Kitchener tries to frighten the Boers - Failing, takes revenge on women and children - Capture of Fort Pison - English surprise the Boers and are routed
It was during the month of August that Lord Kitchener issued his proclamation warning all commandants, veldtcornets, etc., that if they did not come in and surrender by September 15th, they would all be permanently banished from the country. I wished at the time that Lord Kitchener could see the Boers as they read his proclamation. They threw their hats in the air, and gave three cheers for "Kitch, the woman butcher," three cheers for "Kitchener, the wind-bag," three cheers for "Kitchener, the scared butcher." I witnessed all this, and felt proud of the Boers for so pouring out their hearts.
That proclamation created new life, and the Boers were determined to show Lord Kitchener what they thought of it and him, by September 15th, although they were so hemmed in that they could scarcely move. Lord Kitchener heard that the Boers made much sport of him and his proclamation, and evened up with them by slaughtering thousands more of their women and children in the concentration camps. In this line of business, I don't believe that Lord Kitchener has an equal in the history of the whole world. He is a good one.
General Louis Botha at once made up his mind to go into Natal and find out what was going on in the enemy's land, and called for a few men from each command. He assembled 1,500 men, and with him went General Chris. Botha and Commandant Opperman, two of the best officers in the field. However, this command did not go until September, so I leave it for the time being.
Far away in the bush veldt, east of Lydenburg, was a strong fort manned by Steinaker's Horse, and a lot of his allied armed Kaffirs. General Ben Viljoen made up his mind to take them in, and with that fighting commandant, Piet Moll, the brave Captain Malan, and the gallant Veldtcornet Schoeman and 100 men, he set out at sunset to accomplish his object. The fort, Pisana, was reached in the very early morning, and Commandant Moll and Veldtcornet Schoeman at once rushed upon it. The defenders poured in volley after volley on them, but they went ahead, scaled the high wall and captured the whole affair. Six men were killed, and good Piet Moll was severely wounded, but I am happy to say that he recovered and is ready to do battle again. Captain Francis, who commanded the fort, and one white man was killed, besides a number of armed Kaffirs in khaki uniform. The Kaffirs fought bravely, but the white men hid themselves in holes.
General Viljoen thought these white men, about thirty, were all freebooters, who had employed some seventy Kaffirs to fight with them. Lord Kitchener, who had always sworn that the British had not armed any of the 30,000 or 40,000 Kaffirs now fighting the Boers, had to acknowledge that both the whites and Kaffirs were a part of his military force. He saved the whites, but not the Kaffirs. I will have much to say about this Kaffir business, before I am through, but not just now.
The fort had scarcely been taken before Chief Pisana with about 500 of his armed Kaffirs came to Captain Francis' rescue, but General Ben Viljoen and his men soon put him to flight. The fort had been taken so quickly that Chief Pisana could not reach his friends in time. It was a shame that every white man in that fort was not shot down, for not one of them was fit to live. Each one had two or three Kaffir girls with him, whom they called their wives, and all were living, not as human beings, but as the lowest of beasts. The vile Steinaker and his brutes never again showed up in those parts.
On the high veldt near Olifantsfontein, and just at sunrise, the English opened a hot fire on about 100 of us at a distance of no more than 300 yards. Major Wolmorans, of the artillery, was in command. He had put no guards out and we were caught, most of us, sound asleep. The rapid firing aroused us quickly, and when Major Pretorius and I (we always bunked together) jumped up, we saw twelve Tommies trying to drop us. All the horses stampeded, with the exception of six, and it certainly looked as if we were at last captured. Commandant Prinsloo, a most levelheaded and dashing young officer, with about 100 men, was about a quarter of a mile from us, and he was attacked at the same time.
I had a fine horse that Major Pretorius had given me, but he was the craziest animal under fire I ever saw. He was one of the six horses that were tied and couldn't run away. The other five were quiet, and easily saddled, but no dozen men could put a saddle on mine, because he was standing on his hind feet and fighting with his forefeet. As the English had the small sum of $25,000 on my head, I was determined not to be taken in, if I could help it, so I jumped on him, he leaped into the air, went over a stone wall and seemed to be trying to break his neck. Having gone about 800 yards, I got control of him, hauled him in and turned about to see what was going on. I could see no more than thirty or forty English, so went back at once. I could see our stampeded horses about three miles away, and half of the artillery boys in hot pursuit.
The English broke and fled, and Major Pretorius with four mounted men, went after them in hot haste. It looked foolish, but it turned out otherwise. Those five men chased those forty scouts and Captain Wood and Captain Morley for nine miles, killing four and wounding seven, and capturing some horses. Captain Morley was severely wounded by Major Pretorius, who charged upon him with his mauser revolver. We missed being captured by the main column passing about one mile from us. Had all of them been present, I think that cot one of us would have escaped being killed or captured. A few days afterwards, we read Captain Wood's report, and in it he said that he and forty of his scouts were ambushed by about 700 Boers in the early morning, a fight ensued in which he counted twenty-three Boers killed, but did not know the number of wounded. We all exclaimed, "What a liar 1" We had just one man slightly wounded, and Captain Wood's scouts, who were prisoners in our camp, will tell him so, too. Speaking of his own loss, Captain Wood said that Captain Morley was severely wounded in the stomach, four men killed, seven wounded and fourteen missing. We knew nothing about the fourteen missing, for we only saw the four killed, and the seven wounded.
Every day for the rest of the month we were attacked by the English, and a short hot skirmish would ensue. In the end, of course, we had to fly, for the English were always fifteen or twenty to one against us. It was very trying work, and the nights were still severely cold, yet the boys were always in good spirits, and ready for business.
In the Free State some blockhouses were blown up, some taken, and one or two trains fell into General De Wet's hands, but otherwise there was little done. In Cape Colony, both General Smuts and General Kritsinger were very lively. More towns had been taken, several convoys and many prisoners had been captured, and, on the whole, the English had been badly worsted throughout the Colony.
September is the month in which Kitchener's proclamation of banishment is to take effect, and the Boers came in to surrender in this way. General Louis Botha was near the Natal Border and found English and fortified camps plentiful. Forts Prospect and Itala, both fortified places, were attacked and after very severe fighting for many hours, General Botha's men proved too much for the English behind the walls, and gained two victories. He had one more short fight, and when ready to start back to the high veldt he found that he had taken three guns, over 300 prisoners and 130 heavily loaded wagons ; this, too, on the very day that he and his officers were to be banished if they did not come in and surrender.
Matters were quiet in the Free State, so we pass on to Cape Colony. On September 15th, the day of banishment, General Kritsinger attacked and put to flight one column, while General Smuts smashed another and took two extra guns with him. This day was celebrated all over Cape Colony by the commandants, but I regret to say that two of the very best of them were very unfortunate. Commandant Lotter and over a hundred men were surrounded and captured after a most desperate fight. Because he made such a brave showing and because he wrought so much havoc with English columns, he was promptly hanged. Young Scheepers, who was so ill with fever that he could not ride, was also captured, tied in a chair and shot, as well as his two lieutenants, Wolvarts and Schoeman. These brave men had fought many successful battles and laid low many English officers and men, therefore, they must die. After a while I will have something more to say about these good men, young Louw and other martyrs.
In the Western Transvaal, General de la Rey also celebrated the 15th of September by taking 200 men and attacking Colonel Kekewich and 1200 at Selons River. Colonel Kekewich lost all his horses, his wagons, had a narrow escape, and he with his men fled as fast as their legs could take them, while General de la Rey continued to harass them. Had General de la Rey had a few more men, he would have taken the whole column, but he had to content himself with all the horses.
All this went to show Lord Kitchener how much the Boers thought of his threats and proclamation. If there were 10,000 Boers in the field, and no more than 50,000 English, and the Boers should issue such a proclamation, why, the English would fairly break their necks, such would be their haste to lay down their guns. But the Boers are soldiers who love liberty and their Country, and therefore are not men to run and lay down their guns because some high butcher at the head of 300,000 men threatens to banish them forever from their country If they do not.
