He was subsequently promoted to the rank of Commandant, to take the place of Commandant Truter; later on again, he became Vice-Commander-in-Chief.
Our burghers could now enter this fort without incurring much danger.
But they had hardly done so, when the two English guns, which had been placed to the west of the town, opened fire on them.

When this happened, I gave orders to my men that a great _schanze_ of the English, about eighty paces from the one which we had just taken, should be stormed.

This was successfully carried out by Veldtcornet Wessels, who had with him about twenty-five men.

The enemy meanwhile kept up a heavy fire on our storming party, from some _schanzes_ which lay still further away; our men, therefore, had nothing left them but to take these also.
Then while our men kept in cover behind the fort which they had just taken, the English left the _schanzes_ upon which the storming party had been firing so fiercely; this, however, Veldtcornet Wessels and his burghers did not know, because, after having rested a little, and desiring to renew the attack, they only saw that everything was quiet there, and that they were now only under the fire of guns from the western forts, which lay right above the town.

I also had not observed that the forts had been abandoned.
Just as the sun was setting, and when it was too late to do anything, General Philip Botha, with his two sons, Louis and Charlie, rushed up to Veldtcornet Wessels and told him what the real state of affairs was.
I now saw columns of black smoke rising from the mill of Mr.Wessels Badenhorst, to the south of the town.