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1899 - Diary of the siege of Mafeking by Edward Ross

Tuesday, 9 January

Raining all night and all the morning, everything very miserable.

Kaffir hit yesterday with shell, died during the night; Meal died of dysentry.

More rumours of ructions at the hospital; Dowling is clearing out, says he cannot stand it.

Another runner in from the north. He tells us that the chief Linchwe has been defeated by the Boers, and that Plumer’s men have gone back to assist him.

The northern fellows are fortifying Mochudi and keeping it as a base.

We also had a runner who came in with a message from Doctor Nugent at Vryburg. He tells us that all the loyalists there are on parole and are not having a very pleasant time; he also says that he has heard that Methuen is in Kimberley with 10 000 men and that Warren is at Modder River with 9,000. So that this month ought to tell a big tale. I figure it out that there are three possibilities of our relief: one from the north, that is if they have got more men; one from the south; and the other that the Boers now surrounding Mafeking may have to retire under force of circumstances, through our commander-in-chief. We can very easily lay low and hold out, and it is not likely that the Boers will again attack us, unless it might be the final attack before our relief comes - all our natives tell us that the enemy are preparing themselves to make a big stand against our approaching forces.

All sorts of news and rumours, good, bad and indifferent, flying about the camp.

How many more mistakes are our generals going to make? White1* of Natal lost a small army of men at the commencement, then Gatacre lost some 600 odd through treacherous guides, then Buller lost a whole battery of artillery with very big loss of life. Is it the same old thing every time, carelessness and bad guiding? Or is it the old thing of always despising the Boers ? And what an appalling lot of officers we are losing! Our officers, of course, like the brave men they are, always lead their men into action. This is where the Boer gets the best of us. He stands as far in the rear as possible and endeavours to drive his men on; whilst our officers leading get picked off, their commandants are perfectly safe.

Another deplorable accident, against the like of which orders were issued the other day by B.P., occurred at about 7.30 this evening. A man named Graham was endeavouring to open an unexploded 94-pound shell when it burst, badly wounding himself, four other men and two children. They have all been removed to the hospital. If Graham recovers he will be tried by the Court of Summary Jurisdiction.

The authorities are tomorrow taking over all grocery stocks held by the merchants and townspeople; they intend storing them and will only issue what is absolutely required as rations. Many things are now beginning to run low: no oatmeal, matches, milk, tea, etc., and worst of all whisky is getting very scarce, bread has been reduced to 1lb per man per day. We shall have it worse yet I am afraid.

It has rained off and on the whole day and hardly a shot has been fired.

Sent telegrams away both north and south, this is now the 9th telegram I have sent, surely some of them must have got through. If one could only get news of our friends in the outside world life would be much more cheerful but the anxiety and worry are 10 times worse than the enemy’s shells and bullets. Many and many a time I lay and think and wonder how they are outside, Mother, Babs, Helen, etc.

Yesterday at one of the western outposts a Maxim which had been taken up there during the night was found to be useless owing to something having gone wrong with the asbestos packing; luckily this was found out in time as we do not want that sort of thing to happen when the gun is in action and the enemy advancing.