Generaal Ben Viljoen

Some interesting information about him available here: http://www.bronberger.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&...

Benjamin Johannes Viljoen (7 September 1869 - 14 January 1917) was a general in the Boer army. He was born in a cave in the Wodehouse district of the Cape Colony to Susanna Magdalena Storm and Wynand Johannes Viljoen. This was the temporary residence of the Viljoen family while their farm house was being constructed. He spent his early years on the Varkiesdraai farm near Umtata.[2] He attained the position of Assistant Commandant-General of the Transvaal Burgher Forces and was member for Krugersdorp in the Transvaal Volksraad.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Viljoen]

Publications by Genl. Ben Biljoen:

• My Reminiscences of the Anglo-Boer War
• Under the Vierkleur: A Romance of a Lost Cause
• An Exiled General

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/297875672_Keeping_the_reco...

Op 14 Januarie 1917 sterf genl. Ben Viljoen in die ouderdom van 48 jaar in La Mesa, New Mexico. Viljoen is in 1868 in die Oos-Kaap gebore en verhuis in 1889 as jonggetroude na Krugersdorp waar hy na vore tree as joernalis, politikus en veldkornet. In 1899 word hy as lid tot die Tweede Volksraad verkies en lei die Johannesburg-kommando gedurende die Anglo-Boereoorlog. Hulle vertrek ná die uitbreek van die oorlog na die Natalse grens en neem deel aan onder meer die veldslae by Elandsrivier en Vaalkrans. Hy neem ook in Junie 1900 deel aan die Slag van Donkerhoek en lei ’n groep burgers in September 1900 deur die Oos-Transvaal en word in Januarie 1902 naby Lydenburg gevange geneem en na St. Helena verban. Ná die oorlog keer hy net vir ’n kort rukkie terug na sy geboorteland voordat hy na Europa reis en uiteindelik in 1904 aan die St. Louis’ World Fair se vertonings oor die Anglo-Boereoorlog gaan deelneem. Hy was in daardie tyd onder meer ook betrokke in die mislukte pogings om ’n Boeregemeenskap in Mexico te vestig. Hy gaan woon later permanent in New Mexico waar hy in 1917 sterf. Sy nasate woon steeds in die VSA. (Bron: J.W. Meijer, “Generaal Ben Viljoen, 1868-1917”, doktorale verhandeling, 1993). Lees meer oor Viljoen se betrokkenheid by die Slag van Donkerhoek in Andries Breytenbach se boek oor dié veldslag. Dit is beskikbaar in Kraal Uitgewers se e-winkel.

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General Benjamin (Ben) Johannes Viljoen Born in the Cape in 1868. He moved to the ZAR aged 16. He joined the Transvaal Mounted Police in Krugersdorp and also in 1896 he founded the Krugersdorpse Vrywilligerskorps. He also fought the Jameson Raiders in 1895 / 6. He also worked as a journalist. He served as a member of the Second Volksraad in 1898. At the start of the Boer War he served as Commandant of the Johannesburg Commando. He fought in the Battle of Elandslaagte and narrowly escaped capture. He fought in the battle of Modderspruit, Ladysmith, Colenso, on the Tugela and at Vaal Kranz. Winston Churchill described this incident at Vaal Kranz “A Maxim-Vickers gun abandoned by the Boers in a donga was about to fall into British hands, when that notorious ruffian, the fearless Viljoen himself, brought back a team of horses and escaped with the gun, threading his way between the red flames and black clouds of lyddite shells which the British artillery concentrated on him – a feat that, were it done by a British officer, he would assuredly be covered with decorations”. After the siege of Ladysmith was lifted and the British started to move northwards out of Natal, he took up a position on the Biggarsberg mountains with the intention of stopping Lord Dundonald’s advance. He was then withdrawn to Johannesburg to assist in planning its defence. He was in action again at Diamond Hill. He was promoted to General in June 1900. General Botha asked him to hold the approaches to Middelburg at Bronkhorstspruit. At Bergendal, he commanded the centre of the Boer position. Later, during the guerrilla phase, he operated in the east and north east of Transvaal. He narrowly escaped capture by Lieutenant-General Sir Bindon-Blood in April 1901. In August 1901, he protested strongly to General Blood about the use of blacks in the war. At the battle of Helvatia, a Boer victory, he captured the Naval gun, the Lady Roberts. He was captured near Lydenburg in January 1902 and sent to St Helena. in St Helena he wrote his autobiographical ‘My Reminiscences of the Anglo Boer War’. In a foreword to the book Col Theodore Brinckman, officer in charge of the prisoners of war in St Helena, wrote: “The qualities which particularly endeared this brave and justly-famous Boer officer to us were his straightforwardness and unostentatious manner, his truthfulness, and the utter absence of affectation that distinguishes him”. General Viljoen emigrated to the United States. He went on to establish a Boer colony in Mexico with the help of Theodore Roosevelt. In 1904 and took part in the World Fair with Piet Cronje reenacting the ABW. Viljoen was commissioned as a Major in the territorial National Guard's First Regiment of Infantry. For a short while, he was US Consul in Germany, and also acted as military advisor to Francisco Madero, the Mexican Revolutionary whom he also fought with. He also wrote the books "Under the Vierkleur" and "An Exiled General" whilst living in the US. He died in 1917, at his farm in La Mesa and is buried at the Masonic Cemetery in La Mesa, New Mexico.

Iain Hayter. 1 September 2021

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1910 census in La Mesa

1920 census in La Mesa