midnight
An effort was now to be made to repair the consequences of this remissness and to drive the Boers off the positions they occupied , and it was hoped that if a heavy blow were dealt them they would draw off altogether . The forces of Joubert , Meyer , and the Free Staters were now all within a distance of a few miles , and were all to be beaten up . Their central position was on a hill afterwards known as Signal Hill , and on this they had already planted a forty-pounder gun . A force composed of six companies of the Royal Irish Fusiliers , four and a half of the Gloucesters , a mountain battery and a troop of Hussars started at midnight towards a hill known as Nicholson 's Nek , occupied by the Free Staters . Major General Hunter with a brigade of infantry , three batteries , and a small cavalry force were to attack Meyer 's commando to the east , while General White , with two infantry brigades , French 's cavalry , and six batteries of field artillery moved against Joubert 's force on Modder Spruit . It was hoped that the Boers , if defeated , would find their retreat barred by the force that had stated early for Nicholson 's Nek . All were well away from the town before daylight broke .