Conflict: | Siege of Pretoria |
Place: | Pretoria, South Africa |
Partof: | the First Boer War |
Date: | 16 December 1880 - 28 March 1881 |
Result: | Boer victory |
Commander1: | William Bellairs |
Commander2: | D.J. Erasmus |
Strength1: | 1,340 |
Strength2: | 6,000 |
Casualties1: | 9 dead, 38 wounded |
Casualties2: | 21 dead, 6 wounded, 15 captured |
The siege of Pretoria was a military engagement in the First Boer War, in which Boer forces laid siege to the British garrison at Pretoria. There was not much fighting in the siege, and the Boers had resorted to a strategy of just cutting off the British garrison, rather than attacking it. A few attempts were made, however, but none were successful. With the ceasefire in March 1881, the garrison surrendered upon hearing news of it.[1] [2]