ATJEH '96 (book by A. Kruisheer)

ATJEH ‘96 — the comprehensive operational history of the Atjeh-oorlog in the year 1896 — was published at Weltevreden by N.V. Boekhandel Visser & Co in 1913 in two volumes, both by A. Kruisheer (Kapitein der Infanterie O.I.L., Captain of Infantry, Netherlands Indies Army). The work is held today by the Instituut Kern, Leiden.

The first volume — 1e Deel — is the source balso of the present Aceh Wiki History. It is the principal Dutch-language source for the Atjeh-oorlog in the first semester of 1896 (1 January – 28 June 1896), centred on the defection of Teuku Umar on 29 March 1896 and on the Dutch counter-offensives that followed through the departure of Lt.-Gen. Vetter as Regeeringscommissaris on 28 June 1896. The volume comprises a main text of 331 pages, eight Annexes on pp. 334–351 (official documents, letters, proclamations, and forces tables), two maps, and four portraits. The preface is dated Magelang, April 1913.

The second volume — Tweede Deel (2c Deel) — was published under the full title ATJEH 1896 ATJCH 1896–1900 Met 3 kaarten en 6 portretten. It is the principal Dutch-language source for the second semester of 1896 (29 June – 31 December 1896), centred on the surprise of Ana’ Galoeng of 29 June 1896 and on the Dutch pacificatie (pacification) operations that followed through the cholera epidemic of December 1896. The volume comprises a main text organised in two Hoofdstukken (Chapters III and IV), a Besluit (Conclusion), and twenty-two Bijlagen (Annexes) — including the Instructie (Instruction) left by Vetter as Regeeringscommissaris at his departure (Bijlage I), the Notulen (Minutes (Notulen)) of the conference between Van der Wijck and De Moulin of 18 June 1896 (Bijlage II), and the consolidated Instruction for Civiel en Militair Gouverneur Van Vliet (Bijlage III). The volume is held today by the Instituut Kern, Leiden.

The two volumes together — the first covering January–June 1896 and the second covering July–December 1896 — constitute the comprehensive operational history of the Atjeh-oorlog in the year 1896, as compiled and narrated by Kruisheer from his personal service in Atjeh and from the institutional records of the Dutch colonial army. The two volumes share the same institutional and biographical ambition — with portraits, maps, and Bijlagen preserving the principal official documents of the year — and together form the source balso of the Aceh Wiki History repository for the year 1896.

Background

Kruisheer’s ATJEH ‘96 was compiled from a series of articles he had published in the I.M.T. — the professional journal of the Royal Netherlands Indies Army — in the volumes of 1903, 1905, 1906, and 1908. The I.M.T. articles had themselves been the product of Kruisheer’s personal service in Aceh: he had been present at Ana Galong in December 1895 as part of the garrison (page 27 of the first volume), where he had observed the daily coming-and-going of a Sibreh inhabitant who spied for both sides, and the enemy’s construction of a complete battery with trenches opposite the post. The I.M.T. articles had attracted attention in the colonial military community, and in 1913 Kruisheer revised and compiled them into the present two-volume work.

The choice of scope — the year 1896 — was deliberate. The defection of Teuku Umar on 29 March 1896 had triggered what Kruisheer regarded as a strategic turning point in the Atjeh-oorlog: the abandonment of the failed policy of native alliance that had governed Dutch strategy since 5 September 1893, the dismissal of Gen.-Maj. Deykerhoff, the dispatch of Lt.-Gen. Vetter as Regeeringscommissaris, the conventional military operations of April–June 1896, the brief and fatal governorship of Generaal-Majoor De Moulin in July 1896, the four-month second tenure of Kolonel Stemfoort as wd. Civiel en Militair Gouverneur (11 July – 17 November 1896), the arrival of Kolonel Van Vliet as the new permanent governor (8 November 1896), and the paralysis of military action in December 1896 by the heerschende cholera (prevailing cholera). In the Besluit (Conclusion) of the second volume, Kruisheer claims that men in 1896 den rechten weg tot pacificatie insloeg — that in 1896 the right path to pacification was entered.

Content of the First Volume (1e Deel)

The first volume is organised in three principal parts. The front matter (pp. 1–16) comprises the title page, the preface dated Magelang April 1913, a portrait frontispiece of Gouverneur-Generaal Jhr. C. H. A. van der Wijck, three further portraits (Gen.-Maj. C. Deykerhoff, Lt.-Gen. Vetter, Toekoe Oemar), and the Table of Contents on pp. 13–16, which lists the Annexes and the two maps: the Map of the western part of Great Aceh, scale 1:20,000 and the Sketch map of the former Eastern Outer Line, scale 1:25,000.

The main text (pp. 19–331) is organised chronologically in Chapters by date-range. Hoofdstuk I — pp. 19–65 — covers the period from the strength return of 1 January 1896 (the Bijlage I A) through the defection of 29 March 1896 and the abandonment of the buitenlinie by 20 April 1896. Hoofdstuk II — covering 21 April–22 May 1896 — covers the dismissal of Umar, the Bombardment of Lampisang, and the various diversies and tuchtigingen of late April and early May. Hoofdstuk III — covering 23 May–28 June 1896 — covers the three-day Dutch offensive, the tuchtiging of Lam-Krak Moekims, the tuchtiging of V Moekims Montassik, the Ladoeng Landing, the farewell parade of Vetter, and the departure of Vetter on 28 June 1896.

The Bijlagen (Annexes) of the first volume on pp. 334–351 comprise eight official documents: the Bijlage I A — strength return of 1 January 1896; the Bijlage II — first letter of T. Oemar of 30 March 1896; the Bijlage III — first proclamation of the Regeeringscommissaris; the Bijlage IV — second letter of T. Oemar of 12 April 1896; the Bijlage V — third letter of T. Oemar of 23 April 1896; the Bijlage VI — besluit dismissing T. Djohan Pahalawan of 26 April 1896; the Bijlage VII — second proclamation of the Regeeringscommissaris of 27 April 1896; and the Bijlage VIII — strength return of 1 June 1896.

Content of the Second Volume (Tweede Deel / 2c Deel)

The second volume is organised in three principal parts. The front matter (pp. 1–13) comprises the title page, the Inhoud (Table of Contents) on pp. 7–11 listing the two Hoofdstukken, the Besluit, and the twenty-two Bijlagen, and a list of the three maps and six portraits — including the frontispiece Frontaanzicht van Ana’ Galoeng opposite p. 2, a portrait of Generaal-Majoor J. J. K. de Moulin opposite p. 15, of Kolonel Stemfoort opposite p. 83, of Kolonel Van Vliet opposite p. 145, of Luitenant-Kolonel Van Heutsz opposite p. 276, and a sketch of the Gevechtsterrein bij Ana’ Galoeng opposite p. 104. The six portraits — compared to the four of the first volume — reflect the larger cast of principal figures in the second semester: De Moulin (the governor who died), Stemfoort (his successor as wd. Civiel en Militair Gouverneur), Van Vliet (the permanent governor), and Van Heutsz (the future governor and commander of the first Selimoen expedition).

The main text (pp. 19–160) is organised chronologically in two Hoofdstukken. Hoofdstuk III — pp. 1–144 — covers the period from the surprise of Ana’ Galoeng of 29 June 1896 through the arrival of Kolonel Van Vliet on 8 November 1896. It opens with the night attack of 29 June 1896 in which three Dutch colonnes under Van Heutsz, Soeters and Laceulle stormed the benteng (fort) of Ana’ Galong with the maréchaussée (military police (maréchaussée)) and the snelladers of the 3e Bataljon using only the klewang (cutlass (klewang)); it records the death of Generaal-Majoor De Moulin by sunstroke at Lam-Pisang on 7 July 1896 during an excursie (reconnaissance (excursie)) to the IV Moekims (Kroeng-Raba); and it narrates the four-month second tenure of Stemfoort as wd. Civiel en Militair Gouverneur, during which the Dutch extended their control into the XXVI Moekims, XXII Moekims, IV Moekims and the Selimoen highlands.

Hoofdstuk IV — pp. 145–160 — covers the period from the arrival of Kolonel Van Vliet on 8 November 1896 through the close of the year. It narrates the handover of command of 17 November 1896; the reconnaissance in Lepong of 12 November 1896; the trip to Tibang-Poei and Birah near Bat Dilip of 29 November 1896 to recover the artillery lost on 17 April 1896 during the battle of Senelop; and the paralysis of military action in December 1896 by the heerschende cholera (prevailing cholera) which prevented the colonne tegen Oemar (column against Umar) from taking the field.

The Besluit (Decree (Besluit)) (Conclusion) on p. 155 closes the volume with Kruisheer’s retrospective assessment of the second semester of 1896 — a period in which, in his view, men in 1896 den rechten weg tot pacificatie insloeg (the right path to pacification was entered in 1896), even as Umar remained at large and the geconcentreerde linie (concentrated line) remained the limit of effective Dutch control.

The Bijlagen (Annexes) of the second volume on pp. 162–328 comprise twenty-two official documents. The most important are: Bijlage I — the Instruction left by Vetter as Regeeringscommissaris at his departure on 28 June 1896 (pp. 162–165); Bijlage II — the minutes of the conference of 18 June 1896 between Van der Wijck and De Moulin on the policy to be followed in Atjeh (pp. 166–167); Bijlage III — the Instruction for Kolonel Van Vliet as Civiel en Militair Gouverneur (pp. 168–172); Bijlagen IV–V — Extract-besluiten regulating the schaftordes (food tariffs) for 1893 and 1895 (pp. 173–178); Bijlage VI — the Commandemensorders of 4 and 5 April 1896, nos. 37 and 39 (p. 179); Bijlagen VII–VIII — Extract-besluiten of 30 April 1896 and 22 Augustus 1896 on the toelagen en den bijslag (allowances and supplements) (pp. 180–181); Bijlagen IX–XII — Schaftordes (food tariffs) for Europeans, Inlanders, and Officers, and a comparative overview of the voedingswijze (diet) on war footing in 1896 (pp. 183–195); Bijlage XIII — a statement of officer incomes in 1896 (pp. 199–203); Bijlage XIV — a Nota betreffende de verpleging van troepen en dwangarbeiders bij den tocht naar Lepong (note on the care of troops and forced labourers on the Lepong expedition) (p. 203); Bijlage XV — the Schaftorde of 21 December 1896 (p. 208); Bijlage XVI — the Verlieslijst Atjeh-1896 (loss list for Atjeh 1896) (pp. 212–218); Bijlagen XVII–XIX — Dagorders (daily orders) granting military decorations for Atjeh ‘96 (pp. 222–230); and Bijlage XXII — the Overzicht van onze vroegere betrekkingen met Atjeh en van den huidigen toestand in dat gewest (Survey of our former relations with Atjeh and of the current state in that territory) (pp. 234–304), with twenty-six subsections covering the history, the Atjehsche volkskarakter, the size and boundaries, the population, the coasts, mining, roads, the tramway, trade, art and industry, agriculture, cattle-breeding, education, the chiefs, the administration of justice, taxation, the landscape treasuries, the administrative division, the armed police, the army, and various graphical representations of trade and data concerning the years 1893–1912.

Reception and Aftermath

ATJEH ‘96 — in both volumes — has served as the principal Dutch-language source for the Atjeh-oorlog of 1896 for over a century. The work is cited in subsequent colonial and post-colonial scholarship on the Atjeh-oorlog, and its preservation of the Bijlagen — particularly the three letters of Teuku Umar and the two proclamations of Vetter in the first volume, and the Instructie (Instruction) of Vetter, the Notulen (Minutes (Notulen)) of the Van der Wijck-De Moulin conference, and the consolidated Van Vliet Instruction in the second volume — has made it indispensable for the study of the diplomatic and political history of the 1896 crisis.

The OCR copies held by the Instituut Kern, Leiden — under the filenames 20260715_163243_DLP-89-Atjeh_96_Met_2_kaarten_en4_DOORA_KRUISHEER_Kapiteinder_Infanterie_nemoretriever-ocr-v1_OCR.txt (Volume 1) and 20260715_163243_DLP-90-Atjeh_96_DLP-89-Atjeh_96_Met_3_kaarten_en_6_DOORA_KRUISHEER_Kapiteinder_Infanterie_nemoretriever-ocr-v1_OCR.txt (Volume 3) — are the basis of the present Aceh Wiki History. The OCRs are of poor quality, with many character-recognition errors (e.g., “Mockims” for “Moekims”, “hel” for “het”), but the historical content is recoverable with care.

Significance

As the source balso of the Aceh Wiki History, ATJEH ‘96 — in both volumes — is the foundational document of the present repository. Its scope — the year 1896 — defines the chronological boundary of the articles; its perspective — that of a serving Dutch colonial infantry officer — defines the political frame within which the events are narrated; and its preservation of the Bijlagen across both volumes defines the corpus of primary documents available for analysis. The work’s claim that in 1896 the right path to pacification was entered is itself a historical position, and the subsequent course of the Atjeh-oorlog — which continued until 1903 and beyond — provides the perspective from which that claim can be assessed. As a historical document, ATJEH ‘96 — in both volumes — is both the principal source and the principal object of study for the present wiki.

Source

ATJEH ‘96. 1e Deel, door A. Kruisheer, Kapitein der Infanterie O.I.L., met 2 kaarten en 4 portretten (Weltevreden: N.V. Boekhandel Visser & Co, 1913). Instituut Kern, Leiden. OCR-filename: 20260715_163243_DLP-89-Atjeh_96_Met_2_kaarten_en4_DOORA_KRUISHEER_Kapiteinder_Infanterie_nemoretriever-ocr-v1_OCR.txt, pp. 1–331 main text + 334–351 Bijlagen.

ATJEH ‘96. Tweede Deel (2c Deel), door A. Kruisheer, Kapitein der Infanterie O.I.L., met 3 kaarten en 6 portretten (Weltevreden: N.V. Boekhandel Visser & Co, 1913). Instituut Kern, Leiden. OCR-filename: 20260715_163243_DLP-90-Atjeh_96_DLP-89-Atjeh_96_Met_3_kaarten_en_6_DOORA_KRUISHEER_Kapiteinder_Infanterie_nemoretriever-ocr-v1_OCR.txt, pp. 1–329 main text + Bijlagen.

description	ATJEH '96 — the comprehensive operational history of the Aceh War in the year 1896, by A. Kruisheer (Kapitein der Infanterie O.I.L.) — was published at Weltevreden by N.V. Boekhandel Visser & Co in 1913 in two volumes: 1e Deel (covering January–June 1896) and Tweede Deel / 2c Deel (covering July–December 1896). Together, the two volumes are the source balso of the present Aceh Wiki History repository and the principal Dutch-language source for the Aceh War in 1896.
tags	document, dutch, colonial, military, 19th-century, aceh-war, 1896, 1913, kruisheer-vol1, kruisheer-vol3, atjeh-96
aliases	ATJEH '96, ATJEH 96, ATJEH '96 (1e Deel) by A. Kruisheer, Kruisheer's Atjeh '96, Atjeh '96 door A. Kruisheer (1913), ATJEH '96 — 1e Deel and Tweede Deel, the two volumes of ATJEH '96

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