Lotter's Last Fight

By Taffy and David Shearing

Historically accurate, this fast-moving, non-fictional story is about how a barman led small-time farmers in the Karoo from the Graaff-Reinet district into rebellion in 1901 during the South African War. At first it was easy to sow mayhem, but nine months later they were run to earth in a sheep-shed in the pouring rain. The story of the casualties, the executions, their exile and return is given.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Taffy and David Shearing
• Release date: Apr 10, 2011
• ISBN: 9781458134110

Book preview

Lotter’s Last Fight

Previously Commandant Johannes Lotter and his Rebels

By Taffy and David Shearing

~~**~~

Copyright Taffy & David Shearing 2011

Smashwords edition

This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of these authors.

This book is available in print from the authors as Commandant Johannes Lotter and his Rebels

Lotter’s Last Fight

When we published Commandant Johannes Lotter and his Rebels in 1998 we were gratified at the number of calls we got from the grandchildren of the men who were in Lotter’s Commando. They told us we had got it right; that’s just how Grandpa explained how he was captured; that was how it was.

Mrs Winnie Nepgen wrote and said that her copy would always be treasured since it held the key to many childhood memories their beloved Grandfather (WS Kruger of Ruigtevlei, Middelburg, POW 24867, no 83 on photo) told them under the old apple-tree on the farm. It was a strange and poignant experience, finding so many half-remembered names and images in the book, she said. Our story was infinitely precious to those whose families were involved in the war.

Mr Chris Neethling wrote and said he grew up in the Cradock district and found the information fascinating. He went home and flattened the little book in one sitting. He congratulated us on documenting this bit of our history so thoroughly. And he asked for more books.

Notes and Abbreviations

These events took place during the South African War of 1899-1902 in 1901.

The war was fought between the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State Republic on the one side and Great Britain and her colonies on the other side. A Cape Rebel was a British citizen of either the Cape Colony or Natal who joined the forces of the Boer Republics.

Where possible we used the spelling and terminology current during the South African War.

For the abbreviations of military ranks we used terminology as in South African War Honours and Awards, 1899-1902.

Lord Roberts renamed the Orange Free State the Orange River Colony on 28th May 1900. We use the original name.

Table of Contents

The Rebels Rise

The Opposition

General Sir John French and his Staff

Lieutenant-Colonel Harry Scobell and his Staff

Lotter’s Last Fight

The Chase

The Capture

The Butcher’s Bill

British and Colonial Dead

The Prisoners

The Special Court at Graaff-Reinet

The Executed

Died While a Prisoner of War

The Commando’s Doctor

Boers Killed at Paardefontein

Commando Members

The Middelburg Men

Photographed on Bermuda

Captured at Paardefontein but not in Group Photographs

Not Present when the Commando was Captured

Laid Down Arms

Statistics

The Commando as Prisoners of War

The Road Home

Places to Visit

Sources

From the Authors

The Rebels Rise

The Tandjiesberg, an ageless, rough jumble of rocks resembling baby’s teeth, stands silhouetted against the sky along the Graaff-Reinet road to Pearston. From its silent, wind-swept ridge the view across the plains of the Camdeboo is immense. But a century ago on a wretched, wet morning in early September 1901 in the Cape Colony, during the South African War – when the mist whispered all around – it was the last hope, the escape route of a weary Boer commando.

Led by a haggard Commandant Johannes Cornelius Lotter, 26, the Cape rebels were searching for a way down into the open flats as they fled before Lieutenant-Colonel Harry Scobell and his column of eager soldiers.

For weeks Lotter, originally from Pearston, and his more than 100 men, who mostly hailed from the Midlands, had been so closely pursued that sleep had become a luxury. Their horses were failing, and the men stumbled along in groups, hopefully scanning the ground for bits of edible veld food. Their beards were ragged, many were barefoot and they were all so hungry.

Behind them the rearguard let fly at their pursuers. As they rested their worn horses for a moment, the older men collapsed against the rocks, indifferent by this time to bullets. Driven up and down the Cradock district by the soldiers, the commando had edged its way to the Waterkloof, hoping to get down the mountain. But they were forced back, and now had to pick their way down treacherous paths around Oskom.

Struggling with their horses, they reached Zondagsrivier with the column just behind them. When a troop of Cape Mounted Riflemen, the Cape Colony’s standing force, attacked, the Boers fired back with little enthusiasm. Soon most of them crept towards their horses, leading them away and they were fleeing again. The commando swung back and retreated up a dusty track towards Petersburg, a hamlet enfolded in the Tandjiesberg.

These once-enthusiastic Midland farmers had joined a commando of fighting Free Staters, organized by General Christian de Wet, when they invaded the Cape Colony in December 1900 with high hopes. How had it come to this?

Commandant Pieter Kritzinger's large commando burst into the Cape Midlands over the New Year of 1901. Among his officers was the energetic Johannes Lotter, known as Hans, full of inborn leadership. A local boy, he was born at Volkersrivier, Pearston and educated at Cradock, and knew the Midlands well. He became a roving speculator and ran a store, and from January 1898 was in charge of a bar for a Mrs Elsworth on Naauwpoort Station for the next 18 months. It was a time of slow trains and long halts, and these bars were an important link in the spread of local news and ideas. Lotter, a good-looking man with an easy, friendly way, was widely known and liked.

When war broke out in 1899 he helped build the Rosmead defenses, as well as a hiding place for Mrs Elsworth's hard tack in case looters appeared. One night Hans vanished and was next seen around Colesberg, riding with the Boers to the horror of local loyalists. Mrs Elsworth found another hiding place for her liquor. He became a dispatch rider, and now after many adventures - he had been captured and escaped – and encouraged by General