A British column under Lord Methuen, that was attempting to relieve the besieged town of Kimberley, forced Boers under General Piet Cronjé to retreat to Magersfontein, but suffered heavy casualties altogether.

This decision was made partly for reasons of prestige, as the capture of Kimberley (which contained the famous Imperialist and former Prime Minister of Cape Colony, Cecil Rhodes) would be a major propaganda victory for the British.

They fought and won two engagements against Boers from the Orange Free State under General Prinsloo at the Battle of Belmont and at Graspan.

At least one American, Lance Corporal Hollon Bush of the 7th Company, First Battalion Coldstream Guards was present and wounded at the Battle of Modder River.

His journey to enlist from departure in New Orleans to England was not without many pitfalls before beginning service at the Tower of London, then on to Gibraltar and South Africa.

The Boers had been reinforced by a substantial contingent from the Transvaal under General Koos de la Rey, who proposed a radical new plan of defence.

Once British infantry had reached the foot of the kopje, they were concealed by boulders and scrub, and could then easily drive the Boers off the summit with the bayonet.

He called on his men to dig trenches in the banks of the Modder River, from which their rifles could sweep the veld for a great distance, and won them over.

The British cavalry (the 9th Lancers and a unit recruited in Cape Town, Rimington's Guides), made some attempts to scout the ground ahead of the army, but failed entirely to detect De la Rey's trenches and other preparations.

At 4:30 am on 28 November, Methuen's force roused itself, deployed into line and began advancing towards the Modder, with no plans other than to cross the river before having breakfast on the far side.

Most of the British infantry lay prone on the veld, tortured by heat and thirst, but safe from enemy fire unless they moved.

[7] Although casualties had not been cripplingly heavy (between 450 and 480), mainly because the Boers opened fire prematurely, it was clear that any simple frontal attack by infantry only against an enemy using bolt-action rifles, was effectively impossible.

The British were forced to pause for ten days, to evacuate their casualties, receive further reinforcements and repair their lines of communications.

On the Boer side, there were about 80 casualties, including, Adriaan, the eldest son of Koos de la Rey, mortally wounded by a shell.

70 British were killed and another 413 were wounded.The Iceman Cometh by Eugene O'Neil, Act One: "WETJOEN--(blurrily) Kaffir, dot's a nigger, Joe.