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THE FIRST BOER REPUBLIC - THE REPUBLIC OF NATALIA THE SEVEN-HOUR RUNNING BATTLE On the morning of 30 December 1838, a mounted commando of 250 men, led by Carel Landman with Hans de Lange as second-in-command, set out towards the White Umfolozi River. The war council of the Wenkommando (Winning Commando) decided that Pretorius, due to the burden of the assegai wound in his hand, couldn't lead the commando. The patrol aimed to locate Dingane and his forces and recover stolen Boer cattle. After crossing a mountain pass and the river, suddenly, like at Italeni, between 7000 and 10000 of Dingane's soldiers appeared on the hills on both sides of the ravine. Zulu scouts had trailed the commando, and their army's leader had skilfully set up an ambush for the Boers. To the south of the commando, Zulu regiments formed a half-circle, blocking any escape, and to the north, large masses of Zulus converged on them. A skirmish broke out, lasting about half an hour when Landman told Hans de Lange that they should move up the hill to fight the Zulus from behind the large boulders. De Lange was outraged by this plan which would mean certain death because they would not be able to hold out against the overwhelming numbers of the Zulus for long. He then took charge of the battle and shouted: "Forward, men, forward! He who loves me follows me!" With his men closely behind, De Lange charged towards a thin part of the Zulu line where they were converging before them, firing from the saddle, causing heavy casualties among the Zulus, until they reached the open plain. As the battle continued, smaller groups of horsemen repeatedly broke off to attack the pursuing Zulus. These manoeuvres kept on for hours. The main body of the Zulu regiments then cut across the plain to attack the Boers who were now turning westwards to circle around the Zulus and get back to the river. The situation was now becoming a race to cross the river. When the Boers crossed the river, several horses became stuck in quicksand at the drifts, where a large number of warriors caught up with them. Hand-to-hand combat ensued at certain points as the Boers made their way across the river. Bart Pretorius's horse was killed under him, forcing him to fight on foot until he managed to seize a riderless horse moving through the stream, with which he eventually escaped. When they reached the other side, the main body of Boers headed for the laager, with a rear guard of about twenty-five to fifty Boers holding off the Zulus as much as possible. Halfway back to the laager from where they left the morning, a small detachment of Boers, sent by Pretorius, joined them to assist in their retreat. After a gruelling seven-hour running battle of almost constant fighting, the Zulus eventually broke off their attack. J.H. Visser later remarked: "Were it not for Hans Dons (the nickname for Commandant Johan De Lange), we had all been killed that day." During the Battle of the White Umfolozi, five Boers lost their lives: Gerrit van Staden, Barend Bester, Nicholas le Roux, Marthinus Goosen, and Johannes Oosthuizen. Alexander Biggar, an Englishman who had already lost his two sons in Natal, along with five of his Zulu followers, also fell on the side of the Boers. #Boer #Boers #BoerIdentity #Boeridentiteit #BoerRepublic #BoerRepubliek #Natalia #UnitedBoerRepublic #VerenigdeBoerrepubliek #Zulu #Land