Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1900-03-08
A WOUNDED OFFICERS STORY.
Tale of InteBse Suffering on the
Battle Field of EIandslaagte,
south Africa

A wounded officer sends a long letter
to his mother from Pietermaritzburg
hospital describing his experiences at
the battle Of Elapdslaagte. 1T was"
be says, "a splendid feat of arms, and
am most awfully proud of my regi-
ment, for we bore the brunt of the day.
We had a tremendous hard time Of 1t,
and were under fire for 21s hours (ccn-
siderably longer than any other corps).
But the cost was awful We had only
ten officers IN action, ard five of them
were wounded; and Of s29 men we had
III killed and 80 wounded; two have
since died OF their wounds. Tue Cor
doDs lost even more severely. The rea-
sons for this were, in my opinion, as
follows; First, their dark kits were
much more visible than our khalCis, and
consequently formed better target;
second, there were more of them. The
Gord0ns all sag that Dargaj was the
merest child's play compared to this.
10 return to my own doings Hay
where I fell for about tLree-qdarters
Of an hour, when doctor came and put
a field dressing on my wound, gave me
some brandy, put my helmet under my
head as a pillow, covered rbe with a
Boer blanket which he had taken from
a dead man and then went to lock after
some other poor beggar. / shall never
forget the horrors Of that night as long
as I live. In sddition to the agony
which my wound gave me had two
sharp stones running into my back.
was soaked to the skin and bitterly cold,
but had an awful thirst; the torrents
Of rain neye5, stopped. On one side Of
me was Gordon highlander IN raving
6Sirium and on She Other Boer who
had had his leg shattered by shell, and
who gave vent TO the most heartrending
cries and groans. War is funny game,
mother, and no one can realize what its
grim horrors are Hoe till they see II IN
ell its barbarous reality.
81 lay in the rain the whole Of the
night, and at daybreak was put into q
doolie by doctor, and some natives car
ried NE down to The station. The
ground was awfully rough. and they
dropped me twice; tainted both times.
was sent down to Iadyslnith in the
hospital train; from the station was
conveyed to the chapel (oficer's hospi-
taO in bullock cart, the iolting of
which made me faint again. was the
last officer taken IN. I was then put
to bed. and my wound was dressed Just
II hours after wss hit. They then
gave me b-ef tea, which was the first
food had had for RI hours. Tie doc
tors all said at first that ] had been
hit by shell, bat chat is impossible,
for the enemy only had two guos, and
we had taken them both when was
hit. So the doctors cow sag that II
must have been a very heavy explosive
bullet, and, as al elephant gun was
fourd close TO where ] was hit, ex-
pect they are right. IL has made big,
jagged hole in my shoulder, which you
could put your baud into. IT has blown
some Of the muscles away, so I am
afraid I shall always be bit stiff. They
say it will take another ten weeks be-
fore am fit for duty, and I a1a very
much afraid that most Of the fighting
will be over by that time. in spite Of the
present critical condition Of affairs."-
birmingham (Cpgland) Post.