Another Letter from Trooper Chas. McLean.

Te Aroha News, Volume XVI, Issue 22215, 20 March 1900, Page 2

Another Letter from Trooper Chas. McLean.

The following letter has been received by Mr W. French, ji\, Coromandel, dated from Kleinfontein, January 31st, from the above Trooper : “ S.neo last I wrote you we have been pretty constantly on the move, until we arrived at this place, where we-have been nearly-a fortnight. Wo are the farthest outpost to the northeast of General French’s column. The outpost consists of a regiment of the 2nd Life Guards, about GO -of the Rimington Scouts, and No.l Company of the N,Z. Mountod Rifles. No. 2 Company is at Slingersfontein. We are tying idle here, for some reason or other. We ‘get very little news of how tho war is going on in the other, parts; a newspaper arrives occasionally, and the rest is only rumour ‘ Bush Telegrams,’ we call them —of which we must believe very little if wo want the truth. We have been doing guard and picket duty all the time, just holding the kopjes on our front.. The Boers occupy, and are fortifying, a line of kopjes about two miles to our front. We see a few crossing- the veldt occasionally but we never get them within rifle shot. “ While we were at Rendsburg and again at Shugersfontoin, we had some warm times of it. At ‘ Stingers ’" we came in pretty close contact with the Boers several times, and got off very luckily; excepting, on New Zealand Hill, where we lost two men. General French christened it ‘ New Zealand Hill,’ because we wore the first to occupy the position. On tho day the Boers made the attack, they, were holding the kopjes on our front, about 2;000 yards distant. About 50 or 60 crawled to the foot of our kopje in the night, and hid behind the rocks and shrubs. Soon after daybreak the remaining Boers opened a heavy fire on our fellows, so that they could not put their heads above tile stone breast works ; so the Boers at the foot kept crawling up behind the bushes, until they got to within five yards of the breastwork before they were seen. The result was that directly our fellows showed their heads above the parapet they risked being shot. The first to got hit was the Col-Sergeant of the Yorks, and their Captain was wounded about the same time. Capt. Maddocks had two bullets through his hat, and ho shot a Boer about four yards in front of his rifle. One of the Yorks had four bullets through his hat; two more hit him on either side of the head, and another on the shoulder. When hit on the head he went mad and jumped over the parapet yelling out to ‘charge.’ The others- followed, and charging the Boers, the latter turned and fled down the kopje. Our fellows stopped and shot them as they ran. Afterwards ♦he Yorks buried 36 of them, as the Boers would not do it. ‘ Tlio Yorks’ loss wore five killed and si-won wounded, and we lost two men Sergeant Gourley and Ilavry Connell. Sergeant Gourley was shot twice through tho head, and Connell through trie heart. Tliebull-1- wont through hispocket, letters, a small b >ok, and liis g'rl’s photo. The poor fellow must have had a premonition that he was- g >ing to die, as only the night before ho tied the lo'ters and photo in a packet, and asked his mate to bury them with him ; another letter to bo sent home. I had a horrible job next day helping to carry tho bodies down to the foot of the kojrje; it was about a mile and a half over rocks and scrub to the nearest point where the ambulance could be got. On the same day IT of the N.S.W. Lancers were out scouting and got surrounded by Boers. Throe wore lc lied and the rest taken prisoners, and five of their horses and seven Boer ponies left tying dead. I believe wo are leaving here some time this week and going back to De Arr, and' then up past the Orange river, to join a Flying Squadron bound for Bloen^ontein