g supported by the East Surrey and the West
Yorkshires. Advancing under a very heavy fire the brigade experienced
much the same ordeal as their comrades of Hart's brigade, which was
mitigated by the fact that from the first they preserved their open
order in columns of half-companies extended to six paces, and that the
river in front of them did not permit that right flank fire which was so
fatal to the Irishmen. With a loss of some two hundred men the leading
regiments succeeded in reaching Colenso, and the West Surrey, advancing
by rushes of fifty yards at a time, had established itself in the
station, but a catastrophe had occurred at an earlier hour to the
artillery which was supporting it which rendered all further advance
impossible. For the reason of this we must follow the fortunes of the
next unit upon their right.

This consisted of the important body of artillery who had been told off
to support the main attack. It comprised two field batteries, the 14th
and the 66th, under the command of Colonel Long, and six naval guns (two
of 4.7, and four 12-pounders) under Lieutenant Ogilvy of the 'Terrible.'
Long has the record of being a most zealous and dashing officer, whose
handling of the Egyptian artillery at the battle of the Atbara had much
to do with the success of the action. Unfortunately, these barbarian
campaigns, in which liberties may be taken with impunity, leave an evil
tradition, as the French have found with their Algerians. Our own close
formations, our adherence to volley firing, and in this instance the
use of our artillery all seem to be legacies of our savage wars. Be the
cause what it may, at an early stage of the action Long's guns whirled
forwards, outstripped the infantry brigades upon their flanks, left the
slow-moving naval guns with their ox-teams behind them, and unlimbered
within a thousand yards of the enemy's trenches. From this position he
opened fire upon Fort Wylie, which was the centre of that portion of the
Boer position which faced him.

But his two unhappy batteries were destined not to turn the tide of
battle, as he had hoped, but rather to furnish the classic example
of the helplessness of artillery against modern rifle fire. Not even
Mercer's famous description of the effect of a flank fire upon his troop
of horse artillery at Waterloo could do justice to the blizzard of lead
which broke over the two doomed batteries. The teams fell in heaps, some
dead, some mutilated, and m