Christiaan Botha

Christiaan Botha (also Chris Botha and in English language literature mistakenly Christian Botha, 6 October 1864 – 29 October 1902) was a younger brother of Louis Botha (1862–1919) and Philip Botha (1851-1901), an older brother of Theunis Jacobus Botha (1867-1930), and likewise a Boer general in the Second Boer War (1899–1902) who then both fought the British to the end. and Salomina Adriana van Rooyen (Somerset East, 31 March 1829–Harrismith, 9 January 1885). They were the first inhabitants of the Boer Nieuwe Republiek (or Vrijheid Republiek, 1884-1888), which was incorporated in the South African Republic in 1888. Chris Botha was to father one son and two daughters by his spouse Maria Elizabeth Rachel Johnstone. Buller outflanked some seven thousand Boers between 10–15 May 1900 who had dug into the Biggarsberg, and again on 6–12 June 1900 by passing Christiaan Botha's ten thousand Boers in the region near Majuba Hill. The Boers had built there many miles of entrenchments to secure the main passes such as Laing's Nek. But Buller's troops found a small pass over the Drakensbergen more to the west, and won a minor battle at Alleman's Nek 20 km to the west of Volksrust on 11 June 1900. They so outflanked Chris Botha and his men at Laing's Nek and could march into the Transvaal on to Standerton.

After the fall of Pretoria to the British on 5 June 1900 Chris Botha commanded the Boer forces fighting on in the eastern Transvaal. In July 1901 Chris Botha as assistant commandant-general in the eastern Transvaal had to review the death sentence for treason of six National Scouts and sentenced five of them to be shot by a firing squad of their own commando. In February 1902, he was captured by British forces at Volksrust, tried as a rebel, and sentenced to 10 years in prison. He later joined the peace negotiations at Vereeniging and supported the loss of independence of the South African Republic to conclude the Treaty of Vereeniging on 31 May 1902.

Christiaan Botha died on 29 October 1902 in Kokstad, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, from wounds sustained during his capture.

Literature Bossenbroek, M. P. and Rosenberg, Yvette (Translator), The Boer War, Seven Stories Press, New York, NY, 2018. , 1609807472. Pages 282, 338, 382. Pages 250, 323, 485, and 488. Pages 410, 414, and 451. Pages 86–89, 94, 101, 103-107, 109-110, 116-117, 121-122, 124-127, 129-137, 141-144, 146-152, 154-156, 159-160, 162, 208, 265, 271, 292-309, 311-316.

Grobler, J. E. H., The War Reporter: the Anglo-Boer war through the eyes of the burghers, Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball Publishers, 2004. ISBN 978-1-86842-186-2. Pages 23, 44, 68-70, 75, 78, 80, 87-88, 90, 114-115, 124, and 134. Pakenham, Thomas, The Boer War, George Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1979. Abacus, 1992. ISBN 0 349 10466 2. Page 453.