Transvaal Civil War

Part of the

Date	1862-1864
Location	South African Republic/ZAR
Result	Armistice treaty was signed under a Karee tree

Belligerents

South African Republic

Rebels

Commanders and leaders

Paul Kruger

Stephanus Schoeman

The Transvaal Civil War was a series of skirmishes in the South African Republic, or Transvaal—now part of South Africa—in the early 1860s. It began after the British government had recognized trekkers living in the Transvaal as independent in 1854. The Boers divided into numerous political factions. It only ended in 1864 when an armistice treaty was signed under a Karee tree south of the site of the later town of Brits.

In late 1859 Pretorius was invited to stand for President in the Orange Free State, where many burghers now favoured union, partly as a means to overcome the Basotho. The Transvaal constitution he had just enacted made it illegal to simultaneously hold office abroad, but nevertheless he readily did so and won. The Transvaal volksraad attempted to side-step the constitutional problems surrounding this by granting Pretorius half a year's leave, hoping a solution might come about during this time, and the President duly left for Bloemfontein, appointing Johannes Hermanus Grobler to be Acting President in his absence. Pretorius was sworn in as President of the Free State on 8 February 1860; he sent a deputation to Pretoria to negotiate union the next day.

Kruger and others in the Transvaal government disliked Pretorius's unconstitutional dual presidency, and worried that Britain might declare the Sand River and Orange River Conventions void if the republics joined. Pretorius was told by the Transvaal volksraad on 10 September 1860 to choose between his two posts—to the surprise of both supporters and detractors he resigned as President of the Transvaal and continued in the Free State. After Schoeman unsuccessfully attempted to forcibly supplant Grobler as Acting President, Kruger persuaded him to submit to a volksraad hearing, where Schoeman was censured and relieved of his post. Willem Cornelis Janse van Rensburg was appointed Acting President while a new election was organised for October 1862. Having returned home, Kruger was surprised to receive a message urgently requesting his presence in the capital, the volksraad having recommended him as a suitable candidate; he replied that he was pleased to be summoned but his membership in the Dopper Church meant he could not enter politics. Van Rensburg promptly had legislation passed to give equal political rights to members of all Reformed denominations.

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