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The Great Trek was not universally popular among the settlers either. Around 12,000 of them took part in the migration, about a fifth of the colony's Dutch-speaking white population at the time. [2] [15] The Dutch Reformed Church, to which most of the Boers belonged, explicitly refused to endorse the Great Trek. [2]
Potgieter chose the one on the plain, while Uys decided to attack the hill in front of the commando. The pack horses were left here and Uys crossed the Nzololo. He continued along the deep pools of the Reed creek and crossed it some 120m further, swinging north to ascend Italeni Hill where the white shields were waiting.
Marthinus Jacobus Oosthuizen (October 14, 1818 – April 2, 1897) was a Voortrekker farmer known for his heroism in battle. He was born near Uitenhage and joined the "Groot Trek" (Great Trek). He became famous for his heroism during a battle on 16 February 1838 shortly after the murder of Piet Retief and his delegation, and the massacres of ...
The subsequent favourable reports of the Commission Treks resulted in many farmers leaving their farms and trekking into the interior of Southern Africa, in what later became known as the Great Trek. Uys sold his own farm in December 1836 and left the Uitenhage area with his party of 100 Voortrekkers (as they became known) in April 1837.
The conflict was the catalyst for Piet Retief's manifesto and the Great Trek. In total, 40 farmers (Boers) were killed and 416 farmhouses were burnt down. In addition, 5,700 horses, 115,000 head of cattle, and 162,000 sheep were plundered by Xhosa tribespeople. In retaliation, sixty thousand Xhosa cattle were taken or retaken by colonists.
His father was a Boer commandant in Transorangia during the last phase of the Great Trek. His mother was the sister-in law of former president M.W. Pretorius. [3] He travelled in the Great Trek with his parents and already at the age of 10 he accompanied his father at the Battle of Swartkoppies and at age 13 at the Battle of Boomplaats.
Cilliers was made the unofficial pastor of the Great Trek, and he would hold services on a daily basis and give Sunday Communion. During the Great Trek he became distinguished as a spiritual leader, earning him such names as The Prophet of the Great Trek and The Father of Dingaansdag (Dingane's Day). In 1837, he was appointed to one of the two ...
This plunged the Great Trek into temporary disarray. In total 534 men, women and children were killed in the Weenen massacre . Retief's death and the Weenen massacre eventually led to the decisive Voortrekker victory at Blood River , after which Andries Pretorius and his "victory commando" recovered the remains of the Retief party.