Black week

Black Week occurred from the 11th to 15th December 1899 when the British forces, under General Buller, were reversed three times. The first occurred under General Gatacre at Stormberg on the 11th, the second at Magersfontein on the 12th under General Methuen and on the 15th, the third at Colenso under General Buller himself.

MAGERSFONTEIN

On the 12th December 1899 General Methuen with a force of thirteen thousand men set out to relieve Kimberley. Just before Kimberley lies a range of hills called the Maggersfontein where the Boer generals De La Rey and Cronje with 8500 men were lying in wait for them. They had dug trenches that were clearly marked for the British to see but unfortunately for them the Boers had hidden themselves about 200 yards in front of these. For two hours Methuen’s artillery bombarded the trenches then under cover of darkness and in a storm he sent Major-General Wauchope and the Highland regiments to attack what he thought were a very crumpled Boer defence. Wauchope never reached the hills, before he could do so the troops were attacked by the hidden Boer machine guns. There were over 1000 casualties killed, wounded or captured.

STORMBERG

The battle of Stormberg in the Cape, on 11th October 1899 was, along with the battles of Maggersfontein and Colenso, one of three battles which collectively were named Black Week because they all failed and happened within the span of seven days. At this battle of Stormberg General Gatacre marched three thousand very tired troops at night, got lost and was attacked by the Boers. Gatacre retreated leaving over six thousand troops to be captured.