The Battle of Blaauwberg

During the Napoleonic Wars, the British decided to seize the Cape in order to prevent it —and the strategically important sea route to the East — from coming under French control. A British fleet was despatched to the Cape in July 1805, to forestall French troopships which Napoleon had sent to reinforce the Cape garrison.

The first British warship reached the Cape on Christmas Eve 1805, and attacked two supply ships off the Cape Peninsula. Lieutenant General Jan Willem Janssens, the Batavian Governor of the Cape, placed his garrison on alert. The Dutch forces were small and of poor quality, and included foreign mercenary units hired by the Batavian government. They were backed up by local militia units. When the main fleet sailed into Table Bay on 4 January 1806, Janssens mobilised the garrison, declared martial law, and called up the militia.

After a delay caused by rough seas, two British infantry brigades, under the command of Lt General Sir David Baird, landed at Losperd's Bay (now Melkbosstrand), north of Cape Town, on 6 and 7 January.

                                                                                             A painting of the British landing at Losperd's Bay by the author

Janssens moved his forces to intercept them, but when they reached Rietvlei, he decided to bivouac for the night. He had decided that “victory could be considered impossible, but the honour of the fatherland demanded a fight”. His intention was to attack the British on the beach and then to withdraw to the interior, where he hoped to hold out until the French troopships arrived.

However, early on the morning of 8 January, before Janssens’ columns continued their march, Baird’s brigades began their march to Cape Town, and reached the slopes of Blaauwberg mountain (now spelled “Blouberg”), where they fanned out in readiness for battle. Janssens knew that his forces were at a disadvantage, but formed them in a line across the veld.

The battle began at sunrise, with exchanges of artillery fire. These were followed by an advance by Janssens’ militia cavalry, and volleys of musket fire from both sides. One of Janssens’ hired foreign units, in the centre of his line, turned and ran from the field. A British bayonet charge disposed of the units on Janssens’ right flank, and he ordered his remaining troops to withdraw. 

The site of the battle is on Bloubergsvlei farm. It is believed that the original farmhouse, now demolished, was used as a field hospital for wounded soldiers and that the dead were buried in the soft sand of the dunes close to the battle site. The exact location of the graves is, however, unknown. Janssens began the battle with 2,049 troops, and lost 353 in casualties and desertions. Baird began the battle with 5,399 men, and had 212 casualties.

                                                                                                                                     Sir David Baird

From Blaauwberg, Janssens moved inland to a farm in the Tygerberg area, and from there his troops moved to the Elands Kloof in the Hottentots Holland Mountains, about 50 km from Cape Town. The British forces marched through the area now known as Milnerton and reached the outskirts of Cape Town on 9 January. To spare the town and its civilian population from attack, the commandant of Cape Town, Lieutenant-Colonel Hieronymus Casimir von Prophalow, sent out a white flag. He handed over the outer fortifications to Baird, and terms of surrender were negotiated later in the day. The formal Articles of Capitulation for the town and the Cape Peninsula were signed the following afternoon, 10 January, at a cottage at Papendorp (now the suburb of Woodstock), which became known as “Treaty Cottage”. Although the cottage has long since been demolished, Treaty Street still commemorates the event. The tree under which the Articles of Capitulation were signed is still standing to this day.

                                                                                                                       The Treaty Cottage, Woodstock

                                                                                                                       The Treaty Tree, Woodstock

General Janssens and his remaining troops had not yet surrendered, however. Janssens was following his plan to hold out for as long as he could, in the hope that the French troopships for which he had been waiting for months would arrive and save him. He had only 1,238 men with him, and 211 deserted in the days that followed. Baird sent Brigadier General William Beresford to negotiate with Janssens, and on 16 January the two generals conferred at a farm belonging to Gerhard Croeser near the Hottentots-Holland Mountains without reaching agreement. After further consideration, and consultation with his senior officers and advisers, Janssens decided that “the bitter cup must be drunk to the bottom”. He agreed to capitulate, and the final Articles of Capitulation were signed on 18 January. The terms of the capitulation were reasonably favourable to the Batavian soldiers and citizens of the Cape. Janssens and the Batavian officials and troops were sent back to the Netherlands in March.

The British forces occupied the Cape until 13 August 1814, when the Netherlands ceded the colony to Great Britain as a permanent possession. It remained a British Crown Colony until it was incorporated into the Union of South Africa on 31 May 1910.