The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1900-07-20


range in which it was a conspicuous
height so long as the Beers were there.
Therefore long before light on the fifth
day Of the fighting along the range a
column of British set out through the
darkness on the march along the deep
valley and in single file, using their
hands and knees like Alpine climbers,
crawled up the native trail to the
plateau of Spion Kop.
BY means of Buffers dispatch of
Jan %, saying that Warren would
storm Spion Kop, the key to tlfe Boer
position that night the whole world
except the Beers was aware of the at
tempt The Beers had pickets on the
hill, but nothing able to stem the Brit
isll rushes The first trench was car
ried, and the victors sounded yell
which penetrated to the British re
serve, and again the cable wires told
the world of the capture of Spion Kop.
But at 10 o'clock that morning, when
the fog lifted, the Boer artillery open
ed from three points, and the British
were forced to retreat from the trench
es to the shelter of the southern edge
of the plateau out of range.
Not until this repulse did Warren
provide supports for the storming par
ty, and then he sent but three regi-
ments without artillery. These three
regiments, the Dorsets, the MlddleseX
and the Imperial light, climbed the
same narrow pathway to the plateau,
charged the trench and pressed on in
the face of the artillery fire to trench
at the north edge of the plateau. The
Beers had placed two Maxims in posi-
ton and hurled this column back to the
shelter of the first trench. Twice this
second or daylight charge was repeat
ed with the same result. Meanwhile
General Woodgate had been shot
through the head and taken from the
field, leaving Lieutenant Colonel
Thorneycroft of Thorneycrofts horse
in chief command. 1t is one of the
pecuiiarities' of the British army that
in a column of some thousand troops
there may be no brigadier and posi-
bly, no full colonel Woodgate was
major general and the next in rank
battalion commander.
While Woodgate was fighting the
Kings Royal rifles and the Scottish
rifles were sent forward in support
The Royal rifles attacked another spur
of the range, but the Scots climbed
Spion Kop just in time to meet a
countercharge of the Beers. This first
charge was defeated, so the British
correspondents declare but still the
hill was not taken. The hour must
have been long past noon, and the stu
alton for the British was terrible in
the extreme None of the men had had
food or wdter or an hours sleep since
the previous night. The little water
found on the crest was required for
the wounded All through the after
noon the Boer shells Were hurled upon
the occupants of the southern edge of
the plateau, where in a narrow space
the troops lay huddled so thickly that
every shell plowed the ranks of the
living and the rows of wounded and
corpses. Only the Scottish rifles were
on the firing line, and there man
couldn't raise his head above. the stone
Gaping of the trench without getting
punctured The Boer trench was but
10 yards away, and as usual the Maui
ser shooting from there was extreme
ly accurate If man stood up to help
a wounded comrade, he was shot
through the head, and even when a
stone was removed to make loophole
for firing the Beers saw it and sent
bullets through with deadly effect.
Just when the crisis came for the
British by the main Boer rush, as de
scribed by the Boer commander, Gen
eral Louis Botha, is not clear from his
narrative nor the British accounts.
General Botha says that before the fog
lifted he started with $50 men to drive
the British from the hill. Even in. the
ascent, he says, while the mist was so
thick that the British could not be
seen. his men kept falling from yari-
Gus kinds of missiles, and when the
summit was reached the combatants of
both armies ran against each other.
In spite of the losses his men went
ahead and soon closed with, the enemy,
actually tearing the muskets out of
their hands in score of instances.
One statement of Botha's' is signifi-
cant. ~"Finally," he says, naafter severe
fighting we gained the day, and as
darkness came oneover the scene we
had taken, 200 prisoners" Botha is a
man of few words, and 1t may be that
his first descriptions apply to the Brit
ish outpost on the flank, for, accord
ing to his account, the severe fighting
must have occurred after the hand to
hand. tussles he mentions when his
men tirst coached the summit
InSdescribing the field Botha says
that there wereB50 British dead "scat-
tered around the hill" that there were
300 Britisht wounded left ION the hill
all night" and tlfats"on the other side
of tie hill no less titan $50 British were
killed" The "all night" refers to the
night the, British retreated or the Sec
ond night of the attack.
One, Of .Bothas Soldiers said that his
general was among the very first Beers
TO reach the Summit of Spion Kop. He
also confirmed Bothas account of the
hand to hand struggle, for he had him
self taken two rides from the hands of
the enemy Draining one man with a
revolver before he would yield.
Another account by eyewitness is
that Of Winston Churchill, who says
that he went to Spion. Kop about 4
O'Clock the, afternoon of the oath, the
day. bf the battle. He speaks Of fight.
ing stin going on and Of the carnage
caused by Mauser and Maxim. still he