The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-06-06
HISTORY OF THE WAR.
From the Kruger Ultima
49,. a. 49,, Fall nj Pretoria.

Operntions From the Kruger Ultima
tum to the Fall of Pretoria.
Four months previous to the precipita-
tim of hostiIi,ies between the Beers and
Great Britain the situation had been crit
zeal. Each side claimed that the other
was not. sincere in its effort to reach
compromise. The burghers had long peeh
preparing for a struggle which they re-
sarded as inevitable after the Jameson
raid England, on her part. had Ma]uoa
Hill to avenge. Great Britain sent troops
to the borders of the South African re
public and the Orange Free State. fresi-
dent Kruger entered a demand that the
soldiers on the borders Of his country be
withdrawn. They were not.
The South African Republic. through It's
President, fixed October II, 1899. at D
D. m, as the time for compliance by the
English with the ultimatum. No atten-
ton was paid to it by the British.
The Beers Immediately began HOSTILE
ties. British subjects were ordered out
of the Transvaal. The Orange Free State
took sides with the Transvaal and COM
Wandered Natal train on the very day
the ultimatum expired. The next day the
Beers captured an armored train near Ma
feking.
Then the Beers marched In force upon
Kimberley and Mafeking and the long
sieges of those places began. The Beers
invaded Natal, British soil. and the first
of the great battles of the war were
fought on that soil.
Sir George White had command OF the
British troops in northern Natal and he
began action against the invaders. The
first battles of note were fought at and
around Glencoe between the goth and 10Th
of October. The British loss was As killed,
221 wounded, and 20S missing. AS in later
engagements. the missing were generally
found to have been captured and taken to
Pretoria. The Boer losses in these en-
gagements, and, in fact throughout the
war. are not known. but 1t has been con-
ceded that the British lost three to their
one on the average.
On October 81 White moved out in force
under General French to eject the Beers
from Elandslaagte. The Beers were rout-
ed This was the only real English vic
tory at the beginning Of the campaign.
General Symons was mortally wounded
at Dundee on October % and his men were
Obliged to retreat, leaving him to die in
General Joubert's camp. On this occasion
the Boer general telegraphed words Of re-
greet to General Symons' widow and added
to the impression he had made upon the
British for fairness and humanity which
eliminated in highest praise at the news
of his death five months later.
The superiority of the Boer tactics were
shown early. Again and again the Brit
ish were trapped. General Yule pulled
his forces through to White, who had
fallen back upon Ladysmith. The Beers
closed in on the place. Whites men made
a sortie and the disaster OF NichOlson's
Mex resulted. October 20. Two battalions
and a mountain battery were captured by
the Beers.
England had become alarmed. Gen. Sir
Redvers Butler was sent from London,
and he arrived at Cape Town on the last
day Of October. The next day the Beers
invaded Cape Colony.
On November 2 Ladysmith was isolated.
Before the siege began, however. naval
guns arrived from H. NJ. S. Powerful, and
these guns undoubtedly saved the town
from destruction, as they were able to
cope with the big guns OF the Beers. The
largest body of men the Republicans had
in the field were arrayed against Lady
smith. General White was inside, with
10000 to IL, 600 men. From October 2S to
January % there were twenty hot en-
gagements around Ladysmth. On jan
uary &c the British loss was 147 killed
and 3O7 wounded. On November Q the
Beers lost heavily in a general attack on
the town. In November there was heavy
fighting. One hundred British soldiers
were captured by the Beers and an arm
ored train wrecked near Chieveley on the
18th.
,1Nny- ra1 tt,o hot Ia
o: Modder River. The British, under Gen.
eral Me,huen, lost 10 killed and 413
wounded The battle lasted all day. By
the last of November the Canadian and
Australian forces entered the campaign.
and, with the other colonial troops, made
good records. The greatest losses were
among the Highlanders, the Irish regi-
ments. and the crack county regiments
Of England
General Gatacre attempted a night at
tack on Stormberg on December 10, but
was repulsed and forced to retire. leaving
&c killed 100 wounded and 500 in the
hands of the enemy. This disaster was fol-
lowed the next day by Methuen's catas-
trophe at Magersfontein. the worst British
defeat OF the war. General Wauchope was
killed and the troops were repulsed with
frightful loss. There were 202 men killed,
6S5 wounded. and 81 were missing.
General Butler, from whom great thugs
had been expected, added to the list of
woe. He had boasted that he would eat his
Christmas dinner in Pretoria but ten days
before Christmas he tried to cross the Tu-
gela River to go to the relief of Ladysmith
and was repulsed with a loss of las killed,
go wounded, and 229 missing. He also lost
ten guns.
Three days later Lord Roberts was APP
int I nYgdp of i'm fri
ca. with Lord Kitchener as his chief of
staff. England was torn with grief ard
wild with shattered pride. General Roberts
sailed from Southampton December %.
The first of the year saw no betterment
in the war situation from the British view
point. Ladysmith. Kimberley. and Mafe-
king were tightly held, and besides recon
noissances generally amounting to moth
ing, the British forces awaited the coming
of Lord Roberts He arrived at Cape Town
January 10. with Lord Kitchener. Mean
while troops were being poured into South
Africa.
General Buffer tried to cross the Tugela
again. and was successful, the Beers leai-
ing him to the fatal action of Spion Kop,
January "a. The position was evacuated
the same night. The loss was 81 killed
l42 wounded. and 9 missing. From the
21st to the cath Butler lost As men killed,
263 wounded, and AZ missing outside the
spion Kop fight itself Butler made a third
attempt to cross the Tugela February .,
and again withdrew two days later. 1t was
understood however. that he was hammer
ing away by orders to hide General Rob-
erts' movements.
February 10 General Roberts arrived at
Modder River and General French began
his successful dashes. Kimberley was re-
lieved February 10. and General French
dispersed the Beers in the neighborhood
General Roberts made Bloemfontein, the
Orange Free State capital. his objective
ba Gycf lei, Wiz -,