The last of the nine Frontier Wars, themselves a series of conflicts
between the Xhosa Kingdom and European settlers fought between 1799-1877
in what is now the Eastern Cape in South Africa, was in many ways a
'prequel' to the more famous Zulu War of 1879. It involved many of the
British regiments and personalities who were to fight at Isandlwana, as
well as being the final defeat of the Xhosa people and their reduction
to lowly workers for the colonists.
This war saw conflict between the British authorities, namely the
governor-general and the commander-in-chief, and the government of the
Cape, leading to the dismissal of that government by Sir Bartle Frere,
the Governor-General.
In The Wedding Feast War, Keith Smith has made extensive use of
British Parliamentary Papers, official War Office despatches and
personal accounts and correspondence to tell the full story of this
neglected yet fascinating episode of South African military history,
which provides an insight into the origins of and attitudes of the
principal figures in the following conflict with the Zulus.
