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Christiaan de Wet

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Christiaan Rudolf de Wet (7 October 1854 – 3 February 1922) was a Boer general, rebel leader and politician.[2]

Christiaan Rudolf de Wet
General CR de Wet
State President of the Orange Free State
Acting
In office
29 May 1902 – 31 May 1902
Preceded byMartinus Theunis Steyn
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Personal details
Born7 October 1854 (1854-10-07)[1]
Smithfield, Orange Free State
Died3 February 1922 (1922-02-04) (aged 67)[1]
Dewetsdorp, Orange Free State Province, Union of South Africa
NationalityAfrikaner
SpouseCornelia Margaretha Krüger
Children16
RelativesCarel de Wet (Grandson)
Piet de Wet (Brother)
ProfessionFarmer, Boer general, politician
Signature
NicknameThe Fighting General
Military service
Allegiance South African Republic (1880–1881, 1914)
 Orange Free State (1899–1902)
Years of service1880–1881, 1899–1902, 1914
RankFirst Boer War

Second Boer War

CommandsNatal and Transvaal Kommandos
Battles/warsSecond Boer War

Maritz Rebellion

Life

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Born on the Leeuwkop farm, in the district of Smithfield in the Boer Republic of the Orange Free State,[3] he later resided at Dewetsdorp, named after his father, Jacobus Ignatius de Wet. He married a woman named, Cornelia Margaretha Krüger, and together they had 16 children.[4] He also had a grandson that was born two years after his death, named, Carel de Wet.

Military career

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De Wet served in the First Boer War of 1880–81 as a field cornet,[3] taking part in the Battle of Majuba Hill, in which the Boers achieved a victory over a British force under the command of Major-General Sir George Pomeroy Colley. This eventually led to the end of the war and the reinstatement of the independence of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, more commonly known as the Transvaal Republic.

In the years between the First and Second Boer Wars, from 1881 to 1896, he lived on his farm, becoming a member of the Volksraad in 1897.[3]

Second Boer War

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In September 1899, de Wet and his three sons were called up as ordinary private burghers without any rank. He was a member of the Heilbron kommando and they were ordered to proceed to the Natal frontier.[5] On 11 October 1899, while he was reconnoitring the Natal frontier, De Wet was elected vice-commandant of Heilbron.[6] He participated in the fight at Nicholson's Nek on 30 October, when a detachment of 954 British troops surrendered.[7] Thereafter, he took part in the Siege of Ladysmith.[8]

On 9 December 1899, De Wet received a telegram from the State President, M.T. Steyn, informing him that he had been appointed a fighting general and was to proceed to the Western frontier.[9] He found General Piet Cronjé in command of the Boer forces ensconced at Magersfontein, south of Kimberley, while the British were at the Modder River. De Wet was to be Cronjé's second-in-command.[10] The British advance commenced on 11 February 1900, with General French outflanking Cronjé at Magersfontein and riding towards Kimberley.[11] De Wet's raid on the ox wagon convoy at Watervals Drift (Waterval Drift/Watervalsdrift), capturing 1600 oxen, did not stem the tide.[12] The Siege of Kimberley was relieved on 15 February, and Cronjé surrendered with 4000 men at Paardeberg on 27 February.[13] Shortly thereafter, de Wet was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Free State forces.[14] They could not contain the British advance towards the Free State capital, Bloemfontein, which was taken unopposed on 13 March 1900.[15]

His next successful action was the surprise attack on Sanna's Post near Bloemfontein on 31 March 1900. That was followed on 4 April by the victory of Reddersburg.[16] De Wet came to be regarded as the most formidable leader of the Boers in their guerrilla warfare. Sometimes almost captured by the British, sometimes escaping only by the narrowest of margins from the columns which attempted to surround him, and falling upon and capturing isolated British posts, De Wet continued his successful career to the end of the war, striking quickly where he could, and evading every attempt to bring him to bay.[3] His brother, Piet Daniel De Wet, another successful Boer general, was captured by the British in July 1901 and subsequently served against Christiaan as a member of the National Scouts, who were Boers serving with the British forces.[17]

During the last phase of the war, Afrikaner people in Winburg taunted the local British garrison with a parody of Sir Walter Scott's Bonnie Dundee:

De Wet he is mounted, he rides up the street
The English skedaddle an A1 retreat!
And the commander swore: They've got through the net
That's been spread with such care for Christiaan De Wet.

There are hills beyond Winburg and Boers on each hill
Sufficient to thwart ten generals' skill
There are stout-hearted burghers 10,000 men set
On following the Mausers of Christian De Wet.

Then away to the hills, to the veld, to the rocks
Ere we own a usurper we'll crouch with the fox
And tremble false Jingoes amidst all your glee
Ye have not seen the last of my Mausers and me![18]

De Wet took an active part in the peace negotiations of 1902. On 30 May 1902, he briefly took on the role of acting State President of the Orange Free State, when President Steyn had to leave the negotiations due to illness. De Wet was one of the signatories of the Treaty of Vereeniging.[19]

Political career

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At the conclusion of the war he visited Europe with other Boer generals. While in England the generals unsuccessfully sought a modification of the peace terms concluded in Pretoria. De Wet wrote an account of his campaigns, an English version of which appeared in November 1902 under the title De Stryd tusschen Boer en Brit (Three Years War). In November 1907, he was elected a member of the first parliament of the Orange River Colony and was appointed Minister of Agriculture. In 1908–09 he was a delegate to the Closer Union Convention.[3]

De Wet was one of the leaders of the Maritz Rebellion which broke out in 1914. One of his sons was killed in the uprising. De Wet himself was defeated at Mushroom Valley by General Botha on 12 November 1914, taken prisoner by CMDT Jorrie Jordaan (the commanding officer was Colonel Brits) on 1 December on a farm called Waterbury in the Northwest province near Tosca. The general remarked: "Thank God it is not an Englishman who captured me after all." He was sentenced to a term of six years imprisonment, with a fine of £2000 (£242,400 in 2024). He was released after one year's imprisonment, after giving a written promise to take no further part in politics. The rebellion also earned the nickname The Five Shillings Rebellion after De Wet remarked: "I was charged before [the Magistrate of Reitz] for beating a native boy. I only did it with a small shepherd's whip, and for that I was fined 5 [shillings]."[20]

De Wet progressively weakened and at length, on 3 February 1922, he died on his farm. General Smuts, who had become Prime Minister, cabled his widow: "A prince and a great man has fallen today." De Wet was given a state funeral in Bloemfontein and buried next to President Steyn and Emily Hobhouse at the foot of the memorial to the Boers who died in Second Boer War concentration camps. On the 100th anniversary of his birth, a bronze equestrian statue, by Coert Steynberg, was unveiled at the Raadzaal in Bloemfontein.

Legacy

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Christiaan de Wet monument, Hoge Veluwe, the Netherlands

De Wet distinguished himself in the Second Boer War and earned a reputation for bravery in the many battles that he fought in that conflict.[21] In the early 1920s, Irish republican leader Michael Collins was called "the Irish de Wet" by the British press.[22]

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"You've seen the Dublin Fusiliers,
The dirty old bamboozeleers,
De Wet'll kill them chiselers, one, two, three.
Marching from the Linen Hall
There's one for every cannonball,
And Vicky's going to send them all, o'er the sea.
But first go up to Monto, Monto, Monto
March them up to Monto, lan-ge-roo,
To you!"[26]

Bibliography

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Biographies

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  • Kestell, J.D., Christiaan de Wet – 'n lewensbeskrywing. De Nationale Pers Beperkt. Cape Town 1920. In Afrikaans.
  • Olivier, B., Krygsman Christiaan Rudolf de Wet – 'n lewensskets van Genl. C.R. de Wet. Tafelberg. Johannesburg 1971. In Afrikaans.
  • Pienaar, André Jacobus, Christiaan Roedolf de Wet in die Anglo-Boere oorlog. Unpublished M.A.-thesis, North-West University (Potchefstroomse Universiteit vir Christelike Hoër Onderwys), Potchefstroom, South Africa 1974. In Afrikaans. Full text PDF Pienaar_Andre Jacobus.pdf (23.46Mb).[27]
  • Rosenthal, E., General De Wet – A Biography. Simondium. Cape Town 1968. (General De Wet at the Internet Archive)
  • Scholtz, Leopold, Generaal Christiaan de Wet as Veldheer. Protea. Pretoria 2003. In Afrikaans.
  • Van Schoor, M.C.E., Christiaan Rudolf de Wet – Krygsman en Volksman. Protea. Pretoria 2007. In Afrikaans.
  • van Schoor M (1976). "De Wet, Christiaan Rudolph". In De Kock WJ, Krüger DW, Beyers CJ, Basson JL (eds.). Dictionary of South African Biography Vol I (2nd ed.). Cape Town: Tafelberg-Uitgewers. pp. 233–240. ISBN 0624008568. OCLC 1063845175.

Publications

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  • De Wet, Christiaan Rudolf, De strijd tusschen Boer en Brit : de herinnering van den Boeren-generaal C.R. de Wet. Höveker & Wormser, Amsterdam, 1902. In Dutch. (Translated title: The battle between Boer and Brit : reminiscences of the Boer general C.R. de Wet.)

Translations:

  • Der Kampf zwischen Bur und Brite – Der dreijährige Krieg. Siwinna, Kattowitz and Leipzig, 1902. In German.
  • Three Years' War.
    • Archibald Constable and Co Ltd, Westminster, 1902 (Translated from German),[28] and
    • Charles Scribner's Sons, N.Y., 1902[29]

References

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  • P. J. Sampson, Capture of De Wet and the South African Rebellion of 1914. (London, 1915)

Citations

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  1. ^ a b Rosenthal, Eric. General de Wet.
  2. ^ M. P. Bossenbroek, Yvette Rosenberg (Translator), The Boer War, Seven Stories Press, New York, NY, 2018. ISBN 9781609807474, 1609807472. Page 273.
  3. ^ a b c d e   One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "De Wet, Christian". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 138.
  4. ^ "Christiaan Rudolf De Wet", sahistory.org.za
  5. ^ De Wet, Christiaan Rudolf, Three Years War (October 1899 – June 1902), Archibald Constable and Co Ltd, Westminster, 1902, p. 10.
  6. ^ De Wet (Archibald), supra, p. 13.
  7. ^ Thomas Pakenham, The Boer War, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1979, p. 155; De Wet (Archibald), supra, pp. 21–26.
  8. ^ De Wet (Archibald), supra, pp. 29–31.
  9. ^ De Wet (Archibald), supra, p. 35.
  10. ^ De Wet (Archibald), supra, p. 37.
  11. ^ Pakenham, supra, pp. 311–2
  12. ^ Pakenham, supra, p. 319; De Wet (Archibald), supra, p. 47.
  13. ^ De Wet (Archibald), supra, p. 63.
  14. ^ De Wet (Archibald), supra, p. 67.
  15. ^ De Wet (Archibald), supra, p. 73.
  16. ^ Pakenham, supra, p. 580
  17. ^ Thomas Pakenham, p. 542 The Boer War, ISBN 0-7474-0976-5
  18. ^ Marq De Villiers (1988), White Tribe Dreaming: Apartheid's Bitter Roots as Witnessed by Eight Generations of an Afrikaner Family, p. 232.
  19. ^ De Wet (Archibald), supra, pp. 373–392
  20. ^ General De Wet publicly unfurled the rebel banner in October, when he entered the town of Reitz at the head of an armed commando. He summoned all the town and demanded that the court shorthand writer take down every word he said, among which he complained: "I was charged before [the Magistrate of Reitz] for beating a native boy. I only did it with a small shepherd's whip, and for that I was fined 5/–". On hearing the contents of the speech, General Smuts christened the rising as "the Five Shilling Rebellion". (Plaatje 1916). Other sources place the incident in the town of Vrede on 28 October 1914 – see, for example, P.J. Sampson, The Capture of De Wet: the South African Rebellion, 1914 (1915), pp. 145-146.
  21. ^ "Christiaan Rudolf de Wet The Uncatchable Boer Guerilla". www.boerwararchive.com.
  22. ^ Tim Pat Coogan (1991). Michael Collins (Arrow Books, London), p. 177
  23. ^ "Art, architecture, and nature — Park Hoge Veluwe". www.hogeveluwe.nl. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  24. ^ Rudyard Kipling – The Bard of British Imperialism Archived 20 December 2012 at the Wayback Machine at www.zeitcom.com [dead link‍]
  25. ^ "Ubique" – "Ubique means 'They've caught De Wet, an' now we sha'n't be long.'
    Ubique means 'I much regret, the beggar's goin' strong!'"
  26. ^ "An Irishman's Diary". The Irish Times.
  27. ^ Pienaar, Andre Jacobus (17 March 1974). Christiaan Roedolf de Wet in die Anglo-Boereoorlog. repository.nwu.ac.za (Thesis). Retrieved 28 June 2023.
  28. ^ De Wet, Christiaan Rudolf. "THREE YEARS' WAR". gutenberg.org. Charles Scribner's Sons. N.Y. Retrieved 28 June 2023. Full text.
  29. ^ De Wet, Christiaan Rudolf (1902). "Three Years' War". archive.org. New York, C. Scribner's Sons. Retrieved 28 June 2023. Full text.
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