Battles of the nineteenth century . iefly at Van Recnensand Tintwas. At the sametime Jouberts Transvaal leviesbegan to cross the frontier inthree columns. The rightcolumn, the smallest of thethree, marched throughBothas Pass in the Drakens-berg. The centre columnmoved from Volksrust onCharleston, pushing forward its vanguard toseize Laings Nek. The left column marchedfrom Wakkerstroom towards the Buffalo River,its objective being Mount Prospect and In-gogo. Further to the south, minor forces wereon the move from Vryheid towards the driftsof the Buffalo east of Dundee and awav duesouth, towards
Battles of the nineteenth century . iefly at Van Recnensand Tintwas. At the sametime Jouberts Transvaal leviesbegan to cross the frontier inthree columns. The rightcolumn, the smallest of thethree, marched throughBothas Pass in the Drakens-berg. The centre columnmoved from Volksrust onCharleston, pushing forward its vanguard toseize Laings Nek. The left column marchedfrom Wakkerstroom towards the Buffalo River,its objective being Mount Prospect and In-gogo. Further to the south, minor forces wereon the move from Vryheid towards the driftsof the Buffalo east of Dundee and awav duesouth, towards the part of Zululand that be-longs to Natal. Sir George ^\hite had already reached Nataland had his headquarters at Ladysmith whenthe war began. lie had about 0,000 menwith him in camp, and he had away to thenorthward, at Craigside camp, between Dundeeand G!encoe,-and in these two towns, a brigadeof infantry, with three batteries and some cavalryand colonial troops, about 4,000 in all, underGeneral Sir \\illiam In Symons. Svmons. sni WILLIAM PENS SYMONS had cavalry patrols out towards the countryover which the Boers were expected to approach,and he had ordered them to fall back slowlybefore the enemys advance without communications with Durban weresecured by garrisons of colonial troops at Colensoand Estcourt, where there were important bridgeson the railway, and at Pieter-maritzburg, the capital of thecolon\-. Durban was madesafe by the presence of partof the Cape Squadron underRear-Admiral Harris. As the advance of the in-vaders of Natal was thus un-opposed at the outset, therewas no fighting for a few daysin this the principal theatreof war. The first fight tookplace in the night, betweenOctober 12th and 13th, onthe western border, and it wasa success for the Boers. ColonelBaden-Powell held Mafekingwith a garrison formed of adetachment of the MunsterFusiliers, and a corps of colo-nial mounted rifles recruitedin Bechuanaland and Rhodesia just beforethe war. I
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1901
