TOPIC:

Now Sturgy, I'm curious, was it on the farm Oranjepan 89 that the gunner was killed? [edited by moderator]

Hi EFV,

Yes; it's highly possible that Oranjepan 89 is the location where Sgt Spearman was killed.

We don't know the exact route that Col Pilcher took on the day; there are 2 possibilities as shown below.



If they took the R700, as the main route above, then they would have passed Oranjepan 89 on route to Bothaville as shown on your map below:



Thanks again.

Hi Sturgy

You may already have this information? But your man Sergeant Spearman was also a POW in 1900 captured at Sannahs Post. He was a Bombardier then.
Also, there is a mention of Bultfontein reference his demise. See enclosed.



Dave...

Hi Everyone,

I thought I would record my research notes in this post and welcome anyone to comment or contribute.

Ok, so what we know is that half of Col Pilchers column left Bultfontein on the 20th June 1901 towards Bothasville and marched for 1/2 day before they were attacked; whilst on rest.

The commando in the area misinterpreted this movement and thought that the majority column was still in the town and that a patrol had left northwards.

We know the local Commandant died of his wounds but I still trying to work out who that was; that's a work in progress.

Once again all this information was recorded, thankfully, in Jackson's Diary.

So if they left in the morning of the 20th June 1901 and marched for approximately 4 hours, I don't know how long columns march for, then that should put them within the red arc of the picture below:



Now co-incidentally at the intersection of the R700 and S624, red pin above, the farm sign has a very similar name to the farm just south of "Oranjepan" on EFV's map; namely " Voegetsuisbult*




PS: I have redacted the farmer's name



So that would put the half column in the vicinity of "Oranjepan" or "Orange Pan" in english following a 1/2 day march.

We also know that they would not have followed the roads!

This is the extract from Jacksons diary after the engagement:

"He brought in word that a man who looked like a commandant, was still alive, though badly burnt by the veldt fire; so they sent an ambulance round and brought in all the dead and wounded. The only one alive was this commandant, and he was badly mauled with shrapnel in the head and burnt afterwards; he died that night without recovering consciousness. We only had two or three killed and a few wounded, and next morning, after burying the dead, we trekked back the way we had come. At nearly every farm we found Boer dead and wounded, collecting altogether sixteen dead, I don't knowhow many wounded, and a woman told us how it came about. The day before a big commando had passed her farm, travelling hard (her farm was a bit off our previous track) after us, and the commandant, who pulled up to speak to her, said, "There's a khaki patrol just gone over there; we'll fetch it back presently," and told her to have some food ready for him in a few hours or so ! Evidently they had seen our dust leaving Bultfontein, and noticing the camp still there thought we were only a small patrol ! which accounted for the determined way they had come on."

Ok, so here's my questions:

1. Jackson mentions that they buried the dead; would that include Sgt Spearman? I can't find any records of him being buried in any of the cemeteries in the OVS or South Africa. So I'm assuming they buried him on the farm "Orange Pan".

2. A number of Boers were also buried, including the Commandant, does anyone know of any records of burial sites within the red arc of the map above? Knowing what happened to them is just as important.

3. Any other comments?

Thanks.

Regards,
Sturgy

Contemporary Map:

The following picture is courtesy of "Thorneycroft's Unbuttoned" by Robin W.F. Droogleever:



This contemporary map shows the road out of Bultfontein heading North West, along what looks like the current R700, towards Hoopstad before turning Westwards into what looks like 2x ridges or hills.

Could these potentially be the ridges referred to by Jackson?

Contemporary sketch by Private Jackson:



In Jackson's sketch of the engagement we can see the guns of "U" Battery, with Major Taylor & Sgt Spearman, along with the remainder of the force, heading towards the ridge. Also visible is the hut referred to in his previous sketch.

For comparison an Aerial Photo is shown below:

Another thought is that maybe I have been looking at this incorrectly; what I was thinking was small hills or ridges could in fact be depressions or "hollows".

In Jacksons diary he states:
"We had a mid-day halt the first day out, in a little hollow with a farm and a dam in it, called Orange Pan."

Looking at the topographical map of the area and fixing "red" to the ground level exiting Bultfontein on the R700 we can see that the ground is quite flat except about 4 hours walk out of town where there is an area where the ground drops off (lighter colours); it corresponds roughly with the areas noted before.



This could be the area where they rested in the "hollow" on the farm "Orange Pan" and the contemporary sketch is of them running out of it. It would also explain why the Boer Commando greatly underestimated the British strength.