In honor of our recently celebrated Veteran's Day, I want to look at an often forgotten fight against tyranny, and the survivors of it: The 1st Boer War. Every war has seen noble and valiant men killed or left broken on both sides. Soldiers often dehumanize the enemy as a way of coping with the death and violence of war, but we must never forget the humanity of our enemy. Tragedy is endured on both sides, both sides leave mothers, fathers, and children behind to mourn the loss. There has never been a war where one side is exclusively evil, while the other is exclusively good. The Transvaal War is no different. Though I agree with the reasons for the Boer's resistance, I can also sympathize with the British soldiers who survived, and carried those memories for the rest of their lives. To all those who have endured the evils of war, and carry these scars, so that others do not, we thank you.
The British Empire
It was often claimed during the height of the Victorian era that the sun never set on the British Empire, and for many years, such was literally the case. As the earth rotated, the sun was always on some portion of the Empire. The British Empire was unquestionably the largest empire since the nations were divided at the Tower of Babel, some four thousand plus years ago. By the 1890's, the British Empire spanned the entire globe, claiming at least a part of every continent, and by 1920, held or protected 13.7 million square miles – over a quarter of the earth's landmass. To put this in perspective, the surface area of the moon is 14.6 million square miles, less than one million square miles larger than the British Empire of 1920. However, it was not to last. Today, the most widely celebrated holiday (though celebrated on different days) is Independence from Great Britain.
America was the first nation to gain independence from Great Britain, but since July 4th, 1776, twenty-three other nations have followed the example of America, and gained independence from Britain. Seventeen of these recognize an official holiday to celebrate their independence, including Australia, Canada, and India. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom now holds fourteen Overseas Territories, which means that more countries celebrate their freedom from British rule than are still under it.
One country which is now separate from the British Empire, but does not celebrate independence from Great Britain, is South Africa, or more officially, the Republic of South Africa. During the first Boer War, at the end of 1880, South Africa was comprised of four separate colonies. The coastal area and Cape colony was controlled by the British, while the northwestern areas; the Orange Free State, Transvaal, and Natal, were largely populated by Dutch immigrants and their descendants. The end of the Zulu wars had left the country relatively empty, and the farmers were able to settle further north with less resistance from native tribes. Skirmishes still occurred, such as the Battle of Vegkop, where a group of forty wagons were attacked by the Matabele tribe, a branch of the Zulus. The experience of these African pioneers at Vegkop seems pulled straight from the spaghetti westerns which immortalized the American West, complete with covered wagons pulled by oxen and drawn into a circle for protection against the warring natives, who faced down rifle bullets carrying nothing but cow-hide shields and heavy spears.
African Pioneers in the Wild, Wild... East?
As the American West had done for decades before, the wilds of Southern Africa drew those of a hardy pioneering and adventurous spirit. The Boers (which is Dutch for 'farmers') shared many traits with their American counterparts. They were strong men and women, living off the land, both through farming, hunting, and trading with their neighbors – civilized and uncivilized. Like the American Pioneer, the Boers personified the desire for freedom and self-sufficiency. Many were Christians, and as their wagon trains moved north and east, rather than west, they trained their children in the Boer tradition, which included reading, writing, and memorizing passages of scripture twice per day. During longer breaks, makeshift classrooms would be established, where the more-educated in the wagon-train would teach school from whatever books they carried.
They were skilled marksmen, and likely better practiced with their weapons than the British regulars. The Boers' rifles were essential tools, both in defense and foraging, and while the British troops would have marksmanship drills, the Boers used their weapons constantly for everyday life. The Boers had no formal military, but like the American Minutemen, they had organized militia, which elected officers by general vote. They had no uniforms, but wore their own clothing, which was often of neutral colors, and blended well with the landscape. Each provided his own rifle and equipment, and many men owned horses. They had skill in bush-craft and marksmanship from constant practice. These same skills had given the Americans a decided advantage in the American War of Independence, and the Boers made even greater use of guerrilla tactics, while the British troops still clung to their gaudy uniforms and antiquated battle tactics – though for the last time. The 1st Boer War would mark the end of traditional warfare.
Though the British Empire would continue to expand until the 1920's, the Boer War marked the beginning of the end. While America was the first colony to successfully defeat the British, the Boers were the second, proving yet again that the greatest empire on earth could be successfully challenged. Even though the British would eventually take back South Africa in the 2nd Boer War at the turn of the century, the actions of the Boers proved to other countries that it was possible to follow America's example.
A Taxing Problem
Transvaal, the area north of the Vaal River, had been considered a free state, as declared by some forty-thousand Boers in 1852, but in 1879, the Transvaal Republic was officially claimed by the British Empire. During the Zulu wars – much like the French and Indian War – the Boers had been appreciative of the British troops for protection and support, but with the Zulu nation no longer a threat, the Boers desired their independence, and were willing to fight for it. As in America, the war started over a new tax, which one Boer farmer refused to pay. His wagon was seized to pay the levy, but was quickly returned when one hundred armed Boers gathered to protest. The flames of liberty quickly spread. On the 13th of December, 1880, four thousand Boers surrounded the small government office in Pretoria, and announced that they would not be subjects of Britain. The Boers were hesitant to start a war, but they intended to let Britain know that they would if they had to.
The British were unimpressed, and sent relief troops to break the siege at Pretoria. Two-hundred and sixty-eight men were sent from Lydenburg, a hundred and eighty miles east of Pretoria, hoping to intimidate the Boers, but such was not the case, and the first major battle of the 1st Boer War would soon start.
Bronkhorstspruit: First Blood
Before the British regulars, mostly consisting of the 94th Regiment, reached Pretoria, they were stopped by a group of Boers. The Boers wore khaki-colored clothes which blended into the savanna, while the British Regulars still wore the bold scarlet jackets and white caps which made the British army so recognizable – good for parades, but bad for war. A messenger named de Beer was selected to parley with the British under a flag of truce. De Beer could speak English, which many of the Boer farmers did not, but neither did they speak Dutch. Many of the Dutch farmers had married wives from the local native tribes, and the language which many spoke was some combination of the two; still similar to Dutch, but by the 1880's, it had become its own language: Afrikaans. De Beer informed the 94th Regiment's commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Philip Anstruther, that his troops must turn back, or they would be fired upon.
Anstruther, the British officer, refused this command, and ordered ammunition to be distributed among the troops, who were caught by surprise, and were unprepared for combat. De Beer gave Anstruther six minutes before the Boers opened fire, but the 94th was unable to come into position in this short window of time, and neither did they expect the attack which followed. Anstruther woefully misjudged the strength of the Boer army. They did not outnumber the British – both armies were about two-hundred and fifty men – but the Boers had crept within six-hundred feet of the British troops, using the scrub as cover. Anstruther expected a formal line of Boer soldiers to march into position. Instead, the Boers simply opened fire.
Only a few minutes after the ultimatum was given, the Boers began shooting with deadly accuracy. The oxen pulling the supply wagons were killed, blocking retreat, and the trapped British troops were left with little ability to defend themselves from the enemy. The entire battle lasted only fifteen minutes, and by the end of it, over fifty British men were killed, and a hundred more wounded, while the Boer casualties were only two, with another five wounded. The defeat was devastating. Anstruther was mortally wounded, and commanded a surrender before succumbing to his wounds. The rest of his troops were taken prisoner, and Pretoria never got their reinforcements. Within a few weeks, all six British outposts in the South African Republic were under siege, including Rustenburg, Marabastad, and Lydenburg.
Laing's Nek
This devastating blow to the British army should have warned them that the Boers were not to be underestimated, but such was not the case. Rather than wait for reinforcements, and present an overwhelming show of force, the East African High Commissioner, and Major General, Sir George Pomeroy Colley, mustered what forces he could gather from the Cape and marched north to relieve the Transvaal garrisons. Like the Boers had given Anstruther, General Colley gave the Boers an ultimatum, which was rejected with the same firm polity as Anstruther had given.
Colley met the Boers on January 28th, 1881 at Laing's Nek, which was a foothill of the Drakensberg mountains, and crossed the road leading to the Vaal river, into Transvaal. Colley had managed to muster a force of about 1,200 men, including two small cannons and about a hundred and fifty cavalry. Again, the British severely underestimated the Boer force, which was now two-thousand strong, and entrenched on Laing's Nek hill. Colley shelled the hill with his two seven-pound cannons, with little effect. After failing to route the Boers, Colley tried to force his way through the pass, while the cavalry was sent to flank the Boer position by taking the nearby Brownlow's Kop. The cavalry managed to take Brownlow's Kop, but were surprised to find more Boer troops entrenched beyond it. After taking heavy fire, they were forced to retreat. Colley's main force faired no better, and reached Table Hill only to be met by a hail of gunfire from a unit of Boers, who had dug trenches only 500 feet away, and could fire on the advancing British with little risk. Meanwhile, other Boers had moved from their position on Majuba hill to attack the British reserves near Mount Prospect. The British were pushed back, and covered their retreat, leaving the hill to the Boers.
It had not been a total slaughter, but the casualties were again woefully unequal. The British had lost eighty-four men, with over a hundred more wounded, while the Boers suffered less than a quarter of the losses. Their guerrilla tactics of ambush and entrenchment, coupled with the camouflage of their khaki-colored clothing, gave them a marked advantage. Colley finally realized that the victory and glory he had imagined would not be as easy to gain as he had supposed. He stayed for several days near Mount Prospect to reorganize his troops.
Realizing his desperate need for reinforcements, Colley decided to push forward from Mount Prospect to Newcastle along the road, forging a clear path for reinforcements and supply lines, which had been mostly cut-off by mounted Boer patrols. Colley left his two cannons and a squad of infantrymen to guard his retreat, and sent the remainder of his cavalry on ahead as scouts, in case the Boers tried to outrun him and cut off his retreat.
Shuinshoogte, the Battle of the Ingogo
Colley's fear was proven right, but his scouts warned him in time, and the remainder of Colley's force prepared for battle on a hilltop near the Ingogo river. The Boers found Colley prepared for them, and unlike the British troops, the Boers were unwilling to risk heavy losses trying to take the hill by force. Instead, they used their camouflage and hunting skill to pick off the British soldiers from the cover of the underbrush. The British struggled to pick out the snipers, whose colors blended into the tan savanna, while the colors of the British made them easy targets. Yet again, casualties were woefully one-sided, with nearly seventy killed and another seventy wounded of Colley's forces, while only eight Boers were killed and another ten wounded. Skirmishes lasted until the afternoon, until a heavy downpour stopped all fighting, and the Boers settled in for a long night of siege.
Colley was wise enough to recognize his inevitable doom if he stayed, and risked a dangerous escape during the night. The heavy rainfall made the Ingogo extremely dangerous, and the Boers never expected Colley to risk crossing it, but Colley knew the risk of staying was even greater. The British troops made a daring crossing during the night, and though several drowned during the attempt, the vast majority escaped. This daring escape was the only successful British endeavor during the 1st Boer War.
Majuba Hill: The Final Battle
Despite the humiliating defeats which the British had endured by this point, the Battle of Majuba was the worst. England was already in the process of negotiating a peace treaty with the Boers when Colley's troops retook the hill of Majuba, which was near Laing's Nek, but considered too rugged by the Boer's to be practical. For reasons unknown, Colley refused to bring artillery to the summit, or entrench his troops, which would have given them much-needed cover. At first, the Boers were hesitant to attack, but after realizing Colley's lack of artillery, they began a slow advance up the hill. Stephanus Roos, Joachim Ferreira, and D. Malan led the men in groups of around two-hundred, letting one group slowly advance, hiding in the rocky terrain and scrub brush, while the others kept the British at bay by sniping at their positions. The combined use of stealth, mobility, and uncanny marksmanship used by the Boers allowed the three companies to reach the summit with minimal casualties, where they opened fire on the exposed British troops with terrible ferocity.
The Boers continued to harry the British troops, retreating quickly when the British attempted to rally, using the cover of the terrain, and picking off the British soldiers as they tried to advance. Meanwhile, the hill of Majuba was slowly but steadily being surrounded by more harrying groups of Boers, who refused to face the British in open combat, choosing instead to nibble away at the increasingly desperate British troops. As General Colley struggled to find a way to defend against these maddening tactics, his troops became more frazzled. Morale and the chain of command collapsed. Without orders from their commanders, the British troops began to flee. The 92nd Gordon Highlanders struggled to keep hold of the hill, while the 15th Hussars and what was left of the two companies of the King's Royal Rifle Corps fought to defend the retreat, but their bravery gained the British very little. The Boers reached the top of Majuba and kept a steady stream of sniper fire on the retreating British. General Colley was struck by one of these bullets, and killed.
Both armies were relatively small – only about 500 strong – but the effect of the few small skirmishes which make up the 1st Boer War were devastating to the British Empire's reputation. The final battle on Majuba Hill saw ninety-two British men killed, one hundred and thirty-four wounded, and fifty-nine captured. Meanwhile, the Boers' astounding victory cost them only one casualty, and a mere five wounded. A treaty was agreed upon less than six months after this terrible defeat, and the Republic of South Africa gained its independence – for a while.
The Survivor's Burden
It is difficult to imagine what damage must have been done to the British survivors of this short but bloody conflict. While PTSD is widely known and recognized today, the effects of war were often overlooked or ignored in Victorian England. While the Boers only gained their independence for a brief ten years before Britain reignited the war, the tragedies of the 1st Boer war would have remained with the survivors for the rest of their lives. These battered few saw devastating losses to their comrades in arms while being wholly unable to slow the enemy. For many survivors, the solution was found only in alcoholism or opium addiction. I chose to make Marcia's father, Charles Kenway, a survivor of these battles in my own novel, Grayscale. The fictional Charles Kenway survived the slaughter of Bronkhorstspruit and fought at Majuba, two of the most devastating slaughters the British army ever experienced. It is only through love of his daughter that Charles manages to overcome these tragic memories of loss. Over the course of the short war, which lasted for only four major battles, all of which the Boers overwhelmingly won, the British lost four hundred men in combat, and another four hundred sixty were wounded, while the Boers lost only twenty-five in combat, and less than fifty wounded.
It was not until the final battle at Majuba that the British soldiers realized their adversaries were almost exclusively untrained farmers, many in their teens, led by only a few retired soldiers. The fact that Britain's highly-trained military force had been so terribly beaten by untrained farmers was a harsh blow to English pride. England offered a treaty of peace, allowing the Boers to completely self-govern, while England controlled foreign affairs. The Boers agreed, and peace remained until a massive goldfield was discovered in 1886, renewing Britain's interest in the Transvaal region.
The same heavy losses plagued the British during the 2nd Boer war, and it was only through sheer numbers that they finally overwhelmed the superior fighting ability of the Boer farmers. Even during this 2nd war, however, South Africa managed to keep hold of their self-government, since Britain's only interest was in the gold, and the prevention of a wealthy competitor on the African continent.
Like the founders of America, Leonidas and his three-hundred, or Gideon and his three-hundred, the Boers stand as evidence that few can stand against many, and win. It is a fact of history which modern governments want us to forget. Men who fight for family, land, and freedom will always fight harder than those who fight for money, and even though they do not always succeed, they will always be remembered. War, greed, and tragedy are harsh realities of this world which no government can prevent. The Boers and the British both suffered the consequences of the war, and many brave and noble men died, while others were left to live with the memories of slaughter. War is inevitable. Even Christ, the Prince of Peace, 'judges and makes war' (Revelation 19:11), but Armageddon, unlike Majuba or the first World War, will truly be 'the war to end all wars'. It is strange, then, that so many – including Christians – seem so intent on preventing Armageddon. Are we not yet tired of war?
Let the final battle begin.
For more information on the Boer War, or my novel, Grayscale, check out these links:
Grayscale - By Paul Campbell
First Anglo-Boer War - South African History Online
The Rise and Fall of the Orange Free State - blog article by Ryan Moore
Comments