It was curious to notice a variety of chalk marks upon some of the ant
hills on the battle-field. The Boers had carefully measured their ground
beforehand, as we did at Omdurman, and knew exactly how to adjust their
sights as we advanced against their position. The battle of Graspan
consisted, as at Belmont, in a frontal attack upon a line of kopjes held
by a much larger force of the enemy than was present at the earlier
engagement. Lord Methuen succeeded in working his way to the foot of the
kopjes, and a final rush swept the Boers away in headlong flight. His
victory would have been much more complete had the cavalry succeeded in
cutting off the enemy's retreat, but this was not done.
We brought back a load of wounded men from this fight. The corps which
suffered most heavily was the naval brigade, composed of 200 marines and
50 bluejackets. It is worth mentioning the numbers here, because I have
seen several accounts of this fight in which the gallantry of the
"bluejackets" is spoken of in the warmest terms with absolutely no
mention of the marines. Correspondents, some of them without any
previous knowledge of military matters, repeatedly single out certain
regiments and corps for special mention, even when these favoured
battalions have not taken any leading part in the battle. We have, of
course, had the case of the Gordons at Dargai--who ever hears of any
other regiment popularly mentioned in this connection? Again, at the
battle of Magersfontein the Gordons were not amongst the Highland
battalions which bore the full brunt of that awful fusilade, yet various
English newspapers singled them out for special mention.
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