The Story of Majuba: Majuba Hill is a large, flat-topped mountain (kopje) in northwestern Natal some 10 miles south of Volksrust (above). Its crown is the size of a couple of football fields.

In Feb. 1881 a British force of some 500 men under General Sir George Colley, climbed Majuba, up along the long spur, (above left) and set up their camp on top. They looked down on the Boers, crawling like ants, far below. (War had broken out months before between Britain and the neighbouring Transvaal Republic, where the Boers had set up an independent territory on land they had wrested from nature and from Black Africans. The British claimed the land - and the Boers - belonged to them.)

Boer Commandant Nicolaas Smit, rather than being intimidated by the British, who seemed to be in a commanding position on top of Majuba, decided to take his men up the steep sides of the hill. Scores of Boers fired up the slopes to make the British keep their heads down; under this covering fire 350 Boers climbed rapidly up the sides (along the right side, above).

The British - who had no machine guns, and had not bothered to build trenches - were totally astonished to be attacked by Boers spilling over the lip of the hill. General Colley was almost immediately killed; his men, caught out in the open, panicked and fled back down the spur side of the hill. In an hour it was over. Some 93 British were killed, and 59 were captured; only one Boer had died.

It was known as the Battle of Majuba Hill; the date Feb. 27, 1881. The British Army considered it a day of disgrace for British Arms.

This devastating defeat so demoralized the government in Britain that Liberal Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone (left) sued for peace with the Boers.

So ended the First Boer War. The British were humbled, some would say defeated; there was no doubt that the Boers were triumphant. Their Transvaal Republic had won a new lease on life.

But behind the scenes, there was an alliance of British politicians and businessmen - shades of Bush/Cheney/Halliburton - who cast covetous eyes on the Boer Republic and the mineral resources it contained.

The defeat on Majuba Day, and concluding peace with the Boers, had especially rankled British Army officers. For decades, many thought only of a day of reckoning... of a day of revenge...

Feb. 27, 1881: Majuba Day - A Day of Shame! The Transvaal Boers, of course, commemorated Majuba Day every year, to celebrate the independence of their Republic, and the stunning victory when they - a bunch of ordinary farmers - had beaten the professional Victorian British Army, the best in the world.

Macdonald had won the respect of the Boers for refusing to give up even though his general was dead and most of his men had been killed, or had fled. He fiercely held his ground, and, even though out of ammunition, continued to fight with bare fists.

The incredulous Boers refused to shoot him and finally overpowered him physically. They handed him back his sword. Forever after he would become known as "Fighting Mac."

Macdonald had been unusual in the British officer corps, having worked his way up through the ranks, instead of following the usual route to a commission from the Queen - through good breeding in well-to-do families. Mac's parents were poor Scottish crofters.

Over the next twenty years Mac rose to become a General. In Afghanistan his bravery and leadership had gained him a commission, and rave notices. At Omdurman in the Sudan, in 1898, his cool handling of his brigade during the battle had probably saved Lord Kitchener's force from disaster and possible annihilation at the hands of tens of thousands of Dervish tribesmen.

Now at Paardeberg, some 4,000 Boers were surrounded, but not subdued.

Leading them was General Piet Cronje, (left) who had himself fought at Majuba Hill, and been one of the members of the "storming party" that had climbed the hill. Had he seen "Fighting Mac" being subdued?

Mac too, was now a general, and at Paardeberg, but was sick. After 10 days of seeming futile fighting, against an entrenched and determined foe, a British victory seemed distant.

As Feb. 27th approached, both Boer and Brit, warily awaited the anniversary date. Mac, from his sickbed, strongly urged Lord Roberts and Kitchener, to force the battle to an end on that day, to avenge and "wipe out" once and for all, the disgrace of Majuba Day, nineteen years before...

Roberts agreed and ordered the Canadians to make a night march on the Boer lines and dig advance trenches. When dawn rose on Majuba Day, general shooting broke out but the Boers knew now, that it was all over, and surrendered to the charging Canadians.

Everywhere in the British Army there was wild jubilation - the disgrace of Majuba had been avenged, by the capture of over 4,000 Boer men, women, and children. The tables had turned; henceforth Majuba would commemorate a Boer disgrace, and a mighty British victory.

And the Canadians, who had led the final charge, would become known as the "Heros of Majuba."