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Hi everybody
On 20 December 1900, at Houtkraal near De Aar, Gen Hertzog's Commando crossed the railway line in an episode involving an armoured train. There was one British casualty, Myles Adams.
The following contribution is a slightly shortened version of an article that appeared last year in City Coins' Sale 66 Catalogue.


MYLES ADAMS vs KLAAS HAVENGA at HOUTKRAAL, 20 DECEMBER 1900

In 1984 I obtained a QSA medal to Private M Adams of the Mafeking Railway Volunteers. The relevant page from the QSA medal roll noted that Private Adams was killed in action at De Aar. In following this up I found references to this minor incident in English as well as Afrikaans publications, and as the proverbial “cherry on the top” I could establish the name of the man who had shot Myles Adams!

Adams’ unit, the Mafeking Railway Volunteers, was a body of some 130 men who served under Capt More and was known during the Defence of Mafeking as the “Railway Division”.

Capt More and his men played a major role in the eventual survival of the besieged men and women in Mafeking. Before the end of September 1899, he had already ordered all spare permanent-way material to be picked up between Palapye and Mafeking and between Vryburg and Mafeking and to be brought into Mafeking to be stacked. More also ordered two bogie loads of bridge baulks, three bales of grain bags and 20 000 pounds of boermeel for feeding the natives. Having this stock of material at Mafeking proved invaluable to the defence of the town for he was able, at the request of the Colonel Commanding, to construct a siding one and a half miles long on the north front, thus enabling the armoured train to repel an attack from this side. Afterwards it was found necessary to construct numerous shell-proof trenches for the garrison, women and children and without the above named material, it would have been impossible to put even a small proportion of the inhabitants under cover from shell fire. He also, at the request of the Colonel Commanding, armoured three bogies with heavy steel rails. The sides were made 5 feet high and fitted with rifle and gun port holes and proved most effective and bullet proof.

Men of the Railway Division took a very active part in the Defence of Mafeking e.g. the first shots fired in this respect was by railway men in the armoured train at 5 Mile Cottage, south of Mafeking on 16 October 1899. Again, on 26 December, twenty men went out in the armoured train to assist in the brilliant but unsuccessful sortie against the Boer Fort at Game Tree and afterwards rendered good service in bringing in the wounded under fire. In the last attack on 12 May 1900, they carried out excellent defensive duties during the whole of the day.

A number of men of the Railway Division also rendered special services. Ten of them, including Myles Adams of the Locomotive Department, were detached to start an ordnance foundry and they were soon successful in the casting of cannonballs and seven pounder shell. Other duties included the making and repairing of tents, making powder charges, repairing signal lamps and heliographs, laying on water to the hospital, convent and forts, erecting lookout posts, making shell proof trenches and also patrolling the town to prevent fires caused by incendiary shells.

In the South Africa Field Force Casualty List (1899 - 1902) Adams is listed under the heading "Civilians in Military Employment": “Stoker Adams, M., wounded and died of wounds Houtkraal, 20 December 1900”. He is shown as being with the Cape Government Railways. (A search through the Cape Government Railway's QSA roll did not indicate an entry for Myles Adams, so he was only noted on the Mafeking Railway Volunteers roll).

The "Times History of the War in South Africa", Volume 5, pages 128 & 129 provided some infotmation about the incident. I quote:
"Hertzog, who had occupied Philipstown on December 19, now threw out his feelers to reconnoitre the most favourable direction for an advance. Forced by the presence of Settle's columns at Hanover Road to abandon his intention of a direct march to the south, he moved rapidly west, engaged an armoured train at Houtkraal (De Aar -Orange River line) and passed some of his men across the line at this point."

In "After Pretoria: The Guerilla War", pages 274/5 there are more details:
“Hertzog's and Brand’s troops were by all accounts a very tatterdemalion crew, looking more like brigands than soldiers..... The invaders cut the telegraphs, and then, as British troops were fast concentrating to the east, retired on a wide front towards the west. In this direction lay the important railway junction and depot of De Aar, which had been entrenched and held by a small garrison in the opening weeks of the war...... but the enemy made no attempt upon De Aar. They had orders not to risk engagements with considerable bodies of troops; they were to employ guerilla tactics and to cause annoyance, not to attempt to deal deadly blows. They struck the De Aar-Kimberley railway at Houtkraal, a station a few miles to the north of De Aar. They fired on a goods train from Cape Town and attempted to tear up the rails in front of it, but the drivers - there were two engines on the train - gallantly ran through their midst and escaped uninjured, though the leading engine was dented with bullets. Then the raiders broke the line, cut the telegraph and when the British troops appeared on the scene precipitately retired in the direction of Britstown....."

The Biography of General J B M Hertzog by C M van den Heever is not particularly accurate or helpful, being written by non-military man-of-letters and not a historian. I translate from the Afrikaans:
"General Hertzog had to do his best to evade the enemy with his ill fed and weary men. Each of them only had eleven cartridges. If he could only obtain horses and rifles for them everything would be much better; however, it was not an impressive commando that entered enemy territory, apparently full of bravado but almost without weapons. On the 17th December Philipstown was taken and horses and saddles were commandeered. On the 18th December Houtkraal was reached. At Houtkraal there was an intense fight. A whole English column was overwhelmed and a few hundred prisoners were taken. Hunnik Hertzog and Brand especially did very good work here. On the 22nd December General Hertzog sent Commandant Nieuwoudt to Britstown to do some general scouting and he was back the same night. The later General Conroy joined General Hertzog at this time. The Commando had many close encounters. At one time they just passed in front of an armoured train. A heavy skirmish took place at Houwater on the 26th December where the Boers were driven off and the ambulance under Dr Ramsbottom was captured."

The above reports were rather contradictory: the one by Van den Heever especially could not really be taken seriously. Fortunately I then found a series of booklets published by the OFS Museum Service called the “Hertzog Reeks”. Booklet Number Two, in an article by F A Steytler called "Generaal Hertzog as Krygsman (Warrior)", really brought home what had happened that day. I again translate from the Afrikaans:
"Hertzog went via Philipstown and on the 18th December he crossed the railway line at Houtkraal, north of De Aar. It was here where Klaas Havenga, “die penkop van alle penkoppe" charged on his horse Harry alongside the railway line and tried to shoot the driver of an armoured train with his revolver! The railway line was blown up south of De Aar but the damage was repaired within a few hours. Hertzog did not attack the railway line again because he knew that the enemy would in such an instance easily reach them. A strong force under Thorneycroft and De Lisle pursued Hertzog. From Houtkraal he went in the direction of Britstown. On the 21st December the commando overwhelmed four companies of Yeomanry and in the process acquired all kinds of Christmas titbits like chocolates, tobacco, liquor, etc. In a fight on the 26th of December at Houwater the ambulance under Dr Ramsbottom was captured."

Despite the date anomaly (18 vs 20 December), I am convinced that Klaas Havenga, in his attempt to shoot the driver of the armoured train, succeeded in mortally wounding the stoker, Myles Adams.

Nicolaas Christiaan Havenga was born on 1 May 1882. He took part in the battles of Belmont, Graspan and Modder River as a 17 year old member of the Fauresmith Commando. His part in a futile attempt to disrupt the railway line at Graspan on the 7th December 1899 prevented him from fighting at the battle of Magersfontein. However, he was in action at Poplar Grove and Abrahamskraal and watched Lord Roberts enter Bloemfontein unhindered on 13 March 1900. After the British proclamation on 15 March he joined the remnants of the Jacobsdal and Fauresmith Commandos. In July 1900 he escaped from the Brandwater Basin near Fouriesburg and on 10 August 1900 he joined General J B M Hertzog at Heilbron and became his secretary. This was the beginning of a lifelong friendship. He served General Hertzog capably throughout the war, in the course of which he was wounded three times. On the last occasion, during an attempt to cross a blockhouse line near Bethlehem (March 1902), he was seriously wounded in the right thigh, captured by the British and taken to the hospital in Kroonstad.

After the war he practised as an attorney and notary in the Free State. In 1915 he was elected as Member of Parliament for Fauresmith and he kept this seat until 1940, when he resigned from Parliament. In 1924, when Gen Hertzog came to power, he was appointed Minister of Finance: a post he successfully filled for 16 years. He died in 1957, after retiring from active politics in 1954.

Klaas Havenga never applied for an Anglo Boere Oorlog Medal and Wound Riband. This probably was in sympathy with Gen Hertzog, who rejected the DTD and ABO as “awards conferred by the British”.

Myles Adams was buried in the De Aar cemetery and was posthumously awarded a QSA with bar DEFENCE OF MAFEKING, impressed PTE. M. ADAMS. MAF. RLY: VOLS:

Henk

Note: Klaas Havenga is referred to as a "penkop" or "bristlehead" , which was the term used for the teenagers fighting on the Boer side. An English equivalent could be “stripling”.

I think, to be quite honest, certainly, these days, any defender of Mafeking is well worth having, but, one that is not the norm and just so well documented, is the way to go, certainly not an easy thing to acquire any more, no matter how much money an individual might be willing to spend.

Henk Loots wrote: Hi everybody
On 20 December 1900, at Houtkraal near De Aar, Gen Hertzog's Commando crossed the railway line in an episode involving an armoured train. There was one British casualty, Myles Adams.
The following contribution is a slightly shortened version of an article that appeared last year in City Coins' Sale 66 Catalogue.

MYLES ADAMS vs KLAAS HAVENGA at HOUTKRAAL, 20 DECEMBER 1900

In 1984 I obtained a QSA medal to Private M Adams of the Mafeking Railway Volunteers. The relevant page from the QSA medal roll noted that Private Adams was killed in action at De Aar. In following this up I found references to this minor incident in English as well as Afrikaans publications, and as the proverbial “cherry on the top” I could establish the name of the man who had shot Myles Adams!

Adams’ unit, the Mafeking Railway Volunteers, was a body of some 130 men who served under Capt More and was known during the Defence of Mafeking as the “Railway Division”.

Capt More and his men played a major role in the eventual survival of the besieged men and women in Mafeking. Before the end of September 1899, he had already ordered all spare permanent-way material to be picked up between Palapye and Mafeking and between Vryburg and Mafeking and to be brought into Mafeking to be stacked. More also ordered two bogie loads of bridge baulks, three bales of grain bags and 20 000 pounds of boermeel for feeding the natives. Having this stock of material at Mafeking proved invaluable to the defence of the town for he was able, at the request of the Colonel Commanding, to construct a siding one and a half miles long on the north front, thus enabling the armoured train to repel an attack from this side. Afterwards it was found necessary to construct numerous shell-proof trenches for the garrison, women and children and without the above named material, it would have been impossible to put even a small proportion of the inhabitants under cover from shell fire. He also, at the request of the Colonel Commanding, armoured three bogies with heavy steel rails. The sides were made 5 feet high and fitted with rifle and gun port holes and proved most effective and bullet proof.

Men of the Railway Division took a very active part in the Defence of Mafeking e.g. the first shots fired in this respect was by railway men in the armoured train at 5 Mile Cottage, south of Mafeking on 16 October 1899. Again, on 26 December, twenty men went out in the armoured train to assist in the brilliant but unsuccessful sortie against the Boer Fort at Game Tree and afterwards rendered good service in bringing in the wounded under fire. In the last attack on 12 May 1900, they carried out excellent defensive duties during the whole of the day.

A number of men of the Railway Division also rendered special services. Ten of them, including Myles Adams of the Locomotive Department, were detached to start an ordnance foundry and they were soon successful in the casting of cannonballs and seven pounder shell. Other duties included the making and repairing of tents, making powder charges, repairing signal lamps and heliographs, laying on water to the hospital, convent and forts, erecting lookout posts, making shell proof trenches and also patrolling the town to prevent fires caused by incendiary shells.

In the South Africa Field Force Casualty List (1899 - 1902) Adams is listed under the heading "Civilians in Military Employment": “Stoker Adams, M., wounded and died of wounds Houtkraal, 20 December 1900”. He is shown as being with the Cape Government Railways. (A search through the Cape Government Railway's QSA roll did not indicate an entry for Myles Adams, so he was only noted on the Mafeking Railway Volunteers roll).

The "Times History of the War in South Africa", Volume 5, pages 128 & 129 provided some infotmation about the incident. I quote:
"Hertzog, who had occupied Philipstown on December 19, now threw out his feelers to reconnoitre the most favourable direction for an advance. Forced by the presence of Settle's columns at Hanover Road to abandon his intention of a direct march to the south, he moved rapidly west, engaged an armoured train at Houtkraal (De Aar -Orange River line) and passed some of his men across the line at this point."

In "After Pretoria: The Guerilla War", pages 274/5 there are more details:
“Hertzog's and Brand’s troops were by all accounts a very tatterdemalion crew, looking more like brigands than soldiers..... The invaders cut the telegraphs, and then, as British troops were fast concentrating to the east, retired on a wide front towards the west. In this direction lay the important railway junction and depot of De Aar, which had been entrenched and held by a small garrison in the opening weeks of the war...... but the enemy made no attempt upon De Aar. They had orders not to risk engagements with considerable bodies of troops; they were to employ guerilla tactics and to cause annoyance, not to attempt to deal deadly blows. They struck the De Aar-Kimberley railway at Houtkraal, a station a few miles to the north of De Aar. They fired on a goods train from Cape Town and attempted to tear up the rails in front of it, but the drivers - there were two engines on the train - gallantly ran through their midst and escaped uninjured, though the leading engine was dented with bullets. Then the raiders broke the line, cut the telegraph and when the British troops appeared on the scene precipitately retired in the direction of Britstown....."

The Biography of General J B M Hertzog by C M van den Heever is not particularly accurate or helpful, being written by non-military man-of-letters and not a historian. I translate from the Afrikaans:
"General Hertzog had to do his best to evade the enemy with his ill fed and weary men. Each of them only had eleven cartridges. If he could only obtain horses and rifles for them everything would be much better; however, it was not an impressive commando that entered enemy territory, apparently full of bravado but almost without weapons. On the 17th December Philipstown was taken and horses and saddles were commandeered. On the 18th December Houtkraal was reached. At Houtkraal there was an intense fight. A whole English column was overwhelmed and a few hundred prisoners were taken. Hunnik Hertzog and Brand especially did very good work here. On the 22nd December General Hertzog sent Commandant Nieuwoudt to Britstown to do some general scouting and he was back the same night. The later General Conroy joined General Hertzog at this time. The Commando had many close encounters. At one time they just passed in front of an armoured train. A heavy skirmish took place at Houwater on the 26th December where the Boers were driven off and the ambulance under Dr Ramsbottom was captured."

The above reports were rather contradictory: the one by Van den Heever especially could not really be taken seriously. Fortunately I then found a series of booklets published by the OFS Museum Service called the “Hertzog Reeks”. Booklet Number Two, in an article by F A Steytler called "Generaal Hertzog as Krygsman (Warrior)", really brought home what had happened that day. I again translate from the Afrikaans:
"Hertzog went via Philipstown and on the 18th December he crossed the railway line at Houtkraal, north of De Aar. It was here where Klaas Havenga, “die penkop van alle penkoppe" charged on his horse Harry alongside the railway line and tried to shoot the driver of an armoured train with his revolver! The railway line was blown up south of De Aar but the damage was repaired within a few hours. Hertzog did not attack the railway line again because he knew that the enemy would in such an instance easily reach them. A strong force under Thorneycroft and De Lisle pursued Hertzog. From Houtkraal he went in the direction of Britstown. On the 21st December the commando overwhelmed four companies of Yeomanry and in the process acquired all kinds of Christmas titbits like chocolates, tobacco, liquor, etc. In a fight on the 26th of December at Houwater the ambulance under Dr Ramsbottom was captured."

Despite the date anomaly (18 vs 20 December), I am convinced that Klaas Havenga, in his attempt to shoot the driver of the armoured train, succeeded in mortally wounding the stoker, Myles Adams.

Nicolaas Christiaan Havenga was born on 1 May 1882. He took part in the battles of Belmont, Graspan and Modder River as a 17 year old member of the Fauresmith Commando. His part in a futile attempt to disrupt the railway line at Graspan on the 7th December 1899 prevented him from fighting at the battle of Magersfontein. However, he was in action at Poplar Grove and Abrahamskraal and watched Lord Roberts enter Bloemfontein unhindered on 13 March 1900. After the British proclamation on 15 March he joined the remnants of the Jacobsdal and Fauresmith Commandos. In July 1900 he escaped from the Brandwater Basin near Fouriesburg and on 10 August 1900 he joined General J B M Hertzog at Heilbron and became his secretary. This was the beginning of a lifelong friendship. He served General Hertzog capably throughout the war, in the course of which he was wounded three times. On the last occasion, during an attempt to cross a blockhouse line near Bethlehem (March 1902), he was seriously wounded in the right thigh, captured by the British and taken to the hospital in Kroonstad.

After the war he practised as an attorney and notary in the Free State. In 1915 he was elected as Member of Parliament for Fauresmith and he kept this seat until 1940, when he resigned from Parliament. In 1924, when Gen Hertzog came to power, he was appointed Minister of Finance: a post he successfully filled for 16 years. He died in 1957, after retiring from active politics in 1954.

Klaas Havenga never applied for an Anglo Boere Oorlog Medal and Wound Riband. This probably was in sympathy with Gen Hertzog, who rejected the DTD and ABO as “awards conferred by the British”.

Myles Adams was buried in the De Aar cemetery and was posthumously awarded a QSA with bar DEFENCE OF MAFEKING, impressed PTE. M. ADAMS. MAF. RLY: VOLS:

Henk

Note: Klaas Havenga is referred to as a "penkop" or "bristlehead" , which was the term used for the teenagers fighting on the Boer side. An English equivalent could be “stripling”.

Miss Craw's diary is particularly interesting, she was seeing the siege from a quite different view point than most and had a more rounded opinion, Crosby's diary, whilst good, is, certainly, fairly typical, but, it does, for me, at least, bring to the fore, the amount of, not only hard work, but, really quite bloody dangerous work, the Natal Volunteers and Militia were actually engaging in on a daily basis, the Carbineers were rather cocky and in the decade before the Anglo Boer War, they had been little more than an exclusive gentleman's country club.

djb wrote: Frank,

These diaries are giving a fascinating insight into life in Ladysmith during the siege. The story of Pte Evans is another reminder of the daily dangers especially to those defending the perimeter.

Henk
Thank you for sharing another great medal and a great story to go with it. I will be looking forward to many more such posts from you in 2017!
Regards
Brett

1899 - From the diary of Major George Tatham, Natal Carbineers

Shelling commenced 6.30, continuing all day at intervals. One of the last shots hit Town Hall Tower near Clock which had only been taken down a few days previously.

1899 - Diary of the siege of Mafeking by Edward Ross

Wednesday, 20 December

Enemy unusually quiet, that means no shells at all and very little sniping. The Colonel sent some natives to the village today and unearthed a very old muzzle-loading cannon which had been used by Nelson at the battle of Trafalgar, and which had been in the possession of the old native chief Montsioa for the past 20 odd years, and which had been buried with the dust and dirt of ages. It of course has no sights of any kind; nevertheless B.P. is putting it upon large waggon wheels and [is] going to try and make solid shot to fire from it, if they can get within range of those of the enemy [that] will have a go at their darned things, if it does not burst at the first shot! Will tell you more about this gun later on.

A native has today been sentenced to be shot for housebreaking and theft. This sounds very severe, but as the whole town is left unprotected, and most places with openings made by the enemy’s shells, something must be done to stop this. This native was duly shot at sundown at Currie’s post.