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Military History – South Africa – Europe – England 19th Century
.Article – Online Historic Information | Military
.Page 190
In September Morant led a successful expedition to capture another band of Boers and, with the
congratulations of his superiors ringing in his ears, went on leave. On his return late in October he
and other officers of the BVC were arrested. It was a fortnight before charges were brought. Major
Lenehan was charged with neglect. Morant, Handcock, Witton and a British officer, Lieutenant Harry
Picton, were charged with murdering Visser and these four, with the exception of Picton, were also
charged with the murder of the eight Boers. Handcock was accused of killing Heese, and there were
yet further charges in respect of other deaths. It was December before they were informed they would
be court-martialled and it was not until 15 January 1902 that written charges were laid and they were
told that Major J. F. Thomas, a lawyer in private life, was to defend them. The trial on the Visser
case started the next day in Pietersburg.
The defence offered by Morant consisted of justification on the grounds that the victim was
wearing not merely British uniform, but Captain Hunt’s clothes. Witnesses threw doubt on this and
Trooper Theunis Johannes Botha, Morant’s interpreter in the field, directly denied the testimony. On
the morning of 24 January 1902 the Boers attacked Pietersburg and Morant and Handcock were given
weapons and took part in the successful defence. In the afternoon the Visser case resumed. In
February the Eight Boers Case began, the verdict in the Visser case being withheld for the time being.
The facts were not disputed, but the standing of the Boers, said to be mere bandits, and the orders not
to take prisoners, were the two main planks of the defence. The case of the three Boers was met with
the assertion that they were Hunt’s killers. It was for the murder of these and other Boers that
Handcock, Witton and Morant were found guilty. They were acquitted of the murder of Heese and
thus the suggestion that international politics had a part in their punishments is without foundation.
Most of the charges against the English officers failed; only Picton was found guilty and he was
expelled from the army. This fuelled a belief in Australia that the proceedings had been prejudiced, in
spite of the fact that the British who were accused denied the facts in those cases, which contrasted
with the admissions of Morant and his co-accused. Breaker Morant and Peter Handcock were shot by
a 16–man squad of Cameron Highlanders at 6 a.m. on 27 February. To the end their courage held.
They lie in a shared grave in a Pretoria cemetery.
Reference:
Denton, Kit, Closed File (Adelaide, Rigby, 1983); Wallace, R. L., The Australians at the Boer War
(Canberra, The Australian War Memorial and the Australian Government Printing Office, 1976).
Mostertshoek, Battle of,
3–4 April 1900
After his victory at Sannaspos on 31 March 1900, Commandant-general Christiaan De Wet scouted
towards his home town of Dewetsdorp to see what forces the British had there. Meanwhile Lord
Roberts, becoming
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