The New Commander-in-Chief in South Africa.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3313, 4 August 1879, Page 2

The New Commander-in-Chief in South Africa.

$ir Garnet Wolseley has been a pros* perous man, and none but the envious will venture to assert that his rapid advancement has been duo exclusively or even largely to luck. Fortune has, it is true, been propitious to him, but then he has always been prompt to seize and skilful to turn to account her favours. The eldest son of the late Major G. J. "WolSfclefr "oTTKS 23lh^imW^^net Wolseley, was .born .at Golden Bridge House, 1 county? Dublin; on the Ith of Juoe, Dublin and subsequently by private tutors, he wasrfromvebildobod destined for the army, and by studying military history, surveying, and fortification he SedulouHly; P 'rep»rtd r himiielf Mflhe profession otv *his"Choice. Towards'the close of h'iW;nineteenth year; he obtained ap,J,on*i«n'ff commißiipaiprth*fiOth.Eegiment, then enaaggpVJn the rl «ecpfldj|||raiese war. He had scarcely joined the depot when.he,was sent; io!h rr .tp,%rmakwith a draft of recruits, andin ftoWMftr he reached Rangoon.. r At the .rbeginning^pf rMarcT£ ißb^eteverit TCnapSfy sea, and on the 7th r March received his My at-toon, a slight skirmish having taken place on that day. .Myat-toon^atroag- v hold was successfully stormed. The first attack wa,sf (Irepulwd iwlth some loss. Ensign Wolseley was well in front of his\ men and tad jreached within twenty yardi 1 of th^emfs Sorki Trheii sudo^ftlr r the earth gave way beneath his feet and he found himself at thVbbttbm of a concealed pit with a stake in it. When bis men were beaten back be was in great danger, but he managed to escape without even a wound, though much •h.kenbV the fall. In a second attack Ensign Wolseley again led his men to the charge. ; Xt the head of a detachment of the 51st Regiment, Leiutenant TaylolTraeed with Wolseley for the honour, of .being, ,the first man 'in:' Only two 'fouiaC.? move abreast, and the two gallant' *'young officers evidently,, rushed, .on „ their destruction; Both' were' shot tiy^gfngaU balls in the thigh. Taylor bled to death in a few minutes', but WoUeley, pressing his fingers on the veins, checked the flow of blood. Grievously wbund'ed'and Fying helpless on his back, Wolseley wafed fa^s sword and cheered his men on to no assault,, which this time waa,snpcejiafp)* When he first fell, some' of his men offered to carry them to the, rear, bu^fce refuged all assistance till the work was taken. After several' montbf of suffering and danger he was sent home on sick leave, and was only convalescent just beforelJhe arrival of the ship in England. As a reward for his gallantry he >waß promoted to- a>lieutenancy;in the 90th' Light Infantry., When the Crimean war broke outTtVas'deeided tfiat the 90th should not take)part in it, and Wolseley was on the point of exchanging intq another corps in order (feaf igermiiHjfc 'see'more service. ' B«fore/ tidwever, he could'carry'his resolution* into effect the 99th was sent ~ oat, • ■ and landed at Balaclava on Dee. £. Three weeks later, Wolseley was appointed acting engineer^ and did his first tour of duty in™fh°fe]t capacity on Jan.* 4>, 1855. During eigtii months' he ferried 'uninterruptefflj witti the /Engineers,' with the exceptipii* week' spent- jif.Balaclava onaieVj&ara Sligtlj wounded.,©!* April lp and. !fyHH& he received a severe and dangerous Jturt on' August '30. On/^theTa'tßr^daj he was^ working I'at the,, head of the advanced nap of the right ri «teajc^ astistnig two iapperi tio fill with itoi»e« some gabiotis which the Eowiai^ I*4 upset just before in a sortie, when a round shot dashed into themiddle of the group, He had just time to cry "Look out!" when'the whole party lay prostrate on the ground. The round. T shot h^ad struck a gabion," scattering* the^stotjeji with resistless foroe. One of the sappers had his head taken off, the other was disembowelled. Both' were killed instantaneously, and WoUeley himself, lying br their,,.side . seaselesa-jtnd jeotyged (^rith blood, seemed also tt corpse^ A" iergeant of sappers, finding that he still breathed, picked I hitQjup > and after a [time he recovtred sufficiently to be able, j with the help of the f sergeanjt and Prinoe \ Victor of Hohenlohe, to stagger as far aa j the doctor's hut. He then sank ex* hausted and half: uoconaetenui. ;Fruife 'Victor asked the doctor to look at him. iHe did so, and curtly saying, "He's ft ideadvWJ: was about >to, attend, to ; o*hec | patients. Wolseley roused, and irritated I by this cool way of dismissing him to the iother world,, turned- nmndsand scjd, "I am worth a K (>od many deid men iyet," thus securing the doctor's atjtention. A detailed, exaaifla^os^noimil itbat if not dead he Was very "severely |wounded .—"His features were, not dia* jtinguishable as thoseolja^humait bfiM> ; while blood flowed from innumerable jwounds caused by the stones with whioh. ihe had' been strnok,;j;Bjbajr^:Araj(ißt^i|B) jwere embedded all over his facej and Ikis jleft check had been almost out completely !»way-..^. jt ■ t -„ Both^ hit ejee i s w^ce» {completely closed, and the injury to on» •of them was so serious that the sight has been permanently;' Jo«^r<N.Ot'.'ftf*«lM» inch of his face but what wai'batteredaod lent about, while his body was wounded over, just as if he h.d fam^ with small shot. He had rfteeired.^ also* severe wound on his right leg, s<? that both limbs had now been Injured, the' wound in the left thigh reeled in Burmali rendering him slightly \%m h For. many years afterward*;the wound on the^ihin, reoieved on this Aug, 30, caused him. much suffering, and.when on duty in Canada, nearly two years after the event, he wa« under tbe neoessity of retirOibg*oU England for medical advice regarding the bone, whicb;:waß:iafol»liijig\tj«Times.