TOPIC:

Ian,

Having had a better look at this one, I believe your man was spot on with both the locations and the dates.

"The Jew" was indeed destroyed on 30 April 1901, and after some searching I have found "Kroonenburg", a farm just to the northwest of the Creusot's final position. Although I have been unable to find Woodbush Village on Jeppe's Map, Trove's earlier 1892 survey shows that the area to the south of Haenertsburg was known as the "Woodbush Goldfields". A sketch by Lieutenant E.I.D. Gordon shows Woodbush Village just to the north of the place where "The Jew" was destroyed; however, beyond this, I cannot find the settlement on any published map of the period.

The name "Riet Vlei" caused a bit of confusion at first and led me to believe that the narrative related to "Klapperkop Tom", the gun that was destroyed at "Rietfontein".
There are three farms named Riet Vlei in the Zoutpansberg area, but none can be described as being close to Kroonenburg.


A small area of Jeppe's 1899 map, showing "Kroo-nen-burg" highlighted in red. Finding this farm/concession would have been impossible without the help of Marriott's "Alphabetical Index of Farms in the Transvaal" (1904), which includes Jeppe's northings and eastings.





Jeppe's Map, showing Kroonenburg in relation to the site of the destruction of "The Jew" (-23.8850,29.9590). Helpfully, Jeppe includes northings and eastings, so it is possible to drop the location of the Long Tom Monument onto his map. However, there are many inaccuracies with Jeppe's mapping, so his topography will not necessarily reflect the true lay of the land.











..

Rob re Jeppe. The "Transvaal Study Circle" in London produced a very handsome copy, consisting of 6 maps in a small carton box a few years ago. I can't remember the price but it was substantially less than the original maps retail for these days.

Neville,

Thank you very much. I found your post very interesting indeed. I think I shall have to have a look out for these maps too.
It’s nice to know that the diary was correct.

I wonder if the identity of the poor fellow shot by firing squad can be identified?

IrishBrigade wrote: My great, great granduncle was a bitterender and spend time fighting in a Hussars uniform with the Boers, luckily he never got caught.

Do you have more information to share about your Great, Great Grand Uncle? I’d like to hear more about this man who WASN’T shot for wearing khaki. I’m sure there’s an interesting story.

His name was Joe Wade.
He was a bitterender who helped form the Irish Transvaal Brigade.
During the Guerilla phase of the war he had to steal uniform off captives as his clothes has fallen apart.

I published a book on his story back in March, Joe Wade: Footsteps of Rebellion.
Its available on Amazon.