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Military History – South Africa – Europe – England 19th Century
.Article – Online Historic Information | Military
.Page 44
Brandwater Basin, Surrender at,
30 July 1900
After the British capture of Pretoria and the Battle of Diamond Hill in June 1900, the British
Commander-in-Chief, Lord Roberts, turned his attention to rounding up the Boers in the north-eastern
Orange Free State. They were principally located in the Brandwater Basin, the area around
Fouriesburg through which the Brandwater and Little Caledon rivers flow. Here they were trapped by
the British under Lieutenant-general Sir Archibald Hunter. A third of the Boers, under Chiefcommandant Christiaan De Wet, with whom President Steyn and government officers were travelling,
escaped. The rest, some 4,500 men now commanded by Chief-commandant Marthinus Prinsloo,
surrendered, giving the British their second great capitulation of the year, following Paardeberg.
The Brandwater Basin is just within the border of the Orange Free State and Basutoland
(Lesotho), with mountains, snow-covered at that time of year, to the south-east. The valley is fairly
open to the south-west by Commando Nek, and a number of narrower valleys give access to the north
and north-east through the Roodebergen mountains. The British were closing in on three sides, so De
Wet divided the Boers into three groups hoping to escape by different routes, leaving a small force
under Marthinus Prinsloo to guard the valley, full as it was of Boer cattle.
On 15 July De Wet led his division out through Slabbert’s Nek. After he had gone a dispute
broke out over the appointment of Paul Roux as Assistant Chief-commandant and an election was held
in which Prinsloo was favoured. Meanwhile Major-general Arthur Paget’s 20th Brigade closed
Slabbert’s Nek and Lieutenant-general Sir Leslie Rundle sealed Commando Nek to the south-west.
To the north Hunter covered Retief’s Nek and Major-general Bruce Hamilton closed the passes to the
east. Slabbert’s and Retief’s Neks were then taken and the British broke into the valley. The author
Erskine Childers, who was serving with the Honorable Artillery Company Battery of the City
Imperial Volunteers, described the country as “. . .an immense amphitheatre of rich, undulating
pasture-land, with a white farm here and there, half-hidden in trees. Beyond rose tier on tier of hills,
ending on snow-clad mountain peaks.”
Prinsloo asked Hunter for an armistice which was refused, and after some confusion the Boer
commander accepted the British terms, which allowed the Boers to retain their personal possessions,
notably their wagons. The guns and ammunition were given up to be burned. De Wet regarded the
whole episode as near treacherous conduct on the part of Prinsloo.
See also:
Paardeberg, Battle of; Prinsloo, Chief Commandant Marthinus.
Reference:
De Wet, Christiaan, Three Years War (London, Archibald Constable, 1902); Marix Evans, Martin,
The Boer War: South Africa 1899–1902 (Oxford, Osprey Publishing, 1999); Pakenham,
Thomas, The Boer War (London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1979; Abacus, 1992).
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