The Brandwater Basin is the drainage basin of the Brandwater River (Afrikaans: Brandwaterrivier), a tributary of the Grootspruit River in the south-east of Orange Free State, South Africa, north of Lesotho. [1] The basin is situated south of Bethlehem and south-east of Senekal, between the Witteberg (White Mountains) to the west and north, the Rooiberge (Red Mountains) to the east, and the Drakensberg over the Caledon River to the south. It is also northwest of the Slaapkrans Basin (Afrikaans: Slaapkransbekken) and the Maloti Mountains on the northern border of Lesotho. [1] Towns in the Brandwater Basin are Fouriesburg, founded in 1892, [2] and Clarens, established in 1912. [3]
The main entry and exit points of the Brandwater Basin south of Bethlehem are a number of mountain passes, in clockwise order from the north: Retief's Nek, [4] Naauwpoort's Nek (Noupoortsnek), [5] Golden Gate east of Clarens, Kommando Nek (Commando Nek) north east of Ficksburg, [6] and Slabbert's Nek south east of Senekal. Minor passes are Witnek, [7] Nelspoort, and Bamboeshoek.
The Brandwater Basin was the scene of a massive surrender of Boer troops under the command of General Marthinus Prinsloo in the Anglo-Boer War on 30 July 1900. After British troops had taken both the Boer state capitals of Bloemfontein (13 March 1900) and Pretoria (5 June 1900), Prinsloo and his men guarded the mountain passes of the Drakensberg at the Brandwater Basin. [8] Generals Christiaan de Wet, Paul Roux and Jonathan Crowther would each retreat from the Brandwater Basin with their troops northwards and eastwards. [9] De Wet indeed escaped escorting president Steyn, while the remainder of the Boer army instead failed to defend the pass Slabbert's Nek on 15 July 1900 and gave up Retief's Nek after a fight on 23–24 July 1900.
The British surrounded Prinsloo by also blocking the passes of Witnek, Kommandonek, Noupoortsnek (Nauwpoortsnek) and finally the Golden Gate pass to the east on the Little Caledon River, so that Prinsloo felt forced to surrender with his army to general Archibald Hunter on 30 July 1900. Boer general Piet Fourie [10] or general Jan Hendrik Olivier [11] had got away with 1500 men and several commanders in the east over the Golden Gate pass in time.
Some 4300 of his troops including Prinsloo, Roux and Crowther were taken prisoner of war near Fouriesburg, most of them at Surrender Hill. This was the largest number of Boers captured in the war so far, even more than the 4000 at the surrender of general Piet Cronjé at Paardeberg on 27 February 1900. While most of the prisoners from Prinsloo's army were sent to Ceylon, Prinsloo himself was held captive at Simon's Town. [9] [12] [13] Prinsloo's surrender in 1900 was viewed by some of his compatriots as a treasonous act. Christiaan de Wet called it a “a horrible murder of government, country and people” (Afrikaans: ’n gruwelike moord op regering, land en volk). [12] [14]
Petrus Jacobus Joubert, better known as Piet Joubert, was Commandant-General of the South African Republic from 1880 to 1900. He also served as Vice-President to Paul Kruger from May 1883 to October 1884 and from May 1896 until his death. He served in First Boer War, Second Boer War, and the Malaboch War.
Joachim Johannes Ferreira was a Boer commandant of the First Boer War. This general J. Ferreira should not be confused with general I. Ferreira.
Fouriesburg is a small town situated at the junction of the R711 and R26 routes in the eastern Free State, South Africa. It is near the Maluti Mountains and only 10 km from Caledon's Poort border post, which gives access to Lesotho.
The Slachter's Nek Rebellion was an uprising by Boers in 1815 on the eastern border of the Cape Colony.
Dihlabeng Municipality is a local municipality within the Thabo Mofutsanyane District Municipality, in the Free State province of South Africa. It was established after the first general local government elections on 5 December 2000, which heralded the final phase of local government reform as envisaged in 1994 at the onset of the process of democratisation and the end of apartheid. The seat is Bethlehem.
Christoffel Cornelis Froneman, commonly known as Stoffel Froneman, was veldkornet, general and Vice-Commander-in-Chief of the Orange Free State Boer forces during the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902.
The Battle of Naauwpoort Nek refers to a clash between the Trekboers and Basotho warriors on 29 September 1865. Naauwpoort lies immediately to the north of the Free State town of Clarens.
Major General Ralph Arthur Penrhyn Clements,, commonly known as R. A. P. Clements, was a senior British Army officer.
Jan Hendrik Olivier was a Boer general during the Second Boer War who was notable for being the main Boer commander at the Battle of Stormberg.
Marthinus Prinsloo was an Orange Free State Boer farmer, politician and general in the Second Boer War (1899-1902). He was born of Nicolaas Frans Prinsloo (1813-1890) and Isabella Johanna Petronella Rautenbach in the district of Graaff-Reinet, South Africa who migrated to the Orange Free State where they lived in Bloemfontein, Waterval and Bethlehem.
Paul Hendrik Roux was a Second Boer War general and a Protestant pastor in the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK).
Christiaan Hendrik Muller was a Boer general during the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902). He succeeded General Ben Viljoen as the sole leader of the Boer forces in the Eastern Transvaal after Viljoen was captured by British troops on 25 January 1902 and sent to St. Helena as a prisoner of war.
Pieter Daniël de Wet was a Boer general in the Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902) and a younger brother of Boer general and politician Christiaan de Wet. Piet de Wet participated in the Battle of Poplar Grove, the Battle of Sanna's Post for the waterworks there, and defeated the 13th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry at Lindley. In July 1900, he surrendered to the British at Kroonstad, Orange Free State. He became a prominent member of the National Scouts helping the British in the last years of the Boer War.
Christiaan Botha was a younger brother of Louis Botha (1862–1919) and Philip Botha (1851-1901), but an older brother of Theunis Jacobus Botha (1867-1930), and likewise a Boer general in the Second Boer War (1899–1902) who then both fought the British to the end.
Wessel Jacobus Wessels was a Boer general during the Anglo Boer War (1899–1902). He was one of the eleven children of Hermanus Nicolaas Wessels and Johanna Wilhelmina Elizabeth Catharina Wessels. He wed Susanna Magdalena Wessels and had five daughters and four sons by her. Wessel Jacobus Wessels should not be confused with Cornelis (Kerneels) Janse Wessels, who commanded the Boer army at the siege of Kimberley in October 1899 – January 1900.
Philip Rudolph Botha was a Second Boer War general, like his younger brothers Louis (1862-1919), Christiaan (1864–1902) and Theunis Jacobus (1867–1930).
Jonathan Crowther was a Boer war general.
Petrus "Piet" Johannes Fourie was a Boer general for the Orange Free State in the Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902) in South Africa. He should not be confused with his Boer colleagues generals Joachim Christoffel Fourie (1845–1900) and Christiaan Ernst Fourie (1858–1943).
Ignatius "(Oom) Naas" Stephanus Ferreira was an Orange Free State Boer war general and Commander-in-Chief, who was fatally shot at the Battle of Paardeberg. Naas Ferreira should not be confused with his son and namesake Ignatius "Natie" Stephanus Ferreira, the gold miner Ignatius Philip Ferreira, and Boer general J. (Joachim) Ferreira.
Hendrik Frederik Prinsloo was a Second Boer War commander of the Carolina Commando for the South African Republic who fought and prevailed at the Battle of Spion Kop. His son and namesake Hendrik Frederik Prinsloo (1890–1966) served as an officer in the South African Army in both World War I and World War II.
..Brandwater Basin, an area situated between the town of Fouriesburg and the well-known landmark of Golden Gate. The Brandwater Basin gets its name from the Brandwater River, a tributary of the Caledon River that runs along the foothills of the Maluti Mountains.
By early July 1900, the Boer invasions of British territory had been thrown back in disarray, the capitals of both republics had been captured, and Lord Roberts had all but won the conventional war. In the north east of the OFS, Imperial troops drove the remnants of the Orange Free State commandos out of Bethlehem, prompting them to retreat southwards towards the border with Basutoland, and into an area known as the 'Brandwater Basin'.
In view of the advance of General Hunter southwards towards Bethlehem mentioned below, General C R de Wet had decided to abandon that town and to fall back on the mountain strongholds surrounding the Brandwater Basin, whither the bulk of the burgher forces of the Orange Free State had already retired.