Global InformationSiege of Lydenburg information
| Siege of Lydenburg | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of First Boer War | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 United Kingdom |
 South African Republic | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
2Lt. Walter Long[3][4][5][6] |
Commandant Dietrich Muller[7] Commandant Johannes Petrus Steyn[8][9] | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
 94th Regiment of Foot Royal Engineers | Unknown | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
|
50–55 men (94th Regiment) 60–70 men[10][11][12][13] |
6 January 1881: 200–250 men[1][8] Following 6 January: 500–600 men[1] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
3-4 killed 19 wounded[14][15] | unknown | ||||||
The siege of Lydenburg was a siege carried out by South African Republican forces on British-occupied Lydenburg, between January and March 1881 during the First Boer War. Despite fierce British resistance, the Boers reclaimed the town following the British defeat at the end of the war. The siege lasted 84 days.[16][17]
- ^ a b c M. Gough Palmer. "The Besieged Towns of the First Boer War, 1880-1881". Retrieved 15 December 2013.
The Boers took up a position two miles off on the road to Middelburg on 3 January 1881 and commenced their attack on the 6th. Two hundred and fifty men entered the town and proclaimed the Republic, again calling on Long to surrender, which he again refused to do. The Boer force was now estimated at between 500 and 600 men.
- ^ a b M. Gough Palmer. "The Besieged Towns of the First Boer War, 1880-1881". Retrieved 15 December 2013.
On 23 March the Boer Commandant sent in under a flag of truce a copy of the Natal Mercury describing Sir George Colley's defeat and death, and the terms of the armistice, but hostilities continued until 30 March, when Lieutenant Baker of the 60th Regiment arrived with despatches confirming the terms of peace.
- ^ M. Gough Palmer. "The Besieged Towns of the First Boer War, 1880-1881". Retrieved 15 December 2013.
Lieutenant Walter Long, a 24-year-old junior officer of the 94th, was placed in command, and on receipt of instructions from Pretoria immediately set to work to strengthen the defences.
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the formwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ M. Gough Palmer. "The Besieged Towns of the First Boer War, 1880-1881". Retrieved 15 December 2013.
On 23 December Long was visited by Dietrich Muller who said he had been deputed by the Boer Government to demand the immediate surrender of the garrison which was refused by Long.
- ^ a b John Laband. The Transvaal Rebellion: The First Boer War, 1880-1. p.114. Retrieved 16 December 2013. "Assistant Commandant-General J,P. Steyn's commando of about 200 men entered Lydenburg on 6 January and formally proclaimed the Republic at a flag-raising ceremony."
- ^ Charles Norris-Newman (1884). With the Boers in the Transvaal and the Orange free state 1880-1. pp. 249. Retrieved 17 December 2013.
They owe their safety from molestation, and the absence of looting stores or private property, to the Commandant of the Boers, Piet Steyn.
- ^ M. Gough Palmer. "The Besieged Towns of the First Boer War, 1880-1881". Retrieved 15 December 2013.
The remaining troops consisted of 54 non-commissioned officers and men of the 94th, a Sergeant and 7 Sappers, RE, eight NCOs and men of the Commissariat and Hospital Corps, with Surgeon Falvey in medical charge, and Conductor Parsons in charge of supplies.
- ^ Charles Norris-Newman (1884). With the Boers in the Transvaal and Orange Free State 1880-81. pp. 249, 250. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
Lieutenant Long's force consisted of fifty men and ten Volunteers.
- ^ Charles Norris-Newman (1884). With the Boers in the Transvaal and the Orange free state in 1880-1. pp. 249. Retrieved 17 December 2013.
The fifty men left here are here, it is understood, simply for the protection of Government stores, not for the defence of the town.
- ^ John Laband (2005). The Transvaal Rebellion: The First Boer War, 1880-1881. p. 91. ISBN 978-0-582-77261-8.
In order to protect the large stocks of government stores and 200,000 rounds of ammunition being left behind in Lydenburg, Anstruther detailed a small force of 50 other ranks of the 94th Regiment (mostly the sick), 8 Royal Engineers, and a few men of the Army Service Corps and the Army Hospital Corps to guard them.
- ^ M. Gough Palmer. "The Besieged Towns of the First Boer War, 1880-1881". Retrieved 15 December 2013.
Casualties were four killed, including two volunteers, and nineteen wounded.
- ^ Charles Norris-Newman. With the Boers in the Transvaal and Orange Free State in 1880-1 (PDF). p. 251. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
The casualties during the siege were: killed, three; wounded, nineteen, between the 6th of January and 31st of March, 1881.
- ^ M. Gough Palmer. "The Besieged Towns of the First Boer War, 1880-1881". Retrieved 15 December 2013.
The siege lasted eighty-four days.
- ^ "First Anglo-Boer War 1880-1881". Retrieved 15 December 2013.
Long rejected a peace offering from the Boers and the siege only came to an end after 84 days.