The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1900-02-02

NSS1[6RNK% X IAS AdClSl, IL
lLNgX$RA2SkAS cannot be said
NMB2k1SSSHsI&N that the as
| 7ENtNlaA6S$E/M saults delivered
EESSIk HhlNss IN by Generals Sy-
AyzESs$SheXSXAE| mons, w hite,
wi hAAnkASH Methuen and
NA AGAS Butler showed
wv z@NI a lack of fight
L4ze& ES121ts4ssat1 ing stuff on the
part Of the English officers and men.
Glencoe. Elandslaagte, Modder River.
Magersfontein and Tugela River were
fields neither army need blush for in
spite of the disastrous endings of some
of them for the party of assault.
The first battle of the war, Glencoe,
was not chance encounter, but well
ordered conflict. The position of the
British advance and later of the main
column was in the bed of stream.
while the Beers We're on Talana hill.
which has been called Smiths hill
The British knew of>the presence of
the enemy, but not his strength. and
were astounded when the Boer rifle
fire was followed by a vigorous bonn
bardment at 5000 yards range The
British guns at once opened at very
long range and afterward moved up to
within 1000 yards. At 1870 a. m. the
Boer guns ceased firing, and the Brit
ish supposed them silenced. Then Gen
eral Symons ordered an assault on the
hill, which he led in person
Symons' column was about 1000
strong. For distance the march was
up gentle slope Of open ground. This
was crossed under a rifle fire, and the
Britons reached the cover of woods at
Smiths farm, break in the slope of
the hill. From that point the ground
is rough and the way barred by stone
wall. General Symons was killed in
the woods while waiting for the Brit
ish guns to work upon the Beers. He
had exposed himself CALAMITY all the
morning, and his last words were, "The
hill must be taken"
Half an hour after their leader fell
the fusileers and rifles started up
the hill, creeping from cover to cover,
and at length reached the stone wall.
There the line halted, for a man could
not show himself without getting pune
tured; but the Beers kept out Of sight.
About II o'clock there was a lull in the
Boer firing, and the Britons scaled the
wall, rushing for the steep ascent
which lay between them and the pla-
teau occupied by the Beers. The losses
of the British in this rush were heavy.
Colonel Cunning, commanding the Ri
fes, was shot in the head, and IL out
of IL officers in the battalion were kill
ed or wounded. The last stretch of the
hill was taken at the point of the bay
onet, the Beers not waiting for the
charge to be carried home.
At Elandslaagtey the Beers held a
ridge at right angles with the railroad
between Ladysmith and Dundee, about
1000 yards from the latter and about
800 yards above level. The Boer right
and left rested upon kopjes, or little
hills, commanding the ridge between.
An open veldt lay between the Brit
ish and the Beers and the moment the
former showed in column the Dutch
opened with good shell fire. General
French led in person, taking the
Devonshire regiment in for frontal
attack and sending the Manchester
ana highlanders to turn the Boer left,
AS the Devonshires advanced the Boer
guns rained shrapnel but the aim was
too high. and only three men were hit.
At 1000 yards from the hill the men
matted under the cover of ant heaps
and opened with their Lee Enfields.
Meanwhile. taking advantage of a
shower from a black thundercloud
the Manchesters and highlanders NOV
ed across the plateau toward the kopie
on the B0er left next to the railroad.
AT 600 yards from the crest the path
became rough. strewn with rocks and
intersected by barbed wire fence.
Stumbling forward over the stones.
and, it must be added. over the bodies
OF comrades who fell. the men pushed
on IN squads. for it was impossible for
sections even to keep together Some
men stopped and lay under the shelter
OF the stones to fire. Perhaps they
were shot as they lay there or when
my uiOSS " Iue EuSu LOT The
next cover. AT the wire fence scores
went down. but it seems that the bull
lets of the Beers had cut the wires.
Half the way was won. but the line
halted. At that critical moment Colo
mel Ian Hamilton of the highlanders
ordered the charge" sounded. This
call was answered by the bugle of the
Devonshires. away down on the plain,
and both lines swept on in the twilight,
with firmly grasped bayonets not halt
ing until they were over the crest.
The Boer force was one commando
or regiment In driving it from the
pass of Elandslaagte the British lost
4 officers and 81 men killed and 81
officers and lI5 men wounded. Among
the Beers, the commander. Colonel
kock. and the artillery chief, Colonel
shiel. were victims, besides several
other prominent officers
General Methuen fought his way to
Modder river. but until he attemptad