User:Norcandy/Sandbox/Pienaar's Revolt

Pienaar's Revolt
Date 1 October 1771 - 27 January 1772 Location Frontier Areas of the Hope Colony Result Estmerish victory
Belligerents
Estmere  • East River Colony  • Hope Colony	Pioneers
Commanders and leaders
Gerald E. Howe  Jan de Beers Willem van Breybach	Adriaan Pienaar Christiaan Matthys † Ruan Swart
Strength
12,200	4,600
Casualties and losses
411 killed and wounded	201 killed 389 wounded

Pienaar's Revolt, also called the Farmer's Revolt or the Pioneer War, was a four-month-long revolt in the Hope Colony. The immediate cause of the revolt was the shooting of Estmerish magistrate John Digolds who was killed by Ruan Swart after attempting to free slaves owned by Swart. One week later, on 1 October 1771, a group of twelve Estmerish soldiers from the Port Hope Garrison arrived on Swart's estate to arrest him. A group of disgruntled farmers were waiting for them - all twelve were killed.

The Pioneers were adept at guerrilla warfare, and many Estmerish troop convoys sent into the frontier areas of the Hope Colony to restore order were ambushed whilst travelling through narrow passes in the Orange Mountains, with the Estmerish often losing nearly all of their men and the Pioneers taking very few casualties. When the Pioneers were attacked, they would fall back to another defensive line to ambush more Estmerish troop convoys. Adriaan Pienaar's Pioneers in particular lead well-publicised raids on Estmerish forts and convoys and became the most feared of the Pioneers.

In December 1771, a huge force of around 8000 men arrived from Nuvania and Estmere to combat the revolt, in addition to forces from the East River Colony, bringing the total number of Estmerish forces to 12,200 men. On 22 December 1771, the two sides clashed at the Battle of Hondeberg which saw the first pitched battle of the revolt. Neither side could claim victory, and Pioneer general Christiaan Matthys was killed whilst retreating through Arnett Woods.

On the 3 January, a troop convoy which Estmerish General Gerald E. Howe was travelling in was captured. Howe was forced to surrender the convoy and himself to Pioneer forces, causing a huge embarrassment to Estmere. Two days later, Estmere launched their grand offensive which flushed out remaining Pioneer strongholds. Later that month, Pienaar was forced to surrender as Pioneer casualties mounted and the Estmerish retaliation became brutal, burning down farms and in one instance a village. Pienaar was sentenced to death by hanging, but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in Port Hope Fortress following a public backlash that threatened to start another revolt.

Prelude & Causes

Tensions between the Pioneers (the Estmerish name for settlers of Hennish descent) and the Estmerish "onbekenden" (strangers) had been running high since the liberal Estmerish began to bring their reforms to the traditional Flamian settlers in the Hope Colony. It was further spurred on by the forced land purchases made by the new Estmerish colonial government around Port Hope and Adamstown, for city expansion. The colonial government paid little for the land, which further caused resentment among the Pioneers. Soon, many farm owners were forced to move out to the frontier areas and rebuild.

Estmere had very little control or interest in the frontier areas of the Hope Colony - it made very little money in comparison to richer colonies like Nuvania, and the Pioneers lived relatively free of government control. In 1770, a new governor was appointed - Arthur Malley - who's primary goal was to expand the Hope Colony - in early 1771, the Hope Colony annexed the New Territories, Southern Hope and the Northern Hope was partitioned with the Orange Colony.

Malley also began to solidify his control over the Hope and sent waves of Magistrates and taxmen to the very fringes of the colony. The Pioneers were unhappy with the new situation, and many considered crossing the frontier but were discouraged following a series of brutal murders of Pioneers by natives living across the frontier.

Tensions reached a boiling point in 1771 when Estmere banned slavery - and began the process of freeing slaves in its colonies. The Pioneers were very upset by this, as almost all of their labour came from slavery - much of it imported from Bahia and equally large numbers of enslaved natives. Magistrates travelled around the colony, forcibly freeing slaves, and offering no compensation to the farmers.

On 24 September 1771, Estmerish Magistrate John Digolds entered the farm of the powerful Pioneer and landowner Ruan Swart. After attempting to free Swart's slaves, Swart reportedly told Digolds to leave the farm; Digolds refused and was shot by Swart with a Musket. News of the shooting reached Port Hope Fortress a couple of days later, and twelve riders were dispatched to arrest Swart. Entering onto his farm, they were ambushed by around twenty Pioneers - all twelve riders were killed.

Rebellion

Widespread Unrest

As news of the ambush spread, Pioneers took up arms across the Hope Colony - a group of Pioneers even marched to Port Hope Fortress, but were disarmed by the guards. Unrest spread throughout the predominantly Hennish areas of the colony, but much of it was quickly suppressed by Estmerish Garrisons. However, Estmere had virtually no control over the fronteir areas of the colony; most of it was farms, and there were very few densely populated settlements.

Vast swathes of land in the western-most part of the Hope Colony became no-go areas for Estmerish troops and magistrates. Malley had told the Governor of the East River Colony - Sir James de Lions that he required no assistance, despite the fact that the troops from the East River Colony were situated in a good position to enter the Hope and defeat Pieenar and Swart's men.

Early Stages

Malley's colonial government declared martial law on 30 September - and the next day, Pienaar read the Hondeberg Proclamation on the steps of the town hall at Hondeberg.

the free men of the Hoop and Oranje Kolonies [Hope and Orange Colonies) call upon our fellow pioneers and brothers in arms to throw away the yoke of the Estmerish Empire, who would rather us dead! That is why we rise, men of the Hope!

— Adriaan Pienaar

The town's magistrate, who had been arrested by Pienaar's men before the proclamation was read, was hanged, in addition to three Estmerish soldiers who guarded the Town's Court. Pienaar ammased an army of nearly 4,600 men - roughly the same ammount as the number of Estmerish forces in the Hope Colony.