TOPIC:

Served: Heilbron.

I was lucky enough to be present at the exhumation of Veldkornet Mentz's remains at Smith's Crossing / Three Bridges, which was conducted on 31 July 1978. This was prior to re-interment in the vault beneath the Burgher Monument, on the Platrand, Ladysmith.



Source: Jaques Malan "Die Boere-Officiere 1899-1902", Pretoria 1990, p. 159.










Three photographs of the exhumation, which was conducted by Welly Hyde (N.P.A. Department of Public Works), overseen by Mr Schuman (War Graves Board, Pretoria; wearing the white coat).


In 1978 I was led to believe that Vdkt Mentz had been mortally wounded during the engagement at Acton Homes on 18 January 1900, and was moved to the Orange Free State hospital at Smith's Crossing, where he subsequently died (presumably on the same day). This was the explanation given for him having been buried next to the railway line at this location. I'm sure Rob Davidson will know whether there is any truth in this (Welly Hyde's) version of events [ed. see Rob's post below].




Hand-drawn Boer map of the Ladysmith area, showing the location of the OVS Hospital at Smith's Crossing.








Two photographs, showing Mentz's gravestone before and after inclusion in the Burgher Monument.

Ter nagedachtenis van / Nicolaas Johannes Mentz / Geb. 15 April, 1847. / Gesneuveld in gevecht te / Spioenkop, Natal, 18 Jan. 1900. / Zyn familie veloor in hem / een waardig echtgenoot, een / voorbeeldig vader, het District / Heilbron, een alom bemind / vriend, de O.V.S. een getrouw / Burger en dapper Officier.






1:50,000 map of South Africa, revised in 1992, showing the location of the grave.



My diary entry for 31 July 1978 (please make allowances, as this was written by a teenager....)

After lunch we set off for Smith’s Crossing. Here there are two graves: one belonging to a Field Cornet by the name of N.J. Mentz, and the other to an unknown Burgher. Both men were killed at Spion Kop [sic], and now rest next to the Ladysmith-Harrismith railway line.
These graves were a lot deeper than the last three we excavated [which had depths of c. 24 inches].
The first signs of remains were small fragments of rust, and clearing away more earth revealed 8-foot lengths of corrugated iron. This was the typical method of burial for Boer dead, especially when interred close to farms, with a plentiful supply of roofing material at hand. In Mentz’s case, two lengths had been used, one on top of the other, and the removal of the first exposed a remarkably well-preserved sheet underneath.
Taking this up revealed a layer of caked soil, pressed into the shape of the corrugated iron. By gently picking away at the earth, this soon gave way to human bone.
At this stage Welly Hyde ordered the black labourers out of the graves, and my friend and I took over. Rod worked on the unknown Burgher, while I began on Mentz. With the aid of a pointing trowel, I slowly began to clear the soil away from around the skull.
Rod, having had plenty of experience with Roman skeletons, was able to work a good deal faster than me. As time was not on our side, when Welly returned from collecting the boys’ wages, he took over with the excavation of the remainder of Mentz’s skeleton. We removed the skull first, which, due to the weight of earth had broken into four pieces. I laid these out and photographed them.
Once areas around the hips and chest had been checked for coins and other personal effects, the labourers were allowed back into the graves, and the remaining bones were unceremoniously dug out with picks and shovels and thrown into white polythene bags. These were tied and labelled, each with the individual’s name (where known) and the place and date of the exhumation.
The white stones that had been set around the edges of the graves were thrown into the trenches, which were then backfilled.
Mentz’s headstone had already been moved to the site of the Caesar’s Camp Monument, but the unknown Burgher’s iron cross had to be taken back to the Natal Provincial Administration Depot, to be dumped on the vast mound of crosses that is growing there.




The pile of iron grave markers at the Natal Provincial Administration works depot.




...

A lovely thread, Neville, about a brave man.
I am pretty confident that Veldkornet Nicolaas "Mordecai" Mentz died on a little knoll on Peachtree Farm (Acton Homes), because many witnesses say so, including Churchill, who writes [see archive.org/details/londontoladysmi01unk...290/mode/2up?q=mentz ] :
"Here by the rock under which he had fought lay the Field Cornet of Heilbronn, Mr. de Mentz — a grey-haired man of over sixty years, with firm aquiline features and a short beard. The stony face was grimly calm, but it bore the stamp of unalterable resolve ; the look of a man who had thought it all out, and was quite certain that his cause was just, and such as a sober citizen might give his life for. Nor was I surprised when the Boer prisoners told me that Mentz had refused all suggestions of surrender, and that when his left leg was smashed by a bullet he had continued to load and fire until he bled to death; and they found him, pale and bloodless, holding his wife's letter in his hand."
I did an article on the ambush here: samilitaryhistory.org/jnl2/vol186rd.html

Why was he buried at Smith's Crossing if he died so far away - 40 km as the crow flies, twice that on roads?
I am not sure. We know the Boers were allowed under a flag of truce to carry their dead back to their own lines, the bodies draped across their horses' backs.
Smith's Crossing is the place whence the OVS hospital trains departed (the line to Harrismith was built in 1892), and I wonder if the OVS men had hoped to send him back to Heilbron in a mortuary car, for burial at home. But if no train was departing soon, with this being summer and no way to chill or embalm his body, then transport by wagon would have been too slow, and a nearby burial may have been expedient.
The attached map of Ladysmith shows some relevant sites: in an orange elipse is the OVS hospital and burial site; the OVS HQ is arrowed in orange; the Heilbron Commando laager is marked with an orange star. (The ZAR hospital is in a green elipse).

Thank you Rob,

I thought you would know where and how Vdkt Mentz died. Your reason for his burial at Smith's Crossing / Three Bridges also makes sense.

The map copied by German Military Attaché Reichmann intrigues me. The example below is hand-drawn in ink on fine linen, and I have often wondered about its provenance. Ken Griffith included it in his book "Thank God we kept the Flag Flying" (between pp. 190 & 191), with the caption "A map of Ladysmith, used by the besieging Boers".

Its folded, stained condition certainly suggests it was used in the field. However, despite the retention of the Dutch legend, I suppose it could be a Boer or British copy.



..

Your map is fascinating!
I am inclined to think it is a Boer map, since the British lines are a bit vague and the Boer ones are more detailed. The bottom right corner of your map is signed: J Lyall Soutter, Litho(illegible).
John Lyall Soutter was employed from 1890 by the ZAR in surveying and town planning. In the Staats-Almanak for 1898 he was listed as a lithographic draughtsman on the staff of the surveyor-general. I wonder if your map was done as a project by him? After British forces took control of Pretoria in 1900 JLS was employed in the Field Intelligence Mapping Section, where he remained until the end of the war, so it could have been done then, but if so, why would the map be in Dutch? In April 1902 he was appointed as a lithographer in the office of the surveyor-general of the newly created Transvaal Colony. After the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910 JLS became principal clerk in the office of the surveyor-general.