Leliefontein massacre

Last updated
Leliefontein massacre
Methodist Mission Church, Leliefontein.jpg
Methodist Mission Church, Leliefontein (erected in 1855, it was the third church built at the mission station)
Location Leliefontein missionary station, Northern Cape, South Africa
Coordinates 30°18′55″S18°5′1″E / 30.31528°S 18.08361°E / -30.31528; 18.08361 (Leliefontein)
Date31 January 1902
Target Khoikhoi
Deaths35
Perpetrators Boer forces under General Manie Maritz
Defenders Khoikhoi

The Leliefontein massacre occurred on 31 January 1902 during the South African War at the Leliefontein Methodist mission station in the Northern Cape, South Africa.

Contents

Leliefontein

Leliefontein is a small community in the Kamiesberg range of Namaqualand, near Garies in the Northern Cape. It is probably named after the many white lilies found in the area.

Leliefontein was originally the kraal of a Nama chief named Wildschut by Europeans. By October 1771, the land had been granted to Hermanus Engelbrecht, a white colonial farmer, but Governor Joachim van Plettenberg ordered Engelbrecht to vacate the land in 1772 after he was informed that the Nama Khoi already occupied the land. [1] Missionary work began under the London Missionary Society in 1809, but an attack by competing settlers caused the station to be abandoned in 1811. In 1816, Chief Wildschut asked for another station to be established. This request was fulfilled by the Wesleyan Methodist Reverend Barnabas Shaw of the Wesleyan Missionary Society. Leliefontein was the first Methodist mission in South Africa. Several church buildings were built thereafter. [2]

Attack

Boer leader Manie Maritz killed 35 indigenous inhabitants of the settlement, in retaliation for attacking his party when he went to interview the European missionaries in the town. Maritz served under General Jan Smuts. The attack took place over two days. On the first day Maritz and his men rode into Leliefontein, detained the chief missionary, and handed out proclamations threatening death to residents and the missionaries as a punishment for being British sympathisers in the Second Boer War.

The Nama people, who were residents of Leliefontein along with the missionaries, were angered by the threats and a scuffle ensued. [3] The residents of Leliefontein inflicted serious casualties on the Boers on the first day when they killed 30 Boers and lost only seven Nama people in the fight. [3]

Maritz summoned reinforcements and invaded Leliefontein the following day leading to a battle in which 43 Nama people were killed and an estimated 100 wounded. The residents of Leliefontein were massacred while taking shelter in the mission church. Leliefontein was one of the first massacres of the 20th century in South Africa. [4] The Leliefontein mission had livestock and it also produced corn and vegetables. The outpost was completely destroyed by Maritz's troops and indiscriminate violence was meted out to the residents. [5]

The refugees left by the massacre were hunted down by Boer forces and killed. Others were captured and forced to work as slave labourers cooking and cleaning for the troops. Maritz was never punished for his actions at Leliefontein. The Leliefontein Methodist Church and Parsonage is a national heritage site to commemorate the losses of the massacre. [5]

Reactions

On 31 January 1902, a Boer guerrilla commander Deneys Reitz, part of General Jan Smuts force, arrived in Leliefontein en route to Springbok.

Deneys Reitz described the scene as follows:

"We found the place sacked and gutted and among the rocks beyond the buried houses lay 20 or 30 dead Hottentots, still clutching their antiquated muzzleloaders. This was Maritz’s handiwork. He had ridden into the station with a few men to interview the European missionaries, when he was set upon by armed Hottentots, he and his escorts narrowly escaping with their lives. To avenge the insult, he returned the next morning with a stronger force and wiped out the settlement, which seemed to many of us a ruthless and unjustifiable act. General Smuts said nothing but I saw him walk past the boulders where the dead lay, and on his return he was moody and curt." [6] [7]

Maritz took issue with Reitz's interpretation of the situation:

“According to Reitz, General Smuts would have rather approved if he had seen our own bodies there. I can assure them that we had to fight hard for our lives that day in front of the church, and if the Hotnots had got the upper hand, they would have treated us cruelly.”

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khoekhoe</span> African pastoralist indigenous group

Khoekhoe are the traditionally nomadic pastoralist indigenous population of South Africa. They are often grouped with the hunter-gatherer San peoples. The designation "Khoekhoe" is actually a kare or praise address, not an ethnic endonym, but it has been used in the literature as an ethnic term for Khoe-speaking peoples of Southern Africa, particularly pastoralist groups, such as the !Ora, !Gona, Nama, Xiri and ǂNūkhoe nations. The Khokhoe were once known as Hottentots, a term now considered offensive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deneys Reitz</span> South African politician (1882–1944)

Deneys Reitz (1882–1944), son of Francis William Reitz, was a Boer warrior who fought in the Second Boer War for the South African Republic against the British Empire. After a period of exile in French Madagascar he returned to South Africa, where he became a lawyer and founded a major South African law firm. In the First World War he fought for the Union of South Africa against the German Empire, and then was an officer in the British Army, commanding several battalions. In later life he was a politician. Deneys Reitz was educated at Grey College, Bloemfontein.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maritz rebellion</span> 1914 insurrection in South Africa

The Maritz rebellion, also known as the Boer revolt or Five Shilling rebellion, was an armed insurrection in South Africa in 1914, at the start of World War I. It was led by Boers who supported the re-establishment of the South African Republic in the Transvaal. Many members of the South African government were themselves Boers who had fought with the Maritz rebels against the British in the Second Boer War, which had ended twelve years earlier. The rebellion failed, and its ringleaders received heavy fines and terms of imprisonment. One of them, Jopie Fourie, was executed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis William Reitz</span> South African politician and statesman

Francis William Reitz, Jr. was a South African lawyer, politician, statesman, publicist, and poet who was a member of parliament of the Cape Colony, Chief Justice and fifth State President of the Orange Free State, State Secretary of the South African Republic at the time of the Second Boer War, and the first president of the Senate of the Union of South Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hendrik Witbooi (Namaqua chief)</span> ǀKhowesin chief (c. 1830–1905)

Hendrik Witbooi was a chief of the ǀKhowesin people, a sub-tribe of the Khoikhoi. He led the Nama people during their revolts against the German colonial empire in present-day Namibia, in connection with the events surrounding the Herero and Namaqua Genocide. He was killed in action on 29 October 1905. Witbooi is regarded as one of the national heroes of Namibia, and his face is portrayed on the obverse of all N$50, N$100 and N$200 Namibian dollar banknotes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Springbok, South Africa</span> Place in Northern Cape, South Africa

Springbok is the largest town in the Namaqualand area in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It was called Springbokfontein until 1911, when it was shortened to Springbok. Springbok is located on the N7 national route which connects the Cape with Namibia, and at the western end of the N14, which connects it with Upington and Pretoria. It is the main town of the Nama Khoi Local Municipality, which also includes a number of surrounding towns such as Okiep and Nababeep.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oorlam people</span> Ethnic group from southern Africa

The Oorlam or Orlam people are a subtribe of the Nama people, largely assimilated after their migration from the Cape Colony to Namaqualand and Damaraland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bittereinder</span> Boer guerilla faction (1900–1902)

The Bittereinders or irreconcilables were a faction of Boer guerrilla fighters, resisting the forces of the British Empire in the later stages of the Second Boer War (1899–1902).

The military history of South Africa chronicles a vast time period and complex events from the dawn of history until the present time. It covers civil wars and wars of aggression and of self-defence both within South Africa and against it. It includes the history of battles fought in the territories of modern South Africa in neighbouring territories, in both world wars and in modern international conflicts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Elands River (1901)</span> Battle of the Second Boer War

The Battle of Elands River took place near the Elands River Poort mountain pass on 17 September 1901 during the Second Boer War. During the battle a Boer raiding force under Jan Smuts destroyed a British cavalry squadron led by Captain Sandeman, a cousin of Winston Churchill, on the Modderfontein farm. This battle is therefore also known as the Battle of Modderfontein.

George Crespigny Brabazon Vivian, 4th Baron Vivian was a British soldier from the Vivian family who served with distinction in both the Second Anglo-Boer War and World War I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Essendon, Hertfordshire</span> Human settlement in England

Essendon is a village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, 6 miles (10 km) south-west of Hertford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manie Maritz</span> South African general (1876–1940)

Manie Maritz, also known as Gerrit Maritz, was a Boer officer during the Second Boer War and a leading rebel of the 1914 Maritz Rebellion. Maritz was also a participant in the Herero and Namaqua genocide. In the 1930s, he became an outspoken Nazi sympathizer and a supporter of Nazi Germany.

<i>Encephalartos longifolius</i> Species of cycad

Encephalartos longifolius is a low-growing palm-like cycad in the family Zamiaceae. It is endemic to South Africa and is commonly known as Thunberg's cycad, breadpalm or broodboom. This cycad is listed as near threatened in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Concordia, South Africa</span> Place in Northern Cape, South Africa

Concordia is a town in Namakwa District Municipality in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. The distance from Concordia to Cape Town is approximately 600 km (370 mi).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steinkopf, South Africa</span> Place in Northern Cape, South Africa

Steinkopf is a town in Namakwa District Municipality in the Northern Cape province of South Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leliefontein, South Africa</span> Place in Northern Cape, South Africa

Leliefontein is a settlement in Namakwa District Municipality in the Northern Cape province of South Africa.

Johannes Theophilus Hahn was a merchant and agent in South West Africa (SWA), linguistic expert on the Khoikhoi language, one of seven languages in which he was fluent and a librarian.

Hans Christian Knudsen was a Norwegian missionary and painter. He was a pioneer Rhenish Missionary pioneer and scholar of Khoekhoe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Bouwer</span>

Barend Daniël Bouwer was a South African general in the Boer War (1899-1902) and the First World War (1914-1918).

References

  1. Penn, Nigel (2005). The Forgotten Frontier: Colonist and Khoisan on the Cape's Northern Frontier in the 18th Century. Ohio University Press. ISBN   9780821416822.
  2. Fleminger, David. Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape including Namaqualand.
  3. 1 2 [Legassick, M. “The Battle of Naroegas: Context, Historiography, Sources and Significance.” Kronos, no. 21, 1994, Jstor]
  4. Smith, J. "The bloody smell and ugly sight of Marikana" IOL, Business Report, 2012
  5. 1 2 Ash, C. "Kruger, Kommandos & Kak: Debunking the Myths of The Boer War", South Publishers, 2014, Google Books
  6. Evans, Martin Marix (2000). Encyclopedia of the Boer War. Santa Barbara: British Library Cataloguing. p. 415.
  7. Deneys Reitz (1929). "Chapter 25". Commando: A Boer Journal of the Boer War. Kessinger Publishing, LLC. p. 298. ISBN   1417925841.

Further reading