If the men refused to go, then naturally the
reinforcements could not be sent, and those who were in dire need of
assistance had the alternative of continuing the struggle alone or of
yielding a position to the enemy. The relief of Ladysmith was due to the
fact that Generals Botha, Erasmus, and Meyer could not receive
reinforcements from Commandant-General Joubert, who was north of Ladysmith
with almost ten thousand men. Botha, Meyer, and Erasmus had been fighting
for almost a week without a day's intermission, and their two thousand men
were utterly exhausted when Joubert was asked to send reinforcements, or
even men enough to relieve those from fighting for a day or two, but a
Krijgsraad had decided that the entire army should retreat to the
Biggarsberg, and Joubert could not, or at least would not, send any
burghers to the Tugela, with the result that Botha was compelled to
retreat and abandon positions which could have been held indefinitely if
there had been military discipline in the commandos. It was not always the
case that commandants and generals were obliged to go begging for
volunteers, and there were innumerable times when every man of a commando
did the work assigned to him without a murmur.
During the Natal campaign the force was so large, and the work seemed so
comparatively easy that the majority of the burghers never went to the
firing line, but when British successes in the Free State placed the Boers
on the defensive it was not so easy to remain behind in the laagers and
allow others more willing to engage in the fighting.
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