Koos de la Rey
Koos de la Rey (Jacobus Herculaas de la Rey) (22 October 1847 - 15 September 1914) was a general during the Second Boer War and is widely regarded as being one of the greatest military leaders during that conflict. Born near Winburg, Orange Free State, South Africa, he was the son of Adrianus Johannes and Adriana van Rooyen. He was the grandson of immigrants from Holland who settled in Lichtenburg.
He married Jacoba Elizabeth Greeff and the couple settled on the farm Elandsfontein. They had ten children. General de la Rey was deeply religious and a small pocket Bible was rarely out of his hand. He had formidable looks - a long neatly trimmed brown beard and a high forehead with deep-set glowing eyes gave him a prematurely patriarchal appearance.
He did not take a very active part in the First Boer War, but as field cornet in the western Transvaal, he took over Piet Cronje's Potchefstroom siege when Cronjé fell ill.
He is generally regarded as the most powerful and unyielding of the Boer generals during the Second Boer War. He is also seen as one of the leading figures of Afrikaner nationalism. As a guerilla fighter, his tactics proved extremely successful. De la Rey opposed the war until the last, but when he was once accused of cowardice during a Volksraad session, he replied that if the time for war came, he would be fighting long after all those clamoring for war had given up. This proved to be the case. Although he was a simple farmer who spoke no English, De la Rey was noted for his chivalrous behaviour towards his enemies.
Koos de la Rey took part in the peace talks at Vereeniging in 1902, which lead to the Treaty of Vereeniging.
He was shot and killed at a police roadblock that was set to capture the Foster gang on 15 September 1914.
