each, 133 mules, with 52 Cape Boys as
muleteers, and 10 horses. The total strength of the column was thus
about 1,140 men and 250 animals.

[Sidenote: Grimwood starts same night at 12.30.]

[Sidenote: Grimwood's column broken by error.]

Half an hour after midnight Grimwood's brigade (8th) set out eastward
in the following order: 1st and 2nd battalions King's Royal Rifles,
1st Leicestershire regiment, 1st brigade division R.F.A., 1st King's
(Liverpool) regiment, and the Natal Field battery, with a rearguard of
the 2nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers.[125] Another brigade division, the
2nd, joining the line of march soon after it was put in motion,
marched in front of the 1st Liverpool regiment. The whole pressed on
for a time quietly and in order. Soon, however, the last arrival, the
2nd brigade division of artillery, in pursuance of orders, when
between Flag and Limit hills, drew away from out of the column to the
left and passed under the shelter of Flag Hill. The two battalions
behind, not being aware of any special instructions given to the
artillery, followed it, whilst those in front still pursued their
proper route, so that Grimwood's force was cut in two and separated
whilst yet but half his march was over. An hour before dawn, Grimwood,
unconscious of the mishap to his rear, gained some low kopjes 1,800
yards from the south-eastern flank of Long Hill, and extended his
troops across them, the two battalions King's Royal Rifles in firing
line, Leicester in support, facing north-west. Here he waited for
light. One company, "F." of the 1st King's Royal Rifles, moved
cautiously forward to a small kopje, slightly in advance, to cover the
front.

[Footnote 125: These battalions were not complete. The King's
Royal Rifles had left two companies in Ladysmith, the Dublin
Fusiliers three, the Leicester regiment two, the King's
(Liverpool) regiment two.]

[Sidenote: French starting 3 a.m. dismounts 4,000 yards in rear of
Grimwood.]

[Sidenote: Hamilton at 4 a.m. moves on Limit Hill.]

[Sidenote: First news of disaster to Carleton.]

At 3 a.m. Major-General French rode out of Ladysmith with his two
regiments and pushed for Lombards Kop, dismounting his command in a
hollow basin between Gun Hill and Lombards Kop, some 4,000 yards in
rear, and out of sight, of Grimwood's infantry. The Natal Volunteers,
who had been on the ground since the previous night, went on, and,
dividing right and l