LETTERS FROM THE FRONT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2436, 21 November 1900, Page 30

LETTERS FROM THE FRONT.

. The following art extracts from a- letter re-ceived-by his young, brother from Trooper J. Moore. The letter was written at Ottoshoop on Septem.be- 7: — " Yes, I was in the thick of ■ the fighting, with every prospect of much more. Before going further, I may tell you •that your lovely brother was the first of the ' dandy fourth ' to get under fire. It hapX>ened, in. this way : I told pater I was one of 20. under Lieutenant Bauehop, left, at Port -Charters with quarantined horses, a place 45 mile^, from, Marandellas, where we , remained for three-. weeks, and' then,proceeded-tp Bu^a-way-o.:';. Reaching. the latter place, ,\ve found tbatJtae^mainliDody-xif crur^contingent had gone td«Fori; Tuli^ - -3?or • fche'-time II 11 <\vas 'attached to G^Heral'GarringtoiT's staff as' correspondent to' his"A!,D.C., and, together with Colonel Gray, Lieutenant Meyriek, a sergeant-major, and two servants, started from Mafeking for Zeerust,.in,order to overtake the troops, who liad'-started, a , few days bsfore, under Lord Garrington, who was hastening- to the relief of the garrison at Elands River. Our little 'party 'reached Zeerust on- Saturday evening, and .'found that, the General had left. Elands River the day before. Thinking thatCarringtbn might- get into action bsfore he could catch up to' him, Colonel Gray, taking this x chicken with him as ordenly, decided to push on as fast as possible. Wa caught the* troops at 2 d'cloek'on Sunday about seven miles uwayiromvElaftd's River. " We had been with the, General' for~about an hourwhen the Boers, .■who* were oleverly concealed, on a. kopje directly in- front of- us, opened- a heavy fire- from their. big,-gune,. accompanied by their rifles, ■upon. .us. • An, advance guard, consisting of the, Ne\r South' Wales Bushmen, were completely taken by surprise, but, strange to say, although within 300 yards of the. enemy, none .were killed, though several 1 were wounded, and a ' great-, many horses were killed. Our big-, guns, were immediately brought into 'position and 1 opened fire? making things hum f or_ the next, halt-hour oe, so. I: can tell you it was a. queer sensation to hear the shells flying over our heads; and' the peculiar.- ping ping, of. the Mauser bullets- as they knocked. "up the red' dust air,around%us. During this bit 0f.., a ", go " there were many narrow escapes. .An 'Australian, who was having a cup of coffee at a Dutch farmhouse, had a piece taken out of ear- as clean^as< a whistle. The General^ too, "had a-narrow escape — a shell' burst about 3.0 yards- from, him, and threw up a cloud' of dust over' himself and horse. "During the- engagements received, permission- from ColonelGray, to go into the 'fighting- line with the New South, Wales- JBuslimen. I emptied-four.or-'five magazines filled with cartridges, 'but would- not like' to say T Bagged any Boers,- " TJie only- time , I could *cc the beggars 'Was iWHeirthey-were driven, from one cover ,to another'by our shells. ' The enemy's fire becomirig'too hofe'forthe Generals -l iking, *he orderedus to* retreat, which' we did as orderly as-pos-sible. ' The artillery with us consisted "almost entirely, ofr New Zealanders, tlie 15rpounders beingr.ma-nned^by- the- Auckland section ofi the^ fifth/ and" included-- amongst the. -New< Zealanders with the-- pom-pomsT were Will Hutcliinson,. '-'Hotfepur "~ (pater's'" friend),, and Jock, Loga-yi,^ wh*6 used' to, play ; 'f6r, 'the UiiionClub". , I. .may mention. ]these ~batfexieyriiaxidled tiaeir" guns splendidly, and'disabled' two of [.the enemy's pom-poms in a short 'time. ( 'The- troops retreated 10 miles that night, and camped, till the following morning, ■when our patrols" hurried in with word that the enemy had- surrounded us. The General^ at once decided tix retire on Maf eking, making a. start on Monday at x IL -o'clock, and, after come sharpshootiny and a march of 25. miles, reached' Zeerust; irom thence on to Mafeking was plain sailing. The latter place we reached on Thursday, August 9. sl'hus the Mafeking: Mail- described our engagement of Monday : — ' General' Carrington-'s forces were completely - temmed in,-, but „-. gallantly cut their way through.'' You- cannot imagine what it is like to see an army 'of 4000 trbo'ps, accompanied by 1000, or more of rrraie waggons, bullock waggons, ambulance waggons, etc., tlie-clrivers of- each cursing one another and fighting for positions" on. ths-.road,,at' the" time 'in- 'full retreat. I tell you, it will" be a long time before I can forget is., I likened it to-a Labour Day procession in Dunedin on a monster scale. At Mafeking I left the staff and rejdiped- the fourth, resolving .to ■ see" * any- " >more ' fun- through, ' with them. '_ Ifc' "was given- out 1 in Mafeking that the ~ General, when, reinforced by the fourth and .fifth: New Zealand contingents, two squadrons o£ the- New South Wales- Bushmen, and' two big guns, .would return to Zeerust. On Tues-day,-the 14-th, when. .the. ' Fall in' sounded, we wer.e ready to a, man- to ha-ve another cut at the, Boers., The second day out from 1 Maf eiing^ we reached" a small place Galled OttoslLoop-,.' from where I' am now writing, where, after dislodging a small, Boer force, we cammed. far 1 the- night. The following day we made a DQO.VB towards- Zeerust, the fourth acting as- rearguard for- some of the guns.- However, after, being out- for an hour, we were ordered to* take-, possession of a kopje on; our right. Upokscr-iy-mg therewith' Captain Fulton at oun head, and finding, no Boers on it, Captain Fulton ordered us- to charge a large kopje directly in front, and on which there was a large number of the enemy. This was done, with what result you will have already been informed' by cable. A full account of the engagement has been described by abler pens ' than.- mine. Afr this stage General Garringtonj up' ioubt^thinking his position was not strong enough," decided to. retire utjoii. (D'ttosJioop? three- miles* distant.'." Two "days* after Captain -Harvey was "killed., the fourth contingent,'to the-number of 350, under- Majoc Davis, was- ordered out to ascertain" tHe'posi^ ticm. takenrup by the Boers,, and,* if possible, their strength. . We had''prqeeeded~ but three mills'- from. Ottoshoop, in a. southerly direction, when-a patrol' on. our left informed us that the-'enemy,, to the number of 100, had. possession- of fu kopje. Major Davis at once ordered' C and' D Squadrons (North Island parC of the fourth) ' to evict .them. We (A Squadron)'- were just envying C and D men tßeir good., luck when, one of ' our' patrols on. thg right' flank galloped in and' reported that the" -enemy were in' large numbers on our righti * ' Major. Davis ordered Nos. 1 and 2divisions<o£ Ajsquad- to gallop to a kopje on. the -right and* hold it at "all. hazards until ordered to, leave. Accordingly these ' two divisions,, uaxfer" Lieutenant ' Macdonald, at a hand "gallop reached the foot of "the -kopje, there , dismounted,, and- lei t the. , horses ' with No. 3 of the sections, and advanced in skirmishing order, taking advantage of every bit of available cover. On reaching the summit we opened- fire at "600 or 700 yards upon a squadron o£ Boers, who were rapidly making off. We were unable to judge tlie ranee,

besides the Boers took every advantage of large clumps of trees, consequently not much damage could have been done. In the meantime our attention was taken tip by a party of the enemy who were in possession of a large kopje about 1200 yards away. This crowd opened a heavy fire upon us, their bullets pinging away all around and cutting up the ground in every direction. Pieces of rock, top, flew around, while one of our men had his rifle shattered in his hands.' At this juncture four Boers were ■seen galloping off about 800 yards from. us. We quickly dropped two of them .from their saddles. Continuing to pop ; away at .the Boers in the front, we were, suddenly attacked on, the, flank, where there was little or no shelter, Jor a time, until assistance was sent by the Major. We were in a tight box, I can tell you, the bullets 1 coming along- thick and fast. Jack Maclean, of the Pirates, got grazed on, the shoulder by a-' bullet, aiid dropped from the shock ''like a log. On teaching -him we were-pleaeed to see' the" wound" .was trifling." During- this bit of a scrap Lieutenant M-addo'nald-beKaveti'.liKe albricli, exposing hiin.sel£ ; (needlegsly -j a.t.'tiiii'e^ aiid using' strong "expressions in urging US' to give it to the Boars. " Let them have it, boys,' etc! We reached camp at about sundown, himgry and tired, to tackle bully beef and biscuit, and with every prospect of being surrounded at any time during the night.. In. this fight many -of our men were wounded. Our adjutant, who showed great courage during the engagement in which Harvey was killed, was severely wounded by a Mauser, shot through the groin. We heard that he' died in the hospital at Mafeking.'' Since- the above things have been, somewhat quiet. You will have heard' that General' Carrington was superseded for having, it is, said, retired, from the Elands River the, first time he went up. - Of course we hear a good deal, but it is not wise to repeat things. Thutider and lightning— you don't know, what it is. We have had sucla a storm. I had a night of it on top of a kopje on sentry without shelter. ,It is rumoured in camp that as; soon as Methuen returns from Mafeking- we shall proceed? with, him. to Lydenburg, thence to Pretoria, and then, to " Home, sweet- home." I am, and have b6en, in splendid, health, not having experienced the least sickness. Many of the , con tingent ■ have suffered. Lieutenant-colonel-Francis has left the field, while R. Thompson aiid T. Popham, both of Middlemarch, also young Shalders, are among-tbose I know. I am proud' of my- Hungarian pony, which I broke* in myself. He follows me every- , where like a. dog. Remember me 'kindly to the members of the~ Caversham Committee and to other friends named in. my letter. - We have been, permitted to make the following extract from, a lebter received by Mr W. Duff from his, son, Trooper C. S: Duff, of the fourth contingent (the rider of "Dabs"), dated September 18>: — "We left Ottoshoop^ -before daylight on Sunday 9th -September: I have good reason to remember it, because* we were just about three-miles"' out 'when the firing commenced, and, poor Dabs got a bullet tferough'the head. It struck him on the near side, about 2in behind: tlie eye, and came out a little lowerand further back on the other, side. I thought he was done for,, but stopped the bleeding, and" he is doing all right. I was on him. today, but only to ride him for "water._ _ I won't ride him for a week yet. lam riding 'Charlie Wyse's horse rip#. as he (Wyse). is on the- sick list. Three of our fellows were' wounded that day, and several horses liit, but "the- best one 1 in. our, troop (Sergeant' Chilis' s) .being- killed. W.e have- taken, over 50 prisoners this last, week, besides,"> cattle, sheep, waggons, ammunition, etc. Martin Francis ■ was shot through the leg on Sunday week. We are tearing down most of the houses here for firewood, and catching all the fowls, pigs, etc., air each camp. lam in good health and spirits." " _ Trooper A. Petersen, of Napier, now in Soutli Africa, recounts some of his adventures in a letter to some- friends. Writing from Elandsfontein on- September 21, he mention's that he has been a prisoner of war twice. Ho was captured, for the short space of two hours once, but the second time he was sent to Nboitgedacht, in company with 18 other New Zealanders,. where he spent three weeks and two days before- he escaped through a tunnel which coat him £23 to > make. It was a smart piece of work. It was 55ft in length, and had five air-holes in it. The work was very trying, but every- pick was a dig for liberty. He" got through the tunnel on -a. Sunday night, walked boldly through the Boer camp, and then made a dash for freedom. He walked over 100 miles in three nights and' three hours, when he struck a Boer laager. After commandeering- a horse, he steered his course towards a place he thought the British. wore;< but struck a Boer picket. He answered their challenges in defiant tones, and as he galloped away about 25 shot's were fired at him, but without any 1 effect. He got- along very well till he reached- the British* lines,, when he was shot through both hips. Had' this last incident not' happened, Trooper Petersen would have returned to blow up the bridge between Belfast and 1 Dalmanthua, after which,, he adds, "I would have been able to •return, to eainp with, some honours." THE VICTORIA CROSS. The Queen has been graciously pleased to " signifyher intention to* confer the decoration of the "Victoria Cross on Sergeant Arthur Herbert Lindsay Richardson, of Lord^ Strathcona's Corps, whose- claims have been submitted for her Majesty's approval, for his conspicuous bravery at the action of Wolve Spruit : — On July 5, at Wolve Spruit, about 15 miles north of Standerton. a party of Lord Stralhcona's Corps, only 38 in mimber, came into contract, and was engaged at close quarters, with a force of 80 of the enemy. When the order- to retire had been given' Sergeant t Richardson rode back 'under a very heavy ' cros^-fire and picked up a trooper whose horse I had been shot, and' who was wourided'in. two' places, and rode with him out otiu-e. At the : time when. 'this act was performed Sergeant* : Richardson was , within 300 yards of the ■ enemyj . and was himself riding a , woundedTHE HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. In reply to an inquiry from Dunedin, the following letter has been received from the, headquarters; of the- Gordon Highlander* in Aberdeen, viz. : — Aberdeen, 'September 11,, 1900. Dear Sir, — Colonel Mathias asks in& to infornii ' you, in reply to your letter, that the percentage , approximately of the various nationalities in' the Gordon Highlanders is as under: — 35 per ' cent; Scotch, lll0 1 per cent. English', 5- per cent. others.. Unless- he i weilt. into the attestation of every man now. serving, which' would entail a great deal of trouble, which, is quite out of the - question just now; it is not possible to give the actual percentage,, but those given, are, he ' thinks, near enough for 1 your, purpose. — T am, etc., - J. R. J. Elsmie, Lieutenant, Acting-adjutant 75th Regimental District. The publication, _of this information will probably help to remove the impression which

seems to prevail in some quarters that the truly national el'aracter of- these distinguished regiments is not fully maintained. It is not improbable that of the 15 per cent, of men of English and other nationality a considerable proportion' are of Scottish descent. OFFER TO CAPTURE DE WET! A Pretoria telegram in the Natal Mercury pays:: — " Fellovres, lately a burgher, now onparole, -who Mas bound to report himself evwy alternate day to. the Commandant at the railway station, North Kroonstad, came info camp, and offered, if allowed to arm 1000 burghers', to bring in De Wet and all his men capth es within a week. The- offer was refused, but ifc proves that De Wet is far from popular among his own compatriots."