4-5 MAY 1900 - ROOIDAM / KALMBERG

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On 4 May 1900 some 150 men of the 5th Battalion Imp Yeo under Col Meyrick, including a Maxim detachment under Lieut Vaux, were sent forward from Windsorton to reconnoitre the hilly country in the vicinity of the farm Rooidam some 20 km south-west of Warrenton.

 

After coming under fire from two Boer guns, they withdrew, covered by their own Maxim guns. The Boer fire slackened after 3pm and finally ceased after 5 hours. The next morning, Meyrick was reinforced by Gen Hunter with the 2nd Royal Fusiliers, 1st Royal Welsh Fusiliers and artillery.

 

At noon they moved against the Boer positions on Rooidam. The Boers repulsed several British advances, but by 3 pm their resistance faltered when they could not get reinforcements from Gen A P J Cronje’s forces and they retreated towards Fourteen Streams, pursued by the Yeomanry for some 5 km. 

The Boers lost 11 killed and 17 wounded, while the British casualties were 7 killed and 38 wounded.