This Soon Took Shape, For On June
2nd, After A Long And Rapid March, The Boer Leader Threw Himself
Upon Jamestown, Overwhelmed The Sixty Townsmen Who Formed The
Guard, And Looted The Town, From Which He Drew Some Welcome
Supplies And 100 Horses.
British columns were full cry upon his
heels, however, and the Boers after a few hours left the gutted
town and vanished into the hills once more.
On June 6th the British
had a little luck at last, for on that date Scobell and Lukin in
the Barkly East district surprised a laager and took twenty
prisoners, 166 horses, and much of the Jamestown loot. On the same
day Windham treated Van Reenen in a similar rough fashion near
Steynsburg, and took twenty-two prisoners.
On June 8th the supreme command of the operations in Cape Colony
was undertaken by General French, who from this time forward
manoeuvred his numerous columns upon a connected plan with the main
idea of pushing the enemy northwards. It was some time, however,
before his disposition bore fruit, for the commandos were still
better mounted and lighter than their pursuers. On June 13th the
youthful and dashing Scheepers, who commanded his own little force
at an age when he would have been a junior lieutenant of the
British army, raided Murraysburg and captured a patrol. On June
17th Monro with Lovat's Scouts and Bethune's Mounted Infantry had
some slight success near Tarkastad, but three days later the
ill-fated Midland Mounted Rifles were surprised in the early
morning by Kritzinger at Waterkloof, which is thirty miles west of
Cradock, and were badly mauled by him.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 731 of 842
Words from 195600 to 195873
of 225456
