Battle of Blaauwberg

Today’s installment concludes Great Britain Acquires Cape Colony,
our selection from A history of South Africa, from the first settlement by the Dutch, 1652, to the year 1903 by Henry A. Bryden published in 1903.

If you have journeyed through all of the installments of this series, just one more to go and you will have completed a selection from the great works of five thousand words. Congratulations! For works benefiting from the latest research see the “More information” section at the bottom of these pages.

Previously in Great Britain Acquires Cape Colony.

Time: 1806
Place: Cape Town

The blow fell at last. On a beautiful evening, January 4, 1806, a great English fleet, numbering, with transports, sixty three sail, stood in past Robben Island —- the “Isle of Seals” -— which guards the entrance to Table Bay. Ship after ship came to anchor opposite the majestic range of Blaauwberg, that rugged chain which, viewed from Cape Town, stands a hazy blue or soft purple in the distance. Sir Howe Popham commanded the fleet, while the land forces, destined for the assault of the Cape, numbered between six thousand and seven thousand men. These were under the leadership of Major-General Sir David Baird, a tried and veteran officer, whose merits had already been tested in India, Egypt, and other parts of the world. Baird had served at the Cape during the British occupation, and had excellent knowledge of the opposition he might expect to meet.

By midday on the 6th the British general’s preparations for a landing were complete. Four warships, the Diadem, Leader, Encounter, and Protector, had moved inshore so as to command the heights above the Blaauwberg Strand, the glittering shore of silvery white sand where the landing was to be made. The sea was rough and the disembarkation by no means an easy one. A few Dutch sharpshooters were posted upon the hillside, but the heavy guns of the British warships effectually did their work, and in the whole of the landing no more than four soldiers were wounded, and one killed, by the enemy’s fire. One boat, however, was swamped, and thirty soldiers of the Ninety-third Highlanders were unfortunately drowned. On this day was landed the Highland brigade, under Brigadier-General Ferguson, consisting of the Seventy-first, Seventy-second, and Ninety-third regiments. On the 7th a second brigade, comprising the Twenty fourth, Fifty-ninth, and the Eighty-third regiments, was safely disembarked. Next morning the two brigades began their march for Cape Town, which lay about eighteen miles distant. Baird had under his command four thousand men, most of them veteran troops, as well as five hundred seamen. He was but moderately provided with artillery; the Dutch had the advantage of him in this respect, bringing into action sixteen guns as against his eight cannon. General Janssens, to oppose the British advance, had collected a mixed force, variously estimated at from three thousand to five thousand men. Of these some were troops of the Batavian Republic, many were mounted burghers —- good shots and hardy men of the veldt —- some were German mercenaries, others French seamen and marines, the crews of two wrecked vessels, the Atalanta and Napoleon. Besides these white troops he had an excellent regiment of six hundred Hottentots and a number of trained Malay gunners.

Before dawn on the morning of January 8th the British troops were in motion. A cloud of Dutch skirmishers and sharpshooters were driven back on their main body, and, at six o’clock in the morning, rounding the spur of the Blaauwberg, Sir David Baird saw before him the formidable-looking Dutch array. To prevent the possibility of being outflanked, Baird now extended his lines and ordered the Highland Brigade, composing his left wing, to advance. The engagement opened with a hot artillery fire upon both sides, followed by musketry. The Dutch stood their ground boldly and answered shot for shot. The Highlanders were, however, as usual, not to be denied, and getting to close quarters and charging with the bayonet, the enemy broke and fled, the Waldeck battalion of Dutch regular troops being the first to give way. The battle was won, and the victorious British, looking across to the white houses and citadel of Cape Town, saw before them the first-fruits of their victory. Baird and his men had indeed done a good day’s work for England. Never since that January morning of 1806 has the British flag failed to flutter over the Cape Peninsula.

[Still part of the British Commonwealth, – ED]

The losses of the Dutch in this engagement — the Battle of Blaauwberg, as it is called — were heavy. Some writers have put the number of killed, wounded, and missing as low as three hundred thirty-seven. Others have placed it as high as seven hundred. Probably the actual number lies between these two computations. Upon the British side two hundred twelve were killed, wounded, and missing. General Janssens had, after his defeat, retreated to the mountains of Hottentots-Holland, east ward of Cape Town, where he had accumulated magazines and stores. He had now no real chance of success, however, and he knew it. On the day following the battle Baird resumed his march, and occupied a fort on the outskirts of Cape Town. Upon the following day articles were signed and the town was formally delivered up by the officer commanding. Janssens himself capitulated eight days later, and under terms of the agreement was, with his troops and most of the Dutch civil servants, embarked in British vessels, during the month of March, for Holland. The last semblance of Batavian authority at the Cape thenceforth disappeared.

In 1813 the Prince of Orange returned from exile and was reinstated in Holland. At the conclusion of the Napoleonic struggle, the Prince, now King of the Netherlands, in consideration of the sum of six million pounds sterling, formally ceded the Cape of Good Hope, together with other trifling settlements, to the British. By this time the Cape Dutch were becoming resigned to their new masters, more especially in the vicinity of the Cape, where the rich and better class of colonists resided.

Here the two races mingled, and even married freely, one with the other. In the back country, where the colonists —- the real Boers of South Africa —- were of a much ruder and more primitive type, intercourse with the British was necessarily far more restricted.

This ends our series of passages on Great Britain Acquires Cape Colony by Henry A. Bryden from his book A history of South Africa, from the first settlement by the Dutch, 1652, to the year 1903 published in 1903. This blog features short and lengthy pieces on all aspects of our shared past. Here are selections from the great historians who may be forgotten (and whose work have fallen into public domain) as well as links to the most up-to-date developments in the field of history and of course, original material from yours truly, Jack Le Moine. – A little bit of everything historical is here.

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