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RERENCE WARS & REBELLIONS VOORTREKKER - ZULU CONFLICT 1837 -1838 THE
REBELLION OF LANGALIBALELE TRANSVAAL WAR OF INDEPENDENCE 1880-1881 THE
ZULU CIVIL WAR |
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the Boers watching from the heights it must have been an astonishing sight.
Five companies of redcoats advancing parallel to one another, each in columns
of fours, their white helmets and scarlet coats brilliant against the green
of the plateau, and in their midst, as had always been the custom of British
infantry going into action, the Colours unfurled – two large heavy
standards nearly six feet square.(The Anglo-Boer Wars – Michael Barthorp).
Perhaps a little bit exaggerated, by this time their tunics were well worn and a bit tatty and faded and their helmets had been stained brown but nevertheless an intimidating sight. When the peaceful attempts
of the Zuid-Afrkaansche Republiek (Transvaal) failed to negotiate a return
of their independence from Britain, the free burghers of the Transvaal
felt they had no option but to resort to arms and war was declared on
the 14th December 1880. |
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The first major action took place at Bronkhorst Spruit and soon after all the British garrisons in the Transvaal were invested. The Governor of Natal and Commander of the British forces in south east Africa hurriedly gathered together a mixed force of soldiers, mounted police and sailors along with six guns and set out from Durban to Newcastle where they regrouped before moving on to Mount Prospect to attack the Boers who had taken up a defensive position at Laing’s Nek. The British then suffered a
series of disastrous actions at Laing’s Nek, where the |
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| The initial peace treaty was negotiated in the front room of O’Neill’s Cottage and the subsequent Pretoria Convention was signed in October 1881. Never wholly acceptable to the Boers it sowed the seeds of discontent that led to the Anglo-Boer War in 1899. | ||
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