A daring rescue, a unique Victoria Cross

A cairn near the town of Komga commemorates the actions of Major Hans Garrett Moore during the final Cape Frontier War, a feat that earned him the Victoria Cross. Mike Burgess tells a remarkable story of bravery.

- Mike Burgess

The First Battle of Draaibosch in late December 1877 was a relatively minor clash that took place during the Ninth Cape Frontier War (1877-78) between the Cape Colony, its Mfengu allies and the Xhosa.

The battle has nevertheless been immortalised in South African military history as it produced the first Victoria Cross won on South African soil.

The Ninth Cape Frontier War was sparked in August 1877 by a wedding feast quarrel between Gcaleka Xhosa and the Mfengu people near today's Butterworth in the Eastern Cape.

Prior to this incident, the Gcaleka and the Mfengu had had a complicated relationship that started in the 1820s when the former offered the latter conditional refuge from the trauma of the Mfecane. Zulu for 'The Crushing', this was a series of bloody and disruptive conflicts between the Zulus and neighbouring nations and tribes.