They enlisted
many recruits among the Cape Colony Dutch as they advanced, and the
scanty British forces fell back in front of them, abandoning
Colesberg on the one line and Stormberg on the other. We have,
then, to deal with the movements of two British detachments. The
one which operated on the Colesberg line--which was the more vital
of the two, as a rapid advance of the Boers upon that line would
have threatened the precious Cape Town to Kimberley
connection--consisted almost entirely of mounted troops, and was
under the command of the same General French who had won the battle
of Elandslaagte. By an act of foresight which was only too rare
upon the British side in the earlier stages of this war, French,
who had in the recent large manoeuvres on Salisbury Plain shown
great ability as a cavalry leader, was sent out of Ladysmith in the
very last train which made its way through. His operations, with
his instructive use of cavalry and horse artillery, may be treated
separately.
The other British force which faced the Boers who were advancing
through Stormberg was commanded by General Gatacre, a man who bore
a high reputation for fearlessness and tireless energy, though he
had been criticised, notably during the Soudan campaign, for having
called upon his men for undue and unnecessary exertion.
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