The Cape and the Kaffirs: A Diary of Five Years' Residence in KaffirlandWard, Mrs.
History
The Cape and the Kaffirs: A Diary of Five Years' Residence in Kaffirland
Ward, Mrs.
South Africa -- History -- Frontier Wars, 1811-1878
The march alluded to, of such importance to the safety and he lives of
the unfortunate settlers, was "made on his own responsibility." By this
"forced march," says the Graham's Town Journal, February 13th, 1847,
"Colonel Somerset saved Theopolis, Farmerfield, Salem, Bathurst, and
other places in Lower Albany, from probable destruction."
On the departure of his Excellency Sir Peregrine Maitland from the
frontier, the troops fell back from the Kei to the Buffalo, where
Colonel Van der Meulen assumed the command of a division, consisting of
four companies of the Rifle Brigade, beside his own regiment, the 73rd,
two guns, seventy Cape Corps, a squadron of the 7th Dragoon Guards, and
a chequered group of Provisionals. This division encamped amid the
ruins of what once promised to be a flourishing town, named by Sir Harry
Smith, King William's Town; the site having been taken possession of by
him in the name of William the Fourth, in 1835; but it was subsequently
abandoned.
Here, then, among these memorials of the last war, the troops are
building huts and bowers for themselves. The heat is intolerable. The
walls of Sir Harry Smith's abode are still standing, and the old garden
contains some excellent fruit trees, planted probably under the
direction of Lady Smith, the interesting Spanish heroine of some
charming sketches of the Peninsula, and the favourite of the African
frontier. Lady Smith, of kindly memory, would live in the hearts of
those who knew her, even were she not connected with one of the heroes
of the late conquests in India.
Fort Peddie has been strengthened, and is now the head-quarters of the
6th Regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel Michel. Besides the 6th, Colonel
Michel has at his disposal a troop of Dragoons, a party of the Cape
Corps, and some companies of the Rifle Brigade.
The 91st are scattered far and wide at outposts and bivouacs. The light
company, under Captain Savage, are in Colonel Michel's district,
patrolling between Post Victoria (abandoned and resumed within eight
months) and Fort Peddie. The Grenadiers, under Captain Ward, are on
their march to the neighbourhood of Hell's Poort, to intercept
cattle-lifters. The levies have been dismissed, or dispersed of their
own accord; the flank companies of Her Majesty's 91st are employed in
their stead!
The Beaufort Division is under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel
Johnstone, 27th Regiment, and consists of the 45th Regiment, under
Lieutenant-Colonel Erskine; the reserve battalion 91st,
under Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell; 7th Dragoon Guards, under
Lieutenant-Colonel Richardson, and a Burgher Force, under Major Sutton,
Cape Mounted Rifles.
PART TWO, CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
THE REGISTRATION SYSTEM.
The pithy motto of "Deeds, not words," is fraught with sound sense;
nevertheless, words uttered with calmness and decision, to a suffering
community, carry comfort to the hearts of men, if, by their import, they
simply prove that the sufferer's cause is understood.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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