Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1899-10-28
BATTLE OF MAJUBA HILL.
What Occurred In the Centennial Year o
the First Kings Mountain.

What Occurred In the Centennial Year OF
the First Kings Mountain.
From the Chicago Chronicle.
"Majuba |" was the cry of the spec
tators who witnessed the departure of
Sir Redvers Butler from Southampton
for the seat of war in South Africa.
"Maiuba !" shouted the soldiers bound
for the cape as their steamer drew
away from the dock. "Majuba !" cried
the Conservatives in the house of com
mons when Mr.. Morley challenged the
government to justify its aggression
against the Beers. 1t is the war cry of
the British in the struggle with the
Afrikanders.
And there is good reason why the
name of a bleak, desolate mountain
should excite the revengeful wrath of
the British people. Majuba mountain
was a scene of conflict in which the
British arms suffered a defeat so crush
ing that every soldier wearing the
queens uniform burns to blot it out.
The British troops sustained no dis
grace in their defeat. They fought
with bravery born of continued sue
cess and native temperament. But
they were beaten so completely that
the remembrance of the defeat will
rankle until it has been avenged-il
that is to be.
The battle of Majuba mountain was
small affair, as battles go. Fewer
than $500 men took part in it. 1t
was the completeness of the British
defeat and the supreme bravery Of the
Afrikanders which rendered it one OF
the historic struggles of military annals.
Sir George Pomeroy Colley was in
command of the British forces on the
Transvaal border in the winter OF
1SSO.S1. He was brave officer with
supreme confidence in the invincibility
of his troops, and despite the fact that
Colonel Anstruther's command had
been annihiiated by the Beers at
Bronker's Spruit, leaving him less than
l 900 men with whom to confront 1000
Afrikanders under the personal COM
mand of Joubert. "Oom Paul. was
also with the Boer troops. On the 28th
of January, 1881, Colley met the Afri
kanders at Laing's Neck, in the heart
of the Drakenbergs. In FIVE minutes
he had lost IT'S men, killed and wound
ed. Colley lost three men. Colley
drew off to Hatley's Store, threw up
earthworks and awaited an attack
which did not come. This inspired
him with renewed courage and he
determined to invade the enemy's
country.
On the night of February 26 he led
900 of his men to the summit of MAUI
ba mountain-7,OOO feet above the
level of the sea. The summit was a
crater-like depression with rim which
served as breastwork. Below it, on
all sides, stretched steep declivity of
1000 feet, a slope devoid of shelter
save for scattered rocks and boulders.
By all military precedent the place
should have been impregnable. 1t
might have been to ordinary troops /;
but it was not to the Beers.
At noon the next day-disdaining
the advantage of night attack-the
Afrikanders filled their cartridge belts,
deployed in open order and charged
straight up the west slope of the noun
tain in the teeth of the British fire.
Sometimes they ran, sometimes they
walked, sometimes they threw them
selves down and crawled, taking ad-
vantage of the shelter of the rocks and
inequalities of the ground. 1t took
them an hour to achieve the ascent.
1t took them but moment to spring
over the rim of the crater and bring
a bloody contest to an end. When
the white flag at last foated from the
British position it flew over 266 dead
or wounded Englishmen. Nearly one
half of the British force had succumb-
ed to the deadly fire of the Boer rifles.
Sir George Colley was among the dead.
1t is an open secret that he perished
by shot from his own revolver, un-
willing to survive his defeat. Majuba
mountain ended the war. The British
government of that period was not so
keen for conquest as is the existing
cabinet. An armistice was soon signed
and r,sce followed shortly there
after.
But the memory of Majuba hill has
not faded. 1t is a name to stir the
British soldier to the depths. "Maju-
ba J" will ring over the veldt in many
hard fought battle before the Afri'
kanders are crushed. Majuba may be
even repeated before that end is
IL