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    Default THE BATTLE OF CONGELLA- 23 May 1842

    THE BATTLE OF CONGELLA (23 May 1842)

    From a military historical perspective, the Congella battle site was actually named after former Zulu barracks (known as an ikhanda), called kwaKhangela. This was established by King Shaka kaSenzangakhona(ca.1787 –1828) to keep a watchful eye on the nearby British traders at Port Natal -the full name of the place was kwa KhangelaamaNkengane(‘place of watching over vagabonds’).
    The Battle of Congellabegan on 23rd May 1842 between British troops from the Cape Colony and the Afrikaner Boer forces of the Natalia Republiek. The battle ended in a British victory after the successful and heroic ride of Dick King to Grahamstown for reinforcements.

    The Great Trek (Afrikaans: Die Groot Trek) was an eastward migration of Voortrekkers ( Boers)who from 1836 onwards, traveled by wagon from the Cape Colony seeking to live beyond the Cape Colony’s British colonial administration. During the Great Trek, many Voortrekkers left the Cape Colony overland to escape British rule and were looking for land to farm. Some had crossed the Drakensberg Mountains and settled in the area known as Natalia.

    Soon after the defeat of the Zulu king, Dingane kaSenzangakhona (ca. 1795 -1840) at the Battle of Blood River, the Boer Natalia Republiek was founded. The capital was established in Pietermaritzburg and Durban was considered part of it. The Boers in the Natalia Republiek had resumed their farming lifestyles but the Zulu-speaking inhabitants of the region had some misgivings about these newcomers and war soon followed afterward. Furthermore the Sovereignty of the Natalia Republiek had never been recognised by the British Government and its burghers continued to be regarded as subjects of the Crown. So the Cape Government became aware of the unofficial Boer Republiek, the attacks on British subjects at Port Natal, as well as the continued conflict with the Zulu kingdom. In March 1842, the Cape Governor decided to send a small force under Capt Thomas Charlton Smith to occupy Port Natal (since most of the residents were English), to take possession of the Natalia Republiek from the Boers and to resolve and settle disputes with the Zulu.

    On receipt of orders from MajGen Sir George Napier, Capt Smith left his post at Fort Mngazi the furthest-flung British garrison on the Cape Colony Frontier –to Port Natal. His force comprised 263 officers and men, an18-pounder howitzer and two 6-pounder field guns, and included elements of the Royal Artillery, Royal Engineers, Sappers and Miners, Cape Mounted Rifles and two companies of his own regiment 27th(Inniskilling) Regiment of Foot. On 1st April 1842, he crossed the UMzimvubu River (isiXhosa name meaning ‘place of the hippopotamus’) into Natalia.

    An Irish infantry regiment of the British Army formed in 1689. It amalgamated with the 108th MADRAS Infantry Regiment of Foot in 1881 to form the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
    When Capt Smith was near UMkhomazi River(in isiZulu, there is an association with umkhomkazi, a whale cow), he ignored protests made by the Boers. On 4th May 1842 he reached Robert Newton Dunn’s (1796–1847) farm ‘SeaView’–situated some 10km (half a dozen miles) from Durban habour. Capt Smith then instructed his men to set up their tents and position the wagons in laager formation at Fort Port Natal (now known as the Old Fort, Durban). In the meantime realising the gravity of the situation at PortNatal, CmdtGen Andries W Pretorius (1798–1853) of the Boers commenced assembling a commando force of the NataliaRepubliek at his laager at Congella-the village of ‘Kongela’ was thereby strongly defendedupon the arrival of British forces. CmdtPretoriushad 364 volunteers under his
    command. Negotiations between CaptSmith and CmdtGen Pretorius were unsuccessful.

    At 23h00 on the moonlit evening of 23rd May 1842, Capt Smith set out for the Boer fort at Congella with 139 officers and men (of which 109 were from the 27th (Inniskilling) Regiment of Foot), supported by the two field guns. He decided to take a circuitous route along the beach, where the tide was rising, in order to attack the well-defended village of ‘Kongela’, which was 5km (three miles) from the British camp. The British forces had to skirt a dense thicket of mangrove-trees, held by an advance party of Boers and who opened fire on them. The Boermarksmen were well-hidden in the Kongela thicket where as their opponents (the British) were completely exposed against the moon-lit sands and waters of Durban’sharbour. CaptSmith’s attack failed disastrously as every time the ‘Redcoats’ (as the Boers termed the 27th Inniskilling Regiment of Foot “…stood up in the bright moonlight to reload, they offered to the Boers a target such as every marksman dreams of but seldom sees…” [text extracted from the official history of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers].Every shot fired by the Boers counted….

    The Boers had won a major battle. Capt Smith had lost many of his men, his 18-pounder had been captured, the two field guns abandoned during their retreat, muskets and pouch-belts and ammunition had been discarded and they littered the beach. Furthermore three men were drowned as they were caught by the rising tide. The final count was 22 dead, 31 wounded and six missing in action –making this disastrous night attack the cause of 59casualties (or 42% of the British force)which had set out. The three officers who fell were Lt G Wyatt (shot dead), while CaptJFLonsdale and Lt B Tunnard were severely wounded.

    On the Boer side, four men fell enandere Helden(‘and other heroes’) mainly during the closing stages of the battle. Capt Smith considered it “expedient to retire” [according to his official report]and retreated back to FortPort Natal where he was promptly besieged by the Boers.

    Capt Smith realised he urgently needed to request reinforcements from the Cape Colony. Reinforcements were immediately dispatched to Natalia. Thirty-one days after Capt Smith recruited Dick King, on 24thJune1842the first reinforcements from Algoa Bay arrived at Port Natal aboard the schooner Conch. This was one of the British vessels which carried the relief parties, including 100 men from
    27th(Inniskilling) Regiment of Foot(and Dick King as a passenger). These British troop reinforcements were in time to save Capt Smith’s garrison from imminent surrender or starvation. Soon the surrounding Boers dispersed and the Battle of Congella therefore ultimately ended with a British victory. The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers had thereby carved an honourable niche in the early history of Port Natal and Durban.

    138 years after the Battle of Congella a newly-established SADF Citizen Force unit Congella Regiment was formed, and associated itself with the Royal InniskillingFusiliers.


    I rather not go into the history of this unit as imo they were not soldiers.- (my personal reasons). Anyone else is welcome to take it up from here.
    Last edited by KK20; 23-05-2020 at 16:46. Reason: courteousy SouthAfricanMilitary History Society
    live out your imagination , not your history.

  2. #2

    Default Re: THE BATTLE OF CONGELLA- 23 May 1842

    Thank you KK20.

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    Default Re: THE BATTLE OF CONGELLA- 23 May 1842

    World events took place here in Durban and Natal yet we walk past historical sites without much awareness. The Group Areas Act was a big culprit for the loss or neglect of these sites.
    live out your imagination , not your history.

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    Default Re: THE BATTLE OF CONGELLA- 23 May 1842

    https://www.royal-irish.com/artefact...n-smiths-sword

    Captain Thomas Charlton Smith's sword

    A decorated sword presented to Captain Thomas Charlton Smith by the British subjects of Cape Colony, South Africa, for his indomitable courage in defending Port Natal (Durban), known as the Kongela (Congella) Incident, with a small detachment of 27th Inniskillings against superior numbers of Dutch Boer settlers 24 May – 20 June 1842. Presented when he had been promoted to Major, the inscription reads:

    Presented to Major T. C. Smith, H.M.'s 27th Regiment Inniskillings, by British subjects at the Cape of Good Hope, to express their sense of his indomitable bravery in maintaining his post at Port Natal, against an overwhelming force, from the 24th May, to the 25th June, 1842.

    The sword is on loan to The Inniskillings collection from the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by KK20; 23-05-2020 at 18:17.
    live out your imagination , not your history.

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    Lightbulb Re: THE BATTLE OF CONGELLA- 23 May 1842

    Quote Originally Posted by KK20 View Post
    World events took place here in Durban and Natal yet we walk past historical sites without much awareness. The Group Areas Act was a big culprit for the loss or neglect of these sites.
    This may be the South African Military History article ?

    http://samilitaryhistory.org/vol131ds.html

    By that time Port Natal was already known to international Maritime sea trade

    One has to look deeper into these events

    Smellekamp worked as supercargo for the Amsterdam trading company of J.A. Klijn & Co., under the direction of G.G. Ohrig. In 1841 he made a first voyage to Port Natal with the objective to establish trading contracts with the Voortrekkers who had established the Natalia Republic only two years before. At the time of Smellekamp's arrival, the British under Captain Thomas Charlton Smith were several days marching away from Port Natal, ready to occupy the town.

    Together with Ohrig Smellekamp visited Pietermaritzburg to meet with the Volksraad of Natalia. They were received with great enthusiasm by the population. The street were decorated with flags and other cloths, including underwear. The people of Natalia were – mistakenly – under the impression that Smellekamp's arrival heralded a full-scale intervention by the Netherlands. Smellekamp very much enjoyed his sudden importance and did nothing to correct the impression. The Volksraad gave some promises about trade in the future and put in a request for immigrants to strengthen the Boer state.[1][3]

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_Arnold_Smellekamp


    Some background -- these are all PDF document downloads

    http://webcms.uct.ac.za/sites/defaul...compressed.pdf

    https://journals.co.za/content/hist/...lication%2Fpdf

    https://www.fad.co.za/Resources/cont...t-Relieved.pdf

    American ships also called at Port Natal -- some apparently gun runners ?
    Daniel Lindley of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions departed Port Natal for America in an American ship
    Lindley in the Free State is named after him

    He retired to the United States in 1874 and died in Morristown, New Jersey.
    In 1967 a new bridge at Pietermaritzburg was named the Daniel Lindley Bridge

    David M. Stowe


    https://dacb.org/stories/southafrica/lindley-daniel/


    More here

    http://uir.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/19523


    Disclaimer ;
    I am a member of the SA Military History Society
    I also know two of the authors whose work on Durban history is linked above

    There is a large body of information concerning these events -- the most relevant being the original documentation in the KZN Archive in Pietermaritzburg

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    Default Re: THE BATTLE OF CONGELLA- 23 May 1842

    Brenneke, thank you for your post. Most interesting.
    live out your imagination , not your history.

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