Blue Shirt and Khaki: A ComparisonArchibald, James F. J. (James Francis Jewell)
History
Blue Shirt and Khaki: A Comparison
Archibald, James F. J. (James Francis Jewell)
Great Britain. Army; Military art and science; South African War, 1899-1902; United States. Army
It was said that a couple of English officers with a few men entered
Pretoria that night, but I did not see them. The first of the enemy
that I saw was an advance body next day, sent in to occupy the town
and to post a guard on all public buildings. I heard that Lord Roberts
and his staff were coming, and I rode out about a mile to meet them.
I then first beheld that wonderful leader, who is certainly one of
the greatest generals of modern times. His staff was preceded by an
advance bodyguard of about fifty men; twenty men rode on either side
of the road, flanking his staff by about one hundred yards. The staff
was so large that it looked like a regiment in itself. At the head I
recognized Lord Roberts, a small man on a large horse, sitting in his
saddle as though pretty well worn out by work. He was bundled up in a
khaki overcoat, as the morning was very cold. By his side rode Lord
Kitchener on a powerful white horse, the only white one in the staff.
That horse must have been a shining mark in action, but a little detail
of that sort would not trouble a man of Kitchener’s stamp.
[Illustration: Lord Roberts and staff approaching Pretoria (Lord
Kitchener is on the white horse, Lord Roberts is the first leading
figure at the right).]
Immediately behind the field marshal and his chief of staff rode
two Indian native servants, familiar figures in all Lord Roberts’s
campaign, for he never travels without them. It is said that one of
them saved his chief’s life in India, and that he is now retained in
his service forever.
Lord Roberts and his staff rode into the railway station, where they
dismounted and made arrangements for the formal entry and occupation,
which was to occur that afternoon. The hour set was two o’clock, but it
was twenty minutes past that hour when the flag was raised. The square
had been cleared long before that by a battalion of the Guards, and
finally the field marshal and his staff rode in and took a position
just opposite the entrance to the state building. Immediately after
his entry the drums and fifes and a few pieces of brass played the
national anthem, and every one saluted, but no flag was to be seen at
that moment. Finally a murmur started and circulated throughout the
ranks and the crowd. “There it is!” exclaimed some one. “Where?” asked
another. “On the staff; it’s up.” “No, that can’t be.” “Yes, it really
is.” And it was.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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