The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-06-24
THE BRITON AND THE BoER.
HOW THE IMPERIAL TROOPS WE'RE
OUTGENERALED.

Ard OutfOHght by Dutch Farmers.
stories of the BrOnkerspruIt Ann
bush and the Battle of NIniuba
HiII.
1. T. Townshend in Chambers's Journal.
Most of us remember only too well the
shortlived English domination in the
Iransvaal during the latter part of the
seventies as well as the way in which
misfortune seemed TO dog the steps of
those on whose shoulders fell the burden
OF upholding IL there. We had found the
country in bankrupt condition, and had
restored its finances; we had found il
threatened by the formidable Zulu NOM
arch, with his army of fifty thousand
lighting savages, Thoroughly drilled and in
state of high military efficiency. After
a desperate struggle in which we suffered
some very severe losses, including the
battle of Isandula, whete our camp was
taken and the whole OF It's defenders
slaughtered, the British arms finally
achieved a complete but hard-won tri-
umph. We had broken the power OF
| Cetewayo, and dispersed his regiments of
'cellbate, Misunderstanding gladiators," to
| use the phrase in which Sir Bartle Frere
once described his justly dreaded impis
Subsequently, in the Transvaal itself We
had overthrown Secocoeni a powerful. ma
tive chief who had successfully deied the
Boer government; While enterprising
British traders had supplied an album
canoe OF excellent sporting rifles TO the
people OF the country, who earned NOT a
little money by shooting down the game
win them. In brief, we had removed one
by one every obstacle 10 "A revolt on the
pare OF the emAgrant farmers who made
| up the bulk of the population of the
| Transvaal outside the towns
Inc revolt followed, as might have been
expected. lt broke out in the month of
December, 1880, during the warm summer
/ OF the southern Hemisphere and il came
20 an end with the peace chat was con-
I cluded after the disastrous battle of Ma
| Juba Mountain on February -, 1881. The
| tale Of misfortune begins with the affair
OF Bronkerspruit in December. The 9ith
| Regiment, forming part OF the British
! garrison of the TransVaal. had been or
defed to concentrate at Pretoria and was
| on the march thither. No actual lighting
| had as yet taken place; but the Beers had
| held mass meeting, proclaimed repub-
/ lie, and announced that they were going
TO begin. At Bronkerspruit they land a
| caretqlly prepared ambush along the road
| by which the 9ith We're advancing and
! awaited their victims.
The BrOnkerspruit Ambush.
! The British colonel had been warned TO
look out for traps, but, as far as can now
| be known, he had no idea that these
sharpshooting farmers were really in
| earnest and he failed to profit by the
| warning. The @th were strung out for
| hair mile along the road; the weather
was hot, and many of the soldiers had
put their rifles in the wagons; ia short.
! the march was conducted as If in a time
| OF profound peace. At a certain spot the
! long column was halted by a Boer patrol
! There was a brief colloquy between the
colonel and the Beers; they ordered him
| to go back, and he refused. Nobody
seems to have noticed the ambushed rifle
men, or to have observed the little heaps
of stones with which these skilled hunt
ers of wild game old hands at Shooting
| over the bare veldt, had thoughtfully
marked out beforehand at one hundred,
one hundred and fifty and two hundred
yards, their exact distance from their in
| tended targets
The Boer rifles cracked, and In twenty
minutes all the officers and half the
| British troops were shot down, and the
rest We're made prisoners; the loss on the
| side of the farmers was almost nil. AS q
| Western American crudely observed il
was a case of a lot of first-class frontiers
men taking in a crowd of tenderfeet out
of the wet. 1t was a terribly severe lesson
| that In the face of a possible enemy a
soldier must never be off his guard.
| After the Bronkerspruit disaster the
whole country was up. All the British
! garrisons In the Tfansvaal were be-
| leaguered by the Beers. and one garrison,
! PotchefsIroom, was known both by them
| and by Sir George Pomeroy Coley, the
| general in command in Natal, to be short
| of provisions. Colley CALAMITY determined
| to cut his way In, If possible and relieve
! 1t. He knew well enough that ere long
| an army from overseas must be sent 10
retrieve the honor of the British arms;
| but he was also aware that ia must In
| evitably arrive too late to save Potchef-
stroom. The Beers had occupied Lalng' s
| Mex, the pass leading into the Transvaal
! from Natal; and with ~ small British
| force he had at his command he hoped
| to be able TO dslodge them and clear the
road General Colley was considered 20 be
|