TOPIC:

Not to be confused with Ladysmith.

Various of the groups under Smuts that 'invaded' the Cape crossed the Swartberg on occasions & passed close to Ladismith. Seewerweeks Poort was garrisoned with a fort.

Please could someone give directions to more information about war time activities in the area surrounding Ladismith & Seewerweeks Poort.

Have read Commando & General Smuts & his long ride.

Derek,

There is not much written about Ladismith and it appears little in the main histories of the period.

It doesn't have an entry in the Jones's Gazeteer.

Maurice, from June to September 1901, says:

On August 15th Major General S. B. Beatson arrived at Willowmore to take charge of the operations, and at once made plans to enclose Scheepers, who was then between Uniondale and Avontuur. But Scheepers, taking the offensive, drove back not only the squadron which had been posted at Avontuur to stop him, but also Alexander himself who moved to its support out of Uniondale on the 19th, the 10th Hussars losing sixteen casualties, including two officers, in the encounters. Atherton's 12th Lancers were then sent to Uniondale to reinforce the loth Hussars, and both together pressed after Scheepers, who was travelling westward through George county into Oudtshoom, making for Ladismith. Before making his point Scheepers' rearguard was twice caught up by the cavalry, first at Moeras River on the 23rd and again near Calitzdorp; but he gained the town, and passing through it, turned as if for Montagu or Swellendam.

Maurice, from Chapter 15, September to October 1901, reports:

For four days the hunt drove on, a number of foundered horses and a few stragglers falling into Scobell's hands. On October 16th Smuts doubled westward near the junction of the Kariega and Salt rivers, and striking across towards Prince Albert, fell in with a certain Commandant S. Pypers, who was at the head of the force lately commanded by Scheepers, that leader having vanished from the scene in a manner soon to be described. Pypers was at this moment occupied in evading Crabbe, who was seeking him from Beaufort West, and as Scobell was now compelled to put into Prince Albert (October 20th) for supplies, Crabbe undertook the pursuit of the combined commandos of Smuts and Pypers, following them down the Kouka river, then through Kandos Poort and over the Groote Zwarte Bergen into the valley of the Olifants. The Boers then turned westward, and Crabbe, moving on Oudtshoorn, combined with Kavanagh from Ladismith and the local troops extended from Willowmore to Prince Albert in an attempt to surround them. Incessant exertions along the Groote and Olifants rivers during the last week of October were brought to nothing by the commandos breaking out westward. On October 31st Smuts, with Pypers, after being chased Smuts enters up to Constable by Kavanagh, crossed the Cape railway at that cape Colony, place, and striking northward made for Sutherland and Calvinia. There he became absorbed in a fresh scheme of aggression which, slowly maturing under a strong and able leader, had influenced for weeks past the movements of every Boer leader in the midlands and south.



There is one Boer War grave in the Dutch Reformed Church in Ladismith,

As you may know, Ladismith had a DMT, Town Guard and Reserve Town Guard.