The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1901-01-27

in a wholly unexpected direction the Q
and Z batteries of Horse artillery wheel
( ed right under the Boer rifles. In thirty
seconds the horse of five guns Of Z bat
terry and two guns Of Q battery were
killed and their drivers out Of action
The remaining five 9-pounders staggered
! across the plain and opened fire from the
station buildings. fifteen hundred yards
away. Their singing shrapnel dampen-
ed the Boer fire, but when the order to
retire came only ten men, several of them
wounded, could leave the field with their
guns
Behind IN the spruit. Doom Christian
was busy with his peasants thrift super
/ intending the mending Of the damaged
! wagons. Strengthening the bent axletrees
/ and splicing the strained dissel booms- At
! one swoop he had captured seven guns
/ 40 wagons. with nearly two thousand
/ mules, four hundred prisoners and had
! driven from the field with heavy loss a
/ force of two thousand men under one OF
/ the smartest Of British cavalry generals.
/ It was Christian De Vets first raid
on the British and the omens were favor
able On that 3lst day Of March, 1900.
De Wet began his career as q guerilla
chief
For him the style Of warfare is ideal.
A born hunter. he carries with him a
force Of native born Free Staters. He
has as his field Of operations a state Of
about the size Of Kentucky, every yard
OF which is known to him and 10 every
man under his command. Every resi-
dent is a sympathizer ready with food
and with Information He needs no
commissariat; he has no headquarters.
save his saddle His authority is the
old state president. whom he carries with
him, and his object is the harassing of
the British troops spread all around him
With slight exception he has confined his
raiding to the three hundred and fifty
miles of prairie between the Orange river
and the Vaal His raids north or south
Of that district have been few and short
lived. forced upon him by stress Of cir
cLmstances.
Cnencumbered by baggage or commits
sariat De Wet moves with nothing heav-
Ter than a two wheeled buggy. His guns
he buries when he desires to increase his
speed only to resurrect them on a less
pressing morrow. Ammunition is passed
mountains and every farm has it's little
bundle Of cartridges awaiting him
If only he can maintain his supply of
hOrsefesh De Wet can operate for years
yet in the Free States capturing isolated
conveys. surprising solitary columns.
swooping down on unprotected towns Tn
q straight line the British have twelve
hundred miles Of communications to
guard, over which every ton Of supplies
must be conveyed. Every yard Of that
is a target for De Wet
Three days after his success at Sanna's
Post De Wet swooped down on Redders-
burg, a hundred miles to the south, and
captured three companies Of the Irish
Rifles and two of the Second Northum-
berland Fusiliers. In less than a week
De Wet with his fifteen hundred men,
had captured twelve hundred British sol
diers and had taken seven guns.
At Wepener away out on the Basuto
border, he found another isolated British
force-seventeen hundred colonists under
Colonel Dalgety-and settled down to be-
siege it, For seventeen days he beset
the Britishers. but this time unsuccess-
fully although he killed nearly all their
horses and disabled three hundred of the
troopers.
The engagement at Wepener had its
chief interest in the fact that it gave
Lord Roberts time to complete his ar
for netting De Wet and al Of
his force. Generals Rumble and French,
Ian Hamilton, PoIe-Carew and Smith
D0rrien, Brabant Hart and Chirmside,
Broadwood and Bruce Ham
Hton drew rapidly around him-thirty
thousand men disposed in two nets 20
capture De Wet But Doom Christian
had further need Of his liberty. lie sue
cessfully hindered French and Rumble
until his Wepener force was disengaged
and they skipped gayly past Ian Ham
iton at Thabanchu. On May / he was
safely back in Winburg, and Lord Rob
erts had commenced his main advance on +
Pretoria
For some weeks the Beers were too
busy in retreat to give De Wet a chance
of attack. but he carefully disentangled
himself from the main flight and with
drew TO the northeastern corner of the
Free State with his president and a hand
full Of followers. Past him rolled Lord
Roberts giant army to Pretoria and the
north
on May q he Wet swooped down on a
convoy at Lindlev. to the eastward OF
Kroonstad. in The northern part of thu
Free State. and after three DAYS fight
ins captured it and the escort of 500
Yeomanry. With him were I'VE guns.
fifteen hundred men and the best of the
Free State horses.
on Tfr-, j. l.77
IF dfty-ive wagons near Hebron. fifty
miles to the north Of Lindley and took
prisoners its escort of 100 men.
With the supplies secured from these
wagons he set off down the railway line
20 RoodevaL where he found the Fourth
oerhyshires. raw militia regiment The
niidamen had gone quickly to camp in
he kopjes north Of Roodeval and expect
"a nothing less than The hail Of BULLETS
hat woke them in the nighttime he
Vets i've guns completely commanded
he camp. and. after losing their colonel
md l49 men the regiment on June Z sur
.endered
Two miles 20 the south was Roodeval
ratien. and thither. after the noise Of
he Derbyshires' death struggle had sill
need came a mail train with some hun
'red men al various regiments as escort
70 them went De Wet ana demanded i'm
Mediate surrender hut the posrmen
ought in defence Fl their hass and the
motley details assisted as best they could.
& was useless About ther ears came
he station buildings. Oom Christian
ree5ily held the train escort prisone-.
With them he captured i've truck loads
{ mail. eoaoo great coats ana a wagon
Z siese Shells bound northward. Train.
taton mails and shells were AN ser