At the first battle at Bronkhorstspruit on 20 December 1880, Lieutenant-Colonel Philip Anstruther and 120 men of the 94th Foot (Connaught Rangers) were killed or wounded by Boer fire within minutes of the first shots. Boer losses totalled two killed and five wounded. This mainly Irish regiment was marching westward toward Pretoria, led by Lieutenant-Colonel Anstruther, when halted by a Boer commando group. They were halted when they approached a small stream called the Bronkhorstspruit, 38 miles from Pretoria. Its leader, Commandant Frans Joubert, (brother of General Piet Joubert), ordered Anstruther and the column to turn back, stating that the territory was now again a Boer Republic and therefore any further advance by the British would be deemed an act of war. Anstruther refused and ordered that ammunition be distributed. The Boers opened fire and the ambushed British troops were annihilated. In the ensuing engagement, the column lost 56 men dead and 92 wounded. With the majority of his troops dead or wounded, the dying Anstruther ordered surrender.