Today we drive to Laing's Nek Pass and Majuba Hill, situated between Volksrust and Newcastle, where we visit two significant sites related to the First Anglo Boer War (or Transvaal War of Independence).
Here the Boers won decisive victories over the British forces, which had gathered in northern KwaZulu Natal in an attempt to invade the Transvaal Republic, following the Boers' declaration of independence in 1880.
Following an embarrasing ambush at Bronkhorstspruit of a British column that was advancing on Pretoria, the British High Commissioner, Major General Sir George Pomeroy Colley assembled troops at Newcastle and rushed forward, claiming to be relieving the British garrisons in the Transvaal. On 28 January 1881, Colley unsuccessfully tried to force a way through Laing's Nek Pass, with the Boers under the command of General Joubert winning a decisive victory against the British, who were wearing brightly coloured red tunics that made them easy targets. This was the last time the colours were carried into battle by any British regiment.
One month later, on the night of 26 February, Colley occupied Majuba Hill with some 400 men. In the early hours of the next morning, when the Boers realised the British had occupied the mountain which dominated their position and blocked Laing’s Nek Pass and the road into the Transvaal, they advanced on the British position. They stormed the top of the mountain and forced the British off, in what was one of the most humiliating defeats in the history of the British army. The British suffered some 256 killed, (including Colley himself), wounded and captured while the Boers lost only 2 men.
This battle brought an end to the Transvaal War of Independence, which gave the two Boer Republics 19 more years of freedom from British rule - until the outbreak of the Second Anglo Boer War in 1899.
Please note today involves a very steep climb up Majuba Hill.
Recommended Reading:
The Transvaal Rebellion: The First Boer War – John Laband