In July 1899 Colonel Baden-Powell was sent out to Rhodesia to raise two
regiments, in order to protect the borders of that country and of the
Bechuanaland Protectorate in the event of war. Recruiting began on
10th August, and the two regiments, namely, the Rhodesian, under Colonel Plumer, and the Protectorate, Colonel Hore, were raised, trained, and
equipped before war broke out. Colonel Baden-Powell had about twenty
regular officers to assist him in his task. In September Baden-Powell
took down to Mafeking the Bechuanaland Regiment. He left Colonel
Plumer with the Rhodesian Regiment, and some of the British South Africa
Police, to watch the northern and north-western borders of the Transvaal,
and if possible to keep the railway from Bulawayo to Mafeking open.
Colonel Plumer and his regiment went to Tuli, where about 100 British South
Africa Police were already posted. Between 11th October and 25th
November the Tuli force was very frequently engaged, a Boer force of about
1700 being opposed to them. On 22nd October there was sharp fighting
at the drifts on the Crocodile River, in which Captain Blackburn was
mortally wounded, Sergeant Major Young and 3 men were killed, and several
were wounded. About the middle of December it was ascertained that the
Boer force had retired towards the south, and Colonel Plumer then moved west
towards the railway, which had been broken by the enemy. Colonel
Nicholson, of the British South Africa Police, with 350 men of the Police
and Rhodesian Volunteers, had taken up positions on the railway, the most
southern being Palapye, about 200 miles from Mafeking. On 14th January
1900 Colonel Plumer got to Gaberones, 100 miles farther down the line.
Ten miles south of that place the Boers held a strong position, and Plumer's
men did a lot of fighting before the enemy cleared out of their position on
25th February 1900. On 12th February Captain French and 6 men were
killed, and Major Straker and Lieutenant Colonel H F White and about 20 men
were wounded. On 6th March Lobatsi, 60 miles from Mafeking, was
reached by Plumer. On 15th March the Boers attacked Plumer's force.
Lieutenant Tyler was killed and several men were wounded. Lieutenant
Chapman, whose horse fell close to the enemy, was captured. After more
fighting Sefetili, 30 miles northwest of Mafeking, was reached, and a
message sent into Baden-Powell was duly replied to. Colonel Plumer and
his little force had done, and continued to do, all that men could do to
keep the enemy off the town. On 26th March they made an incursion into
the Transvaal to within twelve miles of Zeerust, and on the 31st they
reconnoitred to within six miles of Mafeking. On this date the enemy
was found in strength, and the British mounted troops lost heavily.
Colonel Plumer was wounded on the arm. The Rhodesian Regiment had
Captain F Crewe and Lieutenant Milligan and 6 men killed, and Major Weston
Jarvis, Captain Maclaren, and Captain Holt, and 30 men wounded.
Lieutenant F Smitheman, who had distinguished himself as a scout in
Matabeleland, penetrated the lines of the investing force, got into Mafeking
on 4th April, and rejoined Plumer on the 8th. By his influence he
induced many natives to break out, and between his visit and the relief 1200
natives came out, and so saved the garrison's food supplies. On 1st
May 100 men of the British South Africa Police from Mashonaland joined
Plumer. On the 12th he received a message that Colonel Mahon would be
on the Molopo on 15th May, and on the 14th he was joined by a most welcome
reinforcement of over 100 Queensland Mounted Infantry, dismounted, and a
Canadian battery of 4 guns. On the same day Plumer, with about 800 men
and 8 guns, set out, and succeeded in joining hands with Mahon on the Molopo
on the 15th. On the 16th was fought the engagement already touched
upon under the Imperial Light Horse, and Mafeking was entered on the 17th
before dawn. Lieutenants Harland and Lloyd and several men of the
regiment were killed, and Major Bird and Lieutenant A J Forbes and 20 men
were wounded in the fighting outside Mafeking. Out of thirteen
Imperial officers serving with the regiment four had been killed, five
wounded, and one captured, up to 18th May; while one volunteer officer had
been killed and two wounded.
On the 17th the Boers were driven from the confines of the town, and on the
20th Plumer occupied Zeerust, and afterwards Ottoshoop and Polfontein.
Baden-Powell and Plumer now moved farther east, and Rustenburg was occupied
on 10th June.
After the relief of Mafeking the Rhodesian Regiment was much split up:
the greater portion accompanied General Plumer to the Rustenburg district,
but detachments were left at different posts. In Lord Roberts'
telegram of 8th August 1900 he said that he feared that Colonel Hore's force
at Eland's River (between Rustenburg and Zeerust) had been captured.
He also said that the garrison consisted of about 140 Australian Bushmen, 80
of the Rhodesian Regiment, and 80 Rhodesian Volunteers. Mr Green, in
his 'Story of the Australian Bushmen’ (Sydney, 1903), gives what appears to
be the best account yet published of the Eland's River defence. He
arrived there on 16th July. Even then the Boers were in strong force
in the neighbourhood, and Colonel Hore kept his men busy on entrenchments,
but the garrison could scarcely be got to believe that this was necessary
work. On the 19th Major Tunbridge and a squadron of the 3rd Queensland
Mounted Infantry brought in a convoy. The intention was that he should
go on with it to Rustenburg, but Hore deemed this inadvisable. Patrols
were kept moving out, and there was often fighting, as on the 21st and 23rd.
On the 22nd there was a severe engagement at Koster's River, between Eland's
River and Rustenburg (see 1st New South Wales Bushmen). On 3rd August
Hore learned that there was a concentration of Boers, over 2000, in his
immediate neighbourhood. On the 4th the enemy commenced the attack by
opening a heavy fire on parties who were taking the horses to water.
Mr Green states that the garrison was now as follows:—
Queensland Mounted Infantry, Major Tunbridge:
140
New South Wales Bushmen, Captain Thomas: 100
Rhodesian Regiment and Volunteers, Protectorate Regiment,
Captain Butters and Lieutenant
Myburg: 150
Victorian Bushmen, Captain Ham (3rd Contingent): 5
A few British South Africa Police were also present.
Total about 500.
The garrison possessed one 7-pounder gun and two maxims; the enemy had
nine modern guns.
On the 4th no less than 1500 shells fell within the perimeter of the
defence, and the casualties were 32, of whom 5 were killed. On the
night of the 4th and every night afterwards the men worked hard at the
trenches, deepening those already made, and providing head cover from
waggons which had been smashed.
No part of the camp was secure from shell-fire, and the hospital was several
times struck. On the 5th Carrington's force approached so near that
they could be plainly seen, but his effort to break through seems to have
been almost contemptible, and Mr Green states that he actually retreated
seventeen miles that night, to the amazement of his own officers and men.
On the 6th an attempted relief was commenced by Baden-Powell: he got within
twenty miles but turned, because he had heard the garrison had surrendered.
According to Mr Green's account, and his version is well supported, there
was bungling all round, and Lord Roberts was anything but satisfied with his
lieutenants. After the 6th shell and rifle fire continued, but were
not so heavy as on the 4th. Some incidents of how snipers stalked
snipers were almost amusing. One Boer, who had done much firing but
could not for some time be located, was at last found in a tree and duly
brought to the ground. About the 8th Delarey sent in what was a very
gentlemanly letter, asking surrender: he said he had driven back Carrington,
which was true. Hore declined to surrender, and asked his opponent to
keep his shells off the hospital, a request which was attended to.
Fighting continued till the 15th. On that morning there was no reply
to the defender's fire. A force could that day be seen in the
distance, but could not be identified as friend or enemy. On the 16th,
at 3 AM, some West Australians, the advance scouts of Lord Kitchener's
Division, rode in. Lord Kitchener came in at 7 am. He remarked:
"You have had a hot time, but have made a wonderful defence". The
severity of the fire may be guessed from the fact that out of 1540 animals
in camp, 1379 were lost. Owing to the good trenches, the casualties
among the troops were slight in comparison. About 10 men were killed
and 43 wounded, of whom 8 died. The Rhodesian Regiment lost 4 killed
and 2 wounded, the Volunteers 2 killed and 2 wounded, and the British South
Africa Police 2 killed and 2 wounded. Lord Roberts said: "The gallant
defence of this post was most creditable to Colonel Hore and the troops
under his command". Lieutenant Sandilands, of the Cameron Highlanders,
who was with his own mounted infantry in the relieving force, wrote in the
'War Record of the 79th': "To my mind the defence of the garrison at Eland's
River was quite one of the finest things in the whole war", and he goes on
to give some details, and says every one will agree that it was a defence of
which the Colonies "may well be proud".
After the relief Lord Kitchener split up his force, sending part of it on
to Mafeking with Lord Methuen, who took the garrison with him.
In regard to the attempts at relief, Major General Carrington, who had
landed at Beira to command the brigade of Australian Bushmen which
disembarked there, had crossed Rhodesia and entered the Transvaal from the
north-west border. General Carrington had been compelled to split up
the Rhodesian Field Force, and to despatch portions of it across the
north-west of the Transvaal to reinfore Generals Baden-Powell and Plumer.
He had thus had to weaken the portion at his own disposal in August, but he
was still in command of a fairly strong force—about 1000 men and a
15-pounder battery manned by New Zealanders,—and no one seemed to have any
doubt that he would be able to push through to Rustenburg if necessary.
He had left Zeerust on 3rd August to go to Eland's River, and it is said
that on the way he received a message from Hore that the enemy were very
threatening. But Carrington did not push through, as he was expected
to do, at all costs. After an engagement which cannot be described as
severe, and after reconnoitring to within a few miles of Hore's camp, he
retired, not only to Zeerust, but actually to Mafeking.
Perhaps General Carrington's information was that the enemy's strength in
the district was overwhelming, and certainly two correspondents who were
with him did wire that his force was too weak. But that does not seem
to have been the opinion of Lord Roberts, who on 14th August, after he had
learned of Carrington's retreat, wired: "Carrington has been ordered to
proceed at once to Zeerust".
On 6th August Baden-Powell approached Eland's River from Rustenburg,
"but", in the words of the despatch, "though firing was going on, its sound
became more distant; and concluding that Lieutenant Colonel Hore's force had
either been captured by the enemy or relieved by Carrington, he retired to
Rustenburg". Want of supplies prevented another attempt being made
from the Rustenburg direction. Between 7th and 14th August Lord
Kitchener, with several columns, was pursuing De Wet from the Vaal towards
the Megaliesberg. On the 13th August a messenger reached Mafeking: he
had been sent on the 10th by Hore with a request for assistance. Lord
Roberts at once directed Lord Kitchener to press on to Hore's relief; and,
as already stated, this was effected on 16th August.
The Eland's River garrison having, as already stated, marched to Mafeking
with Lord Methuen, was, after some weeks' rest there, railed via De Aar and
Bloemfontein to Pretoria, where it was inspected and congratulated by Lord
Roberts on 1st October.
The bulk of the Rhodesian Regiment was, during July, August, and
September, operating to the east of Rustenburg and to the north of Pretoria.
In Lord Roberts' telegram of 22nd August, he said that Paget reported from
Haman's Kraal that Baden-Powell was engaged with Commandant Grobler's
rear-guard all the previous day. Grobler was driven back on the east
of the Pienaar's River. During the fight, Baden-Powell's and the
enemy's advance guards galloped into each other. The Rhodesians
suffered severely, Lieutenant Colonel Spreckley, commanding Rhodesian
Volunteers, and 4 men being killed, and Lieutenant Irvine and 6 men wounded.
In the despatch it was stated that, as a result of this fighting, 100
British prisoners were rescued and 25 Boers captured. Colonel
Spreckley was a splendid type of the colonial officer, and had done grand
work in the Matabele Wars.
Soon after this, about the end of September, the year for which the
Rhodesian men were engaged expired, and they were disbanded. Neither
the regiment nor the Rhodesian Volunteers seem to have suffered any
casualties in action after 22nd August 1900.
In his evidence, already quoted, General Plumer remarked: "In connection
with engineer services I should like to record the excellent work done by
the engineer troop of the South Rhodesian Volunteers who came and repaired
the railway. They were all railway employees, and it was owing to
their work that the railway from Bulawayo, on which so much depended, was so
rapidly repaired". They also manned the armoured trains.
The Mentions gained were as follows:—
LORD ROBERTS' FINAL DESPATCHES.—Colonel Beale (BSA Company); Colonel
Spreckley (killed); Major A Weston Jarvis (got CMG); Captains
G Glyn,
F Smitheman; Lieutenant A Myburgh,
Rhodesian Regiment; Captain G Hook;
Sergeant Major J Lough, South Rhodesian Volunteers; Troopers C Bentley, G F
Burton or Parton, Rhodesian Regiment; Trooper C Duner; Sergeant Major Webb,
South Rhodesian Volunteers; Lieutenant Duly, Rhodesian Volunteers,
commanding cyclists.
LORD KITCHENER'S DESPATCH: 8th May 1901.—Captain and Local Lieutenant
Colonel Grey's time leading has much contributed to the success of the
operations (March 1901); he at all times displays marked ability as a leader
of men. At the time to which this entry refers, Lieutenant Colonel
Grey was commanding some New Zealand troops in the Western Transvaal; he had
at one time been an officer in the Inniskilling Dragoons, and his old
regiment were very proud of his success on 23rd March (see War Record of the
Inniskillings).
