Up
to the 9th of December I had only been a Vice-Commandant, but on the morning
of that day I received a telegram from States-President Steyn, asking me to
go to the Western frontier as Vechtgeneraal.
This came as a great surprise to me, and I telegraphed back to the President
asking for time to think the matter over. To tell the truth, I should have
much preferred to go through the campaign as a private burgher.
Almost immediately after this there came another telegram—this time from Mr.
A. Fisscher, a member of the Executive Council, and a man whom I respected
greatly on account of his official position. He urged me not to decline the
appointment, but to proceed at once to the Western borders. I did not know
what to do. However, after deliberating for a short time, and with great
difficulty overcoming my disinclination to leave my present associates, I
decided to accept the post offered to me. Commandant Steenekamp was kind
enough to allow me to take with me fourteen men, with whom I had been on
especially friendly terms; and, after a few parting words to the Heilbron
burghers, in which I thanked them for all the pleasant times I had passed in
their company, I left the laager.
It
was heart-breaking to tear myself away from my commando: that 9th of
December was a day which I shall never forget.
The following morning I arrived, with my staff, at Elandslaagte Station, on
our way to Bloemfontein. A special train, provided by the Transvaal
authorities, at the request of my Government, was waiting for us, and we
started without a moment's delay. As we journeyed on, the conductor would
sometimes ask me whether I should like to stop at such and such a station,
but my answer was always:
"No! no! hurry on!"
But when we got as far as Viljoen's Drift, there was an end to my "special
train!" In spite of the Government's orders that I was to be sent forward
without delay, I had to wait six hours, and then be content to travel as an
ordinary passenger.
At
Bloemfontein we found everything ready for us, and at once started on our
journey of sixty or seventy miles to Magersfontein, where we arrived on
December the 16th.
During the time I had spent in travelling, three important engagements had
taken place, namely those of Colenso, Magersfontein and Stormberg. At
Colenso, the English had suffered heavy losses, and ten guns had fallen into
our hands. Magersfontein also had cost them dear, and there General Wauchope
had met his fate; while at Stormberg seven hundred of them had been taken
prisoners, and three of their big guns had been captured by us.
At
Magersfontein were six or seven thousand Transvaal burghers under General
Piet Cronje, with General De la Rey as second in command. Thus it fell to my
lot to take over the command of the Free-Staters. The Commander-in-Chief of
these Free State burghers, as well as of those who were camped round
Kimberley, was Mr. C.J. Wessels; Mr. E.R. Grobler commanded at Colesberg,
and Mr. J.H. Olivier at Stormberg.
I
spent my first few days at Magersfontein in organizing the Free State
burghers. When this task had been accomplished, General De la Rey and I
asked General Cronje's permission to take fifteen hundred men, and carry on
operations in the direction of Hopetown and De Aar with the intention of
breaking Lord Methuen's railway communications. But Cronje would hear
nothing of the scheme. Say what we would, there was no moving him. He
absolutely refused to allow fifteen hundred of his men to leave their
positions at Magersfontein, unless the Government found it impossible to
procure that number of burghers from elsewhere. Thus our plan came to
nothing.
Shortly afterwards De la Rey was sent to the commandos at Colesberg, and I
succeeded him in the command of the Transvaalers at Magersfontein. The
Government then put General Wessels in sole command at Kimberley, and gave
General Cronje the chief command over the Free State burghers at
Magersfontein. Thus it was that I, as Vechtgeneraal, had to receive my
orders from Cronje. I had the following Commandants under me: Du Preez, of
Hoopstad; Grobler, of Fauresmith; D. Lubbe, of Jacobsdal; Piet Fourie, of
Bloemfontein; J. Kok and Jordaan, of Winburg; Ignatius Ferreira, of
Ladybrand; Paul De Villiers, of Ficksburg; Du Plessis, and, subsequently,
Commandant Diederiks, of Boshof.
The English had entrenched themselves at the Modder River, we at
Magersfontein. There was little or nothing for us to do, and yet I never had
a more troublesome time in my life. I had all the Transvaalers under my
orders, in addition to the burghers of the Free State, and the positions
which I had to inspect every day extended over a distance of fifteen miles
from end to end. I had to listen to constant complaints; one of the officers
would say that he could not hold out against an attack if it were delivered
at such and such a point; another, that he had not sufficient troops with
him, not to mention other remarks which were nonsensical in the extreme.
In
the meantime, the enemy was shelling our positions unceasingly. Not a day
passed but two of their Lyddite guns dropped shells amongst us. Sometimes
not more than four or five reached us in the twenty-four hours; at other
times from fifty to two hundred, and once as many as four hundred and
thirty-six.
In
spite of this, we had but few mishaps. Indeed, I can only remember three
instances of any one being hurt by the shells. A young burgher, while riding
behind a ridge and thus quite hidden from the enemy, was hit by a bomb, and
both he and his horse were blown to atoms. This youth was a son of Mr.
Gideon van Tonder, a member of the Executive Council. Another Lyddite shell
so severely wounded two brothers, named Wolfaard, Potchefstroom burghers,
that we almost despaired of their lives. Nevertheless, they recovered. I do
not want to imply that the British Artillery were poor shots. Far from it.
Their range was very good, and, as they had plenty of practice every day,
shot after shot went home. I ascribe our comparative immunity to a Higher
Power, which averted misfortune from us.
I
had not been long at Magersfontein before I became convinced that Lord
Methuen was most unlikely to make another attack on our extensive positions.
I said nothing of this to any of the burghers, but on more than one
occasion, I told General Cronje what I thought about the matter.
"The enemy," I repeated to him over and over again, "will not attack us
here. He will flank us." But Cronje would not listen to me.
The presence of women in our laager was a great hindrance to me in my work.
Indeed, I opened a correspondence with the Government on the matter, and
begged them to forbid it. But here again my efforts were unavailing. Later
on, we shall see in what a predicament the Republican laagers were placed
through the toleration of this irregularity.
Meanwhile, the inevitable results of Cronje's policy became more and more
apparent to me, and before long we had to suffer for his obstinacy in
keeping us to our trenches and schanzes.[16]
[15] A table-shaped mountain.
[16] A shelter-mound of earth and boulders.
