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The Xhosa Wars, also known as the Cape Frontier Wars, were a series of nine wars between the Xhosa people and European settlers, from 1779 to 1879 in what is now the Eastern Cape in South Africa. The wars saw the beginning of the use of firearms by the Xhosa armies. However the wars were still responsible for the Xhosa people's loss of most of their land, and the incorporation of its people.
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The first settlers from Europe in the Cape were the Dutch who established a colony in and around current day Cape Town. This was initially just a small settlement for supplies for ships stopping on their way around the Cape to and from India.
Over the years more and more Europeans arrived first settling in and around Cape Town and later moving away from Cape Town into the valleys further afield. Over time, settlers began migrating away from Cape Town altogether, mainly following the eastern coast as the route north was difficult because of the Karoo desert. This was both because of population pressures and to find new farming land, and because the Cape Peninsula has a Mediterranean-type climate with a warm dry summer and a cold, wet winter (the early explorers named it the Cape of Storms because of the north-west gales sweeping up from the Antarctic in the winter months) which made cattle and grain farming difficult. Further along the eastern Cape seaboard the climate changes with milder and dry winters, and rainfall during the warm summers, which provides for conditions suitable for grain farming and good grazing.
During the second half of the 18th century, the migrants from the Cape (predominantly Boers) encountered the Xhosa people in the region of the Fish River. Both cultures were heavily based and reliant on agriculture and cattle farming in particular. As more Cape migrants (and later settlers imported from Britain under plans to colonise the area in 1820) arrived, the population pressures and competition over land, cattle and good grazing became intense. Cattle raiding became endemic on all sides, with punitive and retaliatory raids launched in response. As missionaries arrived with their evangelical messages, there were confrontations with hostile chiefs who saw them as undermining the traditional Xhosa ways of life. Conflicts flared into small wars, the first of which was in 1780 triggered after Willem Prinsloo, a Boer farmer, shot and killed a Xhosa man in the vicinity of Bosberg, near the present day Somerset East.
Although the European settlers initially had an advantage through being equipped with guns and horses, which gave them superior firepower and mobility, the Xhosa had experience of conflicts with the Zulus to the north, and with other tribes, and had many disciplined and highly effective warriors. Although initially unmounted, they were very mobile in broken country, and became even more formidable opponents when they later also acquired guns. As pressures grew, the settlers organised into local militia but they were severely limited in their tactics as they could not leave their homes and families undefended for long, and vulnerable to attack, and hence could not follow Xhosa raiding parties far. Both sides were limited in the conduct of wars by the demands of seasonal farming, and the need for labour during harvest.
After the first war (1779–1781), the border was established between the Fish and Sundays Rivers. Eight years later, after a second war (1789–1793), the boundary was moved west to Sundays River. The third war was some 5 years later (1799–1803) and confirmed the Sundays River boundary.
After the British annexed the Cape in 1806, in due course the British authorities turned their attention to the Eastern regions amid complaints and petitions by the settlers about Xhosa raids. British expeditions, in particular under Colonel John Graham in 1811 and later Harry Smith in 1834, were sent not only to secure the frontier against the Xhosa, but also to impose British authority on the settlers, and to establish a permanent British presence.
Professional troops were better trained and equipped than local settler militias and in particular were not burdened by the constraints of families and farms, and the need to attend to harvests. Military forts could be established and manned permanently, and British expeditionary forces could pursue the Xhosa raiding parties across the border in punitive actions for as long as it took. Over time the British came to dominate the area both militarily and through occupation with the introduction of British settlers. The imposition of British authority led to confrontations not only with the Xhosa but also with disaffected Boers and other settlers, and other native groups such as the Khoikhoi, the Griqua and the Mpondo.
The frontier wars ebbed and flowed over a period of about 100 years from first arrival of the Cape settlers, and with the intervention of the British military, ultimately led to the subjogation of the Xhosa people. Fighting ended on the Eastern Cape frontier in June 1878 with the annexation of the western areas of the Transkei and administration under the authority of the Cape.
The fourth war (1811–1812) was the first war that featured professional British soldiers who could pursue the enemy with single-minded intensity, and in the fourth Xhosa War they drove the Xhosa back to the east of the Fish River.
The district between the Great Fish River and the Sundays river known as the Zuurveld, had become a sort of buffer zone, with the Boers and British to the East and the Khosa to the West. However leading into 1811 the Xhosa, had taken control of the neutral ground and there were various flashpoints with the colonists.
In order to expel the Xhosa from the Zuurveld, Colonel John Graham took the field with a mixed force in 1811 for a campaign in which the Governor of the Cape Colony, Lt-General John Cradock, said no more blood had been shed "than was necessary to impress on the minds of these savages a proper degree of terror and respect".[1]
The campaign ended with Xhosa being driven beyond the Great Fish River.
On the site of Colonel Graham's headquarters arose the town which bears his name, Graham's Town, subsequently becoming Grahamstown. About four thousand British colonists arrived and were stationed on the Great Fish River.
A difficulty between the Cape Colony government and the Xhosa arose in 1817, the immediate cause of which was an attempt by the colonial authorities to enforce the restitution of some stolen cattle. When overcrowding among the Xhosa east of the Fish River led to civil war, the British intervened. The Xhosa prophet-chief Maqana Nxele (or Makana) emerged at this time and promised “to turn bullets into water.” He led the Xhosa armies in several attacks. On 22 April 1819, Maqana with 10,000 amaXhosa attacked Graham’s Town, then held by a garrison of 350 troops. The garrison was able to repulse the attack only after timely support was received from a Khoi-khoi group led by Jan Boesak. Maqana suffered the loss of 1,000 soldiers.
Maqana was eventually captured and imprisoned on Robben Island. This time, the British pushed the Xhosa even further east, beyond the Keiskama River. The land between the Fish and the Keiskamma rivers became a neutral buffer zone, which the British tried to populate with loyal Africans. The Albany district was established in 1820 and populated with some 5,000 Britons. The Grahamstown battle site is still known as Egazini, or Place of Blood, and a monument was erected here for fallen amaXhosa soldiers.
On the eastern border, further trouble arose between the government and the Xhosa, towards whom the policy of the Cape government was marked by much vacillation. On 11 December 1834, a government commando party killed a chief of high rank, incensing the Xhosa: an army of 10,000 men, led by Maqoma, a brother of the chief who had been killed, swept across the frontier, pillaged and burned the homesteads and killed all who resisted. Among the worst sufferers was a colony of freed Khoikhoi who, in 1829, had been settled in the Kat River valley by the British authorities. Inhabitants of the farms and villages took to the safety of Graham's Town, where women and children found refuge in the church.
There were few available soldiers in the colony, but the governor, Sir Benjamin d'Urban acted quickly and all available forces were mustered under Colonel Sir Harry Smith, who reached Graham’s Town on 6 January 1835, six days after news of the uprising had reached Cape Town. Retaliatory attacks against the Xhosa were launched from the town, and hostilities continued for nine months until 17 September 1836 with the signing of a new peace treaty. All the country as far as the River Kei was acknowledged to be British, and its inhabitants declared British subjects. A site for the seat of government was selected and named King William’s Town.
The conflict was the catalyst for Piet Retief's manifesto and the Great Trek. In total 40 farmers (Boers) were killed and 416 farmhouses were burnt down. In addition 5,700 horses, 115,000 head of cattle and 162,000 sheep were plundered by Xhosa tribes people. In retaliation sixty thousand amaXhosa cattle were taken or retaken by colonists.
By the end of the war 7,000 people of all races were left homeless. Cape governor Benjamin d'Urban took far-reaching steps to prevent similar conflict in the future. These were however not to the liking of the British minister of colonies, Lord Glenelg, who revoked all the measures and accused the Boers of instigating the conflict. As a result, the Boer community lost faith in the British justice system and often took the law into their own hands when cattle rustlers were caught.
Known as the "War of the Axe" or the "Amatola War". Tension continued to simmer between farmers and marauders. A Khoikhoi escort was transporting a manacled Xhosa thief to Grahamstown to be tried for stealing an axe, when he was attacked and murdered by Xhosa raiders. The Xhosa refused to surrender the murderer and war broke out in March 1846. The Ngqikas were the chief tribe engaged in the war, assisted by portions of the Ndlambe and the Thembu. The Xhosa forces had by this time replaced their traditional weapons with modern firearms and it was their new use of guns that made the Xhosa more effective in fighting the British.
A British column sent to confront the Ngqika chief, Sandile, was temporarily delayed at the Amatola Mountains and the attacking Xhosa were able to capture the centre of the three mile long wagon train which was not being defended, carrying away the British officer's supply of wine and other supplies. On 28 May, a force of 8,000 Xhosa attacked the small British Garrison at Fort Peddie and were defeated after a long shootout with British and Fingo troops. The assault was unsuccessful, but did result in the loss of nearly 4,000 cattle (which stampeded due to the noise of both sides' guns).
A sizable army of Ndlambe Xhosa were defeated on June 7, 1846 by General Somerset on the Gwangu, a few miles from Fort Peddie. By early 1847, most of the major Xhosa clans had made peace with the colony. However, violence flared up again after members of Sandile's tribe supposedly stole a number of goats from the neighbouring Kat River Settlement. The war continued until Sandile was captured and sent to Grahamstown. The other chiefs gradually followed suit and by the end of 1847 the Xhosa had been completely subdued after twenty-one months of fighting. On 23 December 1847, the Keiskamma to upper Kei region was annexed as the British Kaffraria Colony with King William's Town as capital.
Also known as Mlanjeni's War. The Xhosa prophet Mlanjeni predicted that the Xhosa would be unaffected by the colonists' bullets. Believing that the chiefs were responsible for the unrest caused by Mlanjeni's preaching, Governor Sir Harry Smith travelled to British Kafraria to meet with the prominent chiefs. When the Ngqika chief Sandile refused to attend a meeting outside Fort Cox, Governor Smith deposed him and declared him a fugitive. On 24 December, a British detachment of 650 men under Colonel Mackinnon was ambushed by Xhosa warriors in the Boomah Pass. The party was forced to retreat to Fort White, under heavy fire from the Xhosa, having sustained forty-two casualties.
With the Governor cut off at Fort Cox, the Xhosa forces advanced on the colony. British military villages along the frontier were burned, and the post at Line Drift captured. Meanwhile, the Khoi of the Blinkwater River Valley and Kat River Settlement revolted, under the leadership of a half-Khoi, half-Xhosa chief Hermanus Matroos, and managed to capture Fort Armstrong. Large numbers of the "Kaffir Police"—a paramilitary police force established by the British to combat cattle theft—also deserted their posts and joined Xhosa war parties. For a while, it appeared that all of the coloured people of the eastern Cape were taking up arms against the British.[2]
After these initial successes, however, the Xhosa experienced a series of setbacks. Xhosa forces were repulsed in separate attacks on Fort White and Fort Hare. Similarly, on January 7, Hermanus and his supporters launched an offensive on the town of Fort Beaufort, which was defended by a small detachment of troops and local volunteers. The attack failed however, and Hermanus was killed.[3] By the end of January, the British had received reinforcements from Cape Town and a force under Colonel Mackinnon was able to successfully drive north from King William's Town to resupply the beleaguered garrisons at Fort White, Fort Cox and Fort Hare. With fresh men and supplies, the British expelled the remainder of Hermanus' rebel forces (now under the command of Willem Uithaalder) from Fort Armstrong and drove them west toward the Amatola Mountains.
Insurgents led by Maqoma established themselves in the forested Water Kloof. From this base they managed to plunder surrounding farms and torch the homesteads. Maqoma's stronghold was situated on Mount Misery, a natural fortress on a narrow neck wedged between the Water Kloof and Harry's Kloof. The Water Kloof conflicts lasted two years. Maqoma also led an attack on Fort Fordyce and inflicted heavy losses on the forces of Sir Harry Smith.
In 1852, HMS Birkenhead was wrecked at Gansbaai while bringing reinforcements to the war at the request of Sir Harry Smith.
In April 1856 the sixteen-year-old Xhosa prophetess Nongqawuse believed she had received a message from her ancestors that promised deliverance from their hardships such as horses, sheep, goats, dogs and fowls, all kinds of clothing, and everything you wish to eat will come in great amounts. The old will become young and the settlers will be driven into the sea if they destroyed their cattle. This was a big sacrifice for their ancestors. At first no one believed Nongquwuse's prophecy and the Xhosa nation ignored her prophecy. But when Chief Sarhili killed his cattle, more and more people began to believe that Nongquwuse was an igqirha (diviner) who could communicate with the ancestors. They too killed their cattle and destroyed their crops. The Xhosa nation waited for the old to become young again and the settlers to be driven in the sea. They waited for clothes, crops and cattle but nothing happened.The return of the ancestors was predicted to occur on 18 February 1857. The Xhosa, mainly chief Sarhili of the Gcalekas, heeded the demand and enforced it on others, only to be disappointed on the destined day. The cattle killings continued into 1858, leading to the starvation of thousands. Disease was also spread from the cattle killings. This gave the settlers power over the remainder of the Xhosa nation who were often forced to turn to the colonists for food, blankets and other relief.[4]
This 9th War started after the harassing of the Mfengu by Sarhili's Gcalekas. When summoned to meet Frere at King William's Town, the Gcaleka chief refused.
The last war was an attempt by the Xhosa returning from diamond fields to regain control of their land. All Xhosa territory then became part of the Cape Colony.[5]