The reserve battalion removed from Fort Beaufort to Grahamstown in Jan. 1848, nothing of note occurring until the month of July. In that month two companies under the command of Capt. Rawstorne marched from Grahamstown to Colesberg, to co-operate with a force under the immediate command of the Governor, Lt.-Gen. Sir Harry Smith, against the rebel Boers in the N.E. district. After an arduous and protracted march, owing to the inclement season, and swollen state of the rivers, the companies reached the Governor’s camp on the Orange river, on August 24th. Detachments under Lt. Owgan, from Fort Beaufort, and under Ensign Crampton, from Fort England, here joined, so that the strength of the party of the 91st amounted to 178 officers and men.
After the troops had crossed, Captain Rawstorne remained at Bothas Drift, on the Orange river, with a party of 40 men of the 91st, to guard the Drift, and keep open the communication with the colony. The remainder of the party, furnished by the reserve battalion, under Lt. Pennington, proceeded with the Governor’s force in pursuit of the rebels, and was engaged in a most severe and spirited skirmish with the enemy at Boem Plaats on Aug. 29th, when Ensign Crampton, Lt. Owen, and 5 privates were wounded. The enemy held a very strong position, occupying a series of koppies on the right of the road, from which they kept up a heavy fire, against which the Rifle Brigade advanced, supported by the 45th Regiment and artillery. The 91st remained with the guns till the enemy appeared among the ridges on the left, when they were immediately ordered to fix bayonets and charge, which they did in the most gallant manner, causing the enemy to retreat in the greatest confusion, and driving them from every successive hill on which they took up a position, until nightfall. The pursuit was continued with untiring energy, and severe loss to the enemy. Lt. Pennington’s name was mentioned by the Commander-in-Chief in his despatch as commanding on that occasion a detachment of the reserve battalion of the 91st, which shared in the praise bestowed by His Excellency on the troops.
The companies returned to Grahamstown on the 15th of October, and from this date the headquarters of the battalion remained at Fort England and Drostdy’s Barracks, Grahamstown, for upwards of two years, sending out detachments to perform the ordinary outpost duties of the frontier.
At the outbreak of the second Kaffir war, at the end of 1850, every available man was required for active operations in the field, and the reserve battalion of the 91st marched en route to Fort Hare on Dec. 12th. On the 26th a small detachment of the regiment, under Lt. Mainwaring, marched from Fort Hare to patrol the vicinity of the “military villages,”[549] about six miles distant. As Kaffirs were observed to be assembling in force, a reinforcement from Fort Hare was sent for; on the arrival of this, the patrol proceeded across the country to the Tyumie (or Chumie) Missionary Station, where it halted for a short time. On the patrol leaving the missionary station, a fire was opened on its rear, which was kept up until the party got in sight of Fort Hare, when a company was sent out to assist.
On Dec. 29th a detachment of the 91st, led by Colonel Yarborough, marched towards Fort Cox, under Colonel Somerset, for the purpose of opening a communication with the Commander of the Forces, who was surrounded by the enemy, and of throwing in a supply of cattle for the troops. When nearing the Kamka or Yellow-Woods river, the Kaffirs opened a heavy fire upon this force, when two companies were thrown out in extended order, and advanced till they reached the base of the hill which surmounts the Umnassie (or Peel’s) Valley, where a formidable force of the enemy had taken up a position behind rocks which skirt the summit of the hill. It was then found necessary to retire, the Kaffirs endeavouring to outflank and cut off the retreat. A reinforcement was sent from Fort Hare to the assistance of the patrol, which enabled it to return to the fort after a severe struggle, in which Lts. Melvin and Gordon, and 20 men were killed, and Lt. Borthwick, 2 sergeants, and 16 men were wounded; 2 of the latter dying of their wounds.
On the 7th of January 1851, Fort Beaufort, in which was a small detachment of the 91st, under Captain Pennington, was attacked by a numerous force of Kaffirs, under the Chief Hermanes, when the latter was killed in the square of the fort.
On Feb. 24th, the Kaffirs in force, from 5000 to 7000, surrounded Fort Hare, and endeavoured to capture the Fingoes’ cattle, but were repulsed by 100 men of the 91st, under Ensign Squirl.
For the next few months the regiment furnished frequent detachments for the performance of patrol duty, which required considerable tact, and was attended with considerable danger. On one of these occasions, June 27th, when a detachment of the 91st was with Colonel Eyre’s division, Ensign Pickwick and 1 private were wounded.
On the 24th of June, a detachment of 180 men of the 91st, under Major Forbes, proceeded to the Amatola mountains, under command of Major-General Somerset, and was engaged with the enemy on the 26th, 27th, and 28th of June, and the 2nd of July. A General Order was issued on July 3rd, in which the Commander-in-Chief spoke in high terms of the conduct of the troops on this occasion, when the operations were crowned with signal success and the complete discomfiture of the enemy; 2200 head of cattle and 50 horses fell into the hands of the troops, while the enemy were driven with considerable loss from every one of the strong and almost insurmountable passes they attempted to defend.
“The accuracy and energy,” the Order says, “with which Major-General Somerset carried into effect with the 1st division [to which the 91st Regiment belonged], the part assigned to him in the complicated and combined movements, deserve the Commander-in-Chief’s highest praise. His column sustained the chief opposition of the enemy, principally composed of rebel Hottentots, who resisted our troops with great determination.”