Our fellow passengers on the "Gilbert Henderson" were our doctor, O'Connor by name, Major and Mrs Sands C.M.R., a Capt. Grogan who was going out as a Barrack Master with his wife and children a young Commissariat officer, Tom Strickland, a Mr Hursthouse and his sister, and a Dutch farmer of the name of Cullum, a very mixed lot. The Captain's name was Tweedie.

We sailed on the 3rd June 1845. Our voyage began very badly. In the Downs our crew mutinied and refused to continue the voyage, the Captain had to land, go up to London, and engage another crew. We lay at anchor in the Downs for five days, and one night had a fire on board, which however, our Sappers promptly extinguished. At last we got under way, but ran ashore on Dungeness.

Happily the sea was calm, and as the tide rose we got off. our voyage was a slow one and tedious enough. At first I was very sea-sick as we had rough weather in the Bay, but I recovered in time, and used to take great interest in everything connected with working the ship. I took observations of the sun every day. My duties as subaltern were lighter in one respect than they would have been, had we had a full complement of subs, as being the only one, I had not to keep watch. On the other hand I was always on duty, and had daily the disagreeable task of presiding at the issue of rum to every man and boy in the Company, about 90 all told. Each man brought his pannikin, and I had to see the ration measured from the barrel and poured into it. The smell of rum was most disagreeable to so bad a sailor. On the Equator.whilst in the Doldrums, a sudden squall carried away our fore-topmast, and we had to get up a spare one from the hold, and trim it down to right size, hoist it to its place and rig it; in all of which the Sappers were most useful. On the Line, the new hands on board so far out-numbered the sailors that we did not allow "old Neptune", when he came on board, to take any liberties with us, as he usually does with landsmen.

Three weeks before reaching the Cape our fresh provisions ran out, and we were reduced to salt meat and biscuit.

I enjoyed the voyage very much. We used to spank along under full sail in a very jolly manner, but when we had to go about we had a most dreadful smell all through the ship from the bilge water, which got stirred up as the vessel heeled over to go on the other tack.

Capt. Howorth who was a good fellow, twice my age and more, had served in Canada and Corfu, and was a good hand at telling stories and anecdotes of himself and others under or with whom he had served; he gave me the benefit of these as we tramped the deck for hours together. He was very fond of piquet and we used also to play whist, or whatever was going on, with the other passengers. I had a good library of books with me, which enabled me to pass many hours pleasantly and profitably.

Tom Strickland of the Commissariat and myself, the two youngest on board were much thrown together, and we used often to have a tiff as we were both hot-tempered, and in those days the Commissariat were not much thought of, and a young R.E. did not care to be checked by one of them. Strickland however was a gentleman born, and came of one of the old families of Lancashire, and our differences were easily adjusted.

One day after passing the Cape, at which we could not touch under our charter, we saw in the distance the smoke of a steamer which was thought to be the "Phoenix", a small craft plying between Cape-Town and Algoa Bay. As Strickland wanted to get to CapeTown, the Captain signalled the steamer to ask her to bear down and take an officer on board - we were becalmed at the time. The steamer changed her course and came within hailing distance but, to the dismay of our captain, she proved to be H.M.S. "Thunder-bolt", commanded by Captain Broke, son of the gallant sailor who commanded the "Shannon" when she captured the "Chesapeake". Strickland was bundled into a boat with the second mate to request a passage. As she shoved off, Mrs Grogan, the aggressive wife of Capt Grogan who was going out as barrack master, cried to them, "Give Captain Howarth's compliments to Captain Broke and say that there are ladies on board, and no fresh provisions for several days". Captain Broke showed himself a gentleman and sent a sheep on board, but old Howarth was very savage at his name having been thus used without his knowledge.

On our way up the coast we witnessed splendid effects of refraction in the clear atmosphere. Vessels we passed being reflected in the clear atmosphere in three lines in the sky; and at night we saw a lunar rainbow, a very rare and beautiful sight.

At length, on the 19th August, after a voyage of 77 days from Woolwich, we arrived in Algoa Bay. The town of Port-Elizabeth then not much more than a straggling village, lay before us. We landed on the 26th, in surf boats, - heavy barges, with bow and stern alike, shaped to breast the big rollers which constantly sweep into the Bay from the Southern Ocean. They are worked by hauling on a cable which passes over wheels fixed in the bow and stern. A system of cables is fixed in the Bay, and connected by a warp to a ship on her arrival. On nearing the beach we found ourselves separated from it by some 20 or 30 feet of surf, through which naked Fingoes rushed to the boat's side to carry us ashore much to the disgust of the ladies, who did not like being held in the arms of such dirty looking people.

Having drawn tents and other stores for camp life, the 9th Company began its march of about 100 miles to Graham's Town. We had to cross the Bushman and Sunday rivers, and had our first experience of Cape Waggons and oxen; and of the pleasures of marching on foot over a simple waggon track, which could not be called a road. However, with all its hardships, this was a most enjoyable march, the entire novelty of everything having a charm alike for officers and men. It gave us a good opportunity of judging the characters of our N.C. officers, who were certainly an excellent lot of men (far superior to those we get now) well seasoned under the different conditions of service then prevailing. There were a few drunkards among the men, but they were on the whole a valuable body of artificers of all kinds.

The latter part of our march was through fine scenery in a rugged defile called Howison's Poort. Eight days marching brought us to Graham's Town, where we were quartered in the Drostdy Barracks, with part of the 91st. Regiment. We were kindly welcomed by Capt John Walpole, who was Commanding Engineer. Colonel Hare who commanded the Frontier, was an officer of some note.. He was formerly in the 27th Regt. which he led at Quatre Bras, when they gained the distinction of wearing a plate at the back as well as front of their shakos, from having faced about to receive and drive back a French Regiment which attacked them in the rear; he was also Commandant of Paris after the battle of Waterloo.

Capt Walpole soon introduced me to the Maynards who lived very near. Mr Charles Maynard was one of the leading merchants of Graham's Town, and his wife was a most kind charming woman universally beloved. Their two eldest daughters - Fanny and Eta - were then about seventeen and a half and sixteen - and were beautiful girls.

The first thing we had to do was to get horses. I was "stuck" by a fellow of the 91st. with a bay horse, "Sultan", whom I soon found to be a fidgety, disagreeable brute to ride, as he had no walking paces, and jogged me to death when riding in company. My second horse "Rainbow", I bought from Capt. Christie of the 91st., and he was one of the best I ever had. Riding parties with the Maynards soon became the order of the day, and were very much enjoyed. Capt. Howorth, and the bulk of the 9th. Company, soon went on to Fort Beaufort, leaving me with some thirty men at Graham's Town. At that place I became acquainted with Lieut. W.F.D. Jervois R.E. a subaltern nearly five years my senior. He proposed that we should ride up together to Fort Beaufort to see Howorth, and make the acquaintance of the 7th. Dragoon Guards, who were stationed there. This I was delighted to do, and thus get my first experience of a long ride through the country. Having got leave we started off, each leading a second horse with our saddle-bags. This expedition was a very trying one to me owing to "Sultan" being such a brute: if I rode him he jogged me to death, if I led him he nearly dragged my arms off, as he walked or trotted even worse when led than when ridden. Jervois with his long accustomed nags, went along merrily.

The 46 miles ride therefore was to me a very fatiguing one. The road lay through the Ecka pass and across the Koonap river. At the drift over the latter was a comfortable Inn kept by one Tomlinson and his wife, and we had a pleasant rest there. We did not get into Fort Beaufort till after dark, but had a warm welcome from Howorth. Fort Beaufort is on the Tyumi river, and lies at the bottom of a gorge of the Amatolas; it is one of the hottest stations of the Cape.

I soon returned to Graham's Town, and a few days later was ordered to take my detachment of Sappers up to Fort Beaufort, which we reached on the 15th of October. Shortly afterwards (Jany. '46)1 was ordered to take three Sappers and pitch my tent at a place called Block Drift, about 15 miles from Port Beaufort, to make a survey of the position. At this place there was a Mission Station and School, and a Mr Stretch lived there as a Resident Magistrate to preserve order.

The Station was situated in a bit of country called the "Ceded Territory", Iying between the Fish and Keiskamma rivers. It had once formed part of the Colony, and had been evacuated with an understanding that it should be considered neutral ground between the Colony and Kaffirland, to prevent Kaffir depredations on Colonial farmers. I at once set to work to make my survey of the position; but very shortly Mr Stretch received a menacing message from Sandilli, the paramount Chief of the Gaikatribe of Kaffirs, complaining of the presence of soldiers as a breach of the neutralized character of the "Ceded Territory", and demanding the immediate withdrawal of my party.

Compliance with this demand was of course out of the question. Mr Stretch reported the circumstance. Sandilli next threatened to compel me to withdraw. Half a company of the 91st, stationed at Port Victoria, some 16 miles away, was sent up for my protection, and, as Sandilli's threats beqame more and more violent, the force round my tent grew to a whole company, then tb two companies, and finally to a squadron of Cavalry, 7th Dragoon Guards, one gun Royal Artillery, some of the Cape Corps, and four companies of Infantry, with Col. Hare, the Lieut. Governor, at their head, Sandilli on his part came down with some 5000 Kaffirs, the greater part of whom were on the hill tops surrounding our Camp, but several hundreds were drawn up in a body facing our troops, with Sandilli and his chief men in their centre. Col. Hare, accompanied by Mr Stretch, Lieut. Reilly C.M.B. and myself, rode into the centre of this line to confront Sandilli - an imprudent act, considering that a few years before Sir Andrew Stockenstrom, a former Lieut. Governor, had been murdered by the Kaffirs when putting similar trust in them.

The conversation between Col. Hare and Sandilli was a series of recriminations, the Chief complaining of the infraction of the agreement as to the "Ceded" "Territory", the Governor alleging the numerous misdeeds of the Kaffirs in entering the Colony and driving off the farmers' flocks and herds. It ended in a promise of good behaviour for the future on the part of Sandilli, and the undertaking for the withdrawal of my party: for, as I had gone on with my work during the several days that Sandilli was complaining and the troops assembling, I had finished my survey, and there was no longer any need for me to remain. We learnt later that we narrowly escaped Stockenstrom's fate. It had been arranged that at a given signal, - the firing of a musket - Col. Hare and his party were to be assegaied, and a sudden rush made on the troops, who would be taken unawares. Fortunately for us the gun of the Kaffir who was to give the signal, missed fire three times, which they held to be a bad omen, and gave up their intended treachery.

I was lucky in having this adventure so early in my Cape service for I was fortunate enough to win the good opinion of Capt. Scott, 91st., who commanded the supporting force at first sent up, and whom I was able to assist in many ways in making his position defensible, and by taking military duties with his men, as well as doing my own work. He therefore made a good report of me to Col. Somerset who commanded the Frontier Force, and very shortly afterwards I was ordered to Victoria to make the post defensible. It was a large straggling camp and taxed my ingenuity to make it safe with the very limited sources at my command.

Whilst I was there a sad occurrence took place; a gunner shot his commanding officer, Capt. Sheppard, and subsequently I had to go to Graham's Town to give evidence at his trial, as to the latitude of the place, to fix which I took observations. I had to prove that it was South of the 25th. degree of South Latitude, because in those days our Courts had jurisdiction South of that parallel only.

After I had been some weeks at Victoria, the situation with the Kaffirs had become intolerable: their robberies of cattle had not ceased, and Sandilli would do nothing to restrain them. Two detachments of troops were therefore ordered to enter Kaffirlanid. The first, under Col. Somerset, who indeed commanded the whole force, advanced from Victoria, and was composed of the Cape Mounted Rifles, Capt. St John Brown's Battery, and the 91st. Regiment under Col. Campbell. The other force from Fort Beaufort, consisted of the 7th. Dragoon Guards (Col. Richardson) with some companies of the 91st. Regt.

Col. Somerset made me the Deputy Assistant Quarter Master General of the force - rather an onerous post for a young man, a 2nd. Lieut. not yet 21 years of age - but there were no officers at that time qualified by their education for Staff duty, except those of the Artillery and Engineers. I was the only Staff Officer with the force. Of the a particular duties of the post I had but a theoretical knowledge, but was full of zeal and a ardour and delighted to be so soon sent on active service. We marched on the 11th. of April 1846, and I soon found how difficult it was to keep the troops and their baggage' waggons in touch. We had a long train of 60 Ox-waggons each drawn by 14 to 16 bullocks yoked two and two, and thus each waggon covered an enormous length of road - say from 30 to 40 yards - and the train was about a mile and a half long. Roads there were none, merely rough waggon tracks. Every dip into a valley caused a lengthening out of the line, and the fording of rivers delayed the force for hours. The selection of ground for encamping was generally made by the Colonel, but the location on it of the troops and the waggons was my duty. As we approached the enemy's country it was necessary to get the waggons into a square and to put the oxen and horses inside, to guard against attack during the night, or, what was more likely, the "cutting out" of the cattle by individual Kaffirs creeping in under cover of the darkness. On the 1 3th of April we joined forces with Col. Richardson, and on the 1 5th we reached a Mission Station on the skirts of the Amatolas called Burn's Hill. Here too we were joined by an irregular force of Burghers-Dutch and English farmers - under Col. Sutton C.M.R., who reported large herds of Kaffir cattle feeding on the reverse slopes of a big hill in front of us. We had crossed the Keiskamma, the most important river in these parts, and were now close to Sandilli's kraal. I got the camp of the Victoria force into shape, but it was impossible to get the Beaufort force properly laagered. Their waggons, some 60 in number, came straggling in all the night, and just took up position among the scattered Mimosa bushes, as they saw fit. This was the first campaign against the Kaffirs in which the 7th Dragoon Guards had taken part, and neither of fixers nor men had any idea of its conditions: moreover their equipment and arms were utterly unsuited to such warfare. They had been sent to the Cape to overawe the Dutch Boers, who were giving trouble, and had been armed for this purpose with a long rifle. This weapon was loaded - as all fire-arms then were - from the muzzle, with a belted bullet which, placed on a greased rag, had to be driven home, with the ramrod. The time required for such loading was fatal to skirmishing in the bush, and the ramming home of the ball unsteadied the soldier's hand and made his shooting far more erratic than if he had had a smooth bore musket. The men were heavy Cavalry soldiers, most of them six feet high, with brass helmets, and ponderous swords; they were consequently of necessity mounted on strong, heavy horses. One can conceive no force more unfitted for fighting in the bush, where they could not have charged, even had there been a body of the enemy massed together. They were splendid targets in their red coats and glittering helmets and accoutrements. Happily the Kaffirs in those days had few firearms and did not know how to make them shoot straight. For the matter of that our own soldiers with the old "Brown Bess", as the smooth bore musket was called, were not much better. The only troops properly armed and equipped for Kaffir warfare were the Cape Mounted Rifles, or Cape Corps, as they were more commonly called; a body of active little Hottentots with English officers.. They were mounted on wiry cobs and armed with a double-barrelled smooth bore carbine, easily loaded, which left a barrel always in reserve, after the first shot - an immense advantage in bush fighting. This digression as to our forces and its equipment is necessary to make what follows more easy to understand.

Col. Sutton proposed to Col. Somerset that he should set off next day with the bulk of his force to capture the cattle which he and his Burghers had descried on the other side of the "7 Kloof Hill" overlooking our camp. I besought the Colonel not to move till his camp was put into some state of defence. There was a splendid position just above us a bare hill on which there had once been a fort, Cox by name, and where we subsequently built another Fort Cox; it was surrounded by a bend of the Keiskamma rivers and could be held safely by a small force. But how could the arguments of a young inexperienced lad like myself, however sound they might be in principle, prevail against the impetuous proposal of a galloping Cape Corps man, addressed to the most active cattle hunter in the Colony - "Old Jack" as Somerset was called - Henry being his name? Major Gibson, 7th. D.G. was left in command of the camp, with orders to get the waggons of his Regiment and those of the Victoria force, formed up in a square. He had a troop of 7th. D.G.'s, two companies of the 91st., two guns, and a detachment of the Cape Corps. Our position was this, over against the Fort Cox Hill, on the other side of the Keiskamma, was a big hill, or almost mountain, called the Seven Kloof Hill from the number of deep Kloofs or valleys which branched off it into the Keiskamma. Separating this hill from the main Amatolas, was the Wolf river, which ran into the Keiskamma at the head of the bend encircling Fort Cox Hill. Col. Campbell and the 91st. were sent up the Wolf Valley, Col. Sutton and his Burghers were sent over the Seven Kloof Hill, and Col. Somerset with the 7th. D.G.'s the Cape Corps, and guns and rockets under Capt. Brown, took the road round the foot of the hill, with a view to getting into the open country on the other side, and effecting a junction with Col. Campbell as he emerged from the head of the Wolf Valley, at the same time securing the cattle which Sutton's force was expected to capture by their rapid march over the hill. This all came off as arranged, and at sunset we found the whole force in the open country with 1500 cattle taken from the Kaffirs. Going back to camp with such a mass of cattle was out of the question, moreover men and horses were tired. The 91st. had had a most difficult march, fighting all the way up the bed of a watercourse, though happily without many casualties. Under these circumstances, and feeling it incumbent on him to return to the Colony to put his captured cattle in safety, Col. Somerset sent me off at sunset with an escort of twelve Cape Corps men under an old Kaffir Sergeant with orders to Major Gibson to bring all the waggons into the open country next day to join the main body. I was not very well mounted, having under me only a slow bat horse, my charger being done up with the day's work. Capt. Brown, seeing the perilous ride, on which I was setting out, insisted on my taking a capital pony he had, which probably saved my life. Riding round the base of the Seven Kloof Hill we saw the Kaffirs running down to cut us off, and I pulled my escort together for a fight. As we to entered a wooded dip the leading file fired. I at once reprimanded the Sergeant fa s firing without my orders "Oh! Sir, he said, that is frontier standing order - always fire a as you ride into a dip, if Kaffir is there he run out, and there" (pointing)" you see, Sir. he's running away. If we had not fired he would have shot one of us perhaps." I at once saw the truth of his remark and the wisdom of the standing order, so I interfered no more with such independent file firing.

Matters were growing serious; Kaffirs were pouring down to the track by which we had marched in the morning; in every dip of the road we might find an ambush, and our arrival in camp seemed an impossibility. My trusty Sergeant came up to me and pointed this out, saying that he knew a ford over the Keiskamma near at hand, and that if we could get over it, we should find the ground on the other side more open and free from Kaffirs.

We therefore rode for our lives to get first to the ford. The Kaffirs divined our object and pursued us hard, shouting after us. Happily we were 200 yards ahead of them owing to our sudden detour, and got over safely. They did not attempt to cross after us, of which I was glad, as one of the troop horses knocked up and had to be left behind. I was the last of the party to cross and had I been on my own slow beast, should probably have been cut off - thanks to Browne's forethought I was safe.

Our troubles however were not at an end. As we approached we heard heavy firing from Major Gibson's camp, and saw that we should probably find ourselves amidst his assailants and perhaps receive the fire of our friends in camp. As it happened we got in all right, and learnt that they had had a disastrous day. The Kaffirs had carried off 100 of the trek oxen, and thus rendered it more difficult to move the waggons. Capt. Bambrick of the 7th D.G.'s had been killed in the skirmish following the capture of the oxen, and the force generally was in a rather nervous state from feeling surrounded by an enemy whom they could not see, but who made themselves felt, with whom they had never before had any fighting, and whose tactics were strange to them.

Major Gibson's orders, as conveyed by me, were to march at day-break the next morning to join Col. Somerset. In the state of things existing on my arrival he considered this to be impossible, and that for the safety of the immense train of waggons - 120 - covering more than three miles of such a road as we had to advance by, a strong body of the Cape Corps should be sent to re-inforce him. He despatched a party accordingly before midnight, with a letter detailing all these matters to Col. Somerset and saying that he would not move till 10 A.M. in order to give time for the Cape Corps to arrive. He made his dispositions as follows - The Victoria division of waggons was to march first, to be followed by the Beaufort waggons. One company of the 91st., half a troop of the 7th. D.G.'s, and one gun under Lieut. Gregory R.A. were sent to occupy a knoll commanding the ford over the Keiskamma, with orders to move on as a guard to the Victoria division of waggons as soon as they should be all across. He placed the other gun under my orders, and took up a position to cover the advance of the Beaufort waggons up to the ford. I believe that some order was given for a detachment to occupy the knoll as soon as the advanced guard moved on, but I have no certain knowledge on this point. No force from Col Somerset having arrived by 10am the order was given to advance.

At 6 A.M a party of 20 men under an of ficer of the Cape Corps had arrived with orders to burn Sandilli's kraal, which was less than a mile from our camp. This had been done, and the party had returned to Col. Somerset. This act had filled the Kaffirs with rage and as soon as we began our march, they poured down to attack the column. My gun shelled the valleys on the river side of the line of march, but presently we saw a confused mass of drivers rushing to the rear. I went forward and found that the leading waggon of the Beaufort division had capsized across the road so that others could not pass it on account of the thick bush; Kaffirs were cutting the oxen out of the following waggons, and the drivers had run away. I returned to the Major and asked him to give me a party of men to go forward and remove the capsized waggon, attack the Kaffirs, and make the drivers do their duty. A small party was hastily given me, but by the time I reached the front again, only three or four men were with me - a number quite inadequate for the purpose - and so many oxen had now been driven off into the bush that it was hopeless to try and save the waggons. How I twice ran the gauntlet of these savages over more than a mile of road, there and back without a scratch, I have never been able to understand.

Major Gibson had kept the four waggons of spare ammunition with the main body in his own hands. We presently saw flames rising from the Beaufort waggons, and just then the head of a column of Infantry appeared beyond the river. Somerset had sent them instead of the Cape Corps as requested and thus our re-inforcement came too late. It was impossible for us now to take the waggons full of ammunition along the road to the ford, encumbered with blazing waggons, so we made a long detour over some rising ground, in order to avoid the obstacle. Our only other loss that day was a tumbrill which the Artillery had to abandon.

Of course our arrival in camp was not an agreeable one after losing half our train. Poor Gibson was blamed, but the fault lay with Col. Somerset for not realizing the difficulty in which he had left him, and for not sending the Cape Corps, who, if they had arrived before 10 A.M. as they could have done, would have averted the disaster.

The 7th. D.G.'s had taken a valuable kit into the field - much of their Mess plate, and stores of wine and beer and potted meats &c all of which were lost, as well as their Regimental and Company books. My baggage that morning, had unfortunately, got among their waggons, so that I lost all my field kit, except what I had in my pack saddle - a loss I could never replace during the war.

I was placed in a very difficult position with Col. Somerset. He railed at Gibson, whereas, honestly I could not but say that he had done all that man could do under such circumstances. He had been left in the heart of the enemy's country with an insufficient force, with an immense train - of itself a tempting object to the enemy - with his camp unformed and in confusion his oxen to the number of over 1600 to be taken care of in a bushy country, and with a mere handful of Cape Corps who alone were accustomed to Kaffir tactics. The rest of his force had never seen Kaffir warfare.

As we rode back the next day towards the Colony, I could see that I was no longer in favour with my Chief. We arrived that evening at Block Drift, where I had made my survey a few months before. I had formed the camp and during the next few days, did my best to keep it in a sanitary condition, but the habits of the Hottentots, the licence of the Contracters, who slaughtered their cattle all over the place, &c, obliged me to urge the Colonel to give stringent orders for the better regulation of these matters. He seemed indifferent to them, but I felt strongly that the health of the whole force depended on this, and returned to the charge. He there-upon began to curse and swear as he was accustomed to do at his Cape Corps officers; but I could not brook such conduct and resigned my appointment - the duties of which I could not properly fulfil, if not supported by my Chief.

Capt. Walpole, the C.R.E. who had come up from Graham's Town, approved of my doing so, but it was of course very disappointing to me to cut myself off from the chance of distinction in such a prominent position. Really and truly I was too young for it, and my rank of 2nd. Lieut. was insufficient to give me the necessary weight with officers of much higher grade to whom I had to be the channel through which they received their orders.

I was succeeded by Capt. Bisset of the C.M.R. who filled the post admirably. I ought to say, in justice to myself, that I did not fail in any of the duties confided to me or expected of me, but I could not share the Colonel's views of Major Gibson's handling of his force and thence-forward I ceased to please him.

I was immediately sent to Corps duty, with a detachment of Sappers, at the drift over the Koonap river, where I was instructed to place Tomlinson's Inn in a state of defense, as a fortified post to cover the passage of the river and afford protection to the cattle and trains of waggons bringing up supplies.

As soon as Col. Somerset's force fell back on Block Drift the Kaffirs poured into the Colony and carried devastation far and wide, burning the farm houses, carrying off the cattle and sheep, and murdering or ill-treating the farmers and their wives and families. The troops were sent into the Colony again for their protection, and levies of Hottentots were raised to strengthen the force in the field.

The Governor, Genl. Sir Peregrine Maitland, an old Peninsular and Waterloo hero, hastened up from Cape Town to take command, with all the troops that could be spared for the front.

I fortified the Koonap post in about three weeks in the same manner as I had done Port Victoria, and was then ordered to join a column that was marching via Commatuy's Drift over the Fish river to relieve Fort Peddie. A further disaster had befallen the troops during the month of May. Two companies of the 91st, with some levies under Capt. Campbell of that Regiment, were escorting a train of forty-two waggons with supplies from Graham's Town for Fort Peddie, which stood on high ground between the Fish & Keiskamma rivers, when they were attacked after crossing the Fish river at Trompeter's Drift by a body of Kaffirs, who cut out the oxen, and burnt the waggons after gutting them of their contents.

Fort Peddie was thus reduced to straits for provisions, and Col. Somerset was ordered to force a passage through the Fish River bush with another train of waggons to relieve the Fort. The road by Commatuy's Drift was thought to be the most open and he accordingly took that route, though not the most direct.

My dangerous ride in the Amatolas when Brown's pony saved my life had made me see the necessity of getting an active steed, and in Graham's Town I bought an excellent hack for my purpose. As we mounted the hill from Commatuy's Drift, the Kaffirs again attacked us, no doubt hoping to destroy the very large convoy of waggons.

My duties had been to improve the road wherever required, and in pushing up the hill from one bad part to another, under a smart fire, I felt my poor beast flinch, and when I got to the top found that he had been shot through the flank; he died next morning. I was thus left without a good horse, a great loss, for in the field there was no chance of buying another. We passed a very rough night - on the top of the hill - with no water and very little food, and early next morning pushed on to Peddie, Capt. Sir Harry Darrell with a troop of 7th Dragoon Guards, some of the Cape Corps and Burghers came out and joined the force, but as we were in the open the enemy did not attack.

At Fort Peddie we found a small force of Cavalry and Infantry and for some days I was occupied under Capt. Walpole's orders in improving the defenses, of this place. On the 8th. June we accompanied a strong force that went to try and clear the Fish River bush, from Trompeter's Drift to Commatuy's Drift, of the Kaffirs infesting it, who made it difficult to keep up communication with Graham's Town. A body of Hottentot levies was sent down to Trompeter's Drift, and the regular troops took post at the edge of the bush on the level plain above. After an hour or two's skirmishing we on the top were annoyed by dropping shots from a water course below us and from the bush above, and presently a spent ball struck my dear old Chief on the thigh, and inflicted a wound,

which did not incapacitate him at the time, but proved troublesome eventually. Gathering a few men, I made a rush across the intervening space, and reaching the edge of the water-course, found it occupied by Kaffirs, three of whom fell to my gun and to the carbine which I snatched from a Cape Corps man. Major Donovan, who had followed me up, found a path down the gully and killed two more of the Kaffirs, the rest bolting. One of the five men was Zito, a Chief of Pato's the tribe which we were attacking.

After this episode, the skirmish of the Gogha, there was not much more fighting at that point, and the Colonel drew off his men to get some refreshment. As we crossed the open country, we came upon a body of 500 Kaffirs making their way from the Keiskamma to the Fish bush. Such an opportunity of meeting our enemy in the open had not before presented itself, and without a moment's hesitation, the whole force was launched upon our light-footed foes, who, we feared, might escape before we could strike. Sir Harry Darrell with his troop of 7th. Dragoon Guards, was the first to reach them. He charged through the black mass and back again, but without inflicting much loss, the heavy swords of the Dragoons doing little damage. Darrell and his charger between them received five wounds from assegais. The next charge was by a party of mounted Dutch Boers, who with the Infantry made short work of the Kaffirs, about one half of whom were slain. Walpole was again wounded by a Kaffir whose life he was trying to save: the man threw his assegai which ripped up his throat, just missing the jugular vein.

My dear old Chiefs wounds had an important influence on my whole life, for they prevented his again taking the field, and I was consequently left for some weeks the only of ficer of R.E. with the troops, being the junior R.E. of finer in the Colony.

Shortly after this, General Sir Peregrine Maitland reached Fort Peddie, and took the direction of the operations into his hands. I received from him the following letter of commendation for my hand to hand fighting on the Gogha on the 8th. June, and had the honour of taking him over the ground where the battle of the Gwanga was fought on the same day.

Camp. June 29th 1846

Lieut.Stokes R.E.

For a month I was constantly employed in various movements in which I accompanied the General, in the country surrounding Peddie, and on 8th July we started on a more distant expedition to carry the war into Kaffirland proper. We thus crossed the Keiskamma and Buffalo Rivers, after reconnoitring the mouth of the latter. We passed the site of an old Mission station at an abandoned town called King William's Town, and encamped on the Goneiga River. From this point Col. Somerset was sent forward to the Kei in order to punish the Kaffirs by capturing their cattle and burning their kraals.

The General now wished to open direct communication with Col. Hare, who was in command at Fort Hare on the other side of the Amatola Mountains. About the 14th of July he had asked me to join his mess, a very welcome invitation as I had lost my kit in the Burn's Hill affair in April, and never had been properly re-equipped. Walpole having remained at Peddie, I was messing alone. The General's staff consisted of Col. Cloete D.Q.M.G., the principal Staff Officer of the Colony, and Capt. Maitland the General's son and Military Secretary: he had no Aide-de-camp.

On the 23rd. July after a long day spent in reconnoitring learning that the General wanted an officer to ride through the spurs of the Amatolas to Fort Beaufort, I at once volunteered for the service, and at 8 p.m. started with a party of twelve Cape Corps men under a Kaffir Sergeant, and a Mr. Hoole a trader, who was supposed to know the way. We had before us a ride of 45 miles to Block Drift or Fort Hare, and of 15 miles beyond that, to Fort Beaufort. Our route lay through the enemy's country entirely as far as Fort Hare, and for a great distance skirted the Amatola range, passing over the spur running to the Keiskamma bush at a point called the Debe Neck, close to the remarkable Tabinoda Mountain.

We had to ford the Buffalo River at King Williarn's Town, and to make our way across the Commatuys, or Saucer Flats, a plain broken into small hollows from two to three feet deep, and six to ten feet across, along the edges of which there was a track not easy to keep to by day, and most difficult at night.

We constantly found ourselves dipping into and out of these saucers, a most fatiguing action both to man and horse. When we reached the Debe Neck we saw, a few hundred yards from our track, the lights of a Kaffir village, which we were glad to pass without being observed. The pathway was very uneven still, being across some dry beds of a water course, which made it difficult to keep my party together. After crossing the Debe Neck Mr Hoole lost his way, and could not find it again. Happily the Kaffir Sergeant was intelligent and faithful, and as soon as I put him in charge of our route, he discovered the path and piloted us safely down to a ford or drift across the Keiskamma, which is a rapid river of some size. We crossed all right, and about 8 a.m. rode into Fort Hare. Here I left my party and my own horse to rest during the day, and pushed on to Fort Beaufort on a trooper that I borrowed from a Cape Corps man at the post. I thus was able to reach Beaufort by 11 o'clock, and reported myself to Col. Hare.

After a long conference with him and Sir Andries Stockenstrom we arranged a plan oi combined operation between Col. Hare's Division and that of Col. Somerset, which was to come off on a certain day, the two divisions attacking the Amatolas from opposite sides. After this conference, I breakfasted and then took the opportunity of buying a couple of horses, and doing some shopping in the town. I dined at 4p.m. and at 6 started back for Headquarters, taking with me one of my new horses - an active little chesnut - which was a pleasure to ride. I reached Fort Hare at 8.30 P.M. and at 10, set out on my return march. My party and their horses were well rested and refreshed, but I had ridden 30 miles further than they had and had not taken a moment's rest. I therefore found the second night's ride very trying, and was anxious as to how we should get across the Keiskamma and the Nek, should the Kaffirs have seen our spoor and expect our return. We cleared the river without incident, but at the Nek my men lost themselves in the mazes of the water-course, and when the party was broken up, I saw lights flitting from hut to hut in the Kaffir village and thought that we were discovered. However no enemy appeared, and in a few minutes I got my party together with as little noise as possible and we proceeded on our way. When we reached the open flat I was so dead tired that I got off my horse and had an hour and a halSs good sleep in one of the saucers mentioned above. Soon afterwards day dawned, and we made our way back to the camp on the Goneiga about noon, having ridden over 120 miles in about 40 hours, during 28 of which I was in the saddle.

The General expressed satisfaction, so I was amply rewarded. I enjoyed this period of my service intensely, as may well be believed. I was constantly in the saddle, riding about with the General who was a most agreeable companion, and as an old soldier full of the experiences of the Peninsular and Waterloo, he was an object of veneration to me. He would allow me to draw him out, and in his turn kindly placed confidence in me, young as I was. I endeavoured to make myself generally useful as a Staff Officer, helping Col. Cloete with his correspondence, and always ready for a dash at the Kaffirs.

Our combined movement came off, but did not produce any very great result. Col. Somerset succeeded in capturing thousands of cattle in the plains, but not much progress was made towards bringing the war to an end. The General, who had served in Canada and seen the vast forest fires there, had an idea that we might distress the natives by burning the Amatolas, but he did not take into account the difference between the resinous pines of Canada and the ever-green trees of the Cape. By his orders I made a huge stack of dry wood - the fences of Kraals &c - round a big yellowwood tree and made a blazing bonfire which burnt for an hour, with the effect only of singeing the leaves, but not setting fire to the tree, so he was convinced that this method was of no use.

At this time I was slightly wounded whilst throwing up a battery at night to protect our camp. The Kaffirs used to burn the grass round our positions and seeing them so engaged whilst my men were working in the dark, I rode forward to try and surprise them with my covering party; but one of my sentries - a Hottentot levy - seeing a figure moving in the dark, let drive at me. His musket was loaded with "loopers", which hit me in three places. Happily I was not much hurt, but had to lie still for a few days. At the end of three months with the General, as his Engineer on the Staff, we returned, after many expeditions, to the Fish River. Capt Walpole was then recovering from his wounds, and took me down to Graham's Town for a short leave, at the end of which I was ordered to take up my quarters at the mouth of the Fish River, where Lieut. Owen, the senior subaltern R.E. in the Colony, had been stationed to ensure the maintenance of a Flying Bridge designed to keep up communication between Graham's Town and Fort Peddie. It was considered only fair to Owen that he should now be with the General, as Walpole was not yet well enough to remain in the field. The change from active life to the monotonous routine in a swamp at the Fish mouth soon made me ill, and I became so reduced by dysentery that I had to be taken into Graham's Town. Directly I was better I returned to my post, but was soon worse than before and again sent in to be treated. My kind old Chief received me each time in his comfortable quarters, where he eventually left me in charge when he returned to the front. The dysentery was followed by a severe attack of rheumatic gout, which kept me in bed for six weeks, and on crutches for some weeks longer. This illness put an end to any further campaigning for the moment; I had to remain in Graham's Town, and as soon as I was convalescent, I took up the duties of the Engineer of fine during Capt. Walpole's absence.

Sir Henry Pottinger had now succeeded Sir Peregrine Maitland as Governor, and Lt. General Sir George Berkeley had taken over the command of the forces.

The Kaffirs were gradually being subdued; and Sandilli had been made a prisoner and sent to Cape Town. On leaving the Colony, Sir Peregrine Maitland was pleased to mention me in his parting General Order.

Copy of General Order published by General Sir P. Maitland on retiring from the command of the army in the Cape of Good Hope, bringing to the notice of her Majesty's Government the good conduct of the troops serving in Kaffirland.

(I) The Commander in Chief having been recalled by Her Majesty's Government the command at the Frontier will devolve on Col. Somerset K.H. who is hereby appointed Colonel on the Staff ..........................

(5) His Excellency having endeavoured to render his personal services useful to the Forces employed in the Field during the course of eight months, is enabled to enjoy the pleasing task of recording with confidence his testimony of their exemplary conduct: and he takes this opportunity of returning to the troops of every rank and description his thanks for their exertions during that period, often under circumstances

unusually difficult and discouraging .....................................

(9) To the Officers of the Staff His Excellency offers his best thanks for their unwearied

assistance: particularly to Lt. Col. Cloete D.Q.M.G., Capt. C.L. Maitland, Asst: Mil

Secy:, Lieuts. Owen and Stokes, R.E., acting occasionally as A.D.C.; Major O'Reilly,

Brigade Major, commanding the Graham's Town district: Major Smith and Lieut.

Bissel. D.A.Q.M.G. .....

(signed) A.J. Cloete. D.Q.M.G.

I remained in Graham's Town till October 1847. and during my illness and afterwards, became very intimate with the family of Mr Charles Maynard, who were most kind to me in many ways. The two eldest daughters, Fanny and Etta were then pretty girls of twenty and a half and nineteen years of age, very gay and the belles of the town. It is not surprizing that I fell in love. I became engaged to Etta, just about the time of her Mother's death, on the 22nd. July 1847. This sad event of course drew us all very close together. It was soon made known that we were engaged.

In the following September, owing to Lieut. Owen's health failing, I was ordered to the front again, and early in October went up to King William's Town, where the headquarters camp was now formed. There we lived in huts, and eventually built stone barracks. The most interesting work of that time was making more secure the communication between King William's Town and our advanced camp in the Amatola Mountains.

This Camp was occupied by the 1 st. Battn. Rifle Brigade under Col. George Buller, and was situated in the Keiskamma Hoek or basin. It lay on the further side of the Keiskamma, an impetuous stream liable to sudden floods which cut off the camp from all communication. I therefore threw a light span bridge over this torrent, and laid out and made an improved road through the mountains, during the months of November and December.

Two days before Christmas our new Governor General, Sir Harry Smith, the hero of Aliwal, who had succeeded Sir H. Pottinger as Governor and also taken command of the troops, arrived at King William's Town, and held a great meeting of the Kaffirs and their Chiefs, who all made submission and accepted the new order of things. This advanced the frontier of the Colony to the Keiskamma and formed the large area between that river and the Kei into a Protectorate to be called "British Kaffraria".

For the three years following this settlement I and other Engineers were employed in establishing a hold on the country. Fortified Barracks were built at King William's Town, Forts Murray, Glamorgan, Cox, White and Hare, which thus established a chain of posts from the sea at the Buffalo mouth to Fort Beaufort in the Old Colony.

At King William's Town I built a very good house to which I hoped to bring my bride, but all at once I was ordered to East London, at the mouth of the Buffalo, to continue building Fort Glamorgan.

On the 6th. February 1849, I married my dear wife, Henrietta second daughter of Mr Charles Maynard of Graham's Town. Lieut. Stanton Q.E. was my best man. At the same time her elder sister was married to Capt. Thomas Hare of the Cape Mounted Rifles, nephew of the old Colonel who was Lieutenant Governor when I went out. The double ceremony was performed in Graham's Town Church by Archdeacon Merriman and the Revd. J. Heaviside. Stanton drove me down in his dog-cart, both of us being in full dress. I originally had but a fortnight's leave from my station, Fort Glamorgan, at the Buffalo mouth, but happily I got an extension of leave for another fortnight, five days of which however, were taken up in travelling by Ox-waggon for the 110 miles that we had to cover to reach my post.

Lieut. Inglis whom I succeeded had built a stone hut of one room of very good size, to which I added, and had thus a home for my wife, but nothing like the one I had prepared at King William's Town. Here we lived for fifteen months, and our eldest child was born.

Go back to the Chapter 1
Go forward to Chapter 3
Go to the Contents Page