The Elbert County tribune., 1899-08-31
The boers as Fighter.


II is usual. know, for military men
TO sneer at the generalship, or want of
IL, which, as they allege, was responsI-
bic for the Majuba disaster-these
critics are wise after the event saws
the African Review. 1t is forgotten
that the Beers met other officers than
zen. Colley at Bronkhorst Spruit in a
number OF fights about Pretoria. Pot
ehestroom and other villages. and
that IN no case were our men and mill
itary leaders able to stand I'm to the
enemy At Durham, in Natal. in 1s4s
we got the worst OF 1t, as we did at
Doornkop, where English officers of
tne ordinary type commanded The
only military success which English
ofiicers can claim in a good many en-
counters with the Beers is the battle
OF Boomplaats, fought in 1S4s between
artillery and fint-lock guns. 1t is.
therefore, nonsense to take refuge be-
mind the lack of generalship OF our
leaders. II such factors as courage
and leadership do not come into the
controversy, except to very limited
extent, in what direction must we look
tor tne explanation of our defeats
~ Laing's Neck the action began by
cur guns dropping a few shells into
the Boer lines, and. as admitted by
the Beers themselves, the small loss
they suffered from this fire-Gen. Jou-
bert was nearly hit by splinter OF a
shell-induced them to think seriously
OF abandoning the position. They
we're about to leave when the attack
by small number of mounted infan-
try and by few companies OF Col.
Deane's regiment was made. Only one
OF our men reached the Boer lines, the
others being stopped a short distance
away; and, as they were unsupported.
these were driven back down the hill.
Result, 100 killed and wounded on the
British side, against twenty-four Beers
killed and wounded. At Ingogo,
fought few days afterward. a force
of about 300 men and two guns were
stopped on a small plateau and, after
an action lasting all day, four men.
with the two guns, were withdrawn
during the night, leaving dead and
wounded on the ground. The Beers
also left the field at night. At this
fight the Beers crept up to within sixty
yards of our guns. They lost seven
teen killed and wounded, while our
loss was 142 killed and wounded. A
force of about 600 infantry set ont for
the summit of Majuba hill on the
night of Feb. 26, 1881. There were
about $50 combatants. After leaving
M N nc hn
men reached the summit and were
disposed in various positions about the
rim of the mountain. The first shots
were fired about O'Clock, and the
combat went on uninterruptedly for
hours. In the final stages the main
body of the Beers crept to within forty
yards. and for considerable time
fdsilladed our troops at this distance.
Many of the men fell in the subse-
was over, at l o'clock, our casualties
were 2SO killed and wounded. while
the Beers lost one killed and four
wounded. At Bronkhorst we lost 12O
men killed and wounded within ten
minutes, the Beers losing one In the
Jameson raid our losses were about
100 killed and wounded the Beers
having five killed and wounded in the
actual fighting. 1t is usually main
tained that these Transvaal fights were
fought at a disadvantage and that our
men were in each case vastly out
numbered. If we accept the Boe- ac-
counts, our forces were not outnum-
bered. At MaJuba they say they had
about 400 men. But even assuming
that there were as many as 1000 Beers,
the result is still extremely unsatisfac-
tory.