Battle of Elands River ( 1901 ) In the Battle of Elands River , after the Elands River Poort , on 17 September 1901 during the Second Boer War , a Boer raiding force under Jan Smuts destroyed a British cavalry company led by Captain Sandeman , a cousin of Winston Churchill , on the Modderfontein farm . This battle is therefore also known as the Battle of Modderfontein . Background . After a year of guerrilla war , the Boer leaders decided to send significant raiding forces into the Cape Colony and Natal . About 1000 Boers in six commandos already operated in the Cape Colony . The Boer leaders hoped to cause an uprising in that Dutch - majority territory or at least to widen the theater of war beyond the Boer republics of Orange Free State and South African Republic . Smuts led a commando south into the Cape Colony , while Louis Botha attempted to cross into Natal . Earlier Boer raids into the Cape Colony proved unsuccessful . All had been eventually hounded out by British mounted columns and had suffered painful losses . Smuts believed he could do better . The raid . During the trek south to the Orange River , Smuts ' commando lost 36 men . He finally crossed at Kiba Drift on 3 September . Major General Fitzroy Hart ' s British force had been guarding the ford , but General Herbert Kitchener mistakenly sent them away on another mission . The Basotho attacked the Boers on 4 September near Wittenberg Mission , killing three and wounding seven with spears and ancient guns before being driven off with serious losses . On 7 September , Smuts went on a scout near Mordenaar ' s Poort ( Murderer ' s Gorge ) , near Dordrecht , when they were ambushed . All three of his companions were shot by the British and Smuts barely escaped . The cold spring rains tormented both men and horses as British pursuing columns under the overall command of Major General Sir John French closed in on Smuts ' raiders . On 13 September , the Boers were cornered atop Stormberg Mountain ( ) and escaped only when a friendly guide in the form of Hans Kleynhans appeared and led them down a precipitous route to safety . The night of 15 September nearly finished the raiders as freezing rain killed over 60 ponies and fourteen men went missing . In front of the Boers , every mountain pass was reportedly held by the British . Battle . On 17 September , as Smuts ' commando threaded through a gorge that opened out into the Elands River valley , a 17 - year old farmer named Jan Coetzer informed them that a British force held the pass at Elands River Poort in the next valley . Smuts commented , " If we don ' t get those horses and a supply of ammunition , we ' re done for . " The British were C Squadron of the 17th Lancers . The Boers took advantage of a mist to encircle the British camp . When Smuts ' vanguard ran head on into a Lancer patrol , the British hesitated to fire because many of the Boers wore captured British uniforms . The Boers immediately opened fire and attacked in front while Smuts led the remainder of his force to attack the British camp from the rear . The British party suffered further casualties at a closed gate that slowed them down . All six British officers were hit and four were killed , only Captain Sandeman , the commander , and his lieutenant Lord Vivian surviving . The 17th Lancers lost 29 killed and 41 wounded before surrendering . Boer losses were only one killed and six wounded . One Boer noted , " We all had fresh horses , fresh rifles , clothing , saddlery , boots and more ammunition than we could carry away , as well as supplies for every man . " In his book " Commando " , Deneys Reitz , one of the Boers , recounts how George Vivian pointed out his bivouac tent and told him it would be worth his while to take a look at it . Soon , Reitz , who had been wearing a grain - bag and using an old Mauser rifle with only two rounds of ammunition left , was dressed in a cavalry tunic and riding breeches and armed with a Lee - Metford sporting rifle . Reitz reports that he met Lord Vivian in London in 1935 , on excellent terms . The Boers destroyed a field gun that they captured , while two maxim gun s were dumped in a dam after they proved to be too much trouble . Aftermath . Smuts and some 250 men of his commando were able to operate for many months in the Cape Colony , but could not win the war . By this time , the Dutch in the Cape Colony were mostly convinced that the Boer republics were losing the war . Though the commando received generous help from Dutch civilians , and indeed commandeered their requirements from people of every background , the British refrained from burning Dutch farms in the Cape Colony as a matter of policy . While Boers captured in the republics were well - treated as prisoners of war , Boer fighters native to the Cape Colony and captured there were sometimes treated as rebellious subjects and executed by the British . After the battle , Smuts ' commando was dressed largely in British khaki uniforms , and Lord Kitchener gave orders that all Boer fighters taken in British uniform were to be executed . Several members of the commando were shot on this basis , others for being treasonous subjects of the Cape Colony . When the remaining members found out about this order , they dressed themselves in civilian clothes as soon as they could .