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This cache is located in the Magersfontein Battlefield area. It can be accessed Monday to Sunday from 08:00 to 16:00. The coordinates given is for the cache. You will need to enter the Battlefield area to find the cache.
Entrance fee is R20.00 per person.
Battle of Magersfontein, December 11, 1899
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The Battle of Magersfontein is the second of the battles included in the Black Week
of the Second Boer War of 1899 to 1902. It was fought on December 11, 1899 at Magersfontein near
Kimberley on the borders of the Cape Colony and the Orange Free State. General Piet Cronje
and his Boer troops defeated British troops under Lord Methuen.
Background
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In the early days of the war, the Boers had surrounded and laid siege to the town of Kimberley,
the diamond centre of South Africa, in which Cecil Rhodes was trapped. When substantial British
reinforcements arrived in South Africa, they were dispersed to several fronts. The 1st Division
under Lord Methuen was despatched to relieve Kimberley.Lacking adequate transport, Methuen was
forced to advance along the Cape Railway line, making the direction of his approach obvious.
Nevertheless, his army drove the Boers out of their defensive positions at Belmont and the Modder
River, and were within 16 miles (26 km) of Kimberley.
The action at the Modder River had temporarily exhausted both sides. Methuen was forced to delay
at the river crossing for several days while supplies and reinforcements were brought forward and
the railway bridge (which the Boers had previously blown up) was repaired. This gave the Boers
time to recover their morale and reorganise. There had been disagreements between the Free State
Boers under Marthinus Prinsloo and the Transvaalers under Piet Cronje and Koos de la Rey. President
Martinus Theunis Steyn of the Orange Free State attended a krijgsraad (council of war) which
encouraged the Boers to make a further stand.
At a second council of war, de la Rey successfully argued that the Boers should move forward from
the range of hills at Spytfontein, where they first intended to stand, to Magersfontein only a few
miles north of the Modder River. De la Rey also persuaded the Boers not to occupy the prominent
Magersfontein Hills, but to dig trenches at the foot of the hills. This made the best use of the
flat trajectory of the Boers' Mauser rifles.
British preparations
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Methuen had been reinforced by the Highland Brigade under Major General Wauchope. Methuen planned
to send the Highlanders forward in a night advance to attack at dawn on December 11. He first sent
his artillery forward on December 10 to make a preliminary bombardment of Magersfontein Hill.
The gunners did not know about the Boer trenches and instead wasted several hundred shells on
Magersfontein Hill, harming practically no Boers.
Wauchope's brigade set out after midnight on December 10 in heavy rain. The column consisted of the
2nd Black Watch leading, with the 2nd Seaforth Highlanders, 1st Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
and 1st Highland Light Infantry following. A night march in close column followed by deployment into
open order for the dawn assault had been standard British tactics since the Battle of Tel el-Kebir
in 1882, but at Magersfontein, there were delays caused by belts of rock and thorn scrub, and by
compasses being nearly useless in a thunderstorm on terrain littered with ironstone. The brigade
arrived roughly where they intended, but they were late. Wauchope's guide, Major Benson of the Royal
Artillery, urged Wauchope to deploy the brigade into open order before dawn broke, but Wauchope
insisted that they get closer to Magersfontein kopje before they deployed.
The Battle
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The Boers had spotted the Highlanders when they were about nine hundred yards away, but held their fire.
Finally, when they were only four hundred yards away from the trenches, Wauchope ordered the brigade to
deploy. Seconds later, the Boers opened fire.
The dense column was caught while changing formation and was thrown into confusion. General Wauchope
was killed by the first volley. Some of the Black Watch, leading the column, charged the Boer
trenches. A few actually broke through and were climbing Magersfontein Kopje when they were engaged
by Boer parties (including one led by General Cronje himself) and were killed or captured. Others
became entangled in a wire farm fence in front of the trenches and were shot there, in a grim foretaste
of the Western Front in World War I. The remaining three battalions of the Highland Brigade were unable
to advance or retreat, and had to lie on the veld, tormented by ants and thirst.
Methuen was unable to send help to them. His artillery continued to pound the kopje and missed the Boer
trenches. The cavalry and Guards Brigade tried to prevent Boers working round the right flank of the
highlanders. A Scandinavian volunteer corps of 70 men fighting for the Boers who occupied an advanced
position were wiped out, but in mid-afternoon the Highland Brigade broke and retreated under heavy fire.
As they tried to rally out of effective rifle range, the Boer artillery opened fire for the first time,
causing further disorder and making it impossible to renew the attack.
Magersfontein Battlefield
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Various monuments have been erected to commemorate the Battle of Magersfontein. Some of these include:
a. Highland Brigade Memorial.
b. Scandinavian Memorial.
c. Krupp Gun site.
On the grounds you can visit the lookout point in the hills of Magersfontein from where you can survey the
battlefield. At the lookout point you will find a scale model of the battlefield, indicating the posititions
of the various forces prior to and during the battle. After visiting the lookout point you can walk down into
the physical trenches from which the Boer Forces faught. Amazing to note when you are down here is to where
Lord Wauchope was killed.
After your visit to the battlefield, walk up to the museum on top of the hill. Here you will find replicas of
uniforms worn by both sides, weapons and cannons and various other instuments of war. Hanging over head is the
names of the men who fell during this battle. Then, finally, enter into the Boer Trench in the museum and
experience what the morning of the battle was like in a simulation of the battle.
It is said that in the early morning hours of December 11, the lanterns of the nurses can be seen combing the
battlefield for their dead and a lone Scottish Piper can be heard playing in the distance.
Additional Information
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Entrance fee: R 10.00 per person
Admission times: 08:00 until 16:45
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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