The Battle of the Gwanga, Cape of Good Hope_June 8.th 1846.In which the Royal Artillery,_ the 7.th Dragoon Guards, and the Cape Mounted Rifles, under the Command of Major General H.y Somerset, C.B. defeated a large body of Kaffirs, leaving between 5 and 600 dead on the field. __The number of Kaffirs in the field was estimated at 9000. To His Excellency the Governor Lieut. Gen.l Sir Peregrine Maitland, K.C.B. this Place is respectfully Inscribed by his obliged & obed.t Servant, Rudolph Ackermann, 191, Regent St.t
Painted by H.y Martens. From a Sketch by Capt.n Carey, Cape Mounted Rifles. Engraved by J. Harris. HM [in plate.]
London: Published Sept.r 1.st 1852, by Rudolph Ackerman, at His Eclipse Sporting and Military Gallery, 191, Regent Street.
Coloured aquatint with large margins, laid on board. Plate 534 x 685mm. 21 x 27".
Associated with the seventh of the nine Cape Frontier Wars (1846-1847), known as the 'war of the axe'. Like the six previous wars, it was between the Xhosa people and European settlers. The Xhosa forces were far greater than those of the imperial British troops, and by this time they had replaced their traditional weapons with modern firearms. It was their new use of guns that made the Xhosa considerably more effective in fighting the British. On 28 May, a force of 8,000 Xhosa attacked the last remaining British garrison, at Fort Peddie, but fell back after a long shootout with British and Fengu troops. The Xhosa army then marched on Grahamstown itself, but was held up when a sizeable army of Ndlambe Xhosa were defeated on 7 June 1846 by General Somerset on the Gwangu, a few miles from Fort Peddie. One of a set of five colour plates by Harris after Martins - 'Kaffir Wars'.
NAM: 1971-02-33-191.
[Ref: 27456] £650.00
London: Published Sept.r 1.st 1852, by Rudolph Ackerman, at His Eclipse Sporting and Military Gallery, 191, Regent Street.
Coloured aquatint with large margins, laid on board. Plate 534 x 685mm. 21 x 27".
Associated with the seventh of the nine Cape Frontier Wars (1846-1847), known as the 'war of the axe'. Like the six previous wars, it was between the Xhosa people and European settlers. The Xhosa forces were far greater than those of the imperial British troops, and by this time they had replaced their traditional weapons with modern firearms. It was their new use of guns that made the Xhosa considerably more effective in fighting the British. On 28 May, a force of 8,000 Xhosa attacked the last remaining British garrison, at Fort Peddie, but fell back after a long shootout with British and Fengu troops. The Xhosa army then marched on Grahamstown itself, but was held up when a sizeable army of Ndlambe Xhosa were defeated on 7 June 1846 by General Somerset on the Gwangu, a few miles from Fort Peddie. One of a set of five colour plates by Harris after Martins - 'Kaffir Wars'.
NAM: 1971-02-33-191.
[Ref: 27456] £650.00