Pieter (Piet) Retief (1780-1838)
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Pieter [Piet] Retief (1780-1838)
Piet Retief was a Voortrekker leader. In 1812 he became one of three commandants of the new Stellenbosch commando, which went to relieve serving burghers on the eastern frontier where the Fourth Frontier War (1811-1812) was winding down. At the end of 1813 Retief moved to the eastern districts, where he married the widow Magdalena Johanna Greyling. He started many enterprises, but they all failed. Retief later settled on a farm at the foot of the Winterberg, near the place where a military post was later established, known as Retiefspos.
In 1835 Retief became field commandant of the Koenap division in the Winterberg. He had lost all his earthly belongings in the Sixth Frontier War. He became increasingly dissatisfied with the shortcomings of the Eastern Frontier policy and its administration. By November he decided to leave the colony and join the Voortrekkers in the Trans-Orange, and published a manifesto. After his party crossed the Orange River at Buffelsvlei (now Aliwal North), he came into contact with the other Voortrekkers under Gert Maritz and Hendrik Potgieter between Blesberg and the Vet River.
In 1837 Retief was unanimously elected by the Voortrekkers as executive head of government, with the title of governor and head commandant. He resolved the dispute between Potgieter and Maritz and effected reconciliation with Piet Uys, a later Trekker leader. In July 1837 he already had the passes over the Drakensberg explored to find a suitable route for the Trek. In October 1837 he undertook an expedition to Port Natal, where he came into contact with a number of English traders.
After discussions with Dingane at Ungungundlovo, the Zulu king gave the Voortrekkers permission to live south of the Tugela on condition that Retief showed his loyalty by recovering stolen cattle from Sekonyela, the Batlokwa chief. Retief's expedition was successful and in 1838 Dingane signed the treaty. On February 6 Retief and his men attended a parting dance of Dingane's warriors unarmed, and were treacherously massacred.
Retief-Dingane treaty
The so-called treaty of Retief and Dingane was a document of the Zulus and the Voortrekkers. After negotiations and further fulfilled conditions of 1837 and early in 1838, Piet Retief as Natal Voortrekker leader arrived at Dingane's kraal on February 3, 1838, to obtain documentary approval from Dingane for the Voortrekkers to settle permanently between the Tugela and the Umzimvubu Rivers. On February 6, Dingane and three witnesses signed the deed, prepared by Retief.
After the signing Retief and his party of about 100 men were massacred and their bodies left on Aasvoëlkop. In December 1838, E. Potgieter as a member of Andries Pretorius's Victory Commando, found Retief's leather knap-sack among the bones. The treaty was preserved safely and reasonably intact among other papers. Various copies were made of the original document and distributed, but the actual deed was lost.
