The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-04-15
BATTLE OF sPIoN KOP.
Winston ChurchilTs Graphic De.
scriptlon of the Fight.

ing Post.
1t drove us all mad to watch id1v &,
camp the horrible Smelling that was direct
ed on the captured position. and al abor,
O'Clock rode with Capt r. Brooke Sew.
enth Hussars to spion kop, 10 find an.
what the true situation was. We paessd
through the ambulance village. ana le,,.
ing our horses climbed up the SOUR.
Streams of wounded met us and obstr,o.-
ed the path Men were staggering a,or.
alone, or supported by comrades ~
craving on hands and knees, or carried
| on strelchers. Corpses lay here and there
Many of the wounds were of q b.,rrti1,
nature. The spiinters and fragments ~
the shells had torn and mutiated in The
most CHASTITY manner. l passed about on
while | was climbing up There vaa
moreover, a small but steady leakage -,
unwounded men of all corps Some ~
these cursed and swore. Others were nj.
terly exhausted and fell on the hillside in
stupor. Others, again. seemed drunk
though they had had no liquor. Scores
were sleeping heavily. Fighting was sim
proceeding, and stray bullets struck ali
| over the ground while the Maxim shell
guns scourged the TANKS of The Hill and
the sheltering infantry at regular inter.
walls of a minute. The Third Kings Row.
al Rifles were out of reach. The Dorsa,
Regiment was the only battalion no,
| thrown into the fight, and intact as an IF.
fective unit Gen. Talbot Coke and his
staff were sitting on the spur.
l had seen some service and Cant
Brooke has been through more febtins
| than any other officer of late years Wa
were so profoundly impressed by the spec.
tacle and situation that we resolved to ga
and tell Sir Charles Warren what we had
seen. The fight had been so close that no
proper reports had been sent to the gen.
eral so he listened with great patience
ana attention. One thing was guile clear
unless good and efficient cover could bA
made during the night and unless guns
could be dragged to the summit of the
| hill to match the Boer artillery the in.
fantry could not perhaps would not. en-.
| dure another day. The human machine
| VIII not stand certain strains for long
The questions were Could guns Ia
brought up the hill; and. if So could the
troops maintain themselves? The artill-
cry officers had examined the track. They
said No. and that even if they could
reach the top of the hill, they would ba
shot out of action. Two long-range naval
tWelve-pounders, much heavier than the
! field guns, had arrived. The naval leu4
| tenant in charge said he could 90 any
| where, or would have a try anyway He
| was quite sure that if he could. gel on the
top of the hill he would knock out the
| Boer guns or be knocked out by them.
| and that was what he wanted TO make
| sure OF. l do not believe that the attempt
| would have succeeded, or that the guns
could have been in position by daylight,
| but the contrast in spirit was very re-
| freshing.
Another informal council of war was
| called Sir Charles Warren wanted to
know Col Thorneycroft' views I was
| sent to obtain them. The darkness was
he IL
was hopelessly congested with ambu-
| lances, stragglers and wounded men
| soon had to leave my horse, and then toll
| ed upward, finding everywhere streams Of
men winding about the almost PERCEPTIONS
| sides of the mountain, and desultory
crackle of musketry at the top. Only one
| solid battalion remained-the Dorsets. All
! the others were intermingled. Officers
had collected little parties, companies and
| half companies; here and there larger
| bodies had formed. but there was no pos
| sibility, in che darkness, of gripping any,
body or anything Yet it must not be i'm.
agined that the infantry We're demoral-
lied. Stragglers and weakines there wers
IN plenty. But the mass Of the soldiers
were determined men, One man l found
dragging down box of ammunition quite
by himself. ITO do something" he said.
sergeant with twenty men formed up
was inquiring what troops were to hold
the position. Regimental officers every
where were cool and CHEEKY, each with a
little group of men around him, all full
of fight and energy. But the darkness
and the broken ground paralyzed every
one.
I found Col. Thorneycroft at the top OF
the mountain. Every one seemed to know,
even in the confusion, where he was Hs
was sitting on the ground surrounded by
| the remnants of the regiment he had ras-
ed, who had fought for him like lions
and followed him like dogs. l explained
the situation as ! had been told and as
thought. Naval guns were prepared 10
try, sappers and working parties were al,
ready on the road with thousands OF
sandbags. What did he think? But inc
decision had already been taken. He had
never received any messages from tns
General, had not had time to write any.
Messages had been sent him, he nag
wanted to send others himself. The hght
had been too hot too close, too interaceu
for him to attend to anything, but TO sup
! port this company. clear those rocks or
line that trench. So, having heard notn'
ing and expecting no guns, he had 9e'
cided to retire. As he put It terseFI
Better six good batalions safely down
the hill than a mop up in the morn.
ing" Then we came home, draWlns
down out read guard after us very SOW.
ly and carefully, and as the ground Stew
more level the regiments began TO form
again into the old solid blocks.
Such was the battle of Spion kop. II y
an event which the British people may
regard with feelings of equal pride ana
sadness. II rebounds to the honor oil w
soldiers, though not greatly TO that ..
the generals. But when all that VIII 70
written about this has been written, ans
all the bitter words have been saa wv
the people who never do anything mem,
selves the wise and just citizen VIII 70
member that these same generals are a..
ter all, brave, capable, noble English gen.
temen, trying their best 90 carry throuEEn
a task which may prove to be impoSslO,,
and is certainly the hardest ever SET
men.
Even garbage Is adulterated noWa'"''
| In Bridgeport Conn, where the ieu0'
| ~ lrarLan1 IL L.nll fnt. mMnn W.