J. Bosman was a Dutch first lieutenant of infantry in Atjeh in 1876, the senior surviving officer of the detachment destroyed in the Atoeh catastrophe of 13 February 1876, and himself one of its last victims — he died of cholera during the following night, before he could be questioned a second time.
13–14 February 1876
Bosman marched with Captain J. M. E. Van Swieten from Kota Radja as leader of one of the sections of the 60-man reinforcement bound for the post at Atoë. When the enemy first fired from the nipah bush by Lamsajoeng and the march’s cohesion was lost as the captain quickened the pace, it was Bosman who repeatedly called after him: “not so hard at the front of the march.” Repeatedly the soldiers faced right-about at his word to give volleys; when the klewang charge broke the troop, Bosman brought about thirteen survivors — the whole of what remained of the detachment — into the post at Atoë by flight.
The next day Major B. E. Mekern rode with his column through the field to take the evidence. He reported — on the basis of Bosman’s information, the spread of the bodies and his own inquiry — the whole story of the march to H. F. Meijer’s official record Atjeh van 26 December 1875 tot 4 September 1876 (1883). But he added that the shaken officer’s answers could no longer be valued, and, as the night took him with cholera, First Lieutenant Bosman died next day — still the only officer who had seen the whole disaster from inside and could speak of it.
See Also
- Atoeh catastrophe (13 February 1876)
- Jan van Swieten (Kapitein)
- Majoor B. E. Mekern
- Atjeh van 26 December 1875 tot 4 September 1876
Source
Atjeh van 26 December 1875 tot 4 September 1876, door H. F. Meijer (Breda: P. B. Nieuwenhuijs, 1883), chapter VI, pp. 116–118.