Jongumsobomvu Maqoma (1798–1873) was a
Xhosa
Xhosa may refer to:
* Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa
* Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people
See als ...
chief and a commander of the Xhosa forces during the
Cape Frontier Wars. Born in the Right Hand House of the Xhosa Kingdom, he was the older brother of Chief
Mgolombane Sandile
Mgolombane Sandile (1820–1878) was a ruler of the Right Hand House of the Xhosa Kingdom. A dynamic leader, he led the Xhosa armies in several of the Xhosa-British Wars.
Having recently been equipped with modern fire-arms, Sandile's forces succ ...
and nephew to
King Hintsa
Hintsa ka Khawuta (1780 – 12 May 1835), also known as ''Great'' or ''King Hintsa'', was the king of the Xhosa Kingdom, founded by his great ancestor, King Tshawe. He ruled from 1820 until his death in 1835. The Xhosa Kingdom, at its peak, durin ...
. In 1818, he commanded the forces of his father, Ngqika, who seemingly was trying to overthrow the
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
and become the king of the Xhosa nation. In 1822, he moved to the so-called neutral zone to take land but was expelled by the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
troops.
and Chief Maqoma his
Know Usenam Ningi
Early life
Born on in the right hand house of the Xhosa Kingdom, Maqoma was the oldest son of Chief Ngqika. Throughout his life, he was opposed to his father's strategy of ceding land to the
Cape Colony
The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when i ...
; as a result, in 1822, he went back into the Neutral Zone in order to establish his own chiefdom.
Sixth Xhosa War
![Eastern Frontier, Cape of Good Hope, ca 1835](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Eastern_Frontier%2C_Cape_of_Good_Hope%2C_ca_1835.png)
The Sixth War is known as Hintsa's War by the Xhosa. However,
Hintsa did not instigate the war and, although he gave support to the Xhosa armies which were involved, it was Chief Maqoma who was the primary leader of the Xhosa forces.
Background
On the Cape's eastern border (now the Keiskamma River) insecurity persisted.
Although highly unstable, the frontier region was seeing increasing amounts of cultural diversity, with Europeans, Khoikhoi and Xhosa living and trading throughout the frontier region.
Outbreak
The settlers accused the Xhosa of cattle raids, while the Xhosas accused the settlers of killing their chiefs. On 11 December 1834, a Cape government commando party killed a chief of high rank, incensing the Xhosa: an army of 10,000 men, led by Maqoma, swept across the frontier into the Cape Colony, 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
The Kat River ( af, Katrivier) is a tributary of the Great Fish River, that drains the southern slopes of the Winterberg in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.
Etymology
Kat, meaning "cat", is a translation of the Khoekhoen word "huncu", t ...
valley by the British authorities. Refugees from the farms and villages took to the safety of Grahamstown, where women and children found refugee in the church
In the cape
British campaign
The response was swift and multi-faceted.
Boer commando
The Boer Commandos or "Kommandos" were volunteer military units of guerilla militia organized by the Boer people of South Africa. From this came the term "commando" into the English language during the Second Boer War of 1899-1902 as per Costica ...
s mobilised under
Piet Retief
Pieter Mauritz Retief (12 November 1780 – 6 February 1838) was a ''Voortrekker'' leader. Settling in 1814 in the frontier region of the Cape Colony, he assumed command of punitive expeditions in response to raiding parties from the adjacent ...
and with their
firepower
Firepower is the military capability to direct force at an enemy. (It is not to be confused with the concept of rate of fire, which describes the cycling of the firing mechanism in a weapon system.) Firepower involves the whole range of potent ...
inflicted a defeat on the Xhosa in the Winterberg Mountains in the north. Burgher and Khoi commandos also mobilised, and British Imperial troops arrived via Algoa Bay.
The British governor,
Sir Benjamin d'Urban mustered the combined forces under
Colonel Sir Harry Smith, who reached Grahamstown on 6 January 1835, six days after news of the attack had reached Cape Town. It was from Grahamstown that the retaliatory campaign was launched and directed.
The campaign inflicted a string of defeats on the Xhosa troops, such as at Trompetter's Drift on the Fish River, and some of the Xhosa chiefs surrendered. However Maqoma and Tyali (the other major Xhosa leader) retreated to the fastnesses of the
Amatola Mountains.
The treaty
Hintsa ka Khawuta
Hintsa ka Khawuta (1780 – 12 May 1835), also known as ''Great'' or ''King Hintsa'', was the king of the Xhosa Kingdom, founded by his great ancestor, King Tshawe. He ruled from 1820 until his death in 1835. The Xhosa Kingdom, at its peak, durin ...
, paramount-chief of the whole Xhosa nation, commanded authority over all of the Xhosa chiefdoms hence therefore was held responsible for the initial attack on the Cape Colony, and for the looted cattle. D'Urban came to the frontier in December 1834, and led a large force across the Kei river to confront Hintsa at his residence and dictate terms to him.
The terms dictated that all the country from the Cape's prior frontier, the Keiskamma River, as far as the
Great Kei River
The Great Kei River is a river in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is formed by the confluence of the Black Kei River and White Kei River, northeast of Cathcart. It flows for and ends in the Great Kei Estuary at the Indian Ocean wi ...
was annexed as the British "Queen Adelaide Province", and its inhabitants declared British subjects. A site for the seat of province's government was selected and named
King William’s Town
Qonce, formerly known as King William's Town, is a city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa along the banks of the Buffalo River. The city is about northwest of the Indian Ocean port of East London. Qonce, with a population of around ...
. The new province was declared to be for the settlement of loyal tribes, loyal soldiers who replaced their leadership, and the
Fengu
The ''amaMfengu'' (in the Xhosa language ''Mfengu'', plural ''amafengu'') was a reference of Xhosa clans whose ancestors were refugees that fled from the Mfecane in the early 19th century to seek land and protection from the Xhosa and have sinc ...
(known to the Europeans as the "Fingo people"), who had recently arrived fleeing from the Zulu armies and had been receiving protection from the Xhosa. Magistrates were appointed to administer the territory in the hope that they would gradually, with the help of missionaries, undermine tribal authority. Hostilities finally died down on 17 September 1836, after having continued for nine months.
Eighth Xhosa War
Background
Large numbers of Xhosa were displaced across the Keiskamma by Governor Harry Smith, and these refugees supplemented the original inhabitants there, causing overpopulation and hardship. Those Xhosa who remained in the colony were moved to towns and encouraged to adopt European culture.
Harry Smith also attacked and annexed the independent
Orange Free State
The Orange Free State ( nl, Oranje Vrijstaat; af, Oranje-Vrystaat;) was an independent Boer sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeat ...
, hanging the Boer resistance leaders, and in the process alienating the Burghers of the Cape Colony. To cover the mounting expenses he then imposed exorbitant taxes on the local people of the frontier and cut the Cape's standing forces to less than five thousand men.
In June 1850 there followed an unusually cold winter, together with an extreme drought. It was at this time that Smith ordered the displacement of large numbers of Xhosa squatters from the Kat River region.
The Outbreak of War (December 1850)
Governor Sir Harry Smith travelled to meet with the prominent chiefs after unrest in the Xhosa nation. When Chief Sandile refused to attend a meeting outside Fort Cox, Governor Smith deposed him and ordered him killed. On 24 December, a British detachment of 650 men under Colonel Mackinnon was attacked by Xhosa warriors in the Boomah Pass. They retreated to Fort White, under heavy attack from the Xhosa troops, having sustained 42 casualties. The very next day, during Christmas festivities in towns throughout the border region, apparently friendly Xhosa entered the towns to partake in the festivities. At a given signal though, they fell upon the settlers who had invited them into their homes and killed them.
Initial Xhosa victories
While the Governor was still at Fort Cox, the Xhosa forces advanced on the colony, isolating him there. The Xhosa burned British military villages along the frontier, and captured the post at Line Drift. 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 captured
Fort Armstrong
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
. Large numbers of the "Kaffir Police" — a paramilitary police force the British had established to combat cattle theft — deserted their posts and joined Xhosa war parties. For a while, it appeared that the Khoi people of the in Xhosaland were also fighting and taking up arms against the British.
Harry Smith finally fought his way out of Fort Cox with the help of the local Cape Mounted Riflemen, but found that he had alienated most of his local allies. His policies had made enemies of the Burghers and Boer Commandos, the Fengu, and the Khoi, who formed much of the Cape's local defences. Even some of the Cape Mounted Riflemen refused to fight.
British counter-attack (Jan 1851)
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 7 January, Hermanus and his Khoikhoi supporters launched an offensive on the town of
Fort Beaufort
Fort Beaufort ( Xhosa: iBhofolo) is a town in the Amatole District of South Africa's Eastern Cape Province, and had a population of 25,668 in 2011. The town was established in 1837 and became a municipality in 1883. The town lies at the conflu ...
, which was defended by a small detachment of troops and local volunteers. The attack failed however, and Hermanus was killed. The Cape Government also eventually agreed to levy a force of local gunmen (predominantly Khoi) to hold the frontier, allowing Smith to free some imperial troops for offensive action.
Conclusion of Maqoma
By the end of January, the British were beginning to receive 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. Over the coming months, increasing numbers of Imperial troops arrived, reinforcing the heavily outnumbered British and allowing Smith to lead sweeps across the frontier country.
In 1852,
HMS Birkenhead
Two ships of the British Royal Navy have been named HMS ''Birkenhead'', after the English town of Birkenhead.
* was an iron-hulled troopship launched in 1845 and notably wrecked in 1852.
* was a light cruiser launched in 1915, in action at Jut ...
was wrecked at
Gansbaai
Gansbaai (Dutch/Afrikaans for "bay of geese," sometimes referred to as Gans Bay or Gangs Bay) is a fishing town and popular tourist destination in the Overberg District Municipality, Western Cape, South Africa. It is known for its dense populatio ...
while bringing reinforcements to the war at the request of
Sir Harry Smith
Lieutenant-General Sir Henry George Wakelyn Smith, 1st Baronet, GCB (28 June 1787 – 12 October 1860) was a notable English soldier and military commander in the British Army of the early 19th century. A veteran of the Napoleonic Wars, he is a ...
. As the ship sank, the men (mostly new recruits) stood silently in rank, while the women and children were loaded into the lifeboats. They remained in rank as the ship slipped under and over 300 died.
Final stages of the conflict
![Ambush of British Column - Xhosa wars](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/Ambush_of_British_Column_-_Xhosa_wars.jpg)
Insurgents led by Maqoma established themselves in the forested Waterkloof. 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 Waterkloof and Harry's Kloof. The Waterkloof conflicts lasted two years. Maqoma also killed Colonel Fort Fordyce and inflicted heavy losses on the forces of Sir Harry Smith.
In February 1852, the British Government decided that Sir Harry the feet inept rule had been responsible for much of the violence, and ordered him replaced by George Cathcart, who took charge in March. For the last 6 months, the man of foot town ordered scourings of the countryside for rebels. In February 1853, Sandile and the other chiefs surrendered.
The 8th frontier war was the most bitter and brutal in the series of Xhosa wars. It lasted over two years and ended in the complete subjugation of the Ciskei Xhosa.
Imprisonment
Maqoma was twice prisoner at
Robben Island
Robben Island ( af, Robbeneiland) is an island in Table Bay, 6.9 kilometres (4.3 mi) west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, north of Cape Town, South Africa. It takes its name from the Dutch word for seals (''robben''), hence the Dutch/Afrik ...
. During the first term, he was allowed company with his wife and son. However, on the second term, at the age of seventy-three, he was sent there alone. A visiting Anglican chaplain witnessed his last moments in 1873, when he "cried bitterly, before dying of old age and dejection".
See also
*
Makana (prophet)
*
Xhosa Wars
The Xhosa Wars (also known as the Cape Frontier Wars or the Kaffir Wars) were a series of nine wars (from 1779 to 1879) between the Xhosa people, Xhosa Kingdom and the British Empire as well as Trekboers in what is now the Eastern Cape in Sout ...
*
Hintsa kaKhawuta
Hintsa ka Khawuta (1780 – 12 May 1835), also known as ''Great'' or ''King Hintsa'', was the king of the Xhosa Kingdom, founded by his great ancestor, King Tshawe. He ruled from 1820 until his death in 1835. The Xhosa Kingdom, at its peak, durin ...
References
Bibliography
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maqoma
Xhosa people
African warriors
1873 deaths
1798 births