Ladysmith

Ladysmith

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Ladysmith, by H. W. Nevinson This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: Ladysmith The Diary of a Siege
Author: H. W. Nevinson
Release Date: August 27, 2005 [EBook #16603]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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[Illustration: H.W. NEVINSON]
LADYSMITH
THE DIARY OF A SIEGE
BY
H.W. NEVINSON
AUTHOR OF "THE THIRTY DAYS' WAR"
METHUEN & CO. 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. LONDON 1900

CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. ON THE EDGE 1
II. AT THE BRITISH FRONT 9
III. THE FIRST WEEK'S WAR 20
IV. BATTLE OF ELANDS LAAGTE 30
V. BATTLE OF TINTA INYONI 41
VI. THE REVERSE AT NICHOLSON'S NEK 51
VII. HEMMED IN 61
VIII. TRAGEDY AND COMEDY 72
IX. INCIDENTS, ACCIDENTS, AND REALITIES 83
X. ENNUI ENLIVENED BY SUDDEN DEATH 100
XI. FLASHES FROM BULLER 129
XII. THE NIGHT SURPRISE ON GUN HILL 138
XIII. THE CAPTURE OF SURPRISE HILL 156
XIV. THE SEASON OF PEACE AND GOODWILL 176
XV. SICKNESS, DEATH, AND A NEW YEAR 194
XVI. THE GREAT ATTACK 211
XVII. A PAUSE AND A RENEWAL 231
XVIII. "WITHIN MEASURABLE DISTANCE" 250
XIX. HOPE DEFERRED 265
XX. SUN AND FEVER 279
XXI. RELIEVED AT LAST 291
APPENDIX 299

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR Frontispiece MAP OF LADYSMITH AND NEIGHBOURHOOD 12
GENERAL SIR GEORGE STEWART WHITE, V.C., G.C.I.E., G.C.B., G.C.S.I. 18
PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF ELANDS LAAGTE 32
LOMBARD'S KOP 56
IMPERIAL LIGHT HORSE SHELTERS 77
THE DRIFT AND WATERING-PLACE 80
BULWAN 105
HOSPITAL IN TOWN HALL AFTER A SHELL 127
BREECH BLOCK FROM GUN HILL 148
A PICTURESQUE RUIN 183
HEADQUARTERS AFTER A 96LB. SHELL 186
EFFECT OF 96LB. SHELL ON A PRIVATE HOUSE 201
SPECIMEN OF BOER SHELLS 252
INDIAN BAKERY 268
GENERAL RT. HON. SIR R.H. BULLER, V.C., G.C.B., K.C.M.G., K.C.B. (_photograph by KNIGHT, Aldershot_) 291
SKETCH PLAN OF COUNTRY SOUTH AND WEST OF LADYSMITH 306

NOTE
This book has been reprinted, by kind permission of the Proprietors of the Daily Chronicle, from the full text of the Letters sent to the paper.

LADYSMITH
THE DIARY OF A SIEGE
CHAPTER I
ON THE EDGE
NEWCASTLE, NATAL, _Thursday, October 5, 1899_.
Late last Sunday night I found myself slowly crawling towards the front from Pretoria in a commandeered train crammed full of armed Boers and their horses. I had rushed from the Cape to quiet little Bloemfontein, the centre of one of the best administered States in the world, where the heads of the nation in the intervals of discussing war proudly showed me their pianos, their little gardens, little libraries of English books, little museums of African beasts and Greek coins, and all their other evidences of advancing culture. Then on to Pretoria, the same kind of a town on a larger and richer scale--trim bungalow houses, for the most part, spread out among gardens full of roses, honeysuckle, and syringa. But at the station all day and night the scene was not idyllic. Every hour train after train moved away--stores and firewood in front, horses next, and luggage vans for the men behind. The partings from lovers and wives and children must be imagined. They are bad enough to witness when our own soldiers go to the front. But these men are not soldiers at all. Each of them came direct from his home in the town or on some isolated farm. They rode up, dressed just in their ordinary clothes, but for the slung Mauser and the full cartridge belt over the shoulder or round the waist. Except for a few gunners, there is no uniform in the Boer Army. Even the officers can hardly be distinguished from ordinary farmers. The only thing that could be called uniform is the broad-brimmed soft hat of grey or brown. But all Boers wear it. It is generally very stained and dirty, and invariably a rusty crape band is wound about the crown. For the Boer, like the English poorer classes, has large quantities of relations, and one of them is always dying.
By the courtesy of the Pretorian Government I had secured room in the guard's van for myself and a companion, who was equally anxious to cross the Natal frontier before the firing began, and that was expected at any moment. In the van with us were a score of farmers from Middleburg way, their contingent occupying four trains with about 800 men and horses. For the most part they were fine tall men with shaggy light beards, reminding one of Yorkshire farmers, but rougher and not so well dressed. Most of them could speak some English, and many had Scotch or English relatives. They lay on the floor or sat on the edge of the van, talking quietly and smoking enormous pipes. All deeply regretted the war, regretted the farm left behind just when spring and rain