Battle of Boomplaats

Battle of Boomplaats
Part of the Great Trek
Battle of Boomplaats
Date 29 August 1848 Location near the Orange River Result British victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom	Boers
Commanders and leaders
Sir Harry Smith	Andries Pretorius
Strength
1,200	300-500
Casualties and losses
22	7

The Battle of Boomplaats (also referred to as the Battle of Boomplaas) was fought near

Sir Harry Smith assumed the role of Governor of the Cape in 1847 and begun to unravel the work of the previous governor Sir Peregrine Maitland, who had reached agreements with the Basotho and the Griqua leaders which would help maintain British control of the region between the Vaal and Orange Rivers.^[2]: 152 Smith declared to the Griqua leader Adam Kok that all rent of their land to colonists would be given to the British Crown as opposed to the Griqua leaders getting half of it, while at the meeting with Basotho King Moshoeshoe, he declared while the white farmers would remain on the land in the area, the hereditary land rights of the native chiefs in the area would be maintained after a proclamation of the proposed Orange River Sovereignty.^[3]: 140

The Boers had an interest in land that stretched from

• four companies
  Cape Mounted Rifles^[5][4]
• two companies Rifle Brigade
• two companies
  45th Regiment
• two companies 91st Highlanders Regiment
• three field guns Royal Artillery
• Sappers unit
• Medical unit
• 200-250 Griquas - Andries Waterboer and Adam Kok

Boers - Commandant-General Andries Pretorius

• 300-500 Boer commandos

Battle

On the morning of 29 August 1848, the British column stopped at a farm at Touwfontein for their morning meal and at this time Sir Harry Smith was told that Pretorius' force was 19 km away on low hills behind which was a river, across which was a farm called Boomplaats and a higher range behind it with the road heading through a pass.^[5][4] By early afternoon, British forces arrived at a flat plain in front of Pretorius' location in the hills and with Smith leading a reconnaissance party to a ridge where they were surprised by the Boers.^[4] He divided his forces for an attack with his left flank consisting of the Cape Mounted Rifles, the 45th Regiment in the centre and the Rifle Brigade on the right flank while 91st Regiment became his reserve.^[5] The 45th Regiment came under heavy fire but achieved their objectives when the reserve was called in to assist them. The Rifle Brigade on the right flank would also take their objectives. The Boers attempted to round the British left flank and attack the wagon train in the rear but were stopped by the Cape Mounted Rifles and the Boer hill positions were taken.^[5] The battle was said to have lasted about four hours with the Boers moving from ridge to ridge before Pretorius' forces retreated toward Winburg.^[4] The British forces followed for a few kilometers before darkness fell and continued the following day but the Boers were gone.^[4] A field hospital was set up later at the Boomplaats farmhouse for the casualties sustained in the fighting.^[4]

Aftermath

Boer casualties are recorded in memorials as 9 killed and 7 wounded while a British government notice of the time records the rebel casualties as 49 killed and possibly 150 wounded.^[4] British memorials record 16 killed and while other records mention as many as 45 wounded and 6 Griquas killed though and a high number of unrecorded wounded.^[4]

Pretorius now retreated to safety to the lands across the Vaal River with a bounty of £1000 announced for his capture while Henry Warden returned to Bloemfontein as the British Resident.^[3]: 142

Due to limited financial and military resources available to British in the Orange River Sovereignty they struggled to maintain control of the boundaries in this territory and saw the possibility of the Boers being used to maintain the security of the remaining British colonies if latter controlled them.