The British Occupation of Kaapsche Hoop

For nearly a year — from the opening of hostilities in October 1899 to early September 1900 — Kaapsche Hoop sat behind Boer lines and continued its Republican administrative life. Assistant-Commandant Paul Maritz filed reports on the guarding of the Eastern Railway; the school stayed open; the post office handled telegrams. Then, in a single week, the war climbed the mountain.

The telegraph, then the infantry

The British turn came in the second week of September 1900 — the telegraph reaching the plateau before the troops. At dawn on 13 September 1900, General Hutton’s Mounted Infantry seized the village; the Boer detachment had withdrawn shortly before the British appeared.

Pole-Carew marches in — 14 September

The next day Pole-Carew’s XI Division marched into Kaapsche Hoop. A Reuters telegram filed from the village that day reported that the late Transvaal Government, with Mr Steyn, had retired to Hector Spruit, and that telegraphic communication with Barberton had been established.

This place was occupied by General Pole-Carew to-day.Reuters dispatch, Kaapsche Hoop, 14 September 1900

Crookshank and Hamilton

On the night of 15–16 September Captain Crookshank, the British officer in charge, held a long telegraph conversation with the Boer telegraphist at Nelspruit, drawing out useful information. Ian Hamilton’s column reached the village and Joubertsdal on 16–17 September, having bivouacked on the lower slope and climbed to the summit at half past three in the morning. Within a week, Kaapsche Hoop had passed from Republican village to British forward post.

Sources: Maurice, History of the War in South Africa (HMSO); Reuters dispatches (September 1900); Creswicke, South Africa and the Transvaal War, Vol. VI. Detailed citations are held in the project research file.