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1899 - From the diary of Trooper A J Crosby, Natal Carbineers

Had my boots off for the first time since leaving Maritzburg but without kit could not get a change. Managed to get a bathe in Horten’s dam - a great luxury. Horse guard again. Feeling better. Weather fine with hot winds. Cold at night which we feel having no tents. Rations very poor consisting of bully beef, hard biscuits, tea and coffee minus sugar. Major Taunton said we might get anything we could at the farmhouses and he would refund outlay, but with the exception of an occasional loaf of bread and rusks, there was nothing to be got and the little was lost amongst the crowd. The only vegetable so far served is compressed, not at all palatable. Lived on rice water the last two days, suffering with dysentery. On piquet duty.

Lieutenant General Sir George White arrived in Durban, he reluctantly decided he would not be able to protect the whole of Natal from invasion and was obliged to abandon everything north of the Biggarsberg to it's fate.

1901 - An engagement at Spitzkop.
. ....Part of Major Damant's column reconnoitred yesterday to the south, twelve miles away, at Spitzkop and Vichtkop, and encountered the commandoes under Boshof, Taljaard, and Mentz, about 200 strong.
....A sharp engagement followed. The Boers had surrounded ten of the British scouts who had been sent to Spitzkop over night, but the scouts, though hard pressed and fighting against heavy odds, gallantly held the position until reinforcements arrived.
....The enemy then occupied several ridges, maintaining a heavy fusilade, but only succeeded in hitting some horses. The fire of pom-poms and guns drove the Boers from their position, and the enemy finally retired southwards.
....A running fight ensued, the Boers being pursued for a considerable distance. Two of then were killed, three wounded, and two taken prisoners. Many were dressed in khaki.
....A large quantity of grain was found in the farm houses. The Boers in this district have plenty of food and ammunition.
....Eleven have surrendered at Heilbron during the last few days.
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....The War Office last night issued the following: -
....King's Own Scottish Borderers - 3000 Private J. Slater died from a fractured skull, the result of a fall from a train at De Aar on October 7
Aberdeen Journal, Thursday 10th October 1901
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Lord Roberts' visit to the Borders.—On Monday morning Lord Roberts and the Hon. Aileen Roberts, who had been on a visit to the Marquis and Marchioness of Waterford at Ford Castle, left for the south, the Commander-in-Chief being due at Liverpool to receive the freedom of the city. The train by which the Commander-in-Chief travelled from Coldstream had to wait for the Flying Scotsman train from Edinburgh for some time at Berwick station, where a large crowd had assembled. The crowd raised repeated cheers on seeing Lord Roberts, for which he bowed his acknowledgments. Amongst the crowd was Sergeant-Major J. Hamilton, formerly of the King's Own Scottish Borderers, and now one of the Yeomen of the Guard, who served under Lord Roberts in Afghanistan, and who was wearing his war medal ribbons. The Commander-in-Chief singled him out, shook hands with him, and entered into a short conversation.
The Southern Reporter, Thursday 10th October 1901