[3] Following the Battle of Paardeberg (18–27 February), the relief of Kimberley and Ladysmith and the fall of Bloemfontein, General Frederick Roberts reorganised his force to pursue the defeated Boers.

At the same time Lieutenant general Paul Methuen was tasked with clearing the country along the Vaal River on the Boers' flank and to drive towards Mafeking, which was still besieged.

[4] On 5 April Methuen ordered Brigadier-General Lord Chesham, with the Kimberley Mounted Corps and 4th Battery RFA.

[5] From an informer they found intelligence on a Boer Commando unit led by a French volunteer, the Comte de Villebois-Mareuil.

[7] De Villebois-Mareuil's force lay on two small hills (or Kopjes) - the foreign volunteers on one and the Boers on the other.

[8] As the yeomanry prepared to close with the bayonet, the Boers on the hill saw that they were being outflanked and asked De Villebois-Mareuil to withdraw but he flatly refused.

[2] One week after his death the Boer Foreign Legion was disbanded and placed under General De la Rey to continue with the guerrilla phase of the war.