Campaigning in Kaffirland; Or, Scenes and Adventures in the Kaffir War of 1851-52King, William Ross
History
Campaigning in Kaffirland; Or, Scenes and Adventures in the Kaffir War of 1851-52
King, William Ross
South Africa -- History -- Frontier Wars, 1811-1878
After sending off our wounded in waggons, under a cavalry escort, to
the standing camp at Quesana, we again ascended the same range, though
at another point, and by three different routes; the 91st and native
Levies by a pass about a mile to our right; the cavalry by another,
at some distance on our left; ours, in the centre, though a somewhat
shorter course, was by far the steepest and most trying. The men,
loaded with their rations, blankets, great coats, firelocks, and sixty
rounds of ball cartridge, were so fatigued under the overpowering heat
of the noonday sun, that the whole column constantly halted, literally
unable to move for the moment. During our ascent, the enemy showed
in small bodies on several points, but did not attempt in any way to
oppose us; and all three columns met on the table land above, without
having fired a shot. After marching about seven miles further, without
seeing anything of the enemy, we descended into the Zanooka valley, a
beautiful green basin completely surrounded by a splendid amphitheatre
of high wooded mountains. The Fingoes plundered a Kaffir village of
considerable quantities of maize, discovered buried in large circular
holes, neatly plastered over, in the floors of the huts, to which they
afterwards set fire. Here we bivouacked, while General Somerset, taking
with him the Cape Corps, and Hottentot and Fingoe Levies, proceeded
along the head of the Liguey Stream; where, observing a party of the
enemy posted in the forest intersecting the ridge of Mount Macdonald,
he moved forward to attack them with the cavalry, and after a brisk
skirmish and heavy firing on both sides, drove them back, and on the
Levies coming up completely routed them. Descending into the valley of
the Keiskamma, he returned, by a long circuit, to the bivouac, about
dusk, when the enemy began to creep in nearer, and fire long shots at
the groups gathered round the blazing fires. A few bullets dropped
amongst us now and then; by one of which a Levy officer was shot in the
leg, as he was drinking his coffee. At length, becoming bolder and more
troublesome, a party of skirmishers was sent out to disperse them; and
we sat watching the singular conflict, of which nothing was visible but
the two long straggling broken lines of flashing musketry; one retiring
as the other advanced up the dark mountain side. The beauty of the
effect was heightened by the prolonged rolling of the reports echoing
among the crags.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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