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Source SRC-446

Letter of Petrus Jacobus "Pieter" Malherbe, Plumstead, 2 January 1937, on the battle of Spioenkop

correspondence · an original record · consulted 2026-08-16

Type
correspondence
Repository
Family papers, held by Frans Oosthuizen
Reference
Typed, two leaves, headed "Ashbury Rd., Plumstead. 2 Jan. 1937.", opening "My dear Bettie" and signed "Pieter". A manuscript line at the head reads "Moenie skrik vir die lang brief nie !!!"
Consulted
2026-08-16

The citation as it was given

TRANSCRIBED IN FULL, 16 Aug 2026. AN EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT OF SPIOENKOP WRITTEN THIRTY-SEVEN YEARS AFTER THE BATTLE, and written to correct a published book. Pieter Malherbe was sixty-five and had eighteen months to live. || He is answering his sister Bettie, who had mentioned "Slechtkamp van Spioenkop": "One would think from the contents that Slechtkamp was the Hero of that action with his 300 volunteers under him! and he ends on page 57 'en dit is die ware geskiedenis van Spioenkop'." || "Now for one thing, the boer's force did not consist of 300 Vryheid commando only. There must have been nearly a thousand boers. We came as reinforcement from the Pretoria commando which formed part of the besieging force named Ladysmith. We arrived on the Tugela front the night before the battle of Spioenkop. Then there were men from the Boksburg commando, for I remember my old friend Fred Kotze getting a bullet in the neck in that action." || "Now you must know that our line in which Spioenkop is situate extended many miles and general Botha was in command. Spioenkop was a key position. It is very high - quite a mountain - standing very prominently in a chain of koppies occupied by the boers. Should the English have occupied it, their cannon would dominate our whole position and we would have had to fall back. The night before the battle the enemy drove our men from Spioenkop and next morning General Botha sent word to neighbouring commando to attack the British on Spioenkop. Our Pretoria contingent occupied a position some distance from Spioenkop and an adjutant arrived with the order from the General 'die Engelse is op Spioenkop en julle moet hulle gaan afhaal!' We saddled quickly and off we went. We offsaddled at the foot of Spioenkop and climbed up - and what a climb it was. We fought the whole day." || "Now Boetie (Izak) Hennie and I formed part of the escort who took the prisoners to Elandsfontein Station. We left Spioenkop the night of the battle, travelled through the night and the next afternoon we were nearing Elandsfontein station." || "Should I ever forget Spioenkop! After more than a day's ride we arrived from Ladismith at the front the night before the battle; the whole night I either stood brandwacht or dug trenches; the next day fighting the whole day; towards evening helped to carry Jan's body down; then into the saddle again and riding throughout the night and next day escorting the prisoners to Elandsfontein Station. That night at Elandsfontein Station I was so deadbeat that I fell asleep while sitting at an improvised table at supper!" || "One grew callous, one's senses got hardened. I remember after the fight when I got to the foot of the mountain I started on the bread in my saddlebags with my hands covered with Jan's blood. Then again - as we were attacking the enemy on Spioenkop with the terrible din of our own cannons, the cannons of the enemy, the pom poms, small arms on both sides, I passed among other dead and wounded one dying boer with a youngster (about 14 years, probably his son) stooping over him and crying aloud bitterly. Why the youngster was allowed in the fighting line I don't know. He was carrying a carbine (small rifle)." || SHEET 2: "Now that in normal conditions I write this down it almost brings tears into my eyes, but I have no recollection of being unduly affected at the time. I was no volunteer; we had our orders from superior officers. People volunteer when they are under no obligation to do a thing, whereas we were obliged to do what we were told." || "I have not written the foregoing in order to subject Slechtkamps book to criticism. I have written because reading his book has brought to my mind the incidents of Spioenkop. Incidentally it shows that when an individual gives his personal experience in a battle he only knows what happens in his immediate vicinity. Slechtkamp evidently thought the men around him were the only boers in the battle and then, too, these writers must put in a little (somtyds 'n biejtie baie) stuffing in order to add to the interest of the book!" || "His account of the taking of the 170 prisoners was wrong too. When the men stood up and put their hands up the boers stood up and were coming forward to take the prisoners or disarm them. I anticipated that they would be shot down by the enemy who had not surrendered so I stoof up, shouted and signalled with my hands to the boers to keep down, which they did - evidently taking me for an officer. I then went forward, conducted the 170 prisoners back behind our front line and handed them over to others at the back and returned to my position. It was not the only time either that I acted the part of an officer that day!!! and Heaven knows I am not agressive or disposed to be heroic - one gets callous and do things mechanically." || He closes in Afrikaans about the heat, the garden, the holidays and money owed, and signs "Pieter", with a postscript that his ordinary writing paper had run out, "daarom kry jy 'n verskydenheid van papier in hierdie brief". || THE SECOND LEAF IS FILED AS ITS OWN IMAGE, sources/Malherbe-1937-Pieter-letter-p2.jpeg - a sheet is a sheet, even when the two are one letter.

Kept verbatim. This project contradicts published genealogies and corrects a family's own oral tradition, so every claim has to be checkable by someone who was not in the room.

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