Weenen massacre

On 17 February 1838, forces (impis) of the Zulu Kingdom under King Dingane attacked a series of Voortrekker encampments at Doringkop, Bloukrans (Blaauwekrans), Moordspruit, Rensburgspruit and other sites along the Bushman River (Zulu: Mtshezi), near the present-day town of Weenen in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province. The attacks followed the earlier killing of Voortrekker leader Piet Retief and about 100 members of his delegation by Dingane's forces, and were intended to eliminate the remaining Voortrekkers camped in the area.

According to contemporary accounts, "Not a soul was spared. Old men, women and babies were murdered in the most brutal manner." Among the Voortrekkers, the reported death toll was 41 men, 56 women and 185 children. An additional 250 to 252 Khoikhoi and Basuto people who accompanied the Voortrekkers were also killed, bringing total casualties to an estimated 532–534. Those killed included George Biggar, son of Port Natal trader Alexander Biggar; Biggar and his other son, Robert, later took part in retaliatory attacks against the Zulus and died during them.

Most people camped at the Klein- and Groot-Moordspruit sites were killed. One survivor, a Boer woman named Johanna van der Merwe, sustained 21 assegai wounds but survived the attack. In contrast, camps at Rensburgspruit, where Hans van Rensburg and Andries Pretorius were staying, successfully defended themselves. Van Rensburg's group was forced to abandon their wagons and retreat on foot to a defensible hill known as Rensburgkoppie, protected on one side by a cliff. There they held off the Zulu attackers with limited ammunition until a young man named Marthinus Oosthuizen rode through the Zulu lines on horseback to retrieve additional ammunition from the abandoned camp, allowing the defenders to hold their position until the Zulus withdrew.

Two months later, on 15 April 1838, Andries Pretorius recorded in his journal that the Blaauwekrans camps had been attacked at daybreak, resulting in the deaths of 33 men, 75 women and 123 children — a total of 231 deaths at those specific camps.

The Piet Retief delegation killing and the Weenen massacre together became the primary motivation for the Voortrekkers to confront Zulu forces later that year, culminating in the Battle of Blood River on 16 December 1838, in which 470 Voortrekkers fought against an estimated 15,000 to 21,000 Zulu warriors and prevailed. The town of Weenen (Dutch for "crying" or "weeping") was established approximately two months after the massacre, and takes its name from the event.