After the relief of Kimberley and
Ladysmith we imagined that the decisive battles would soon follow. Although
my knee was not yet cured, I went to Glencoe, whither our commandos had
retreated. I was not five days there when I had to leave, being unfit for
active service. Again I went to Warmbad for some weeks with Mr. Burgemeester
Potgieter and his family, and on my return to Pretoria remained in my office
until the beginning of May.
Meanwhile Frits had returned from
the Free State, and my knee was cured. We each bought ourselves a sturdy
pony, and left, with some other burghers, by train for Klerksdorp, from
where we went on to Dewetsdrift, on the Vaal River. General Viljoen was
guarding the drift there with some hundreds of burghers. We rode from there
some four or five hours into the Free State to spy the movements of the
enemy.
From Dewetsdrift we went, under
Commandant Boshoff, to Schoemansdrift, Venterskroon, and Lindequidrift. Our
division formed part of the escort for the guns. Our route lay through
beautiful scenery. The Vaal twists and bends between two high mountains that
curve on either side like the roads the khaki makes with his double row of
waggons over the hills of the Hoogeveld. In every opening of the mountains
lies a farm, a mean little house, but among well-cultivated fields. In
nearly every farm the family was grieving for one of its members who had
been taken prisoner along with Cronje, and of whose fate they were in
ignorance. The people received us very kindly. Everywhere we got milk and
biscuits, and we found afterwards that those people were the kindest who had
suffered the most from the war.
As the enemy were already on their
way to Johannesburg, we had to retreat as rapidly as possible, first to Bank
Station, near Potchefstroom, and then by train to Langlaagte. To the
north-west of Johannesburg we had a skirmish with the enemy, who attacked us
as we were feeding our horses. It appeared that our guard was not on duty. I
have never seen horses saddled so quickly. Most of the burghers rode off and
left us behind with the guns. One ammunition waggon stuck in the mud, and
was left behind, but was brought in safety to Pretoria by Frans Lottering, a
comrade of mine, who rode back for it with some gunners when we had fled.
Lottering was given a sword by General de la Rey for his brave conduct.
Through negligence on the part of our officers we lost on that occasion one
gun, several waggons, and some of our men.
Almost all night long we retreated
with our guns to Pretoria. We had not lost courage. We all spoke of the
thorough way in which our Government would have fortified Pretoria, and of
the great battle that would take place there. We had all made up our minds
to a stubborn resistance at our capital. What a bitter disappointment it was
to find that our Government had decided not to defend the town! The causes
that led to such a decision will be brought to light by historians. The
consequences were that many of the burghers were discouraged, and rode 'huis-toe,'
and nothing came of the great battle that was to have been fought.
Frits and I decided to give our
horses a few days' rest in their stables before going to meet the enemy.
On June 4, at about twelve o'clock,
while we were at luncheon, a lyddite bomb fell close to the fort, raising a
cloud of dust. My mother went outside, and came back quickly to tell us that
it was not a shot _from_ the fort, but from the enemy. The bombs followed in
quick succession. They flew over Schanskop fort, and fell close to our house
at Sunnyside. As the ground was rocky they exploded well. My mother and
sister fled with our neighbours to the town, and my brother and I saddled
our horses and rode off to Quaggaspoort.
From over the mountains, to the
south of the town, the bombs came flying as a gentle warning from the
khakies that it would be better to surrender in order to avoid a great
calamity.
It was sad to see how few horses
there were at the foot of the mountain. Here a group of four, there of
ten--a sign that the number of burghers in the positions was very small
indeed. When the enemy appeared at Quaggaspoort, we noticed that the
burghers from the direction of Krokodil River were retreating, and a moment
later they were all in full flight. One of my comrades, a brother of
Lottering, was wounded in the arm by a shell as he fled, and had to remain
behind in Pretoria. That night my brother and I spent in our own home, but
we left the town the following morning in the direction of Silverton, just
before the enemy entered.
It would be well to try and
understand the condition of our country and the temper of our burghers.
As the capital was in the hands of
the enemy, it was easy enough to convince our simple-minded men that our
country was irretrievably lost to us. Therefore a period of discouragement
and demoralization followed. Many burghers, also, who had all along fought
bravely now remained behind in the towns or on their farms, not daring to
leave their wives and daughters at the mercy of the soldiers. We may not
judge those men, neither need we consider it to our credit that we, either
from a sense of duty or from a spirit of adventure, acted differently. There
were many also who argued that the Government was corrupt, and that the war
should have been prevented, or that the Boers did not want to fight. So they
also became unfaithful to the cause, and to those along with whom they began
the war. And the name of 'hands-upper' was earned by those burghers who of
their own free will surrendered to the enemy. The chaff was divided from the
grain; cowards and traitors remained behind, and the willing ones went to
the veld, even though it were in a retreating direction. We were still very
hopeful. There were still the good positions in the Lydenberg district, and
we had heard that De Wet had cut the line of communication behind the enemy.
We also still had an intact line to Delagoa Bay.
My brother and I met our old comrade
Frans Loitering, and the three of us went in search of General Grobler of
Waterberg, who lay with his commando to the east of Pretoria at Franspoort,
near Donkerhoek. There we joined his commando. Our camp was put up near a
Kaffir location, and as the Kaffirs were clean, we often bought boiled sweet
potatoes and crushed maize from them.
Nothing particular happened at
Franspoort. To the right and left of us some desperate fighting went on for
several days, and at Donkerhoek a fierce battle took place, but we were not
attacked.
When the news came that the enemy
had broken through our lines at Donkerhoek, and that we had to retreat, my
brother and I left Grobler's commando. Thinking that the commandos would
fall back upon the positions of Belfast, we went to Middelburg to an uncle
of ours, the missionary Jan Mare, in order to give our horses a rest. We had
lost sight of our comrade Frans. On our way we bought bread at the farms, or
had it given us, cut a piece off an ox that had been slaughtered for the
commando, and slept either in a manger or, as was more often the case, in
the open air of the cold Hoogeveld. We arrived at Middelburg completely
exhausted, and are not likely to forget our uncle's great hospitality.
We accidentally met our former
Commandant, Boshoff, who told us that he was on his way with ten men to join
General de la Rey, who had gone in the direction of Rustenburg to cut the
enemy's line of communication between Mafeking and Pretoria, and we very
willingly joined him, after a delightful rest of ten days.
The commando of Commandant Boshoff
consisted of nine burghers with an ambulance waggon--that was used for the
commissariat and for our bedding--a French doctor, two Kaffirs and two
tents. It seemed as if we were going for a picnic. But it was necessary that
we should be well provided with all sorts of things, as our journey would be
through the Boschland, where fever and horse-sickness play havoc with man
and horse in summer. In winter it is endurable for a few months only, so the
country is very scarcely populated and almost uncultivated, and in winter
the Boers trek there with their cattle from the bare, chill Hoogeveld. I had
always longed to see that part of the Transvaal.
