[Editor: This letter, from a soldier serving in the Boer War (1899-1902), was published in The Riverine Grazier (Hay, NSW), 23 October 1900.]
From the late Mr. A. M. Aberline.
From a letter received on Friday last by Mrs. Aberline from her son, Private A. M. Aberline, of “F” Squadron, Imperial Bushmen, we take the following extracts:—
“Ottoshoop, 6th September.
…. Things are only very middling over in these parts with the Boers. They are really troublesome lately on account of their always sniping at us whenever we go out scouting.
It was while out scouting that poor Bert Kilgour was shot clean through the arm. A couple more out with the same party were wounded, and one was captured. We also had two horses shot. I was in that lot, but thank goodness I was not injured in any way, although a couple of bullets went pretty close.
Some of the old Bushmen have joined the police in South Africa. They have all been offered land to settle on, but the terms, I believe, are not too good, at least as far as I know.
We have been transferred from General Carrington’s column to Lord Methuen’s, and are starting on Friday for Pretoria, which is about 150 miles from here. When we start, they say, we will have to fight our way clean through to our destination, but we do not take much notice of what we hear.
Seven Victorians and five New Zealanders were wounded yesterday between here and Mafeking, and about 20 horses were killed; but the party killed 14 Boers, and took 16 prisoners.
The old Bushmen are split up all over the place, and a few days ago, when we went to relieve them at Eland’s River, but had to retreat, they had 19 killed and 60 wounded, besides losing every horse they had except two. When Lord Methuen relieved them, and brought them on, the poor beggars were all rags and tatters; they also had to live on biscuit and water for over three weeks, owing to their being surrounded by the Boers, who numbered 3000.
Things are awfully quiet as far as news is concerned; we hear nothing from Australia.
…. There are only one or two of the Hay lads left now, for those of them who are not wounded are in the hospital with malarial fever, which nearly everyone takes who lives over here any length of time. The English doctors are going to send anyone who gets it bad back home, because if you get it once over here they say it gets into your system, and you never get rid of it as long as you live. …
P.S. — Written by moonlight.”
Source:
The Riverine Grazier (Hay, NSW), 23 October 1900, p. 2
Editor’s notes:
Boer = a South African of Dutch descent; Afrikaans for “farmer”; the Europeans in South Africa (primarily of Dutch and French Huguenot descent) who fought against the British in two major wars, the First Boer War (1880-1881) and the Second Boer War (1899-1902)
See: “Boers”, Wikipedia
Eland’s River = a river in the Transvaal region of South Africa; the site of the Battle of Elands River (4-16 August 1900), which took place during the Boer War (1899-1902), where about 500 British Empire soldiers (mainly Australian and Rhodesian) were surrounded by a force of about 3,000 Boer troops led by General Koos de la Rey, but the British Empire soldiers weathered the siege, and the Boer forces finally withdrew
See: “Battle of Elands River (1900)”, Wikipedia
General Carrington = Major General Sir Frederick Carrington (1844-1913), a British army officer; he was born in Cheltenham (Gloucestershire, England) in 1844, and died in London (England) in 1913; during the Boer War (1899-1902) he led a force of 1,000 men to relieve the troops at Eland’s River, but was beaten back by the Boers
See: 1) “Major-General Sir Frderick Carrington”, Boer-War.com
2) “Sir F. Carrington ordered to the Cape”, Evening News (Sydney, NSW), 17 January 1900, p. 6
3) “About people”, The Examiner (Launceston, Tas.), 25 March 1913, p. 4
4) “Personal”, The Australasian (Melbourne, Vic.), 29 March 1913, p. 739
5) “Frederick Carrington”, Wikipedia
6) “Battle of Elands River (1900)”, Wikipedia
Hay = a town in the western Riverina region of south-western New South Wales; Hay is located north-east of Swan Hill (Victoria) and west of Griffith (NSW) and Leeton (NSW)
See: “Hay, New South Wales”, Wikipedia
Pretoria = a major city in South Africa, which functions as the country’s administrative capital; the city was named after the Boer leader Andries Pretorius (1798-1853)
See: “Pretoria”, Wikipedia
P.S. = an abbreviation of “postscript” (the abbreviation “P.S.” is commonly placed before any extra text which has been added to the end of an already-completed letter, i.e. added after the writer’s signature; it may be placed before any extra text added, as an after-thought, to any other body of writing)
[Editor: The original text has been separated into paragraphs.]
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