Battle of Bronkhorstspruit

The Battle of Bronkhorstspruit was the first major clash of the First Boer War. It was a battle between a British army column and a group of Boers, fought by the Bronkhorstspruit River, a few miles east of the town of Bronkhorstspruit, Transvaal on 20 December 1880. A column of British soldiers consisting of six officers and 246 men of the 94th Regiment, as well as 12 men of the Army Service Corps and four of the Army Hospital Corps, were marching on a road to Pretoria, when at least 250 Boers appeared to the left of the column.[2] Making use of the limited cover, the Boers crept to within 200 yards of the British. Lt. Col. Philip Robert Anstruther parleyed with a Boer envoy, who had brought a request from the Transvaal government to turn back.[3] Anstruther refused, but before he could move his column into skirmish formation the Boers opened fire at 12:30 pm. Within fifteen minutes most of the officers were killed or wounded, and the horses and oxen pulling the covered wagons at the front and r