Boer History1865 in South Africa: Brand, Wodehouse, Wepener, and Thaba Bosigo
Wodehouse, the Census, and Neutrality of the 26th of June — Colony 1865
Sir Philip Wodehouse still governed the Cape Colony and still held Her Majesty’s high commission in South Africa. He had arrived at Capetown on the 15th of January 1862, succeeding Sir George Grey, who had fallen ill at King William’s Town and by September 1861 had left the country. The Table Bay dock voted in the session of 1861 was still unfinished inside John Coode’s plan, under Arthur Thomas Andrews. The Port Elizabeth light still showed from the 1st of June 1861; the Roman rock light from the 16th of September 1861. In the annexed territory Mr. Justice Fitzpatrick still sat as sole judge, with trial by jury in criminal cases. The castle year mattered because the high commissioner who could warn British subjects off a Free State war was the same man who had pointed the Warden line at Aliwal North on the 28th of October 1864, and because that line was already being tested on the Caledon. [3]
No census of the Colony had been taken between 1806 and this year. At the census of 1865 the population had increased to 200000. That count mattered because the colony that Wodehouse governed was no longer the small occupation of the first British return, and because a high commissioner who issued neutrality in June was speaking to a counted people, not to an uncounted frontier. In England Dr James Barry, who had sat the medical inspectorate at the Cape in Somerset’s time and had gone home on pension in 1853, died in this year. Only after death was it known that Barry had been a woman. Charles Henry Darling, who had opened the Cape parliament at noon on the 30th of June 1854, was created K.C.B. in this year. [4] [4] [7]
In March the Griquas under Adam Kok made a supreme effort in Nomansland and drove the robber bands of Nehemiah and Poshuli from their fastnesses. The marauders got their cattle and effects safely into the Lesuto. In May they swooped down with a large force and secured a considerable quantity of plunder, but before they could get away with it they were attacked by the Griquas and routed, when most of their followers were made prisoners. That event compelled them to abandon the country below the mountains. The Griquas then sat the present districts of Kokstad and Umzimkulu, each head of a family a cattle-run of the usual size. The March drive mattered because Wodehouse had declined, on the 4th of August 1863, to furnish a map or to admit that Her Majesty had ceded Nomansland to Moshesh’s son, and because Kok, once he held those runs, was free to ride north when Brand called the burghers out. [3]
On the 26th of June Wodehouse issued in Capetown a proclamation of neutrality, in which all British subjects, European and native, were warned against assisting either belligerent. It was beyond his power to prevent aid from reaching both the Free State and the Lesuto. When intelligence of the sufferings of their kindred reached the colony, many a farmer shouldered his rifle and rode off to the Free State camps. The Batlokua refugees in the Herschel district could not be restrained. Lehana, son of Sikonyela, came up from Griqualand East with a band of followers, was joined by the Herschel party, and crossed the Orange to help the burghers against his hereditary foe. Many of the Fingos of Herschel made their way to the nearest laager. Kok, not under colonial jurisdiction, brought a band of Griquas to fight on the Free State side. These auxiliaries, all combined, amounted at one time during the war to as many as 800 men. On the other hand Moshesh received equal assistance from his friends, among them a clan of the Tembus under Tyali. Sir Percy Douglas, who then commanded the British troops in South Africa, was at Maritzburg when Ramanela came down the berg; he sent intelligence of the inroad overland to King William’s Town, whence it was conveyed by telegraph to the high commissioner, who alone had authority to deal with independent chiefs. The proclamation mattered because Brand had already called the burghers out from Leeuwkop, and because Capetown could warn but could not close the drifts. [3]
Brand of the 6th of February, Bluebacks of the 15th of April, and Ramanela of May — Orange Free State 1865
Advocate Jan Hendrik Brand had taken the oaths at Bloemfontein on the 2nd of February 1864. He was the Cape advocate whom the volksraad had recommended, and whom 2276 of 3450 burghers had then chosen. The question before him this year was whether Moshesh would keep the award of the 28th of October 1864 after Ramanela had pillaged near Bethlehem in November and had struck the Harrismith guard on the 27th of December. Brand had given Moshesh permission to send people for the corn and loose goods at any time before the end of January, provided the people so sent were unarmed and conducted themselves properly. Some of Ramanela’s people still remained in secluded parts of the territory restored by the award. In the second week of January two burghers were severely wounded by them. On the 6th of February the volksraad met. On the 7th a resolution was unanimously adopted, thanking the high commissioner in the name of the government and the people for what he had done. After a debate of two days, resolutions were carried that the squatters could not be permitted to gather the maize and millet crops, which would not reach maturity for some time to come, but that under reasonable safeguards they might remove before the end of February the wheat which was then ripe. In February the volksraad also voted 20000 pounds for a strong police force, but owing to the war the revenue fell off so much that the plan could not be carried into effect. The sitting mattered because the award was already being broken on the restored ground, and because a republic that could not pay a police force would have to call burghers out instead. [3]
Just before that resolution was passed, Moshesh’s son Tsekelo paid an official visit to Bloemfontein. On his return homewards he drove off some horses belonging to farmers, and retired with them to a mountain stronghold between Winburg and Mekuatling. When shortly afterwards he was brought to account there by Moperi, his own father-in-law, not less than 40 horses belonging to Free State burghers were found in his possession. A few of these were restored by Moperi, but Moshesh took no steps to cause the others to be returned, or to punish his son. On the 23rd of February the president wrote to Moshesh, making a formal demand of redress for Ramanela’s misdeeds; Mr Harvey, then endeavouring to obtain a friendly settlement, was instructed not to deliver the document until everything else should fail. It was thus kept back till the time allowed for redress was unreasonably short, on which account the president cancelled it, and renewed the demand on the 28th of March. In that letter Moshesh was called upon to remove Ramanela’s people from the Free State, to pay the fine of 70 head of cattle, to make full compensation for the wounding of the two burghers, and to punish the guilty parties, before the 15th of April; to restore the 47 horses and 37 cattle stolen in November by Ramanela, and to punish those followers of Ramanela who had attacked the border guard, before the 1st of May; failing which the government of the Free State would act towards Ramanela according to the eleventh article of the treaty of Aliwal North. The only notice which Moshesh took of these demands was to forward on the 26th of April 58 of the least valuable cattle in his country, 9 horses, and 4 pounds in money, which the president immediately sent back to him. And while the cattle were on the return road, Ramanela made a descent upon a farm belonging to a widow named Uys, and drove off 35 horses. [3]
A considerable burgher force was therefore called out. A guard was stationed at Koesberg to watch Poshuli, whose followers were plundering the farmers along the lower Caledon, and a commando took the field to punish Ramanela. On the 9th of May the president left Bloemfontein and put himself at the head of the burghers. Ramanela then sent his cattle into Natal for safety, and made a show of resistance. On the 25th of May the commando attacked him, when after a little skirmishing he fled over the boundary, with the loss of a few men killed and wounded. Thousands of cattle were in sight, apparently unguarded; the president halted the commando on the line, and Ramanela’s fugitive clan was pursued no farther. While the forces were assembling, the followers of Moperi took temporary possession of a farm belonging to one Van Rooyen, and made prisoners of the owner and of a man named Pelzer, the latter of whom they assaulted and beat. Another party seized on Free State ground a farmer named Michiel Muller, carried him away to Moperi’s village, and detained him there for four days. May mattered because Brand had now ridden out in person, and because the next demand would treat the assault of burghers on their own ground as a declaration of war. [3]
The first synod of the Dutch Reformed Church of the Orange Free State met at Smithfield on the 10th of May and continued in session until the 14th. There were then 11 congregations in the Republic, of which 7 were provided with ministers. In the first synod the 7 clergymen and 15 elders took part, 7 other elders being prevented from attending by the unsettled condition of the country. In addition there was a branch of the Separatist Reformed Church, with a clergyman at Reddersburg; the Wesleyans had congregations in a few of the villages; the Church of England sat under bishop Edward Twells, who had arrived in September 1863. In May a missionary of the Church of England went to reside at Thaba Ntshu, on the invitation of Samuel Moroko, a son of the old chief, and thenceforth the Barolong clan of Moroko was divided into two factions. The synod mattered because a republic at war still sat a church court at Smithfield while the president was in the field against Ramanela. [3]
Public opinion against foreign banks grew so strong that in March a law was passed by the volksraad that no foreign bank would be allowed in the Free State after the beginning of the next year. It was feared that the Standard bank might acquire a power in the country dangerous to freedom. As that enactment would cause foreign capital to be withdrawn, the volksraad resolved to create a paper currency and constitute it a legal tender. On the 10th of March a creation of notes to the value of 30000 pounds was authorised: they were to be signed by the president and treasurer-general, were to be a legal tender for 10 years, and after that period were to be redeemed at the rate of 6000 pounds yearly, issued on the security of government property and lent to the Bloemfontein bank at 6 per cent. The notes, commonly called bluebacks from the colour of the paper, first came into circulation on the 15th of April. The paper mattered because a state that could not pay a police force of 20000 pounds was about to fight Moshesh on notes printed blue. [3]
The 9th of June, Mabolela of the 14th, and Verkeerde Vlei of the 29th — Orange Free State 1865
On the 2nd of June the president demanded from Moshesh the delivery to the landdrost of Winburg before sunset on the 8th of the individuals who had assaulted and imprisoned Free State burghers on their own ground, together with a fine of 50 head of cattle, and announced that if the demand was not complied with he would consider it a declaration of war. To this no reply was made, and on the 9th of June the president, from Leeuwkop, issued a proclamation calling the burghers to arms. Since the war of 1858 the relative strength had altered. No exact census of the Free State had yet been taken, but the number of Europeans of both sexes and of all ages was computed at 35000 souls. The subjects of Moshesh at this time were about 175000 all told, or as five to one of their opponents. Moshesh was becoming feeble by age and was completely under the influence of seers; a great portion of the authority which he had once wielded had passed into the hands of his sons, and Letsie, Molapo, and Masupha were intensely jealous of each other. The Basuto had accumulated rifle and gunpowder from contraband traders; the leading chiefs had even obtained several cannon and some small field-guns. A proclamation in Moshesh’s name, intended for readers in England, ended with the words that his great sin was that he possessed a good and fertile country. Not a single Englishman in the Free State was deceived by this manifesto. Leeuwkop mattered because Brand now treated the unpunished assault of burghers as war, and because a republic of 35000 was riding against a mountain people five times as many. [3]
At a council of war it was resolved to attack Moperi first, and on the 13th of June the Free State army encamped within 2 miles of that chief’s town, Mabolela, the mission station of the reverend Mr Keck. At the head of the whole force was Jan Fick. On the morning of the 14th, 850 men, under Fick, with two fieldpieces under Captain Goodman, marched to attack Moperi. Two commandants — Malan and Fourie — were left with their burghers to defend the camp. An army of 8000 or 10000 warriors, under Molapo, Masupha, Lerothodi, Moperi, Molitsane, and one or two others, was there to protect the town. Word was brought that a strong division under Letsie’s son Lerothodi was marching past them to attack the camp. The commando fell back in time. Lerothodi’s warriors lost 60 or 70 men before they retired. A renegade European leading one of their columns was badly wounded by a shell and died a few days later. On the Free State side, one burgher — Pieter Wessels by name — was killed, and another was slightly wounded. The action of the 14th was termed a victory by the burghers, though they had not succeeded in making themselves masters of Mabolela. Next morning Lourens Jacobus Wepener offered to call for 100 volunteers and with these and his own men to take the place by storm; on the plea that there was very little ammunition in the camp the proposal was negatived, and it was decided to fall back. Mabolela mattered because Wepener’s hundred were refused for want of powder, and because the war would now be fought by raid and storm, not by a single captured town. [3]
Before daylight on the morning of the 20th of June some 2000 warriors under Poshuli and Morosi crossed the Caledon near its junction with Wilgeboom Spruit and commenced to ravage the district before them. From the farm adjoining the commonage of Smithfield they laid waste a broad belt of country for a distance of 30 miles towards Bloemfontein. The invaders burned the houses and drove off more than 100000 sheep, besides great droves of horned cattle and horses. In this raid 13 white men lost their lives. A patrol of 15 burghers was surrounded, when 12 of them — Jacobus Greyling, Louis Taljaard, Pieter Wessels, Jurie Human, Barend Olivier, Pieter Swanepoel, Daniel Robberts, Hendrik Robberts, Hendrik Strubel, Jacobus Kotze, J. Robertson, and Peter Bay — were killed. The other three succeeded in cutting their way out. A young man named Hugo Stegmann was murdered in another part of the district. A patrol of 35 men was surrounded on an open plain, where for hours the raiders hovered round them without daring to come to close quarters, and at nightfall the little band retired, with only one man slightly wounded. A body of 80 farmers turned one of the parties back; on the 21st the Basuto, then retreating with their booty, abandoned between 3000 and 4000 sheep on the right bank of the Caledon. The 20th mattered because the war Brand had proclaimed from Leeuwkop had now come as far as Smithfield’s commonage. [3]
Another raiding party, about 2500 or 3000 strong, under Masupha and Moperi, entered farther north. Most of the half-breeds who had formerly lived at Platberg, and who had acknowledged Carolus Baatje as their head, had been residing for some years at Rietspruit, about 25 or 30 miles from Bloemfontein. On the morning of the 27th of June a large party of Basuto, carrying a white flag, appeared at the village. Moshesh’s son Masupha said that they had nothing to fear, for he was at war with no one but white men. An ox was killed for the entertainment of the visitors. When the meal was over, Masupha gave a signal, on which his followers murdered 54 men and boys, not sparing even male infants at the breast. Of the residents of the village only 8 men escaped. The murderers compelled the grown-up girls to get into a waggon, which they took away with them, leaving 67 women and little girls behind. On the following day a large party, again carrying a white flag, approached the homestead of Jan Botes. Including two native servants, there were only 7 individuals capable of bearing arms at the place. Deceived by the white flag, old Mr Botes permitted the Basuto to come close up and dismount, when they fired a volley which wounded a German schoolmaster named Schwim and killed one of the servants. Old Mr Botes they stabbed to death with an assagai. Botes’s eldest son shot a Basuto, but was immediately afterwards killed himself. The Basuto later made a target of Schwim and finally stabbed him with assagais. Another party murdered two travellers named Michiel van Helsdingen and Carel Mathee, and a trader named Michiel Theron with his servants. Rietspruit mattered because a white flag had been used to murder 54 men and boys within a day’s ride of Bloemfontein. [3]
On the 29th of June the warriors of Masupha and Moperi were retiring with a booty of 70000 sheep, rather over 2000 head of horned cattle, 50 horses, and 4 waggons laden with spoil, when at Verkeerde Vlei they were encountered by three burgher patrols which met there by chance. The white men, only 258 all told, did not hesitate to attack the Basuto, who were fully ten times their number. Commandant Louis Wessels of Bloemfontein led the charge. The result was the rapid flight of the band, who left 160 dead on the field. The burghers had no other casualty than one horse killed. All the spoil that was being driven off by the raiders was recovered, even to the half-breed girls, who were rescued and sent to Bloemfontein. A third raiding band, about 2000 warriors of the clans of Molapo and Ramanela, ravaged the country along their line of march to within 15 miles of the village of Kroonstad. They murdered an old man named Luttig, and a boy named Nieuwenhuizen, and secured a large booty in horned cattle and sheep. On the same 27th of June a party of Europeans with five transport waggons laden with goods belonging to Messrs Wm. Munro & Co. of Durban, destined for Pretoria, had halted on the Drakensberg a few yards on the Free State side of the Natal boundary. The party consisted of Pieter Pretorius, a near relative of the president of the South African Republic, his sons Jan, Albertus, and Jacobus, Andries Smit, Jan Pretorius’s wife and two children, six black men servants, a little black servant boy, and an Indian coolie. Ramanela’s men called them to talk as friends; the Europeans laid down their guns, when the Basuto murdered the five white men, the coolie, and three of the black servants. The widow with her two children and the little black boy reached Harrismith on the morning of the 29th, after wandering about for 36 hours. Very different from a declaration of neutrality was a proclamation issued on the 26th of June by Marthinus Wessel Pretorius, inviting all who could to go to the assistance of the Free State. The people of the northern Republic believed that Cetewayo was threatening them, and it was not possible just then for much assistance to be sent from that quarter. Verkeerde Vlei mattered because 258 burghers had recovered the Rietspruit spoil, and because Pretorius’s invitation of the same week as Wodehouse’s neutrality showed that the two republics would try to act together even if Zoutpansberg was in laager. [3]
Vechtkop of the 14th of July, Berea of the 25th, and Wepener of the 15th of August — Orange Free State 1865
It was resolved, in a general council of war, that an attempt should be made to get possession of Thaba Bosigo, with which object the Free State forces were to advance upon the famous stronghold in two divisions from different directions. Thaba Bosigo was Moshesh’s mountain: the place from which he governed the Lesuto, and the place Cathcart had failed to take on the 20th of December 1852. The burghers of Smithfield, Bethulie, and Philippolis, with Jan Letele’s people and the Fingos, under Commandant Wepener, marched by way of Koesberg. On the 13th of July they formed a camp within easy march of Vechtkop, the strongly fortified mountain which had been for many years the residence of Poshuli, but which was garrisoned at this time by the clan of Lebenya. During the night Wepener called for volunteers to follow him up the steep path. In the grey dawn of the morning of the 14th, 340 burghers and 200 Fingos, with the commandant at their head, stormed up the mountain, and at half-past five o’clock they were in possession of it. The loss on the Free State side was only one man killed and four wounded. Of the 60 dead bodies found in the sconces after the fighting was over, more than half were those of females, the defenders having placed their women in front of them wherever they were exposed. The spoil found on Vechtkop consisted of 150 horses, 542 head of horned cattle, and 4500 sheep. All that could be done was to disarm the enemy, destroy the huts, and move on. Vechtkop mattered because Wepener had now taken a mountain by storm, and because the road to Thaba Bosigo from the south was open. [3]
From Vechtkop Wepener marched almost due north, destroying Poshuli’s villages as he advanced. Morosi sent all his women and stock away into the mountains along the head waters of the Orange. On the last day of July Wepener’s division reached Matsieng, about 6 miles east of Morija, and engaged Letsie’s force, which gave way after a very short engagement. A camp was then formed in Letsie’s town, and from it Wepener issued a proclamation in which he declared the country he had overrun annexed to the Free State, the boundary of the Lesuto to be in future a straight line from Bamboesplaats at the east of Pampoenspruit to Thaba Tele — a peak of the Maluti, 9000 feet in height — about 3 miles east of Matsieng, and from that point a straight line north by compass to the Caledon. Two days later he sent to the landdrost of Smithfield such cattle taken from Letsie as he did not need: 1142 horses, 3500 horned cattle, and 11585 sheep. Matsieng mattered because Wepener was no longer only punishing Poshuli: he was drawing a new Free State line through Letsie’s own town. [3]
During this time the other and larger division was equally successful. General Fick had with him the burghers of Bloemfontein, Harrismith, Boshof, Jacobsdal, Fauresmith, Winburg, and Kroonstad, under Commandants Wessels, De Villiers, Bester, Joubert, Roos, Senekal, Malan, and Fourie. On the 17th of July he moved against Moperi’s town, but found it abandoned. On the 20th he crossed the Caledon, and proclaimed the whole country north and west of that river annexed to the Free State. On the 24th he crossed the Putiatsana, his passage being unsuccessfully disputed. On the 25th of July Fick directed an assault upon the Berea mountain. The path was defended by fully 5000 Basuto warriors under Masupha, posted on crags and behind great boulders, well armed, many of them with pistols as well as rifles, and they had two cannon at the top of the pathway. First upon the mountain were three young men whose names — Chapman, Owen, and Bertram — denote the race from which they sprang. The only casualty was one burgher wounded, while the corpses of a hundred Basuto were lying around. Masupha’s town was upon the Berea; Fick took possession of it and formed his camp upon its site. The day after, 500 Barolong under Tsepinare, Moroko’s adopted son and heir, joined the Free State forces. At early dawn 1100 men commenced making a waggon road up the mountain. In the afternoon Commandant De Villiers’ division with the cannon moved to the south-western point of the Berea over against Thaba Bosigo, when Moshesh’s house was struck with balls from both the Armstrong and Whitworth guns. On the 27th of July a heavy fire of artillery was opened upon the flat top of Thaba Bosigo from a battery placed on a point of the Berea which commanded it. Berea mattered because Fick now looked down on Moshesh’s house, and because Wepener’s southern column was still a week away. [3]
On the 3rd of August Wepener marched from Matsieng and joined General Fick before Thaba Bosigo, where the entire force of the Free State, consisting of 2100 burghers, 500 Barolong, and 400 Fingos, Batlokua, and Bamonageng, was now concentrated. Some 20000 Basuto warriors were gathered there also, but they could not be drawn to an engagement. The artillery fire was continued day after day, though it was soon ascertained that hardly any destruction of life was caused by it. On the 8th of August an attempt was made to take Thaba Bosigo by storm. A strong party clambered up the pathway at the southern extremity, but on approaching the top found that stone walls had been built across the passage. The Basuto rolled down boulders, compelling them to retire with 10 men wounded. It was the winter season, and in that high mountain-land the cold winds were keenly felt by the burghers, who were not provided with adequate shelter. Fuel to cook the millet and meat was had with great difficulty. Subscriptions of coffee, sugar, and biscuits had been made in the villages, but the supply was very far from sufficient. On the 15th of August another attempt was made to take Thaba Bosigo by assault. At sunrise 600 burghers were left to guard the camp, and the rest of the force was moved out with the intention of storming the mountain. Such a want of preparation and of co-operation was manifest that General Fick gave up the idea for that day and issued instructions for a march round the mountain. Commandant Wepener then proposed to lead a storming party of volunteers. Commandant Wessels offered to accompany him, and Fick gladly consented. A heavy artillery fire was opened upon the face and crown of the mountain above the mission station, under cover of which the storming party crept upwards until the entrance to the narrow and steep fissure which leads to the summit was gained. Just before reaching this, Wepener observed that there were not more than 120 men with them, many who had volunteered having turned back. He sent down to beg the general to try to get reinforcements, but only a few Fingos offered. Across the entrance to the fissure a strong stone wall about 4 feet high was found, and every few yards between it and the top a similar wall had been built. Still the storming party pressed on. At the first wall Wepener fell, shot through the heart, and several of the best men in the commando fell beside him. Commandant Wessels continued to advance, and actually got possession of two or three of the barricades when he was severely wounded and was obliged to retire. The storming party then rushed down the mountain, followed at a considerable distance by a band of Masupha’s warriors. Besides Wepener there were nine men — Jacobus Engelbrecht, John Horspoole, Gerrit Joubert, Theodorus van Eeden, Sampson Daniel, Wilhelm Hoevels, Adam Raubenheimer, Jan Dry, and a half-breed named Jacobus Stolz — killed in this second futile attempt, and 34 others were wounded. From this repulse until the 23rd no event of any importance took place. The burghers had been more than two months away from their homes. The 15th of August mattered because the commandant who had stormed Vechtkop at half-past five lay at the first wall, and because Thaba Bosigo still stood. [3]
Brand’s Terms of the 25th of August, Kruger of September, and Cathcart’s Drift of the 23rd of October — 1865
On the 23rd of August Moshesh wrote to the president, proposing to invite the high commissioner to arrange terms of peace, and asked for an armistice. General Fick informed the messenger that if Moshesh would supply 1500 head of slaughter oxen as provision for his army, he would suspend hostilities for six days. On the 24th Moshesh asked that the armistice should be extended beyond six days, but he sent no cattle to the camp. A council of war therefore decided to resume hostile operations at once. While these new movements were in preparation, a herd of from 16000 to 25000 oxen arrived at the mountain. Moshesh had given instructions for these cattle to be brought down to their winter pasturage, and by some mismanagement his orders had been carried out too soon. The whole herd was now driven by the back pathway to the top of Thaba Bosigo. This was hardly effected when the investment of the mountain was completed, and then the cattle, without grass or water in a space so confined, soon became frantic. They rushed wildly about, trampling down such huts as the bombardment had spared, and pressing whole droves together over the precipices. At last these sounds died away, and there lay on Thaba Bosigo over 4000 carcases, while at least three times that number were decaying on the ledges and crags. The herd mattered because Moshesh had asked an armistice without sending Fick’s 1500 oxen, and because the mountain that had killed Wepener was now killing Moshesh’s own cattle. [3]
On the 28th of August a messenger from Bloemfontein brought to General Fick the president’s reply, dated the 25th of August. Adjutant-General Lange was sent with it to the foot of the mountain, where he displayed a white flag. Nehemiah came down; in a couple of hours he returned with Tsekelo, requested a truce of three days, and obtained it. Brand proposed that Moshesh surrender Thaba Bosigo with all the arms and ammunition there to the Free State forces, the mountain to be in future occupied by a Free State magistrate, under whose supervision the Basuto chief should govern his people; that Moshesh pay within four days 10000 head of horned cattle and 5000 horses as war expenses, and 30000 head of horned cattle and 60000 sheep as compensation; and that the land outside the lines proclaimed by Fick and Wepener be annexed to the Free State. If these terms were accepted, Moshesh was within three hours after receipt of the letter to send two of his principal sons to remain as hostages in the Free State camp. Moshesh did not reply to the president until the 17th of September. All this time a constant cannonading upon Thaba Bosigo had been kept up, but without causing any damage. Mr William Reed, an Englishman who was sent to Moshesh with a letter from the high commissioner, and who spent five days on the mountain, described the condition of affairs there: from 1500 to 1800 people with Moshesh, mostly men; no scarcity of food apparent; about 300 head of cattle still alive, together with 10 horses and 150 sheep and goats; plenty of millet and coffee; the only article of which the Basuto were short was lead, consequently there was not much firing, only about a hundred shots a day; 5 white renegades with Moshesh, one of whom was a gunsmith. The reply of Moshesh, written and signed by Tsekelo, was that he could not comply with any of the conditions, and that he would agree to nothing but the boundary defined by the governor. On the 18th an interview with Lange took place without any good result. Brand could therefore only declare the armistice at an end. On the 25th of September the Free State forces had become so weak from desertion that the council of war resolved to raise the siege of Thaba Bosigo. The men who remained were formed into a couple of flying columns, one under Commandant Pieter Wessels to scour the country along the Orange, the other under General Fick to the north to join a force then on its way from the South African Republic, and afterwards to attack Molapo. On the same 25th of September Wodehouse wrote to Moshesh that it was impracticable at that juncture to interpose between him and the Free State with propriety, or with any prospect of a good result to either party. The 25th mattered because Brand’s terms had been refused, Wepener was dead, the siege was up, and the high commissioner would not step in. [3]
On the 20th of July President Pretorius, by advice of the executive council, had proclaimed martial law in force in the South African Republic. Shortly after this Cetewayo gave Commandant-General Kruger assurances that he had no hostile intentions, and removed his army from the Utrecht border. On the 7th of August Pretorius demanded from Moshesh the delivery of the murderers of the citizens of the South African Republic on the 27th of June and payment of the value of the property seized, with the alternative of war. A commando of 200 men under Marthinus Schoeman was sent to Zoutpansberg to assist in the protection of the Europeans in laager there; and a strong force under Commandant-General Paul Kruger was called out to march to the Lesuto. The Transvaal burghers — 970 in number — were accompanied by President Pretorius, but were under Kruger’s military direction. On the 28th of September they encamped at Naauwpoort, and there, at three o’clock the next morning, they were attacked by Molapo’s followers, aided by a party of warriors from beyond the mountains. The fight was short. 6 burghers were killed, and in the morning the dead bodies of 54 Basuto were found. Naauwpoort mattered because Pretorius’s invitation of the 26th of June had at last produced a Transvaal column, and because that column was now inside the Lesuto. [3]
On the 3rd of October Kruger encamped at Sikonyela’s Hoed, and three days later he effected a junction with General Fick’s force in sight of Molapo’s town of Leribe, since 1858 the mission station of the reverend Mr Collard. The united commandoes consisted of only 1200 men. The Basuto did not wait to be attacked, but a little before sunset they set their kraals on fire and fled. That evening General Fick proclaimed the district between the Caledon and the Putiatsana Free State territory. The combined forces then scoured the country without any opposition and without any result, until the 23rd of October, when they encountered the enemy in great force at Cathcart’s Drift on the Caledon. The seers had predicted that at this place their countrymen would be triumphant; the warriors had partaken of raw flesh torn from the bodies of still living bulls; all the ceremonies which their religion imposed had been carefully observed. After a short and sharp engagement they broke and fled, leaving 770 horses, 7944 head of horned cattle, and 4150 sheep in the hands of the conquerors. Commandant-General Kruger introduced another rule for captured stock: cattle once in possession of the Basuto were lost to their previous owners, and could not be reclaimed as a matter of right; except under special circumstances, all stock taken from the enemy should be kept for the benefit of the captors. On the 30th of October Kruger’s force set out to return home, without making peace with Moshesh before it left. The burghers could not be kept longer in the field, and the president and commandant-general were anxious to investigate matters at Zoutpansberg. The Free State was thus again left entirely to its own resources to carry on the war. Cathcart’s Drift mattered because 970 Transvaal burghers had come and gone in a month, and because Fick’s Caledon line still hung on men who wanted to go home. [3]
On the 1st of November Commandant Pieter Wessels with a small party of burghers, a few Fingos from Herschel, Jan Letele’s Bamonageng, and Lehana’s Batlokua, attacked Morosi’s clan on the north bank of the Orange river. On this and the following day 105 Baphuti were killed, and 53 horses, 934 head of horned cattle, and 2032 sheep were captured. Morosi sent messengers to Mr John Austen, superintendent of the Wittebergen native reserve, to ask to be taken under British protection, without any reference to Moshesh. On the 5th of November Morosi sent to Austen to say that if he was attacked again he would take refuge with his whole following in the reserve. Austen wrote to Wessels offering his services as a mediator, and an arrangement was made by which Morosi, on payment of 500 head of cattle, obtained an armistice until the president could be communicated with. Brand offered to conclude a final peace with him on his paying 300 horses, 3000 head of horned cattle, and 15000 sheep, within 15 days, and giving two of his sons or sub-chiefs as hostages. These terms were rejected by Morosi. A day or two later he learned that the high commissioner declined to entertain his application. Some of his followers then fled to the reserve, but the chief himself with the greater number of his people retired to the rugged country near the sources of the Orange, and took no further part in the war. The president commissioned Messrs Webster and Tainton to raise bodies of European and native volunteers, the only pay that could be offered being such cattle as they could capture. On the 7th of November Wodehouse addressed a letter of remonstrance to the president, and on the 28th he wrote in still stronger terms, threatening that if the practice was continued he would prohibit the supply of arms and ammunition to the Free State. The colonial officers on the frontier were directed to use the utmost vigilance to prevent infractions of the foreign enlistment act, and a reward of 50 pounds was offered for the conviction of anyone found recruiting in the colony. On the 1st of December General Fick, after a sharp skirmish, took possession of Leribe for the second time, when Molapo fled to Thaba Patsoa, a strong mountain about 15 miles to the eastward, in the Maluti range. On the 6th an engagement between the burghers, 450 in number, and some 3000 Basuto, took place at Platberg, when General Fick lost 3 men and the Basuto lost 50. Early in the month the chief Lebenya, with his followers, crossed over into the Wittebergen native reserve, and claimed British protection. November mattered because Wodehouse, who had proclaimed neutrality in June, was now threatening the ammunition on which Fick’s remaining 450 rode. [3]
Ramanela in Natal of the 27th of June, Ten Thousand Cattle of the 26th of August, and Burnet of November — 1865
After the murder of Pieter Pretorius’s party, the followers of Ramanela descended the Drakensberg and entered a part of Natal where cattle kept on the highlands of the Harrismith district during the hot season were usually sent to graze in the winter months. The raiders seized 248 horses, 1619 head of horned cattle, 1707 sheep, and 307 goats, valued altogether, with the damage done to other property, at from 17000 to 20000 pounds. They wounded one white man, and killed three blacks. The volunteers of Natal were immediately called out, and with all the available troops were sent to Ladysmith. The colonial secretary — Major Erskine — and the secretary for native affairs — Theophilus Shepstone — proceeded to the border to take measures for its defence, and the resident magistrate of Weenen was sent to Molapo to ask for redress. The 27th of June mattered because Ramanela had now struck a British colony on the same day that Wodehouse proclaimed neutrality at Capetown, and because Natal’s cattle, not only the Free State’s, hung on whether Moshesh would punish his nephew. [3]
On the 5th of July Molapo informed the representatives of the Natal Government that Ramanela had acted in disobedience of positive orders; that the stolen stock was being collected by him for the purpose of being restored; that he, for his father and himself, was willing to pay compensation for damages; and also that, if required, he would try to deliver up Ramanela for punishment. On the faith of these assurances the volunteers were permitted to return home and Major Erskine went back to his duties at Maritzburg. The Imperial troops, consisting of infantry and artillery, were left at Ladysmith, and Shepstone, with a few Cape Mounted Riflemen and a thousand Natal blacks, formed a camp on the Basuto border. Wodehouse sent to Moshesh, requiring him to restore the stolen stock instantly, to make reparation for the damage done, and to prohibit such acts in future. A few days before Moshesh’s letter was written, Molapo had returned 39 horses, 161 head of horned cattle, 194 sheep, and 40 goats, and had informed Shepstone that Moshesh and Letsie not only did not approve of the promises he had made, but that Moshesh had sent word that Ramanela would not be compelled to make restitution. Molapo offered to abandon his father and brother, and to place himself and his people under the protection and control of the Natal government. The high commissioner, however, would only deal with Moshesh as the head of the tribe. July mattered because Molapo would restore and Moshesh would not compel, and because Wodehouse still treated the old chief as the only man who could answer for Ramanela. [3]
After waiting two months, as the only cattle sent back were the few delivered by Molapo, Wodehouse concluded that it was necessary to make a more formal demand. He declined to take into consideration the expense which the Natal government had incurred, and resolved to call upon the Basuto to refund nothing more than the actual value of the property taken and destroyed. He believed that upon the estimate received from Natal 10000 head of full-grown cattle would suffice to cover this, and on the 26th of August he wrote to Moshesh calling upon him to give instructions for the immediate delivery to the officers of the Natal Government of that number or an equivalent in sheep at the rate of 5 sheep for each bullock. This letter was forwarded from Aliwal North to Thaba Bosigo by a special messenger, Mr William Reed. Reed proceeded by way of Bloemfontein, found the president just leaving for the camp, and accompanied him to Thaba Bosigo. At the foot of the mountain he displayed an English flag, upon which Moshesh sent down for him, and he at once went up. Forty or fifty paces from the top the chief and his son Tsekelo met him, when Tsekelo read and interpreted his Excellency’s letter. Reed was taken to a cave about 50 yards from the summit, where he lodged for several days, until Moshesh was pleased to send him back with a reply, compelling him at the same time to avoid the Free State camp. The letter which he carried back was dated the 18th of September. In it Moshesh said the cattle stolen from the Natal territory had been restored; that he had already given himself and the whole of his country into the hands of the Queen’s Government; and that his Excellency might therefore consider the whole of the Basutoland under his jurisdiction. Wodehouse informed the chief that until the question of making good the damage caused by Ramanela was disposed of, he was precluded from entertaining proposals for closer union between the British Government and the Basuto. He then directed Mr Burnet to proceed to Thaba Bosigo and endeavour to induce Moshesh to issue positive instructions for the delivery of the cattle and the punishment of Ramanela. The 10000 mattered because Moshesh offered the Lesuto to the Queen while Brand’s terms of the 25th of August still lay unanswered, and because Wodehouse would not take the country until Ramanela’s raid was paid. [3]
Mr Burnet arrived at Thaba Bosigo on the 2nd of November. He found the sub-chiefs of Southern Basutoland willing to contribute towards making up the number of cattle demanded by the high commissioner, and at his request they collected about 3000 head. Moshesh himself gave nothing, and so far was he from being desirous of settling the matter that he actually selected the choicest cattle contributed by his vassals, and reserved them for himself. Burnet persuaded him to dictate an order to Molapo to punish Ramanela, and to make up the deficiency of the cattle; but when the commissioner proceeded to Leribe with the order, the old chief sent to his son countermanding it. After more than a month’s exertion, Burnet believed that he had got together between 4000 and 5000 head of cattle. Messrs Macfarlane and Uys, the Natal commissioners, had gone to Bloemfontein, and procured from the president a safe-conduct through Free State territory for the drove and 100 Basuto herdsmen. Burnet then, having done all that he could, returned home. Instead, however, of between 4000 and 5000 head reaching Natal, only 2141 were delivered to Mr Ayliff, the officer selected to distribute them, the others having been detained by Moshesh for his own use after Burnet’s departure. Ramanela was not punished for his raid into Natal. November mattered because Wodehouse’s 10000 had become 2141 at Ayliff’s hand, and because the nephew who had come down the berg on the 27th of June still sat unpunished. [3]
Monene of the 28th of March, Zoutpansberg of April, and Heidelberg — South African Republic 1865
Marthinus Wessel Pretorius still sat at Pretoria, with Paul Kruger as commandant-general. The civil strife that had divided Schoeman from Kruger was over; the Utrecht beacons of December 1864 still stood. The laws making a distinction between professors of different beliefs had fallen into disuse, and in this year there was a clergyman of the Church of England and one of the Congregational Church residing in Potchefstroom. In the same village there was a Wesleyan missionary labouring among the coloured people. Owing to the long period of disorder, during which taxes could not be collected, the treasury of the Republic was empty, and money was urgently required for the purchase of munitions of war, as well as for the payment of salaries to officers in the civil service, and to meet certain promissory notes — termed mandates — which the government had been obliged to issue. In June the volksraad resolved, as a temporary expedient, to issue notes to the value of 10500 pounds. The notes were printed on blue foolscap. Some of them represented 7 shillings and 6 pence, others 15 shillings. A promise was made to redeem them after 18 months in metal coinage, and to pay interest upon them during that period at the rate of 6 per cent per annum. The public servants were obliged to receive them instead of money, though they soon fell greatly in value compared with gold or silver. This was the beginning of the public debt of the South African Republic. The village of Heidelberg was laid out as a churchplace in this year. The notes mattered because a republic that invited burghers to help Brand on the 26th of June was paying its own servants in foolscap. [3]
Some months after Pretorius had placed Monene in a location close to Schoemansdal under the landdrost Vercueil, Albasini entered a complaint against him, who was thereupon arrested and given in charge of Field-cornet Stephanus van Rensburg. On the 28th of March he escaped from custody, and took refuge first with Magadu, next with Pago, and then with Sewase. As soon as Albasini heard that Monene had escaped, he called together a large party of Magwamba and sent them to search for the fugitive. In doing so they committed great atrocities at several kraals. One petty captain, named Magor, who had long refused to pay tribute, was surprised; a message was sent assuring him of safety if he would pay the amount overdue; Magor delivered between 200 and 300 head of cattle, when some dispute arose, and he was made prisoner. That night he was murdered, his kraal was destroyed, and his women and children were seized. The 28th of March mattered because Monene’s flight turned Albasini’s Magwamba loose on the northern kraals, and because a republic with no police could not punish either the fugitive or the men who hunted him. [3]
On the 1st of April a party of white men — the roughest and most lawless characters in the district — assembled under Commandant Stephanus Venter to search for Monene, and on the 7th, having ascertained that Pago had given him shelter, they attacked that captain at Pisangkop, killed about 90 of his people, and drove off 170 head of horned cattle and 250 sheep and goats, besides taking away a number of women and children. Magadu, Katlakter, and other captains then commenced to plunder the farms in their neighbourhood, and the white inhabitants of the northern part of the district went into laager as speedily as possible. In April some of the clans in the district of Zoutpansberg rose in arms, and the white inhabitants were obliged to retire into laagers. It was impossible to raise a commando to restore order, as from the other districts a large proportion of the adult males had gone to Wakkerstroom to be ready in case of a Zulu invasion. The people of Zoutpansberg were therefore left to take care of themselves until the difficulty with Cetewayo could be settled. Being in laagers their lives were tolerably safe, though their property was exposed to destruction. A comparison of dates showed that the attitude of Moshesh towards the Orange Free State was in no small degree due to the disturbances in the South African Republic. From that quarter, he must have believed, there was no likelihood of assistance being sent to the Europeans along his border. In this year it was supposed by many persons that he and Cetewayo were in alliance, but that was not the case. April mattered because Moshesh could read a laager at Schoemansdal as a sign that Pretorius had no commando to spare for the Caledon. [3]
On the 25th of July a commando attacked Katlakter, who was giving shelter to the blacks that refused to surrender the guns of their employers. It did not succeed in capturing his kraal, and upon its failure the insurrection spread. The missionaries now found it necessary to abandon the station of Goedgedacht, and retire to another part of the district less exposed to danger. The buildings were shortly afterwards destroyed by Katlakter’s people. Before the return of Kruger’s expedition against Moshesh, no attempt was made by the government to suppress these disturbances. In November President Pretorius and Commandant-General Kruger visited Zoutpansberg, and endeavoured to restore concord without having recourse to arms. They found the white inhabitants in laager, and learned that a great deal of property had been lost, that 38 farm-houses and 8 houses in the outskirts of the village of Schoemansdal had been burnt, and that business and farming occupations of all kinds, except tending cattle, had ceased. Upon investigation, they ascertained that the conduct of the lawless Europeans on the border could not be justified, but they had no means of punishing the guilty persons. There was no police force whatever, and no money to pay one. Every burgher throughout the Republic who was liable to military duty, except those who had been in the commando against Moshesh, was now warned to hold himself in readiness to proceed to Zoutpansberg whenever called upon. The feeling displayed was, however, so strongly averse to war with the Baramapulana that it was at once evident the attempt to raise a strong force would be a failure. Nothing, therefore, could be done to restore tranquillity at Zoutpansberg. November mattered because Kruger had come home from Cathcart’s Drift on the 30th of October to find 38 farm-houses burnt, and because a republic that had sent 970 men to Leribe could not raise a commando for its own north. [3]