South Africa and the Transvaal War, Vol. 7 (of 8): The Guerilla War, from February 1901 to the Conclusion of HostilitiesCreswicke, Louis
History
South Africa and the Transvaal War, Vol. 7 (of 8): The Guerilla War, from February 1901 to the Conclusion of Hostilities
Creswicke, Louis
South African War, 1899-1902; Transvaal (South Africa) -- History
Nor was this all. Colonel Sir Henry Rawlinson was ordered to pursue
Boshoff's guerillas, who were scurrying through the Bloemfontein-Ladybrand
line, but these nimble ones, bent rather on flight than fight, knowingly
avoided contact with the pursuers. Kruitzinger, gathering the bedraggled
remnants of commandos as he went, veered towards the Basuto border, hugged
it gingerly, and stealthily crept towards the river, so that, on the
morning of the 4th of September, he succeeded with 300 men, despite the
vigilance of our troops, in effecting a crossing into Cape Colony at Kiba
Drift. The Boers did not, however, escape Major Damant, who was hunting
for them in the neighbourhood of Spitzkop. He scented them out at Oudam,
to the west of Boesmanskop, and was off with 300 mounted men, 2 guns, and
a pom-pom to attack them. The marauders were on the alert, and they, on
the 14th, galloped off as fast as their mounts would carry them. For a
good ten miles galloped hunters and hunted, till at last the quarry,
dispersing, sought almost inaccessible refuge in the Marsfontein Hills.
But 4 prisoners, 20 horses, 6 mules, 5 rifles, a heliograph, and the
Commandant's despatch-box fell into Major Damant's hands. From the
prisoners it was discovered that they formed part of Delarey's gang, who
were moving under Dreyer to reinforce Kruitzinger at the Cape. Meanwhile,
Lord Basing was hunting around Boesmanskop, and Colonel Thorneycroft's two
columns, under Colonel Minchin and Major Copeman, were working their way
(from Reddersburg and Smithfield respectively) towards Zandfontein, twelve
miles east of Rouxville, where they met at the end of August. The enemy,
ensconced in the kloofs, crannies, and kopjes between Zastron and the
Orange River, succeeded in evading them, not a very marvellous feat
considering their intimate acquaintanceship with the geographical features
of this locality.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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