The Irish standard., 1901-03-02

that day things dragged on as usual,
skirmishing and scouting day by day
till the battle of Pieter's Height, in
which the brigade participated. Here,
again, the English artillery was turned
on the Irish soldiers of the British
queen because they seemed halfheart-
ed in attacking the Boer position. One
of the incidents of the fight was the
capture of kopje, defended by 20
Beers, by a British regiment. When
they got the kopje they stood on the
summit cheering. The brigade was
advancing to the support of the kopje
at the time, and as soon as the British
showed up against the sky line we
poured in a fire that pulveriZed them,
and then with cheer rushed up to the
assault. We had that kopjc back in
fifteen minutes. At nightfall Butler
was pulling off, defeated for the
fourth time, and we were all in huge
glee.
Imagine our amaZement and dismay
when Mt 2 o'clock in the morning we
received imperative orders to retreat
and guard the guns. We could not
understand it nor the excitement and
depression visible among the Beers,
but few inquiries elected the news
of Cronjes surrender. It's effect on
the Ladysmith Investing forces was
disheartening in the extreme. 1t came
as a heavy blow, for we knew that an
outlet had been made for the escape
of Cronie's force and we all confidently
believed he would have availed of it.
All through the night the stricken
burghcrs trekked away from Lady
smith, we guarding the guns.
At Brandfort we lined up to meet
the English and covered the retreat Of
the Boer army. 1t was there that we
were Joined by Captain O'Connor and
the Irish-American contingent, most of
whom were from Chicago. For six
teen hours we kept the Britishers at
bay, and when we fell back they had
not the courage to attempt to follow
us. The next morning, however, a sur
prise party Of them came on us while
we were breakfasting, and we sent
them back in double-quick time and
finished our meal. l missed one Of
the boys when they fell in afterward,
but little while later he>came coolly
riding back. He had followed up the
them. In all the succeeding engage
ments, Vet river, Zand river, Kip
river and Rhenoster river, we were
heavily engaged.
Outside Johannesburg, we got into
the English with great effect. In the
fighting round Elandsfontein and Irene
we probably inflicted more damage on
them than in any engagement since
Pieter's Heights.
When the English plucked up cour-
age to move out from Pretoria we had
an exciting time. Every day we
hadn't battle we had 4 skirmish. In
all the fighting round DonkerhoelS,
Glands River, Bronkhorstspruit, Mid
delburg and Belfast we were well in
front. At Belfast fifteen of our fel-
lows held the whole British army at
bay for a day. How it occurred was
this: When the women and children
were packed into open trucks and sent
away from Pretoria and johannesburg
in bitterly cold weather by order of
Lord Roberts, British officer came
down along with them, with some
British soldiers us an escort" Poor
women! it was pitiful to see them after
their long exposure, pcrlshing with
cold, furnishing with hunger, with the
little children crying bitterly. The
Kaffirs would not have treated these
poor women with the inhumanity Of
these barbarous English. The British
officer made n sketch of our position
or what he thought sketch-private-
ly. British officers and gentlemen
don't bother about the laws of war or
the laws Of honor. as a rule, and on
Aug. 23 the British came along pri-
vately to capture the brigade. had
just II men With me on hrandwacht,
and two OF these who were out in ad-
vance came galloping up, having cspied
the English. We laid low and prepared
nice reception for them. When they
got to within 100 yards we gave them
a volley and every shot told. They
fell back in confusion and we contin-
ucd pumping away ut Them wasting
no bullets. At nightfall we fell hack
on our main body, and then the Ave
days battle at Dalmanutha followed.
| have already told how poor O'IIara
gave his life to save us.
need not detail the fighting thence
to Komati POort-we gave Il good
time to the English before we got to
the Portuguese border. On the Trans
vaal side Of the frontier we destroyed
a number of English cannon VIC had
captured. The English reported. saw
in their papers, that we had destroyed
our own guns! forgot to mention the
difficulty we had in making the Eng
lish prisoners Mt Nooitgedacht accept
their freedom. The majority of them