Johan Fick

General Johan Isak Jacobus Fick was the founder of Ficksburg, a town in the Free State province, South Africa. After the Basotho Wars, peace was made and the town named after Johan Fick. He was also known as Commandant Generaal Johan Fick.

He was born on September 22, 1816, on the farm Kruisfontein, in Olifantshoek in the Grahamstown district of South Africa. He died on May 20, 1892, at the age of 75. He was buried in the town of Ficksburg. He was the son of Paul Hendrik Fick and Lenie Meyer. He was the second eldest of four sons his parents had, with the eldest Johan inheriting the family farm. The Boers at this point enjoyed the British help in defending the region and wanted to maintain British rule. The Boers even unsuccessfully sent a party to England to ask the British to remain sovereign in the Free State. Ultimately, the British departed and this led to the formation of the Orange Free State in 1854.

The Basothos were emboldened by their defeats of the British. Without the British support, the Boers lived in fear of Basotho raiding parties. As the parties would come from modern day Lesotho and the farmers would often flee westward to avoid the raiders. Once the raiders had vacated, the farmers would return to what was left. In general, the farmers would keep their distance if approached by Basothos. Wodehouse required any Basothos that was on the wrong side of the border, to move by November 1864. Although the Basothos had agreed to the mediation process originally, they did not want to abide by the new border. The boers had placed guards on the border to avoid crossings. However, two of these guards were taken prisoner by the Basothos for a few days. This led to more attacks by the Basothos in the Free State. A few days later 3,000 Sotho warriors raided Boer farms in the Caledon Valley, killing around 14 settlers and returned home with 100,000 sheep and several thousand cattle and horses. Further attacks happened in Kroonstad and Bloemfontein, capturing livestock and killing settlers.

The Siege of Thaba Bosiu Throughout July the Sotho, seeing that they were still no match for Boer firepower, generally withdrew to their homes. By the end of July 1865 the Sotho were concentrating on the defense of Thaba Bosiu. In early August, Fick was joined by another Boer commando under Louw Wepener that had come up from the south. On August 8, Wepener directed an attack against on the south side of the mountain. On August 15, Wepener led another assault against the mountain that concentrated on northwestern Khubelu Pass. Boer's artillery bombed the positions higher up the mountain, but had to cease as the attackers advanced.

Wepener was shot dead. While the Boers were mustering reinforcements around sunset, the Sotho launched a counterattack that drove them down the mountain. Fick's force then laid siege to Thaba Bosiu. As time went on, more and more Boers deserted and by the middle of September Fick had to withdraw his camps on the southern and eastern sides of Thaba Bosiu. On September 25, the Boers left and divided into two commandos, with one under Fick raiding to the north and one under P. J. Wessels raiding to the south.

Paul Kruger reinforcements Following attacks by the Basothos into Transvaal, President Pretorius declared war against the Basothos and asked General Paul Kruger to lead the army against the attackers. On 6 October 1865, the Free State forces under Fick and the Transvaal forces under Kruger, decided to jointly defend the border. Over the next month the joint troops had a number of minor victories until the Transvaal troops returned on 30 October, due to a lack of clothing and the harvest season. President Johannes Brand of the Free State decided not to give any of the conquered land to the Transvaal burghers, resulting some unease. Although Fick intended to starve the Sotho into submission by destroying crops, he did not have enough men to do so. In January 1866 the Free State commandos withdrew from Lesotho in order to reorganize.

Treaty of Mpharane Following further conflict on the border, peace was made with Moshoeshoe's son, Molapo on 26 March 1866 in Ficksburg, with the treaty of Moharane. As part of the negotiations, General Fick sent his son, Paul with Fanie Jacobs, to live with the Basothos. In return, Molapo, sent two of his sons, Jonathan and Joel, to live with the Boers. The boers and the Bashotos met in Ficksburg on the Eastern side of the Caledon. President Brand had come from Bloemfontein to join. After an agreement for peace was reached, 25 gun shots were fired. It was agreed that everything north of Phuthiatsana was now the Free State. This was a major blow to Moshoeshoe. With his people anxious to harvest their remaining crops, Moshoeshoe, on 3 April, agreed to modified Free State terms that he surrender 3,000 cattle and give up a considerable amount of land that had been taken by the Boers during the conflict. This second treaty was known as the Treaty of Thaba Bosiu

Final years Following the Second Free State-Basotho War, Fick was promised a farm near the vicinity of Ficksburg by President Brand, however the Volksraad refused the gift. Upset, Fick bought a farm called Sterkfontein, where he lived until his death.