The War of the Guns 1880-81

Defending Fort Bell at Thlotse Heights, Basutoland

As a historian, for years now, I have been fanatical about researching the BaSotho Gun War of 1880-81 or the War of the Guns as the Basuto referred to it. In late 2022, armed with archival maps and both official and personal accounts, I drove through Lesotho, firstly visiting Chief Moorosi’s old mountain stronghold in the Quthing District and then onto the Gun War battlefields. I’ll cover the Moorosi campaign of 1879 in a separate post – it’s simply fascinating and largely unknown to many people outside of Southern Africa.

Having visited Mohale’s Hoek, Mafeteng, and Stephen Gill’s wonderful team at the Morija archives and museum, I then ventured to Leribe on the north-western border of the country which was referred to as Thlotse Heights during the Gun War.  Here I was planning to visit the last remaining bastion of Fort Bell, although I discovered more in what was a very enriching experience.

In 1880, Thlotse Heights, was the location of Major Charles Harland Bell’s magisterial offices that were nestled close to the Caledon River that formed the border of Basutoland and the Orange Free State. The Basuto, having refused to hand over their rifles and weapons to the Cape Government in accordance with the Peace Preservation Act launched themselves into rebellion in October 1880 under the leadership of the brave and charismatic Chief’s Lerotholi, Masupha, Bereng and Joel.   

The view from the heights looking towards the Orange Free State

Major Bell almost immediately found himself hemmed in at Thlotse Heights along with 157 Cape colonial volunteers and loyal Basuto who fortified the local magistracy and church – they were completely isolated, alone and without a supply chain or means of evacuating any casualties. They were first attacked by Joel on 8th November 1880, then between the 12th and 22nd November, they were besieged by 8,000 mounted Basuto until 275 hard-bitten colonials serving in the Kimberley Horse arrived and alleviated the strain although the Basuto always dominated the countryside – in fact they had to fight their way in across the Caledon and up to the heights.  It was the Kimberley Horse that finished off the construction of Fort Bell that was named in honour of the magistrate by Stanton’s Light Horse - the men that had originally started earthwork a month before.

Fort Bell at the time of the Gun War. The bastion tower in the corner still stands today

The fighting around Thlotse was constant and the pressure was never really off.  This was too much for some men and desertions became all too frequent. Both individual deserters and those in small groups regularly ran the gauntlet across the Caledon River and into the nearby Orange Free State. Further re-enforcements arrived in the form of the Transvaal Horse under the maverick Commandant Ignatius Ferreira CMG, a well-known frontier war veteran. On 6th January 1881, the Transvaalers had their pickets driven in as the Basuto came-on in large numbers and having overrun a house they remained just outside of Fort Bell at a distance of 400 yards. They burnt the thatched buildings and were fired on by the Artillery detachment of the Transvaal Horse with case shot before retiring – the Basuto, however, still dominated the district.   

                                     The bastion tower of Fort Bell in Leribe

The most determined attack made against the small garrison at Thlotse was against the loyal Chief Jonathan’s Basuto who doggedly defended their post for six hours close to the police barracks at Fort Bell. At midnight the Kimberley Horse attacked the Basuto and poured a heavy fire into them until they could not withstand it anymore and forced them to retire 30 minutes later. 

Until the armistice in April, Thlotse was never out of danger and as soon as war came to the Leribe district, it disappeared.

On visiting Leribe today, in the main street, the honeycomb shaped bastion tower is all that remains of Fort Bell. It’s wonderful to see that it still stands, although a thatched roof has been added. A little further down the street at the old magisterial buildings is a marvelous statue of a colonial sergeant that must be modelled on either the Transvaal or Kimberley Horse.  The fact that it states ‘For King and Country’ suggests that it was commissioned after 1902.

A few streets back, the old colonial cemetery can be found where several Gun War casualties lay buried.  One of these is the grave of Major William Moorsom Laurence, a Zulu War veteran who was killed on 9 March 1881 leading the Kimberley Horse in action. Having researched him in some detail, to stand by his grave was a real honour. I’ll prepare a separate post on him down the track.

Lesotho is visually majestic with every rise and turn of the road offering panoramic views.  If you want an African adventure searching for forgotten battlefields, this is something special, but you will need to do some digging to understand the events.

For further reading, Dr Henry Taylor who was present at Thlotse Heights wrote a brilliant book, Doctor to Basuto, Boer & Briton

Chris Parkinson’s videos found here, The Basotho Gun War and why Lesotho is not part of South Africa (youtube.com)