Xhosa Wars The Xhosa Wars , also known as the Cape Frontier Wars , were a series of nine wars between the Xhosa people and European settlers , from 1779 to 1879 , in what is now the Eastern Cape in South Africa . They are also known as " Africa ' s 100 Years War " , with the different conflicts seen as a series of flare - ups in one long war of attrition - the longest in the history of colonialism in Africa . The wars saw the beginning of the use of firearms by the Xhosa armies . However they nonetheless saw the Xhosa lose most of their land , and their incorporation into the British Empire . While the wars are mostly seen as being a simple two - sided conflict between European and Xhosa , the reality with its shifting alliances was both fluid and complex . On the European side , relations between the British Empire and the Cape Colony ' s local settler government were sometimes strained and even broke down on occasion . On the Xhosa side , several groups that are now classed as being Xhosa , such as the Mfengu nation , actually fought on the side of the Cape Colony . Background . The first settlers from Europe in the Cape were the Dutch . They established a small supply station at present day Cape Town for trading ships stopping on their way around the Cape on route to and from India . Over the years more and more Europeans arrived . They first settled in and around Cape Town and later spread out into the valleys further afield . As they moved further up the Eastern coast , the migrants from the Cape ( predominantly Boers ) encountered the Xhosa during the second half of the 18th century in the region of the Great Fish River . The Xhosa were established in the area and farmed cattle in particular . As more Cape migrants ( and later settlers imported from Britain under plans to colonise the area in 1820 ) arrived , the population pressures and competition over land , cattle and good grazing became intense . This led to confrontations . First war ( 1779 - 1781 ) . The first war started as an armed clash between Boers and Xhosas apparently sparked by actions committed against the Xhosa by certain white frontiersmen . Second war ( 1789 – 1793 ) . The second war , which was on a larger scale , started when some frontiersmen under Barend Lindeque decided to join Ndlambe , the regent of the Western Xhosas , in his war against the Gunukwebe clans who had penetrated into the district between the Great Fish and the Sundays rivers , known as the Zuurveld . Panic and desertion of farms followed . Third war ( 1799 – 1803 ) . The third war started in January 1799 with a rebellion which was crushed by General T P Vandeleur . Some discontented Khoikhoi then revolted , joined with the Xhosa in the Zuurveld and started attacking white farms ; the Xhosas to remain in the Zuurveld . In February 1803 an inconclusive peace was arranged . Fourth war ( 1811 – 1812 ) . The fourth war ( 1811 – 1812 ) was the first war that featured professional British soldiers who could pursue the enemy with single - minded intensity , and in the fourth Xhosa War they drove the Xhosa back to the east of the Fish River . The Zuurveld had become a sort of empty buffer zone , with the Boers and British to the West and the Xhosa to the East . However leading into 1811 , the Xhosa had moved in and taken control of this neutral ground , and there were various flashpoints of conflict with the colonists . In order to expel the Xhosa from the Zuurveld , Colonel John Graham took to the field with a mixed force in 1811 for a campaign in which the Governor of the Cape Colony , Lt - General John Cradock , said no more blood had been shed " than was necessary to impress on the minds of these savages a proper degree of terror and respect " . The campaign ended with the Xhosa being driven beyond the Great Fish River . On the site of Colonel Graham ' s headquarters arose the town that bears his name , Graham ' s Town , which become Grahamstown . About four thousand British colonists arrived and were stationed on the Great Fish River . Fifth war ( 1818 – 1819 ) . The fifth frontier war was also known as the " War of Nxele " . A difficulty between the Cape Colony government and the Xhosa arose in 1817 , the immediate cause of which was an attempt by the colonial authorities to enforce the restitution of some stolen cattle . Due in part to overcrowding , a civil war broke out between the Ngqika and the Gcaleka Xhosa . As the Cape had signed a defence treaty with Ngqika , it was legally required to respond to Ngqika ' s request for military assistance in 1818 . The Xhosa prophet - chief Maqana Nxele ( or Makana ) emerged at this time and promised “ to turn bullets into water . ” He led the Xhosa armies in several attacks . On 22 April 1819 , Maqana with 10 , 000 Xhosa attacked Grahamstown , then held by a garrison of 350 troops . The garrison was able to repulse the attack only after timely support was received from a Khoikhoi group led by Jan Boesak . Maqana suffered the loss of 1 , 000 soldiers . Maqana was eventually captured and imprisoned on Robben Island . This time , the British pushed the Xhosa even further east , beyond the Keiskama River . The land between the Fish and the Keiskamma rivers became a neutral buffer zone , which the British tried to populate with loyal Africans . The Albany district was established in 1820 and populated with some 5 , 000 Britons . The Grahamstown battle site is still known as Egazini , or Place of Blood , and a monument was erected here for fallen Xhosa soldiers . Sixth war ( 1834 – 1836 ) . The Sixth Frontier War is known as " Hintsa ' s War " by the Xhosa . 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 . However of the whole war , Hintsa ' s murder at the hands of the British authorities became the main feature and point of anger in the memory of the Xhosa . Background . On the Cape ' s eastern border ( now the Keikamma River ) insecurity persisted . Particularly as the Xhosa on the other side of the border were under considerable pressure from forces further east such as the effects of the expanding Zulu Empire . Although highly unstable , the frontier region was seeing increasing amounts of admixture , with Europeans , Khoikhoi and Xhosa living and trading throughout the frontier region . After previous conflicts , many Xhosa tribes had earlier been expelled from areas of the frontier , which had subsequently been settled by Khoikhoi and other Cape subjects . The Cape Government ' s policy towards the return of the Xhosa to these frontier regions was marked by much vacillation . Frustrated by their inability to return , many Xhosa resorted to cattle - raiding over the frontier . Outbreak . Local Cape responses to the Xhosa cattle raids varied , but in some cases were drastic and violent . 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 , a brother of the chief who had been killed , 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 valley by the British authorities . Refugees from the farms and villages took to the safety of Grahamstown , where women and children found refuge in the church . British campaign . The response was swift and multi - faceted . Boer commando s mobilised under Piet Retief and 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 uprising 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 , such as at Trompetter ' s Drift on the Fish River , and most of the Xhosa chiefs surrendered . However , the two primary Xhosa leaders , Maqoma and Tyali , retreated to the fastnesses of the Amatola Mountains . The treaty . British governor Sir Benjamin d ' Urban believed that Hintsa ka Khawuta , Paramount - Chief of the Gcaleka Xhosa , commanded authority over all of the Xhosa tribes and therefore held him 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 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 . The new province was declared to be for the settlement of loyal tribes , rebel tribes who replaced their leadership , and the Fengu ( known to the Europeans as the " Fingo people " ) , who had recently arrived fleeing from the Zulu armies and had been living under Xhosa subjection . 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 in 17 September 1836 , after having continued for nine months . The killing of Paramount - Chief Hintsa . Originally assured of his personal safety during the treaty negotiations , Hintsa rapidly found himself held hostage and pressured with massive demands for cattle " restitution " . He attempted to escape at the Nqabarha River but was pursued , pulled off his horse and immobilized with shots through the back and the leg . Immediately , a soldier named George Southey ( brother of colonial administrator Sir Richard Southey ) came up behind him and shot him in the back of the head . His ears were cut off after his death and these actions shocked the British Government in London very severely , leading them to condemn and repudiate Governor D ’ Urban . Hintsa ' s murder was a cause of much bitter anger among the Xhosa for decades after . Aftermath . By the end of the war 7 , 000 people of all races were left homeless . The settlement of the Fengu in the annexed territory had far - reaching consequences . This wandering nation claimed to be escaping oppression at the hands of the Gcaleka and , in return for the land they were given by the Cape , they became the Cape Colony ' s formidable allies . They swiftly acquired firearms and formed mounted commandos for the defense of their new land . In the following wars they fought alongside the Cape Colony as invaluable allies , not as subordinates , and won considerable renown and respect for their martial ability . The conflict was the catalyst for Piet Retief ' s manifesto and the Great Trek . In total 40 farmers ( Boers ) were killed and 416 farmhouses were burnt down . In addition 5 , 700 horses , 115 , 000 head of cattle and 162 , 000 sheep were plundered by Xhosa tribes people . In retaliation sixty thousand Xhosa cattle were taken or retaken by colonists . The British minister of colonies , Lord Glenelg , repudiated d ' Urban ' s actions and accused the Boer retaliation against cattle raiders as being what instigating the conflict . As a result , the Boer community lost faith in the British justice system and often took the law into their own hands when cattle rustlers were caught . The territorial expansion and creation of " Queen Adelaide Province " was also condemned by London as being uneconomical and unjust . Queen Adelaide was disannexed in December 1836 , the Cape ' s border was re - established at the Keiskamma river , and new treaties were made with the chiefs responsible for order beyond the Fish River . Interlude : Stockenström ' s treaty system . In the aftermath of the previous frontier war , the new Lieutenant - governor of the Eastern Province Andries Stockenström instituted a completely new border policy . Stockenström , who professed considerable respect for the Xhosa , developed a system of formal treaties to guard the border and return any stolen cattle from either side ( cattle raiding was a regular grievance ) . Diplomatic agents were exchanged between the Cape Colony and the Xhosa Chiefs as reliable " ambassadors " , and colonial expansion into Xhosa land was forbidden . Land annexed from the Xhosa in the previous war was also returned and the displaced Xhosa moved back into this land , assuaging overpopulation in the Xhosa territories . In the framework of this new system , the frontier settled and saw nearly a decade of peace . The Xhosa chiefs generally honoured Stockenström ' s treaty and returned any cattle that was raided from their side . On the Cape side , Stockenström , who saw the major problem as being the land management of the colonists , used his influence to reign in the frontier settlers and prevent any expansion onto Xhosa land . A level of trust also began to develop , and the Xhosa chiefs came to hold Stockenström in exceptionally high regard as a man who , although he had defeated the Xhosa armies on multiple occasions , nonetheless treated them as diplomatic equals . The treaty system began to unravel as the settlers gained a determined leader and spokesman in the form of Robert Godlonton , who led a large colonist movement to dismantle Stockenström ' s system and allow seizure of Xhosa lands . As one settler ominously declared of the Xhosa territory : " " The appearance of the country is very fine , it will make excellent sheep farms . " " Godlonton also used his considerable influence in the religious institutions of the Cape to drive his opinions , declaring that : " " the British race was selected by God himself to colonize Kaffraria " " . In the face of massive pressure and ruinous lawsuits , Stockenström was eventually dismissed and his treaty system was dismantled by the new British Governor , Maitland . Seventh war ( 1846 – 1847 ) . Known as the " War of the Axe " or the " Amatola War " . On the colonial side , two main groups were involved : Columns of imperial British troops sent from London , and local mixed - race " " Burgher forces " " which were mainly Khoi , Fengu , English settler and Boer commando s , led by their Commander - in - Chief Andries Stockenstrom . Relations between the British Imperial troops and the local commandos broke down completely during the war . On the Xhosa side , the Ngqika ( known to the Europeans as the " Gaika " ) were the chief tribe engaged in the war , assisted by portions of the Ndlambe , and the Thembu . The Xhosa forces were over ten times greater in number , and had by this time replaced their traditional weapons with modern firearms . It was their new use of guns that made the Xhosa considerably more effective in fighting the British . The war saw widespread use , by both sides , of scorched earth tactics . Background . Tension had been simmering between farmers and marauders , on both sides of the frontier , since the dismantlement of Stockenstrom ' s treaty system . The new Governor , Maitland , forced a new system of treaties on the chiefs without their consultation , while a severe drought forced desperate Xhosa to engage in cattle raids across the frontier in order to survive . In addition , politician Robert Godlonton continued to use his newspaper the " Graham ' s Town Journal " to lead a great agitation of Eastern Cape settlers to annexe and settle the land which had been returned to the Xhosa after the previous war . The event that actually ignited the war was a trivial dispute over a raid . A Khoi escort was transporting a manacled Xhosa thief to Grahamstown to be tried for stealing an axe , when he was attacked and killed by Xhosa raiders . The Xhosa refused to surrender the murderer and war broke out in March 1846 . Initial British setbacks . The regular British forces suffered initial setbacks . A British column sent to confront the Ngqika chief , Mgolombane Sandile , was temporarily delayed at the Amatola Mountains and the attacking Xhosa were able to capture the centre of the three mile long wagon train which was not being defended , carrying away the British officer ' s supply of wine and other supplies . Large numbers of Xhosa then poured across the border as the outnumbered imperial troops fell back , abandoning their outposts . The only successful resistance was from the local Fengu , who heroically defended their villages from the far larger Xhosa forces . On 28 May , a force of 8 , 000 Xhosa attacked the last remaining British garrison , at Fort Peddie , but fell back after a long shootout with British and Fengu troops . The Xhosa army then marched on Grahamstown itself , but was held up when a sizeable army of Ndlambe Xhosa were defeated on 7 June 1846 by General Somerset on the Gwangu , a few miles from Fort Peddie . However the slow - moving British columns , like the Xhosa , were considerably hampered by drought and were becoming desperate . After much debate , they were forced to call in Stockenström and the local Burgher forces . The local Burghers ' campaign . The local Commandos were very much more effective in the rough and mountainous terrain , of which they had considerable local knowledge . After inflicting a string of defeats on the Ngqika , Stockenström took a small and select group of his mounted commandos across the Colony ' s border and rapidly pushed into the independent Xhosa lands beyond the frontier . They rode deep into the Transkei Xhosa heartland , directly towards the kraal of Sarhili ( " Kreli " ) , the paramount chief of all the Xhosa . Due in part to the speed of their approach , they were barely engaged by Xhosa forces and rode directly into Sarhili ' s capital . Paramount Chief Sarhili and his generals agreed to meet Stockenström ( with his commandants Groepe , Molteno and Brownlee ) , unarmed , on a nearby mountain ridge . The meeting was initially tense - the fathers of both Sarhili and Stockenström had been killed whilst unarmed . Both men were also veterans of several frontier wars against each other and , while they treated each other with extreme respect , Stockenström nonetheless made the extreme demand that Sarhili assume responsibility for any future Ngqika attacks . After protracted negotiations , Sarhili agreed to return any raided cattle & other property and to relinquish claims to the Ngqika land west of the Kei . He also promised to use his limited authority over the frontier Ngqika to restrain cross - border attacks . A treaty was signed and the commandos departed on good terms . Also leading his commando on this campaign was a young man named John Molteno , who in later life became the Cape ' s first Prime Minister . Significantly , his experience of what he believed to be the ineptitude and injustice of the British Empire ' s frontier policy later informed his government ' s decisions to oppose the British in the final frontier war . Later stage of the conflict . However , British Imperial General Peregrine Maitland rejected the treaty and sent an insulting letter back to the Xhosa paramount - chief , demanding greater acts of submission and servility . Furious , Stockenstrom and his local commandos resigned and departed from the war , leaving the British and the Xhosa - both starving and afflicted by fever - to a long , drawn - out war of attrition . The effects of the drought were worsened through the use , by both sides , of scorched earth tactics . Gradually , as the armies weakened , the conflict subsided into waves of petty and bloody recriminations . At one point , violence flared up again after Ngqika tribesmen supposedly stole four goats from the neighbouring Kat River Settlement . When the rains came , floods turned the surrounding lands into a quagmire . The violence slowly wound down as both sides weakened , immobile and fever - ridden . The war continued until Sandile was captured during negotiations and sent to Grahamstown . Although Sandile was soon released , the other chiefs gradually stopped fighting , and by the end of 1847 the Xhosa had been completely subdued after twenty - one months of fighting . In the last month of the war ( December 1847 ) Sir Harry Smith reached Cape Town as governor of the colony , on the 23rd , at a meeting of the Xhosa chiefs , announced the annexation of the country between the Keiskamma and the Kei rivers to the British crown , thus reabsorbing the territory abandoned by order of Lord Glenelg . It was not , however , incorporated with the Cape Colony , but made a crown dependency under the name of British Kaffraria Colony , with King William ' s Town as capital . Eighth war ( 1850 – 1853 ) . 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 lifestyles . Harry Smith also attacked and annexed the independent Orange Free State , 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 war became known as " Mlanjeni ' s War " , after the prophet Mlanjeni who arose among the homeless Xhosa , and who predicted that the Xhosa would be unaffected by the colonists ' bullets . Large numbers of Xhosa began leaving the colony ' s towns and mobilizing in the tribal areas . The Outbreak of War ( December 1850 ) . Believing that the chiefs were responsible for the unrest caused by Mlanjeni ' s preaching , Governor Sir Harry Smith travelled to meet with the prominent chiefs . When Sandile refused to attend a meeting outside Fort Cox , Governor Smith deposed him and declared him a fugitive . On 24 December , a British detachment of 650 men under Colonel Mackinnon was ambushed by Xhosa warriors in the Boomah Pass . The party was forced to retreat to Fort White , under heavy fire from the Xhosa , having sustained forty - two 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 . With this attack , the bulk of the Ngqika joined the war . 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 managed to capture Fort Armstrong . 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 all of the Xhosa and Khoi people of the eastern Cape were 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 supporters launched an offensive on the town of Fort Beaufort , 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 . British reinforcements . 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 was wrecked at Gansbaai while bringing reinforcements to the war at the request of Sir Harry Smith . 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 . 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 led an attack on Fort Fordyce and inflicted heavy losses on the forces of Sir Harry Smith . In February 1852 , the British Government decided that Sir Harry Smith ' s 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 , Cathcart 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 . Cattle - killing movement ( 1856 – 1858 ) . The great Cattle - killing was a millennialist movement which began among the Xhosa in 1856 , and led them to destroy their own means of subsistence in the belief that it would bring about salvation by supernatural spirits . In April 1856 the sixteen - year - old Xhosa prophet ess Nongqawuse began to declare that she had received a message from the Xhosa people ' s ancestors , promising deliverance from their hardships . She preached that the ancestors would return from the afterlife in huge numbers , drive all Europeans into the sea , and give the Xhosa bounteous gifts of horses , sheep , goats , dogs , fowls , and all manner of clothing and food in great amounts . They would also restore the elderly to youth and would usher in a utopian era of prosperity . However , she declared that the dead ancestors would only enact this on condition that the Xhosa first destroyed all their means of subsistence . They needed to kill all of their cattle and burn all of their crops . At first no one believed Nongquwuse ' s prophecy and the Xhosa nation ignored her prophecy . But when Chief Sarhili began to kill his cattle , more and more people began to believe that Nongquwuse was an " igqirha " ( diviner ) who could communicate with the ancestors . They too killed their cattle and destroyed their crops . The cult grew and built up momentum , sweeping across the eastern Cape . The government authorities of the Cape Colony feared chaos , famine and economic collapse , so they desperately appealed in vain to the Xhosa to ignore the prophecies . They even arrested Nongqawuse herself for disturbance caused . The return of the ancestors was predicted to occur on 18 February 1857 . The Xhosa , especially chief Sarhili of the Gcalekas , heeded the demand to destroy food sources and clothes and enforced it on others throughout the country . When the day came , the Xhosa nation waited en masse for the momentous events to occur , only to be bitterly disappointed . With no means of subsistence , famine set in . The cattle killings continued into 1858 , leading to the starvation of thousands . Disease was also spread from the cattle killings . This gave the settlers power over the remainder of the Xhosa nation who were often forced to turn to the colonists for food , blankets and other relief . Ninth war ( 1877 – 1879 ) . Background . The Ninth and last Frontier War , known as the " Fengu - Gcaleka War " ( or " Ngcayechibi ' s War " after the name of the headman at whose feast the initial bar fight occurred ) involved several key competing powers : the Cape Colony Government and its Fengu allies , the British Empire , and the Xhosa armies ( Gcaleka and Ngqika ) . The Cape Colony had achieved partial independence from Britain with " Responsible Government " and had rapidly become prosperous . Its recent introduction of multi - racial franchise and respect for indigenous land tenure had also gone some way to easing frontier tensions , and the border had been at peace for a quarter of a century . Its government had little interest in territorial expansion , and policed its frontier lightly using small , highly mobile , mounted commandos . These mixed - race commandos were recruited locally from Boer , Fengu , Khoi and settler frontier people . The British Government wanted to expand its control in southern Africa by uniting all the states of the region into a Confederation under the overall rule of the British Empire . This Confederation plan obviously required that the remaining independent Black States be conquered and incorporated , and a frontier war was seen as an ideal opportunity for such a conquest . The Confederation Plan was resisted locally , by Cape Colony and Xhosa alike . The Black African population of the frontier had developed very unevenly . While the Fengu had rapidly adapted to benefit and prosper from the changes coming to southern Africa by taking to urban trade , the traditional Gcaleka Xhosa had suffered greatly from the effects of war , alcohol and Nongqawuse ' s cattle killing , and bitterly resented the Fengu ' s perceived material success . While some Gcaleka lived within the Cape ' s borders , most resided in the independent Gcalekaland State to the east . From the mid - 1870s , a series of devastating droughts across the Transkei began to place severe strain on the relative peace which had prevailed for the previous few decades . The droughts had begun as early as 1875 in Gcalekaland and had spread to other parts of the Transkei and Basutoland , and even into the Cape Colony controlled Ciskei . Their severity increased up until 1877 and ethnic tensions began to break out , particularly between the Mfengu , the Thembu and the Gcaleka Xhosa . In summary , the conflict began with inter - tribal strife between the Fengu and the Gcaleka , it then developed into a war when the British entered on the side of the Fengu , then it led to a power struggle between the settler forces as the Cape Colony tried to contain the British Imperial troops , and it ended with a long guerrilla war . Outbreak . In September 1877 , Governor Henry Bartle Frere , having just had his Confederation Plan rejected by the Cape Colony government , moved to the Eastern Cape frontier and contacted radical settler groups who desired British intervention and cheap Xhosa labour to work their farms . Rumours of an impending Xhosa invasion were spread in a cultivated atmosphere of fear . The conflict started after the harassing of the Fengu by groups of Gcaleka . A bar fight between a Fengu and a Gcaleka at a wedding party , in September 1877 , rapidly escalated into a bout of inter - tribal violence between the Fengu and Gcaleka . Later in the same day , a group of Gcaleka attacked a Cape Colony police outpost which was manned predominantly by policemen of Fengu ethnicity . The Cape Colony treated this tribal violence as simply a Cape internal matter for local police management . However Frere used it as a pretext for British conquest of the independent neighbouring state of Gcalekaland . He summoned Sarhili , the paramount - chief of Gcalekaland to report to him , and when Sarhili declined the invitation ( understandably fearing arrest and coercion ) , Frere wrote to him to declare him deposed and at war . The Cape Colony ' s War . Chief Sarhili , now under intense pressure from belligerent factions within his own government , mobilised his armies and moved them to the frontier . The Cape Government continued to insist that this was a local tribal conflict for internal policing , and not an international war for imperial armies . In high - pressure negotiations Cape Prime Minister John Charles Molteno extracted a promise from Britain that imperial troops would stay put and on no account cross the frontier . The war began on the 29th September , when 8000 Gcaleka soldiers attacked a Cape police outpost at Ibeka near the frontier . After a fierce shoot - out the frontier police dispersed the Gcaleka forces . However soon several other outposts and stations all along the frontier were coming under attack . The Cape Government now had to use all of the diplomatic leverage that it had to keep the British imperial forces contained . Molteno now deployed the Cape ' s local paramilitaries ( mounted commandos of mainly Boer , Thembu and Fengu origin ) , under the leadership of Chief Magistrate Charles Griffith and Commander Veldman Bikitsha . The commandos swiftly engaged and defeated an army of Gcaleka gunmen . They then crossed the frontier and pushed into Gcalekaland . Dividing into three lightly - equipped , fast - moving columns , the commandos devastated the Gcaleka armies which dispersed and fled eastwards . The Cape commandos tracked the fleeing remnants right through Gcalekaland , stopping only when they reached neutral Bomvanaland on the far side . The war was over in 3 weeks . Sarhili had also recently applied for peace . With no interest in conquest and the violence subsiding , the Cape Government recalled the commandos , which returned home and disbanded . Bartle Frere ' s War Council . During the Cape ' s lightning quick campaign , Governor Frere had established a " war - council " at nearby King William ' s Town , to direct the war against Gcalekaland . Frere and his Lieutenant General Sir Arthur Cunynghame were to represent the British Empire on this council , while two of Molteno ' s ministers , John X . Merriman and Charles Brownlee , were appointed to represent local Cape interests . The council was torn apart by argument from the beginning , as Frere refused Gcaleka appeals and worked towards full British occupation of Gcalekaland for white settlement and his future confederation . Frere also increasingly insisted on having complete imperial control of the war . The Cape government on the other hand was reluctant to see its local Commandos brought under British imperial command , in what it considered to be essentially a local conflict , not an imperial war of conquest . It also considered the slow - moving British troop columns to be absurdly unsuitable for frontier warfare - immobile , ineffective and expensive . Another source of tension was Frere ' s insistence that the Cape ' s government pay for his imported British imperial troops , as well as its own local forces . The Cape Government on the other hand wanted to fund and use only its own local forces . It did not desire British troops to operate in the Cape Colony in the first place , and especially objected to being forced to fund them . Merriman , who Molteno had appointed to oversee the Cape ' s war effort , initially worked hard to cooperate with Frere , but increasingly came to share Molteno ' s views on the ineptitude and injustice of British imperial policy in southern Africa . The Imperial War . The second stage of the war began when Frere ordered the disarmament of all Black peoples of the Cape . There was confusion and uproar from the Cape ' s many black soldiers and a furious protest from the Cape Government . Militia deserted and protests erupted , to which Cunynghame panicked and overreacted by unilaterally deploying the imperial troops to thinly encircle the whole of British Kaffraria . Faced with growing discontent , the Cape demanded that the British Government fire Cunynghame , abandon its racial disarmament policy , and allow the Cape to deploy its ( predominantly black ) paramilitaries to establish order . However Frere refused and brought in Imperial troops to enforce the disarmament , and then to invade Gcalekaland once again . This time to annex it and occupy it for the purpose of white settlement . The British initially attempted to repeat the successful strategy of the Cape ' s previous campaign . After similarly dividing into three columns , the foreign troops soon became disorientated and exhausted . They were unable to engage or even to find the dispersed Gcaleka who were swiftly moving and regrouping . As they scoured Gcalekaland , the regrouped Gcaleka army easily slipped past them and crossed the border into the Cape Colony . Here they were joined by Sandile who led his Ngqika nation into rebellion . The combined Xhosa armies laid waste to the frontier region . Fengu towns and other frontier settlements were sacked , supply lines were cut and outposts were evacuated as the British fell back . Up until now , Molteno had been heavily engaged in a high - level diplomatic battle with Britain to preserve the Cape Colony ' s constitutional independence . However , with the Cape ' s frontier collapsing in chaos , he now made for the frontier in person , where he confronted the British Governor with a heavy condemnation for bad intentions and incompetence . He demanded the free command of the Cape ' s indigenous forces to operate and contain the violence , making it clear that he was content to sacrifice his job rather than endorse further British interference . Frere ' s next move was to appeal to the authority of the British Colonial Office to formally dissolve the elected Cape government , which was now stubbornly standing in the way of the British Empire , and assume direct imperial control over the entire country . Increasing numbers of Xhosa armies now poured across the frontier . Towns and farms throughout the region were now burning , and the remaining frontier forts filled with refugees fleeing the invasion . British troops remained thin on the ground as much of them still remained idle in Gcalekaland , where they had been sent for the purpose of occupation . However Frere was lucky in that he still had access to the frontier militia and Fengu regiments of the Cape Government he had just overthrown . These forces , under their legendary commander Veldman Bikitsha , managed to engage and finally defeat the Gcaleka on 13 January ( near Nyumaxa ) . The imperial troops assisted , but were tired , short of rations and unable to follow up on the victory . A subsequent attack was barely repelled on 7 February ( Battle of Kentani or " Centane " ) with considerable more help from the Fengu and the local Frontier Light Horse militia . The exhausted Gcaleka finally pulled out from the conflict , but Sandile ' s rebel Ngqika armies fought on . The rebels eluded the Imperial troops once again and moved into the Amatola mountain range , beginning a final stage of guerrilla warfare . Cunynghame was meanwhile removed from his authority by London , and his replacement , Lietenant General Thesiger took over command . The Guerrilla War . The Amatola Range had served as a mountain stronghold for Xhosa insurgents many times before , with its vast , dark , creeper - entwined forests . In March 1878 , British troops entered the mountain ranges to pursue Sandile ' s rebels but were hopelessly outmaneuvered . They were eluded , led astray and ambushed time and time again , as the rebels easily slipped past their slow - moving troop columns . Flag signalling , path systems and other techniques were tried , but to no effect . The British were very inexperienced with the environment and plagued by mismanagement , stretched supply lines , sickness and other hardships . Meanwhile the local Cape commandos ( Boer and Fengu ) held back , reluctant to get involved . Finally the British adopted the strategy which the locals had been recommending from the beginning . This involved dividing the vast territory into 11 military provinces and stationing a mounted garrison in each . If a rebel regiment was encountered it was chased , until it entered the next military province , where the next garrison ( fresh and close to supplies ) would take over the pursuit . The valley exits from the range were then fortified . Under this uninterrupted pressure the rebel forces quickly splintered and began to surrender , Sandile himself fled down into the valley of the Great Fish River where he was intercepted by a Fengu commando . In the final shoot out he was accidentally killed by a stray bullet . The surviving rebels were granted an amnesty . Conclusion . The war had lasted a year and was a final blow for the last independent Xhosa state , Gcalekaland , which was now administered as a British territory . Initially , however , the conflict had shown no signs of being anything more than a petty inter - tribal quarrel . Neither the Cape Government nor the Xhosa had desired a war . Had Bartle Frere not moved to the frontier and drawn the conflict into Britain ' s greater Confederation scheme , it would almost definitely have remained as only a brief patch of localised ethnic strife . Once the broader conflict had been ignited , however , the result was the annexation of all remaining Xhosa territory under British control . The war also led Britain to overthrow the Cape Colony ' s elected government . Bartle Frere next applied the same tactics to invade the independent Zulu Kingdom in 1879 . In the Anglo - Zulu War the disastrous use of Britain ' s slow - moving troop columns was once again demonstrated at Isandlwana . Although Frere was recalled for misconduct in 1880 , and the Confederation scheme was dropped , the new series of " Confederation Wars " was to last over the next 20 years . These wars would see the ending of all Black independence in southern Africa and eventually build up to the great Anglo - Boer War decades later .