The 92nd Highlanders at MAJUBA HILL.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume IX, Issue 990, 25 October 1881, Page 2

The 92nd Highlanders at MAJUBA HILL.

So many incorrect statements have been made regarding the fight on the Majuba Hill, says the Pioneer, that we are glad to give prominence to information connected with the fighting of the 92nd Gordon Highlanders on that occasion. The following hard facts were taken from extracts written on the 'spot soon after the engagement: —ln the first place there were only 140 of the 92nd on the hill, out of the 469 defenders. There were between 600 and 800 Boers in the encircling line of skirmishers when the position was forced ; and Gen. Schmidt, one of the Boer leaders, stated that exact calculations showed that 2,100 rifles w'ere brought to bear upon the British when the stampede took place; while 3,500 Boers were in all engaged. Of the 140 rank and file of the Gordon Highlanders, 136 were killed, wounded, and taken prisoners ; 4 only reached the camp. The old soldiers, whose conduct has been severely criticised, and against w'hom sneers have been cast as being merely “Afghan veterans,” stood firm and w'ere slaughtered by the Boers who surrounded them when the final stand was made about the General. The whole of the 140 were not veterans in any sense of the word; there were young soldiers among them who had never been under fire. The panic which first arose is said to have been caused by a shout of “ Cease fire and retire,” which was raised by some one unknown. Of the conduct of the officers we learn the following particulars : — Lieutenant Hamilton crawled backwords and forwards between his advanced post and the spot where the General was, under volleys fired solely at him, and his courage was beyond praise. Lieut. Wright, who has been through the Afghan war, was, though a young officer, cool and collected under a fire that might have tried the bravest. As he passed Major Hay, he drew attention to six bullet-holes in his own helmet, and laughingly called out,

* “ They’ve spoiled my helmet for me, Major ! ” Yet a seventh bullet struck him in the sole of his foot, and the Boers took him prisoner. Major Hay and Singleton, and Lieut. Hamilton were all hit at about the same time, when standing with the old soldiers who would not yield. Major Hay was shot in the upper arm and through the calf of the leg : Major Singleton was hit in the knee-cap, the bullet smashing the joint and and passing downward through the leg ; and Lieutenant Hamilton had his wrist splintered. Captain Macgregor, of the 92nd, was orderly officer to General Colley, and had a narrow escape, a bullet piercing his clothes, but inflicting no wound. The behaviour of Second Lieutenant Hector Macdonald, who 1 received a commission for exceptional bravery in the Afghan War; has been already noticed in the English papers. . When with five men he was left alone on a knoll, he drew his revolver, and the little party would have sold their lives dearly, had not the Boers, who completely surrounded them, refrained from firing. The Dutch farmers were so struck by the bearing of Macdonald that they besought him to yield, as it would be foolish to court death at their hands. Although the little band on the Majuba Hill did not entrench themselves, the men managed to pile up slight sungars of stones, behind which they could lie, sometimes with their helmets appearing over the top ; and the Boers fired with such accuracy that when the sungars were afterwards examined, the stones were white with bullet-marks.