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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.
The Voortrekkers halted a 1000m from the Zulu warriors on top of Italeni. [8] They noticed second column slowly advancing across the plain between Italeni and the Nzololo. Uys gave Potgieter a choice as to which impi he would like to attack. Potgieter chose the one on the plain, while Uys decided to attack the hill in front of the commando.
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]
The carronade used during the battle on an improvised carriage Andries Pretorius brought with him from the Cape. The trekkers—called Voortrekkers after 1880 [4] —had to defend themselves after the betrayal murder of chief Trekker leader Piet Retief and his entire entourage, and ten days later the Weenen/Bloukrans massacre where "not a soul was spared."
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 ...
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 ...
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.
During the Great Trek, many people, mostly from the eastern part of the Cape Colony, went north, to areas not under control of the British colonies authorities. Because the Cape Dutch Reformed Church was seen by the trekkers as being an agent of the Cape government, they also did not trust its ministers and emissaries, seeing them as attempts ...