break.
In December, 1880, a mass-meeting of the Boers was held at a place
called Paardekraal (now Krugersdorp). It was resolved to rise in arms;
and a triumvirate was elected, consisting of Messrs. M.W. Pretorius,
Kruger and Joubert, which proclaimed the re-establishment of the South
African Republic, and hoisted the national flag on Dingaan's day,
December 16.[28] The Boers, nearly every man of whom was accustomed to
fighting, now rose _en masse_ and attacked the small detachments of
British troops scattered through the country, some of which were cut
off, while the rest were obliged to retire to posts which they
fortified. The Governor of Natal, General Sir George Colley, raised what
troops he could in that Colony, and marched northward; but before he
could reach the Transvaal border a strong force of Boers, commanded by
Commandant-General Joubert, crossed it and took up a position at Laing's
Nek, a steep ridge close to the watershed between the upper waters of
the Klip River, a tributary of the Vaal, and those of the Buffalo River,
which joins the Tugela and flows into the Indian Ocean. Here the British
general, on January 28, 1881, attacked the Boers, but was repulsed with
heavy loss, for the ridge behind which they were posted protected them
from his artillery, while their accurate rifle fire cut down his column
as it mounted the slope. A second engagement, eleven days later, on the
Ingogo heights, caused severe loss to the British troops. Finally, on
the night of February 26, General Colley, with a small detachment,
seized by night Majuba Hill, a mountain which rises about 1500 feet
above Laing's Nek, and completely commands that pass.[29] Unfortunately
he omitted to direct the main force, which he had left behind at his
camp, four miles south of the Nek, to advance against the Boers and
occupy their attention; so the latter, finding no movement made against
them in front, and receiving no artillery fire from Majuba Hill above
them, checked the first impulse to retire, which the sight of British
troops on the hilltop had produced, and sent out a volunteer party to
scale the hill. Protected by the steep declivities from the fire of the
soldiers above them, they made their way up, shooting down those whom
they saw against the sky-line, and finally routed the British force,
killing General Colley, with ninety-one others, and taking fifty-nine
prisoners. By this time fresh troops were beginning to arrive in Natal,
and