FUSILIERS IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN WAR***


E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, Christine P. Travers, and the Project
Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)



Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
      file which includes the original illustrations.
      See 25618-h.htm or 25618-h.zip:
      (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/2/5/6/1/25618/25618-h/25618-h.htm)
      or
      (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/2/5/6/1/25618/25618-h.zip)


Transcriber's note:

      Obvious printer's errors have been corrected. All other
      inconsistencies are as in the original. The author's spelling
      has been maintained.





THE SECOND BATTALION ROYAL DUBLIN FUSILIERS IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN WAR

With a Description of the Operations in the Aden Hinterland

by

MAJORS C. F. ROMER & A. E. MAINWARING







[Illustration: _W. & D. Downey._

H.R.H. The Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, K.G.,
Commander-in-Chief of The Mediterranean Forces, and Colonel-in-Chief
of The Royal Dublin Fusiliers.]



[Illustration: E Libris, The Royal Dublin Fusiliers.]


London: A. L. Humphreys, 187 Piccadilly, W.
1908




PREFACE


The 2nd Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers is one of the oldest
regiments in the service. It was raised in February and March, 1661,
to form the garrison of Bombay, which had been ceded to the Crown as
part of the dowry of the Infanta of Portugal, on her marriage with
King Charles II. It then consisted of four companies, the
establishment of each being one captain, one lieutenant, one ensign,
two sergeants, three corporals, two drummers, and 100 privates, and
arrived at Bombay on September 18th, 1662, under the command of Sir
Abraham Shipman. Under various titles it took part in nearly all the
continuous fighting of which the history of India of those days is
principally composed, being generally known as the Bombay European
Regiment, until in March, 1843, it was granted the title of 1st Bombay
Fusiliers. In 1862 the regiment was transferred to the Crown, when the
word 'Royal' was added to its title, and it became known as the 103rd
Regiment, The Royal Bombay Fusiliers. In 1873 the regiment was linked
to the Royal Madras Fusiliers, whose history up to that time had been
very similar to its own. By General Order 41, of 1881, the titles of
the two regiments underwent yet another change, when they became known
by their present names, the 1st and 2nd Battalions Royal Dublin
Fusiliers.

The 2nd Battalion first left India for home service on January 2nd,
1871, when it embarked on H.M.S. _Malabar_, arriving at Portsmouth
Harbour about 8 a.m. on February 4th, and was stationed at Parkhurst.
Its home service lasted until 1884, when it embarked for Gibraltar. In
1885 it moved to Egypt, and in 1886 to India, where it was quartered
until 1897, when it was suddenly ordered to South Africa, on account
of our strained relations with the Transvaal Republic. On arrival at
Durban, however, the difficulties had been settled for the time being,
and the regiment was quartered at Pietermaritzburg until it moved up
to Dundee in 1899, just previous to the outbreak of war.

The late Major-General Penn-Symons assumed command of the Natal force
in 1897, and from that date commenced the firm friendship and mutual
regard between him and the regiment, which lasted without a break
until the day when he met his death at Talana. The interest he took in
the battalion and his zeal resulted in a stiff training, but a
training for which we must always feel grateful, and remember with
kind, if sad, recollections. It was his custom to see a great deal of
the regiments under his command, and he very frequently lunched with
us, by which means he not only made himself personally acquainted with
the characters of the officers of the regiment, but also had an
opportunity of seeing for himself the deep _esprit de corps_ which
existed in it, and without which no regiment can ever hope to
successfully overcome the perils and hardships incidental to active
service.

As the shadow of the coming war grew dark and ever darker on the
Northern horizon, the disposition of the Natal troops underwent some
change, and General Penn-Symons' brigade, of which the regiment formed
part, was moved up to Dundee, and was there stationed at the time of
the outbreak of hostilities. In spite of the long roll of battle
honours, of which both battalions are so justly proud, the South
African Campaign was the first active service either had seen under
their present titles, and the first opportunity afforded them of
making those new titles as celebrated as the old ones which had done
so much towards the acquisition of our Indian Empire. Imbued with
these feelings the regiment lay camped within full view of Talana
Hill, waiting the oncoming of the huge wave of invasion which was so
shortly to sweep over the borders, engulf Ladysmith, and threaten to
reach Maritzburg itself. But that was not to be. Its force was spent
long ere it reached the capital, and a few horsemen near the banks of
the Mooi River marked the line of its utmost limit in this direction.

The present work only claims to be a plain soldier's narrative of the
part taken by the 2nd Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers in stemming
this rush, and its subsequent efforts, its grim fights on the hills
which fringe the borders of the River Tugela, its long and weary
marches across the rolling uplands of the Transvaal, and its
subsequent monotonous life of constant vigil in fort and blockhouse,
and on escort duty.

All five battalions took part in the war. The 1st sailed from Ireland
on November 10th, 1899, and sent three companies under Major Hicks to
strengthen the 2nd Battalion. They arrived in time to share in the
action at Colenso on December 15th, and all the subsequent fighting
which finally resulted in the relief of Ladysmith, after which they
returned to the headquarters of the 1st Battalion, which formed part
of the Natal army under General Sir Redvers Buller, and later on
advanced through Laing's Nek and Alleman's Nek into the Transvaal. The
3rd Battalion sent a very strong draft of its reserve, and the 4th and
5th Battalions volunteered and came out to the front, where they
rendered most excellent service. In addition to the battalions there
were a good many officers of one or other battalion employed in
various ways in the huge theatre of operations. Major Godley and Major
Pilson had been selected for special service before the war, and the
former served in Mafeking during the siege, while the latter served
under General Plumer in his endeavours to raise it. Captain Kinsman
also served with the latter force. Major Rutherford, Adjutant of the
Ceylon Volunteers, arrived in command of the contingent from that
corps. Lieutenants Cory and Taylor served with the Mounted Infantry
most of the time, as did Lieutenants Garvice, Grimshaw, and Frankland,
after the capture of Pretoria, while Captain Carington Smith's share
in the war is briefly stated later on. Captain MacBean was on the
staff until he was killed at Nooitgedacht. The M.I. of the regiment
served with great distinction, and it is regretted that it is
impossible to include an account of the many actions and marches in
which they took part, but the present volume deals almost exclusively
with the battalion as a battalion.

The authors are desirous of expressing their most hearty and cordial
thanks to all those who have assisted them in the preparation of this
volume. They are especially indebted to Colonel H. Tempest Hicks,
C.B., without whose co-operation the work could not have been carried
out, for the loan of his diary, and for the sketches and many of the
photographs. To Colonel F. P. English, D.S.O., for the extracts from
his diary containing an account of the operations in the Aden
Hinterland and photographs. To Captain L. F. Renny for his Ladysmith
notes. Also to Sergeant-Major C. V. Brumby, Quartermaster-Sergeant
Purcell, and Mr. French (late Quartermaster-Sergeant), for assistance
in collecting data, compiling the appendix, and for photographs,
respectively.

                                        C. F. ROMER.

                                        A. E. MAINWARING.




CONTENTS


PART I.--FIGHTING.

  CHAP.                                                           Page

     I. Talana                                                       3

    II. The Retreat from Dundee                                     16

   III. From Colenso to Estcourt                                    22

    IV. Estcourt and Frere                                          28

     V. The Battle of Colenso                                       34

    VI. Venter's Spruit                                             42

   VII. Vaal Krantz                                                 55

  VIII. Hart's and Pieter's Hills--The Relief of Ladysmith          61

    IX. The Siege of Ladysmith                                      76

     X. Aliwal North and Fourteen Streams                           83


PART II.--TREKKING.

     I. From Vryburg to Heidelberg                                  97

    II. Heidelberg                                                 111

   III. After De Wet                                               121

    IV. September in the Gatsrand                                  141

     V. Frederickstadt--Klip River--The Losberg                    164

    VI. Buried Treasure--The Eastern Transvaal--The
          Krugersdorp Defences                                     182

   VII. The Last Twelve Months                                     193


PART III.

     I. The Aden Hinterland                                        205

    II. The Return Home and Reception                              217

   III. The Memorial Arch                                          229


APPENDIX                                                           239




ILLUSTRATIONS


FULL-PAGE PLATES.

  H.R.H. The Duke of Connaught and Strathearn,
    K.G., Commander-in-chief of the
    Mediterranean Forces, and Colonel-in-chief
    of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers                       _Frontispiece_

  Regimental Book-Plate                                   _Title-page_

  Casualties at Talana                                 _Facing page_ 8

  Major-General C. D. Cooper, C.B., commanding
    2nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers in Natal                "     "      24

  Captain C. F. Romer and Captain E. Fetherstonhaugh   "     "      32

  General Hart's Flank Attack from the
    Boers' Point of View (Plan)                        "     "      34

  Casualties at Colenso                                "     "      36

  Group of twenty Sergeants taken after the
    Battle of Colenso, all that remained
    of Forty-Eight who left Maritzburg                 "     "      40

  Casualties at Tugela Heights                         "     "  56, 64

  Taking Fourteen Streams (Plan)                       "     "      88

  Miscellaneous Casualties                             "     "     104

  Colonel H. Tempest Hicks, C.B., commanding
    2nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers, March, 1900--March,
    1904                                             _facing Page_ 112

  Plan of Position at Zuikerbosch                     "     "      120

  Plan of Battle of Frederickstadt                    "     "      168

  Sketch Plan of Kilmarnock House and Fortifications  "     "      184

  Krugersdorp from Kilmarnock House                   "     "      200

  Officers of the 2nd Battalion Royal Dublin
    Fusiliers who embarked for Aden                   "     "      216

  The Memorial Arch, Dublin                           "     "      232

  The South African Memorial, Natal                   "     "      238


ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT.

  The Last Rites                                                    10

  Armourer-Sergeant Waite--'Delenda Est Carthago'                   18

  Railway Bridge at Colenso                                         23

  Boer Trenches, Colenso                                            36

  Bringing down the Wounded                                         41

  After the Fight                                                   65

  The Grave of Colonel Sitwell and Captain Maitland,
    Gordon Highlanders (attached), near Railway
    at Pieter's Hill                                                67

  Pieter's Hill, Feb. 27th, 1900                                    69

  Pontoon Bridge, River Tugela, Feb. 28th, 1900                     70

  2nd Royal, Dublin Fusiliers, heading Relief Troops,
    marching into Ladysmith, March, 1900,                           72

  General Sir Redvers Buller, V.C., entering Ladysmith              73

  The Dublins are coming--Ladysmith                                 74

  Sir George White watching Relief Force entering
    Ladysmith                                                       75

  Sergeant Davis in Meditation over 'Long Cecil' at
    Kimberley. 'Shall I Take it for the Officers?'                  83

  St. Patrick's Day in Camp. Private Monaghan, the
    Regimental Butcher, in Foreground                               84

  A Wash in hot Water--Aliwal North                                 87

  The Regimental Maxim in Action at Fourteen
    Streams                                                         89

  Captain Jervis, General Fitzroy Hart, C.B., C.M.G.,
    and Captain Arthur Hart                                         91

  Issuing Queen Victoria's Chocolate. Colour-Sergeant
    Connell, 'G' Company, on left                                   93

  First Entry into Krugersdorp. Captain and Adjutant
    Fetherstonhaugh in Foreground                                   99

  'Speed, Dead Slow'                                               104

  Hoisting the Union Jack at Krugersdorp                           106

  Johan Meyer's House, five Miles outside Johannesburg             107

  Sergeant Davis, evidently with all we wanted                     108

  Paardekraal Monument, Krugersdorp                                110

  The Officers' Mess                                               120

  Corporal Tierney and Chef Burst                                  123

  Fourth Class on the Z.a.s.m.                                     125

  Fifth Class on the Z.a.s.m.                                      127

  The Vaal River, Lindeque Drift                                   133

  The R.D.F. Bathing in Mooi River, Potchefstroom                  136

  Father Mathews                                                   142

  Funeral of Commandant Theron and a British
    Soldier, Sept. 6th, 1900                                       149

  Buffelsdoorn Camp, Gatsrand Hills                                152

  A Group of Boer Prisoners taken at the Surprise
    of Pochefstroom                                                153

  Colour-Sergeant Cossy issuing Beer                               154

  'Come to the Cook-house Door, Boys!'                             163

  Sergeant French and the Officers' Mess, Nachtmaal                170

  4.7 crossing a Drift, assisted by the Dublin Fusiliers           172

  Boy Fitzpatrick waiting at Lunch                                 178

  'The Latest Shave.' Captain G. S. Higginson (mounted)
    and Major Bird                                                 181

  The Hairdresser's Shop                                           192

  Kilmarnock, Krugersdorp                                          193

  A Blockhouse                                                     196

  The 'Blue Caps' relieving the 'Old Toughs'                       201

  Dthala Camp                                                      210

  Dthala Village, From Camp                                        211

  A Frontier Tower--Abdali Country                                 213

  Homeward bound at last, after twenty Years'
    Foreign Service                                                219




PART I.

FIGHTING.




THE 2ND BATTALION

ROYAL DUBLIN FUSILIERS




CHAPTER I.

TALANA.

  'The midnight brought the signal sound of strife,
  The morn the marshalling in arms, the day--
  Battle's magnificently stern array.'

                              _Byron._


The 2nd Battalion of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers left India for
Maritzburg, Natal, in 1897, and therefore, on the outbreak of the war
between Great Britain and the South African Republics, had the
advantage of possessing some acquaintance with the topography of the
colony, and of a two years' training and preparation for the long
struggle which was to ensue.

The political situation had become so threatening by July, 1899, that
the military authorities began to take precautionary measures, and the
battalion was ordered to effect a partial mobilisation and to collect
its transport. On September 20th it moved by train to Ladysmith,[1]
and four days later proceeded to Dundee. Here Major-General Sir W.
Penn-Symons assumed the command of a small force, consisting of 18th
Hussars, 13th, 67th, and 69th Batteries R.F.A., 1st Leicestershire
Regiment, 1st King's Royal Rifles, and 2nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers.
Each infantry battalion had a mounted infantry company. The brigade
was reinforced on October 16th by the 1st Royal Irish Fusiliers.

         [Footnote 1: It was at Ladysmith that the battalion adopted
         the green tops on the helmets, a distinguishing badge which
         was worn throughout the war. The 1st Battalion painted theirs
         blue on account of the historic nickname, 'Blue-caps,'
         acquired by them at the time of the Mutiny.]

The country was still nominally at peace, but the Dundee force held
itself ready for emergencies, and sent out mounted patrols by day and
infantry piquets by night, while the important railway junction at
Glencoe was held by a company. The General utilised this period of
waiting in carrying out field-firing and practising various forms of
attack. As he was a practical and experienced soldier, he succeeded in
bringing his command to a high state of efficiency, and the battalion
owed much to his careful preparation. It was due largely to his
teaching that the men knew how to advance from cover to cover and
displayed such ready 'initiative' in the various battles of the Natal
Campaign. The opportunity of putting into practice this teaching soon
presented itself, for on October 12th news was received that the South
African Republics had declared war on the previous day.

Consideration of the advisability of pushing forward a small force to
Dundee, and of the reasons for such a movement, does not fall within
the scope of this work; but a glance at the map will show that Sir W.
Penn-Symons had a wide front to watch, since he could be attacked from
three sides. Although precise information regarding the Boer forces
was lacking, it was known that commandoes were assembling at
Volksrust, along the left bank of the Buffalo River, and on the far
side of Van Reenan's Pass.

Early in the morning of October 13th a telegram was received from Sir
G. White, asking General Penn-Symons to send a battalion to Ladysmith
at once, as the Boers were reported to be advancing on that town. The
General paid the 2nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers the compliment of
selecting them for this duty, and they entrained accordingly, about
4.30 a.m., reaching Ladysmith some four hours later. They detrained
with the utmost haste and marched at once towards Dewdrop, whither the
Ladysmith garrison had been sent; but the report of a Boer advance was
discovered to be without foundation, and the battalion was halted five
miles outside Ladysmith, and ordered to return. It did not reach the
camp at Dundee until 11 p.m.

On the following day Sir W. Penn-Symons moved his detachment closer to
the town of Dundee, and placed his camp three or four hundred yards
north of the road to Glencoe Junction. It soon became clear that the
Boers meant to invade Natal, and Newcastle was occupied by them on the
15th, while the mounted patrols of the Dundee force were already in
touch with the commandoes on the left bank of the Buffalo. The
detached company at Glencoe was withdrawn on the 18th, and on the 19th
three companies of the regiment, under Major English, were sent to the
Navigation Colliery in order to bring away large quantities of mealie
bags stored there.

Colonel Cooper, commanding the 2nd Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers,
had been given an extension of his command, and was hurrying back from
a short period of leave in England, so the battalion was at this time
under the command of Major S. G. Bird.

It was now evident to every one that we were on the eve of
hostilities, and a spirit of keen excitement and anticipation ran
through all ranks. After a long tour of foreign service, during which
the regiment had not had the good fortune to see active service,
though on three occasions they had been within measurable distance of
it, they were now to have the long-wished-for chance of showing that,
in spite of altered denominations and other changes, they were
prepared to keep their gallant and historical reputation untarnished.
Our advanced patrols had already seen the first signs of the coming
torrent of invasion, and one and all were seized with that feeling,
common to all mankind, of longing to get the waiting and the
preparation over, and to commence the real business for which they had
been so carefully and so thoroughly prepared. Full of the most
implicit confidence in their brave leader, the regiment knew to a man
that they would soon be at hand-grips, and their two years' residence
in the country and knowledge of the history of the last Boer War, and
the stain to be rubbed out, made every pulse tingle with the desire to
show that the past had been but an unfortunate blunder, and that the
British soldier of the present day was no whit inferior to his
predecessors of Indian, Peninsular, Waterloo, and Crimean fame.

On the night of the 19-20th October, Lieutenant Grimshaw was sent with
a patrol of the Mounted Infantry company of the battalion to watch the
road to Vant's and Landsman's Drifts, ten miles east of Dundee. About
2 a.m. on October 20th this officer reported that a Boer commando was
advancing on the town. At a later hour he forwarded a second message
to the effect that he was retiring before superior numbers, one man of
his party having been wounded, and that the enemy were in occupation
