The War of The Axe, the Seventh Frontier War

Abstract

This article recounts the 1846 conflict that began in Fort Beaufort and became known as the War of the Axe—the seventh of nine Cape Frontier Wars. The immediate cause was the attempted theft of an axe by a man named Kleintjie, whose violent rescue by Xhosa warriors during his transfer to Grahamstown sparked widespread hostilities. The incident inflamed tensions between colonial authorities and Xhosa chiefs, particularly Sandile, leading to renewed warfare on the eastern frontier. Although marked by small-scale skirmishes rather than major battles, the war reflected deep-rooted conflicts over land, power, and colonial expansion between settlers and African inhabitants. Drawing on historical accounts, the article situates the War of the Axe within the broader struggle for control of the fertile lands between the Fish and Keiskamma Rivers and the continuing contest between dispossession and resistance in the Eastern Cape.