498 Pages
ISBN 978-1-917120-51-7
B&W Images
 
Moorosi’s Rebellion is the product of over a decade of research into what is truly a forgotten war. The rebellion played out between February and November 1879 in the picturesque mountain landscape of Basutoland while the Zulu War raged on in Natal and Zululand. The aged Chief Moorosi of the BaPhuthi defended a mountain fastness against the Cape Colonial Military Forces, of which the very name of ‘Moorosi’s Mountain’ sent a chill down the spine of colonists as the BaPhuthi repulsed two determined attacks, the first in April and the second in June, during which period three Victoria Crosses were awarded. In late November, in the third and final attack, by using specially built scaling ladders, a young German-born lieutenant of the Cape Mounted Rifles became the first colonial onto the mountain. Within hours, they had taken the mountain, and thus the war, which had proven to be an embarrassment to the Cape Government, ended. Chief Moorosi and his brave warriors did not surrender but fought to the last.

Cam Simpson served in both the Australian and British Armies in Northern Ireland, the First Gulf War and East Timor. He worked for twenty years in the security industry in Africa and the Middle East and has studied South African history. His interest in history spans thirty-five years, with a particular interest in colonial warfare in Southern Africa.

He has assisted in establishing a regimental museum, conducted field trips to battlefields in Europe and Africa, consulted for the film industry and was a research assistant for the official history of Australia in the Anglo-Boer War. He is the author of eight military history books, a regular writer for Substack and a vice president of the Anglo-Zulu War Historical Society. He currently lives with his family in Canberra, Australia.