At the Fireside--Volume 1 by Roger Webster

Author:Roger Webster
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jonathan Ball Publishers
Published: 2013-03-05T05:00:00+00:00

The legend of Hendrick Schoeman

The legend of Hendrick Schoeman

Hendrik Schoeman owned the faint ‘Schoemans Rust’, adjacent to the now historical monument ‘Groot Plaas’ once owned by the famous Andries Pretorius. Schoemansrust is today the site of the Hartebeestpoort Dam in Gauteng. As a young man Schoeman had fought in the First Anglo-Boer War of 1880-81 and, as a Commandant, proved both his bravery and his loyalty to the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR). He was the commander in charge of the siege of Pretoria that kept the British pinned down so effectively, and was an acclaimed Afrikaner hero.

With the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Boer War in 1899, Schoeman once again served his country. However, when Bloemfontein, the capital of the Orange Free State, fell, followed shortly by Pretoria, capital of the ZAR, Schoeman argued that the British were deadly serious about the Oath of Neutrality and, to prevent hardship and the deaths of the Boer women and children, it would be better if the Boers surrendered. The ultimatum came from Field-Marshal Lord Roberts on 10 June 1900, that infamous statement which was to cause such bitter and abiding hatred between the English and the Afrikaner, surviving even to this day. The ultimatum read:

If the Boer forces do not surrender and sign the Oath of Neutrality, we will raze their farms to the ground, remove all food and livestock, and intern the women, children and farmhands in internment camps.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.