cavalry to Methuen, who had been defeated at Magersfontein, but this was rejected as there was insufficient water even for Methuen's own horses in the Modder River sector. Between Field Marshal Frederick Roberts' appointment as Commander-in-Chief on 17 December 1899 (following the defeats of Black Week) and arrival at Cape Town on 10 January, French was the only senior British commander to conduct active operations. Although Schoeman's force had grown further in size, he had lost the confidence of his subordinates and, after a Boer council of war, fell back on a strong position surrounded by hills at Colesberg (29 December) just as French had been preparing to outflank him. French instead (1 January 1900) pinned down the Boer forces and turned their right flank (the British left). The fighting went on until 25 January, with French several times attempting to turn the Boer flanks but pulling back as his forces ran into resistance. French did not succeed in capturing Colesberg, but he had prevented a Boer invasion of the Cape and tied down Boer forces which might have been used elsewhere. Amery's Times History, highly critical of British generalship during this period, later wrote of his "almost unbroken series of successes", showing grasp of tactics and skill at throwing every available man into battle at the exact right moment. Cavalry—often fighting dismounted—never made up more than half of his force, and were usually outnumbered three-to-one by Boer cavalry. There were some accusations that French was a glory-hunter. Under Roberts Cavalry Division French was one of the few senior officers to be retained by Roberts. Roberts summoned French to Cape Town on 29 January to inquire about expenditure of horses and ammunition around Colesberg. The plan for the Relief of Kimberley was, as the Official History later put it, "only incidentally disclosed" in the meeting. French came away with the impression that he had "only with difficulty persuaded (Roberts and Kitchener) on 29 January to send the Cavalry Division and himself in command of it". Given that he received written orders on 30 January, this is unlikely to have been the case, but French's insecurity was increased by this turn of events—not only did he belong to the wrong faction in the Army—the followers of Wolseley and Buller—now in eclipse, but he had up until now been denied command both of the cavalry brigade in Natal and the Cavalry Division