Battles
Faber's Put
30 May 1900
Wounded survivors of E Battery, RCFA, after the battle of Fabers Put, 30 May 1900.
As the main British offensive neared the Transvaal capital of
Pretoria, other forces, columns of predominantly 'colonial' and Imperial
Yeomanry (British militia mounted infantry) were pursuing Boer forces in
the northern and western Cape Colony. In late May, one of these columns,
which included four guns of "E" Battery,
Royal Canadian Field
Artillery, halted to wait for supplies at Faber's Put. The choice
may have been due to the presence of a comfortable farm house, which the
British commander appropriated as his living quarters. The choice was
not a good one, as a number of ridges within rifle range overlooked the
farm buildings.
That evening, 600 Boers surrounded the position. A party of Boers
crept past the British outposts and into the camp under the cover of
darkness. Dawn was still a half hour away when a sentry raised the
alarm. The Boers poured fire into the mounted infantry lines, killing
men and scattering scores of horses. In the Canadian lines (See Map), next to the
British, the gun detachments ran to their
12-pounder guns, while the
drivers harnessed the horses and led them to safety. It was still too
dark to aim the guns, so the gunners lay prone beside them.
As the sun rose, a British unit recruited in South Africa
counter-attacked, while the Yeomanry engaged the Boers at close range.
Two Canadian nine-member gun teams manhandled two guns across a
fire-swept field and brought them into action, losing one man killed and
seven wounded in the process. The combination of the counter-attack and
the artillery fire was too much for the Boers, who abandoned the
battle.
Although the British commander claimed victory, down-playing the
casualties of 27 killed and 41 wounded and the loss of a large number
of horses, the engagement was, in fact, a defeat. Nevertheless, the
Canadian battery had fought one of the most desperate actions faced by
Canadians while campaigning in South Africa, and gained little
recognition for its efforts.