V I Preface.
bullet. Not only so, but an enormous number of the wounded have recovered. Thus, taking the
Casualty Return of Ju ly n , we find that of over 12,000 wounded only 695 have died. In Napoleon s
day the proportion would have been more like 5,000, and in the era of the Franco-Prussian w ar 3,000.
Clearly, then, the risk to life in war is not increasing. Disease is as deadly as ever, but it m ay safely
be said that much of our loss would have been preventable with a better hospital organisation.
W e have been asked by several correspondents to set forth in a short table the losses in the
battles recorded in the present volume, and we take the opportunity of doing so, adding a rough
estimate of the Boer force opposed. The Boer losses, unhappily, cannot be ascertained with the
slightest accuracy, and even the estimates of their armies are largely conjectural. It should be noted
that only com batants— cavalry, artillery, and infantry— are included in our figures, and that deductions
are made for details absent at the base, for the sick, and for men not present for duty. The numbers
in one or two instances differ slightly from those of the text of the work, the latest official returns
necessarily differing in some cases from the figures obtained on the battlefield.
Killed. Wounded. Prisoners and Missing.
Battle of Date.
Total British Force Boer Force
Casualties. Engaged. Engaged.
Officers. Men. Officers. Men. Officers. Men.
Dundee ... Oct. 20. 8 40 II 84
25
306
474
3.400 7,000
Elandslaagte ... Oct. 21.
5 50 30
169 0
4 258 3.500 2,000
Rietfontein ... Oct. 24. 1 II 6 98 0 2 118 5,100 7,000 ?
Farq uh ar’s Farm and
N icholson's Nek
... Oct. 30. 6
57 9 244 43 925
I.2S4 10,000 20,000
Belmont ... Nov. 23.
3 50 25
220 0 0 298 8,000 3.000 ?
W illow Grange ... N ov. 23. 0 1 1 1 66 1 8
87 3.500 2.000
Enslin ... Nov. 25.
3 13
6 163 0
9
194 7.500 2.500
Modder R iv e r ... ... N ov. 28.
4
66 20
393
0 2 485 9,000 8,000
Storm berg ... Dec. 10. 0 32 7 5i 13
619 722 2,500 1,000 ?
M agersfontein ... ... Dec. 1 1 .
23
148
45
646 0 108 970 12,500 10,000
Colenso ... Dec. 15.
7
128
43
719 21 207 1.12 5 15,000 10,000
Week of Battles and 1
1.050 35i 1.7 33
17.500
Spion Kop ... j
J a n . 17-24. 27
245 53 7
12,000
V aal Krantz ...F eb . 5-7.
2
23
iS 326 0
5 374
15,000 10,000
Some remarks appear to be called for as to the lessons to be derived from the war, and the
directions in which some modification of our present m ilitary system and methods may seem
desirable. These remarks will fitly find a place at the conclusion of our work. In the meantime let
11s not forget that if errors of judgment have been committed, they have been committed by men whose
zeal and patriotism has never been doubted. W e cannot refrain, however, from alluding here to the
greatest of all the lessons which this war has taught, not us alone, but all the world— the solidarity of
the Em pire. And for that great demonstration what sacrifice was not worth m ak in g!
E R R A T A .
p. 4, note beneath top illustration, f o r “ February 26 ” rea d “ February 27.”
p. 6, note beneath illustration at foot of page, f o r “ 74th regiment,” rea d “ 94th regiment.”
p. 16, note beneath second illu stratio n ,^ /' “ ,£250,000” rea d £ 25,000.”
p. 35, line 4 from bottom, f o r “ Dublin Fusiliers,” rea d “ Royal Irish Fusiliers.”
p. 108, note beneath portrait of Col. Long, f o r “ mortally wounded,” rea d “ severely wounded.”
p. 129, line is, f o r “ 1st W orcesters,” rea d “ 2nd Berkshires.”
p. 151, line 15, f o r “ Lieutenant Taylor of the N avy,” rea d “ Lieutenant Taylor of the 2nd Yorkshire Light Infantry.”
p. 204, first paragraph : The identity of the prisoner here referred to has not been established, but the Editor has
received statements which have satisfied him that ex-Sergeant-Major Greener, of the Royal Engineers, was
never with the Boer army, and that the strong expression used with regard to him was misapplied,
p. 248. line 39, for “ ankle-deep,” rea d “ axle-deep.”
p. 275, lines 3 and 4, delete the w ords, “ Grey though he was, this was his first action.” (Major Childe, whose age
was 46, had served in the Egyptian campaign of 1882.)
p. 277, note beneath portrait, f o r “ Sir Reginald Clare Hart, K .C .B ., & c ,” rea d “ .Major-General A. FitzRoy Hart, C.B.,
commanding the 5th Brigade of the iotli Division,” and ca n cel rem ainder o f )iote.