The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1899-10-14
The Beers as Fighters.

The Beers as Fighters.
1t is usual, l know, for military men
to sheer at the g~eneralship, or want Of
1t, which, as they allege, was RESPONSE
Bile for the Majuba disaster-these
critics are wise after the event, says
the African Review. 1t is forgotten
that the Beers met other officers than
Gen. Colley at Bronkhorst Spruit in a
number of fights about Pretoria, Pot
classroom and other villages, and
that in no case were our men and mill
itary leaders able to stand up to the
enemy. At Durham, in Natal, in 1848,
we got the worst of it, as we did at
Doornkop, where English officers of
the ordinary type commanded. The
only military success which English
officers can claim in a good many en-
counters with the Beers is the battle
of Boomplaats, fought in 1S48 between
artillery and hint-lock guns. 1t is,
therefore, nonsense to take refuge be-
hind the lack of generalship of our
leaders. If such factors as courage
and leadership do not come into the
controversy, except to a very limited
extent, in what direction must we look
for the explanation of our defeats?
At Laing's Neck the action began by
our 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 a splinter of a
shell-induced them to think seriously
of abandoning the position. They
were about to leave when the attack
by a small number of mounted infan-
try and by a 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, 1870 killed and wounded on the
British side, against twenty-four Beers
killed and wounded. At Ingogo,
fought a 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with the two guns, were withdrawn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 u guns. They lost seven
teen killed and wounded, while our
loss was 142 killed and wounded. A
force of about 600 infantry set out for
the summit of Majuba hill on the
| ninhf nf Fob Or 1907 WI ~
about $50 combatants. After leaving
some companies on the road, about 400
men reached the summit and were
disposed in various positions about. the
rim or the mountain. The first shots
were fired about 6 o'clock, and the
combat went on un~interruptedly for
hours. In the final stages the main
body of the Beers crept to within forty
yards, and for a considerable time
~fusilladed our troops at this distance.
Many of the men fell in the subse-
quent flight; but when the fighting
was over, at l o'clock, our casualties
were 28O 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 he
actual fighting. 1t is usually main
tanned that these Transvaal fights were
fought at a disadvantage and that'our
men were in each case vastly out
numbered. If We accept the Boer ac-
counts, u 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.