The Boers had encircled Ladysmith trapping a force of 13,000 British troops under the command of Lieutenant General Sir George White inside (along with separate sieges in Mafeking and Kimberley). The relief effort was dispatched from Cape Town under the command of General Sir Redvers Buller and by early December 1899 this 20,000 strong relieving army was arriving just south of the river Tugela.