Episode 66 – The Fourth Frontier war bursts into flame, Chungwa is shot and Stockenstrom is assegai'd
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Show notes
This is episode 66 – it’s late 1811 and Sir John Cradock has just dispatched Lieutenant Colonel John Graham into the eastern Cape frontier to rid the Zuurveld of the amaXhosa.
Cradock suffered from none of his predecessors inhibition against taking military action. This did not reflect a change of policy in London – in fact, far from it. As you’ll hear next podcast he was subsequently reprimanded by the government and sharply reminded that his main aim was to keep all the troops available for the defence of Cape Town.
But the colonists applauded him, along with Major Jacob Cuyler the Uitenhage landdrost. As you heard last episode, by December Graham had assembled 167 light dragoons, 221 infantry of the line, 431 men of the Cape Regiment and a detachment of Royal Artillery. His troops were joined by 450 mounter burgher volunteers on commando and about 500 of their agteryers.
Anders Stockenstrom, the landdrost of Graaff-Reinet, had been posted north of the Zuurveld with the trekboers, just beyond the Zuurveld proper, in order to defend Bruintje’s Hoogte and its farms. When he received Graham’s message on the night of 27th, he questioned the wisdom of concentrating all the British firepower on the thickets.
