1835
Hintsa killed during the Sixth Frontier War
Gcaleka king Hintsa was held during negotiations over a large cattle indemnity and was shot after attempting to escape from a British-escorted party during the Sixth Frontier War.
The Sixth Frontier War began after large Xhosa forces entered the Cape Colony late in 1834. Colonists and their Khoekhoe employees were killed, farms and houses were destroyed, and large numbers of livestock were driven away. Governor Benjamin D'Urban responded with a campaign across the colonial frontier. British officials treated Hintsa, the senior Gcaleka king, as responsible for chiefs over whom his practical authority was limited.
During negotiations in April 1835, British officials demanded that Hintsa help end resistance and supply a very large cattle indemnity. Accounts differ on whether he offered himself as a hostage or was detained under a promise of safe conduct. He accompanied a force led by Colonel Harry Smith while cattle were collected.
On 12 May, Hintsa attempted to escape near the Nqabarha River. Smith and members of the escort pursued him. Contemporary and later accounts differ over parts of the struggle, including whether Hintsa used an assegai against his pursuers, but agree that George Southey fired the fatal shot. Reports that soldiers mutilated Hintsa's body afterward contributed substantially to outrage over the incident.
Significance
The preceding invasion and the British demand for restitution explain why Hintsa was being escorted, but they do not resolve whether his detention and killing were lawful or proportionate. The episode became one of the most contested deaths of a Xhosa monarch and damaged confidence in British negotiation and frontier policy.
Why it matters
The killing followed a major Xhosa invasion of the colony and a punitive British campaign, but the terms of Hintsa's detention, the force used during his escape and the reported mutilation of his body made it one of the war's most contested episodes.
Disputed interpretations
Accounts differ over whether Hintsa entered British hands voluntarily as a hostage or was unlawfully detained, whether he attacked his pursuers while escaping, and the details of the mutilation of his body. His attempted escape and fatal shooting are widely recorded.