CAMPAIGNS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 1834–5.

The aggressions of the Kaffir tribes, which were divided into three nations, the Amapondas, the Tambookies, and the Amakosa, about this time assumed a formidable and an atrocious character before unknown. The colonial boundary extended, on one side, to the Keiskamma; but a chief named Macomo had been permitted to reside within the British territory. Owing to some outrages committed by him and his followers on the Tambookies, he was deprived of the lands he held by sufferance in the British territory. His expulsion, however, was not strictly enforced until 1833, when he was removed beyond the boundary, and he became violently incensed against the government. The predatory habits of the Kaffirs also led to disputes when the British were searching for stolen property, and the lenity observed towards the aggressors, emboldened them to become more violent in their attacks. Towards the end of 1834, multitudes of Kaffirs rushed into the colony, and commenced the work of murder, rapine, and devastation by fire amongst the settlers. The ruins of once flourishing farms spoke of savage vengeance. Graham’s Town was barricaded, and the houses turned into fortifications. Troops were ordered to the frontier, and preparations were made to carry hostilities into the heart of Kaffirland, to visit with necessary chastisement these aggressions, and to take measures to prevent the recurrence of similar outrages.

The forces which were assembled for operations beyond the eastern frontier, were distributed into four divisions. The first division, (with which were the head-quarters of the Commander-in-Chief, Major-General Sir Benjamin D’Urban, K.C.B.,) was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Peddie, K.H., of the 72nd. Highlanders, and consisted of two guns Royal Artillery, a detachment of Cape Mounted Riflemen, 72nd. Highlanders, first battalion Provisional Infantry, and the Swellendam Burgher Force. The second was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Somerset, K.H., and was composed of two guns Royal Artillery, 202Cape Mounted Riflemen, (head-quarter division,) the George, Uitenhage, and the Albany Burgher Forces. The third, commanded by Major Cox, of the 75th. regiment, consisted of two guns Royal Artillery, detachment Cape Mounted Riflemen, second battalion Provisional Infantry, detachment Swellendam Burgher Force, Beaufort Burgher Force, and the Kat River Legion. The fourth, under Field Commandant Van Wyk, consisted of the Somerset Burgher Force.

Colonel Smith, C.B., (afterwards the celebrated Sir Harry Smith, of Aliwal,) was appointed second in command, continuing at the same time in the performance of his duties as Chief of the Staff to the United Regular and Burgher Forces; on the 26th. of March, 1835, he led a well-directed inroad into the enemy’s country; the Buffalo Mountains were penetrated, and the combined and successive operations in Kaffirland were eminently successful, numerous heads of cattle, the great wealth of the enemy, being captured.

On the 24th. of April, 1835, it was declared that the troops were in a state of hostility with the Kaffir tribes of the Chief Hintza, but it was decided that no kraals or huts should be burnt, and that the gardens and cornfields should be foraged in a regular manner.^[72] The operations of the troops were so successful that Hintza sued for peace, which was concluded personally with that chief by the end of the month.

To give some idea of the difficulties inseparable from these campaigns, it may be sufficient to state that in the expedition beyond the mouth of the Bashee, Colonel Smith, with his force, composed of detachments of the 72nd., Cape Mounted Riflemen, and some colonial levies, in seven days marched two hundred and eighteen miles, overcame all opposition, crossed and re-crossed this large river, of very difficult banks, and brought off from its further side three thousand head of cattle, which had been plundered from the colony, besides 203rescuing from destruction a thousand of the Fingo race, who would have fallen a sacrifice to the Kaffirs.

The difficult and laborious service of conducting the British missionaries and traders, with their families and effects, (previously brought in from the Bashee by Captain Warden,) the Fingo nation, amounting to more than ten thousand souls, from the eastern side of the Kei, into the colonial border, was accomplished by Colonel Somerset, with the second division.

It is a singular fact that the tribes were found to possess many guns, but without ammunition, and strenuous exertions were used to prevent gunpowder being conveyed beyond the boundary of the eastern frontier by importers and retail dealers.

Major William Cox, of the 75th. regiment, made a very successful series of operations in the mountains of the Chumie, Amatola, and Keiskamma range during the end of July, and beginning of August, 1835, which resulted in an interview with Macomo and other chiefs, when a provisional cessation of hostilities was agreed upon.^[73]

During September some effectual excursions were made by Lieutenants Moultrie and Bingham, of the 75th., which caused them to be thanked in orders by the Commander-in-Chief at the Cape, (Major-General Sir Benjamin D’Urban, K.C.B.,) who also therein praised the cool and soldier-like conduct of Private Thomas Quin, of that regiment, on the 15th. of that month.

Peace was not finally concluded until the following year. On the 8th. of August, 1836, a despatch was received at the Cape, from the Secretary of State for the Colonies, communicating to the troops employed in the Kaffir war, that “It affords His Majesty high gratification to observe that in this new form of warfare, His Majesty’s forces have exhibited their characteristic courage, discipline, and cheerful endurance of fatigue and of privations.”—(Signed) Glenelg.

The 27th., 72nd., 75th., and Cape Mounted Riflemen, were the regiments employed during this campaign.

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Second Kaffir War, 1846–1847.

From the numerous outrages upon life and property that had for some time been perpetrated by the Gaika Kaffirs on the settlers located along the frontier, the Government declared war against them in the beginning of April, 1846.

The force with which it was proposed to invade Kaffirland was organised into two divisions; one was placed under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Richardson, (now Major-General Richardson-Robertson,) of the 7th. Dragoon Guards, and consisted of the following detail:—Three troops of the 7th. Dragoon Guards, part of the reserve battalion of the 91st. regiment, two guns of the Royal Artillery, and one company of the Cape Mounted Riflemen. The second division was placed under the command of Colonel H. Somerset, of the Cape Mounted Riflemen, and consisted of one troop of the 7th. Dragoon Guards, two guns of the Royal Artillery, two companies of the 91st., and the head-quarters of the Cape Mounted Riflemen. The total strength of the British force, including cavalry, infantry, and artillery, did not amount to more than seven hundred men; whilst it was to be expected that the whole of the Gaika Kaffirs would join in resisting the invasion of their country. There were supposed to be upon good authority nearly sixty thousand fighting men, a considerable portion being armed with muskets.

Captain Bambrick, of the 7th. Dragoon Guards, fell early in the operations, namely, on the 16th. of April, 1846. This officer in the eager pursuit of the Kaffirs, was decoyed into an almost impenetrable jungle, where a shower of balls was discharged at his party, and he was killed. Captain Rawstorne and Lieutenant H. D. Cochrane, of the 91st. regiment, were wounded, the latter dangerously. Of so entangled a nature was the bush, 205that several of the swords of the men were torn out of the scabbards by its thorny branches. Captain Sandes, of the Cape Mounted Riflemen, was killed three days afterwards.

Sir Peregrine Maitland arrived from Port Victoria in April, and a general order, dated Block Drift, 20th. April, 1846, was issued, in which he congratulated Colonel Somerset and the officers and troops under his orders, on the chastisement of the enemy, which closed the operations of the 18th. of April. The movement on Block Drift had been successfully effected by the combined force with little loss, in the presence of an enemy of many times its numerical amount, through a harassing country, and against persevering attempts to impede its march.

The Kaffirs were no longer the same foe as on former occasions, when they were chiefly armed with native weapons, but at this period they had become more formidable, from a great increase of numbers, a considerable mounted force, and especially through possessing firearms, an acquisition particularly adapted to their entangled country.

Colonel Somerset, with the second division, after a series of successful movements, discovered and fell in with the enemy in two considerable bodies, on the 8th. of June, in the neighbourhood of the Gaika and Gwanga streams, when he attacked and routed them, killing two hundred, and capturing one hundred firelocks, twenty horses, and large quantities of assagais, besides securing two prisoners. This was effected with a loss of two men killed, and three officers and sixteen men wounded.

It being considered desirable to amalgamate the troops and Burgher forces, which were assembling, they were formed into two divisions, the first under the orders of Colonel Hare, C.B., and the second under Colonel Somerset, K.H.

Immediately after the troops moving to Block Drift, the Kaffirs entered the colonies in large bodies, and committed great destruction of life and property. To impede the operations of the British, the enemy burnt the grass everywhere along the line of march, and from the long and unusual drought, it became so dry that they readily effected their object. Active operations were however brought to a successful termination in October, the Chief Sandilli, together with his brother, and eighty of his followers, having surrendered. The closing services were rendered the more arduous by the constant inclemency of the weather to which the troops were exposed. The columns of attack against Sandilli were commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Buller, of the first battalion of the Rifle Brigade, and by Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell, of the reserve battalion of the 91st. regiment.

Lieutenant-General Sir Harry Smith, Bart., G.C.B., who had highly distinguished himself in India, and had previously seen so much service at the Cape, was appointed Governor, High Commissioner, and Commander-in-Chief of the forces in the Colony, the duties of which he assumed on the 17th. of December, 1847.

During this long and protracted desultory warfare great fatigue and exertions had been undergone with the characteristic heroism of the British soldier, and the humanity and forbearance displayed by him towards the fickle, treacherous, and revengeful enemy, were as conspicuous as his bravery.

The following corps shared in this campaign:—7th. Dragoon Guards, Royal Artillery, Engineers, and Sappers and Miners, 6th., 27th., 45th., 73rd., 90th., and 91st. regiments; the Rifle Brigade (1st. battalion,) and Cape Mounted Riflemen.

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Third Kaffir War, 1850–1853.

Some years of peace resulted, but the Kaffir tribes stifling their resentment for a time, at length determined to venture again on hostilities. Sir Harry Smith hearing of their designs, immediately summoned a meeting of the chiefs, which was attended by several, but Sandilli, who was regarded as their king, did not appear, whereupon he was outlawed; this occasioned a general rising, and operations for the purpose of securing Sandilli were at once commenced in the Keiskamma River by Colonel Mackinnon, who left Fort Cox on the 24th. of December, 1850, with a force of six hundred men, composed of three hundred and twenty-one of the 6th. and 73rd. regiments, one hundred and seventy-four of the Cape Mounted Riflemen, and about one hundred of the Kaffir Police. The 207Kaffirs attacked these troops in the Keiskamma defile, and it was with difficulty that he succeeded in reaching Fort Cox. Sir Harry Smith’s position at Fort Cox, too, had become critical, being hemmed in by numbers of the enemy; while Colonel Somerset, in his endeavour to succour him from Fort Hare, had been driven back on the 29th., after a hard contest, in which the small body of regular troops made a gallant but unavailing resistance. Lieutenants Melvin and Gordon, (adjutant,) of the 91st. regiment, were killed in action on the 29th. of December.

The Governor at the head of a flying escort, escaped from Fort Cox, and arrived at King William’s Town, at which place his head-quarters became established. Flushed by the advantages which the knowledge of their native fastnesses afforded the Kaffirs, and which made them almost a match for disciplined troops, they ravaged the country, and committed great depredations. It would be wearisome to detail all the skirmishes that occurred; the only warfare that could be adopted against an enemy who avoided concentration, or to encounter his opponents in open fight, was to continually harass them in their strongholds; but the force at the Cape was numerically insufficient for the contest. In these campaigns the great object was to carry on operations rapidly, and at a distant point, which made the fatigue excessive.

On the morning of the 3rd. of January, 1851, Fort White was attacked in force by the Kaffirs, in four bodies, but they were driven back, with great loss, by the garrison under Captain Mansergh, of the 6th. Foot.

A sharp action was fought, on the 21st. of January, between about six thousand Kaffirs, who hemmed in Fort Hare and the adjacent Fingo village of Alice, and the troops which garrisoned that post, under Major Somerset. The Fingoes were formerly held in subjection by the Kaffirs; but being relieved by the war of 1836, they afterwards proved friendly to the British, and behaved with great determination.

The troops, serving upon the frontier and in British Kaffraria, were in February, 1851, formed into two divisions designated the first and second. The first was under Major-General Somerset, and the second under Colonel Mackinnon; and 208combined operations were carried out by these officers, in order to clear the Chumie Hoek of the enemy.

About the end of May an insurrection broke out amongst the Hottentots in Lower Albany, and Major-General Somerset proceeded from Graham’s Town with a portion of the 74th. Highland Regiment, which had recently arrived at the Cape. A desperate encounter took place on the 3rd. of June, and two days afterwards the stronghold of the insurgents were surrounded.

Major-General Somerset commenced his operations in the Amatola Mountains on the 26th. of June, 1851. The gallant attack made by the 74th., under Lieutenant-Colonel Fordyce, upon the enemy’s position on the 28th. of that month, which was carried, received special commendation.

Colonel Mackinnon had proceeded from King William’s Town on the 24th. of June, with a force of two thousand and fifty-five men, composed of three hundred and thirty-seven of the 6th. Foot, four hundred and twenty of the 73rd., forty-seven of the Royal Marines, one hundred and twenty of the Cape Mounted Riflemen, and the rest consisting of colonial levies. During the course of his operations the troops under Major-General Somerset were seen scouring the ridges between the Amatola and Wolf Valley. These combined movements harassed the enemy at all points and were fully successful. In September, a force proceeded under Colonel Mackinnon to the Fish River Bush. The 2nd. Foot, on the 9th. of that month, sustained in these fastnesses a severe loss, Captain Oldham, four sergeants, and nineteen men being killed in action, and four corporals and nineteen privates wounded. During the month, this regiment, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Burns, which had just arrived at the seat of war, lost five sergeants and thirty-two men killed and died of wounds.^[74]

From the 14th. of October to the 8th. of November, 1851, the troops were employed in the operations in the Waterkloof. The plan comprised a series of attacks on the mountain 209fastnesses of the Kromme range, Waterkloof, Fuller’s Hock, and other heights, wherein Macomo determined to await the approach of the British. The scouring of the various ravines was carried out, the inclemency of the weather adding to the natural difficulties of the place. During these operations Lieutenant-Colonel Fordyce, the beloved commanding officer of the 74th., was killed on the 6th. of November.^[75] The regiment also lost Lieutenants Carey and Gordon and many men, among them some who were taken prisoners, and who were subjected by the Kaffirs to the most horrible tortures.

Lieutenant-Colonel Eyre effected the passage of the Kei in December, 1851. Here occurred the first instance during the war of the enemy throwing obstacles in fords, and constructing breastworks; the Kaffirs ingeniously heaped large stones together in the river, and erected a number of stone breastworks, one above the other, forming a somewhat formidable flank defence against musketry. The troops were six weeks in the field without a single blanket, and without tents. Lieutenant-Colonel Pole, of the 12th. Lancers, Lieutenant-Colonel Napier, Major Somerset, and Captain Bramly, of the Cape Mounted Riflemen, were specially noticed in general orders. Other operations followed, and the Kaffir chiefs of the Gaikas and Seyolo sued for peace, but declining to comply with the proffered terms, the troops, in seven columns, were directed to penetrate the Amatolas, and the country of Seyolo and other chiefs, on the left bank of the Keiskamma.

In March Major-General Somerset conducted operations in the Waterkloof, and Lieutenant-Colonel (now Major-General Sir 210John) Michel carried the Iron Mountain with the bayonet, despite a spirited opposition. Lieutenant-Colonel Perceval and Major Armstrong, in two divisions, on the 10th., attacked the strong position of the Chief Stock in the Fish River Bush, and after a sharp conflict, drove the enemy from every point.

Reinforcements had been sent from England to the Cape, but, owing to the wreck of the “Birkenhead,” nine officers and three hundred and forty-nine men, out of fifteen officers and four hundred and seventy-six men (the total number embarked) perished.^[76]

Attacks were also carried out by Lieutenant-Colonels Eyre and Perceval, (Macomo’s den being carried by the former,) the result of which was that the Kaffirs were driven from all their strongholds in the Amatolos. Lieutenant-Colonel Eyre’s pursuit of the enemy with his herds across the Kei, was pronounced by Sir Harry Smith to be one of the most enterprising and successful forays of the campaign, in which Major Armstrong, of the Cape Mounted Riflemen, and Captains Cureton and Oakes, of the 12th. Lancers, greatly distinguished themselves.

Lieutenant-General the Honourable Sir George Cathcart 211relieved Sir Harry Smith in the command at the Cape, in April, in which month five hundred Minié muskets were placed at the disposal of the troops in South Africa; these were equally distributed at six per company; the six best marksmen, being men of trust and intelligence, in each company were selected, and were termed “marksmen.”

Major-General York, (now Lieutenant-General Sir Charles Yorke, G.C.B., and recently Military Secretary at the Horse Guards,) a Peninsula and Waterloo veteran, commanding the second division of the army acting in British Kaffraria, having obtained reliable information as to the movements and position of the permanent Laager of the rebel Hottentots, who associated with the hostile Kaffirs, had committed great outrages, made his arrangements at the moment when they were all at home, for a combined attack on the Buffalo Mountains, with a portion of the 43rd. and 73rd. regiments, and other troops of the brigade of Lieutenant-Colonel Eyre. This disposable force proceeded from the post occupied by the latter in the centre of the Amatolas. A similar movement was made by a force consisting of parts of the 6th. and 60th. regiments, and certain levies, under Lieutenant-Colonel Michel, issuing from King William’s Town. On the morning of the 20th. of June, the columns, one from the north, and the other from the south, approached Murray’s Krantz nearly simultaneously. The intricacies and difficulties inseparable from the rugged and densely wooded forests were surmounted; and although the enemy attempted a stand on several occasions, yet they were driven headlong over the Krantz with severe loss.

Forays still continued. Lieutenant-General Sir George Cathcart, in July, moved with three columns upon the Waterkloof; the enemy appeared in considerable numbers, but offered only a faint resistance.

In August, when Major-General Somerset was placed on the staff in India, Colonel (now Major-General) Sir George Buller was appointed to the command of the first division, and that of the first battalion of the Rifle Brigade devolved on Major (now Sir Alfred) Horsford.

A force of four guns and three thousand troops were collected in September, for the purpose of finally clearing the Waterkloof 212and adjacent fastnesses. Each night the troops bivouacked on the ground of their operations, and the following day pursued the arduous task of searching for, and clearing the forests and krantzes of, the enemy.

This protracted struggle was now drawing to a termination; in November the troops marched into the Orange River territory, and on the 20th of December were engaged with the Basutos, under their chief Moshesh, at the Berea. The contest lasted from early in the morning until eight o’clock at night, when the enemy, with a force of about six thousand well-armed horsemen, under considerable organization, were defeated and driven from the field; after repeatedly assailing the troops at every point, with such severe loss, as to be compelled to sue for peace.

Hostilities shortly afterwards terminated, peace being proclaimed on the 12th. of March, 1853; the result of these exertions was the final clearance of the Waterkloof, Fish River, and all the other strongholds of the Kaffirs within the colony; the surrender of the chiefs Sandilli, Macomo, and the Gaika people, who had been expelled from all their former territories, including the Amatolas,—that troublesome race being removed to the banks of the Kei. The Basutos, Tambookies, and other tribes were completely subdued, and the Hottentot rebellion was extinguished.

In the words of Sir George Cathcart,—“The Field of Glory opened to them in a Kaffir war and Hottentot rebellion, is possibly not so favourable and exciting as that which regular warfare with an open enemy in the field affords, yet the unremitting exertions called for in hunting well-armed yet skulking savages through the bush, and driving them from their innumerable strongholds, are perhaps more arduous than those required in regular warfare, and call more constantly for individual exertion and intelligence.”

Lieutenant-General the Honourable George Cathcart, and Major-General Henry Somerset, C.B., were appointed Knights Commanders of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath; and Lieutenant-Colonels William Eyre, of the 73rd. regiment, John Michel, of the 6th. Foot, Charles Cooke Yarborough, 91st. regiment, John Maxwell Perceval, of the 12th. Foot, and George Thomas Conolly Napier, late Lieutenant-Colonel of the Cape Mounted Riflemen, to be Companions of the above Order. Colonel Eyre was also appointed aide-de-camp to the Queen, with the rank of Colonel in the army.

During this campaign the troops employed were the 12th. Lancers, Royal Artillery, Royal Engineers, and Sappers and Miners, 2nd., 6th., 12th., 43rd., 45th., Royal Marines, 60th., (2nd. battalion,) 73rd., 74th., 91st., Rifle Brigade, (1st. battalion,) and the Cape Mounted Riflemen.

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