Nicolas Smit
| Nicolaas Jacobus Smit | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | May 30, 1837 (aged 0)30 May 1837 Doornbos, South Africa |
| Died | April 4, 1896 (aged 0)4 April 1896 Pretoria, South Africa |
| Allegiance |
 South African Republic
|
| Service/branch | military |
| Years of service | 1860-90 |
| Rank | Generaal |
| Commands held | Transvaal Commandos |
| Battles/wars | Ingogo Heights; Majuba Hill. |
| Awards | from Portugal, Netherland, and Prussia. |
| Relations | Nicolaas Van der Merwe |
| Other work | Vice State President of the South African Republic 1888-1896 |
Nicolaas Jacobus Smit (5 May 1837 – 4 April 1896) was a Boer general and politician. During the First Boer War, he led Boer force to victory during the Battle of Majuba Hill. Signatory to the London Convention (1884). He was elected Vice State President of the South African Republic after the elections of 1888 and he served until his death.
The son of Nicolaas Jacobus Smit (1811-1887) and Elizabeth Magdalena Van der Merwe (1815-1892), the young Nicolaas was born at Doornbos, near Graaf Reinet. The family could trace their descent from the first Dutch calvinist settlers who arrived at The Cape before 1688, the Van der Merwe and De klerk families were among the very first white settlers on the continent. Aged twenty-five he trekked across the veldt to Natal with his parents. They lived at Durban for a while, but disliked the genteel English society of tearooms and promenades. Nicolaas decided to join the army, which he eventually achieved by going into the wild veldt with a group of comrades.
He married Hendrika Stephina (1841-1894), daughter of Hendrik Stephanus Pretorius and Rachel Jacoba Liebenberg at Rustenburg in April 1863. They had three sons and two daughters. In May 1895 he married again, a widow, Sussana Bosman.
Smit settled on a farm with his family in 1873 on the Sheepmor, a little to the west, in the eastern Transvaal over the Modder River in a region in traditional conflict over land rights with the Zulu tribes. Farming at Goedehoop he first came into contact with the Swazi tribesmen. By then he had been promoted to a lieutenant-general in the Boer kommando taking the battle to Pedi under Chief Sekhukane, who had been sent to ally the tribe with the Boer Republic. On 5 July achieved higher status acquiring a lease of a head of cattle in the Ngwenya Hills, north-west of Forbes Reef. Smit proved an adept commander of mobile units of Veldt horsemen or kommando. At the Battle of Ingogo Heights, an inferior force of only 200 managed to force three times as strong in atrocious weather conditions. General Colley withdrew into the darkness leaving 96 British dead. By contrast the Boers lost only 8 men.
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