A Hand-Up to a Trooper in Difficulty during a River Crossing From: H. W. Wilson, With the Flag to Pretoria, 1902

B-P served with the 13th Hussars in India, Afghanistan, South Africa and, on home service, in England. In 1912, he was appointed Colonel of the Regiment. Over the years, he would write about his experiences in several books and in hundreds of letters home, many illustrated with his sketches. The following is an excerpt from the Regimental History, C. R. B. Barrett, History of the XIII Hussars, 1911.

CHAPTER XXXVII.
1901.

THE enemy about Heidelberg was not very numerous, nor indeed very active, worrying cattle-guards and sniping patrols being their chief occupation, provided only that the element of safety was in no degree neglected.

On January 5, 1901, Boers were reported to be in and about Glads Farm, a place about two miles from the town to the west.

Captain Ogilvy was sent out with forty men and a gun, while a few mounted infantry acted as a support. On the ridge beyond the farm he came under fire, and lost a horse. The Boers then retired to a place of safety in the hills.

On the same day Lieutenant C. C. Dangar, from the 3rd Battalion West Riding Regiment, was gazetted to the 13th Hussars, but was retained for duty with the Army Service Corps.

On January 6th Captain M’Laughlan, Royal Army Medical Department, left the regiment.

About 2 A.M. on the 16th a party of Boers came down to Klippoortiie, a place about a mile and a half outside Heidelberg, and drove off a few cattle. The Kaffirs to whom it belonged stated that the enemy numbered about 200.

On January 17, the South African Constabulary, whose camp was on the left of the 13th, began to form a depot at Heidelberg; and at Greylingstad and Waterval detachments were similarly employed.

January 23, 1901. An official announcement of the death of Her Majesty Queen Victoria was received.

A telegram concerning the accession of His Majesty King Edward VII. was received by Lord Kitchener three days later. This contained a message to the army in South Africa, which was duly communicated to the troops. A loyal and dutiful reply was forwarded by his lordship conveying the devotion of the troops to the King.

Attempts at cattle-lifting by small bodies of the enemy were of almost daily occurrence during both January and February. These raids were unsuccessful, and beyond wounding a horse or two the Boers did no damage. An enormous number of cattle, sheep, and goats had been by this time driven into Heidelberg. Their presence there constituted a real danger, as they died by hundreds, and it became very difficult to keep the camp sanitary, especially towards the end of February and the beginning of March. Added to this, the Kaffirs from the neighbourhood had been collected into a location just outside the town on the Nigel road, besides a small community of surrendered Burghers in "Hands up Dorp," a little beyond the Kaffirs. The habits of neither race added to the healthiness of the place. One of the Burghers was caught on February 17th taking a Mauser and a quantity of ammunition out of the Blesbok Spruit.

Sixty men of the A Squadron from Greylingstad under Major Williams, while employed in escorting a convoy to Waterval, narrowly escaped coming into conflict with the enemy in very superior numbers on February 2.

The Boers, whose strength was 300, crossed the line near Groot Pan, about an hour before the convoy reached the spot.

The next officer to suffer from enteric was Lieutenant Jenkins, who went into hospital at Pretoria on February 4. He rejoined the regiment on May 11.

Destruction on the railway, and the holding up of trains by the enemy, now became for a time very prevalent. On the 6th the up mail was held up at Vlakfontein, but the Boers had cleared off before the arrival of the Greylingstad detachment, though the latter turned out and covered the distance (10 miles) within an hour after the information had come in. On the following day the down mail was the victim. It was held up near Vlaklaagte. The Waterval detach­ment turned out and watched the derailed train during the day. The enemy, some eighty in number, were seen, but kept at a respectful distance. There was a little firing, but at a long range. A good deal of damage had been done to the line, and by good luck the train had passed over a dynamite cartridge without exploding it. Curiously enough, the construction train in coming up set it off. To repair the damage and reopen the line by means of a deviation occupied until 2 P.M. the next day.

The next train that came up was derailed about two and a half miles from Waterval by dynamite, and the line was not cleared till 4 P.M., twenty-six hours later. This was a supply train, and the Waterval detachment was out all day guarding it. Meanwhile, on the 6th, the B Squadron marched from Waterval en route to Greyling­stad, and arrived there the next day. Three days afterwards they were sent back to Standerton.

The next affair happened on the 13th, when a culvert just to the west of Groot Spruit was blown up by the enemy. The Boers had begun to pillage the wrecked train, but had only time to carry off a few sacks of sugar before the A Squadron from Greylingstad drove them off. Two Boer rifles, three bandoliers, and two dead Boer ponies were found, so presumably the enemy suffered some loss. Later the Scottish Rifles came out in waggons to relieve the Greyling­stad detachment.

On the 13th a large body of Boers were reported to have crossed at Vlakfontein during the previous night. The Greylingstad detach­ment was called out, but had no opportunity of coming in touch with the enemy, and returned to their camp.

A more serious affair happened shortly after noon on February 20. The up mail train near Botha’s kraal, while going slowly up an incline, exploded a mine under the centre of the train. Two coaches were derailed and the train was brought to a standstill. Captain Wiggin was the senior officer in the train, having with him about 15 men of the Devons as train escort, and 15 Grenadier Guards who were going up to Johannesburg to join the police there. The Boers, who were in a kopje about 400 yards distant to the left, immediately opened fire. The men got off the train very speedily and lined the side of the railway, but in getting down 4 men of the Devons, one of the Grenadier Guards, and two Kaffirs were hit. Another man of the Devons had the ill luck to break his leg as he jumped off the truck.

Then the gun from Botha’s kraal opened fire at a range of 3000 yards; this was soon followed by the 3-inch gun from Eden Kop some five and a half miles away. The first two shells from the latter

dropped between the Boers and the train, the third plumped down cleanly on the kopje. At once the enemy retired to another some 800 yards away from the train, and as their fire had become unpleasantly accurate nobody was much grieved. Next the armoured train from Vlakfontein arrived about 1.30 P.M. and opened fire with a pom-pom. Meanwhile, on receipt of the news at Heidelberg that the train was held up, as many men of the 13th as possible were turned out. It happened that all but 20 were employed on duty. With them went 40 King’s Royal Rifles on waggons, and about 25 South African Con­stabulary. By about 5.30 P.M. Captain Wiggin had got the armoured train up and had pulled the coaches in rear of the break in the line. Next, the telephone was connected to the wires, and thus he was enabled to explain the situation to Heidelberg. By this time the troops from Heidelberg had begun to get round the Boers, who seeing that their chance of looting the train had gone, galloped away. The wounded were taken back to Vlakfontein in the coaches drawn by the armoured train. To repair the line the construction train which had then arrived occupied only an hour and a half, and the rest of the train was then got on to Heidelberg.

Twice more during the month the line was broken, on the 23rd near Zuicherbosch, and three days later near Reitvlei, but very little damage was done on either occasion. A reconnaissance on this last day—by one troop, accompanied by 25 South African Constabulary, to Reitvlei, and thence round by Marais Farm, disclosed no sign of the enemy.

The strength of the regiment at the front at the end of February 1901 here given may well be compared with the strength as it stood at the end of March.

Strength—19 officers, 1 warrant officer, 404 non-commissioned officers and men, 391 horses.

Wanting to complete—6 officers, 102 non-commissioned officers and men, 62 horses.

The total number of non-commissioned officers and men in South Africa was 529, of whom; 8 were in various hospitals.

On March 6, about 11 P.M., the South African Constabulary post on the first culvert up the line began firing heavily. They reported that mounted Boers had come down towards the line, but that being fired on they had retired. Later that night the Army Service Corps on the right fired on the night-soil cart, but luckily did no damage. The old man whose pleasant occupation it was to drive it could not have appreciated the attention. This last was a false alarm, no doubt, and false alarms were not infrequent. But next morning it looked as if the South African Constabulary had probably seen the enemy, as a fairly large party of them had come down during the night to some huts occupied by Coolies and Kaffirs near to Klippoortjie. These worthies robbed the unfortunate Coolies of all their money, and calling a Kaffir outside his hut shot him through the face, blowing off one side of it.

At daybreak on March 7, the ganger and native workmen left Reitvlei station on a trolley to patrol the line. About four or five miles from Heidelberg the trolley was blown up by a dynamite cart­ridge. The ganger who was sitting in front was blown in the air, but not much injured. Of the native workmen three were killed outright, and the rest shockingly mangled. About 9 A.M. the construction train from Heidelberg left to repair the damage, but after proceeding a short distance it exploded a mine placed under a sleeper. Little damage luckily was done in this case.

On the 15th, and again on the 23rd, the enemy blew up a supply train near Vlaklaagte. In the first case they got no loot, but in the second they secured a considerable quantity of supplies, and also captured the escort of 10 men. The Boers, who numbered about 400, came supplied with waggons to carry off their plunder.

On the 25th of March Lieutenant F. Jarvis, Loyal Suffolk Hussars, went into hospital at Elandsfontein with enteric. He was subse­quently invalided home. To the regret of all he never returned to the regiment, as afterwards he was given a commission in the South African Constabulary, and was promoted to be captain shortly after joining that corps.

On the 28th of March Squadron Sergeant-Major Holden, after having served in the regiment for 21 years and 10 months, left Standerton for England, for discharge on the expiration of his term of service. Sergeant-Major Holden, as Squadron Sergeant-Major of the B Squadron, had done much good work. His loss was much felt. Lieutenant Church’s troop from Waterval on March 28th joined the column commanded by Colonel Colville. The troop on the evening it joined the column had been sent to take up a position just north of Vogelstruisfontein, with the object of preventing De Wet from crossing the line. It held the same position during the next day and night. About 10.30 P.M. Corporal Gavin, who was sent out with one man with a message to Colonel Colville, was fired on by the Scottish Rifles and wounded in the arm. Lieutenant Church’s troop remained with the column until March 31, when it returned to Greylingstad.

During the whole of this month the weather was very bad. A great deal of rain fell—in fact, for a week in the middle of the month the downpour was continuous.

At the end of March the strength of the 13th Hussars was­—

At the front: 18 officers, 1 warrant officer, 392 non-commissioned officers and men, and 328 horses.

Wanting to complete: 7 officers, 114 non-commissioned officers and men, and 75 horses.

Total number of men in South Africa, 508.

Total number of men in hospital, 72.

The loss this month by sickness was serious.

		"The 13th in the South African War." From: C. R. B. Barrett, History of the XIII Hussars, 1910. Chapter XXXVIII: South African War – B Squadron.
		"The 13th in the South African War." From: C. R. B. Barrett, History of the XIII Hussars, 1910. Map of Area of Operations, 13th Hussars.
		"The 13th at Waterloo" recounts the actions of the 13th Light Dragoons during the Waterloo Campaign of 1815. From the Regimental History, C. R. B. Barrett, History of the XIII Hussars, 1911.
		"The 13th at Balaclava." The 13th Light Dragoons in the Charge of the Light Brigade before the Russian guns at the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War. From the Regimental History, C. R. B. Barrett, History of the XIII Hussars, 1911.
		The 13th Hussars in India & Afghanistan, 1874-1884. From the Regimental History, C. R. B. Barrett, History of the XIII Hussars, 1911.
		"H.M. 13th Light Dragoons." The Regiment served in India from 1819-1840. During that time, as the 13th Light Dragoons, the regiment took part in the suppression of the mutiny at Bangalore and in actions at Kurnool and Zorapoor. Excerpts from the Regimental History, C. R. B. Barrett, History of the XIII Hussars, are featured in the Family History in India website, which is designed to help people research their European and Anglo-Indian family history in colonial India.
		In 1876, Baden-Powell was posted to his first regiment, The 13th Hussars, a cavalry regiment with a long tradition. They were perhaps best known for their part in the Charge of the Light Brigade before the guns at Balaclava in the Crimean War. The regiment continues today as part of The Light Dragoons, an armored regiment of the British Army that saw service in Desert Storm.
		It was at the Siege and Defense of Mafeking during the South African (Anglo-Boer) War that Baden-Powell made his name and first gained public recognition. 1999-1902 marks the Centennial of the War. Developed as part of that observance, Perspectives on the South African War provides a collection of links to original and contemporary sources on the South African War.
		Robert Baden-Powell, Founder of the World Scout Movement, Chief Scout of the World. A Home Page for the Founder. Links Relating to Baden-Powell on the Pine Tree Web and elsewhere.

Return to the Pine Tree Web Home Page

Your feedback, comments and suggestions are appreciated.
Please write to: Lewis P. Orans

Copyright © Lewis P. Orans, 2002
Last Modified: 9:51 PM on July 31, 2002