'AN INCESSANT ROAR OF MUSKETRY AND WHISTLING OF BULLETS' THE 74th HIGHLANDERS AND THE BATTLE FOR THE AMATHOLES, JUNE 1851

摘要

The battle described in these pages took place in the early stages of the War of Mlanjeni, in mid-1851. The scene of the fighting remains one of the little-known battle sites of the frontier wars or wars of dispossession in the Eastern Cape. Whilst the 1850-53 war has enjoyed considerable attention from historians, the first major offensive undertaken by the British and colonial forces in 1851 has generally been overlooked. Standard popular accounts such as those of J Milton and N Mostert, for example, make no mention of the battle. D Y Saks has drawn attention to another lesser known battle in the War of Mlanjeni - in the Fish River bush - which was depicted by Thomas Baines.