Castles of "South Africa" FORT HARE vs FORT ARMSTRONG

Fort Hare was an 1835 British-built fort on a rocky outcrop at the foothills of the Amatola Mountains; close to the present day town of Alice, Eastern Cape in South Africa. Originally, Fort Hare was a British fort in the wars between the British settlers and the Xhosa of the 19th century. A British fort, Fort Glamorgan, was built on the West Bank of East London in 1837, and annexed to the Cape Colony that same year. This fort is one of a series of forts the British built, that include Fort Murray, Fort White, Fort Cox, Fort Hare and Fort Willshire, in the border area that became known as British Kaffraria. On 29 December 1850, during the Eighth Frontier War with the Xhosas, some 220 British troops were forced to retreat to Fort Hare after an unsuccessful attempt to relieve Sir Harry Smith, besieged at Fort Cox.

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Fort Armstrong was constructed in 1836 to act as an important military outpost of the British during the Cape Frontier Wars. It has been under attack multiple times and served as a safe haven for the early pioneers of the Kat river area. Fort Armstrong was constructed in 1836 to protect the Kat rivers valuable source of water. It was named after Captain Armstrong who fought in the area alongside the Cape Mounted Rifles during the 6th War of Land Dispossession. Because of its relative isolation, the fort was designed to operate independently if need be. It had wattle and daub barracks that could accommodate up to 30 mounted men with ordnance stores, a powder magazine, officers quarters, kitchen stables and cells. A few meters away was a cattle kraal. The forts first test came when forces led by Maqoma and Kona took possession of it for about a month. On 22 February 1851, Major-General Henry Somerset, son of the Governor of the Cape, Charles Somerset, reclaimed it – killing 46 people and taking 560 prisoners including 400 women and children. Six male settlers were killed and 25 sustained injuries. During the 8th war of land dispossession of 1853, William Uithaalder a Khoi who had served in the Cape Corps, led an attack on and took over control of the Fort. Colonial forces consisting of 200 British soldiers, 400 Burghers, 200 Fingoes and volunteers from Grahamstown under Commandant Currie regrouped and launched two howitzer attacks against the fort, partially destroying what they built to protect themselves in order to oust Uithaalder.

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