The true Democrat., 1899-11-04
= WALN yyV
BATTLE OF l.
AN , ENGAGEMENT
SIDES sUFFY
English Casuslt.,
Beers Loss Thought u
siderably Larger...The Abih..
riCandor as a Warrior.

ish guns succeeded in Silencing the
Beers fire.
The naval brigade arrived Monday
morning at half past 0 o'clock and be.
gan hiring with SIX quick firing guns
with great precision. The Boer 40
poundars which had again begun to
shell the town were temporarily dis.
abIed at the third and fifth shots.
The advance was made at dawn with
the object OF shelling the Beers from
the position where they had mounted q
number Of guns. On reaching the spot,
however, it was found that they had
evacuated the positions.
The British continued to advance
and tho movement developed into re-
eonnoisance in force: The enemy were
posted on a range of hills having a
frontage Of about sixtesn miles. The
British force was DISPOSED in the fol.
lowing order: On the right three regi-
menta Of cavalry, four batteries Of the
royal field artillery and. five battalions
Of infantry; in the centre three batter.
les OF the royal field artillery. two reg
iments Of cavalry and four Of infantry,
and On the left the royal Irish fusileess,
the Gloucestershire regiment and the
Tenth mountain battery.
Gen. Whites plan OF operations was
thst>ss the movement developed the
force constituting our centre, which
was disposed UNDER cover Of; kopje
about four miles from the town, should
throw itself upon the enemy while the
left flank Yves being held BY the fusi-
leers and the Gloucestershires. The
scheme was we'll devised but failed in
execution owing to the fact that the
Bosr position which formed our objec
tive, was evacuated.
Our artillery quickly reduced the vol
umS Of the enemy's fire but the attack
delivered On our right flank was the
principal one and the column was COM
PEELED to change. ssThe Boer attack had
been silenced for tlms and our infan-
try advanced, covered by cavalry.
The enemy now began to develop q
heavy counter attack and as they were
In great numerical superiority Gen.
White gave orders for the infantry to
be gradually withdrawn. The move
msnt was carried out with great stead
ipess and deIiberstion under cover Of
our guns which made excellent prac-
tios
Some shells sswere thrown into the
town from the enemy's forty Founders
at range Of over 5000 yards, but no
damage was done. The, engagement
lasted several hours and resulted, on
our nde,in casualties estimated at from
90 to 100. The Beer loss must have
largely exceeded this total. The attack
was admirably delivered by our right
and the Beers were fairly driven out
Of one Of their strongholds near Lom-
Sardskop.
Il was not possible. however, to push
the success much further, as beyond
thst point was long broken ridge,
afeldiag every kind Of natural cover
OF this the enemy took the fullest
advantage. Our shells failed to dis
lodge the Beers and as our infantry
raoved forward in excellent order they
came under heavy and we'll directed
ire, the effect of which was soon appa-
rent Gen. White, who was with the
centre, seeing that the troops on the
right were somewhat pressed, sent to
their assistance thewhole centre Of the
column, With the exception Of the BE-
vonshire regiment. The battle had
then lasted four hours, during which
the artillery fire on both sides had been
almost incessant,
The eighteenth brigade which landed
OF Durham, had arrived on the scene TO-
ward the end Of the fight, and lmme-
diately brought their heavy guns into
play. Their. practice was magnificent.
At the fourth shot the eneny's forty
Founders had been knocked OUT OF
action.
The town is now fresd from appre'
tensions of bombardmsnt.
Throughout the engagement the
Beers hold their ground with courage
and tenacity, and considering the in
tensity Of cur artillery Fro they mast
have suffered severely,