29°52′40.9″E﻿ / ﻿27.616472°S 29.878028°E﻿ / -27.616472; 29.878028 on 8 February 1881 during the First Boer War . General Sir George Pomeroy Colley 's communications with Newcastle were under constant harassment by mounted Boer patrols under Commander J D Weilbach after the Battle of Laing's Nek (another British defeat) and as a