The Record of a Regiment of the Line

The Record of a Regiment of the
Line

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Title: The Record of a Regiment of the Line Being a Regimental
History of the 1st Battalion Devonshire Regiment during the Boer War
1899-1902
Author: M. Jacson
Release Date: June 3, 2005 [EBook #15972]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE RECORD
OF
A REGIMENT OF THE LINE
BEING
A REGIMENTAL HISTORY OF THE 1ST BATTALION
DEVONSHIRE REGIMENT DURING THE BOER WAR 1899-1902

BY COLONEL M. JACSON
London: HUTCHINSON & CO. Paternoster Row 1908

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
I. EVENTS LEADING UP TO THE SIEGE OF LADYSMITH 1
II. SIEGE OF LADYSMITH 30
III. EVENTS FOLLOWING THE SIEGE OF LADYSMITH, AND
THE ADVANCE NORTH UNDER. SIR REDVERS BULLER 104
IV. LYDENBURG 149
V. TREKKING IN THE NORTH-EAST TRANSVAAL 176

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
MONUMENT ERECTED TO OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE
DEVONSHIRE REGIMENT WHO FELL ON JANUARY 6TH ON
WAGON HILL, SIEGE OF LADYSMITH. Frontispiece FACE PAGE
EN ROUTE TO LADYSMITH 5
IN THE TRENCHES, LADYSMITH 36
TOWN HALL, LADYSMITH, CLOCK-TOWER DAMAGED BY
SHELL FIRE 44
AFTER A WET NIGHT IN THE TRAVERSES, LADYSMITH 56
THE RAILWAY BRIDGE, WITH CÆSAR'S CAMP IN DISTANCE,
LADYSMITH 62
LIEUT.-COLONEL C.W. PARK 66
NAVAL BATTERY HILL, LADYSMITH } } MONUMENT
ERECTED TO DEVONS ON WAGON HILL, } 70 ON SPOT
WHERE THE CHARGE TOOK PLACE, LADYSMITH }
A PEACEFUL SUNDAY 80
DEVON OFFICERS REMAINING FIT FOR DUTY AT THE END
OF THE SIEGE 102

BRIGADIER-GENERAL WALTER KITCHENER 104
RAILWAY BRIDGE DESTROYED BY BOERS, INGAGANE 108
MAKING BARBED-WIRE ENTANGLEMENT, INGAGANE 110
THE BAGGAGE OF GENERAL BULLER'S ARMY CROSSING
BEGINDERLYN BRIDGE 116
TREKKING WITH GENERAL BULLER 124
DEVONS CROSSING THE SABI RIVER 140
COLONEL C.W. PARK, MISSION CAMP, LYDENBURG 148
WIRE BRIDGE, LYDENBURG 160
MISSION CAMP FORT, LYDENBURG (INTERIOR) 170
REMAINS OF BOER BIG GUN, WATERVAL 180
CROSSING THE STEELPORT RIVER 182
DAWN--AFTER A NIGHT MARCH, TRICHARDTSFONTEIN 200
DEVONS EN ROUTE TO DURBAN 208
MONUMENT ERECTED IN LADYSMITH CEMETERY 218
MAPS
SIEGE OF LADYSMITH
NATAL AND S.E. TRANSVAAL

PREFACE
BY LIEUT.-GENERAL W. KITCHENER
Experience we all know to be a valuable asset, and experience in war is
the most costly of its kind. To enable those coming after us to
reconstruct the picture of war, Regimental Histories have proved of
infinite value. That such a record fills a sentimental want hardly
requires assertion.
My first feelings on being honoured with a request from the
Devonshire Regiment to write a preface to the account of their "Work
in South Africa, 1899-1902," were, I confess, How could I refuse so
difficult a task gracefully? However, on further consideration it seemed
to me that undoubtedly such a preface should be written by some one
outside the corps itself. Onlookers, as the saying goes, often see most
of the game, and, being free from personal bias, can often add
something to what those engrossed in the meshes of life's details can
only appreciate from a narrower point of view.
From this standpoint, and as I was the General under whom the 1st
Devons served longest in South Africa, it seemed obviously my duty to

attempt the task.
The "Work of the 1st Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment" is
portrayed in these pages. It therefore only remains for me to add, for
the benefit of coming generations, what manner of men these were,
who by their dogged devotion to duty helped to overcome the Boer.
Associated as one was with many corps in the close intimacy of veldt
life, it was a study of the deepest interest to note the individuality that
characterized each, and which was often as clearly and as well defined
as that of the men with whom one daily came in contact.
During the many months of our intimate association, and in the varied
situations that presented themselves, I cannot call to mind any single
occasion on which the Devons were ever flurried or even hurried. Their
imperturbability of temper, even under the most trying conditions,
could not be surpassed.
Another characteristic of the corps was its inherent thrift. They were, in
fact, essentially a "self-help" corps. When a flood came and washed
away the bridge leading to the picket line, no sapper was required to
show them how to throw a suspension bridge above the flood from tree
to cliff. It was characteristic of the