The chief wars, apart from tribal disturbances, in which the Basuto have been engaged, are the Basuto-Dutch War, 1863-1868; the Morosi Campaign in 1879; and the Gun War in 1880-1881.
The Basuto-Dutch War of 1863 to 1868 was caused by the long-continued plundering of the Basuto all along the border. At that time Mosheshue was growing old, his people were half-starving savages, with large bands of cannibals among them.
The Orange Free State was rich in grain and in flocks and herds; the Mosuto is always at heart a cattle thief; he knows no temptation so great as that of "cattle lifting." No wonder, then, that, with the added force of starvation and their hatred of the Boers, the Basuto took to plundering those homesteads near the border.
In addition to this, the young "braves" thought they were too strong even for the English power to subdue—the result of the retreat of Sir George Cathcart in 1852, which they looked upon as a sign of weakness on our part, and they received no check from Mosheshue, who seems to have allowed his people a free hand. Undoubtedly they had great cause to hate the Boers for the many wrongs received from them, and to this day there is no love lost between Boer and Basuto. But we will enter into this subject later on.
The eventual result of these devastations was war, which raged for five years between the two nations. At first the Basuto were everywhere victorious; hunger was no longer known in their midst, and they became boastful, vain-glorious, and altogether over-confident. Then came the Boers' turn. Their commandos entered the Lesuto, which they conquered bit by bit, until the whole country of the northern part, from what is now called Winburg to Thaba Bosigo, was in their hands. This strong fortress had resisted all attempts to conquer it; but the Basuto were thoroughly frightened, and Mosheshue, dreading to fall into the hands of the Dutch, earnestly entreated the Governor of Cape Colony (Sir Philip Wodehouse) to protect them. Accordingly, the Lesuto was proclaimed British territory under the Colonial Government, and the Dutch were requested to return to the Free State. Soon afterwards the Governor went to Thaba Bosigo, when he laid down, with President Brand, the boundary of what is now the Lesuto, and which deprived the Basuto of that fertile tract of country, west of the Caledon River, which has since been called the conquered territory. Colonel Griffeth was appointed Commissioner, and the country became subject to British rule in 1869.
In 1879, Dodo Morosi's son, who had been imprisoned in Quthing prior to his removal to the Colony, escaped from prison, and joined Morosi on his famous mountain near Quthing. These two chiefs had always been rebels at heart, and only needed a little encouragement to become so openly. At that time Cetewayo was doing his utmost to stir up the Basuto, urging them to join him against the British Government. The Basuto have always looked upon the Zulu chief as, in a way, their head, to whom they owed a certain amount of obedience, and to whom they paid tribute of karosses, ostrich feathers, etc. Consequently, when the disaster of Isandhlala became known in the Lesuto, the people became almost ungovernable with excitement. Colonel Griffeth formed a camp at Pathlahla Drift, where he was joined by several of his staff, and by 400 Colonial troops, augmented by 1,200 loyal Basuto. Mr. Barkly, the magistrate of Mohali's Hoek, was appointed Staff Officer to Colonel Griffeth during the siege of Morosi Mountain, while Colonel (now General) Brabant, with 150 men, was sent up early in April to aid the besiegers.
Morosi was a Baputi Chief under the rule of the Paramount Chief. At this time he was an old man, almost completely under the influence of his son Dodo, a crafty, rebellious, and cruel man, who had been imprisoned and heavily fined by Mr. Austin, magistrate of Quthing, but had, as I have already stated, made his escape. Morosi now openly rebelled, whereupon the Colonial Government, through Colonel Griffeth, ordered the Basuto to enforce obedience. Thus, in April, the attack began, but many of the Basuto, though not themselves in open rebellion, refused to take up arms against their "brother." Consequently, there was not a sufficiently strong attacking force, and the first attempt was a complete failure, resulting in a loss of about fifty killed and wounded on our side. The mountain is very steep, and the whole face was protected by schanzes, or stone walls; stones also were hurled by the besieged upon their foes as they endeavoured to scale the mountain. Our force had a couple of field guns, which were of considerable service. The attack lasted from 5 A.M. till 8 P.M., during which time the besiegers were entirely without food. I am indebted to one who was a member of the C.M.R. present at the siege for the above information. The "Colonies and India," of June 1879, says:—"After the failure of the attempt to storm the enemy's position, and while awaiting the arrival of heavier cannon, the investment of the mountain still continued, pickets being posted day and night round three sides of it, the fourth being a perpendicular krantz of many feet in height.
"Notwithstanding all the vigilance and precautions taken, one of the pickets, consisting of a troop of the 3rd Yeomanry, were surprised on the night of the 29th instant. About two hundred of the enemy rushed into their camp, overpowering the sentries and assegaing some of the men in their tents. The Yeomanry, after six hours' fighting, beat them off, but not without sustaining a loss of six killed and fifteen wounded.
"There is but one path leading to the summit of the mountain, which is fortified by strongly-built stone walls, arranged with great skill, so that the lower ones are commanded and can be enfiladed by those above them. They are pierced by double rows of loopholes, and, in most cases, are situated on the verge of steep rocks, which render them almost inaccessible from below. The mountain was crowded with every kind of stock, and defended by several hundred Baphuti rebels under Morosi."
The siege dragged on until November of the same year (every effort to storm the mountain failing), when the enemy were starved into a surrender. Morosi and two of his sons were killed, and the others surrendered as soon as the C.M.R., who were the first to scale the ladders, had entered the stronghold with fixed bayonets, with which they attacked the starving garrison. Dodo, however, unfortunately escaped, but the greater number of the enemy were killed.