Weenen massacre

Weenen massacre
Part of the Great Trek
Depiction of a Zulu attack on a Boer camp in February 1838. The Weenen Massacre was the massacre of Voortrekkers by the Zulu impis.
Location	Doringkop, Bloukrans River, Moordspruit, Rensburgspruit and other sites around present the day town of Weenen in South Africa
Date	17 February 1838
Deaths	532(approx.)
Non-fatal injuries	Unknown
Perpetrators	Impi's of Dingane kaSenzangakhona King of the Zulu

The Weenen Massacre (Afrikaans: Bloukransmoorde) was the massacre of Voortrekkers by the Zulu on 17 February 1838. The massacres occurred at Doringkop, Bloukrans River, Moordspruit, Rensburgspruit and other sites around the present day town of Weenen in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province.

After the massacre of Piet Retief and his delegation (about a hundred persons), the Zulu King Dingane sent his impis to exterminate the remaining voortrekkers who were camped at Doringkop, Bloukrans (Blaauwekrans), Moordspruit, Rensburgspruit and other sites along the Bushman River (Zulu: Mtshezi), in the present province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The present day town of Weenen, situated close to these sites, derives its name from the Dutch word for "weeping".

Among the Voortrekkers, 41 men, 56 women and 185 children were killed. In addition another 250 or 252Khoikhoi and Basuto that accompanied the Voortrekkers were killed, bringing the casualties to about 534.

The murdered included George Biggar, the son of Alexander Biggar, a trader at Port Natal. Biggar and his second son, Robert, subsequently participated and died in retaliatory attacks on the Zulus. Most people camped at the Klein- and Groot-Moordspruit were murdered. Here a Boer woman Johanna van der Merwe sustained 21 assegai wounds but survived. The camps at Rensburgspruit, where Hans van Rensburg and Andries Pretorius were camped, were successful in defending themselves.