On the night of 22^nd February they had reached the Cornelis River and Commandant Manie Botha and his Vrede commando joined them. Botha told them of the British force sweeping in a line from the Wilge to the Drakensberg. They were thus in danger of being trapped against the Bethlehem-Harrismith blockhouse line. Shortly they were joined by two more Commandants, Alexander Ross and his men from Frankfort as well as Hendrik Alberts and some men from Heidelberg. There were also significant numbers of people and their animals who had left their farms and were fleeing southwards.