1899 — Battle of Colenso

On December 15, 1899, in the morning fog at Colenso, British General Redvers Buller tried to cross the Tugela River to relieve besieged Ladysmith. An artillery officer drove his guns into rifle range of concealed Boer sharpshooters under Louis Botha; the guns were captured, and the desperate fight to save them earned four Victoria Crosses.

Buller lost eleven hundred men and ten field guns, then cabled London that it had been a very trying day. Four days after Magersfontein, the defeat stunned Victorian Britain — the third blow of Black Week — and it cost Buller his command. A general's understatement in a cable could not soften what Colenso told Britain about the war it faced.