Again and
again parties of men started to their feet and dashed forward to drive
the hidden Boers facing them from their hiding-places. Sometimes they
succeeded for a time, but their numbers thinned so fast that the
survivors were forced to fall back again. To add to the horror of the
situation, the shot from our own guns also fell among the defenders, the
officers commanding the batteries not having been informed of the
intention to occupy the hill, and knowing nothing of the situation.
Scores of men were killed or wounded, but the position was held
unflinchingly.
At ten o'clock General Woodgate was mortally wounded by the fragment of
a shell that struck him in the eye, and Colonel Crofton took the
command. He at once flashed a message to General Warren, stating that
Woodgate was killed, and that reinforcements must be sent at once;
General Coke was therefore ordered to take the Middlesex and Dorset
regiments, and assume the command. Immediately afterwards Warren
received an order from General Buller to appoint Lieutenant-colonel
Thorneycroft, who was colonel of a colonial force, to take the command.
It was now hoped that all was well there. Unfortunately, neither Buller
nor Warren was able to give his undivided attention to the struggle on
the mountain, for Lyttleton's brigade had advanced before daybreak
against the eastern slopes of the hills running north from Spion Kop.
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