Only about a dozen men were killed or wounded in this affair, but the fact that the garrison was capable of making any offensive movement after their privations is a manifest proof of their soldierly spirit and excellent discipline.

On the same morning Sir Redvers Buller advanced on Bulwana Hill.  Down from the commanding positions which they had won by their courage and endurance marched the incomparable infantry, and by 2 o’clock the plain of Pieters was thickly occupied by successive lines of men in extended order, with long columns of guns and transport trailing behind them.  Shortly before noon it was ascertained that Bulwana Hill was abandoned by the enemy, and the army was thereon ordered to camp in the plain, no further fighting being necessary.

The failure to pursue the retreating Boers when two fine cavalry brigades were standing idle and eager must be noticed.  It is probable that the Boer rearguard would have been sufficiently strong to require both infantry and guns to drive it back.  It is certain that sharp fighting must have attended the effort.  Nevertheless the opinion generally expressed was that it should have been made.  My personal impression is that Sir Redvers Buller was deeply moved by the heavy losses the troops had suffered, and was reluctant to demand further sacrifices from them at this time.  Indeed, the price of victory had been a high one.

In the fortnight’s fighting, from February 14 to February 28, two generals, six colonels commanding regiments, a hundred and five other officers, and one thousand five hundred and eleven soldiers had been killed or wounded out of an engaged force of about eighteen thousand men; a proportion of slightly under 10 per cent.

In the whole series of operations for the relief of Ladysmith the losses amounted to three hundred officers and more than five thousand men, out of a total engaged force of about twenty-three thousand, a proportion of rather more than 20 per cent.  Nor had this loss been inflicted in a single day’s victorious battle, but was spread over twenty-five days of general action in a period of ten weeks; and until the last week no decided success had cheered the troops.

The stress of the campaign, moreover, had fallen with peculiar force on certain regiments:  the Lancashire Fusiliers sustained losses of over 35 per cent., the Inniskillings of 40 per cent., and the Dublin Fusiliers of over 60 per cent.  It was very remarkable that the fighting efficiency of these regiments was in no way impaired by such serious reductions.  The casualties among the officers maintained their usual glorious disproportion, six or seven regiments in the army having less than eight officers left alive and unwounded.  Among the cavalry the heaviest losses occurred in Dundonald’s Brigade, the South African Light Horse, Thorneycroft’s Mounted Infantry, and the squadron of Imperial Light Horse, each losing a little less than a quarter of their strength.