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Military History – South Africa – Europe – England 19th Century
.Article – Online Historic Information | Military
.Page 185
Modderfontein, Battle of,
31 January 1901
A British post on the farm of Modderfontein, twenty-five miles (40km) north-west of Potchefstroom
in the South African Republic (Transvaal), was attacked and overwhelmed after nearly two days’
fighting by a large force led by Assistant Commandantgeneral Jan Smuts. A missionary, Canon
Farmer, reported in a private letter: “. . . at Modderfontein . . . the Natives – all of whom I knew –
were there in their village: the Boers under Smuts captured this post last month & when afterwards a
column visited the place they found the bodies of all the Kaffirs murdered and unburied.” Although
driven off by a British relieving force in a series of actions between 2 and 5 February, Smuts
maintained his control of this part of the Gatsrand hills until he left for Cape Colony in September.
See also:
Africans, Black; Cape Colony, Invasions of; Leliefontein, Massacre at; Smuts, Assistant
Commandant-general Jan C.
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); Pakenham, Thomas, The Boer War (London,
Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1979; Abacus, 1992).
Modder River (or Twee Riviere), Battle of,
28 November 1899
After Lord Methuen’s rather expensive success at Graspan on 25 November, it appeared that the next
obstacle on the way to the relief of Kimberley would be the kopjes at Spytfontein and Magersfontein.
It must have been a surprise to the British when the station master at Modder River sent the news that
the Boers had blown up the bridge and were in occupation. However, Methuen was reassured by the
possession of a map of that area drawn from memory by Captain W. A. J. O’Meara, R.E. When the
Guards Brigade and the 9th Brigade advanced across the flat ground south of the river, they were
suddenly enveloped in rifle fire from trenches dug on the southern bank. They were pinned down in
the open and the Guards attempted a right flanking movement, only to find the Riet River running south
alongside their position. It was not until a crossing place was found on the left, late in the day, that the
British made progress. The next day dawned to reveal empty Boer positions, but the battle had been
very costly.
The map prepared by Captain O’Meara was based on no more than a visit to the site. In the
months before the war he had been expressly ordered not to raise tensions by carrying out formal
surveys with instruments. The map is entitled Sketch of Modder River Railway Bridgeand is
annotated in some detail. The date reads 19 October 1899 and as Kimberley was invested on 14
October, the document must have been smuggled out of the town. By the time Methuen made use of it,
two months’ rains had invalidated the comments on how fordable the river was and possibly on the
amount of
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