The last of the nine Frontier Wars fought between 1799–1877 was in many ways a ‘prequel’ to the more famous Zulu War of 1879, featuring as it did many of the British regiments and personalities who were to fight at Isandlwana, as well as being the final defeat of the Xhosa people and their reduction to lowly workers for the colonists.

This war saw conflict between the British authorities (the governor-general and the commander-in-chief) and the government of the Cape, leading to the dismissal of that government by Sir Bartle Frere, the Governor-General.

This book has made extensive use of British Parliamentary Papers, official War Office dispatches and personal accounts and correspondence to tell the full story of this neglected yet fascinating episode of South African military history, which provides an insight into the origins of and attitudes of the principal figures in the following conflict with the Zulus.

• Front Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Maps and Illustrations
• Genealogical Tables
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• Author’s Note
• Preface to the Second Edition
• Introduction
• Part I: The Cape Colony to 1877
• 1 Dutch Settlement to 1806
• 2 The British Colony to 1834
• 3 The British Colony, 1835 to 1847
• 4 The British Colony, 1847 to 1877
• Part II: The Ninth Frontier War
• 5 A Spark in the Tinderbox
• 6 The Transkei Campaign
• 7 A Crisis of Government
• 8 Civil War in the Colony
• 9 A War in Earnest
• 10 Thesiger’s War
• Epilogue
• Notes
• Bibliography