The war was actually begun by the Boers invading Natal and Cape Colony, Lady smith in the former and Kimberley and Mafe king in the latter being the places in which the greatest interest was almost immediately cen tred. At the beginning of the struggle the British regular troops in South Africa did not greatly exceed 22,000 in number, about half of them being in Natal under the command of Sir George White, who had his headquarters at Ladysmith. On 20 October the Boers who had invaded northern Natal endeavored to cut off the British camp near Dundee, where General Symons was stationed with about 5,000 men. They were repulsed at Talana Hill, but the British general was mortally wounded; and the following day they were more severely de feated at Elandslaagte by General Franch's force from Ladysmith. It was necessary, how ever, to withdraw the northern garrison to Ladysmith, and this was done— after the Boers had been beaten off by General White at Riet fontein. The Boers were now in such force that (with General Joubert as commander-in chief) Ladysmith was soon completely invested, the railway from the south being seized, as well as the bridge over the Tugela at Colenso. Sev eral naval guns had been brought into Ladysmith before this, which enabled its defenders to reply to the powerful artillery which the Boers had planted on the neighboring heights. Swarm ing down into Natal the invaders overran the country as far as the Mooi River and beyond, and it appeared that they might even attack Maritzburg; but the first army corps of 54,000 men reached South Africa in November, and Gen. Sir Redvers Buller, who had arrived to take supreme command, took under his charge a large portion of this force, and so was able to drive the Boers back and prepare for the relief of Ladysmith. Other divisions of the reinforcements were dispatched inland from Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and East London to aid in checking the Boer advance into Cape Colony, and to open the way to Kimberley. The force which undertook the latter task was under the command of Lord Methuen, while General Gatacre was to operate against the Boers in the Stormberg district of the Cape Colony, French being in command of a British force between the two. Advancing northward, Methuen assumed the offensive, drove the Boers from a strong position at Belmont, de feated them two days after at Enslin, and on 28 November dislodged them from a strong position at the Modder River, which was crossed without opposition. Then followed a series of reverses to the British troops, which cast a gloom over the whole empire.
On 10 December Gatacre attempted a night attack on a body of Boers strongly posted near Stormberg, but after a toilsome night march •his men unexpectedly came upon the enemy's posi tion, which they were unable to capture, and were driven back with heavy loss. On the same day General Methuen had shelled the Boers previously to attacking their position at Magersfontein, where, as at many places after ward, the Boer general De la Rey (q.v.) dis tinguished himself. Early next morning, while marching to the attack in quarter column, and on the point of deploying. the Highland brigade unexpectedly found itself exposed to a close fire from the Boer trenches and lost very heavily, the commanding officer, General Wau chope, being killed. The third and most seri ous reverse took place in Natal. On 15 Decem ber General Buller attempted, by what has been generally regarded as an ill-judged plan, to force his way across the Tugela at Colenso, with the view of relieving Ladysmith. This great mistake consisted in attacking two days earlier than arranged for with White, who re mained inactive in Ladysmith without knowing what was going on outside. It has not been ex plained why Buller did not advise White of the change in his plans. Notwithstanding a display of admirable courage on the side of the British, and certain partial successes, the plan as a whole entirely failed, the failure being aggravated by casualties in killed, wounded and missing amounting to over 1,100, while 10 superior guns were abandoned to the Boers. • The only son of Lord Roberts (q.v.) fell at Colenso.
On receiving the news of General Buller's repulse, the Cabinet decided to send out imme diately the seventh army division already being mobilized, to call up the remainder of the army reserve, to incorporate a new yeomanry force, to allow 12 battalions of militia to volunteer for service abroad, to employ volunteers on active service, and to accept offers of help made by the great colonies. Lord Roberts was in
structed to proceed to South Africa as com mander-in-chief, with Lord Kitchener as chief of his staff ; and Col. Hector Macdonald was appointed to succeed General Wauchope in command of the Highland brigade.
When the year 1900 opened, the troops hemmed in at Ladysmith, Kimberley and Mafe king were holding their own, but at the first place enteric fever had begun to make serious ravages, and to cause much anxiety. In the Cape Colony Methuen was confronted by Gen eral Cronje in a strongly intrenched position; and Gatacre, after falling back from Stormberg, was holding Sterkstroom. French in the Coles berg district was more actively employed, and succeeded in defeating the Boers in several im portant actions. Lord Roberts and his staff arrived at Cape Town on 10 January, but before anything could be done by the new commander in-chief, Buller made another attempt against the Boer position at Colenso (11 January). With this unsuccessful movement is associated the name of Spion Kop, an eminence in the scene of action the seizure and temporary oc cupation of which cost many British lives to no purpose. Yet a third attempt was made to break through to Ladysmith (5 February), Vaal Krantz being a position which figured most prominently on this occasion; but again the result was only disappointment, to the be sieged force more especially. Meanwhile Roberts had been making plans for more ef fectively dealing with the enemy, and had col lected a strong cavalry force under French between the Orange River and the Modder. While the attention of the Boers under Cronje was drawn off by a movement carried out by Macdonald and the Highland brigade, French advanced rapidly on Kimberley and, in spite of all opposition, reached the place, dispersed the investing troops, and entered the town (16 February). Cronje at Magersfontein had now allowed himself to get into a difficult position, not fully realizing the strength and intentions of the British, and though he tried to escape eastward toward Bloemfontein, it was too late. He was brought to a halt at Paardeberg, took refuge in the bed of the Modder, where he managed to hold out for a week, but being completely hemmed in, and an attempt at his rescue by General De Wet being defeated, he surrendered to Roberts with over 4,000 men. This was on 27 February, the anniversary of Majuba Hill. Cronje and the rest of the prisoners were sent to Saint Helena. Mean while fresh efforts were being made by Buller for the relief of Ladysmith, and this time with success. After a series of difficult operations, the Boer left was finally turned, and on 28 February Lord Dundonald rode into Ladysmith, being followed by Buller two days later. The garrison was found to be in sore straits for want of food, and bad suffered severely from disease as well as from the attacks by which they had been harassed. One of the fiercest of these had been made on 6 January, when the Boers had endeavored to take the town by storm, but were repulsed with heavy loss. On this occasion a position known as Wagon Hill had been three times captured and recaptured in the course of the day, Gen. Ian Hamilton (q.v.) here greatly distinguishing himself. It has• been said that "the successful defense of Ladysmith was from a military point of view the mpst valuable achievement of the war, inas much as the loss of a garrison of 12,000 men would have been a graver disaster than any conceivable defeat in the open field; and, more over, the fall of Ladysmith was to be the signal for the general rising of the Dutch in the Cape Colony and Natal." Following on the successes in the west of the Orange Free State came successful operations by the generals in the northern parts of Cape Colony— Gatacre, Clements and Brabant. Bloemfontein now be came Roberts' objective, and after Joubert had vainly attempted to bar his way at Poplar Grove, and again at Driefontein, the British commander entered the capital of the Orange Free State practically without opposition (13 March). Kruger and Steyn fled to the north. The keys of the town were surrendered to Lord Roberts, and the railways being soon re paired, through communication was opened be tween Bloemfontein and Cape Town. The Orange Free State was proclaimed British ter ritory.