Hip-Hop Rumors: Is Lil Boosie Dating Deion Sanders Daughter? - Exclusive Hip Hop News, Interviews, Rumors, Rap & Music Videos | Allhiphop Middelburg has many historical sites and
an interesting history linked to the Anglo Boer War.
Anglo Boer War (Synopsis)
Many British Divisions were stationed over the period of the war. They were mostly housed at where the present day Country Club is situated today.
The British Forces in Middelburg had to drill for water, to supply the growing demand. It is interesting to note that the hole has an unusual diameter of 8 inches.
Women and children who were taken prisoner by the British were transported to Middelburg Station in goods trucks.
They were settled in houses opposite the station and guarded by British soldiers. This was most likely at the end of 1900.
The number of women and children captured escalated rapidly and a need for more space became a problem. The concentration camp wa erected on the southern side of the railway line. In July 1901 the camp had 7 751 residents.
In a cemetery, east from where the concentration camp was, a large number of residents were buried.
Summaries and extractions from various publications on events in the middelburg and surrounding areas as well as personalities who operated in and around Middelburg during the second Anglo-Boer war
Oorlogs dagboek van`n Transvaalse burger te velde 1900 – 1901 : F.l. Rothmann
26.12.1900 : Berig van Kermistrein verongeluk naby Wonderfontein op die 20ste ( 20.12.1900 ); die spoor was met dinamiet op die afdraaend ondermyn. Die Middelburgers het hulle in die nabyheid verskuil, en op die trein geskiet toe dit by hulle verbykom. Die masjienis draai toe stoom aan en ry op volle snelheid op die myn af. Daar was `n ontploffing en die trein stort ineen. Vyf Engelde is dood en sewe gewond. Sestig possakke is deur die burgers gebuit, al die “ Christmas boxes “ vir die kakie langs die spoor en op Lydenburg. Daar was kiste drank en `n menigte lekkers en poedings in blikke. Een wa had `n lading petroleum ; die olie is op die trein gegooi en die hele boel aan die brand gesteek.
Die volgende dag was al die Middelburgers siek ; na so `n lang mieliepap-tydperk het die “ plumpoeding “ hulle nie te staan gekom nie.
06.03.1901: Mis, reën. Ek van gisteraand siek aan malaria, die hele dag in die in bed gebly. Een van die adjudante het gisteraan hier aangekom om 4 melkkoeie te haal vir gebruik van Komdt-Genl. Botha. Hy het die volgende vertel omtrent die ontmoeting tussen Genl. Botha en Lord Kitchener ( Ben Viljoen was nie teenwoordig nie): Die byeenkoms het op Middelburg plaasgevind. Die twee hoofe was `n uur alleen in een kamer. Wat plaasgeving het is nog nie bekend gemaak nie. Genl. Botha was in Middelburg van neënuur die more tot sononder.
28.03.1901: Deur burgers van Genl. Viljoen is op die 22ste `n trein opgeblaas. Na `n kort geveg het die Engelde die wit vlag opgesteek, maar voor die burgers iets kon vervoer, het `n gepanserde trein opgedaag en met kanonne begin te skiet, sodat niks weggeneem kon word nie; die waens is egter verniel en die pos buitgemaak. Dit het plaasgevind tussen Pan en Wonderfontein.
11.04.1901 : Donderdag. In die nag van die 6de het enige burgers van Middelburg die treinspoor met dinamiet belaai ten ooste van die dorp Middelburg, op `n afdraaend. Op die more van die 7de kom toe `n trein, vergesel van `n gepanserde trein, op die trop af; die burgers was `n ent weg om die affere af te wag. Die eerste trein, goedere en persone, loop toe die strik af, vlieg in die lug en is met alle waens verniel.
30.04.1901: `n Sestigtal burgers het oorgegee aan die vyand, onder hulle was landdros Du Toit van Middelburg, en die resident-vrederegter van Roos-Senekal.
26.06.1901 : Genl. Ben Viljoen, met sy vlug van Witpoort oor die spoor op Balmoral, het reeds tweemaal groot pak aan die kakies gegee. Die laaste was ten suide van Middelburg, waar 40 Engelse gesneuwel het, driemaal soveel is gewond, 170 perde is doodgeskiet . 276 kakies is gevang, ontwapen, en weer losgelaat ; oor die 300 perde gebuit, 7 proviandwaens met kos, I wa met ammunusie, 2 bom maxims, met oor die 4 000 skote. Viljoen se verlies is 3 dood en vyf gewond.
Die Middelburgers was ook tweemaal slaags met die viand met goeie gevolg. `n Burger wat aan een van die gevegte deelgeneem het, het my gesê dat die Engelse dik oormekaar dood gelê het.
Ene Coetzee, die staatsvervolger van Lydenburg, Jack Hindon, en nog enige burgers het verlede week van kakie in die nag op die dorp Middelburg 200 osse, 72 perde en 10 muile gebuit.
28.06.1901 : Ons slaap vanaand by die kobaltmyne. Vandag by elf plase verby ; al die huise is afgebrand, die vrugtebome en tuine verwoes, en die vroue en kinders as krygsgevangenes weggevoer. Waens, karre, alle huisraad, alle klere en beddegoed behalwe wat die vroue en kinders aan lyf had, word op `n hoop gestapel en aan die brand gesteek. Sonder komberse of `n vel moes die arme mense, soms met klein babetjies, te voet oor die koue Hoëveld. God slaap. Ja, vas ook.
( Die skrywer moes vanaf Belfast of Middelburg te perd gereis het, want inskrywings dae tevore verwys hy na brongitis wat hy weens die koue op die Hoëveld opgedoen het. Die kobaltmyne waarna verwys word is aan die suidelike kant van die kopreeks in die omgewing waar die Kruisrivier in die Selonsrivier in loop, in die Loskopvallei. )
14.07.1901 : Sondag. Vanmore berig gekom dat kakie met 400 man van Bothasberg by die kobaltmyne aftrek. Ons maak nou alles gereed vir die vlug indien nodig. Ons staan nou `n uur van Olifantsrivier by `n fontein in dik struike. More sal Genls. Viljoen en Muller in posisie wees langs Selousrivier ( moet wees Selonsrivier ), om daar so ver moontlik die vyand se deurtog te belet.
15.07.1901 : Met rooidag vertrek, saam met enige burgers wat hierheen gevlug het met hulle families, na die plaas van Job Smit, waar die geveg sal plaasvind. Toe ons daar kom, vlieg die bomme oral ; bom-maxims en gewere is ook hard besig. Vroeg in die geveg het dit geblyk dat ons teenoor die vyand se oormag die poort nie sou kon hou nie. Uit die bedryf van hulle ambulanse, en die feit dat hulle nie probeer het om ons te agtervolg nie, het ons opgemaak dat kakie goed seergekry het ; aan ons kant is een van Genl. Viljoen se mense dodelik deur die maag gewond ( verwys na die boek van W.H. Ackerman, getiteld “ Opsaal “ – Francois Louw ) en het in die slag gebly ; drie is lig gewond. ( Daar is later verneem uit gerugte van swart inwoners in die omgewing, dat tussen 50 en 60 Engelse gesneuwel het, met ongeveer 100 gewond. Op 24.07.1901 vertel die skrywer dat daar nog gesneuwelde kakies by die kobaltmyne gevind is . )
Foto van Jacobus (Job/Joof) Smit se graf, asook die graf van sy seun wat weens `n slangbyt oorlede is (“ Ten gevolge van eenen slangen beet na een smartelyk lyden van vier uuren “) Die plaas (Roodepoort) waar die skermutseling plaasgevind het behoort nou aan Arie Smit en Andre Wessels van Mid Alarms.
Pieter Johannes Erasmus se graf op die plaas Roodepoort. Oorlede op 23 Desember 1849, 15 jaar voor Middelburg gestig is. ( Ohrigstad 1845 / Lydenburg 1850 / Pretoria 1855 )
`n Uittreksel uit die boek “ OPSAAL “ Geskryf deur W.H. Ackerman
Bladsy 234 –
SES BROERS OP KOMMANDO
“ Met die uitbreek van die oorlog in 1899, was ons op die plaas Elandspruit, tussen Waterval-onder en Nooitgedagstasie woonagtig. My vader, Jan Francois Schutte, was hoofweginspekteur van die Oostelike Transvaal en het sy oudste vyf seuns, Jan, Christiaan, Philip, Marthinus en Daniel dadelik op kommando laat gaan toe hulle opgekommandeer is. Ek ( Francois ) wat toe maar 15 jaar oud was, en my broer Wessel wat net ouer as ek was, het agtergebly om die boerdery te behartig. “
Bladsy 259 – SWAAR GEWOND
“Dit was Augustus 1901 en ons kommando van sowat 300 man was aan die voet van die berg by Kranspoort in die omgewing van Elandslaagte. Genl. Muller was met sy kommando naby Cobaltmyn en ons het gewag op `n versterking van 200 van sy manne om die geweldige oormag Engelse wat uit Elandslaagte aan kom was, daar voor te keer. Ons spioene is vooruitgestuur, terwyl ons kommando agtermekaar gery het om met `n voetpad bo-op die berg uit te kom, waar ons die vyand op Bankplaas sou gaan voorlê.
Ek was saam met Kapt. Trichardt en nog vyf man wat vooruit gery het toe ons van ons spioene verneem dat alles bo-op die rant veilig was, en die Engelse nêrens te sien was nie. Toe ons by die poort uitkom, moes ons wag sodat ons mense almal kon uitkom, maar terwyl ons nog daar gestaan het, het mense uit die oorkantse rant met hulle hoede vir ons gestaan en wink. Ons het gedink dat dit ons spioene was. Kapt. Trichardt het ons bevel om soontoe te ry en daar vir die res van die kommando te wag.
Ons was skaars in die skaduwee en omtrent 70 meter van die rant af, toe kraak die hele wêreld soos op ons geskied word, en met die omdraai kry ek `n skoot deur die maag. Gelukkig kon ek so in die jaag vir my maat, klein Loek Trichardt, skree om my geweer te vat omdat ek gewond was, want pas `n minuut daarna was ek heeltemal blind.
Ek het my bewussyn behou en in die saal gebly, terwyl my perd my onder die bui van gonsende koeëls uitgedra het. Meteens het hy vasgesteek en nadat hy die vierde maal met my in die rondte getol het, het ek iemand hoor skree : ‘ Wat maak jy? Pasop man, gee my jou teuels. ‘ Dit was Jan van Dyk, maar ek kon hom nie sien nie, en toe hy sien dat ek gewond is en dat die bloed by my skoene uitdrup, het hy net die teuels gegryp en met my onder die krans geja. Ek kon nie verder nie en wou ek hê hy moes my daar laat bly, maar daarvan wou hy nie hoor nie.
Die berg was vol ongediertes en onderkant die krans was `n steil val van meer as `n honderd voet. Hy wou my nie verlaat nie, maar het aangehou soebat dat ek moet probeer opklim, dan kon ons net nog 100 tree onder die koeëls uitja en veilig agter `n dwarsrant inkom. Terwyl ek daar onder die krans gesit het en die koeëlgat voor en agter toegedruk het om die bloeding te stop, het ek my gesig stadigaan herwin, sodat Jan my later op die perd kon help en ons veilig weggekom het.
Hy het vooruitgery om hulp te gaan soek, en ek het solank op `n stappie aangesukkel. Luit. Van Zyl en Janson, `n Duitser, het kort voor sononder by my aangesluit en ons het later weer vir Jan van Dyk gekry op pad terug nadat hy reëlings getref het dat vk. Spies en sy mense verder vorentoe sou wag om my die berg af te vervoer.
Dit was al donker toe ons op die spits kom, maar daar was g`n spoor van die ander mense nie en ons moes die berg af waar g`n bobbejaan dit in die dag met `n kierie sou waag nie. Die Duitser het `n plan gemaak, die vier perde agtermekaar met die teuels aan die sterte vasgemaak, hulle laat aflei, my op die rug gesit en die berg afgedra. `n Ruk daarna het ons brandwagte om `n vuurtjie op die hoofpad tussen Elandslaagte en Cobaltmyne teëgekom . maar van Dyk wou my nie daar laat nie, en het my dieselfde aand nog vervoer tot by `n plaas nie ver daarvandaan nie.
Die volgende dag het Genl. Muller sy kommando`s bymekaar gehad, want hy wou slag lewer met die Engelse wat van Witpoort af aan die kom was. Hulle het my tot op die afgebrande plaas van Joof Smit geneem, en omdat daar nie `n dokter of ambulans in die nabyheid was nie, besluit om my daar te laat totdat die Engelse my kon optel. Daar was `n kamertjie waaroor hulle los sinkplate met klippe daarop gesit het, en nadat hulle `n wit vlag daar opgehang het en my gegroet het, het hulle vertrek.
Vroeg die volgende oggend was daar Engelse daar en die eerste kêrel wat my in die kamertjie ontdek het, was `n Boer wat die Engelse gelei het. Die geveg het intussen begin, twee tommies is op die werf doodgeskiet en ek kon hoor hoe Genl. Muller se artillariste met die pom-poms wat hy by Wilmansrust gebuit het, dan links dan regs van die kamertjie op die Engelse losgebrand het.
Die tommies het gou agtergekom dat my kamertjie die veiligste was, want hulle het natuurlik van my geweet en nie daarop geskiet nie, sodat die kamertjie naderhand so vol soldate gestaan het dat daar nie plek vir `n muis was nie.
Laat die middag het die geveg bedaar en die Engelse het my met `n bokwa vervoer tot waar hulle sowat vyf myl verder langs die Olifantsrivier gaan kampeer het. Daar het ek vanuit die tentjiebok gesien hoedat hulle dooie tommies uit die ambulanse sleep en in `n lang sloot agter die waens inrol. Hoeveel daar gesneuwel het, weet ek nie, maar dit was al donker toe hulle nog dooies oor die rooi slootwal gestoot het. “
Memorial and British graves in the Middelburg Cemetery
Extracts from “ The War Reporter – The Aanglo-Boer War through the eyes of the Burghers “
WEEKLY EDITION NUMBER 41
DATED 21 JULY 1900 KHAKIS TARGET BOER CIVILIANS
“The British commander-in-chief had in earlier proclamations guaranteed the safety of civilians, but those promises are now being dishonoured. Botha immediately protested against Roberts`s envisaged actions. Nevertheless the British yesterday sent 412 women and children by train – loaded on open cattle trucks, even though it is midwinter – to van der Merwe Station on the eastern railway line. The Transvaal government immediately took steps to provide accommodation in wagons for these homeless people .“
“It is reported from Middelburg that a large number of women and children will be accommodated in the recently erected Town Hall building.“
WEEKLY EDITION NUMBER 48
DATED 01 JANUARY 1901
OTHER GLORIOUS BOER VICTORIES IN THE TRANSVAAL
BRITISH SUPPLY TRAIN CAPTURE ON EASTERN RAILWAY LINE
“ The burghers in the eastern Transvaal scored a very welcome success against the Khakis on the eastern railway line on 24 December. Lieutenant Colonel Fanie Trichard and his men captured a whole trainload of supplies, including Christmas presents meant for the Khakis, at Uitkyk Station, east of Middelburg. “
British fort / blockhouseWEEKLY EDITION NUMBER 42
DATED 28 JULY 1900 DEVELOPMENTS EAST OF PRETORIA
“ By Monday afternoon ( 23 July ) the British vanguard was already approaching the valley of the Olifants River. Botha`s burghers did not allow then to proceed unhindered. They fired on the Khakis from every vantage point. “
“ In the meantime, burghers and Khakis locked horns in a heavy battle on the eastern banks of the Olifants River, south of the railway line. “
WEEKLY EDITION NUMBER 50
DATED 01 MARCH 1901
THE MIDDELBURG CONFERENCE
“ Middelburg, 28 February – Today Commandant-General Louis Botha and General Lord Kitchener held a five-hour long discussion in the eastern Transvaal town of Middelburg.
The subject was the possible ending of the war. The two military commanders even discussed possible peace terms. However, since Kitchener insisted that the Republics be incorporated into the British Empire, it is out of the question for the Republican Government to accept the conditions. It is however clear that to continue the struggle is our only option. “
WEEKLY EDITION NUMBER 52
DATED 01 MAY 1901
ON THE BATTLEFIELD FRONT
“ On the day of the destruction of the Long Tom, Viljoen`s men began to lose hope and he himself began wondering if they would ever shake off the Khakis. At that stage Lieutenant Colonel Fanie Trichard of the State Artillery joined them.
“Trichard – “ I knew that the enemy had occupied all the drifts, but that there was one drift across the Olifants River where I had to haul a gun through the river 17 years ago in the war against Nyabela. “ “ That evening all of us, about 600 men, trekked through valley and over hill to the west. At Maleoskop we passed within 1 000 meters of a British unit. “ “ The whole column then proceeded to the drift at Hoogenbomen, where we went through the river in dead silence in single file. “
British fort / blockhouse
WEEKLY EDITION NUMBER 54
DATED 01 JULY 1901
BOERS REPULSE KHAKIS AT WILMANSRUST
“ In the veld in the eastern Transvaal, 30 June – Last month there was hardly any military activity on this front. Only two noteworthy clashes between Boer and Brit took place. The first was on 12 June, when the burghers of General Muller attacked a British unit of some 350 men at Wilmansrust on the Highveld between Middelburg and Ermelo and overpowered them in the dark. These Khakis were Australians of the 5th Victorian Rifles. Their commander in battle was Major Morris. “
WEEKLY EDITION NUMBER 55
DATED 01 AUGUST 1901
MIXED FORTUNES IN TRANSVAAL
FIGHTING IN THE EASTERN TRANSVAAL
“ A huge setback was suffered by the Transvaal forces on 20 July when the respected Heidelberg General, Cornelius Spruyt, was killed in action near Val Station “
“ Since the day before yesterday a British army commanded by General Walter Kitchener has repeatedly attached the burghers of Generals Ben Viljoen and Chris Muller near Middelburg, hear in the eastern Transvaal. At times the burghers were under severe pressure, but fortunately they evaded the claws of the Khaki`s “
WEEKLY EDITION NUMBER 59
DATED 01 DECEMBER 1901
THE WAR IN THE REPUBLICS
“ A further setback for the Boers followed on 26 November when Commandant D. Joubert was captured in the eastern Transvaal. On the same day 80 burghers of Middelburg sent a petition to General Ben Viljoen in which they indicated that they refused to serve any longer under Lieutenant Colonel Fanie Trichard. Viljoen answered two days later that he respected Trichard`s appointment and called all the burghers to stand together in fighting for their freedom. “
“ Burgher Frederik Rothmann told our correspondent that they are still full of confidence, having heard that the enemy despairs of even catching all the burghers. Their attempts to starve out the Republics will never work, he says. “
Boere krygers ontspan
Extracts from “ The War Reporter – The Anglo-Boer War throught the eyes of the Burghers“ - Our Military Officers
LIEUTENANT COLONEL FANIE TRICHARD
“ Stephanus Petrus Erasmus Trichard comes from a very well-known Afrikaans family. His grandfather was the Voortrekker leader Louis Trichard and his father the adventurer and traveler Carolus Johannes Trichard.Trichard was born in 1849 in Orighstad and grew up in the Lydenburg district. As a young adult he farmed in the Middelburg district and he knows that area like the palm of his hand.
Trichard is a man with extensive military experience. He was barely 13 years old when he participated in a campaign against a black community for the first time.
In 1889 Trichard was elected Commandant of the Middelburg district. “
“ Gideon Jacobus Scheepers was born in the Middelburg district in the Transvaal in 1878. He was the eldest son of Jacobus Johannes Scheepers and his wife Sophia Charlotte van der Merwe. Scheepers spent his boyhood years on the farms Grootlaagte and Roodepoort in the vicinity of Middelburg and received his basic education in farm schools.
In May 1901 he was promoted to the rank of Commandant. It is estimated that his commando took more than 1 300 Khakis prisoner of war. “
Military History Journal Volume 12 Number 1 – June 2001
OLIVER “ JACK “ HINDON, BOER HERO AND TRAIN WRECKER
“ Oliver “ Jack “ Hindon was born in Sterling, Scotland, on 20 April 1874. He joined the army at a young age (only about 14 years old) as a “ band boy “ and was sent to Zululand, where he deserted. He then went to live in Wakkerstroom, and during the Jameson Raid in 1895/6, he fought so bravely on the side of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR) forces that he was immediately made a full citizen .Four years later, at the start of the Anglo-Boer War, Hindon joined the Middelburg Commando. At the battle of Spioenkop, Hindon once again showed great bravery under enemy fire when he flew the Vierkleur on the summit of the hill. It was then that he formed his own scout unit which proved so successful that Lord Kitchener stated that Hindon caused him many more problems than the Boer. Hindon and his men would become notorious train-wreckers, particularly along the Delgoa Bay Railway Line where they fought under the command of General Viljoen with Captain Henri Slegtkamp and his men. “
Guide to the Anglo Boer War in the Eastern Transvaal – Gert & Erica v.d. Westhuizen
Gert & Erica v.d. Westhuizen
“ After the war he married a Boer girl. He died on 19 March 1919. “
“ Jack Hendon was a renowned Boer Scout and lies buried at the top of the cemetery in Middelburg. “
Verwoeste plaas opstal
Boere ten volle uitgerus
Captain H.F. Slegtkamp had a very restless nature and was always looking for adventure. As a young man he was already fighting in the ZAR against hostile black tribes. He also was in the force that stopped the Jameson invasion during 1895/1896.
“ This is the grave of Jacobus Pertus Toerien. He wrote under the pen-name of Jepete. The epitaph on his grave reads “ JEPETE responsible for the translation of SARIE MARAIS “
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote the following after the Anglo Boer War
“Take a community of Dutch of the type of those who defended themselves for 50 years against all the power of Spain at a time when Spain was the greatest power in the world. Intermix with them a strain of those inflexible French Huguenots, who gave up their name and left their country forever at a time of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The product must obviously be one of the most rugged, virile, unconquerable races ever seen upon the face of the earth.
Take these people and train them for 7 generations in constant warfare against savage men and ferocious beasts, in circumstances in which no weakling could survive; place them so that they acquire skill with weapons and in horsemanship, give them a country which is eminently suited to the tactics of the huntsman, marksman and the rider. Then, finally, put a fine temper upon their military qualities by dour fatalistic Old Testament religion and an ardent and consuming patriotism.
Combine all these qualities and all these impulses in one individual and you have the modern Boer – the most formidable antagonist who ever crossed the path of Imperial Britain. Our military history has largely consisted in our conflicts with France, but Napoleon and all his veterans have never treated us so roughly as these barb-bitten farmers with their ancient theology and their inconveniently modern rifles.
Look at the map of South Africa, and there, in the very centre of the British possessions, like a stone in a peach, lies the great stretch of the two republics, a mighty domain for so small a people. How came they there ? Who are these Teutonic folk who have burrowed so deeply into Africa? It is a twice-told tale, and yet it must be told once again if this story is to have even the most superficial of introductions.
No one can know or appreciate the Boer who does not know his past, for he is what the past has made him. “
Volunteers from Finland and Scandinavia
LongTom in die Ladysmith omgewing
Britse Konsentrasie kamp
`n Uitgeteerde dogtertjie en seuntjie in een van die kampe
Genl. Christiaan de Wet