11 Facts About Nicolaas Smit

Nicolaas Jacobus Smit was a Boer general and politician.

Nicolaas Smit served as Vice State President of the South African Republic from 1887 and served until his death.

The son of Nicolaas Jacobus Smit and Elizabeth Magdalena Van der Merwe, the young Nicolaas was born at Doornbos, near Graaf Reinet.

Nicolaas Smit settled on a Sheepmor farm with his family in 1873.

Nicolaas Smit acquired the lease of a head of cattle in the Ngwenya Hills, northwest of Forbes Reef.

Nicolaas Smit proved to be an adept commander of mobile units.

At the Battle of Majuba Hill, Nicolaas Smit showed bold and courageous leadership, directing his unit to move uphill in the teeth of enemy fire while using the contours of the land for protection.

General Nicolaas Smit's victory brought the Transvaal War to a swift conclusion.

The London Convention, which superseded the Pretoria Convention and to which Nicolaas Smit was a signatory, ceded suzerainty to the Boers for all time.

Nicolaas Smit did not live to see the declaration of independence by President Kruger.

Nicolaas Smit married Hendrika Stephina, daughter of Hendrik Stephanus Pretorius and Rachel Jacoba Liebenberg, at Rustenburg in April 1863.