Kwazulu-Natal, ESTCOURT district, Rensburg Koppie Voortrekker Site

20 November 2012 3 images Share: Facebook , Twitter , Google+

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Cemetery information: This was the encampment of Johannes van Rensburg, Wilhelmus Pretorius and the Harmse and Loggenberg families. It was attacked at about 09h00 on the 17th February 1838 by between 1000 and 1500 Amabutho led by eManzimdaba, who was killed when Marthinus Oosthuizen arrived on the scene to discover that the Trekkers, who had taken refuge on a koppie at the end of the Malanspruit valley, were running out of powder. Oosthuizen managed to locate some bags of powder and rode through the attackers to deliver it to the defenders. While searching for the powder, he discovered van Rensburg’s young daughter hiding under blankets in one of the wagons, and despite an attempt to save her, she was pulled from his grasp and killed. Her grave is one of the few Voortrekker graves actually found on a battlefield. (source: https://www.drakensbergexperience.com) Album complete. eGGSA captions done by: Alex van Niekerk. The GGSA Cemetery CD has record of the location only:- Cemetery ID: 4693 Google Earth Project Information:- GPSID: 5606 GPS: -29 0.790, 29 57.020