Siege of Rustenburg (27 December 1880 to 30 March 1881)
The initial strength of the garrison was a company of 62 men of the Royal Scots Fusiliers supported by a handful of men of the commissariat and Hospital Corps and 6 men of the Rustenburg Rifle Volunteers. In command was Captain Auchinleck, As was the pattern at the other forts, strengthening work was undertaken and mines were laid in the vicinity. News arrived on Christmas Eve of the approach of 600 Boers who laagered nearby. They entered the town on 27 December and received a refusal to their offer to surrender.
The fort presented challenges to the defenders as it measured only 25 yards square. Rain recorded to have fallen for many days continuously (some accounts say 45 days, others 21 days) made for a miserable incarceration, noted for its privations and sickness. Food was less of an issue. On 18 February the garrison calculated there was preserved meat for 50 days and bread for 90 days. Towards the end of the siege an enterprising civilian from the fort managed to pass an ox through the Boers' lines and bring the taste of fresh meat to the garrison.
The Boers fired on the fort with great regularity and dug trenches to approach ever closer to the fort and its defenders. On 8 January, a locally manufactured gun firing a 6.5 lb projectile was introduced by the Boers. The gun was dragged to three positions during its first outing, the closest to the fort being only 600 yards. It was silenced by fire from the fort and the wounded gunners removed under a flag of truce. It would appear intermittently throughout the siege with its absences attributed to the need to make repairs.
On 4 February, Captain Auchinleck led 9 men in a night-time sortie to clear one trench about 400 yard distant from the fort. This was successful but came at the cost of injury to Auchinleck's face and the permanent disablement of his elbow.
On 14 March 1881 news was received of the temporary cessation of hostilities. This was followed by news of the peace delivered by Lieutenant Ryder of the KRRC.
The defenders had endured 93 days of siege. In addition to Captain Auchinleck who was wounded on two occasions (and would be killed in action in Burma in 1884), three men were wounded, two of them dangerously.
