Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 1.djvu/269

 said, he owed all that he knew of soldiering. Hawley persuaded him to act as adjutant in 1868. The battalion returned to England in 1869; but on promotion to captain on 28 May 1870, Buller was posted to the first battalion, and went back to Canada, in time to take part with it in the Red River expedition. The troops had to make their way in boats from Lake Superior to Fort Garry, 600 miles, with dangerous navigation and frequent portages. Buller soon attracted the notice of Colonel Wolseley, the commander of the expedition. 'He was a thorough soldier, a practised woodman, a skilful boatman in the most terrifying of rapids, and a man of great physical strength and endurance' (, ii. 279).

He returned to England in the autumn of 1870, and at the end of 1871 he entered the Staff College. In August 1873, before he had finished the course, he was invited by Sir Garnet Wolseley to go with him to Ashanti as chief intelligence officer. During the advance through the bush he was always in front, and was slightly wounded at Ordashu. He was appointed prize agent after the capture of Coomassie. He was repeatedly mentioned in despatches, received the medal with clasp, and was made brevet-major and C.B. on 31 March 1874.

He served in the adjutant-general's department of the headquarters staff from 1 April 1874 to 30 Jan. 1878, and then went to South Africa with General Thesiger (afterwards Lord Chelmsford) [q. v. Suppl. II], as a special service officer. The sixth Kaffir war was in progress. A corps, known as the frontier light horse, had been raised locally by Lieutenant Frederick Carrington, a medley of many tongues and types, which needed a strong hand to control it. Buller was placed in command of it, and under him it rendered good service against the Gaikas in the Perie bush near King William's Town (, i. 319 seq.). The campaign was over by June, and its success was due, as Thesiger wrote, to Evelyn Wood's untiring energy and Buller's dogged perseverance (, ii. 146). He was mentioned in despatches (Lond. Gaz. 11 and 18 June 1878) and was made brevet lieutenant-colonel on 11 Nov.

The frontier light horse accompanied Colonel Wood's force to Natal, which was threatened with a Zulu invasion ; and it formed part of Wood's flying column, when Lord Chelmsford entered Zululand in January 1879. Wood's advance was arrested by news of the disaster of Isandhlwana, but he encamped at Kambula, and made diversions. On 29 March the camp was attacked by a Zulu army from Ulundi, which was repulsed with heavy loss after four hours' fighting. On the previous day Buller had been sent out with his horsemen and two native battalions, to seize the Inhlobana mountains and capture cattle. He succeeded, but the approach of the Zulu army obliged him to make a hasty retreat. The ground was very rough and steep, and many of his men were cut off; out of 400 Europeans, 92 were killed. At great personal risk Buller rescued two officers and a trooper, and on Wood's recommendation he received the Victoria Cross on 17 June 1879. He was present at the battle of Ulundi, fought on ground which he had reconnoitred the day before. He then went home, as his health had suffered from fatigue and exposure. He had been repeatedly mentioned in despatches (Lond. Gaz. 5, 15, 28 March, 7 May and 21 Aug.). He received the medal with clasp, was made aide-de-camp to the Queen with the rank of colonel on 27 Sept., and C.M.G. on 19 Dec. Regimentally he was still a captain, but he. was given a half-pay majority on 13 March 1880. Sir Bartle Frere [q. v.] remarked in a despatch, dated 15 Aug. 1879, that 'the action of General Wood and Buller had destroyed the prejudice of the colonists against the strict discipline of regular military service and their distrust of the ability of Her Majesty's officers generally to conduct operations against the Kaffirs' (, i. 307).

In April 1880 Buller was appointed to the staff in Scotland, and in July he was transferred to Aldershot. In February 1881 he went back to South Africa, and was appointed chief of the staff to Sir Evelyn Wood, who was commanding the troops, and was also acting governor of Natal. The first Boer war had practically ended at Majuba; but Wood was engaged in negotiations, and most of the military work was left to Buller. He received the local rank of major-general on 29 March 1881. He returned to England at the end of the year.

Before the end of August 1882 Buller was on his way to Egypt, having been chosen by Sir Garnet Wolseley as chief of his intelligence staff. He reconnoitred the Egyptian position at Tel-el-Kebir, and was present at the battle. He was mentioned in despatches (Lond. Gaz. 2 Nov.), and received the medal with clasp, the bronze