In the last days of 1895, a mounted column 500-strong supported by nine artillery pieces crossed the Bechuanaland border into the Transvaal and set off for Johannesburg, gold-mining capital of the world. The aim was to provide support for the disaffected British residents of the town, whom they expected to be simultaneously rising in revolt against the Boer government of President Paul Kruger. This curious episode, a South African version of the 1961 Bay of Pigs fiasco, was the infamous "Jameson Raid," named after the man who led it, Dr Leander Starr Jameson. Although the raiders were volunteers officially acting without the knowledge or sanction of the British government, the fact that they were almost all British and inspired by patriotic, imperial motives makes their incursion a forerunner, and to some considerable extent a cause, of the great Anglo-Boer War that would break out a few years later. The story of the Jameson Raid, a sorry record of recklessness, disobedience and impetuous folly, has been told many times and even today many key details regarding how it came about and who was responsible remain unknown. In summary, it had its origins in the failure of the British immigrants of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, an independent Boer state also known as the Transvaal, to be amicably absorbed following their arrival after the discovery of the Witwatersrand goldfields in 1886. These immigrants, known as Uitlanders or foreigners, had a number of grievances against Kruger, amongst them the official favoring of certain monopolies and restricted access to the franchise. When attempts to resolve these by peaceful means proved unsuccessful, many Uitlander leaders began considering the more drastic remedy of violent revolution. In this, they had the clandestine support of Cecil John Rhodes, a multi-millionaire and Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, who undertook to provide covert financial and military support. Planning In the latter months of 1895, plans for an uprising began falling into place. In Johannesburg itself the Reform Committee, the recognized representative body of the Uitlanders, began preparing to coordinate an uprising in the city, smuggling in arms and ammunition. At the same time at Pitsani, a small trading post across the border in British Bechuanaland (today Botswana), Rhodes' right-hand man Jameson began mustering troops to be used in support of the incipient revolt. These were drawn mainly from the Mashonaland Mounted Police (MMP-Mashonaland is in modern-day Zimbabwe) and Bechuanaland Border Police (BPP), all on the payroll of Rhodes' British South Africa Company. There were also a number of veterans of the 1893 war against the Matabele in Rhodesia. By December, Jameson had mustered just over 500 men, little more than a third of what he had hoped for, under the overall command of Lieutenant-Colonel Sir John C. Willoughby. For all the elaborate plotting and planning, the whole enterprise looked like it would fizzle out once those on the Johannesburg side sensibly began to have second thoughts. The original date of the uprising had been set for 28 December, but the Reformers were hopelessly unprepared and decided to postpone it. The postponement might well have spelled the beginning of the end for the planned insurrection as the implications of actually going ahead with so madcap a scheme would have increasingly become apparent had Jameson not now made the fateful decision to kick-start matters himself by invading Boer territory. Jameson, an impatient and impulsive man with the temperament of a gambler, evidently hoped that once his invasion was underway, the Johannesburg uprising would follow more or less automatically. The raiders were to move into the Transvaal in two columns, the MMP, 372 in all, to proceed from Pitsani and 122 BBP to simultaneously set out from Mafeking. The two wings would join up at Malmani, about 40 km inside the Transvaal border, and from there make for Johannesburg. The artillery battery comprised two seven-pounders, one twelve-and-a-half pounder and six Maxims and there were also a number of ambulance wagons. The Raid Commences At 1830 on Sunday, 29 December, the invasion began. The two columns rode through the night and reached Malmani more or less simultaneously at 0500 the next day. One of the first things Willoughby had ordered was for the telegraph lines to be cut, but the wrong ones were cut in the end and the Boers, well aware of what was going on, were already mustering a commando to deal with the invasion. The column rode throughout the day of the 30th without meeting any resistance. Late in the afternoon, Jameson received a letter from Piet Joubert, Commandant-General of the Republic, demanding to know exactly what he was doing (most people in Britain would have been equally curious) and ordering him to turn back immediately. Jameson's response was a polite refusal and all subsequent directives, most of which came from the Uitlander leadership or the British authorities, were similarly turned down. He was fast approaching the point of no return and one wonders at what stage he. and Willoughby too for that matter, realized that the enterprise was doomed to fail. At midnight on New Year's Eve, the weary troopers heard a sound that would become all too familiar during the next few days, the crackle of Mauser rifle fire. The advance patrol of the column was in the process of crossing a rocky, wooded ridge when about forty concealed Boer snipers opened up on it. Reinforcements were quickly brought up and a short skirmish ensued, one trooper of the MMP being wounded before the Boers broke off the action and melted away into the night. By mid-morning on 1 January 1896, the column was approaching Krugersdorp, a mining village north-west of Johannesburg. Up until now the Boers, still lacking a numerical advantage and well aware of Jameson's artillery battery, had been content to hover on his flanks. Now it was learned, from two British cyclists, that several hundred of them were awaiting the column on the outskirts of Krugersdorp. The raiders halted at Hind's store to stock up on provisions and rested for an hour and a half. Then the advance was resumed, along the south road leading between some mining properties. Looming up before the troopers and straddling the road was a long, low ridge, and it was along this feature that the Boers had deployed. The ground was ideal for defense. On the summit was a disused iron shed, surrounded by mud heaps thrown up by miners and this provided a natural fort with ready-made earthworks. To the south, some old prospectors' cutting provided pre-dug rifle pits and further north a farmhouse and plantation supplied additional cover. In the depression between the raiders and the waiting Boers lay a shallow lake, called a 'vlei' in Afrikaans, crossed by the road at a narrow drift. The extreme peril of being over a 100 km inside hostile territory faced by growing bodies of enemy horsemen had evidently not yet dawned on Willoughby, who now with remarkable arrogance sent a message to Commandant Malan in Krugersdorp informing him that should his 'friendly' force be opposed, he would be compelled to shell the village. Malan was given until 1600 to evacuate the women and children. How a heavily armed column that had already invaded a sovereign state, damaged its property, fired on its citizenry and was now threatening to bombard on of its settlements could be described as 'friendly' is yet another bizarre aspect the whole sorry affair. Perhaps Willoughby still believed that the Boers would offer no more than a token resistance. At any rate, no reply was forthcoming from Malan and at 1630 the two seven pounders and the twelve-and-a-half pounder began raining shells down on the sprawling Boer lines. Before the commencement of the artillery barrage, Jameson could still have called the whole thing off. Until that point, despite the wire cutting and light skirmishing that had taken place, the raid had been not much more than an armed promenade. Had the column turned back, it is likely that the Boers would have done no more than keep a watchful eye on it until it was safely back over the border. Now, however, the gauntlet had well and truly been thrown down and it was too late for any second thoughts. The invaders could only battle their way through to Johannesburg or surrender. The bombardment itself was a waste of ammunition. The Boers were too well-protected and when Willoughby finally called a halt, not one of them had even been wounded. The raiders watching the fun on the opposite rise had no way of knowing this. Instead, the apparent accuracy of the shelling and the virtual silencing of the snipers might have given them the impression that their opponents had suffered heavily and would be in no position to withstand a determined charge. One of their number managed to spy out part of the Boer position and returned with a report that many must have been killed since all he had seen were motionless bodies. The Boers, of course, were merely lying prone until the artillery practice was over. The bombardment lasted until 1700 and soon after it ended an advance guard, comprising a troop of one hundred men under Lt-Colonel H F White rode forward into the attack. A strong troop each with a Maxim formed the left and right supports on either flank. At the same time Lt-Colonel Grey was detailed to take one troop of the BBP and a third Maxim and assail the Boer left. The remaining two troops and Maxims formed the reserve and rearguard. If nothing else, White's men at least made an impressive sight. The watching Boers could not but admire the way in which they fanned out at the word of command, a narrow cluster of horsemen suddenly opening out to right and left and sweeping on in open order, a single long line of mounted riflemen, cheering as they rode. Only when the horsemen entered the vlei itself did the hidden Boers open up, and a devastating crackle of rifle-fire rippled out all along the ridge and from the flanks. The charge was stopped in its tracks almost immediately. With riders and mounts being cut down on every side, White's men halted, dismounted and, seizing whatever cover was available, began returning fire as best they could. To relieve the pressure on them, the left support under Inspector Dykes of the BBP attacked the Boer right, only to be driven back by a fierce flanking fire from the farmhouse and plantation when it advanced too far. Grey's detachment likewise made little headway as it came into action on the extreme right of the British line. White's position in the vlei was obviously untenable. Those who could remounted and galloped back the way they had come while the remainder tried to take cover amongst the reeds. In the end, less than half of the origi-nal advance guard rejoined the main body. Those not killed outright were taken prisoner when the Boers moved down from the heights and surrounded them. The feelings of Dr Jameson and Colonel Willoughby as they watched their men being beaten back so effortlessly can only be imagined. What must have become suddenly and brutally clear was that there was going to be no easy victory. The expedition, no longer a daring adventure undertaken by spirited young Englishmen, had all at once turned into a grim struggle for survival against enormous odds. Willoughby called off the attack, detailing Inspector Drury to cover the rear with one troop MMP and a Maxim while Grey covered the left flank with two troops BBP, the twelve-and-a-half pounder and a Maxim. Grey's artillery gained a small triumph during the withdrawal when a direct hit blew up the iron shed, which the Boers had used as a battery house, on the summit. Willoughby now continued south, hoping to turn the Boer position and slip through to Johannesburg under cover of darkness. He might just have succeeded in this had he not heard the sound of heavy firing from the direction of Krugersdorp soon after his men moved off. Ever optimistic, he interpreted this as signifying the belated arrival of reinforcements from Johannesburg and hurried back to lend assistance. When he reached the scene, however, he found that the firing had greeted the arrival of reinforcements for the Boers. A large contingent of burghers had arrived from Potchefstroom and the Boers on the ridge had fired off a few celebratory rounds to welcome them. By the time Willoughby learned this, the chance to reach Johannesburg had been lost; the Boers had outflanked him and sealed off the southern road. All he could do now was bivouac for the night and try to find an alternate route in the morning. Trapped Now followed what must have been a harrowing and uncomfortable night for the exhausted troopers. Thick clouds blotted out the moon and would have rendered the camp invisible had one of the lights in the ambulance wagon not been left burning. The Boers on the plateau overlooking the bivouac poured a steady stream of bullets into the camp from distances ranging between 400 and 800 meters. The British were fairly well protected but nevertheless lost two more killed as well as a number of horses. They were without food and had only a small quantity of muddy water to drink. It is a testimony to their fortitude that, far from complaining or threatening mutiny, they stuck to their increasingly hopeless task with a coolness and determination worthy of a better cause. At 0330 on 2 January, Willoughby prepared to move off again. Patrols were sent out on all sides and returned half an hour later to report that only the ground to the south was free of the enemy. It was in this direction, therefore, that the column set off. What Willoughby did not realize at the time, although it would become obvious later, was that far from being negligent in leaving their opponents an escape route, the Boers were in fact patiently and systematically shepherding them into a trap. The hapless raiders, although they continued to sally out with their customary discipline and orderliness, were in effect puppets on a string, unable to maintain any sort of control over their destinies let alone dictate the course of events. The whole wretched venture was now entering its closing stages. Harried every step of the way by long-range sniper fire, the column began moving in an easterly direction towards Randfontein, another mining village. Vleis, swampy ground and a railway embankment slowed its progress. To cover the rear, White was detached with one troop and two Maxims while the rest of the men pressed on as rapidly as they could. A 10 kilometer running fight ensued, with the Boers continuing to keep their quarry in their sights without attempting to close with them yet. The Staatsartillerie was still being brought up from Pretoria and they had no desire to provide unnecessary targets for the field guns and Maxims. With hindsight, the eventual running to ground of Jameson's harried band is seen as being inevitable, but that is not entirely true. With luck, they may even now have slipped through the net and reached Johannesburg, although what they would have done then is questionable. The raiders had a brief respite at Randfontein, where many of the locals were English-speaking and cheered them on. Then they pressed on, still running the gauntlet of long-range sniper fire, which whipped in at them from three directions as they cantered wearily across the veld. Willoughby now learned that the Boers were at last making a stand, taking up a position on the hill of Doornkop which lay directly in the column's path and beyond which were Johannesburg's western districts. Hurrying to the front, he found his men shelling a low ridge which he assumed to be Doornkop. The BBP attacked the ridge and carried it with the loss of a handful of men and the rest of the column followed up. At this point, Willoughby discovered his error. The real Doornkop was still in his path, steep and stony and with dozens of waiting Boers crouched behind its boulders. To make matters worse, on the right was a second ridge, from where the Boers could pour a withering cross-fire on the troops exposed on the brow of the rise. The raiders made one bold attempt to clear the Boer positions before they could be reinforced. Captain Barry and a party of MMP sallied out gamely to dislodge the burghers on the hill, but five times as many men were needed and they were quickly beaten back. Barry himself was severely wounded in the groin and spine. It was Willoughby's last chance to break through since Doornkop at the time was still not strongly held. Soon after this, Commandant Piet Cronje (who be attain the rank of General in the Anglo-Boer War and eventually be captured at Paardeberg), arrived with 150 men and with that, the trap finally snapped shut. Caught in a cul de sac, unable to advance or retreat, the game was almost up for Jameson's battered raiders. The Doctor himself, shattered by the series of misfortunes that had befallen his reckless enterprise, had long since ceased to play a leading role in events. He had counted up until then on a relieving force coming out from Johannesburg. Now, even that slender hope was dashed as a message arrived from the town informing him that the Reform Committee were not about to send reinforcements nor had they ever considered doing so. In fact, about a hundred Uitlanders did set out at one point to join up with the raiders but they were quickly recalled once the Reform Committee got wind of it. The plotters in Johannesburg knew they were for it (many would end up in prison, in some cases after death sentences had been commuted) and had no wish to make matters worse. Meanwhile, the British High Commissioner Sir Hercules Robinson had declared Jameson an outlaw. The troopers spread out to take up what was to be their last stand. They were occupying a farm, called Vlakfontein, and hence had a number of structures behind which to take cover. The main body of and the guns occupied an abandoned kraal and began returning the fire of the encircling Boers. The latter began pressing forward, working their way around the column's left flank. The British had outnumbered them at the beginning of the fight but no longer as more and more reinforcements arrived. They too suffered casualties. A number on the ridge were shot down as they leaned over to fire and indeed, some of the rocks behind which they had been crouching were found afterwards to be white with bullet marks. How long the unequal duel could have continued this way is debatable. Though outnumbered and exhausted, Jameson's men were still fighting back stubbornly and the field guns continued to pound away even after the Maxims had grown too hot and jammed. Then came the final blow. Some dark objects could be seen approaching up the dirt road to the west as the sun rose and the glint of sunlight on metal revealed them to be the Boer artillery, arrived at last from Pretoria. Minutes later, they were opening up at less than a kilometers range. Surrender and Aftermath Willoughby decided to throw in the towel at last. At around 0900 on 2 January the Boers saw a white banner waving over the outhouse of the farmstead. To add insult to injury, it was not even a formal white flag, only an apron borrowed from an old colored woman who happened to be in the vicinity. The battle of Doornkop was over and with it Jameson's reckless bid for glory. The jubilant Boers came galloping down from all directions while their opponents stacked their arms and waited resignedly to be taken prisoner. The Boers should be given credit for the way in which they dealt with the invasion. They had shown considerable tactical skill and guile, first in wearing down Jameson's well-armed column and then running it to ground with relentless efficiency, never taking unnecessary risks. Boer casualties in the defeat and capture of 500 mounted infantry supported by artillery came to a mere four killed and a handful of wounded. For their part, the raiders had no cause to feel ashamed. Most of them had stuck uncomplaining to their task, fighting tenaciously with their backs to the wall while hopes of relief faded to nothing. Their casualties were over 100, about 20%, and were made up by 17 dead, 55 wounded and 35 missing. Given the duration of the fight, these losses were not especially heavy, suggesting that the Boer tactics had ultimately minimized casualties on both sides. The Jameson Raid further soured relations between Great Britain and Kruger's republic and brought the two sides a step closer to war. In the end, the Union Jack would fly over Johannesburg after all, although it took nearly three years and half a million men to achieve this. Oddly enough, while the fiasco brought the political career of Rhodes to a humiliating end, it does not seem to have hampered the subsequent political career of L S Jameson. After the Anglo-Boer War, he became Prime Minister of the Cape Colony and briefly served as Leader of the Opposition in the Union Parliament after the four South African colonies merged in 1910. The fact that so few people know this, however, suggests that he will always be remembered less for his political activities than for the foolhardy and disastrous raid that has ever since borne his name. REFERENCES Fitzpatrick J P, The Transvaal from Within: A Private Record of Public Affairs (London, 1899) Hole H M, The Jameson Raid (London, 1930) Packenham E, The Jameson Raid (London 1960) Garret F E & Edwards E J, The Story of an African Crisis (London, 1897) Back to Cry Havoc #36 Table of Contents Back to Cry Havoc List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2001 by David W. Tschanz. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com