Heilbron is a town in the Free State province of South Africa which services the cattle, dairy, sorghum, sunflower and maize industries.

Popular activities are horse riding, off-road cycling, fishing, game drives, utilizing both motor vehicles and quad bikes, historical tours and affordable sporting facilities.

[citation needed] In 1836, the Voortrekkers fought off the local people of Ndebele Chief Mzilikazi at the Battle of Vegkop near the present town of Heilbron.

After Bloemfontein was conquered by the British forces during the Anglo-Boer War (on 13 March 1900), Heilbron was proclaimed as the capital of the independent Boer Republic of the Orange Free State.

A few weeks after the fall of Bloemfontein, Heilbron was also occupied, and President Steyn moved the capital to Frankfort, another town in the northern Free State.

In order to subdue those Boers who continued to fight, the British High Command attempted to cut the guerilla army off from its source of provisions.

Colonel Delzeal, the commanding officer in Heilbron, had given instruction that Johan's wife and 12 children still lived in the house and that they should not be harmed.

[4] The Mother and Child Memorial commemorates the 787 Boer women and children who died between 1899 and 1902 in the British concentration camp at Heilbron during the Anglo-Boer War.

On 16 October 1836 about 6 000 Matebele warriors attacked the laager (a camp or encampment, especially within a protective circle of wagons) of the Voortrekkers at Vechtkop.