Captain Edward J. Whindus, of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Own Volunteer Rifles (center with a bottle), with his infantry detachment in Basutoland about the time of the Battle of the Swords.
Four months into the BaSotho Gun War of 1880–81, the colonial forces operating under Colonel Fred Carrington in the Mafeteng district were hemmed into their camps as the countryside was dominated by mounted Basuto commandos, each numbering in the thousands under the command of Chief Lerothodi, who was arguably, while exceedingly brave, the most determined and strategically mined of all the Basuto commanders. He gave Carrington a run for his money, with his commandos being able to descend on patrols and convoys in large numbers and armed with both modern firearms and traditional weapons, such as battle axes and assegais.
The cape colonials, however, adapted to the Basuto fighting techniques and were well drilled in forming defensive squares, as on 19 October 1880 at Kalabani Mountain, a Basuto commando had ‘eaten up’ a troop of the 1st Cape Mounted Yeomanry in minutes when 31 were battle-axed to death and 11 wounded. As a result of this, the yeomanry was issued swords.
On 14 January 1881, close to the site of the Tweefontein Trading Station near Sepechele, there was another mounted clash that resulted in 17 colonials being killed and 21 wounded in what was described as a ‘hardly contested fight’ that lasted five hours in torrential rain. One man, Surgeon John Frederick McCrea, would later be awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery that day.
Four days earlier, on 10 January 1881, a 550-man patrol under the command of the experienced Colonel Edward Y. Brabant departed from the Phoqwane Laager, located north of Mafeteng, and having moved along the Tweefontein road, they encountered a large number of Basuto that resulted in a fierce fight breaking out. The Burghers, under Commandant de Klerk, galloped forward and seized some high ground. At the same time, Captain Charles Shervinton of the CMR, a Zulu War veteran, bravely and typical of the man, led 100 CMR in a mounted charge against a large Basuto commando. The Basuto, who did not flinch as the CMR galloped forward, only retired when Shervinton ordered his men to dismount and open fire. The engagement was broken off, with six colonials being wounded. Carrington, in discussion with Brabant, believed that when the Basuto retired, their fighting spirit was waning, and decided that in the coming days, they would send out a larger force. Lerothodi, who was not present during the engagement, was furious when he learned that some men had run and warned them that it would not occur again.
Supplies and reinforcements arrived at the Phoqwane Laager over the next two days while constant rain fell. While the camp also needed to be protected, Carrington, who had decided to accompany Brabant on the next expedition, mustered a force that consisted of 120 infantry from the Duke of Edinburgh’s Own Volunteer Rifle and 60 men of the Prince Alfred’s Guards, of which both regiments had made their name at Umzintzani on 2 December 1877. His mounted troops included 110 from the Cape Mounted Rifles, 80 from the 1st Cape Mounted Yeomanry, 60 from the 2nd Cape Mounted Yeomanry, 80 from the 3rd Cape Mounted Yeomanry, 50 from the Kimberley Horse, and 50 from the Mohale’s Hoek and Mafeteng Native Contingents; all of these men had seen plenty of action in Basutoland. Carrington also had 400 Burghers who were drawn from the Somerset, Hope Town, Burghersdorp, and Cradock Burgher contingents and were essentially men who were conscripted under the Burgher Act and were less than impressed about being in Basutoland. Supporting the force were two guns of the Cape Field Artillery, an ambulance detachment, and two wagons loaded with ammunition.
On Friday, 14 January 1881, Carrington and Brabant, having formed the force into a massive mobile square, moved in the general direction of Thaba Tŝueu, while it was known that Lerothodi was at the village of Sepechele with 3,000 mounted men. Brabant, commanding the formation, placed the CMR up front as the vanguard, the 2nd Yeomanry on the left flank, the 3rd Yeomanry and Burghers on the right, while the Kimberley Horse and detachments from the Duke of Edinburgh’s Own Volunteer Regiment and the Prince Alfred’s Guard formed the rear. Brabant had his own 1st Cape Yeomanry, the Native Contingent, an ambulance, and two field guns in the center with himself and Carrington.
Having proceeded about two miles, heavy rain once more set in, and the Basuto were observed by the scouts to be not only in front but, also strung along both flanks. The terrain they were moving through was very broken, rocky, and strewn with small kopjes, krantzes, and cattle kraals. It was not long before, Lerothodi ordered the action to commence, although he remained at a distance to command and control his commandos, rather than leading from the front, as he did earlier in the war, and had several close shaves. They first opened fire on the 2nd Yeomanry from a distance, although their fire was ineffective at this point. Brabant pushed the Mohale’s Hoek Native Contingent out to a ridge to the right, with the burghers following to secure and hold the high ground.
About this time, Lerothodi ordered a charge at the CMR forming the vanguard, and the burghers moving to the right; leading the charge were Malabanuo and Mohapi, who was a brother of Lerothodi. The 50 CMR forming the vanguard could see out to their front a large ‘heavy mass’ of mounted Basuto numbering 3,000 battleaxe-wielding warriors, who were moving straight for them at the gallop. The CMR were all veterans, many of whom had served in the Frontier War, during the Moorosi Rebellion and some in the Zulu War with the various irregular regiments. Captain Shervinton, commanding the CMR, had with him Captain Cecil D’Arcy VC, and Lieutenant Walter Cruttwell. Shervinton had been recommended for the Victoria Cross during the defence of Eshowe two years earlier in Zululand, while D’Arcy had entered the frontier war as a sergeant and having received a commission in the Frontier Light Horse, was awarded his Victoria Cross in July 1879 when commanding the regiment. The recently commissioned Cruttwell, who had joined the old Frontier Armed and Mounted Police, was a veteran of both the frontier war and the Moorosi rebellion – he was to be wounded before the day was out.
It was said that as the Basuto charged straight at the CMR, they were ‘as cool as a cucumber’ as they came on, and when they were within 200 yards, Shervinton ordered his men to open fire. The fire that the CMR put down was both rapid and effective, with each man firing 20 rounds each—1,000 all told before the Basuto advanced another 100 yards. It was then that the thunderous fire split the Basuto charge in half, causing it to peel off to both the left and right.
The Basuto that wheeled to the left went straight for the men of the DEOVR, or the dukes as they were commonly referred to, and was commanded by Captain Edward J. Whindus, a strongly built character and a former colour sergeant in the 86th Foot. The dukes had received mounted charges previously in the campaign and held firm by putting down a devastating volley of fire. They drove the charge off.
The Basuto under Chief Alexander Maama Letsie, commonly known as Maama was the son of Paramount Chief Letsie, who led the charge against the burghers. Like Lerothodi, Maama had served alongside Brabant during the Moorosi Rebellion in 1879 and knew the colonial forces and their tactics well. The burghers, under Commandant Charl Johannes Cornelius de Klerk, having taken the high ground to the right, remained mounted rather than lay down and defend the kopje, and as one journalist said, ‘want of discipline here showed; what an evil it is.’ A section of burgher's, 14 in number, advanced too far, and the Basuto, not missing an opportunity, swept them up in their charge—they were all assegaid or battle-axed. The burghers turned and retired, at which point Commandant Paul Jacobus Erasmus of the Somerset East Burghers was shot and killed by Maama in person. Erasmus was 51 years old, a farmer and member of his local council, and had six sons and two daughters. His grey horse, rifle, and gold watch were taken as loot by the Basuto.
The burghers, in the wake of Maama’s charge, rode helter-skelter to the rear and, at one point, were mixed up with both the Basuto and the native contingent until they reached the 1st Yeomanry, who, firing from their saddles, held their ground and broke the charge while a Lieutenant Pretorius rallied the burghers. Of the Native Contingent, they had two men killed and one wounded, of whom Corporal Alfred Moletsane, the grandson of a rebel chief, and himself, a petty chief, was assegaid seven times in the chest; his loss was deplored and mentioned in the Diamond Field Advertiser. It would have taken incredible bravery for such men to remain loyal to the crown.
Brabant, in consolation with Carrington, moved his right flank forward, which then dismounted to secure the side of a krantz. As this movement was occurring, a troop of CMR was sent to the left-rear as to outflank the Basuto, but here the Basuto were on really rough ground, and the manoeuvre had no effect as they could not get in close enough to dislodge them. Carrington now became concerned about the Basuto holding a kopje at 600 yards from his right flank, and worse, at their front, 200 yards away from a depression in the ground, the Basuto put down a ‘galling fire’ that was falling around the ambulance wagon. Off to the left, the Basuto were firing from a donga, although this was 800 yards away. Unfortunately, both guns of the CFA were out of action early in the fight. The Kaffrarian gun carriage broke as did the carriage of the other gun in several places; regardless, they had fired 75 shrapnel shells, 7 common and 2 case shots.
With fire being received from three sides, Surgeon John F. McCrea and Captain Buxton of the Mafeteng Contingent went to the assistance of the wounded. McCrea, a 26-year-old Englishman and son of Captain Herbert Taylor McCrea of the 43rd Foot, had, before being appointed to the 1st Yeomanry on 30 July 1880, been medically in charge of the imperial troops at Cape Town. They brought in Burger Carel D. Aucamp of the Burgersdorp Burghers and placed him behind an ant heap, where he was relatively safe. He was a 21-year-old married farmer who died from his wounds while his 20-year-old brother, Sergeant Hendrik J. Aucamp, was also killed. McCrea and Buxton ran back to the ambulance to get a stretcher when McCrea was shot in the right breast. He stayed for a while at the ambulance, attending to the wounded, then went back out to bring in more casualties. He was so busy that he did not dress his wound until later in the fight. Carrington said that had he stopped, the suffering of the wounded would have been greater and more would have died. Also assisting McCrea was the Reverend Henry Cotton, who was later mentioned for his excellent work at Tweefontein and the campaign in general.
To deal with the Basuto defilade fire from the hollow ground to his front, Brabant ordered Captain Howard Sprigg of his 1st Yeomanry and Captains Henry White and Charles W. Leach, with drawn swords, to charge and drive the Basuto from their position. Sprigg was the brother of the Prime Minister, Gordon Sprigg, while both White and Leach, like Sprigg, were frontier war and Moorosi Rebellion veterans. White commanded ‘A’ Queenstown Troop, while Leach commanded ‘I’ Whittlesea Troop.
Formed up, swords drawn, the order ‘Charge’ was given, and they galloped forward only to be met by heavy fire with men falling from the saddle. However, not all of the yeomanry charged, and worse still, while riding in, men unnerved by the action turned about and retired, leaving only a small group to drive the charge home—some turned just 10 feet from the Basuto firing line that was showing no sign of moving from their rocky position. Captain C.W. Leach, Lieutenant Edward Badger, Regimental Sergeant Major Randel Brereton Hooper, Sergeant Henry Glover, Corporal George Moorcroft, and Troopers Robert Bennett and Thomas Wallace are just some of those men who kept going. Badger, formerly of the 69th Foot, had served in China in 1860. He fell wounded, while Troopers Thomas Bennett and Robert Wallace were killed. Sergeant Henry Glover, CMR, a horse trainer and formerly of the 5th Dragoons and attached to the 2nd Yeomanry, alone pushed deep into the Basuto position. The young, Sergeant Harry V. Woon of the CMR recorded the incident years later in his classic book, Twenty-Five Years Soldiering in Africa,
‘Sergeant Glover, who had asked permission to join in the charge, rode alone through them and was seen on the ridge the other side of the enemy. He looked for a moment in the direction of the column and then sent his horse to the thickest part of the Basutos. The whole column was watching, as nothing could be seen except the occasional flash of sword or battle-axe, when suddenly Glover appeared in the intervening space of ground between the Basutos and the column, alone, and not pursued by the enemy. He was cutting to the right and left of his horse in the air in terrific fashion, and only stopped when he pulled up in front of Colonel Carrington and his staff and looked vacantly round him. He was covered in blood from his shoulder to the heels of his boots, but on being lifted off his horse and examined, it was found that he had not a single scratch on his body, the blood being all from the enemy.’
After the war, Basuto statements recorded that Glover had killed at least four and wounded many others – he died the following month, but there is an even sadder ending. Laying in the hospital with enteric fever, the Reverend Stenson came to see him and presented him with an engraved sword from the officers and men of the 2nd Yeomanry. Glover was so disgusted at the performance of the yeomanry and retorted, according to Woon, to ‘Take it back with Sergeant Glover's compliments, Father, he said, and say I would not be seen dead in the same ditch with any one of them.’ The brave Glover died soon after and was buried at Mafeteng.
Of the 1st Yeomanry who took part in the charge, Troop Sergeant Major George J. Warren and Sergeant James R. Blaine both of ‘F’ Troop, 1st Yeomanry, were among the first at the Basuto position. Blaine, the son of a local MLA, while dismounting was rushed and assegaid, and lay seriously wounded with at least two assegais stuck in him. Warren close to Blaine, shot a rebel standing over him who was about to finish him off, then when retiring, Blaine struggled to get away; however, despite his wounds and the two assegais stuck in him, he escaped and made his way to the ambulance. He died from his wounds at Mafeteng days later.
As the last of the yeomanry began to retire, the Basuto launched a counter attack, at which point Sergeant Major Hooper's horse collided into a Basuto horse and both went crashing down. Stunned by the fall, Hooper lay helpless when Corporal Moorcroft went to assist him. He grabbed Hooper's hand, but he could not be moved, and with the Basuto all around, Hooper told Moorcroft to save himself and to get out of it. Hooper was then killed with a battleaxe blow to the head. Hooper, from Norfolk, England, was 28 years old, a Uppingham School man, and a former lieutenant in the 6th Battalion, Royal Lancashire Militia. Resigning from the militia, he enlisted as a private in the Artillery Troop of the Frontier Armed and Mounted Police on 23 February 1876. He served during the Frontier War and was discharged on 29 January 1879. As a trooper, he served with the 2nd Cape Mounted Yeomanry during the Moorosi Rebellion, and on 5 April 1880, he was appointed to the permanent staff of the regiment as the Regimental Sergeant Major. Corporal Moorcroft of ‘F’ Troop, 2nd Yeomanry, was commissioned a lieutenant in the regiment that was backdated to 1 January.
Captain Whindus of the dukes, seeing what was occurring, led a bayonet charge up to the Basuto position and forced them out of it. A group of yeomanry, having regrouped, charged back in to recover the bodies of Hooper and troopers Wallace and Bennett. Hooper was found where he fell. The failure of the yeomanry charge was put down to them not being trained as professional soldiers.
Brabant sent the remainder of his 1st Yeomanry against the Basuto position on his left flank, and at the same time ordered a general assault against the Basuto held position on his right flank. Here on the right, at the double, the remainder of the CMR, Prince Alfred’s Guard, Kimberley Horse, and 3rd Yeomanry under Captain Ewan Christian, wasted no time, formed up and charged. Christian was late of the 25th Foot and had fought with the Frontier Light Horse in the Zulu War. With the bayonet, they forced the Basuto off a rise, then, wheeling to the left, they rolled up every other position, causing them to break and flee, both on horse and foot, in every direction past Tweefontein – it was this assault that won the day for Carrington.
Major George R. Deare, a Canadian and another experienced frontier war veteran, led the Prince Alfred’s Guard in three consecutive bayonet charges at this point, and having fired off 200 rounds per man, they were left with just 10 rounds each. Deare was an exceptional colonial soldier, having also fought in the Franco-Prussian War. He was not only brave and tenacious in action but was also a gifted organizer and often found himself employed as a staff officer. It was probably a little earlier in the day that the PAGs were in the firing line as a Basuto charge was made. One man, with his horse shot from under him, was seen to drag himself from under it, stand up defiant, and when the order ‘present’ was given to fire a volley, Deare stopped the men to give the brave warrior a chance. He removed the saddle, swung it over his shoulder, and calmly walked off. This was the last battle the PAGs took part in, as their 'time had expired' and they returned home to Port Elizabeth.
After five hours, the fighting ended with the mounted troops following up on the retiring Basuto. It was estimated that there were 8,000 Basuto in the field, with 5,000 committed to battle. The Basuto casualties were never fully realized but must have been in the vicinity of 100 killed and wounded, along with the loss of numerous horses. A prisoner captured that day, Mashelishili, one of Letsie’s men who had been commandeered by Lerothodi, was interrogated by Carrington and stated that there were many sons of Letsie in the fight as well as the second son of Masupha.
The colonials had fired, in small arms ammunition alone, 21,624 snider rounds, 15,810 Martini-Henry rounds, and 100 Wesley Richards. The casualties were 16 men killed and 21 wounded, while that night one man was missing, Burger H.J. Troskie, aged 27 years, who was later found dead. Carrington wrote that the ‘casualties are much to be regretted, particularly as they are attributable to the unsteadiness of the Burghers.’ The Reverend Edmund W. Stenson, late 41st Foot, and the minister at Mohale’s Hoek conducted the burial service at the Mafeteng Cemetery. Carrington singled out Surgeon McCrea, not only in his official report but in a separate despatch that resulted in the Victoria Cross being awarded on 28 June 1881.
Soon after the battle, the CMR was issued with Martini-Henry carbines that were greatly received, as were the swords that Carrington had taken off the yeomanry and given to the CMR. Of the Burghers, many had had enough of Basutoland, and by 8 February 1881, a total of 406 had deserted from the Cradock, Somerset East and Burghersdorp Burghers including four officers and 25 NCOs. On 1 April 1881, following more fighting, Lerothodi requested an armistice that brought the war to an end.
The colonials greatly admired the bravery of the Basuto, and in almost all correspondence, there is hardly a derogatory comment and, at times, a sense of admiration for their horsemanship and fighting style. Carrington said that ‘the enemy fought stubbornly, and their fire was better directed than usual.’ On 24 January 1881, the Diamond Fields Advertiser recorded that,
‘The rebels never fought with such desperation. They coolly received our charge and fire at ten paces, and to the final moment, they showed no more signs of broken power and waning pluck than on the first day at Qualabane [Kalabani]. Indeed, they fought better on Friday, the 14th, than they have done before and have added to their tactics the use of throwing the assegai to meet our charge.’
The Basuto referred to the action at Tweefontein as the Battle of the Swords. Following Commandant Erasmus being killed by Chief Maama, the Basuto warriors composed a praise song that the Burghers were supposed to sing on their return to their homes,
They said: ‘As you see us here, we have just returned from battle We’ve come from the flames at the place of Ramabilokoe.
Not-far-from-here, at Mafa’s and Ramabilikoe’s,
Not-far-from-here, at Suhlane’s and Rampoi’s,
At the mountain passes of Boleka and Mathebe,
It happened, while we were playing, a man fell, [Meaning Erasmus]
He has been devoured by Koeyoko of Letsie.
The Koeyoko, the Devourer-of-the children-of-the-white-man!
In the historiography of the battle, the name of Tweefontein features in contemporary reports as being the old trading store, but over time it slipped into obscurity, with even local Basuto not knowing where it was located—it has even been contested that it existed at all and there is no such place. Inspector Hook, in his With Sword and Statute, referred to it as the Tweefontein Trading Store, while the Colonial Force Orders called it the Tweefontein Trading Station.
References:
Photo: Cape Archives Repository.
Cape Archives Repository: CO 1136 Report on Burghers deserted from Mafeteng 5
January 1881.
Hook, David., With Sword and Statute.
Kunene, D.P., Heroic Poetry of the Basotho.
Sanders, Peter., Throwing Down the White Man.
The Diamond Fields Advertiser.
The Quakamba., Colonial Regiment of “Cape Mounted Riflemen”. January 1899.
The Springbok., June 1929.
Woon, Harry V., Twenty-Five Years Soldiering in Africa,