Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1899-12-20
BUTLER ROUTED.
The Main Army of the British Meets
With u Disastrous Defeat.
Gen. Butler Was Attempting to Cross
the TuEela River-Finding 1t
Impossible He Ordered
Retirement.

BILE to effect his object he ordered q
retirement i'll order to avoid greater
losses. He left IL guns behind.
The following is the text OF Gen
Buffers dispatch. announcing his re-
| verse:
'Buller to Lansdowne, Chievely
Camp, Dec. Is, G:2O p. nj regret to
report seriou. reverse. | moved in
full strength from our camp near
| Chievcly at 4 o'clock this morning
| There are two fordable places in the
| Tugela river, and il was my intention
to force passage through at one of
| them. They are about two miles apart
My intention was to force one or
the other with one brigade, supported
| by "A central brigade Gen. Hart was
to attack the lef drift. Gen. Hildyard
| the right road and Gen. Lytleton was
| to take the center and to support
either Early in the day l saw that
Gen. Hart would not be able to force
passage, and | directed him to with
draw He had, however, attacked with
great gallantry, and his leading bat
TALON, the Connaught Rangers, 1 fear,
suffered great deal. Col. |. G.. Brooke
WAS seriously wounded.
II then ordered Gen. Hildyard tc
advance, which he did, his leading
regiment, the East Surrey, occupied
Colenso Station and the houses near
the bridge. At that moment / heard
that the whole artillery / had sent to
support the attack, the 14th and Goth
field batteries and six naval 12-pound-
er quicl--firers, under Col Long, had
advanced close to the river in Longs
desire to be within effective range.
1t proved to be full of the enemy,
who suddenly opened a CALLING fire at
close range, killing all their horses,
and the gunners were compelled to
stand to their guns. Some of the
wagon teams got shelter for troops in
donga and desperate efforts were
being made to bring out the field
guns.
"The fire, however, was too severe
and only two were saved by Capt.
Schofield and some drivers whose
names 1 will furnish
Another most gallant attempt with
three teams was made by an officer
whose name l will obtain. OF the IS
horses - were killed, and as several
drivers were wounded, L would not al
low another attempt, as it seemed
| that they would be a shell mark, sac
| ritcing life to a gallant attempt to
force the passage Unsupported by ar
tllIery l directed the troops to with
draw, which they did in good order
throughout the day a considerable
force of the enemy was pressing onmy
right flank, but it was kept back by
mounted men under Lord Dundonald
and part of Gen. Barton's brigade
The day was intensely hot and most
trying on the troops, whose conduct
was excellent. We have abandoned 10
guns and lost by shell fire1 The losses
in Gen. Harris brigade, L fear, are
heavy, although the proportion of Sc
verely wounded, l hope, is not large.
The 14th and Goth field batteries also
suffered severe losses. We have retired
to our camp at Chievely."
London, Dec. 17.-As might have
been expected, the desperate state of
the British arms in South Africa. as
revealed by the defeat of Gen. Bull
Ter at Tugela river, where at one
stroke he lost treble the number of
guns Wellington left in the hands of
Napoleon during the six years fight
ing in the Peninsula, while adding
TO the determination of the author
tiles to send every available man to
the front, caused something in the
nature of a momentary panic among
the public
The Evening Standard declares the
| situation calls for all the eouanimitv.
determination and perseverance, of
the empire, and demands the immedi-
ate calling out of all the volunteers.
The Star urges the communicating
OF all the great English Atlantic lin
ers for the transportation of rein
1orcements.' and says the country
must set herself the task of pluck
ing victory out Of defeat"
Queen Victoria was greatly con
cerned about the latest reverse. The
commander-in-chief Lord Wolselev
was at Windsor Castle when the news
arrived, and he took q special train
back TO London
The revised list of the British caeu-
alties at The battle of Magersfontein
shows the total to be oG3 Of which
number 20 were o.slcers.
Death of james w. REFS.
Newcastle, Pa. Dec. 1s.-James w.
Refs, general manager Of the National
steel Co., died at his home SUNDAY
aged about 50 years. The cause of bis
death was typhoid fever. from which
he had been suffering for some weeks
lie was a brother of William r. Refs
president Of the national steel trust.
Appointed to chief Command.
London, Dec. 1S.- Baron Roberts. Of
kaDdahar and Waterford, commander
Of the forces in Ireland, has been ar
pointed 20 the chief command in
GoufI fr:a. 10 70