The troops engaged were: 1st Batt. 3rd; detachments of the 10th and 80th; Royal Artillery and Engineers; a Naval Brigade, and detachments of Indian troops.
An issue of the India General Service Medal 1854 was authorised with a bar for PERAK on September 1st, 1879, for the campaign from November 2nd to March 20th, 1875-6, and by a general order issued in 1881 to those who had been engaged between November 27th and December 10th, 1874.
Jowaki.—Living on the hills of the Afghan frontier, the Jowakis, a branch of the Afridis, long had a bad reputation as marauders, disturbing, robbing, and slaughtering the inhabitants of the Peshawar Valley; finally they attacked a British outpost, and it became necessary to teach them a serious lesson. A force composed of the 9th and 51st Regiments, and two companies of the 4th Rifle Brigade, with Royal Engineers, Artillery, and Indian regiments, was therefore sent against the hillmen under the command of Generals Keyes and Ross. The Jowaki villages, fortified Sangars and crops, were destroyed, and on December 1st, 1877, the stronghold of Jummoo was taken with little opposition. By the end of January 1878 the Jowakis sued for peace; unwilling, however, to accept the terms imposed, the hostilities were resumed, but after a crushing charge by the Bengal Cavalry, on February 15th, their spirit was damped, and they unconditionally accepted the terms laid down for peace.
By another order dated March 1st, 1879, a medal with bar for JOWAKI was awarded to the troops who took part in the operations between November 9th, 1877, and January 19th, 1878.
The troops engaged were the 9th and 51st; two companies 4th Batt. 60th; two companies Royal Engineers; a battery of Field and a battery of Royal Horse Artillery; 20th, 22nd, and 27th Punjab Infantry; 14th Sikhs; 17th Bengal Cavalry.
Campaign against Galekas and Gaikas.—On September 25th, 1877, the Galekas attacked the old allies of the British, the Fingoes, and a party of mounted police at Guadana, but were repulsed. Troops were immediately sent to the scene of hostilities, Kreli's country was invaded and his kraal burnt, and a stiff fight was made at Umzintzani before crossing the Krei. The Connaught Rangers then proceeded to the front, with 50 mounted men of the 24th, and the bandsmen of that regiment as gunners with a 7-pounder gun and Naval Brigades from the "Active" and "Florence." The Galekas, who had joined forces with the Gaikas under Sandilli, were badly beaten at Nynnuxa, but rallied in the Chickaba Valley, where the British column attacked them on January 14th, 1878, and drove them off with considerable loss in men and cattle. On February 25th General Thesiger (later Lord Chelmsford) took over the command from Sir Arthur Cunningham, and Sandilli's force was defeated in the Amotala Mountains by the column under Colonel (now Field-Marshal Sir Evelyn) Wood. In succeeding skirmishes Sandilli was killed; then the Galeka chief, Kreli, surrendered, and an amnesty was proclaimed on June 28th, 1878, for all who had taken part in the war except the sons of Sandilli.
The Griqua Campaign.—Meanwhile an outbreak in Griqualand West had to be suppressed, and this was done by the colonial troops, without the assistance of the regulars, but not until several sharp engagements between the Griquas and the Colonials had been fought between June 11th and July 20th, 1878, when an amnesty was declared and the war was at an end.
The Basuto War.—Following closely on the suppression of the rising in Griqualand came the Basuto War, occasioned by the refusal of Morosi and his son Dodo, chief of the Baphutis, to pay the hut tax. Morosi had fortified an almost inaccessible mountain near the Orange River, and thither, after a skirmish with the Cape Mounted Rifles, he gathered his people, and for nine months defied the forces and artillery ranged against him in his mountain fastness, which with only one accessible side he had, with considerable skill, fortified and loopholed for musketry fire. After many futile attempts to storm the place Morosi was killed, and what was considered to be an impregnable mountain fortress was taken, and the fortifications blown up. Then it was decided to disarm the natives, and some hard fighting took place against the rebel chief Letherodi, and the rising was not stamped out until the Imperial and Colonial forces in the field totalled 15,000 men. In April 1878 an amnesty was proclaimed, and although the Basutos had been badly defeated they gained practically all they asked for prior to the rising.