Field-Cornet Jan Potgieter’s commando burns Chief Sikhobobo’s kraal at Qulusini

Updated: 30 Sep 2019

Field-Cornet Jan Potgieter’s commando burns Chief Sikhobobo’s kraal at Qulusini

Under orders from Commandant-General Louis Botha, Field-Cornet Jan Potgieter's commando burned Chief Sikhobobo's kraal at Qulusini, looted cattle and grain, and drove the inhabitants towards Vryheid. This attack on the Qulusi was avenged within five days. Sikhobobo informed the magistrate at Vryheid, A. J. Shepstone, that he was taking a party of men outside the town to try to recover some of his stolen cattle. That night a Qulusi impi of 300 men attacked a commando of seventy Boers under Field-Cornet Jan Potgieter laagered at Holkrans (Ntatshana), some twenty kilometres north of Vryheid. The impi surrounded the Boer laager intending to surprise them but a premature shot gave the Boers some warning. Nevertheless the Zulus used the darkness to creep in close, practically wiping out the commando. In this attack 56 Boers, most of them local farmers, were killed and 3 taken prisoner while all the cattle at the camp were driven off. The Zulu impi suffered the loss of 52 killed and 48 wounded.

How we know this

01By A de V Minnaar ‘ZULULAND AND THE ANGLO-BOER WAR (1899-1902)’, in the SA Military History Journal Vol 8 No 1 - June 1989
02 Boddy-Evans, A. ‘This Day in African History: 1 May’, from About African History, [online], available at https://africanhistory.about.com (Accessed: 18 March 2013)

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2019, May 2). Field-Cornet Jan Potgieter’s commando burns Chief Sikhobobo’s kraal at Qulusini. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0129915

South African History Online (2019) 'Field-Cornet Jan Potgieter’s commando burns Chief Sikhobobo’s kraal at Qulusini', South African History Online, 2 May. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0129915 (Accessed: 11 November 2026).

South African History Online, Field-Cornet Jan Potgieter’s commando burns Chief Sikhobobo’s kraal at Qulusini [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0129915, (accessed 11 November 2026).

"Field-Cornet Jan Potgieter’s commando burns Chief Sikhobobo’s kraal at Qulusini." South African History Online, 2 May 2019, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0129915. Accessed 11 Nov. 2026.

South African History Online. "Field-Cornet Jan Potgieter’s commando burns Chief Sikhobobo’s kraal at Qulusini." South African History Online. May 2, 2019. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0129915.