The total number of men was about five thousand.

By the night of Sunday, February 11th, this formidable force had concentrated at Ramdam, twenty miles north-east of Belmont, and was ready to advance.
At two in the morning of Monday, February 12th, the start was made, and the long sinuous line of night-riders moved off over the shadowy veld, the beat of twenty thousand hoofs, the clank of steel, and the rumble of gunwheels and tumbrils swelling into a deep low roar like the surge upon the shingle.
Two rivers, the Riet and the Modder, intervened between French and Kimberley.

By daylight on the 12th the head of his force had reached Waterval Drift, which was found to be defended by a body of Boers with a gun.

Leaving a small detachment to hold them, French passed his men over Dekiel's Drift, higher up the stream, and swept the enemy out of his position.

This considerable force of Boers had come from Jacobsdal, and were just too late to get into position to resist the crossing.