Part 29 (1/2)

The weather was extremely bad, and the camp a sea of mud. On July 19th, a gloom was cast over the Battalion by the death of Colour Sergt.

Penfold, who was killed in trying to climb down a steep cliff.

On August 9th, Coronation Day was celebrated. A _feu de joie_ was fired, and the Battalion was inspected by Col. Wright, commandant of the camp.

In the evening an enormous bonfire was lit upon the hillside. In the crowd round it, Boers and British mingled freely, the latter tanned from exposure, the former pale from a year or more mostly spent in their tents. After loyalty had been satisfied, Col. Wright called for three cheers for ”our friends and fellow subjects, our late gallant enemies,”

which were heartily given. The Battalion embarked for England on board the ”Dominion” on August 11th, and arrived at Chichester a month later, having travelled by way of Cape Town. At Chichester they were welcomed by the Mayor and Corporation, and marched to barracks through decorated streets.

The medals earned by the men were presented to them by Mrs. Kilgour (Col. Kilgour then commanded the Regimental District), and the embodiment, which had lasted two years and nine months, was at an end.

APPENDIX A.

THE 13TH M. I.

By CAPT. G. P. HUNT, Royal Berks.h.i.+re Regiment.

In November, 1900, four new Battalions of M. I. were a.s.sembled at Pretoria: and of these the 13th M. I. was one. It was made up of detachments from various regiments, and No. 1 Co. consisted of seventy N. C. O.'s and men of the Royal Suss.e.x, brought up by Lieut. J. S.

Cameron from Lindley, and fifty-five of the Royal Berks.h.i.+re Regiment under Lieut. G. P. Hunt. The Battalion was commanded by Capt.

(afterwards Brevet Maj.) Pratt, of the Durham Light Infantry. Early in 1901 Lt. Cameron took over command of No. 1 Co.

December and January were mostly spent in training the men. Many of these knew nothing about mounted work, and had first to learn to stick on their horses (raw, untrained Argentines for the most part) somehow.

However, in a creditably short time a body of useful mounted men, if not of expert hors.e.m.e.n, was turned out.

The 13th M. I. were first under fire at Hekpoort on 19th December, with General Alderson's column. Gen. Clements was then conducting a combined movement westwards up the Magaliesberg Valley. The Boers were eventually driven out of their Hekpoort position. The Company came under a smart rifle fire, and their led horses were pom-pomed: but they sustained no casualties and saw no Boers.

From January to April, 1901, Gen. Alderson's column was engaged on the operations under Gen. French in the eastern and south-eastern Transvaal.

This column consisted of the 13th and 14th M. I., the Canadian Scouts, the Yorks.h.i.+re Light Infantry, ”J” Battery, R. H. A., and a pom-pom; it trekked along the Swaziland border to Ermelo, encountering very few Boers by the way. The column waited for supplies at Ermelo for ten days; but continuous rain and flooded rivers prevented the convoys coming out from Newcastle, and mutton and mealies were all that men and horses had to live on. The horses suffered severely from the lack of food, and from standing about in the wet camp. Full rations were not obtained till 26th March, more than a month later.

During April the column trekked through the difficult country between Vryheid and Zululand, arriving at Newcastle on the 20th of that month.

By this time more than half the 13th M. I. were dismounted, and the men were in rags. Gen. French's operations had cost the Boers 1,000 casualties, and the districts involved had been cleared, cattle being driven in, and sheep used for rations or destroyed. The Boer families were brought in to Refugee camps.

The 13th and 14th M. I. were remounted, and joined Gen. Bullock's column at Volksrust. The horses supplied to the Company were mostly large raw Hungarians, quite unsuited to the work.

Gen. Bullock's column, which was a large one, first trekked about the Standerton and Wakkerstroom districts, and then worked in the northern Free State, finis.h.i.+ng up at Heidelberg in the end of July. There was no serious fighting, although every day Boer skirmishers were encountered.

These would lie in wait for the scouts of the column, on the chance of shooting them at short range, and then making off. Dogs proved very useful to scouting parties: going on ahead, they would, by their actions, give warning of concealed Boers.

The men kept wonderfully fit and in very good spirits; they were just the type that Kipling describes in his poem ”M. I.” The horses, however, suffered severely from the cold, which was very severe, particularly at night.

At Heidelberg, Brig. Gen. Spens took over the column, which worked from July to September in the N. E. Free State. This was a very eventful time for the 13th M. I.; night marches were the rule rather than the exception. Numbers of Boers were captured, wagons, cattle and horses were brought in, and farms were destroyed. The column worked sometimes by itself, and sometimes in conjunction with others; occasionally single battalions went in different directions. The Boers had difficulty in avoiding the troops, and were deprived of their wagons, spare horses, shelters and means of subsistence, with a view to forcing them to surrender.

One occasion in particular may be mentioned. On the night of the 6th of August the column divided into two, acting in conjunction with Rimington. After a night march, a laager was surprised at dawn, many prisoners being taken.

The Company captured a number of Boers and wagons after a long gallop: they only just avoided an engagement with Gough's M. I., which was coming up from another direction.

On the 15th August Lieut. J. M. Hulton joined the 13th M. I. at Kroonstad from the 5th Bn. Royal Fusiliers, and was posted to No. 1 Co., and given command of one of the Suss.e.x sections. He had his horse killed on the 18th, when on flank-guard, by some Boers who crept up a donga just as the scouts were moving on. He fell under his horse, but one of the section galloped back, helped him to get clear, and took the saddle on to his own horse while Hulton ran by his side.

On the 3rd September the column rode down a Boer convoy and 300 Boers.

Cameron was in command of the advanced guard. Nearly all the wagons were captured, some falling into the hands of Rimington's and Wilson's columns. Many Boers were taken, and a number killed and wounded. Many of the horses of the column had subsequently to be destroyed: for the men rode over 50 miles that day, and the horses were utterly done up.