Boer History1851 in South Africa: Hermanus, Viervoet, the Constitution Delayed, and Fordyce
Hermanus of the 7th of January, Uithaalder, and Fort Armstrong of the 22nd of February — January–February 1851
Sir Harry Smith was governor. He had taken the oaths on the 1st of December 1847. By the turn of the year he sat at King William’s Town. He had cut his way out of Fort Cox on the 30th of December 1850 with 250 Cape mounted riflemen, after Boomah Pass on the 24th and the burning of Woburn and Auckland on Christmas Day. 84 lives had been taken in those first 3 days. From Fort Cox, while the hills still held him, he had declared martial law in Albany, Uitenhage, Somerset, Fort Beaufort, Cradock, Graaff-Reinet, Victoria, and Albert, and had called every male between 18 and 50 to enrol. That opening mattered because the war that began in the Amatola in December was already inside the colony, and because the Kat river settlement sat on the colonial side of the line with men who had not yet chosen. [3] [4]
He ordered up from Capetown the available regulars — some 300 or 400 — authorised Khoikhoi levies for 6 months at a bounty of £2 with sixpence a day, rations, a share of captured cattle, and rations for their families, and sent to Natal for 3,000 or 4,000 Zulu to strike the Gaika in the rear. Somerset was named to act as commander-in-chief. The Xhosa police had gone over with arms and horses except 50 of friendly clans. The frontier districts were again overrun. The steam packet Bosphorus, first of the General Screw line between Plymouth and Calcutta, ships of not less than 1,400 tons with engines of at least 233 horse power, put into Table Bay on the 27th of January. The packet mattered because the monthly mail now touched the Cape each way, and because the colony that received it was under martial law on the east. [3] [4]
At Blinkwater, near the Kat river settlement, lived Hermanus Matroos, who had received large grants and had lately been compelled to pay quitrent against his will. Before the rising he had become a partisan of the Gaika chiefs and a channel to the Khoikhoi, crafty enough that an application for arms to defend the border would have been granted had there been any to spare. On the 7th of January he attacked the village of Fort Beaufort with a horde of Xhosa, Khoikhoi, and people of mixed blood. A small garrison was there; the commanding officer thought it prudent to hold the military buildings and left the inhabitants to protect themselves. They met the assailants as men to whom defeat meant destruction, and after a short sharp action drove them from the village with a loss of 50 killed, including Hermanus himself. He was shot in the first half-hour. His body was captured and exposed to public view. The attack mattered because Fort Beaufort was a colonial village, not a post east of the Keiskama, and because the Kat river rebellion now had a dead leader and a living one. [3] [4]
Among the pensioners of the Cape mounted rifles was Willem Uithaalder, a man of ability and ambition who had conceived an independent Khoikhoi nation with himself at its head. The rebels chose him; round him rallied over 1,000 accustomed to firearms. Somerset’s proclamation of pardon of the 3rd of January had not held them. The Kat river insurgents took Fort Armstrong. The first military movement on the government side was to recover it. A strong force of burghers, levies, Cape mounted riflemen, and artillerymen with 2 guns, under Major-General Somerset, attempted it on the 22nd of February. The rebels resisted stubbornly; after a severe engagement in which 3 burghers were killed and 14 wounded they were driven out with heavy loss. At the Moravian station Shiloh the Europeans had to abandon the place in February when the residents showed a rebellious spirit; the station was plundered and reduced to heaps of ruins. Mr Thomson’s congregation at the Kat river remained faithful; western levies, especially from Genadendal, rendered service throughout. Fort Armstrong mattered because it was a colonial post on the Kat, and because recovering it did not end the rising — it only named Uithaalder as the man who still held the thousand. [3] [4]
Theopolis of May, the 74th of May, and the Forests of the Year — March–December 1851
For several months little else could be done to check the enemy. The governor called the loyal inhabitants, European and coloured, to arms, but time elapsed before an adequate force could be collected. The troops were too few to commence active operations until reinforcements arrived. The eastern portion of the colony was at the mercy of the insurgents. They made a second raid, driving off great herds of cattle, sheep, and horses, burning and pillaging on their line of march. Still they met small reverses. The Thembu repeatedly attacked Whittlesea and were always driven back with loss. A good many Gaika fell in petty engagements. The people of Theopolis had been suspected and several disarmed shortly after the commencement, but they did not openly commit themselves until the end of May. Mfengu had been admitted as residents; the Khoikhoi regarded them as intruders. Early one morning the Khoikhoi raised an outcry, and as the Mfengu rushed from their huts the rebels shot them down. Field Cornet Gray was murdered. There was a fight at the Karraa. Theopolis mattered because it was a London mission station inside the colony, and because the rising was no longer only Kat river and Gaika. [3] [4]
When intelligence reached Zululand that the Xhosa and emigrant Thembu were at war, Panda offered the government the services of his army. His soldiers were weary of peace. Internal commotions that a few years later led to bloodshed were already showing; the old chief saw a foreign war as the readiest diversion. A Zulu army would speedily have swept the Xhosa and Thembu out of existence, but even if humanity had not forbidden its use, prudence forbade bringing such a force to the colonial frontier. Theophilus Shepstone, who was to have commanded the force asked of Natal, saw that the Zulu would drive and follow the Gaika into neutral country and then become a worse scourge than the enemy they came to conquer. The Wesleyan missionary at Butterworth advised against it: in the last war the Zulu had got only as far as Clarkebury, murdered 29 innocent people, taken the cattle, and gone home. Smith ordered the disbandment of those already assembled. The offer was declined with thanks. [3] [4]
Earl Grey had on the 31st of March 1848 instructed Smith distinctly to warn all whom it might concern not to expect that any new war would be carried on at the expense of Great Britain. It had not been anticipated that hostilities would break out before representative government. In the time of need aid was nevertheless furnished. Drafts of the 6th, 45th, 73rd, and 91st — 11 officers and 296 rank and file — arrived in Table Bay on the 25th of April and were sent on at once to East London. In May the 74th highlanders arrived: 24 officers and 602 rank and file under Lieutenant-Colonel Fordyce, in the Vulcan on the 11th. In August the 2nd and 12th of the line; in September the 60th rifles; in October the 12th lancers; in December the 43rd foot. At the outbreak there had been only 4 regiments in South Africa — the 6th, the 73rd, and the reserve battalions of the 45th and the 91st — the rifle brigade having left in June 1850. By the 16th of October the total of regulars had risen to 7,689; by the end of December, with the 12th foot and the 43rd, to 8,660. Burghers of the east dared not leave their property; those of the west had not been called out. Of burghers in the field there were only about 450. Volunteer companies had done service, but hostilities were carried on mainly by regulars and Mfengu and Khoikhoi levies. The Dutch farmers could not be induced to move; recruiting in the west was more satisfactory. The numbers mattered because Grey’s warning of 1848 had said the next war would not be Britain’s bill, and because 8,660 regulars by December still had not cleared the Waterkloof. [3] [4]
The principal clans in arms remained the Gaika under Sandile, Maqoma, Anta, and Oba; the Imidange under Tola; the Amambala under Stokwe; and a few of the Imidushane under Siyolo. Those that remained faithful were the Gqunukhwebe under Pato and Kama, the Ndlambe under Umkayi, and the Imidushane under Siwani. Pato kept the main road near East London open and furnished escorts; Kama assisted in the defence of Whittlesea; Umkayi brought slaughter cattle from Fort Peddie to King William’s Town; Siwani conveyed the mails over the same line when it was closed to the ordinary posts. Umhala professed to sit still, but many of his people were with the Gaika. Kreli’s Gcaleka were aiders and abettors. The Thembu were divided: Nonesi, great widow of Vusani, had moved eastward to the Bashee; the emigrant Thembu under Mapasa sided with the rebels. The Mfengu without exception fought on the British side. Uithaalder seemed ubiquitous, his followers organised, himself styled general, sending word that he was prepared to fight or make peace on equal terms. It was impossible to bring the enemy to a pitched battle. Toward the close of the year the forests and jungles they occupied were scoured, several strongholds were stormed, and many warriors were killed. Smith’s object was to force the Gaika over the Kei, but the area was so large that the effort was fruitless. Driven from one forest they took refuge in another, and as soon as the first was left they returned. Most of their own cattle, together with those taken from the colonists, had been driven across the Kei and placed under Kreli. The forests mattered because cattle over the Kei were how the war was fed, and because a governor who could not force Sandile across that river could not yet claim the year. [3] [4]
Stockenstrom of the 22nd of March, Grey of the 13th of May, and the Council of the 10th of October — Constitution 1851
Fairbairn’s draft had gone home with petitions on the 27th of October 1850. John Fairbairn was the man who had framed it. Sir Andries Stockenstrom, in delicate health and fearing a European winter, did not leave until the 22nd of March. At the colonial office Fairbairn was received as a private individual and distinctly informed that he could not be acknowledged in a representative character. He pressed the draft without obtaining any other reply than that Smith would be instructed how to act. Then, with Stockenstrom after the latter’s arrival, he endeavoured to forward his views through the press and secured the support of several members of the house of commons. Robert Godlonton and William Cock, on their part, were not opposed to an elected council but desired the separation of the eastern province with a legislature and administration of its own, and protested against the seat of government remaining in Capetown if the colony continued to be one. The voyage mattered because letters patent of the 23rd of May 1850 had named an elected council and assembly, and because the men who were to argue that grant in London arrived after the frontier was already on fire. [3] [4]
Before anything further could be done the war had commenced, the governor was obliged to remain on the frontier, many of the burghers were called to arms, and the condition of the colony became such that the immediate introduction of representative government was impossible. Even Godlonton and Cock dared not leave their homes. Under these circumstances, on the 13th of May Earl Grey instructed Smith not to proceed with the constitution ordinance until a more convenient season, when the full number of unofficial members of the legislative council could be appointed; in the meantime he was empowered to carry on pressing business, such as passing the estimates, with a council of not less than 6 members exclusive of himself, in which during his absence 4 were to form a quorum. When this became known, much dissatisfaction was expressed in the western province, and numerous petitions went to the queen entreating representative institutions without further delay. From the east also petitions were sent, begging for separation or removal of the seat of government, and asserting that the deplorable condition of the province was mainly due to the want of a strong executive on the spot. The despatch mattered because a war on the Keiskama was now the reason given in London for not seating the parliament that 1850 had been promised. [3]
In London Stockenstrom and Fairbairn, through C. B. Adderley, made strong representations to Lord John Russell and desired him to have the constitution they advocated, or one closely resembling it, passed at once by the imperial parliament. To prevent delay they would even accept the commission’s plan, but would endeavour to have it amended in the commons. They submitted their case to 3 eminent lawyers, from whom they obtained an opinion that a council of reduced numbers would be illegal and its acts invalid. Russell took a different view, but the question was set at rest by fresh instructions from Grey to Smith, on the 30th of June, to nominate 4 new unofficial members and proceed with the general business of the colony as well as with draft constitution ordinances which he would send out. The June order mattered because it put the reduced council back on a full unofficial bench, and because the drafts that would be read in November were now on the water. [3]
The governor was unable to leave the frontier, so he directed John Montagu to select qualified persons and convene the council. The gentlemen chosen were William Hawkins, Charles Arkcoll, and Ewan Christian, merchants of Capetown, and Benjamin Moodie, a farmer of Swellendam. On the 10th of October the council — all the members of which were English — met, with Montagu as chairman. The new members were sworn in; some ordinances were introduced; the council then adjourned to the 10th of November to allow Godlonton and Cock to be present. The estimates and other ordinary business occupied the members until the 21st, when the draft ordinances for completing the constitution, which had just been received from England, were introduced. On the 28th they were read for the first time, and the second reading was set down for the 28th of January 1852 so that the country might express an opinion upon them. The first draft provided a legislative council of the chief justice as president, 8 members elected by the western and 7 by the eastern province, over 30 years of age, possessed of unencumbered land worth £1,000 or other property worth £2,000, seats for 10 years; a house of assembly of 46 elected for 5 years; voting for the assembly by word of mouth; qualification the occupation for 12 months of property worth £25; debates in English. Warrants under the royal sign manual had on the 1st of February named William Musgrave first and Advocate Sydney Smith Bell second puisne judge in the room of Menzies, who had died at Colesberg on circuit on the 1st of November 1850; the appointments were gazetted in Capetown on the 23rd of July. The sitting mattered because an English council without a Dutch unofficial member was how the colony’s first draft parliament was read, and because £25 and English debates were the terms on which Capetown was asked to wait until January. [3]
Platberg of the 20th of June, Viervoet of the 30th, and Winburg of the 25th of August — Sovereignty 1851
North of the Orange the Warden line of December 1849 had not brought peace. Retaliations ran among the clans. A small party of Thembu near the Koesbergen were suspected of league with kindred at war with the colony; when they resisted disarming and removal, Major Warden resolved to expel them. Among those summoned was Poshuli, who murdered in cold blood 3 headmen he had invited to meet him. Some who escaped fled to Morosi’s Baphuthi south of the Orange. While Warden attacked north of the river, the civil commissioner of Albert marched against clans on the southern bank; Warden crossed, joined him, and when Morosi did not appear a movement was made toward his kraal. The Baphuthi fell upon the advance; 9 Europeans were killed before the remainder of the commando could come up. From that date the Baphuthi openly joined the enemies of the colony. Smith wrote to Moshesh that authority south of the Orange would not be recognised. Gert Taaibosch then fell upon Molitsane; the Bataung retaliated upon Moroko; Moseme joined in despoiling the Barolong. The 9 dead mattered because a resident who could not hold the Koesbergen was about to summon Moshesh to Bloemfontein. [3] [3]
Warden summoned all the chiefs to Bloemfontein on the 4th of June to inquire into the commotions, but without waiting he called out 350 farmers and 2,600 blacks to humble the Basotho and Bataung. Moshesh replied that confusion about him would prevent attendance, and attributed the condition of the country to the laying down of boundary lines. On the 4th only Moroko and Gert Taaibosch appeared. Smith sanctioned the project and instructed Warden to attack Moshesh and Molitsane if they would not yield, and to prosecute the war until they were humbled. He declared that he regarded Moroko as the paramount chief in the Sovereignty from hereditary descent, peaceable demeanour, and attachment to the British government. The farmers in general declined. Instead of 350, only 120, after much trouble, could be induced to take the field. Moshesh sent word that he wished to continue in peace with them and warned them not to aid in war against his people. Commandant Snyman and Josias P. Hoffman waited upon the resident at Bloemfontein and endeavoured to dissuade him, but to no purpose. The refusal mattered because a resident who called 350 and got 120 was about to fight Moshesh with a rabble in place of a commando. [3]
As ultimately made up, the commando consisted of 162 British soldiers, 120 farmers, and a rabble from 1,000 to 1,500 — Mfengu, people of mixed descent under Carolus Baatje, Barolong of Moroko, Griqua of Adam Kok, and Korana of Gert Taaibosch and other captains — the whole under Major Donovan of the Cape mounted rifles. On the 20th of June this commando formed a camp at Platberg. Warden invited Moshesh; instead of appearing, the chief requested Casalis and Dyke to represent him. They found that Warden would make no concessions. On the 25th Moshesh was called upon to pay 6,000 head of good cattle and 300 horses, to be delivered at Platberg before the 4th of July. No communication was held with Molitsane; Warden was resolved to fall upon him and expel him from the district recently allotted. Sikonyela, with a dozen men, had accompanied the resident from Bloemfontein; furnished with an escort of 80 Barolong and Korana he was sent to assemble his warriors. His road lay through the Basotho reserve; he was met by a large body under Moperi and Molitsane, driven to a hill, and defended himself a whole day until rescued by a patrol. On the 29th the European leaders, chiefs, captains, and petty Korana headmen decided to attack Molitsane next morning at daybreak. The demand mattered because 6,000 cattle and 300 horses were a fine Moshesh was not going to pay, and because Viervoet was already chosen. [3]
The principal stronghold of the Bataung was Viervoet, a hill whose crown is a tableland bordered with almost perpendicular precipices. Upon it Moseme’s clan as well as the Bataung had placed their cattle. At daybreak on Monday the 30th of June Donovan moved the greater part of his force against the hill. It was stormed without difficulty or much loss on either side, and the cattle were taken. The Barolong then commenced to plunder the huts and regale themselves on millet beer. While this was going on, 3 bodies of Basotho under Letsie, Molapo, and Moperi arrived; the routed clans rallied and joined them. The fortune of battle turned at once. The cattle were retaken. A party of Barolong was cut off; those not destroyed by assegai and battle-axe were hurled over the cliffs. A field-gun was barely saved. Warden estimated the loss of the black contingent in killed at 152; another account put it higher. It fell principally upon the Barolong; 2 brothers of Moroko were included. The number of wounded was very large. On the Basotho side 16 men at most were killed. The commando retreated to Thaba Nchu; a few weeks later what remained fell back upon Bloemfontein. The petty chiefs opposed to Moshesh were thrown upon the government for protection. The Barolong had to abandon Thaba Nchu. Warden found himself without authority in the greater part of the Sovereignty. He applied to Natal; Benjamin Pine sent 2 companies of the 45th, 172 men of all ranks, 17 Cape mounted riflemen, and 590 blacks, under Captain Parish of the 45th. Smith instructed Warden to act only on the defensive until troops could be spared from the eastern frontier. The Natal troops garrisoned Winburg; the black contingent was stationed with Moroko. Viervoet mattered because 152 dead against 16 was how British authority north of the Orange broke in a morning, and because a resident without a commando now held Bloemfontein and little else. [3] [3]
The Basotho took possession of the districts previously occupied by the Barolong, the Korana, and Carolus Baatje’s people, and seized the greater portion of their stock. Moshesh asserted that he was not an enemy of the queen, but his followers attacked those farmers who were attached to the English government and who had obeyed the call to arms — in Harrismith, Winburg, Bloemfontein, and Caledon River, among them Jan I. J. Fick and Cornelis de Villiers. Grey had no intention of burdening the imperial treasury with a permanent garrison; the same despatch that announced troops indicated that unless the majority would willingly obey and actively support the resident, English rule would be withdrawn. On the 25th of August a document was signed at Winburg by 137 men requesting A. W. J. Pretorius to take upon himself the office of administrator-general. Numbers in other parts declared their adhesion. Moshesh, well informed of the war on the eastern frontier, joined in the invitation. A deputation of farmers, acting independently of Warden though not concealing their transactions, proceeded to Thaba Bosiu and concluded peace. The farmers undertook not to interfere in tribal quarrels and only to take up arms against those who should violate the boundary between whites and blacks; Moshesh undertook to make no war with them unless they should cross the boundary, to cause thieving to cease, and to deliver up stolen cattle. The agreement was signed on the 3rd of September by Moshesh and his sons Molapo, Masupha, and Nehemiah on the one part, and by G. F. Linde and Jan Vermaak on the other. It was faithfully observed. Farmers who ignored the resident were left unmolested; those who adhered to the English government were sought out and plundered throughout the eastern Sovereignty. By order of the secretary of state 2 officers with a knowledge of South African affairs were selected as assistant commissioners and sent north of the Orange without that strong military force which alone could have restored order. Winburg mattered because 137 names asking Pretorius, and a peace signed without the resident, were how the Sovereignty began to choose between Bloemfontein and Thaba Bosiu. [3]
Pine’s Proclamation of the 5th of August, Byrne’s Close, and the Natal Times — Natal 1851
Pine had taken Natal on the 19th of April 1850. Along the head waters of the Tugela and its tributaries the Klip and the Sunday there were fewer blacks than in any other part of Natal, and as many as possible of the new grants — the land commission farms — had been laid out there. Upon these and the registered farms in the same locality several hundred Dutch families settled permanently and gave such stability that the lieutenant-governor described them afterwards as a most efficient border guard. In the course of a few years most of the registered farms in other parts were sold to speculators, and by a proclamation of Pine on the 5th of August the land commission farms were also thrown into the market if their owners desired to dispose of them. The proclamation annulled the last 2 conditions laid down by Smith, and permitted the owners to sell at any time on payment of a fine of twopence per acre if the farm was south of the Bushman’s river, or one penny per acre if it was north of that stream. Gradually the farmers sold their ground in the lower part of the district and moved to the high plateau where their friends were residing. The pennies mattered because Smith’s 7-year restraint of 1848 had been meant to keep those farms occupied, and because selling them at 1d. or 2d. an acre was how the plateau filled and the lower country passed to absentees. [3]
Joseph Charles Byrne’s scheme, based on deposits in the Bank of England and refunds of £10 for an adult and £5 for a child, had been landing mechanics, farm labourers, and townspeople since the Wanderer of the 16th of May 1849. On arrival they found that no plots had been surveyed; when after long delay land was allotted by John Moreland, Byrne’s agent, much of it was unfit for agriculture. Pine gave each adult 25 acres additional and each child 6 acres and a quarter; still it was only with difficulty that they could make a living on these little plots. All who could obtain other employment did so. Some other persons got out a few settlers in the same manner, and before the close of 1851 about 4,500 of all ages were thus introduced. Then the scheme came to an end through Byrne’s insolvency. In return for his labour, the interest on his deposits, the maintenance of his agent, and incidental expenses, he received nothing but 30 acres for each adult and 20 acres for each child, and instead of that being worth 4 shillings an acre, hundreds of thousands of acres superior in quality were being offered by speculators at less than one-fourth of that charge. Of every 100 individuals brought out by Byrne, 49 were men, 23 women, and 28 children. The insolvency mattered because 4,500 people had been landed on plots that would not feed them, and because the refund that was supposed to buy land at 4s. an acre was beaten by speculators selling cheaper ground. [3]
The press was active for so small a European community. The Natal Witness, first issued at Maritzburg in March 1846, still appeared; the Natal Independent had commenced at Maritzburg in January 1850; the Natal Times commenced at Durban in August of this year. Pinetown, Verulam, Richmond, and Ladysmith had been founded in 1850; Ladysmith was the seat of magistracy of the Klip River division. The territory was laid out in 3 great divisions — Durban, Maritzburg, and Klip River — each with a chief magistrate, subdivided into counties with assistant resident magistrates; the highest court was that of the recorder at Maritzburg, with appeal to the supreme court of the Cape. Exports of Natal during the 3 years from the 1st of January 1849 to the 31st of December 1851 came to £44,303 18s. 3d. — ivory £22,642 12s. 3d., butter £6,250 17s., horses, oxen, and other animals £4,574, hides and horns £2,726 9s., maize, beans, peas, and potatoes £1,335 11s., wool £654 15s., cotton £477 10s. — or at the rate of £14,767 19s. 5d. a year. When Warden called, Pine’s companies of the 45th and the black contingent marched for the Sovereignty; the danger of employing that black force unless in concert with a more powerful body of Europeans became apparent before the year was out. The exports mattered because ivory at £22,642 still outweighed cotton at £477, and because the 172 of the 45th who left Natal for Winburg were how a small colony paid for Viervoet. [3]
Pretorius of the 9th of September, Hogg and Owen of the 27th of November, and Montsiwa of December — North of the Vaal 1851
On the 9th of September Pretorius addressed a letter from Magaliesberg to Warden in which the man for whose apprehension the sum of £2,000 was still offered announced that, at the request of Moshesh and other chiefs as well as of many white inhabitants, he had been instructed by the council of war and a large public meeting to proceed to the Sovereignty and there devise measures for the restoration of peace and the prevention of such ruin as the Cape Colony then exhibited. The letter concluded with the wish of the emigrants beyond the Vaal to arrive at a good understanding with the British government, respecting which further announcements would be made on the writer’s arrival. Since Boomplaats he had abstained from interference south of the Vaal and had confined himself to requesting that the imperial government would send 2 thoroughly impartial men to investigate the causes of discontent. Now the condition of the Sovereignty seemed to invite a bolder course. A few weeks later the reverend Andrew Murray paid a visit to Potchefstroom, where he met Pretorius and most of the influential men of that district. They informed him that there was no general desire to interfere beyond their border, but that the emigrants were anxious to enter into a treaty with England by which their independence would be secured, and thought that a favourable time had arrived. The letter mattered because an outlaw with £2,000 on his head was now offering to restore peace south of the Vaal, and because Winburg’s 137 had asked him to come. [3] [4]
On the 4th of October Pretorius wrote again, stating that the emigrants had long desired a lasting treaty of peace, and that he, with F. G. Wolmarans and J. H. Grobbelaar, had been appointed by the council of war and “the public” to proceed to the Sovereignty and treat for the same. They did not intend to leave until they had consulted further with the landdrost and heemraden of Potchefstroom and with “the public.” On receipt Warden reported to the high commissioner that the fate of the Sovereignty depended upon the movements of a proscribed man. Moshesh would not probably make any further hostile movements until he could rely on assistance from Pretorius, who, on the other hand, would not decide upon anything before receiving an answer from the high commissioner. Murray had informed him that he believed the letter of the 4th correctly represented the desires of the Transvaal people. Time would be gained by corresponding. On the 10th of October Warden replied that his position precluded him from interfering in political matters beyond the limits of the Sovereignty, but that it would afford him much pleasure to forward to the high commissioner any communications coming from them. He suggested that whatever propositions they might wish to make should be transmitted to his address. He added that while the British government was ever desirous to cultivate the friendship of all, it would never tolerate uncalled-for interference in any portion of the queen’s dominions. Smith approved of the course and informed Warden that Major W. S. Hogg and C. Mostyn Owen, two gentlemen recently appointed assistant commissioners and holding large powers, would proceed to the Sovereignty with as little delay as possible. The reply mattered because it kept Pretorius north of the Vaal by post instead of by a column, and because Hogg and Owen were the 2 impartial men he had asked for, sent without the troops that could have restored Warden. [3]
On their arrival at Bloemfontein on the 27th of November the assistant commissioners found those farmers who ignored the British resident’s authority, and who were in alliance with Moshesh, living in a condition of peace, but all other sections of the inhabitants were engaged in strife. The Natal blacks had recently been removed to Sikonyela’s district; they had broken free of control and were almost as formidable to their friends as to their enemies, seeking plunder wherever it was to be obtained, their chief object to return home as soon as they could collect a drove of cattle. It was believed almost as dangerous to attempt to disband them as to keep them under arms; they fortunately relieved the government by general desertion. The troops from Natal were stationed at Thaba Nchu, to which Moroko’s people had returned; as the loyal farmers of Winburg were being constantly plundered, this force was sent to their assistance, and Moroko was left to his own resources. The people of mixed descent and the Mfengu, whose families were rationed by the government, were actively engaged in worrying Moshesh’s people. The Sovereignty legislative council met on the 30th of December. No offices had been created besides those already named except registrar of deeds, held by Joseph Allison, who was also clerk to the resident and secretary to the council. When revenue officers were called upon to account, C. U. Stuart, civil commissioner of Bloemfontein, was found to have misapplied public money and was dismissed; Hector Lowen succeeded him. The revenue of the year was £6,105 and the expenditure £6,095. A police force was out of the question. The arrival mattered because peace in the Sovereignty now ran with those who ignored the resident, and because £6,105 would not pay for the order Viervoet had lost. [3]
North of the Vaal the adherents of Pretorius had been dissatisfied with the divided command. In January the volksraad, with a view of preventing civil war, had named commandants-general for the several districts — Pretorius for Rustenburg and Potchefstroom among them — none to interfere with any proposal made by another. At the close of 1849 Montsiwa had succeeded in the chieftainship of his Barolong clan. For 2 years he got along fairly well with his European neighbours. On the 14th of December the reverend Mr Ludorf, in the name of the chief, wrote to Commandant-General Pretorius complaining that certain farmers had encroached on his territory and had taken fountains. Pretorius immediately caused a reply to be sent and wished Montsiwa to be present with his headmen at a meeting. On the 30th of December the emigrant commission and the heads of Montsiwa’s clan met at a farm house belonging to Mr Theunissen: 2 fieldcornets and 10 burghers on the one side; Montsiwa accompanied by his headmen on the other. A line between the Europeans and Montsiwa was agreed upon, and a location ample for the clan was assigned. That meeting mattered because a line drawn at Theunissen’s farm was this year’s settlement north of the Vaal, and because independence itself was not yet this year’s paper. [3] [3]
Fordyce of the 6th of November and the Kei Columns of December — October–December 1851
Maqoma, with 2,000 or 3,000 of his own, together with numerous rebel Khoikhoi and a band of Thembu, held the Kroome mountains within the colonial boundary. From those fastnesses bands harassed the country even as far as Cradock and Somerset. Siyolo, Stokwe, and Tola, aided also by rebel Khoikhoi and Thembu, held the jungles of the Fish and nearly the whole of Victoria East. Punitive invasions into those preserves had been made with varying success; it had been found impossible to prevent them from being reoccupied. In October a more comprehensive sweep was determined upon. Two strong columns, one under Somerset, the other under Lieutenant-Colonel Fordyce, made a combined attack. Fordyce’s force consisted of detachments of the 12th and 74th, 240 Mfengu, and some mounted burghers, in all 1,150 men. At two o’clock on the cold dark morning of the 13th of October this column marched down the silent street of Fort Beaufort, passed Gilbert’s ruined homestead at Klu-Klu, halted at the Yellow Wood in cold drizzling rain until near midnight, then began the steep slippery ascent of the Kroome, and at half-past five on the morning of the 14th encamped without tents on the Waterkloof plain to await Somerset. Somerset, with the 2nd Queen’s, the Cape mounted rifles, and 290 of the 91st under Colonel Michel, had marched at three o’clock on the morning of the 12th from Fort Hare via Buxton and Blinkwater Hill, sent the waggons on to Post Retief, camped at Kaal Hoek, and joined Fordyce on the 14th. The junction mattered because Maqoma’s kloof was inside the colony, and because 1,150 men without tents were how Smith meant to end a war the forests had not ended. [4]
There was not much respite. Before long the clouds partly lifted; the enemy was seen on a distant ridge; firing commenced; the field guns spoke; the Mfengu scoured adjacent bush and burned huts. After the men, including the marching, had been in action 18 hours without food, orders were given to retire to a deserted farm of Mr Mundell. The enemy, viewing this as a retreat, followed; when they were fairly in the open they were met. Lieutenant Carey of the 74th turned and charged. The casualties of that day were Captain Addison, Lieutenant Norris of the 6th, and Ensign Rickards of the 91st mortally wounded, and 1 private of the 12th killed. On the 16th another strenuous day followed: 4 killed and 7 badly wounded among the troops; 18 dead of the enemy from the 14th were found. The troops suffered in continual bad weather, without tents, with one wet blanket, sleeping on sloping ground. Total casualties in those 17 days were 2 officers and 12 men killed and 2 officers and 32 men wounded. On the 31st of October hostilities ceased for a day or so; the men marched into Fort Beaufort on Sunday the 2nd of November to recruit and refit, red coats patched with leather and canvas. Rest and refitting were short. On the 5th the divisions assembled at different points for further combined action. [4]
At half-past four on the morning of the 6th of November Fordyce’s column was ordered quietly, by word of mouth and without bugles, to move across the flats to the head of the Waterkloof pass. In thick mist the men marched until arrested by a rocky height. Fordyce, ever in the front, was placing 4 companies of the 74th and 2 of the 12th on a bush-covered ridge when the enemy, concealed in force, opened fire. The first to fall was the leader himself. He was shot and died within 15 minutes. Lieutenant Carey of the 74th fell pierced through the body at the head of his company; immediately afterwards Lieutenant Gordon of the 91st was mortally wounded. Maddened by the fall of officers and comrades, the regiment rushed the barricade and maintained the position until the troops were withdrawn in the afternoon. For nearly 3 weeks more the hide-and-seek continued; the enemy was not driven out, or if he had been he was soon back. There was no braver officer in the British service than Fordyce of the 74th, who lost his life on the 6th of November in one of the numerous skirmishes in the Waterkloof. The shot mattered because the colonel who had brought 602 highlanders in the Vulcan in May was dead in the mist, and because Maqoma still held the kloof. [3] [4]
The forces which had been acting in those parts were now required for a push into Kreli’s country and were under orders to assemble at the Imvani on the 2nd of December. In December 2 columns were directed over the Kei, with the double object of punishing Kreli and depriving the rebels of their sources of supply. One, under Lieutenant-Colonel Eyre of the 73rd, was crossing the lower ford when it was attacked by the enemy, who had constructed breastworks to defend the passage. A smart engagement followed, in which the soldiers were victorious, but so stubbornly were they met that more than 100 of their opponents were killed before the remainder would retreat. The troops then scoured Kreli’s country, doing great damage to the crops and kraals. Christmas eve was kept in the colony as a day of solemn humiliation and prayer before God, in respect of His judgment of war upon the land. On that day the Thembu were defeated by a burgher force, when a great number fell, and herds of cattle, horses, and sheep, as well as several stand of firearms, were captured. Between April and May 4 expeditions had been made into parts that had been thought inaccessible to British soldiery; every place had been searched. Toward the end of the year Smith still had to maintain himself at King William’s Town with no diversion beyond an occasional fray. Suspicion that traders were supplying the enemy with gunpowder produced investigation and the cruise of the Grecian. Grey was not impressed by the governor’s eulogies in the general orders of the 31st of October. Public discontent with Smith for not bringing the war to an end was already audible in London. A circular of the 24th of October informed the country of the state of the war. Over 300 inhabitants of distant farms had fled toward Durbanville near Capetown; one house was crammed. Western Khoikhoi had returned to their homes; a panic in the west had originated with A. J. Louw. The Kei columns mattered because cattle under Kreli were still how the Gaika were fed, and because a governor eulogising the Waterkloof on the 31st of October had lost Fordyce 6 days later and had not yet ended the war. [3] [4]