Van der Wedden was a Dutch officer of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (K.N.I.L.) who, with Christoffel, Colijn, Van Daalen, Van Loenen, Van der Maaten, and Swart, was one of the military figures who stood brilliantly at Van Heutsz’s side during the period-Van Heutsz — the final phase of the Atjèh-oorlog that brought the war to its military conclusion in 1904.
Place in the Period-Van Heutsz
Van der Wedden is named by Damsté as one of the military figures who stood brilliantly at Van Heutsz’s side during the period-Van Heutsz. The period-Van Heutsz, Damsté writes, was the work of many hands, of whom Van Heutsz was the principal but not the only one. “Zonder Snouck Hurgronje ware er geen Van Heutsz geweest; en Christoffel, Colijn, Van Daalen, Van Loenen, Van der Maaten, Swart, Van der Wedden, — om in alphabetische orde eenige militaire namen te noemen, — zij als zoo vele anderen hebben hem voortreffelijk gediend.”
Significance
Van der Wedden is one of the principal military figures of the period-Van Heutsz — the final phase of the Atjèh-oorlog — and is named by Damsté, alphabetically seventh (last) among the seven military figures who stood brilliantly at Van Heutsz’s side. Together with the other military figures of the period-Van Heutsz, Van der Wedden executed the policy that Snouck Hurgronje had prescribed and Van Heutsz had commanded, and so helped to bring the war to its military conclusion in 1904.
Account in Hooijer’s De verlaten posten in Groot-Atjeh (1897)
Kapitein Van der Wedden was a Dutch captain of the Netherlands East Indies Army who commanded the temporary post of Tjot Rang in the XXVI Moekims of Groot-Atjeh and who appears on three of the plates of De verlaten posten in Groot-Atjeh.
Command at Tjot Rang
On the plate of Tjot Rang, Hooijer identified the commandant of the garrison of three officers and seventy-five men standing on the rampart, beside a bench erected among flowers, dressed in nachtbroek en kabaai — night-trousers and a loose jacket. The post lay in an old Achehnese fortification on a height by the passer of Tjot Rang, with the usual vertical wire entanglement reinforced by a horizontal one, earthen ramparts and two bastions armed with 8 cm. pieces.
Life at Tjot Rang, Hooijer wrote, was roughly the same as at Toengkoeb: no trouble was had from the enemy, and the few rifle-shots fired were aimed at the wild pigs roaming the neighbourhood, which when hit were brought in with cheering and eaten with relish.
At Biloel and Kroeng Gloempang
Van der Wedden was also identified among the officers photographed at Biloel, and on the plate of the interior of Kroeng Gloempang he appears on the right of the long passage between the barracks that the garrison had labelled Heerengracht, with Schadée on the left.
See Also
- Drie Atjeh-mannen (1936)
- H. T. Damsté
- Joannes Benedictus van Heutsz
- C. Snouck Hurgronje
- Gotfried Coenraad Ernst van Daalen
- Christoffel
- Colijn
- Van Loenen
- Van der Maaten
- Swart
- Corps Maréchaussée (Atjeh)
- K.N.I.L.
- Aceh War
- Atjeh-oorlog
- 1898
- 1904
- Tjot Rang
- Biloel
- Kroeng Gloempang
- Kapitein Schadée
- Benteng
Sources
Drie Atjeh-mannen: Snouck Hurgronje — Van Heutsz — Van Daalen, door H. T. Damsté (September 1936). OCR-filename: 20260718_105749_DLP-111-Drie_Atjeh_mannen_Nemotron-OCR-v2_OCR.txt, p. 2.
De verlaten posten in Groot-Atjeh, door G. B. Hooijer, Gep. Luit.-Kolonel O. I. Leger, met 24 platen (Haarlem: De Erven F. Bohn; Batavia: G. Kolff & Co., 1897). Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen, Centrale Boekerij, Amsterdam. OCR-filename: 20260719_140140_DLP-134-De_verlaten_posten_in_Groot_Atjeh_Nemotron-OCR-v2_OCR.txt, pp. 12, 34, 51-52.
Acknowledgement of sources. This article is a single consolidated account combining the material previously held in this entry with the account given in De verlaten posten in Groot-Atjeh (1897) by G. B. Hooijer. Dutch terminology has been rendered in English, the original Dutch being retained only in direct quotations and in bibliographic citations.