A relatively small band of a few hundred Voortreekers in laager on the Ncome River, and led by Andries Pretorius, effectively routed an impi of 30,000 of Dingane's Zulus in the battle of Blood River, Dec. 16, 1838.
I hope the members here in whose veins runs the blood of the Boers remain proud of their incredibly tough and hardy ancestors.

Here, here!

I raise a glass to these fine men.

Tough Dudes back then
Proud heritage you Boers have

Fellas, the Boers had their wives and children in laager with them, furiously reloading their large-bore flintlock "Bobbejaanboud" (baboon's leg) smoothbores with powder and buckshot sewn into small bags of thin antelope skin. These made for fearsome projectiles. So even the Boers' little ones were stout souls from the start.

Great story Steve
Thank you

I own a small piece of land overlooking the monument & even now, it's an interesting place that has a very special feel to it......... Not a bird calls & the only noises you can hear are the wind in the grass & an occasional car passing.

Other than that, it's spookily silent.

Thank you for reminding me of my proud heritage......

Dankie Vader vir Andries Pretorius en onse voorteker heelde - en fok jou Dingane!

In November 1837 Dingane met with Piet Retief, leader of the Voortrekkers. In return for their recovering some stolen cattle, Dingane signed a deed of cession of lands (written in English) to the Voortrekkers. It is generally believed that Dingane knew what he was signing, although he could not have had any formal education, and could not have read the contents of the document, nor could he have understood the concept of permanent land ownership, since it was not a custom of the Zulus to permanently assign land to individuals.

On 6 February 1838, after two days of feasting, the chief had Retief and his diplomatic party killed. They had been told to leave their firearms outside the royal kraal. Suddenly, when the dancing had reached a frenzied climax, King Dingane leapt to his feet and shouted Bambani aba thakathi! (Catch the wizards!). The men were totally overpowered and dragged away to a hill called kwaMatiwane, named after a chief who had been killed there. Retief and his men were savagely butchered to death.

It is alleged by some that the reason why they were killed was that they withheld some of the cattle recovered from Chief Sekonyela. The general opinion is that Dingane did not wish to yield the land ceded to them in the treaty and mistrusted the presence of the Voortrekkers.

At the same time, Dingane's forces massacred Retief's undefended trek party, about 500 Boers and native servants, including women and children. The Boers called this the Weenen massacre. The nearby present-day town of Weenen (Dutch for "weeping") was named by early settlers in memory of the massacre.

In a further act of war, Dingane ordered his army also to seek and kill the group of Voortrekkers under Andries Pretorius. The Zulu impis attacked the Voortrekker encampment, but they were crushingly defeated in the ensuing Battle of Blood River.

An estimated 3,000 Zulus were killed, while three Voortrekkers were slightly wounded. Dingane's commander at the battle was Ndlela kaSompisi.

Appreciate that link, Steve. That's a fine summary of the prelude to Blood River.
A side note: In the years before Blood River, the great chief Shaka Zulu made a critical tactical change, ordering his impis to abandon their traditional throwing spears and adopt the short-handling assegai, a thrusting spear, to compliment Shaka's new vision of a disciplined offensive force that would engage the enemy in the center of the impi, then fan out his fighters on the right and left flanks to form "the horns of the bull." The flanks would then curl around the enemy's rear, join forces and then annihilate the surrounded foe in close quarters combat.
Had Dingane's impis had their old throwing spears that day on the Ncome River, the Boers clearly would have suffered much greater casualties.

Not directly connected to the topic in hand but still part of SAs fascinating history, THIS is well worth the money.

Thank you Steve.

Steve, how does Rattray's work compare with "The Washing of the Spears"?

Bill, Thanks for reminding us. Amazing story. I've been to the battle ground. It's a stirring place.
Brian

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
Steve, how does Rattray's work compare with "The Washing of the Spears"?

Hard to compare them because they're different but both are fabulous in their own way (IMO) though.

The best thing for me about DOTDM is you can listen to it during a long flight or drive etc.

Read the book about Buffalo river
Awesome.
Im not ashamed and at the same time extremely proud of my European ( read white heritage ).
What we Europeans/white/ accomplished with conquering world and populate Africa, Americas, Australia, New Zealand ...
is unprecedented.
I understand other people around the world are jealous and envious to the point of wishing every white person dead, but tough deal. That's the history.
I will never ever feel guilty for that heritage and whom and where I'm came from.

quote:

Originally posted by shakari:

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
Steve, how does Rattray's work compare with "The Washing of the Spears"?

Hard to compare them because they're different but both are fabulous in their own way (IMO) though.

The best thing for me about DOTDM is you can listen to it during a long flight or drive etc.

I'm listening to DOTM right now for about the fourth time. What a pity Rattray was murdered. He certainly had more stories to share. At least his family wasn't home that day.

Dean

They are still just as tough and intrepid. No one can match them.