Dirk Cornelis "Dirkie" Uys (3 March 1823 – 9 April 1838) was a

Voortrekker The Great Trek ( af, Die Groot Trek; nl, De Grote Trek) was a Northward migration of Dutch-speaking settlers who travelled by wagon trains from the Cape Colony into the interior of modern South Africa from 1836 onwards, seeking to live beyo ...

hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ...

during the

Great Trek The Great Trek ( af, Die Groot Trek; nl, De Grote Trek) was a Northward migration of Dutch-speaking settlers who travelled by wagon trains from the Cape Colony into the interior of modern South Africa from 1836 onwards, seeking to live beyon ...

. Uys was born in

Swellendam Swellendam is the fifth oldest town in South Africa (after Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Simon's Town, and Paarl), a town with 17,537 inhabitants situated in the Western Cape province. The town has over 50 provincial heritage sites, most of them ...

in 1823, the son of Petrus Lafras Uys and Alida Maria Uys. After the massacre of Piet Retief and his men by

Dingaan Dingane ka Senzangakhona Zulu (c. 1795–29 January 1840), commonly referred to as Dingane or Dingaan, was a Zulu chief who became king of the Zulu Kingdom in 1828 Dingaan is also a given name and may refer to: *Dingaan Myolwa, South African pol ...

on 6 February 1838, a number of Voortrekker camps were also attacked by the Zulu

impi is a Zulu word meaning war or combat and by association any body of men gathered for war, for example is a term denoting an army. were formed from regiments () from (large militarised homesteads). In English is often used to refer to a ...

s. These Voortrekkers appealed to other treks, particularly those of Piet Uys and

Hendrik Potgieter Andries Hendrik Potgieter, known as Hendrik Potgieter (19 December 1792 – 16 December 1852) was a Voortrekker leader and the last known Champion of the Potgieter family. He served as the first head of state of Potchefstroom from 1840 and 184 ...

in the

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( nl, Oranje Vrijstaat; af, Oranje-Vrystaat;) was an independent Boer sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeat ...

, for help. Both treks send out

commando Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin">40_Commando.html" ;"title="Royal Marines from 40 Commando">Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin area of Afghanistan are pictured A commando is a combatant, or operativ ...

s to help, including Uys' fifteen-year-old son, Dirkie. During the subsequent

Battle of Italeni The Battle of Italeni was a battle that took place at in what is now KwaZulu Natal province, South Africa, between the Voortrekkers and the Zulus during the period of the Great Trek. Background After the massacre of Piet Retief and his men b ...

, Piet Uys was mortally wounded by an

assegai An assegai or assagai (Arabic ''az-zaġāyah'', Berber languages, Berber ''zaġāya'' "spear", French language, Old French ''azagaie'', Spanish ''azagaya'', Italian ''zagaglia'', Middle English ''lancegay'') is a pole weapon used for throwing, ...

while riding to the rescue of two of his cornered men. The rescue party failed. Opinions of what happened next differ: According to the most common version (mostly told by people who had not been present at the battle), Dirkie Uys was ahead of his father with most of the party when he heard his father ordering one of his men to leave him where he had fallen. Seeing the Zulus closing in on his father, Dirkie Uys turned around his horse, shouting "I will die with my father", and charged. He shot three Zulu warriors, briefly forcing them to retreat, but they rushed at him and stabbed him off his horse. Dirkie Uys fell beside his father, where they were both stabbed to death. This version of events is depicted on one of the historical

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

s of the

Voortrekker Monument The Voortrekker Monument is located just south of Pretoria in South Africa. The granite structure is located on a hilltop, and was raised to commemorate the Voortrekkers who left the Cape Colony between 1835 and 1854. It was designed by the a ...

Sources

*Ian S. Uys
"The Battle of Italeni"
South African Military History Society. Afrikaner people South African people of Dutch descent Great Trek 1823 births 1838 deaths People from Swellendam {{SouthAfrica-bio-stub