Battlefields: History: The
Voortrekkers: Battle of Blood River: N Worthington
16 December 1838
by Neville Worthington
By
the winter of 1838, the Voortrekkers in Natal had suffered innumerable setbacks
(Bloukrans; the murder of Retief and his party; and the Vlug Kommando had
failed to defeat Dingane). Sickness and fever was rife in the laagers and the
livestock was suffering from lack of grazing.
On
the 23rd of September, leader Gerrit Maritz died. A deputation from
Natal was sent to Andries Pretorius to ask for support.
In
October Pretorius gathered a convoy of 68 wagons in the Cape and arrived at
Sooi laager on the 22nd of November. Pretorius was duly elected
Commandant and on the 27th of November the Commando left to march
directly to the Zulu capital, Umgungundlovu. The force consisted of 464
Voortrekkers plus 3 English Settlers (one of whom was Alexander Biggar) and 120
Port Natal natives.
On
arriving in Waschbank, Sarel Cilliers led the commando in prayer and pledging
that if God granted them victory, they would consecrate that day and keep it
Holy.
Moving
on past the present day Dundee, the Commando made contact with groups of Zulu
warriors. On the 14th of December, they came to the site of what is
today Blood River.
The
site that Andries Pretorius had chosen to stand and face the Zulu army was well
selected. It was bordered on one side by the Ncome River (Blood River), with a
deep donga on the east side. A laager of 64 wagons was formed and here the
Voortrekkers awaited the Zulu attack, which began on the 16th of December
1838, the height of summer in the southern tip of Africa.
The
morning of the 16th dawned misty. The Zulu army, led by Ndlela and
Dambuza, had lost contact with some of their regiments in the mist and they did
not attack as a combined force but in separate groups.
The
Voortrekkers, with their canon loaded with pieces of metal and any metal
fragments such as broken pot legs, cut swathes into the Zulu regiments. The
warriors took shelter in the donga where they were so densely packed that the
Voortrekkers poured a devastating fire into these forces, causing most of the
casualties.
The
Voortrekkers then pursued the Zulu on horseback. They ran into the river, where
they were killed in great numbers, causing the water to turn red - thus giving
the name Blood River. The Battle of Blood River was over.
Some 3000 Zulu warriors were killed. The Voortrekkers suffered 3 wounded.
http://members.tripod.com/~Meerkat_2/ebloed.html