Boers Marksmen. Transportation.

Interviewer: So you weren't travelling in style? We wasn't travelling in style for sure and we went up there and they took snaps of us. They took a, took a whole picture of the whole thing. The next day we were put right into action. Interviewer: So now where did, where did you land in, in Africa? We landed in Durban. Interviewer: And how long was this trip over from Australia? Well now I don't know, now that's the thing I just forget. It couldn't be any more than a couple of three weeks. Interviewer: Was it a rough voyage? (Yes.) A lot of people get seasick on this sort of thing.I never was seasick, but there was a lot of them seasick and a lot of horses seasick. And we lost three horses. That's all the horses we lost on board, but we landed our horses and everything was all put in these here trucks and marched right up to the front.Interviewer: Now you were in the infantry right? (Hmm? ) You were in the infantry? Mounted infantry.Interviewer: Mounted infantry. (Yeah.) Okay.And we, we landed up there and then we was put into action. And the first action, by gosh look Mr. Man, we was chasing some Boers and Boers, the Boers took a stand on a slope, there was a lot of old brush and small trees on this slope, and boys if the lead didn't fly now, and I am going to tell you if you could get your head behind a blade of grass you'd get it behind. Interviewer: Now one of the things that Montgomery says in his book about the Boers were that, was that they were fantastic marksmen. If you showed an elbow they'd shoot it off. Is that right? I'm telling you something. I could tell you something a little later. But anyway we were out there at Krondstadt, outside Krondstadt and we were chasing the Boers. Whether they were chasing us we don't know, but we were chasing them anyway, but they cut us off. There was um Tom Sharkey and Rube Redded and Jimmy Grimstan and um Tom McCormick and, and then there was Tom Redded the brother of Rube. Well we were cut off and be gosh we couldn't get by, so Tom Sharkey, he had a red beard you know and boys he was a rough rugged looking fella. And we says to Tom "Now if you'll go and connect us up with the main body, we'll cover ya if ya go." So (inaudible) says "Alright." So Tom went, and by golly it was no long before they, we couldn't cover him any longer and by gosh the Boers captured him. Stripped every gaul darn thing off and let him go and started him off back to his unit. Well Tom got back there, you could never get that fella in action again. But however, but however, to cut a long story short, we were still up on this little knoll, this little copy they call it there and I says to Jimmy, Jimmy Grimstan, I says, "Jimmy" I says "open a tin of jam" I says and I says "and give us a few biscuits". I says "we want something to eat". And so he opened the tin of jam and there was a tin of jam between five of us and uh between four and uh he opened the tin of jam and we had these little biscuits. Now I says, I says "You stick that tin right up on the end of your rifle and draw the fire". So by golly Jimmy Grimstan he put this tin up and it shone in the sunlight, you know, and they pinged that right off the gaul darn rifle. Interviewer: How far away were they? Oh I don't know how far they was away, but anyway they was over five hundred yards away because we could see everything (that's incredible) out there in that distance we don't know where. (Gee them must have been good shots.) Shots! Look I tell you one, one little instance Colonel White, the old Gemisin raid came, we were camped. On a, on a little copy, let me see that was, I think that was outside Coalsburg, I wouldn't say for sure, just, but anyway the blass buck and the spring buck come through the column, there race through the column, must of been hundreds of em. That's the blass buck and the spring buck, that's an antelope a deer. You know what that is. Well, they come in (inaudible) well they went right through the column.Harry White said to one of the guides, the Boer guides, we had Boer guides you know, to guide us, well through the place, they were paid but, and a Harry White said to one of the guides, "lend us your rifle," and then blass buck was going on a lickety click and he picked, there was a leader, there was one leader, and ole Harry White, we use to call him Ole Molly White, we use to sing out "Ole Molly Reilly I love you," do ya know that song? The troops use to sing that to him.Interviewer: Do you still remember that song? (Huh? ) Do you still remember that song? Yes! Interviewer: Will you sing it for me? Ole Molly Reilly I love you, what you know I can't, I can't think of it all. But anyway, but anyway, Harry, Harry, Harry White he picks up the rifle it was loaded and he put on his aperture sight. Do you know what an aperture sight is? (That's an elevation sight, is it? ) That's an elevation with a disc on the side of the rifle (right) And he pointed that, that there, that there blass buck (inaudible) and that thing went right up in the air. Great big fire. Whether he frightened it or whether it fell, we don't know, but he was pretty handy to it when it made a leap into the air. And another time he took a shot, at, at some, some (inaudible) going with the pails some pails of water from the, from the sprout, the little brook, and boys he shot there and they dropped the pails and they run for dear life, he didn't hit any of them, of course, but, but it scared them. But them were, them were the incidents we had... when we was travelling from, we was on a night march.Interviewer: Now you better explain how you travelled. Did you make use of wagons? And horses? And everything.We was riding all the time, day and night.Interviewer: Who, who was the better horseman, you or the Boers? The Boers were suppose to (well) be fantastic horsemen? Well by gosh I'm going to tell you if they could stand some of the buckjumpers we use to ride in Queensland, now, they got (inaudible)Interviewer: So you were the better horseman? I, I, I use to ride many a buckjumper over there.Interviewer: One thing that I have been wondering, was that ... over there, since there were some many horses being used how come, well, there weren't any cattle recharges. When you, you used horses for transportation and you got there (no) and you (no, no) got off your horses, fought on foot, right.They didn't use no horses for transportation. They used mules, they were all mules. No horses for transportation, they were all in, they were all, all mounted. (But you fought on foot) They used horses for the guns (Oh, I see) they used horses for the guns, but not, not for the transportation, the baggage wagons and the supply wagons and the likes of that. (Were there any cavalry units? ) Yes, the cavalry, them was all British troops.Interviewer: I was going to say, were there any great cavalry charges? Oh yes, yes there was quite a few, there was one or two at Ladysmith and there was one at Marteking and there was one at Biggerscop and oh there was several charges. There was several pretty, we wasn't, we wasn't in anything like that. Although we met the charge copies, you know, pardon me, we met the charge copies when we we've been ordered to take a position. Well, sometimes you could only go part of the way up that, when you turn your horse over to a horse holder. Well number three in your squadron, the squadron was about a hundred men, and every, every fourth man was, the third man of the four that's a group was a horseholder. So it when you took, was ordered on a position the horses couldn't take it, well you handover your horses to number three the rest of them go on. And the fella with the four horses he goes to cover, or if he can get any, or take them somewhere out of range or if he can get out of range. It all depends, you can't tell and ah, they do the best they can, and if you come back you get your horse and if you don't come back you don't want it.Interviewer: That's the way it goes. Now after your first engagement how did you feel? Well by gosh, it didn't feel to good, I'm going to tell you that.Interviewer: You must have seen some pretty grim sights!Well, (You lost some friends) What? Interviewer: Did you lose some friends? No, we never lost, we lost I think one horse, one horse, that's all we lost, but we, we, we the stuffing was scared right out of us. By gosh, I'm going to tell you, you get into a place and you get, you don't know how many fellas there and you get the old bullets go ping, zip, zip, zip zip, ping. I'm going to tell you (you sweat) What? (you sweat) No, you don't sweat you try and find a place to stick your head!Interviewer: You weren't going to wipe them off the face of the earth anymore.No, siree. Well I tell you one time I was on picket, I was on picket, I never had to do much of that because I was on eight quarter staff. I was on picket this night and the, the officer on the on the going around you know the officer on the rounds, around the picket to see everybody was a sleeping (yep, orderly officer, yep) there, there, what did you say, (orderly officer) yep, well we didn't call them that but, this officer went around anyway, to see that everybody wasn't sleeping. Well you know, the fella just took my place on guard to walk up and down, walk up and down. Well and I layed down with the other two fellas, I lay down there and I got me rifle and I levelled it right along there, and by gosh I seen a blade of grass and it was moving. I didn't know it was a blade of grass then and I was looking at it, but between the skyline, between the skyline and me the light shone on this blade of grass and that gawl darn thing seemed to be coming closer to me all the time. And ah, it seemed to be comer closer and I got this thing, my gosh I am going to fire now out. I don't want to wake the camp. Ya see. So, I said, "if you come any closer by golly I am going to let you have it." And, the darn thing never got any closer but it kept on coming. Did you ever see anything like that? (I think so)Well, he kept on coming and by and by the other fella would come in and he had to be relieved by another fella and he went off, I say "What in the name of god are you trying to do", and I said "Well" I said "if you see that fella he was trying to get up here". He says "what fella". That darn blade of grass, it was getting daylight you see (oh yeah) and I'll never forget man. So there were lots of funny things.Interviewer: So, I suppose your first battle made you a real soldier.What? Interviewer: I suppose your first battle made you a real soldier.Well, I don't know, I don't know, every, every time, every time you didn't feel at all at home I tell ya. (yeah) There was no nothing that you felt too confident over.