Three Years' War Author:Christiaan Rudolf De Wet Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER X Four Hundred and Seventy English taken Prisoner at Reddersburg IN the evening of the day on which the events described in the last chapter occurr... more »ed, I handed over the command to Generals Piet de Wet and A. P. Cronje, and taking with me three of my staff, rode to Donkerpoort, in the direction of Dewetsdorp, on a reconnoitring expedition. Early the following morning I came to a farm called Sterkfontein, where, at noon, I received the news that a party of English, coming from Smithfield, had occupied Dewetsdorp. It was thirty miles from Sterkfontein to my commando, but, notwithstanding this, I sent an order that 1,500 men, under Generals J. B. Wessels, C. C. Froneman and De Villiers, should come up with all haste and bring three guns with them. During the time that must necessarily elapse before the arrival of this force, I sent men out to visit the farms of those burghers who had gone home after the fall of Bloemfontein, with orders to bring them back to the front. By the evening of the 1st of April I had all the men of the district together ; but it was then too late to make a start. At ten o'clock the following morning the English left Dewetsdorp, and marched towards Reddersburg. Directly I received news of this, I sent word to the Generals, that they must hasten to Reddersburg ; while I, with the men who had rejoined, made my way to the north, so as to take up a position on the enemy's flank. I had with me onehundred and ten men in all. Many of them were without rifles, having given up their arms at Bloemfontein. Others were provided with serviceable achterlaaiers, but had little or no ammunition, because they had already fired off their cartridges in mere wantonness in the belief that they might have to give up their rifles any day. My handful of b...« less