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Military History – South Africa – Europe – England 19th Century
.Article – Online Historic Information | Military
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Esau, Abraham, d.
1901
The Boer occupation of Calvinia in the Northern Cape in January 1901 met with outspoken criticism
and opposition from the leader of the local coloured population, Abraham Esau. The Boer governor,
Field Cornet C. van der Merwe, had Esau arrested and given twenty-five lashes, causing him to faint.
His persecution continued in the following weeks, and as the British advanced upon the town in
February, van der Merwe had Esau arrested again. The hapless victim was put in leg-irons, tied
between two horses and dragged to the outskirts of the town where he was shot.
See also:
Africans, Black; Prisoners-of-War.
Reference:
Nasson, William, Abraham Esau’s War: A Black South African’s War in Cape Colony (Cambridge,
Cambridge University Press, 1991); Pretorius, Fransjohan, Life on Commando during the
Anglo-Boer War 1899–1902 (Cape Town, Human & Rousseau, 1999).
Estcourt
The site of Fort Durnford, Estcourt, seventeen miles (28km) south of Colenso, Natal, was already a
British military post before the outbreak of the war. The forces stationed at the Colenso garrison
retired on 2 November 1899 and swelled the Estcourt garrison. Colonel C. J. Long was briefly in
command, during which time he was responsible for the activity of the armoured train. Major-general
H. J. T. Hildyard arrived on 15 November, bringing numbers to about 800 mounted troops and 4,400
infantry and artillery. The Boers tried to circumvent Estcourt and advance towards Durban, but turned
back after the Battle of Willow Grange on 23 November. Thereafter the town became a permanent
link in the supply chain of the British army in Natal.
See also:
Armoured Train Incident; Willow Grange, Battle of.
Reference:
Jones, Huw M. and Meurig G. M. Jones, A Gazetteer of the Second Anglo-Boer War 1899–1902
(Milton Keynes, The Military Press, 1999).
European Views of the War
Although the popular press and large sections of public opinion in Europe were in support of the
Boers or against the British, their governments adopted a much more cautious attitude and offered
little, if any, practical assistance. A mere three days after the outbreak of the war in October 1899
Britain and Portugal made a secret agreement by which, in return for a guarantee of Portuguese
territorial integrity, Portuguese East Africa and thus the Delagoa Bay Railway, the only route not
controlled by the British, would be closed for the importation of munitions to the Boer republics.
Material assistance thus being out of the question, only diplomatic and political pressure remained
and what little was brought to bear had no effect. That did not prevent a considerable volume of
adverse opi-
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