Three Years War | Page 9

expecting every day to hear that he had
assumed the chief command over the English army encamped between
Estcourt and Colenso. The number of troops there was continually
increasing owing to the reinforcements which kept pouring in from
over the ocean.
Great things were expected of Sir Redvers Buller, to whom the Boers,
by a play of words, had given a somewhat disrespectful nick-name. He
had not been long in Natal before his chance came. I must, however, be
silent about his successes and his failures, for, as I left Natal on the 9th
of December, I had no personal experience of his methods. But this I
will say, that whatever his own people have to say to his discredit, Sir
Redvers Buller had to operate against stronger positions than any other
English general in South Africa.
[Footnote 15: A table-shaped mountain.]
CHAPTER IV
I am Appointed Vechtgeneraal
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