The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1881-03-08 00:00:00

THE TRANS VAAL WAR.-
FURTHER DETAILS OF THE FIGHT.
[m irrAmpaza]

I believe that if, after the Boers had made their rush,
the men had trusted to the bayonet alone, instead of
running in order to ',dye themselves time to load, they
could have driven the enemy back over the top of the
hill. The 92nd, who formed the front line where the
11111jel attack was, stood coolly at first, obeyed their
officers, and fired steadily until they were t,,rown into
confueion by the Hight of the men at the flank—the
.-eith and the Naval Ilrigade—wheru the enemy broke
through. On the other aide of the plateau was
excellent cover, with open ground in front, and &stand
might have been here made, but the men were too much
out of hand to be rallied, and all went down the hill in
confusion. During the advance of the enemy our men
hardly caught eight of a single Hoer. They crept
, through the grass, taking advantage of every stone,
and every inequality of the ground. When driven back
by our fire at one point, they would work round un-
perceived to another, and thence open with heavy
volleys upon us. themselves being all the time invisible.
One of our great contra' of weakness was in the
mixed composition of the force. The three hundred
:old fifty men upon the hill belonged to four different
corps, and did not work cagily and steadily together,
an they would have done luta they belonged to the
same regiment, and had been accustomed to work
together and rely upon each other. After the
Boers had rushed in I saw groups of the High-
tandem standing together and making a firm resistance
until it was clearly lost. The position, too, was.
4s, extended to be held with the free at the
General's command, and as is. chew attack
was anticipated the troops were not bested in a
proper manner for opposing the assault when it was
made. The potion was, in fact, craned by surprise.
Besides the wounded, some 50 men and officers are
prieoners in the Boers hands. One lesson unmistak-
ably taught by the tight of Sunday last is that it is
worse titan useless to attempt to light the Boers with
numerically inferior forme. In such warfare as this,
they are, man for mall, equal, and more than equal,
ts. our own. They are as courageous, are infinitely
better shots, and are marvellously skilled in taking
advantage of cover. Their coolnees under fire is
perfect, and while fighting individually all work in
csgbeere and in obedience to orders. They openly
express their contempt for our infantry, but fear our
cavalry and artillery. The companies of the 60th,
which were hilt posited at a commanding point on the
hills ti, keep open our coin ttttt *neat' with the camp,
were withdrawn under cover of the artillery Ere of
the camp. The Boer.' attacked them on the way,
but the 110th repulsed them in a 'hinted Hummer, and
came into catnp with scarcely any less. All availahle
troops at Newcastle are :it enc.: coining on here, awl
Sir E. Wood was expected ..n Wednesday. The
doctor*, with a fatigue ',arty of a hundred men, are
on the field, tinder a Hag 4.f truce, attending to the
wounded. After the action was over I heard the Boers
shouting to our men to COMO out from the brushwood,
anti no harm would be done to them. The prisoners
now in their hands are those who obeyed the tttttt mons,
as very few were captured ..n the hill itself. It was
itupereible for me to estimate with any great accuracy
the number of Boers moving about after the action.
But there were certainly not more than five hundred
upon the top of the hill, and, perhaps, as many more
on the slopes. I hail no insane of arriving at an
estimate of their lost before leaving their camp on
Sunday, but owing 4i their care in keeping cinder
cover it mud have been comparatively small.
LATICIL—I have just returned from the Boer Camp.
When there I had an interview with Mr. Joubert,
with whom I conversed for sometime. He com Plained
of General Celley having undertaken the movement
.d Sunday, bringing ..n a battle. Peace negotiatione
were proceeding, and he did not therefore look for a
hostile 'tenement. I pointed out that firing had been
.41 daily, that our pickets were continually shot
at, and game had been killed. I did not we, therefore,
that any complaint could be validly made as to the
movement of the troops. Joubert then went on to say
that the Transvaal was prepared to treat for peace.
but that this could only be made on the basis of
liberty. Ile asked me to tell the people of England
that he was sere that they and their Ministers meant
to do wh It was right and just, but that the British
officials and army comsimoanilers w..rked for their own
ends and wilfully misrepreemted facts. Hence the
Transvaal was dnven to desperation by the feeling
that it was hopeless to h.& for justice. England was
fighting now for honour and for domination the Boers
for liberty, for which they were prepared to die. The
God of Battles was with them : their total hew in the
capture"( the strong position of Slajuba and the rout
..f the British troops was, he said, only ono killed and
five wounded. Joubert also said that the people of
the Trnsysal were quite prepared to accept a scheme
of African Confederation, provided that they were
eft entirely to themselves.. Upon this matter tie said
that he had also been misrepresented. I told the Boer
leader that I would transmit his message ts England.
The statement an ts the II sir hoe appears, I t
own, scarcely credible. With Joubert was an Irish
renegade, who appeared to be his chief adviser. This
person was very offensive and obusive, while all the
lautch were very civil. I found that ill the Dutch
camp were fifty unwounded prisoners and seten
offiaire. Time number of killed 11 n is,, ascortained
he about eighty the wounded about a hundred.
This list is hot entirely made up, but it will not differ
very widely from these figures. The unwounded
prisoners and the missing must be added to 'be total
hoe suffered by our force.
MOVEMENTS OF SIR EVELYN WOOD.
Dtenms, bL%ncH 4TH. - - General Wood, who
with the remainder of the 11th, left Newcastle for the
front en Friday, is expected back in a day or two.
Ili* intention is to examine the country.