Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1899-12-21
LOST OVER 1000 MEN.
ARMY CUT TO
PIECES 81 THE BOERS.
british Repu1sed with Heavy easa
ties on the Road to Kinberley-hin
land Brigade Alone Has 7ooWonnaeu'
,,.as;,,sardK Killed. Gloom in London.


1,ate London adyices are 70 Tue ,Io1
49, Con Methuen's casualties IN Mol
Jar,,s battle north of Modder river -
u"' aoa 600. The Highland prisaue
olone lost fifty-two officers ana oo ~, me ~:
=. r;l,od wounded and missing. Inc "
- If tho war Office in LONDON was
ena,Ydod with anxious inquirers ana theie
wore many affecting scenes Wheh ~
names appeared on the bulietin ooa ;tl
women in furs pressed 1of"alu VIZ"
women in old cloth jackets 70 Hlahe SUI
tbav were reading the well-kho"h n"ine
.;rh+ and rank and class were 1ofgot
-, IN q common grief. Groups OF PEG
Mo wearing anxious looks upon .neil
faces daily discuss the gloomy SITUATION
in South Africa, and crowns assenipie
the war office reading each pulletih ae
is nosted, waiting for good news D"'n
;mnortant battle seems to BRING "oioe
reverse for the British, and the papers
sorrowfully admit that Gen. Methuen
check at Magersfontein is the most SER
GUS event the war has yet PRODUCED.
One newspaper correspondent sums up
the gloomy situation in the ;tolioWlns ian
guage: with Lord Methuen deleateu'
with q loss Of great NUMBER ol LIS nien
and in danger of being attacked d. any
moment by superior forces, with zen.
Gatacre repulsed with loss OF Ioo men
and facing an admittedly impregnapie
Roer position; with Mafeking short OF
rations and greatly harassed by DOM
bardment; with Kimberley and Lady
smith completely invested and nourly
nennered by Boer shells; with Sir hed-
vers Butler, still unprepared to ADVANCE
with an uprising of discontinued cape
Dutch imminent reign OF terror III
Zululand. 1000 British soldiers captive
at Pretoria, the Boer forces flushed Wlth
cleyerly earned victories and hghtlng
harder than ever, three British trans
norts grounded within the month-tnls
is ANYTHING but the cheerful picture IN
South Africa which the British pupllc
and the war office have to look upon,
when they were confident at the begin
ming of the war that the British would
eat their Christmas dinner i'll Pretoria.
All England was shocked by the news
of Gen. Methuen's defeat. Gen. Cat
acres reverse was considered very bad,
but at the time the universal expression
was wait till Butler and Methuen de-
liver their blows" The fragmentary dis
patch which first arrived was SUFFICIENT
in itself to dash such hopes, but never
theless the optimists declared that fur
Their accounts would tell of British sue
cess. The official dispatch shows mat
tiers even worse than the first report in
dictated.
The British casualties included the
Marques of Winchester, major of the
Second battalion Coldstream Guards,
killed; Maj. Gen. Wauchope, command
ing the Black Watch (Highlanders), kill
ed; Lieut.. Wauchope, wounded; Royal
Highlanders, Lieut.. COL Goode killed,
five officers wounded and three missing,
and Col. Downham of the First battalion
Gordon Highlanders, who was MORALLY
wounded.
When the Highlanders met the murder
Gus point blank fire Of the Beers about
200 were moved down. The Black
Watch regiment on reforming was able
to muster only 100 men. The Beers lost
heavily in the trenches and also in the
wire entanglements when they came into
the open in an attempt to make a flank
attack on the British. The terrific Brit
ish artillery fire provoked no response
except from the Boer rifles until nearly
4 o'clock in the afternoon, when the Cor
don Highlanders formed to renew the
attack on the entrenched kopje. They
advanced with the utmost gallantry to
attack the Beers, close to the place where
lay their dead and wounded comrades of
the Highland brigade.
The Beers opened with heavy shrap-
mel fire as the British advanced, and it
was found physically impossible to take
the Boer trenches. The British got with
in 200 yards, but could not get nearer.
1t was here that Col. Downham fell. The
Beers had free recourse to barbed wire
entanglements.
Tuesday morning both sides occupied
the positions they held before the battle.
Inc greatest bravery was displayed by
both officers and men. The wounded
include Col. A. e. Codrington and Can't.
Sterling, both of the First battalion of
the Coldstream Guards.