Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 21, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 October 1899 — REPULSE THE BOERS. [ARTICLE]

REPULSE THE BOERS.

BRITISH GAlty A DECISIVE VICTORY AT GLENCOE. English Troops Mske a Desperate and Successful Charge—The Enemy in Attempting to Retreat Caught Between Two Fires—Both Sides Lose Heavily. British arms triumphed in a desperate battle fought at Glencoe Friday, but not without a heavy loss of life. Sir William Symons, the British commander, was wounded and it was said his hurt would prove mortal. Maj. Yule took command. The battle, which continued for eight hours, resulted in the complete repulse of the Boers. The British loss is estimated at 300 killed and wounded and that of the Boers three times as many. The action began at 5:30 o’clock in the morning, when the Boers on Talana hill began to shell Glencoe camp. The English artillery, the Thirteenth and Sixtyninth batteries, returned the fire, finding the burgher gunners no match for them. Gun after gun was silenced, and then the plucky charge began. Half an hour had sufficed to prepare for the charge, but it took hours of crawling, fighting and climbing before the British troops won their way to the summit. The charge was covered by a heavy artillery fire from Glencoe over the heads .of the advancing infantrymen. The British were fighting their way inch by inch toward the summit when word reached Glencoe that a large force of Boers was advancing on Hattingspruit, a little to the north. The Leicester regiment and a battery of artillery were told off to check the re-enforcements, and the battle raged on. At 1:30 the Glencoe artillerymen saw their comrades on the crest of the hill. Then the British cavalry circled around the hill and pursued the Boers in their orderly retreat to the eatsward. Seventeen guns fell into the hands of the British. It is thought that this victory, coming at so early a stage of operations, cannot fail to have a good effect on the Boers, not only because of their being ousted from a position they had occupied in force, but because of the loss of their guns. This last, it is judged, will prove even more demoralizing.