, 42nd, and 53rd Field Batteries, 1st Devons, 1st
Liverpools, 1st Gloucesters, 2nd King's Royal Rifles (just arrived from
Maritzburg), 19th Hussars, 5th Lancers, Natal Carabiniers, Border
Mounted Rifles, and Imperial Light Horse.

The enemy was already strongly posted on the kopjes a mile and a half
west of the railway and two miles south-east of Modder Spruit station,
in all, some seven miles from Ladysmith. It was necessary, therefore, to
keep him well occupied, and divert his attention from the Dundee column.
On both sides firing soon commenced, but our guns were promptly
silenced. Then the British took up a position three-quarters of a mile
west of the railway, and for some twenty minutes kept up a heavy
artillery fire supplemented by sharp volleys from the infantry. Before
long the kopjes were cleared and the object of the British attack
accomplished. The main body of the Boers retired in the direction of
Besters, a point to the south of Ladysmith, where, in the circumstances,
it was more advisable for them to be. In this battle a great deal of
sharpshooting, especially at officers, took place on the part of the
foe, who also resorted to their old tactics of discharging their guns
and running away, again discharging them and again running--a trick they
had been mightily fond of in their dealings with the Zulus, and which
was calculated to tire out the fleetest antagonists. Colonel Wilford of
the 1st Gloucester Regiment was mortally wounded. Sir George White had a
narrow escape, as the Boers turned their artillery on the Staff, and
their first shell came screaming within fifteen yards of the General.
Captain Douglas, 42nd Battery, had also a marvellous escape, his horse
having been wounded and his haversack ripped open by a splinter. In this
smart engagement, as Sir George White in his official statement
declared, "Our side confined its efforts to occupying the enemy and
hitting him hard enough to prevent his taking action against General
Yule's column." The manoeuvre, as we know, was eminently successful,
but was not executed without cost to those who assisted in it. The
following was the official list of the officers killed and wounded:--

1st Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment.--Killed:
Lieutenant-Colonel and Colonel Edmund Percival Wilford. 42nd
Battery Field Artillery.--Wounded: Lieutenant S. W. Douglas,
shell-graze of abdomen, slight. 53rd Battery Field
Artillery.--Major Anthony J. Ab