The Sun.
London, England, 1846-09-03 00:00:00

THE KAFIR WAR.
We have received Cate Town journals to the Bth of
June. The struggle with the Kafirs was still going un
alorg the eastern frontier, and the victory gained over
them at Fort Peddie had considerably raised the spirits
of the colonists, though no.one doubted ultimate suß'
cess, ciatly as men of all ranks and occupations
were pressing forward to aid in elling the savrge but
skilful and active .enemy. The following are esitrac°
frcin the papers :
(Fr4im the Set,er tyrican Commercial Advertiser, JlO6O.
The following particulars of the engagements at Fork
Peddie, by the Rev. G. Green, Wesleyan missionarY,
are contained in a letter to him from a friend at Gov'

ham's Town
° of
Sunchiy, 24th.—We received intelligence, by Inenne
one of Ilinkye's confidential men, of the near aePr"c
of several large bodies of Kafirs, with the intention
of attacking the post. He l;d received
teat they had bestructions to kill him. they
inw him, they were not to say, this iS
&lief ; or if they saw his place, they were IA it
sy, this is the place of a chief, &c. He brought in not
of his family, a few faithful attendants, and his cattle;
Preparations made for the security of the women ttn,._'
children in one .of the commissariat stores of the i,t;
Col. Lindsay very kindly affording all the assistance
could. Night comes on with excessive cold. elondeP-
Morning and night also very cold. No doubt this, under
Di‘ine Providence, was, the means of delaying
the ill
tended attack. Tuesday morning.—Woodeutters order°"
out, eaegon drivers ; some refused ; one young fell
Smith by name, was tied up to one of the waegrs;
and received twenty-five lashes. Wednesday.-1
parties of troops were sent out at the some time, onee ei
escort the wood waggons, and another to bring forg
from Stock's place. Both returned in safety. The es 4
with the torage waggons saw a body of Kafirs at ui„,,
tattee, but having orders not to leave the waggons thei4
would not go to give them battle. It is well they ?t,
not. Wednesday noon.—A Fingo beings informant,
that a large body of Kafirs are approaching fromtiPti
the neighboerhood of Stock's country. An
soon confirms this. Dragoons sent out, under Sir ~,;
Darell, to attack them, also a six-pounder. Shert?"e
soon returns with information that the Kafirs are cerol7;
on from all sides in great force. A body of infant,et
dispatched to support Sir Harry. Contine-ps
firing heard ; the gun Pent back, one of the hnrs-e
having been shot dead; the horse was a wheeler. Trol;
Sergeant-Major Moffat, 7th Dragoon Guards, shnthe
the arm. Tim e pounder sent to the assistance of qst
men. A little before sunset all returned. There 'ilo
no other casualty on our aisle. Toe Kafirs had fie
with great bra Very, and some had even come so near 0(
gun as to give the officer in charge an opportunitY:qed
giving them two rounds of canuister shot, which les'
not a few of them. A t last the Dragoons had else et
opportunity of charging, as the Kafirs had coieo- e:er
upon the flat, and this appears to have been the ele,
of
the battle. They fled before the Dragoons, but teatl)6it
them were cut up. One got about ten inches 0 the
Harry's sword; it was bent in extracting it frelliest
body of the Kafir; Mr. Gore's sword was broken gyve
the h:ad of another; most of the Dragoons' swords e-
proof that they had been in contact with the Kadrtere
is said that 100 were klled. A party of Fingo" :0c
engaged also. We now expected that a generals Attack
would he made that night on the post. The nigh' the
ever, passed away quietly. All bands, as well it°,oo
femal es, sleep in some defensible place. Some -vete
from the main body came down in the dusk of the,e A
ing below the post, and fired several Fingo 11 With
few rockets were fired apt them by Lieutenant ling
great skill, and it is supposed with good effect. wet
" Thursday, 28th. - While at breakfast heard t o4large bodies of Kafirs were approaching the rseeles'
the road from Graham's Town, and within a few' "-of
They could be seen through the glass. About to
showed themselves on the waggon road, ebtniog ;id?
to the fort in two large bodies. There they rent ,1, the
just outside the range of our guns, evidently bed
intention of drawing out the troops. This ljnalt)eoe
previously informed us, was their plan, and as spue'seit°'
the troops were fairly away from the post, in the
one party, the others e ere to rush in and deetrnicibet
place. As the troops, however, did not 010/e'„ east'
oodies of Kafirs showed themselves—one to th'i ooe;
ward, a dense mars, which must have consist. d
smells. These were said to be the Gaikas, ineinelaerr
course, Stock's and Sonto's people, as well as S;`o, oa ftb
Sandilli was stated to have been recognised riches•
black horse ; another chief rode on a white 11(eevst#
great proportion of them were mounted. To tb'rr
ward, I understand, there was a body still largfieesla
either ofthose have named. There were five di74,ost
the wole. Something fearful was evidently prerr en 05.81
I wash nly ae raid lest they should wait and come n_PeeloPo
night. Every preparation was made by Lieut. e e„
Lindsay for a vigorous defence. Captain Siesfiece
were recalled,from D'Urban, where they ha-1 Deteelt'h
tioned on their arrival. The Fingo women and ehe
were p aced, some inside the fort, and others in tots cede
around it, where, being close under our guns, i$ o lit e
sidered they would be perfectly safe. I was 111 reci°,ll
encouraged and struck also at that time, by tl'e esr of
leccieu that at the very moment when all this les
array was set against us, our friends in various 13`4,.:1l
the colony were engaged in prayer for the success
arms.
of the
"I am afraid I can give you no description re
tack itself. 'Were it not that life and death wet bea,el;',
cerned in it, I should have pronounced it a eo°,s.egst'e
tiful sight. As I did not go into any of the buil"! oast
all was over, I saw the while of it, but no douk" eetly
K •tifir
circumstances will escape my memory. The - to
manders sent their aides-de-camp from one Parto-: el 4.114
other, just as you would see it done on II re held
with European troops. The main bodies we'
ee,!iee
continually increased by both horse and foeetnt
soon after eleven the array was truly tereinede wt
largest body of all was said to be to t„h
ward, and probably consisted of timbales e"e a
t 0 tto
Kafirs. As they saw their scheme of draWincaatt eo
troops did not succeed, small parties of their' JO' S'A. I
advance in beautiful skirmishing order, and the°,ls eR
divisions of Pato and the Gaikas moved towar".6 coD7O
other, advancing at the same time as if intend,iege os
bined attack on some given point. The artillerJ
readiness to give them a salute the moment thrlgPt°o
come within range. The gun was pointed towe.'ti range
he
people, but a body of the Gaikas coming witit,l,t into et
little sooner than the others, a shot was se -e ktl'"ie
midst of them. It seemed that several weremoriCso,4
over by this shot, but that was of little COO epPe
. comparison to what followed. This single seared treed
tee leave disconcerted their plan, and they npPt; of sho i
thrown into confusion. Rapid dischaegerseeded t'bedet
shell followed. The Kafirs had now t't`s at' the
selves all round, and there was a continnu neieg et
six milei in length. Think of these aciva it eepepte
same moment, and so filing the valley the!
shells 0,1:0
one mass of moving Kafirs. Rockets and
fired as rapidly, as possible, and presently a teenloetriert";
fire of musketry from the Kafirs was poured,o beatee
us, but over us, the balls whistling over n.ifer
They did not, however, come near enongt_'„eeeti'',
infantry to play upon them, and they consViteetil
fired but few shots, excepting from the
,attet .orie
barracks. A body of them got to Webb's rw. Ifors
rifled it, ft.; well as Abernethy s, but 'to kilt
shells being thrown among them from t";eoseel
howitzer, they speedily fled. We saw them rene";), le
their booty, blankets, &c., and a rocket was oci:Pfl
them, which caused them to drop what they he",i ";
Webb's slaughter sheep were near the flasks s'iee
one fellow rode up and was driving them off, v""eenl3r,;eo
shots from the fort caused him to fall front l'Id" r,5.
He was, however, only wounded, and mantlgee
away, leaving the sheep. I expected they 11010 f'it"fl
in full force on the fort itself, and was not teio they
pried to find that they kept clear of that, -dot- 00v
boasted that they would trample this place tti'ebotit the
got away with most of the cattle, however for
bead). They would have taken the whole Diveettieto
TlieY e 0 ". •
determined bravery of the Fingoesi . yo 10,
considerable number. The actual figntle,fee coo
observe, was- with the Fingoes, as every 50 they cleat
side either the fort or the barracks. 'fleeced fil,e,ittiCV
not have gone without exposing the fort t°o.oo.l(l:eiero
is, presuming, as we certainly did, that thq,. ther pre'
it; and if they had moved to any
masses to pour in upon us from all quarteici eot hilt
goons were sent out rather late, and o°;ied 0° aft'
any. A party of Pato's men still rex:01110110111de
(Graham's Town road), and Sir H. Detlree. heave t, Ope'
them, but they fled at his approach. . tied -‘
continued the fight until late, and rirs ongoe; Ohre
almost as far as the Gwanga. Twelve ae gaff by t
killed, including a woman and child; and oiled vete o
killed by them, independently of 00°,6 end awe
fed
troops. Several were killed by the recite" eed Ok $i
" The Kafirs are still about in nuraberLe eettleLth
expecting a night attack. The have got build"
may now come and set fire to the thatched
they can take us by surprise."

(EXTRACT .Err—",)_..,bicb It
" Varions estimates the Wee v It'll::
i=
tacked this post, ranging from 5,000 to 10,0001'1,4 o,e°l.r.
5.009 m too low an e3timate. I never saw HereanYtcl _lre
ta!iglnificent than theit appearance, and there rr-o:
nidn y enough of them to hove eaten (literally)Ftbef to
ya..o all it contained, and yet all the mischier4 , oga,
.3 taking away the Fingoes' cattle. 62 Altity'ortiftle:
lolled by the Fingoes, who lost 12 men., 'hell ilii,
dniaate accid, fit occurred by the bursting or a s'",,,a 0,
nhif.tilryenovheardt
bheeetnrepnicahceidn
fworhiscehnuthrietyrngo vv°—.44'oll)-01
A poor portoo
with a child about a year old, were both stru-cli ,90,0,
the shell passing through her and her infant at "4 tilifi
ueht. I think Divine Providence, and Ps ,e Pole
saved us in this affair. Such an assemblage O' 0,0
was never made with the mere object of getting 0 8
b AV
away. They no doubt intended to take the fort --1 voia
force, and destroy it and all it contained ; and!.:o.•
courage had been equal to their vaunts, nothwo
have withstood them."

'hire are stinFE°L FORCE OF
Os
straggling IT grigEl i :gA Fri:lr Sae s
try bet r 0
the border, e'n'.. fly infesting the busby cOetln ~..a t gist
_it,
the Zaurberg and 1.1-ze Addo, and busby keep ePiZtuty Cl
in a state of aiarni ; but it seeins to
and? rho ale i,jl/00
that these are not in any great', force,
1 d to cone.ert P nuf
bthly of the invaders have been recs-,e
be wen for
t'ep,
:tov ent, rpri.e,
on- which it will , caref;ll Ici be
(;overn,iii,nt to cop.-ilk% with the lost shun sivuu iiiig
.1 ht• pi ,v,,,,r of the con ode; ated
t:
c‘)rropoll:sl3o.,
•h. es.ite• tql nwi arrargein" Tbe folio, , itlit'e
on thi 0 eiiiiweeo
.1.10,11 of this 'os'
bough a rough "I"- es :---
- ';‘'l..x;
near enough tor all practical purpus.. • 18,000
ii‘::'rkr,t74--, Cq., 1,,: iii;e ril' cle to tnee!,,
Creli's tribes ••• •• • • o
0,000
••• •••
61.1.7:1,i \1,i,,, NrILIC:Or, DO ocher`
of th.!
• •••
Vibe ... ••• ''' .. •
~;
iffo.rce,
Hill
to 4
~
Utaliaia and others of the 'l'6lanibie , 8,004 , , t,
- - --