The Sun.
London, England, 1846-09-02 00:00:00

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THE KAFIR WAR.
We have received Cape Town journals to the Bth cf
Juno. The struggle with the Kafirs was still going on
thema
lolig the eastern frontier, and the victory gibed over
at Fort Peddie had considerably raised the spirits
of
the colonists, though no one doubted ultimate suc-
cess, esP(cially as men of all ranks and occupations
Were pressing forward to aid in ex', ellieg the savege but
skilful and active enemy. Tl.- following are extracts
from the papers :
(From the South African Commercial Adcertise,., June 6.)
The following particulars of the engagements at Fort
Peddie, by the Rev. G. Green, Wesleyan missionary,
are contained in a letter to him from a friend at Gra-
ham's Toe n :
81111(12Y, 24th.—We received intelligence, by means of
one( efl/mkye's confidential men, of the near approach
several large bodies of Kafirs, with the intention
of attacking the post. He had received notice
t'
ewat neY had instructions to kill him. If they
Ch• 'urn, they were not to say, this is a
lef ; or if they saw his place. they were not to
Bst,Y, this is the place of a chief, &c. He brought in most
Phis family, a few faithful attendants, and his cattle.
ir.Parations made for the security of the women and
eelldree
n one of the commissariat stores of the fort,
en°l;,,J'indsay very kindly affording nil the assistance he
issnii,„7; Night comes on with excessive cold. Monday.—
jolv`ll'ng and night also very cold. No doubt this, under
t tee Providence, was the means of delaying the in-
ended attack. Tuesday morning.—Woodcutters ordered
;It' th waggh„on drivers ; some refused ; one young fellow,
'piy
tied up to of the waggons,
end receivedname twentwasy -five lashes.one
Wednesday.—Two
Patties of troops were sent out at the same time, one to
Escort the wood waggons, and another to bring forage
9ra Stock's place. Both returned in safety. The party
pith the forage waggons saw a body of Kalirs at a dis-
see, but having orders not to leave the waggons they
nontild not go to give them battle. It is well they did
ththati Wedaesday noon.—A Fingo brings information
at
a large body of Kafirs are approaching from the
,sse neighbourhood of Stock's country. An English lad
rconfirms this. Dragoons sent out, under Sir H.
saal'ell to attack them, also a six-pounder. Shepstone
0..0n returns with information that the Kafirs are coming
titS froin all sides in great force. A body of infantry
fils;Pteked to support Sir Harry. Continued'
br,':.g heard ; the gun sent back, one of the horses
s'e..leg been shot dead; the horse was a wheeler. Troop
th'geant-Major Moffat, 7th Dragoon Guards, shot in
kee "In- Three-pounder sent to the assistance of the
a• A little before sunset all returned. There was
j ether casualty on our side. The Kafirs had fought
t,,,'",th great bravery, and some had even come so near the
i": 1; as to give the officer in charge an opportunity of
-,i;ng them two rounds of cannister shot, which levelled
ens; a few of them. At last the Dragoons had also an
e'll°rtnnity of charging, as the Katirs had come out
Jell the flat, and this appears to have been the close of
4:: battle. They fled before the Dragoons, but many of
To were cut up. One got about ten inches of Sir
bsltarrY's sword; it was bent in extracting it from the
tc, of the Kafir; Mr. Gore's sword was broken over
„e Dead of another • most of the Dragoons' swords gave
enthat they had'been in contact with the Kafirs. It
e-T, Said that 100 were killed. A party of Fingoes were
vils,ged also. We now expected that a general attack
e -11'd he made that night on the post. Tha night, how-
iter, passed away quietly. All hands, as well as the
Palcs, sleep in some defensible place. Some Kafirs
-real the main body came down in the dusk of the even-
thebelow est and fired several Fingo huts. A
few rockets were fired at them by Lieutenant King with
great skill, and it is supposed with pond effect.
Thursday, 28th. —While at breakfast heard three
the road odies of Kafirs were approaching the post on
r from Graham's Town, and within a few miles.
shueY could be seen through the glass. About ten they
te°,owed themselves on the waggon road, coming down
Just`"e fort in two large bodies. There they remained,
1_ ottside the range of our guns, evidently with the
,itention of drawing out the troops. This Unskye had
thre" iously informed us, was their plan, and as soon as
073 tress.,
e were fairly away from the post, in pursuit of
i -
~,PartY, the others were to rush in and destroy the
rte
As the troops however, did not move, other
dace oi Kafirs showed themselves—one to the east-
; 111, a dense mass, which must have consisted of thou-
e nus- These were said to be the Gaikas, including, of
_large, was stated
Sonto'a people, as well as Sandilli's.
Zandilli was stated to have been recognised riding on a
ek horse ; another chief rode on a white horse. A
greateit4 proportion of them were mounted. To the west-
tcir f, I understand there was a body still larger than
he
those I have named. There were five divisions in
ilt,e(!nole- Something fearful was evidently preparing, and
r only afraid lest they should wait and come upon us at
al,t• Every preparation was made by Lieut.-Colonel
velusay for a vigorous defence. Captain Savage's men
ti re recalled from D'Urban, where they had been sta.
:fled on their arrival. The Fingo women and children
Were
Placed, some inside the fort, and others in the ditch
around it, where, being close under our guns, it was con-
eqered they would be perfectly safe. I was not a little
eouraged and struck also at that time, by the recol-
lection that at the very moment when all this fearful
array was set against us, our friends in various parts of
a~scolony were engaged in prayer for the success of oar
`` I am afraid I can give you no description of the at-
tack itself. 'Were it not that life and death were con-
cerned in it, I should have pronounced it a most beau-
tiful sight. As I did not go into any of the buildings till
all was over, I saw the whole of it, but no doubt many
circumstances will escape my memory. The Kafir com-
manders sent their aides-de-camp from one party to an-
other, just as you would see it done on a field-day
with European troops. The main bodies were being
continually increased by both horse and footmen, and
soon after eleven the array was truly terrific. The
largest body of all was said to be to the west-
Ward, and probably consisted of Umhala's and Rill's
Kafirs. As they saw their scheme of drawing out the
troops
did not succeed, small parties of them began to
advance in beautiful skirmishing order, and then the two
divisions of Pato and the Gaikas moved towards each
Vmler, advancing at the same time as if intending a com-
ed attack on some given point. The artillery was in
readiness to give them a salute the moment they should
People,
within range. The gun was pointed towards Pato's
f.eople, but a body of the Gaikas coming within range a
little sooner than the others, a shot was sent into the
der by of them. It seemed that several were knocked
der by this shot, but that was of little consequence in
t7l3Parison to what followed. This single shot appears
th„uue disconcerted their plan, and they appeared to be
sh4...nwn into confusion. Rapid discharges of shot and
-411 followed. The Kafirs had now extended them-
e:es all round, and there was a continuous line at least
nines in length. Think of these advancing at the
ear moment, and so filling the valley that it appeared
firedass of moving Kafirs. Rockets and shells were
fire as rapidly as possible, and presently a tremendous
vac Zf musketry from the Kafirs was poured, not upon
vat over us, the balls whistling over our heads.
lo*„4, did not, however, come near enough for the
fiserrY to play upon them, and they consequently
bss— but few shots, excepting from the infantry
rifier4ekt A body of them got to Webb's store, and
shelf it, as well as Abernethy s, but a few large
lashw;, being thrown among them from the short
th"::2,er, they speedily fled. We saw them running with
ths'' Booty, blankets, &c., and a rocket was sent after
w-ealk 'Which caused them to drop what they had and run.
"b's slaughter sheep were near the flag-staff; and
'_!le fellow rode up and was driving them off, when a few
.tots from the fort caused him to fall from his horse.
1114 e Was, however, only wounded, and managed to get
i Way, leaving the sheep. I expected they were coming
n full force on the fort itself, and was not a little sur-
prised to find that they kept clear of that, as they had
boasted that they would trample this place to dust. They
f°t away with most of the cattle, however (about 4,000
determined
They would have taken the whole but for the
meter's:lined bravery of the Fingoes. They retook a
considerable number. The actual fighting, you will
Observe, was with the Fingoes, as every soldier was in-
side either the fort or the barracks. Indeed, they could
not have gone without exposing the fort to danger, that
is, presuming, as we certainly did, that they would attack
it; and if they had moved to any point, there were
Masses to pour in upon us from all quarters. The Dra-
goonswere sent out rather late, and could not overtake
ay. A party of Pate's men still remained on the hill
(Graham's- Town road), and Sir H. Darell galloped after
them, but they fled at his approach. The brave Fingoes
continued the fight until late, and pursued the Kafirs
almost as far as the Gwanga. Twelve Fingoes were
killed, including a woman and child; and 62 Kafirs were
killed by them, independently of those killed by the
troops. Several were killed by the rockets and shells.
" The Kafirs are still about in numbers, and we are
expecting a night attack. The have got the cattle, and
blaY now come and set fire to the thatched buildings,
they can take us by surprise."

(EXTRACT FROM ANOTHER LETTER,)
"Various estimates are given of the force which at-
"„teked this post, ranging from 5,000 to 10,000. I think
'MO too low an estimate. I never saw anything more
tt4nnificent than their appearance, and there were eer-
y enough of them to have eaten (literally) Fort Peddie
"(1 all it contained, and yet all the mischief they did
lied
taking away the Fingoes' cattle. 62 Kafirs were
by the Fingoes, who lost 12 men. Au unfortu-
Ttte accident occurred by the bursting of a shell imme-
diately over the trench in which the Fingo women and
children had been placed for security. A poor woman,
411 a child about a year old, were both struck—part of
the 4,,, shell passing through her and her infant at the same
rnent• I think Divine Providence, and not man,
savedwas
us in this affair. Such an assemblage of Kafirs
43 never made with the mere object of getting cattle
f:;vaY• They no doubt intened to take the fort by main
jrce, and destroy it and 11 it contained ; and if there
have
had been equal to their vaunts, nothing could
withstood them."

FORCE OF TUE KAFIRS.
th There are still a few straggling parties on this side of
the border, chic fly infesting the bushy country between
e 7uurberg and the Addo, and which keep that district
;Eli a state of &arm ; but it seems to be pretty certain
b adt these are not in any great force, and that the great
1,2 3' of the invaders have been recalled to concert some
6-„w enterprise, and which it will be well for our
tirernrnent to consider with the most careful atten-
ae The power of the confederated chiefs should beth°
uratev
estimated, and arrangements corresponding
thereto be at once made to meet it. The following,
Crrgh a rough calculation of this force, will be quite
repPlough for all practical purposes :
8 Al
andlllitribes . ... 18,000 warriors,
Macomo, and others of the
r4t3rita.. .
ij‘zaika tribes ... 10,000 ,
and others of—the T'Slambie

... 8,000 ,