fight with the rain behind them. A message was therefore despatched to Colonel Benson informing him of the situation.
Still the Boers continued to press on their attack, and Major Anley, finding the position by the marshes an unfavourable one, decided at length to abandon the waggons and to fall back upon a second rise some 800 yards nearer the column. This retirement was safely carried out — the rear screen being hotly engaged all the while — and in a few moments Colonel Benson himself arrived, bringing with him two weak squadrons l of the Scottish Horse (73 in all), under Major F. D. Murray.2 It was these men, together with a company of the 3rd Mounted Infantry, a section of the 84th Battery and its escort of some twenty men each of the Scottish Horse and 25th Mounted Infantry 3 (6oth Rifles), who were destined to be the heroes of Bakenlaagte. The flank and advanced- guards of the column, though engaged throughout the day, were never very seriously pressed; the glorious story therefore of Bakenlaagte is the story of the rearguard.
Many minutes had not passed before Colonel Benson had realised that the second position taken up could not be held, and he accordingly ordered a retirement on to a third rise, about 1500 yards nearer camp, which he believed to be held by some 200 infantry and two guns of the 84th Battery. The artillery and two companies of infantry had, as a matter of fact, been sent back to this rise by Colonel Wools Sampson, who, as soon as the heavy rain came on, know- ing the Boers' habits, foresaw that their attack on flanks and front would diminish, and that the danger to the rearguard would be correspondingly increased. Together with the guns and their escort, two companies of infantry were to hold the ridge, while the infantry company which had originally been with the rear- guard, and which had not yet reached camp, was expected to cover the retire- ment of the mounted troops.
Each leaving a covering section, and preceded by "CC" pom-pom, which had done good service all the morning and had now been ordered to gallop straight into camp,4 the Scottish Horse and 3rd Mounted Infantry retired simultaneously from their second position, and as they did so, were followed up
1 i.e. Squadrons H and L. — [ED.]
2 Captain and brevet-major the Black Watch ; commanding 2nd Scottish Horse. He had served for some time on the staff of the Governor of Natal, and in the early days of the war had been signalling officer to Lord Dundonald. Major Murray was twenty-nine years of age, and had joined the Black Watch in 1891.
3 This section of the 25th Mounted Infantry did not form part of the gun-escort at the beginning of the day, but was sent to reinforce it at about II A.M. — [ED.]
4 " R2" had jammed about five minutes previously, and had already been sent on to camp. The two pom-poms had fired about 2000 rounds during the day. — [Eo.]
The Scottish Horse at Bakenlaagte 41
at a gallop by some 1000 Boers about 1200 yards away. The ridge was reached in safety — the retirement being aided by a well-sustained fire from Lieutenant Kelly and the Scottish Horse of the gun-escort, who had been pushed out to the left rear 1 of the hill. The guns with the remainder of the escort were found in position on the hill marked A in sketch ; but no companies of infantry were to be seen, and it was discovered afterwards that the men who should^'have been on the ridge were sheltering from the heavy rain in a dip beyond it, while the other company had by that time reached a hollow in rear of hill A, from which it could give little or no assistance. Also in the hollow, but nearer the ridge, was a smaller body of infantry which had been told off as additional escort to the guns.
Major Murray and Captain Lindsay z dismounted by the guns at the head of the Scottish Horse, commanding and beseeching all who heard them " to stop and hold the ridge or else they'd lose the guns," in the forlorn hope of checking the Boers until the guns could be taken away by reinforcements. Their appeal was nobly answered by all the mounted troops. The Scottish Horse and Yorkshire Company of the mounted infantry dismounted and formed a strag- gling line to right and left of the guns — mostly to the right — while the Lanca- shire Mounted Infantry Company under Major Anley took up a position on a rise some 1500 yards away to the left (see hill marked B in sketch). The Scottish Horse of the gun-escort were called up by Major Murray, and their ammunition being scarce, they were told off as horse-holders. Most of the horses of the regiment were now sent on to camp — about twenty remaining in charge of six men of the escort.3
In the meantime, as the covering troop of Scottish Horse under Lieutenant E. O. Straker abandoned the second position, the leading Boers were only 100 yards in rear of them, and nothing now checked the onslaught of the whole Boer force.4
Pouring from around a farm to the south-east at which they had been seen massing, they galloped round to the south-west end of the first rise, sur- mounted the second, and without a check charged like a regiment of cavalry in open order. Firing from their horses as they came, and, to use the words of a spectator, " yelling like savages," they galloped straight into the infantry in rear of hill A. The men of the smaller party made a gallant resistance, losing nineteen killed and wounded out of thirty. The others were knocked down and ridden over or were clubbed by the Boer rifles, and the remainder in a few
1 i.e. right front as they faced the enemy.
2 Captain, Seaforth Highlanders and adjutant, 2nd Scottish Horse ; son of Mr. Walter Lindsay (Windsor Herald). Captain Lindsay had been wounded with the Seaforth Highlanders at Magers- fontein (where he was noticed for conspicuous gallantry), and again with the 2nd Scottish Horse at Roodekranz on April the 3Oth, 1901.
3 Of these twenty horses only one could finally be brought into camp, and it was hit in three places.
* The Boers, who, it is believed, were upwards of 2000 strong, were led by Grobelaar of Ermelo, Erasmus of Carolina, and by Britz and Steyn with the Swaziland Police. Louis Botha (who is said to have ridden sixty miles to join Grobelaar) was in chief command.
42, A Military History of Perthshire
moments held up their hands in sign of surrender. Lieutenant Straker, with the Boers " on top of him " (as he describes it), had been forced to gallop as fast as his horses could move to reach Colonel Benson and the rearguard on the third rise, and as he was surmounting the latter, his horse stumbled and fell. He picked himself up shaken and half stunned, and realised that a Boer had shot at him from a few yards off and missed him. The next instant another Boer clubbed his rifle and struck him on the head from behind, and he lost con- sciousness until some hours afterwards, when he awoke to find himself without coat or boots lying on the ground.1 The men of his covering party — thirteen in number — were also overtaken before they could reach the rise, and were made prisoners.
Sketch Plan of the Action at Bakenlaagte, soth October 1901, showing roughly the lie of the ground
where Colonel Benson made his last stand. The arrows denote the direction of the Boer attack.
Dropping a few of their number to disarm the infantry, the Boers galloped on in extended order, and wheeling to their left as they approached, took advan- tage of some dead ground below the rise marked A to dismount. They then advanced on foot as near as they could to the guns and brought an overwhelm-
1 As Straker opened his eyes he saw a commandant upbraiding a crowd of Boer laggards and telling them that he would beat them if they didn't return to the fight, " for if only they came now they would capture the guns." The laggards then went forward, and four Boers were left behind to escort the prisoners back to a farm named Kruisemefontein where the laager was. The prisoners numbered about one hundred, and included (besides the fourteen Scottish Horse mentioned in the text), one man of the R.A. and six " M.I." They were all wet and cold, without coats or boots. The main body of Boers arrived in laager about seven o'clock. They were jubilant, and brought in the guns. "O Khakis," they said, "we'll give you lots of whisky to-night. We're going to take your convoy now." But in the morning all they said was that the columns were coming and that they must retire, and at about 8 A.M. Commandant Brets formed up the prisoners and said "It had been a very good fight, and the English had had over 200 casualties, including Major Murray, and the prisoners would be released at three o'clock." At about four o'clock, accordingly, the prisoners were released and walked over to Bakenlaagte camp, five miles off.
The Scottish Horse at Bakenlaagte 43
ing rifle fire to bear on this part of the ridge. The attack made on the rise marked B was less fierce, the approach to it being very exposed ; the enemy, however, demonstrated in such force from all points that it was impossible for Major Anley to reinforce those on hill A. Hill B was held until dark, when the Lancashire Mounted Infantry fell back on the camp, to assist in its defence.
The doomed guns were in position at about thirty yards interval from one another. The rise on which they stood was a gentle wave of veld — there was no definite summit — and between them and the nearest Boers was a strip of open space about twenty yards broad, dotted with ant-heaps.
The melee which followed — in which the casualties now became so terrific — of which the survivors are so few — is not easy to describe.
Major Murray crouched down in the open and under a terrific volume of fire from the Boers began to use his pistol ; the men too settled down to their rifles and brought a good fire to bear. Right and left of the guns lay seventy- nine men of the Scottish Horse, and to the left of these the Yorkshire Mounted Infantry Company, but both right and left of guns and escort were com- pletely " in the air," inasmuch as on the right the higher continuation of the ridge, being unoccupied, was at once seized by the Boers, while to the left of the guns was ground which it had been intended should have been held by the infantry. The latter, however, had surrendered just below it, and the Boers had also possessed themselves of this part of the ridge. Ground therefore both to the immediate left and to the immediate right of the guns was in the enemy's hands, and an intolerable fire was at once directed upon the gun-escort from right, left, and front, at ranges never greater than 300 yards, for the most part not greater than twenty yards — from three quarters of the compass — by an enemy who outnumbered it by nearly seven to one.1
The position of the mounted troops and the doomed guns began therefore to be desperate in the extreme, but for some time the Boers did not advance closer. They brought the same fire to bear from the front, but from the flanks their fire intensified. They had quickly seen that they could not at present advance nearer, and had determined to shoot the entire gun-escort from com- manding ground to right and left before seizing the guns.
I continue the story in the words of a non-commissioned officer of the Scottish Horse who at this moment was lying beside an ant-heap near the guns. Ten yards to his left Colonel Benson himself lay behind another smaller ant-heap ; some five yards from him Major Murray was crouching behind another, and a little to his right lay Captain Lindsay.
" The guns now fired three shots, of which the last two were case and at a range of about fifty yards. They then ceased fire and could never fire again, for all the gunners were killed or wounded in the first three minutes whilst they served the guns.
" There were a great many ant-heaps near the guns, but no shelter what- 1 This is estimating the number of Boers attacking the ridge at 1500. The British troops, so far as can be ascertained, were about 220 or 230. — [Eo.]
44 A Military History of Perthshire
ever for the gunners. I had been looking for Major Murray, as my place was by him, and he was at once conspicuous to me, for he wore a double felt hat and was half on his knees firing his pistol. The Boers were only about twenty yards off, and looked to me like two rows of infantry in extended order, covering an enveloping front of about 1200 yards. I heard Major Guinness l call out to his sergeant-major to fetch up the gun teams which were just behind the ridge. There were no gunners left to handle up the limbers, and sending for the teams of horses when no man dared even show his head above an ant-heap was a most desperate attempt. As soon as the teams came up the Boers concen- trated such a fire upon them that I saw all the horses fall in an instant like corn cut with a scythe, and the artillery sergeant-major who was leading the first team was shot through the head and all the drivers wounded or killed."
According to this N.C.O. it was immediately after this that Major Murray and Captain Lindsay were killed — the latter being hit three times. Sergeant Skinner (Scottish Horse), who was lying about six yards to Major Murray's right, relates that Captain Inglis of the regiment was killed a few minutes later, and about the same time Lieutenant Woodman, an Australian officer of the Scottish Horse, was mortally wounded.
" Soon after this," (to quote the same authority,) " I happened to look at Colonel Benson, who was lying behind a very small ant-heap about ten yards from me on my left. He seemed to have been hit in the knee, for it was tied up, and I saw that he had turned round with his back to the Boers and was watching the column which was laagered up on the low ground, some 2000 yards behind us."
Even as Colonel Benson looked, his assistant staff officer, Captain Eyre Lloyd2 (Coldstream Guards), appeared and dismounted on the farther edge of the rise, about a hundred yards away, throwing the reins of his horse to a trooper. In almost the same second, as it seemed, man and horse fell dead. Captain Lloyd saw this happen, but he walked on towards Colonel Benson with a char- acteristic smile, and in a manner which can only be described as leisurely. He was not even carrying a revolver, and his right hand was casually slipped into his breast 3 as he sauntered defiantly and quite upright across the open space, shot at by half a thousand rifles at not more than thirty or forty yards' range. All who saw him wondered at his glorious bravado — a precious example to every soldier, and one for which he paid the price — for he was severely wounded while only a few paces from his chief, and never succeeded in reaching him.4
1 84th Battery R.F.A.
8 Captain Lloyd had been sent on by Colonel Benson earlier in the day to lay out the camp, but when he heard of the severe fighting and of the column commander being wounded, he felt his place was by Colonel Benson's side, and he accordingly galloped back to the ridge. — [ED.]
3 This must have been in order to hide a wound in the right wrist which he had received a few minutes before. — [ED.]
4 Captain Lloyd was mortally wounded a few minutes later, while being attended by Lieutenant J. M. Sloan, R.A.M.C. (attached Scottish Horse), and died next morning. — [ED.]
The Scottish Horse at Bakenlaagte 45
Of Captain Lloyd the above-mentioned N.C.O. said, "He was the bravest young officer I ever saw."
Following up their attack on the ridge, the Boers had opened a heavy fire on the camp and had by now almost surrounded it.1 The survivors of the gun- escort could therefore look for no help from this quarter,2 and the two companies of infantry, after making ineffectual attempts to reach the rise, were about this time withdrawn for the protection of the camp.
But there was no dribbling back of stragglers from the ridge ; where the Scottish Horse and Yorkshire Light Infantry had dismounted they had lain down. Murray's voice was now silent for ever, but his appeal was still in their ears, and where they lay they died.
Close behind the rise, upon the side nearer camp and among the led horses, stood two ammunition carts. Squadron-Quartermaster-Sergeant Warnock's 3 proper place was in camp with the waggons, but he had seen that his comrades were in a desperate plight and had put himself in charge of these ammunition carts. This man and Trooper A. Cunningham (Scottish Horse) now crawled up to within some twenty yards of the firing line, dragging a box of ammunition. Cunningham was immediately shot dead through the heart. Warnock lay down for a moment, and then undaunted crawled forward again alone, foot by foot, until he came into the firing line. The man nearest to him happened to be Sergeant W. Johnstone (Scottish Horse), who had been severely wounded in three places and was lying disabled. Warnock threw his ammunition right and left to those whom it could reach, and then seizing Johnstone's rifle, knelt and fired again and again right in the open and in full view of the Boers. To the others near by it seemed certain death under the terrific volume of fire from such close quarters, yet for some minutes Warnock bore a charmed life, and went crawling from ant-heap to ant-heap, plying his rifle undismayed, until he emerged right beyond the firing line and was all but in among the Boers, when he was badly wounded in three places. An audacity like this, displayed at such a moment, when three-fourths of the gun-escort had been killed or wounded and resistance was flickering out, will live for ever in the minds of all who saw it.4 Close behind Warnock came Corporal J. J. M'Carthy 5 (Scottish Horse), and another man, with a second box of ammunition. They top contrived to crawl into the firing line,
1 A hill commanding the camp was held from noon onwards by three sections of the 25th Mounted Infantry under Captain F. M. Crum, in face of a heavy and continuous fire which caused many casualties. At dark this party fell back on the camp, and the Boers immediately seized the hill. — [En.]
2 Reinforcements had been sent out earlier from camp, but had been unable to reach the ridge, though Lieutenant G. Dalby and twenty-five men of the 25th Mounted Infantry managed to get within a hundred yards of the guns. — [Eo.]
3 A Dumfries-shire man who had been for twenty-one years in the King's Own Scottish Borderers ; attached Scottish Horse.
4 After the fight the Boers were robbing the dead and wounded, and came to Warnock to take his watch. He said to the first of them, "You don't want to take a poor old soldier's watch, do you?" and they, in admiration of his gallantry and respect for his age, abstained.
5 Subsequently promoted lieutenant.— [Eo.]
46 A Military History of Perthshire
and Corporal M'Carthy, though three times wounded, threw his ammunition to the men on either side of him.
Meanwhile the Boers were wriggling up closer to the guns, yard by yard. Once they stood up as if to charge, but there still were some five-and-twenty unwounded men upon the ridge ; a straggling volley was fired, the Boer line sank to earth again, and for another fifteen minutes they kept up their fire without advancing.
Then a man leading a grey pony with his rifle in his left hand stood up from among them, and some half-dozen others rose with him. They seemed to think the fight was over, and came walking towards the guns as if they could now take possession of them. At this moment there were merely six or seven rifles available in the gun-escort, but these poured what fire they could into the group of Boers. The man with the grey horse span round and fell, and the others behind him sank to the ground.
It was perhaps three or four minutes after this that the whole Boer line four or five deep stood upright as one man. The nearest of them were then about twelve yards from the guns, and they all seemed to be dressed in British soldiers' cloaks. One and all were firing furiously so as to stamp out the last embers of resistance from the survivors of the gun-escort.
They were cheering wildly — not as Northern people cheer, but as Kaffirs scream when exultant. Their scream was caught up all along their line, which now closed up and advanced right into the guns, shooting indiscriminately at everything that moved.
It was about this moment that Colonel Benson called out for a volunteer to go back to camp. Trooper N. H. Grierson 1 of the Scottish Horse shouted from behind his ant-heap that he would go, and a message was given to him to the effect that the ambulances were not to be sent out for the wounded, because, as the ridge was now virtually captured, the Boers would use the ambulance mules to drag the guns away. As Grierson rose and stood in front of Colonel Benson to take the message he was hit in the foot, and the self-same bullet glancing on its way pierced Colonel Benson above the left hip, passing right through his body.
The line of Boers surged slowly up and the guns were now lost.
All the officers and all but seven of the men of the Scottish Horse lay dead or wounded ; all four officers of the Yorkshire Light Infantry had been laid low, and seventeen out of twenty Riflemen, while the gun section had lost twenty-nine men out of thirty-two engaged, both its officers being killed.
Lance-Corporal J. Bell 2 (Scottish Horse) was the only unwounded^man by the guns as the Boer line advanced. Three men came up to him and called " hands up." He refused, shot one of them, and was immediately killed by the other two.
As the Boers were stripping the dead and wounded Colonel Benson con-
1 Now 2nd lieutenant, West India Regiment. — [Eo.]
2 Son of Sir James Bell, ex-Lord Provost of Glasgow. — [El).]
The Scottish Horse at Bakenlaagte 47
trived to send off one of his men into camp with an order to Colonel Wools Sampson to open fire at once on the ridge and clear it, in order to prevent the Boers from taking away the guns. Colonel Benson himself was lying grievously wounded by the guns and could not move, and fire from camp would be more likely to wound him again than to hurt any Boer. This order truly displayed a self- sacrificing devotion.
His messenger arrived in camp about half-an-hour later, in his shirt, without coat or boots, and fire was opened on the ridge.
Just at this moment Corporal J. L. Meates1 (Scottish Horse) rode up to the rise on which the guns stood, with a message for Colonel Benson. The Boers were now among the guns, firing heavily into the mob of led horses, which stood for a moment below the rise and then with one accord stampeded. All the horse-holders of the Scottish Horse were hit, except Corporal H. Haxton.2 Trooper B. Campbell (Scottish Horse) was badly wounded by this fire and fell off his horse close to Meates. The latter dragged him behind an ant-heap and there they lay together.
All the time the long line of Boers surged slowly over the rise step by step, shooting at dead and dying. And — as if this inferno were not enough — the guns and pom-poms now opened fire upon the ridge from camp, and the few unfortunate survivors of the gun-escort found themselves with " death in front and destruction in the rear " — in a tornado of rifle fire from the Boers — in a storm of shrapnel from their own people.
The line of Boers still came over and down the rise. Meates was accosted by a field cornet, who nodded kindly, saying, " Get behind us here," and the Boer line passed over him and left him alive.
As the shell-fire from camp, however, now intensified, Meates was at a loss where to seek shelter, and was standing up in despair, when a middle-aged Boer touched him on the shoulder, and speaking perfect English said, " Lie down here, my lad, and then you won't be hit," and led him to cover behind an ant- heap.
As the shell-fire continued most of the Boers retired, leaving the guns, but many remained, contemptuous of the fire, stripping dead and wounded men and horses. After about half-an-hour most of these too retired, but several still crawled about on their hands and knees — human jackals — rifling dead and dying.
At 5.30 all the Boers had faUen back under the shell-fire, and Meates stood up again and waved his arm to any who might be alive to see him. He was joined by three other men of the Scottish Horse, and these survivors of Baken- laagte walked into camp, leaving seventy-three dead and wounded of their regi- ment on the ground.
Soon after this the ambulance waggons started out to bring in the wounded, and fire from camp ceased.
1 Subsequently promoted lieutenant. — [Eo.]
2 Afterwards promoted sergeant. — [ED.]
48 A Military History of Perthshire
Under the cover of the ambulances the Boers took the guns away with oxen.
The dead were left where they lay.
The night came very dark, but there was no alarm, and as morning dawned men learnt the truth of the Biblical metaphor " as snow on Salmon," for the rise on which the guns had stood was white with the naked bodies of our dead.
At about 6 A.M. on October the 3ist Colonel Benson died, after giving direc- tions for the defence of the camp, and was buried at 12.30 P.M.
On the ist of November a burial party went out to the rise on which the guns had stood. Of all the dead, only Lieutenant Kelly, Scottish Horse, had not been stripped. His coat — riddled by over thirty bullets — was torn to shreds and not worth the taking.
But this paper ends with the close of a fight, which, for the percentage of wounds and death endured by the defenders of the guns, stands unsurpassed in civilised war, and which for the devotion displayed by them should find a per- petual place in the history of British arms.
For the officers and men who suffered at Bakenlaagte unconsciously be- queathed to those who should live after them the priceless legacy of a glorious example.
CASUALTIES OF COLONEL BENSON'S COLUMN AT BAKENLAAGTE (Compiled from the official returns]
Officers. N.C.O.S and Men. Total.
Killed and died of wounds . 15 74 89
Wounded . . . .11 138 149
Total, 26 Total, 212 Grand total, 238
(N.B. — These figures include, besides the casualties of the rearguard, those of the whole column on the 30th of October 1901. — ED.)
CASUALTIES OF THE 2ND SCOTTISH HORSE AT BAKENLAAGTE
Officers. N.C.O.s and Men. Total.
Killed and died of wounds —
Major F. D. Murray, Commanding. Captains M. W. Lindsay (Adjutant)
and S. W. Inglis. 28 33
Lieutenants J. B. Kelly and
C. Woodman. Wounded —
Captain C. Murray.
Lieutenants W. Campbell, T. Firns, 36 40
and A. T. Wardrop.
Total, 9 Tota], 64 Grand total, 73
out of 79 officers and men engaged on the ridge by the guns.
The Scottish Horse at Moedwil 49
THE WAR IN THE WEST
"Nemo me impune lacessit"
MOEDWIL (September 30^, 1901)
THE war in the west was well waged by the two rival commanders, Kekewich and Delarey. Both Boer and British generals were born leaders. Both tempered daring with caution, both knew when to risk much and when to risk nothing. Colonel Kekewich commanded the unshaken confidence, the respectful affection, and the loyal devotion of all ranks of his force, not only because they saw him for what he was — the best type of English gentleman — but because they well knew that the greater the emergency, the greater would prove the resources of their leader's generalship. Delarey was an enemy worthy of Kekewich : the Stonewall Jackson of the Boers — Puritan — born strategist — a chivalrous but uncompromising enemy — he inspired the respect of the British almost as much as the enthusiasm of the Dutch, and emerged from two and a half years of incessant warfare with the finest reputation of any of his countrymen.
The column commanded by Colonel R. G. Kekewich, composed of five com- panies of the Derbyshire Regiment under Lieutenant -Colonel Wylly (approxi- mately 400 men), three guns of the 28th Battery Royal Artillery, one pom-pom of " G2," and eight squadrons of mounted men (about 560 in all), had been operating in the Magaliesberg district throughout the month of September 1901. * The mounted troops were composed of six squadrons of the ist Scottish Horse under Major Duff (8th Hussars), and two squadrons of the yth Imperial Yeomanry. Major Blair (King's Own Scottish Borderers) was second-in-command of the ist Scottish Horse, and the squadrons of that regiment were commanded as follows : —
A Squadron, Captain H. G. Field.
B Squadron, Captain J. P. Lambert.
C Squadron, Captain R. H. Dick-Cunyngham (2ist Lancers).
D Squadron, Captain P. M. Rattray.
J Squadron, Captain P. N. Field.
K Squadron. Captain I. R. Mackenzie.
1 There had also been some 400 men of the King's Own Scottish Borderers, but these left the column on the 22nd of September.
II. D
50 A Military History of Perthshire
Of these six Scottish Horse Squadrons, two (C and D, under Dick-Cunyngham and Rattray respectively), although they had landed at Durban in July, had practically never yet been under fire, inasmuch as throughout September Keke- wich's column had taken part in those " combined operations " and " closing- in movements " which for the most part characterised the 1901 period of the war. Stragglers from various commandos had been captured, but the column had for several weeks continuously trekked through the Magaliesberg country without any serious engagement.
On the 28th of September Kekewich was at Waterval, but left that spot at 5 A.M. on the 29th, arriving at noon on that day at the point where the road from Rustenberg to Zeerust crosses the drifts over the Selons River and joins the road from Waterval. The veld at this place is marked on the maps " Moedwil (639)," and the camp was pitched at mid-day at a point some 400 yards to the east of the drift over the river, and on slightly rising ground. The camp at Moedwil was set in an open space, roughly speaking, about 1400 or 1500 yards square, completely surrounded by bush of varying degrees of thick- ness, and beyond the bush bounded on north and west by the Selons River, which had here cut itself deep into the soft soil (see sketch). The camp faced west and its left rested on the Rustenburg-Zeerust main road. The mounted troops were on the right (the Yeomanry being on the extreme right), the guns were in the centre, and the Derbys on the left. Of the outposts the Derbys were responsible for the south-western, southern, and south-eastern aspects, while the mounted men took up a semicircular line covering western, north, and north-eastern sides, and joined hands with the infantry both at the drift over the river and on the road to Magato's Pass. The posts held by the mounted men were formed by one squadron of Yeomanry and C Squadron Scottish Horse, the latter being thrown out about six hundred yards to the right rear of the camp as a detached post (see map).
The ground behind the camp was fairly level, but it fell gently away in front towards the Selons River, rising again beyond it, and the alternative of placing his outposts on the near or far side of the river-bed offered itself to the com- mander. Outposts placed beyond it would see more, but would have to be pushed far out, and would thus be much more exposed than if posted on the camp side ; and again outposts on the right bank of the river would in places be somewhat too near the main body to give timely warning of attack. The latter alter- native was the one chosen by Colonel Kekewich, but he gave orders that each picquet was to send out a patrol an hour before daylight, and that two special patrols, each a troop strong, were to move out in north-westerly and south- westerly directions respectively, at 4 A.M. One Derby picquet was to hold the main drift over the Selons River, and another was posted on the further bank.
At 7 P.M. on the 2gth the supply column with refugees and prisoners, under an escort of one company of the Derbys, J Squadron Scottish Horse,1 and a half
1 Less Captain P. N. Field, who took over command of A squadron.
Farr"
& —
Q&ts&lS
Scale of Ya.vd& (a pprcxima.lt)
SKETCH MAP OF THE ACTION AT MOEDWIL, SOTH SEPTEMBER 1901.
A= Imperial Yeomanry.
B= Scottish Horse.
C= Artillery and Pom-pom.
D= Derbyshire Regiment.
E= Transport.
F=C Squadron, Scottish Horse.
G=Line of advance of Steinkamp and Osthinzen.
H = Line of advance of Van Tender, Plessis, and
Boshoff.
J = Line of advance of Fowrie and Coetzie. K = Line of advance of Van Heerden and Kemp. L = Direction of first Boer attack. $ •= British picquets.
y. = Positions the Boers intended to take up. • = Those they actually took up.
52 A Military History of Perthshire
squadron of Yeomanry left the column for Naaupoort to " fill up," and the force in camp that evening resolved itself into four companies of the Derbys and one maxim, six and a half squadrons of mounted men, three guns of the 28th Battery and one pom-pom ; in all, about 900 men and 800 rifles.
The night passed quietly, and at 4.15 A.M., while still quite dark, a patrol moved out from the Devon Yeomanry picquet, on the extreme left of the line held by the mounted troops. Suddenly at about 4.30 some rifle shots were heard coming from the north-west ; the patrol had sighted Boers in the river-bed, had immediately opened fire in order to arouse the camp, and had then retired on the picquet, one man being taken prisoner. The first shots were followed by a loud outburst of fire from the same direction, a general alarm was given, and Colonel Kekewich turned out immediately. His orders were immediate and simple, and from first to last, according to the testimony of many who saw him, he was blessed with a complete coolness and decision which were in them- selves the ingredients of victory. The situation which he now had to face was actually as follows : —
Delarey, foremost and astutest of the leaders of the Dutch, had effected a sudden concentration of the western commandos, amounting to about noo men. A force under Kemp and Van Heerden, working south, was to occupy higher ground some 5000 yards to the east of the camp, and there to join hands with Steinkamp and Osthuisen pushing round by the north, while the main body under Delarey himself, with Fourie, Coetze, Van Tender, Plessis, and Boshoff, was to drive home an attack through the river-bed on to the front of the camp, and force the British to retire into the arms of Kemp. Delarey pur- posed to repeat the tactics of Kornspruit, and the deep scrubby valley which like a python enveloped two sides of the slope on which Kekewich's camp stood, lent itself to his plan. Collecting some 900 men in the river-bed, he pushed them up into the scrub which everywhere fringed the right bank, and only waited for daylight to come to open a murderous fire.
The first brunt of the attack now fell on the unfortunate picquets, and espe- cially on those of the mounted men who were responsible for the north-western and western sides of the camp ; these men at once found themselves enfiladed and all but engulfed in the firing line of the Boers. Point-blank fire was brought to bear on them from both flanks, and two of the Yeomanry picquets were in a few minutes all but annihilated. The enemy also pushed up the river and overwhelmed the Derby picquet at the main drift — every man but one being either killed or wounded.
The alarm having been given, the officers hastily collected their men and led them forward to the nearest spot, clear of the horse lines and tents, from which a field of fire could be obtained. By 4.45 A.M., and before darkness had fully given place to twilight, every unit had turned out of camp, with the exception of a small party of the Derbys, left behind to guard the ammunition.
The camp, however, which stood on the skyline of the rising ground, came
The Scottish Horse at Moedwil 53
under a heavy fire from west and north-west as the light increased, and many horses and men were hit. The fire was so hot that in a few minutes one of the field-guns was out of action — the detachment being all shot down — and the pom-pom is said to have jammed. Colonel Kekewich gave an order for some of the horses to be saddled up in order to be able to pursue the enemy later, but, to quote the words of one who took part in this attempt — " It was almost hopeless. All the men who were worth their salt were already in the firing line ; moreover the horses were dropping like shelled peas. ... In one troop-line there stood thirteen horses " (of the Scottish Horse). " Of these, twelve were hit (eight, if I remember right, being killed), and the thirteenth was so panic-stricken that it was found impossible, even after the fight, to saddle him." It was in several fruitless attempts to carry out this order that most of the casualties occurred among the officers and men of the Scottish Horse. Colonel Kekewich himself was hit twice (in the right shoulder and left side) but never discontinued directing operations.
The volume of fire directed on the tents and horses at this period of the fight far exceeded that which was turned upon the men in the firing line, for these were now lying down on the slope and were hardly visible ; hence for the most part the Boer fire passed over their heads until broad daylight came, when the attacking force could better see where the defenders of the camp lay. On the other hand, when the full light of day came, our men could get a better view of the enemy, and so did more execution.
At about 5.15 a report was sent in to Colonel Kekewich to the effect that a large body of the enemy was working round from the north to the east or rear of the camp, and a strong body of the Derbyshire Regiment under Major C. N. Watts moved out eastwards to be ready for eventualities. Major Watts, however, found that this report was incorrect— the Boers apparently not being able to carry out this part of their original plan — and being joined by Captain Mackenzie with a few of the Scottish Horse, and by Major R. A. Browne of the Border Regi- ment (who with much foresight had coUected all the servants, cooks, and orderlies in the camp), Major Watts followed the unbreakable rule of every successful soldier and " marched to the sound of the firing." Although he did not then recognise the fact, he thus eventually decided the day. Swinging his men round towards the north, he advanced with fixed bayonets against the enemy's left, through the ground held by C Squadron, Scottish Horse. This squadron had repulsed two determined attacks of the enemy, but had not been strong enough to drive him back unaided ; now, reinforced in this manner, it joined in an advance which was taken up all along the British line to north and north- west, and which at once became a most effective turning movement, enemy's left, thus threatened, gave way, and this was the beginning of the end, for at 6 A.M. a general retirement of the Boers from the river-bed began, up their horses, they galloped away towards the north and north-west, and only for a short distance did they come under the fire of our guns.
54 A Military History of Perthshire
The last shot was fired at 6.15. The fight had been a costly one, some 25 per cent, of Kekewich's column being killed or wounded — a fact which proves the intensity of the Boer rifle fire and the determination of the attack.
It is evident, however, that the patrols sent out before daylight precipitated matters and upset Delarey's plan. He had intended to delay his attack until Kemp and Steinkamp had worked round to the rear of the camp, and until day should be dawning, when — the camp being on the top of a slope against the skyline — few officers or men would ever have got out of it unhit. As it was, the attack took place before the Boer flanking parties had reached their destina- tion ; most of the British troops were in the firing line before dawn ; and though, as has been seen, the casualties in camp became very heavy as the light increased, they were far less than would have been the case had the attack been launched twenty minutes later.
It is said that the quality most requisite to successful generalship consists in the faculty of acting normally in abnormal times of emergency. A quick decision and a prompt execution of the only possible course achieved at Moedwil an unqualified success for the defence, when the least vacillation or want of control would have caused an unmitigated disaster.
All the Scottish Horse did well that day, but a brief mention should be made of three Perthshire men who rendered especially good service : — Major Duff, who by his able dispositions materially contributed to the victory ; Captain " Pete " Rattray, who gallantly led out his untried squadron to where the fire was hottest ; and Surgeon-Captain Kidd, who, though severely wounded early in the day, continued to attend to the wounded until 10 A.M., when he was obliged to give in through loss of blood. Two others should also be noted : — Lieutenant W. Jardine, who, in spite of having received two wounds, remained in command of his men, and Farrier-Sergeant Kirkpatrick, who pursued and killed Boshoff , the leader of the Boer scouts, who had got right into camp. Among those killed was an excellent non-commissioned officer, Scout-Sergeant William McGregor, from Weem.
The following tables show as nearly as can be ascertained the total casualties of the column, and the losses of the Scottish Horse in particular. It may also be mentioned that 327 horses and 185 mules were killed, and that 117 rounds of shrapnel, 800 rounds of maxim, and about 67,000 rounds of small-arm ammunition were expended.
CASUALTIES OF COLONEL KEKEWICH'S COLUMN AT MOEDWIL (Compiled from the official returns]
Officers. N.C.O.s and Men. Total.
Killed and died of wounds . . 5 56 61
Wounded 21 no 131
Total, 26 Total, 166 Grand total, 192
The Scottish Horse at Rooiwal 55
CASUALTIES OF THE IST SCOTTISH HORSE AT MOEDWIL
Officers. N.C.O.S and Men. Total.
Killed and died of wounds —
Captain H. A. F. Watson (Adjutant).
Lieutenants T. J. Irvine and 17 2O
H. N. C. Erskine-Flower. Wounded —
Major C. E. Duff. Major A. Blair, D.S.O. Captains P. M. Rattray and
P. N. Field. 41 53
Surgeon-Captain W. S. Kidd. Lieutenants J. Stuart- Wortley, D. Rattray, W. N. Edwards, M. Prior, D.S.O., W. Loring, N. C. G. Cameron, and W. Jardine.
Total, 15 Total, 58 Grand total, 73
ROOIWAL (April nth, 1902)
ON the night of the loth of April, in accordance with instructions from General Ian Hamilton (who was in supreme command of all the columns operating in the Western Transvaal), Colonel Kekewich's force, composed of Lieutenant- Colonel GrenfelTs and Lieutenant-Colonel Von Donop's columns, which for some months past had been operating in the Klerksdorp district, occupied a line running west and east along the valley of the Brakspruit and facing south. Kekewich's force covered ground from near the farms called Rooiwal and Doorn- bult to Oshoek (some three miles away to the east), where it joined hands with the Imperial Light Horse, who were on the right of Sir Henry Rawlinson's force. The only information available indicated generally that the majority of the enemy were some distance to the south. General Hamilton's orders to Kekewich for the nth of April were to move at an early hour to the junction of the Harts River and the Brakspruit, and thence to make a reconnaissance in a west-north- west direction, while Rawlinson's and Walter Kitchener's forces reconnoitred towards the south-west.
The " general idea " on which these dispositions were conceived was that of feeling for the enemy while maintaining close touch between the three forces, so that the cordon should be preserved and the enemy enclosed in the area between the columns and the block-houses.
Some few days prior to this date. General Delarey had passed through Colonel Kekewich's lines en his way to discuss terms of peace with Lord Kitchener at Klerksdorp, but there was no amnesty between the two armies. Kemp appears to have been in command of all the western commandos during
56 A Military History of Perthshire
Delarey's absence, and to have caused a large concentration of his men in the neighbourhood of Wolmaranstad on the loth of April. He had under him some 2000 of various commandos, the toughest veterans of the Boer forces — men who had been continuously in the field since October 1899, and whose pugnacious spirit had been fortified by an intimate experience of British tactics, by their own protracted resistance, and, in an especial sense, by their recent striking victories. Kemp's purpose on the loth of April was to concentrate every available man in close proximity to Kekewich, and then in repetition of the tactics which had recently been so successful, to envelop the British force and rush into close quarters.
Entirely unaware of any impending conflict, at 6 A.M. on the nth of April GrenfelTs and Von Donop's columns closed on their right and moved west — Von Donop's column leading — towards the junction of the Harts River and the Brakspruit. The country through which the column marched was not only stamped with a natural desolation, but scarred and disfigured with the debris, the putrefying bones and offal, of the recent wayfaring and fighting. At Doornbult l lay hundreds of animals ten days dead, and on almost every hillock and hollow were tokens of warfare, bodies and bones of animals, broken boxes, newly-covered graves — back-wash left by the storm. Only the white farmhouse of Rooiwal with its smoking chimney (comfortably nestling by some water in a sheltered hollow, between an orchard and an orange grove) at once struck the traveller's eye as the sole kindly and human feature in a fierce and inhospitable landscape.
At 7.30 A.M. the two columns had almost closed up, the head of Von Donop's column having reached the farm of Rooiwal, and his scouts being about a mile and a half ahead. It is said that a short time before this a little girl of about fourteen years of age had run out from the farmhouse up the hillside to the south and had waved her apron high above her head. It was afterwards con- jectured that this had been a signal to call her countrymen to battle, for before the column reached Rooiwal the officer commanding the advanced-guard re- ported that a large force was approaching from the left and asked if it was Rawlinson. Colonel Von Donop thereupon rode forward to reconnoitre.
At this moment the Scottish Horse,2 under Lieutenant-Colonel Leader (6th Dragoon Guards), were marching at the head of Grenfell's column and had reached a point about a mile east of Rooiwal farm. They were passing through the low ground along the river-bed, which is here flanked by a large bushy hill on its northern and by a smaller eminence on its southern side — forming a defile from which the view to the front is uninterrupted, but to either flank is limited by the kopjes. I continue the story from the point of view of those who were with the leading files of the Scottish Horse.
As Von Donop's column reached Rooiwal a few irregular shots were heard from the left front, followed immediately by three or four loud regular volleys,
1 Doornbult was the scene of Colonel Cookson's fight, which had taken place a few days before. 2 i.e. 1st Scottish Horse and Right Wing, 2nd Scottish Horse.
The Scottish Horse at Rooiwal 57
and almost simultaneously it was noticed that the fan-shaped regularity of the screen was broken and that there was some unaccountable galloping in front. A general tendency of this galloping in the direction of the north (that is to say, from the left front away towards the right), was also clearly perceived.
A few moments later — out of the distant uproar and across the bare stretch of plain and the deserted left front — galloped venire a terre a hatless horse- man straight for Colonel Grenfell. The Scottish Horse watched him growing clearer and wondered who he was. A few seconds later and he was hailed by Colonel Grenfell, and recognised as Percival of the 5th Fusiliers, Colonel Von Donop's aide-de-camp. " Those men in front are all Boers," he calmly but emphatically shouted, " Boers — nothing but Boers. I have galloped right through them myself."
Grenfell looked in the direction indicated and saw against the sky to his left front a thick black line, perhaps a mile away. It might have been anything — cattle or sheep or men — all one could say was that a black line a mile or more in length stretched thick and unbroken all along the skyline, across the front, left front, and left flank. Grenfell threw a glance at the screen — saw that it was not — and realised in a second that he must achieve his own salvation. A second glance at the long black line showed it blacker and longer, and dissipated doubts ; it was men — it was Boers — they were many — and Percival's informa- tion (at first so surprising as almost to be incredible), was swallowed and digested. Grenfell had some noo rifles, with two guns and a pom-pom, and acting under instructions from Colonel Kekewich, he now gave the following orders : — the guns and pom-pom immediately to come into action facing west ; the ist and 2nd Scottish Horse (460 rifles) to wheel to their left, dismount and advance towards the Boers, seizing some mealie-covered ground which rose slightly towards the enemy — thus covering the south-west ; the South African Con- stabulary (290 rifles) to protect the guns ; and the Yeomanry (420 rifles) to come up on the left of the Scottish Horse and face south. Otherwise expressed, Colonel Grenfell's intention was to dispose his column in a crescent-shaped line of dismounted men facing west, south-west, and south, on the best ground available in the few seconds which could be spared. The guns at once began firing at about noo yards range, and the Scottish Horse under Leader, being at the head of the column, were the first to get dismounted under a very heavy but inaccurate fire, under which horses were freely hit and some stampeded. Leader and the first troops climbed the slightly rising ground and took up the best position they could find, some fifty yards away from the horses, facing west and south-west. The men then extended and opened fire at about 600 yards, and the rest of the Scottish Horse formed up to right and left of these troops, extending the firing line until something very like what Grenfell pur- posed was realised.
Just as the remaining troops of the Scottish Horse followed Colonel Leader and the first troops into the firing line, so the other units formed on the Scottish Horse ; and eventually Von Donop's column rallied and formed on Grenfell.
58 A Military History of Perthshire
Thus it is literally true that Colonel Leader with the first few troops of the Scottish Horse formed the nucleus of the entire resistance, and in a sense the fortunes of the whole force depended on Leader at once getting every available rifle into occupation of the right ground ; for had the Boers galloped into Grenfell before he had had time to possess himself of the higher ground on his left, they would have been in occupation of a position from which the entire valley would have been at their mercy.
The Boers had advanced slowly so as to give their wings time to swing up and envelop the British force, and this cost them the day. For now the crisis was passed ; the Scottish Horse were lying along the higher ground with a good field of fire before them, and stolid north- countrymen are not easily dismayed by the moral effect of an advancing enemy.
The range rapidly diminished to five, four, and three hundred yards, but still the Boer line in close order, knee to knee, and two and more deep, moved slowly onward at the " trippling " pace of African ponies.
Seldom in the history of small-bore warfare have riflemen or gunners had a surer target than that thick crowded line of horsemen. There was no chance of a man mistaking his range ; each fired point blank as fast as he could fill his magazine, and the guns were using " case." Still, through this terrific fire- zone, on horses, on mules, on foot — the horsemen firing as they rode — the foot- men stopping anon to fire out of the " mealies " — the Boer line surged forward to the charge.
Those who had been at Omdurman had seen a similar imposing spectacle ; none of the rest of a veteran column had ever beheld so Homeric a sight as the confident onslaught of 2000 mounted men, knee to knee, two, three, and four deep.
Some of the leading Boers came to within 100 yards of the Scottish Horse and even closer to the Constabulary, and then the tornado of lead in which they found themselves was too much even for their determination, and they broke and galloped away, the last shot being fired at about 8.10 A.M.
Men now had leisure in which to realise that the day was won. Away on the right a few parties of the enemy were still trying to get round that flank through the scrub jungle on the hillside. To the left and to the front, near and far, were galloping horsemen and clouds of dust, while immediately before the recumbent British line were over 100 dead and wounded Dutchmen. Close to the Scottish Horse Maxim (which had done excellent service) lay Commandant Potgieter, a big man in a blue suit and jack boots ; and near by a lad of fourteen, himself badly wounded, was holding a blanket over a dying old man to shield him from the sun.
At about 9 o'clock, when the horses had been collected, a movement towards the south in echelon of columns to the right rear began. An unbroken line of scouts stretched from the valley of the river for six miles in a southerly direction, and for some three hours a ceaseless cantering pursuit was maintained through mealie fields and over the endless veld. " Only over the next rise " — but beyond
The Scottish Horse at Rooiwal 59
that was another and again another, and beyond again the dust clouds of the fugitives, which never seemed the nearer.
Here and there among the mealies lay wounded Boers ; here and there limped a wounded horse with sweat marks on his back, dripping blood, into the corn cobs. One might swear the rider was not far to seek ; but the pursuit of the dust clouds did not admit of drawing rein. At last in a hollow the Scottish Horse came upon their prize — two beat teams of mules harnessed to the last of the lost field-guns,1 one pom-pom, a small band of prisoners who held up their hands, and beyond, some waggons. Beyond again, four or five miles to the west, the broken commandos trailed up the hill track for Schweizer Reneke ; but the horses were now so exhausted that further pursuit was impossible. The men gave their animals a drink of liquid mud, burnt the waggons (expressing a courteous if not quite sincere regret to the female occupants), and turned their heads towards camp at Rooiwal.
A red-letter day — a day of a thousand days — was done, and a real success, pregnant with results as yet but dimly guessed by those who had achieved it, had been most cheaply won in a country of disasters.
The actual result of the fight, some say, was the end of the war in the west. Be this as it may, Kekewich's column had been privileged to witness a wondrous change in the character of their enemy ; — the changing of the leopard's spots — the transmigration of the soul of the Dervish into the heart of the Dutchman.
And the Scottish Horse had seen an even greater thing than that, for they had furnished in themselves an undeniable demonstration of the rule of war that stolid riflemen well led need fear no charge of horsemen, even though the latter be fortified by the prestige of former success.
CASUALTIES OF LIEUTENANT-COLONEL GRENFELL'S COLUMN AT ROOIWAL
i officer and 4 men killed. 4 officers and 37 men wounded. 200 horses killed.
AMMUNITION EXPENDED BY LIEUTENANT-COLONEL GRENFELL'S COLUMN
AT ROOIWAL
Small-arm ammunition, 42,000. Shell and case, 73. Pom-pom ammunition, 410.
SCOTTISH HORSE CASUALTIES
i N.C.O. died of wounds. 8 men wounded, i prisoner.
1 The guns lost at De Klip Drift on the 7th of March, 1902.
APPENDIX I
Officers and Men of the Scottish Horse who received rewards for services performed while with the Regiment?
FIRST REGIMENT. DISTINGUISHED SERVICE ORDER.
Captain I. R. Mackenzie (South African).2 Captain P. M. Rattray (South African).
BREVET OF LIEUTENANT-COLONEL.
Major H. P. Leader, Commanding (Canadian ; attached from 6th Dragoon Guards) — for capture of Sarel Alberts' laager at Gruisfontein, 5th February 1902.
DISTINGUISHED CONDUCT MEDAL.
Qrmr. and Hon. Lieut. E. A. Legge 3 (English; attached from Sq.-Qrmr.-Sergt. 1 8th Hussars).
SECOND REGIMENT.
VICTORIA CROSS. Lieutenant W. J. English (Scots) — for gallantry at Elandskloof, 3rd July 1901.
DISTINGUISHED SERVICE ORDER. Captain O. W. Kelly (Australian).
DISTINGUISHED CONDUCT MEDAL.
Regimental Sergeant-Ma j or J. Sharp (Scots ; attached from Royal Horse Guards). Regimental Sergeant-Major H. E. Varley (English ; attached from 6th Dgn. Guards).
1 This list does not include the numerous promotions made for merit. As the Scottish Horse had only a temporary existence, and as its numbers and personnel were continually fluctuating, very few promotions were made by seniority.
2 In the case of officers and men attached from the Regular Army, the words " South African," " Canadian," and so on, refer, so far is as known, to the countries to which such officers and men respectively belonged. In other cases they indicate the countries in which officers and men were respectively domiciled at the commencement of the war.
3 This officer served as quartermaster and honorary lieutenant throughout the period of his service with the Scottish Horse, but at the conclusion of the war was required to revert to his former rank in the i8th Hussars — a strange reward for his services in South Africa.
60
APPENDIX II
Officers and Men of the Scottish Horse who were mentioned in despatches for services performed while with the Regiment.
Lieut. -Col. the Marquess of Tullibardine, D.S.O., Commanding Scottish Horse (Scots ;
seconded from Royal Horse Guards). Lieut. W. F. Fison (Australian), Regimental Adjutant.
FIRST REGIMENT
Major (afterwards Lieut. -Col.) H. P. Leader, Commanding (Canadian) — for capture
of Sarel Alberts' laager at Gruisfontein, 5th Feb. 1902. Captain R. H. Dick-Cunyngham (Scots ; attached from 2ist Lancers) — for services
at Moedwil, 3oth Sept. 1901. Captain P. N. Field (South African) — for services in Magaliesberg Mountains, Sept.
1901. Captain I. R. Mackenzie (South African) — for services in Magaliesberg Mountains,
Sept. 1901. Captain C. E. Rice (Scots) — (i) for services at Beeste kraal, 3oth Oct. 1901, and
(2) for services in action with Delarey, 24th March 1902.
Surg.-Capt. W. S. Kidd (Scots) — for services at Moedwil (wounded), 3oth Sept. 1901. Lieutenant N. C. G. Cameron (Scots) — for services at Moedwil (wounded), 3Oth
Sept. 1901. Lieutenant W. Jardine (South African) — for services in Magaliesberg Mountains,
Sept. 1901, and at Moedwil (wounded), 3oth Sept. 1901.
Lieutenant W. A. King (South African) — for services at Beestekraal, 3Oth Oct. 1901. Lieutenant (afterwards Captain) W. Lawless (Canadian) — for services at Gruisfontein,
5th Feb. 1902.
Lieutenant S. H. Lewis (South African).
Lieutenant W. Loring (English) — for services at Moedwil (wounded), 3oth Sept. 1901. Lieutenant (afterwards Captain) A. Rattray (South African) — for services at Moedwil,.
3oth Sept. 1901.
Lieutenant H. T. Selby (Australian) — for services at Gruisfontein, 5th Feb. 1902. Lieutenant J. H. Symonds (South African) — for services at Moedwil, 3Oth Sept. 1901. Lieutenant J. C. Wallace (South African) — for services at Gruisfontein, 5th Feb. 1902. Lieutenant J. Stuart-Wortley (English) — for services at Moedwil (wounded), 3Oth
Sept. 1901.
Qrmr. and Hon. Lieut. E. A. Legge (English ; attached from i8th Hussars). Farr. -Major W. Fraser (Scots ; attached from Royal Horse Guards). Sq. Sergt.-Major G. H. Manley (English ; attached from I3th Hussars). Sq. Sergt. -Major F. Neale (Scots) — for services at Gruisfontein, 5th Feb. 1902.
6 2 A Military History of Perthshire
Farr.-Sergt. Scout R. H. Tellam (South African).
Farr.-Sergt. T. Kirkpatrick (Scots) — for services at Moedwil, 3oth Sept. 1901.
Sergeant (afterwards Sq. Sergt. -Major) G. Gunning (South African) — for services at
Gruisfontein, 5th Feb. 1902.
Sergeant C. E. I'Anson (English) — for services at Moedwil (wounded), 3oth Sept. 1901. Sergeant D. Mcllwraith (Scots) — (i) for services at Slipstein Kopjes, 4th April 1901,
and (2) in despatches of 23rd June 1902. Corporal Scout W. Ruddy (South African) — for scouting. Scout T. Gibbons (South African) — for scouting. Scout M. A. K. Shadwell (South African) — for scouting. Scout L. N. Smith (South African) — for scouting. Scout T. Tooms (South African) — for scouting.
Trooper l C. Barclay (Scots) — for services at Gruisfontein, 5th Feb. 1902. Trooper l C. H. M. McCallum (Scots) — for services at Gruisfontein, 5th Feb. 1902. Trooper 1 J. S. Robb (Scots). Trooper * G. Webster (Scots) — for services at Moedwil, 3oth Sept. 1901.
SECOND REGIMENT
Major A. Blair, D.S.O., Commanding Right Wing (Scots ; attached from King's Own
Scottish Borderers) — for services at Rooiwal, nth April 1902. Captain O. W. Kelly (Australian) — for services at Laatste Drift (wounded), isth
July 1901.
Lieutenant J. M. Baker (Scots).
Lieutenant J. L. Jack (Scots ; 2nd Vol. Batt. Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders). Lieutenant (afterwards Captain) D. Robertson (Scots) — for services at Bakenlaagte,
30th Oct. 1901. Qrmr. and Hon. Lieut. J. Murray2 (Scots; attached from Sq. Qrmr. -Sergt., 3rd
Dgn. Guards). Regimental Sergt. -Major W. G. Austin (Right Wing) (English ; attached from I9th
Hussars). Regimental Sergt. -Major J. Sharp (Scots ; attached from Royal Horse Guards) — for
services (i) at the Mauchberg, i4th June 1902, and at Elandskloof, 3rd July 1902 ;
(2) at Bakenlaagte, 3Oth Oct. 1901 ; and (3) (with ist Regiment) at Gruisfontein,
5th Feb. 1902.
Regimental Sergt. -Major H. E. Varley (English ; attached from 6th Dgn. Guards). Sq. Sergt. -Major E. Luther (Australian). Sergeant (afterwards Lieutenant) T. Firns (Australian) — for services at Elandskloof,
3rd July 1901. Sergeant (afterwards Sq. Qrmr.-Sergt.) R. B. F. Fraser (Scots) — for services at
Elandskloof (wounded), 3rd July 1901.
Sergeant J. C. Gange (Australian) — for services at Houtboschloop, I3th June 1901. Sergeant A. Martin3 (Right Wing) (Scots) — for services at Rooiwal, nth April
1902. Sergeant W. L. Whiteman (Australian) — for services at Elandskloof (wounded),
3rd July 1901.
1 Promoted corporal for gallantry in the field.
z This officer was treated at the close of the war in a similar manner to Lieutenant E. A. Legge (see note, p. 60). 3 Formerly in the ist Regiment.
Appendix II 63
Corporal F. H. Helmkemp (Australian).
Corporal (afterwards Sergeant) F. T. Kererouse (Australian) — for services at Laatste
Drift, 1 5th July 1901. Corporal W. Parker (South African) — for services at Rooiwal (with Right Wing),
nth April 1902. Died of exhaustion the same day.
Lance -Corporal l A. Redpath (Scots) — for services at Elandskloof, 3rd July 1901. Trooper l T. Fraser (Australian) — for services at Elandskloof, 3rd July 1901. Trooper l N. H. Grierson (Scots) — for services at Bakenlaagte (wounded), 3oth Oct.
1901. Trooper l F. W. Wilkinson (Tasmanian) — for services at Laatste Drift, i$th July 1901.
Though the foregoing articles do not claim to record events beyond 1902, it may be added that down to the present year (1907) the following officers and men of the Scottish Horse have obtained commissions in the Regular Army : —
FIRST REGIMENT
Rank Name Commission in
Lieutenant . . N. C. G. Cameron . . . The Northumberland Fusiliers. Lieutenant . . C. A. L. Irvine .... The King's Own Scottish Borderers.
Lieutenant . . L. A. Jones The Royal Warwickshire Regiment
(for Indian Army). Lieutenant . . J. H. Symonds .... 1 2th Lancers.
SECOND REGIMENT
Lieutenant . . W. Campbell The Highland Light Infantry.
Lieutenant . . W. J. English Army Service Corps.
Lieutenant . . W. E. Stuart The King's Own Scottish Borderers.
Corporal . . . N. H. Grierson .... The West India Regiment. Trooper . . . C. H. M. McCallum2 . . The Highland Light Infantry.
1 Promoted corporal for gallantry in the field.
2 Son of Colonel Sir Henry McCallum, G.C.M.G., A.D.C., Governor of Ceylon.
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS used in Records of Officers, Warrant Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers, and Men ; in the Table showing the Services of Officers of The Black Watch, pp. 22-28 ; and in the Indexes to Portraits, to Persons, and to Military Units and Departments.
|
A. ... |
— Army |
Dr. . . |
. — Driver |
Mil. . . . |
:= Militia |
|
A.A.U. . |
= Assistant Adjutant- |
Drum. |
. — Drummer |
Mily. . . . |
= Military |
|
General |
D.S.O. . |
. — Distinguished Ser- |
M.R.C.S. . |
= Member of the |
|
|
A. and S. H |
. — Argyll and Suther- |
vice Order |
Royal College of |
||
|
land Highlanders |
Edin. . . |
. = Edinburgh |
Surgeons |
||
|
A.B. . . |
= Able-bodied Sea- |
Farr. . . |
. = Farrier |
M.R.C.V.S. |
= Member of the Royal |
|
man |
Fight. . |
. = Fighting |
College of Veteri- |
||
|
Abdn. . |
= Aberdeen |
F.M. . . |
|