The Transvaal Boers revolt on December 16, …

Years: 1880 - 1880
December

The Transvaal Boers revolt on December 16, 1880, and take action at Bronkhorstspruit against a British column of the 94th Foot, who are returning to reinforce Pretoria.

At the first battle at Bronkhorstspruit, Lieutenant-Colonel Anstruther and one hundred and twenty men of the 94th Foot (Connaught Rangers) are dead or wounded by Boer fire within minutes of the first shots.

Boer losses total two killed and five wounded.

This mainly Irish regiment had been marching westward toward Pretoria, led by Lieutenant-Colonel Anstruther, when halted by a Boer commando group.

Its leader, Commandant Frans Joubert (Brother of General Piet Joubert, had ordered Anstruther and the column to turn back, stating that the territory was now again a Boer Republic and therefore any further advance by the British would be deemed an act of war.

Anstruther had refused and ordered that ammunition be distributed.

The Boers opened fire and the ambushed British troops were annihilated.

With the majority of his troops dead or wounded, the dying Anstruther had ordered surrender.

With the defeat of the Zulus, and the Pedi, The Transvaal Boers had been able to give voice to the growing resentment against the 1877 British annexation of the Transvaal and complain that it had been a violation of the Sand River Convention of 1852, and the Bloemfontein Convention of 1854.

Major-General Sir George Pomeroy Colley, after returning briefly to India, had finally taken over as Governor of Natal, Transvaal, High Commissioner of SE Africa and Military Commander in July 1880.

Multiple commitments had prevented Colley from visiting the Transvaal, where he knows many of the senior Boers.

Instead, he relied on reports from the Administrator, Sir Owen Lanyon, who had no understanding of the Boer mood or capability.

Belatedly, Lanyon had asked for troop reinforcements in December 1880 but had been overtaken by events.

The fiercely independent Boers have no regular army; when danger threatens, all the men in a district form a militia organized into military units called commandos and elect officers.

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