Battle of Talana Hill The Battle of Talana Hill , also known as the Battle of Glencoe , was the first major clash of the Second Boer War . A frontal attack by British infantry supported by artillery drove Boers from a hilltop position , but the British suffered heavy casualties in the process , including their commanding general Sir William Penn Symons . Prelude . Reinforcements sent to Natal by Britain immediately before the outbreak of war had moved into the northern path of the province of Natal , but not far enough forward to occupy the passes of the Drakensberg mountains . As a result , the Boers could invade Natal from three sides . Lieutenant - General Sir George White in command of forces in Natal requested that forces at Glencoe ( Dundee ) be withdrawn to concentrate his forces at Ladysmith where he held the bulk of the British garrison . The Governor of Natal considered it necessary to hold the position for political and economic reasons , so he dispatched Lieutenant - General Sir William Penn Symons to take control of the troops at Glencoe . War was declared at 5pm on 11 October with the Boers invading on the 12 October . Penn - Symons commanded a brigade ( four infantry battalions , part of a cavalry regiment and three companies of mounted infantry , three field artillery batteries ) which occupied the coal mining town of Dundee . Coal was strategically important to the British war effort as it was needed to power the British train locomotives . On the evening of 19 October , two Boer forces from the independent South African Republic , each numbering 4 , 000 men under General Lukas Meyer and General " Maroela " Erasmus closed in on Dundee . Battle . Before dawn on 20 October , Erasmus ' s force occupied Impati Mountain north of Dundee . Meyer ' s men occupied the low Talana Hill east of the town at , and dragged several German manufactured Krupp field guns to the top . As dawn broke and the British spotted the Boers on Talana Hill , these guns opened fire , ineffectually . The British 16th and 69th field batteries galloped to within range and opened fire . Leaving the 1st Battalion Leicestershire Regiment and the 67th field battery to guard the camp , the British infantry , led by the 2nd Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers and supported in succession by the 1st Battalion King ' s Royal Rifle Corps ( KRRC ) and the 1st Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers ( RIF ) , moved forward to make a frontal attack , and reached the foot of the hill where they were to advance through a small wood . However they were pinned down by heavy rifle fire from the top of Talana Hill . Symons went forward to urge them on , and was mortally wounded in the stomach , although he was able to mount his horse and ride back into Dundee where he later died . Under Symons ' successor , Brigadier - General James Herbert Yule , the KRRC managed to reach a small stone wall at the foot of Talana Hill , where the Dublin Fusiliers were pinned down by Boer fire . With the Royal Artillery laying down accurate fire on the summit the KRRC supported by the RIF were able to proceed up the hill . When they reached the top , they suffered casualties from their own supporting artillery . The Boers abandoned their positions on the hill . Despite the British artillery being repositioned to harass the Boer retreat , they declined to fire , worried that they might hit their own troops again . General Lukas Meyer ' s forces mounted their ponies and made off . A squadron of the 18th Hussars and the British mounted infantry tried to cut off their retreat , but most of the British horsemen strayed onto the slopes of Impati . General Erasmus ' s men , who had so far played no part in the battle due to Impati being shrouded in fog , surrounded the British mounted detachment and forced them to surrender . Aftermath . The British had won a tactical victory , but at a high cost . Yule ' s men were unable to contemplate attacking Impati Hill , which held Dundee ' s water supply . They marched and countermarched beneath the hill for two days under intermittent shellfire . Other Boer forces had cut the British line of supply and retreat . Finally the British force retreated across country at night . After an arduous four - day march of , they reached Ladysmith , where they reinforced the garrison .