Firearms in Nineteenth-Century Botswana: The Case of Livingstone's 8-Bore Bullet

Abstract

While the importance of firearms in shaping the history of Southern Africa has long been acknowledged, the participation by local societies in the nineteenth-century revolution in gun technology has been relatively neglected. This paper examines the nature of munitions in Botswana during the critical decade that led up to the 1852–1853 Batswana-Boer War, focusing on the early presence of elongated or conical bullets and large bore hunting rifles, as well as artillery in the region. The findings have a bearing on a re-evaluation of the wider regional balance of military power during the period, as well as the relationship between the evolution of armaments and local society.

Key words:

• Botswana
• southern Africa
• Boers
• Livingstone
• Sechele
• firearms
• hunting
• history of technology
• military history

Acknowledgements

This article was written in the author's private capacity. I am grateful to Fred Morton for his assistance, along with comments received from the anonymous reviewers. Thanks also to the students and staff of the Defence Command Staff College, Botswana Defence Force, for their insights and encouragement.

Notes

1. ‘The Tans-Vaal Boers and Sechele, Official Report of the Acting Commandant-General, P.E. Scholtz, Esq.’, which appears as an annex in W.C. Holden, History of the Colony of Natal (London: Alexander Heylin, 1855), 380–384.

2. One must particularly acknowledge the groundbreaking articles on firearms in the region by Anthony Atmore and others in the Journal of African History, 12, 4 (1971). For Botswana: F. Nangati, ‘Constraints on the Pre-colonial Economy: The Bakwena State, c. 1820–1885’, Pula: Botswana Journal of African Studies 2, 1 (1980), 125–138; G. Okihiro, ‘Resistance and Accommodation: Bakwena-baga-Sechele, 1842–1852’, Botswana Notes and Records, 5 (1973), 104–116 and J. Ramsay ‘The Rise and Fall of the Bakwena Dynasty of South-Central Botswana, 1820–1940’ (PhD thesis, Boston University, 1991), 69–116.

3. D. Headrick, Power over People, Technology, Environments and Western Imperialism 1400 to Present (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2010), 257–292, which follows his groundbreaking The Tools of Empire: Technology and European Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century (New York: Oxford University Press, 1981); E. Chews, Arming the Periphery: The Arms Trade in the Indian Ocean during the Age of Global Empire (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2012); and J.M. MacKenzie, The Empire of Nature: Hunting, Conservation and British Imperialism (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1988).

4. G. Macola, ‘Reassessing the Significance of Firearms in Central Africa: The Case of North-Western Zambia’, Journal of African History, 51, 3 (2010), 301–321; which like this paper makes use of contemporary travelogues. Macola's focus on the social meaning as well as utility of firearms builds on C. Mavhunga's earlier ‘Firearms Diffusion, Exotic and Indigenous Knowledge Systems in the Low Veld Frontier, South Eastern Zimbabwe, 1870–1920’, Comparative Technology Transfer and Society, 1, 2 (2003) 201–231.

5. W.K. Storey, Guns, Race, Power in Colonial South Africa (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008).

6. J. Ramsay, ‘The Batswana-Boer War of 1852–53, How the Batswana Achieved Victory’, Botswana Notes and Records, 23 (1991), 193–207.

7. The bore of gunpowder weapons, both cannon and small-arms, was measured by the then standard weight in old imperial pounds of spherical iron shot. An 8-Bore rifle thus fired shot whose diameter would approximate that of an iron ball of 1/8 lbs. The actual weight of the bullets varied depending on the material they were made from, which would commonly include various grades of iron or lead, with tin and others metals often incorporated to make an alloy.

8. For an overview of Botswana's nineteenth-century experience, including state formation and instances of armed struggle, see J. Ramsay, B. Morton, and T. Mgadla, Building a Nation: A History of Botswana from 1800 to 1910 (Gaborone: Longman Botswana, 1996). The terms ‘king’ and ‘kingdom’ or their non-English equivalents are common in pre-colonial European accounts and maps.

9. Bakgatla baga Kgafela and Balete asserted their independence through force of arms from Bakwena and Bangwaketse respectively, 1875–1881. During the nineteenth century the Barolong booRatshidi were close political allies of the Bakwena and Bangwaketse, separated from today's Botswana by the imposition of the Molopo river boundary in September 1885.

10. W. Baldwin, African Hunting from Natal to the Zambezi (London: Richard Bentley, 1863), 175.

11. S.M. Molema, Montshiwa: Barolong Chief and Patriot (Cape Town: C. Struik, 1966), 47: ‘Mogale wa pitse e tshweu ga bonwe, Moetapele wa masaropo o jele mmu, O phamotswe ke phamole ya ga Marumo, A mo isa bogwera bo iwang ke Masweu le Bantsho. Nnoi o a lele, ere a lela mathlo a gagwe a kwano, Ebile o futsa nkwe ya losika loo Makgetla, O futsa phamole e testsweng ke Marumo, A re setlhodi sele se re jetsa banna, sa tlhoga sa re baya ka boswagadi.’ The alleged incident took place on the 7 January 1853 at Mosite during an engagement between the Barolong booRatshidi and Transvaal Boers. Popular legend of Mococo's lethal shot was supported by the fact that the already ailing Pretorius passed away on 23 July 1853.

12. I. Schapera, ed., Praise Poems of Tswana Chiefs (Oxford: Claredon Press, 1965), 201–204: ‘Keene mogale yoosanneng isong, yoerileng tshaba diphuthegile, diphuthegile diya kgonnye, asale asekaseka ditlhobolo; atlhopha tsedimafulo athata, atlhopha bobjane le bobautu.’ As Schapera notes, ‘carbines’ more literally translates as ‘short ones’, i.e., ‘bojane’; while ‘breechloaders’ are with ‘bolts’, i.e., ‘bautu’. References to guns can also be found in the same collection in the praise poems of Kgamanyane, Linchwe I, Isang, Sechele, Bathoen II, Sekgoma I, and Tshekedi Khama, as well as Khama III.

13. The Battle of Koniggratz or Sadowa was fought on 3 July 1866. For 1876 battle at Molepolole see Ramsay, ‘The Rise and Fall of the Bakwena Dynasty’, 154–155; E. Holub, Seven Years in South Africa (Johannesburg: African Book Society, 1976 reprint), II, 30–31; V. Ellenberger ‘A History of the Batlokwa of Gaberones’, Bantu Studies, 13 (1939), 165–198; and F. Morton, When Rustling Became an Art: Pilane's Kgatla and the Transvaal Frontier, 1820–1902 (South Africa: David Philip, 2009), 126–127.

14. Schapera, Praise Poems of Tswana Chiefs, 93–94: ‘Mekgakwana borranko-emoriti ntona tsaga Makopye aLekgoa; obafudile kamartini, mokgatla kamartini, Mokgatla wagaKgafela’ [‘Red faced people with jutting noses, lieutenants of the white man “Makopye” (literally one with protruding head, identified as Harklass Malan); the Bakgatla fired on them with Martinis, with Martinis, the Mokgatla of Kgafela’].

15. Batswana cavalry commonly operated alongside foot soldiers as part of the traditional age regiments or mephato, which were organised in accordance with clear social hierarchies. While their field tactics on horse were at times similar to those of the Boers, Griqua or Nama, it would therefore be a misnomer to say they had also adopted the ‘commando system’.

16. Account of the battle by J. Ramsay at www.patriot.co.bw (3-part series 7,14, and 21 April 2013) which draws on previous newspaper articles by B. Morton and Ramsay, as well as J.D. Hepburn, Twenty Years in Khama's Country and Pioneering Among the Batauana of Lake Ngami (London: Hodder Stoughton, 1896), 253–259, and A. Sculz and A. Hammar, The New Africa: A Journey Up the Chobe and Down the Okovanga River: A Record of Exploration and Sport (London: W. Heinemann, 1897), 397–404.

17. G. Okihiro, A Social History of the Bakwena and Peoples of the Kalahari of Southern Africa (Lewistown: Edwin Mellen Press, 2000); Ramsay, ‘The Rise and Fall of the Bakwena Dynasty’; N. Parsons ‘The Economic History of Khama's Country in Botswana, 1844–1930’, in Roots of Rural Poverty in Central and Southern Africa, edited by R. Palmer and N. Parsons, (Berkeley, University of California Press, 1977); and T. Tlou, A History of Ngamiland, 1750–1906: The Formation of an African State (Gaborone: MacMillan Botswana, 1985).

18. Literature on servitude in the Kgalagadi and elsewhere in Botswana is extensive. B. Morton, ‘Servitude, Slave Trading, and Slavery in the Kalahari’, in E. Eldredge and F. Morton, eds, Slavery in South Africa: Captive Labour on the Dutch Frontier (Boulder/Pietermaritzberg, Westview/University of Natal Press, 1994), 215–250, notably establishes a connection between nineteenth-century hunting and slave trading. The social stratification of Khoe, Bakgalagari and Batswana is detailed in Okihiro, A Social History of the Bakwena and Peoples of the Kalahari, and Ramsay, ‘The Rise and Fall of the Bakwena Dynasty’. Also Shekgalagari texts collected by I. Schapera and D.F. van der Merwe, Notes on the Tribal Groupings, History and Customs of the Bakgalagadi (School African Studies Communications no. 13, University of Cape Town, 1945), and I. Schapera, ‘Some Ethnographical Texts in the Boloongwe Dialect of Sekgalagadi’, Bantu Studies, 12 (1938), 157–187. Khoe/San subordination, including role of nineteenth-century hunting trade, comprehensively discussed in E. Wilmsen, Land Filled with Flies: A Political Economy of the Kalahari (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989).

19. F. Galton, The Art of Travel or Shifts and Contrivances Available in Wild Country (London: John Murray, 1855), 148: ‘It is difficult to make good gunpowder, but no skill is required in making powder that will shoot to kill. The negroes of Africa make it for themselves, burning charcoal, gathering saltpetre from salt-pans, and buying the sulphur from trading caravans; they grind the material on stone.’

20. Locally repaired vintage guns were common in parts of rural Botswana into the late twentieth century. The numbers have been reduced overtime due to the surrender of old firearms as a gun control measure. From 2001–2006 the Botswana Police destroyed 5,221 such firearms, an exercise that culminated in a 12 August 2006 public bonfire, lit by then President Festus Mogae as part of ‘Police Day’ activities, which torched 1,406 guns, included a noticeable number of muskets and early model breechloaders.

21. Cumming, A Hunter's Life in South Africa, 61. Also Livingstone Online, www.livingstoneonline.ucl.ac.uk letter Livingstone to J.R. Bennet (26 December 1845): ‘This is an enterprising man. He built a stone wall entirely round his town with loop holes &c. and fruit of his own invention:’ original document in National Library of Scotland, M.S. 10707, ff. 21r-22, cc. 0141. The ruins of Tshonwane/Chonuane are within South Africa, just over 10 km east of the Ramotswa border gate.

22. I. Schapera, ed., Livingstone Family Letters, 1841–56 (London: Chatto & Windus, 1959), I, 142.

23. J. Campbell, Travels into the Interior of South Africa Undertaken at the Request of the Missionary Society (London: T. Hutt, Shackwell, 1815), 540; and W.J. Burchell, Travels into the Interior of South Africa (London: Batchworth Press, 1953 reprint of 1822–24 original), II, 249.

24. D.A. Schmitt, The Bechuanaland Pioneers and Gunners (USA: Praeger, 2006), 66–76, gives an overview of Batswana participation in the second Anglo-Boer War and World War 1.

25. State Archives Pretoria, Transvaal, Secretary of State for Colonies (SS) vol. 64 r 143/65 Sechele to M.W. Pretorius, 12 February 1865, co-signed by Gaseitsiwe, Montshiwa, Mosielele, Makgosi and Mangope. Also SS vol. 70 r 1206/65, D. Coetzee to M.W. Pretorius, 13 November 1865; SS vol. 67 r 632/65 T. Jensen to M.W. Pretorius.

26. Transvaal Argus (Potchefstroom) newspaper, 10 June 1868. The demonstrative fate of the Batlhaping is detailed in Kevin Shillington's The Colonisation of the Southern Tswana, 1870–1900 (Braamfontein: Raven Press, 1985).

27. J. Ramsay, ‘The Establishment and Consolidation of the Bechuanaland Protectorate, 1870–1910’, in W.A. Edge and M.H. Lekorwe, eds, Botswana Politics and Society (Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik, 1998), 84–89, and ‘A Child That Does Not Cry Dies in the Cradle: The Batswana Campaign to Prevent the Inclusion of the Protectorates into the Union of South Africa, 1908–10,’ Botswana Notes and Records, 27 (1995), 85–96. Including PRO CO 879/106/925 Governor Cape Colony to Colonial Secretary, 7 June 1909, enclosing General Methuen's dispatch ‘ … on the subject of the fighting strength and resources of the Basuto.’

28. Schapera, Livingstone Family Letters, II, p. 91.

29. While rediscovering Livingstone's radical belief in racial equality, including the desirability of Africans being armed in the face of oppression, A.C. Ross's recent biography, David Livingstone: Mission and Empire, 3rd ed. (London: Hambledon, 2006), 76, is quick to dismiss allegations of Livingstone's own involvement in the arming of the Bakwena.In addition to Schapera, Livingstone Family Letters, further evidence of Livingstone's involvement with firearms can be found in Schapera's edited volumes – David Livingstone South African Papers, 1849–1853 (Cape Town: Van Riebeeck Society, 1974); Livingstone's Missionary Correspondence, 1841–1856 (London: Chatto & Windus, 1961), and Livingstone's Private Journals (London: Chatto & Windus, 1960).

30. N. Bird, The Observers Book of Firearms (London: Frederick Warn & Co., 1978), 82. The Nock Gun was named after its original manufacturer Henry Nock of Nock, Jover & Co., although its design was by James Wilson. Henry Nock is remembered as an armaments innovator, a legacy that was carried on by his son Samuel Nock and son-in-law and grandson James and Henry Wilkinson of Wilkinson & Son, i.e., Wilkinson Sword.

31. Volley guns were developed in Europe during the sixteenth century by German and Polish gunsmiths. Examples are also known to have been developed during the same era in the Mughal Empire: A.K. Bag, ‘Fathullah Shirazi: Cannon, Multi-barrel Gun and Yarghu’, Indian Journal of History of Science (2005), 431–436. As firing platforms they reached their technological apex with the Mitrailleuse, a weapon developed for the Belgium and French armies from 1851, which was overtaken by the American development of the rotating Gatling gun.

32. Muzzle loading cannon in general had the advantage of being able to fire almost anything. ‘Grape shot’ consisted of quantities of smaller ball shot, while cheap but deadly ‘course shot’ could be made up of rocks, iron slag, etc.

33. Personal communication by Gerry de Vries, Secretary, Cannon Society of South Africa, 12 December 2011. In its registration efforts the Society has uncovered multiple examples of naval cannon in the region that started their service lives together, becoming separated as land based weapons. Also I. Knight, The Boer Wars (1) 1836–98 (Oxford: Osprey Men at War Series, 1996), 7.

34. Primary sources on pre-1860 development of rifle ballistics: J. Scoffern, Projectile Weapons of War & Explosive Compounds, 2nd ed. (London: Cooke & Whitely, 1852), 155–174; Lt. Col. C.D. Westbrook, Thirty-Five Years of Rifle Practice, Part 1 (Freeman Branch Office, 1886), 15–34; H. Busk, The Rifleman's Manual or Rifles and How To Use Them (Charles Noble, 1858); H. Busk, Handbook for Hythe: Comprising a Familiar Explanation of the Laws of Projectiles and Introduced to the System of Musketry Now Adopted by All Military Powers (London: Routledge, Warne & Routledge, 1860); J. Gibbon, The Artillerist Manual (D. Van Nortrand, NY, and Trubner & Co., London, 1860), Ch. 4, ‘The Rifle’, 125–154; W. Greener, The Science of Gunnery as Applied to the Military and Sporting Arms of England, France, Belgium, Austria, Prussia, Russia and America (London: E. Churton, 1846), 302–314, 323–410, 426–478; W. Greener, Gunnery in 1858, Being a Treatise on Rifles, Cannon, and Sporting Arms (London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1858), 344–400; Sir E. Tennent, The Story of The Gun (London: Longman, Green, Longman, Robert & Green, 1864), 13–21; Louis Panot, ‘A Treatise on Small Arms’, in Colburn's United Service Magazine and Naval and Military Journal (London: Colburn & Co., London 1853, Part 1), 41–49; Ordinance Department USA Army, Report on Experiments with Small Arms for Military Service (A.O.P. Nicholson, Public Printer, Washington, DC, 1856), with appended reports by Louis Panot (France) and Colonel Gordon (UK); Capt. J. Schon, Rifled Infantry Arms: A Brief Description of the Modern System of Small Arms as Adopted in Various European Armies, 2nd ed. (Dresden, 1855) (Translated from German by Capt. B.J. Gorgas, Ordinance Dept., USA); S.W. Baker, Wild Beasts and Their Ways: Reminiscences of Europe, Asia, Africa and America (London: MacMillan, 1890), Ch. 1, ‘The Rifle of the Past Half Century’.

35. J. Verne, From Earth to the Moon (1865). The Baltimore Gun Club also features in Verne's 1870 sequel Round the Moon, and 1889 novel Topsy Turvy (all three titles available online through www.gutenberg.org)

36. J. Verne, Meridiana: The Adventures of Three Englishmen and Three Russians in South Africa (London: Sampson Low, Marston, Low & Searle, 1873).

37. B. Robins, New Principals of Gunnery: Containing the Determination of the Force of Gunpowder and Investigation of the Difference in the Resisting Power of Air to Swift and Slow Motions with Several Other Tracts on the Improvement of Practical Gunnery (1742; New ed., London: Wingrave, 1805), 338.

38. The Pennsylvania Long Rifle, also known as the American or Kentucky Long Rifle, is popularly associated with frontiersmen such as Daniel Boon and James Fennimore Cooper's fictional Hawkeye. It was developed in the early eighteenth century by immigrant gunsmiths from Germany in western Pennsylvania. The Long Rifle proved effective when matched against eighteenth century British and French arms; a notable example being the decisive role played by snipers of Daniel Morgan's Rifle Corps in the 1777 Battles at Saratoga, where archaeologists have recovered examples of elongated bullets used in battle. For origin see J. Walter, The Rifle Story: An Illustrated History from 1776 to the Present Day (London: Green Hill Books, 2006), 18–21.

39. Westbrook, Thirty-Five Years of Rifle Practice, Part 1, 15–20; J.R. Chapman, Instructions to Young Marksmen in All the Relates to the General Construction, Practical Manipulation, Causes and Liability to Error in Making Accurate Performances, and the Theoretic Principles upon which such Accurate Performances are Founded as Exhibited in the Improved American Rifle (New York: D. Appleton, 1848), 33–34; Clarkes Illustrated Treatise on Rifle, Shotgun And Pistol (Memphis, TN: H.F. Clark & Company, 1850), 12–15, which in discussing the flat head picket notes that ‘the round ball is the one in more general use, until the last five years no other kind of shape was thought of.’ Notwithstanding his important contributions to rifle design, Alvin Clark is often better remembered for his development of refracting telescopes and associated astronomical discoveries.

40. Quote and diagram in Chapman, Instructions to Young Marksmen, 33–34. J.R. Chapman was an Englishman in New York who was keen advocate of American rifle development to his fellow countrymen.

41. J. Leyland, Adventures into the Far Interior of South Africa (London: George Routledge & Sons, 1866), 22.

42. Busk, Handbook for Hythe, 137.

43. Headrick, Power over People, 258.

44. Leyland, Adventures into the Far Interior of South Africa, 55: ‘Some warriors attain great proficiency in throwing the assaigi, that a target placed at a distance of sixty yards will be struck with great precision.’ R. Cumming, A Hunter's Life in South Africa (John Murray, 1850), 135: ‘The Assagai is a light spear or javelin, having a wooden shaft of about six feet in length attached to it. Some of these are formed solely for throwing, and a skilful warrior will send one through a man's body at a hundred yards.’

45. Busk, The Rifleman's Manual, 43–44; Handbook for Hythe, 43–47, 131–135.

46. Greener, Gunnery in 1858, 338–366; The Science of Gunnery, correspondence at 426–479. W.W. Greener [son of William Sr.], The Gun and its Development (London: Cassel & Co., 1881), 629–631.

47. Gibbon, The Artillerist Manual, 113–114; Busk, Handbook for Hythe, 124–126; Greener, The Gun, 629; Walter, The Rifle Story, 26–30; Scoffern, Projectile Weapons, 172. The gun's design was by Captain Berners, aide-de-camp to the Duke of Brunswick.

48. A 20 bore hunting rifle with belted balls by Blisset gunsmiths, made for Botswana traveller Alfred Dolman in 1845, was auctioned in November 2010 for £ 4,200.

49. Busk, The Rifleman's Manual, 39–44, and Handbook for Hythe, 14; Greener, Gunnery in 1858, 366–373; The Gun, 631–632; Capt. L. Pellit, ed., The Views and Opinions of Brigadier General John Jacob, Aide-De-Camp to The Queen; Aide-De-Camp to the Governor General of India, Sec. &C. &C.; Late Commanding in Chief the British Forces in Persia; At Present Commanding the Sind Irregular Horse, and Political Superintendent on The North-West frontier of Sind (Bombay: Smith & Taylor Co.,1858), with particular reference to ‘Memoranda on Rifles in their Application to War; and on Rifle Practice’, 211–237.

50. Named after Austrian Lt. Joseph Lorenz; Gibbon, The Artillerist Manual, 138.

51. In particular ‘Extracts from the Work of L. Panot, Paris, 1851’, Appendix 1 in USA Ordinance Dept., Report on Experiments with Small Arms for Military Service; Panot, ‘A Treatise on Small Arms’, 41–49.

52. In 1852 the British Government paid the French Captain Minie £20,000 for rights to his bullet; they were subsequently sued for copyright infringement by Greener, who was awarded £1000 in 1857.

53. Busk, The Rifleman's Manual, 22–23; Greener, The Science of Gunnery, 468–474, including William Greener to General Sir George Murray, 20 September 1842: ‘It was stated by the press a few days ago, that fears were entertained that a part of our troops had been cut off in the interior of Africa by a party of emigrant “boers”, who are armed with guns termed “long roers”, and which range one third further than our English muskets. Since confirmed. These facts accumulate too fast.’

54. Sir William Howard Russell, Complete History of the Russian War, From Its Commencement to its Close: Giving a Graphic Picture of the Great Drama of War (London: Bostwick & Barnard 1856), 86–87.

55. Maj. Gen. J.E.C. Fuller, The Conduct of War: A Study of the Impact of the French, Industrial and Russian Revolutions on War and its Conduct (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1961), 88. Although also acknowledged elsewhere, the significance 1852 deployment of the Minie has generally escaped the notice of scholars of the ‘Frontier Wars’ in the Eastern Cape. Yet, prior to the bullet's appearance the balance of power between European and Xhosa had been shifting; e.g., B. Shaw, Memorials of South Africa (London: J. Mason, 1840), 61: ‘in the late wars with the colony, owing to the superiority of their numbers, aided by the possession of guns and ammunition, which had been obtained through illicit trade, they have proved a desperate and troublesome enemy.’

56. A. Drayson, Sporting Scenes among the Kaffirs of South Africa (London: Routledge, 2nd edition 1860), 319.

57. Walter, The Rifle Story, 32; see also Walter, ‘The Rise of Piled Arms, a Short History of the Birmingham Small Arms Company’, Guns Review, 24, (1984), 310–312.

58. Walter, The Rifle Story, 27–30, 32.

59. Chews, Arming the Periphery, 57–64. By 1855 the figure had already risen to 7,340, apparently spurred by the Crimean War.

60. D. Bailey and D. Nie, English Gunmakers: The Birmingham and Provincial Gun Trade in the 18th and 19th Century (London: Arms and Armour Press, 1978), 20.

61. The level of vocational specialization is reflected in the fact that of 7,340 gun makers listed in the quarter in 1855, 700 were reported to have been barrel makers and filers, 100 barrel borers and riflers, 1,350 barrel finishers and polishers, 1,335 gun lock, forgers, finishers, etc., 1,100 gunstock makers and stockers, 1,420 makers of rods, bayonets etc., 250 machinists and 1,070 involved in gun sights and other details.

62. Scoffern, Projectile Weapons of War, 173. Greener, Gunnery in 1858, 82, further notes that ‘we are told that elephants cannot be killed with any projectile but steel: leaden balls cannot do it’.

63. American ordinance officers, acting under the instructions of the then US Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis, were thus able to collect technical reports and sample rifles from throughout Europe: USA Ordinance Dept., Report on Experiments with Small Arms for Military Service; while L'Ecole de Tir (Shooting School) de St Omer instructor Capt. Louis Panot's writings on the development of small arms by the French military were widely circulated.

64. Greener, The Science of Gunnery, 476–478; further reference to observing French field tests, 388, 474–475.

65. Baker, Wild Beasts and Their Ways, 2. Baker's acquaintances included William Cotton Oswell and Francis Galton. J. Nicholls and W. Eglington, The Sportsman in South Africa (London: British and Colonial Publications, 1892), 4: ‘The weapon most desired is one capable of discharging either the expanding or solid ball with equal accuracy, and in this connection we mention the names of Gibbs, of Bristol, and Rigby and Sons, of London and Dublin, as the rifles made by these firms have been in constant use, and have given more general satisfaction – at least, in South Africa – than those of any other manufacture.’

66. Letter Frank Vardon to William Oswell, 25th March 1850, in W. Edward Oswell (son), William Cotton Oswell, Hunter and Explorer; the Story of His Life, With Certain Correspondence and Extracts From the Private Journal Of David Livingstone, Hitherto Unpublished (London: Heinemann, 1900), I, 194. C. Andersson, The Okavango River: A Narrative of Travel, Exploration and Adventure (New York: Harper Brothers, 1861), 104–105.

67. Ceylon, like the Cape, was under the authority of the Dutch East India Company (1640–1796), and also had its own ‘burgher’ settler community of elephant hunters.

68. B. Berkovitch, The Cape Gunsmiths: A History of Gunsmiths and Gun Dealers of the Cape of Good Hope from 1795 To 1900 with Particular Reference to Weapons (Stellenbosch Museum, 1976), 10–13, which notes that by 1734 two brothers of the surname Botha hunted elephant with 4-bores.

69. J. Irving ed., In the Footsteps of Livingston: Being the Diaries and Travel Notes Made by Alfred Dolman (London: John Lane Bodley Head, 1924), 7, 136.

70. C.J. Andersson, Lake Ngami Exploration and Discovery during Four Years in the Wilds of South Western Africa, 2nd ed. (London: Hurst & Blackett, 1856), 194; also 117, 137–138. Further reference to 3-bore steel conicals in Andersson, The Okavango River, 104–105; Galton, The Art of Travel, 152–154.

71. J. Chapman, Travels in The Interior Of South Africa, Two Volumes, II (Cape Town: A.A. Balkema, reprint 1971), ‘Note on the Elephant 1856’, 183–184.

72. G. Nicholson, The Cape and its Colonists, with a Hint to Settlers in 1848 (London: Henry Colburn, 1848), 203–205.

73. Scoffern, Projectile Weapons of War, 173. H.W. Stuben, Recollections of Adventures, Pioneering and Development in South Africa, 1850–1911 (Cape Town: Maskew Miller, 1920), 62, on the downsizing of big game rifles. The armour piercing ability of such projectiles was rediscovered during the First World War, when both sides made use of large-bore African hunting rifles; their effectiveness resulting in the German military's development of the Mauser 1918 T-Gewehr anti-tank gun.

74. D. Livingstone, Missionary Travels and Researches in Southern Africa (London: John Murray, 1857), 28.

75. Henry Methuen described him as ‘displaying the utmost craft in greediness in his bargains’, Alfred Dolman wrote that he was ‘very crafty in dealing and by no means easy done’, while Lieutenant Robert Arkwright, that he was indeed ‘a crafty and wily savage fond of bartering’: H. Methuen, Life in the Wilderness, or Wanderings in South Africa (Richard Bentley, 1846), 193; R. Arkwright, Sport and Service in South Africa (Cape Town: A.A. Balkema, 1971 reprint), 78; Irving, In the Footsteps of Livingston, 199.

76. PRO CO 897/91/802, notes collected by J. Ellenberger June 1906.

77. Schapera, Livingstone Family Letters, II, 44, 50–51, 64.

78. Knowledge of the existence of Lake Ngami, and indeed Mosi-oa-Thunya, was widespread in the region by the early 1840s. The Grahamstown Journal editions of 30 November 1843 and 6 January 1845, speak of earlier ambitions to reach the Lake by Bain, Steele, Pringle, Methuen, Monypenny and Pearson. Letsholathebe's motives examined in Tlou, History of Ngamiland, 63–72.

79. George Fleming was a black ex-slave from the Americas, who had settled in Cape Town. Originally employed by Oswell he subsequently accompanied Livingstone in his central African explorations as an independent trader.

80. As Letsholathebe's regiments became armed others also began to see advantages of European exploration. Livingstone (Missionary Travels, 58) reported that in 1850 Kgosi Sebetwane dispatched three parties of emissaries. One brought 13 black cows to Sechele, another 13 brown cows to Letsholathebe and the third 13 white cows to the Bangwato Kgosi Sekgoma. Accompanying each of these gifts was a request that the road to the Makololo also be opened.

81. D.W. Krynauw and H.S. Pretorius, eds, Transvaalse Argiefstrukke 1850–1853 (TA) (Pretoria: Government Printer, Pretoria, 1949) (hereafter ‘TÁ’), 194, 240; H.S. Pretorius and D.W. Kruger, eds, Voortrekker Argiefstukke (VA), 1829–1849 (Pretoria: Government Printer, Pretoria, 1937), 236, 240–242 (which focus on McCabe); J.H. Bretenbach and H.S. Pretorius, eds, Suid-Afrikaanse Argiefstrukke: Transvaal I (SAAT) 1844–50 (Pretoria: Government Printer, 1950), 39–40, 57, 202–203.

82. ‘Journal Kept During Tour into the Interior of South Africa to Lake Ngami and to the Country Two Hundred and Fifty Miles Beyond, By Joseph M'cabe’, in Holden, History of The Colony Of Natal, 412–434.

83. BPP (Confidential Print) 1360 Vol. 38, ‘Assumptions of Sovereignty between the Orange and Vaal Rivers’ – Dispatches from Cape Governor and Secretary of State for the Colonies, w/associated correspondence, nos. 6,8, 11 and BPP (Confidential Print) Orange River Territory 1646 Vol. 66, ‘Further Correspondence’ no. 1. Dispatches from the Cape Governor.

84. Orange River Territory 1360 Vol. 38, pp. 28–30: 12 July 1850 dispatch Governor Cape to Secretary of State on ‘Great Lake discovered in the interior’. Along with related documents it is clear that the British colonial authorities endeavoured to closely monitor events in Botswana, being in particular contact with Oswell and Galton.

85. Livingstone's Missionary Correspondence, 1841–1856, 209–210, Livingstone to Thompson 20 July 1852: ‘Sechele himself would have come with us, but fearing that the much-talked of assault of the Boers might take place during our absence, and the blame be attached to me for taking him away.’

86. An English translation of the letter in Schapera, David Livingstone South Africa Papers, 126–129, with further analysis in the context of Livingstone's subsequent denials of its substance and subsequent allegation, 21–48. Dutch original and contemporary English translation in LMS Archives, A.2.3; original published by J.A.I. Agar-Hamilton, ‘Dr. Livingstone and the Voortrekkers: Andries Hendrik Potgieter's Letter to the Rev William Ross’, Quarterly Bulletin of The South African Library, 28, 2, (1973), 31–41.

87. The full text of the 4 July 1849 article, which bitterly attacks the Boers for practising slavery, is reproduced in Schapera, David Livingstone South African Papers, 6–15. The British Banner was a weekly Christian newspaper of liberal and non-conformist views.

88. Suid-Afrikaanse Argiefstrukke: Transvaal II 1851–1853 (Pretoria: Government Printer, 1949) (hereafter SAAT), 163–163, 214–215.TA (1850–53), 118.

89. Schapera, David Livingstone South Africa Papers, 41, citing Rev. Solomon's cover letter to James Read, of 20 June 1849, when forwarding Potgieter's letter.

90. Letter dated 16 May 1849 in Schapera, Livingston Family Letters, II, 48–56. Referring to the same period Sechele's brother inform the British general Charles Warren, in April 1885, that: ‘I asked him [Livingstone] to go and find out what they [the Boers] wanted. He said – “They will certain attack you so you must get guns to defend yourselves”’: BPP C. 4588 ‘Minutes of meeting held at Molepolole, 27 April 1885. Alternative minutes in the Diamond Fields Times (Kimberley), 12 May 1885, reprinted in PRO CO 879/24/317. Dutch text in W.J. Leydes Het Insluiten van de Boeren-Republikan, II (Amsterdam: Albert Lange, 1914), 271–275.

91. Schapera, Livingstone Family Letters, II, 95.

92. TA, 260, which dovetails with material in Chapman's Travels in the Interior, I, 76–86. Also Livingstone in the British Banner: ‘Members of his [Potgieter's] own Council sell arms whenever they can profit. We saw one sell two hundred pounds of gunpowder and a bundle of muskets and laugh at the folly of his superior’: in Schapera, David Livingstone South African Papers, 14. Viljoen's alleged role as an arms supplier to Batswana is neglected in J.E.H. Grobler, ‘Jan Viljoen, the South African Republic and the Bakwena, 1848–1882’, South African Historical Journal, 36, 1 (1997), 240–255.

93. Schapera, Livingstone Family Letters, I, 260. Writing to Moffat in 1848, Livingstone reported that upon hearing that Sechele planned to be baptised, Moshoeshoe sent his fellow Mokwena monarch 10 cattle and two horses with the following message: ‘that whatever he wished, whether guns, gunpowder horse or cattle, he must apply to him and he would supply them’.

94. Chapman, Travels in The Interior, I, 50. Chapman further noted that ‘one of the richest most influential of the part, a Griqua by the name of Aapie Januari, who [visited] Viljoen, in his official capacity as field cornet, to inform him that an Englishman named Harris was coming on with 80 guns which he is conveying to Moselekatse for sale; and to requesting Viljoen to use his influence and authority to dispossess him of them, for he considered it very wrong for the veldomde Engelsman to arm such a “savage native”.’ Viljoen thereafter warned Sekgoma of Harris's plans and, on the 11 June 1852, gave written authorisation for Adam ‘Aapie’ Januarie, to search wagons and confiscate those carrying guns and ammunition without permit.

95. Galton, The Art of Travel, 138: ‘In elephant shooting, Ceylon sportsmen use enormous guns, and with them kill elephants with single shots; while in Africa sportsmen with ordinary sized weapons average no less than twenty shots at each elephant.’ Prominent among the Ceylon shooters of the 1840s was Galton's friend Samuel Baker, who advised that: ‘The four-ounce conical ball should be an excellent weapon for African shooting, where the usual shot at an elephant is at the shoulder’: S.W. Baker, The Rifle and the Hound in Ceylon, Stories from the Field 1845–53 (London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, 1854), 191. Also J.A. Magnum and C. McKenzie, Militarism, Hunting and Imperialism: ‘Blooding’ The Martial Male (London: Routledge, 2009); as well as MacKenzie, The Empire of Nature.

96. C. Harris, The Wild Sports of Southern Africa: Being the Narrative of an Expedition From the Cape of Good Hope, Through the Territories of the Chief Moselekatse, to the Tropic of Capricorn (London: J. Murray, 1839).

97. G. Nicholson, Fifty Years in South Africa: Being Some Recollections and Reflections of a Veteran Pioneer (London: W.W. Greener, 1898), 13–14.

98. The Journals of Elizabeth Price (London: Edwin Arnold, 1956), 284; J. Murdock, Life and Explorations of David Livingstone (London: Tyne Publish, c. 1876), 45, also Johnston, Pioneers in South Africa, 236: ‘Sechele of the Bakwena made a fast friendship with Livingstone. He was so anxious to learn to read that he acquired a knowledge of the alphabet in one day, and completely abandoned his favourite pastime of hunting to learn all that he could from Livingstone, Mrs. Livingstone, and the English visitors to the station. Amongst these was the celebrated traveller, William Cotton Oswell, who during his first stay at Kolobeng taught Sechele the elementary rules of arithmetic.’

99. H.H. Johnston, Pioneers in South Africa (London: Blackie & Sons, 1914), 244, observed of the local Boer reaction to their exploits: ‘Elephants, too, were in such large numbers that the sportsmen halted for ten days, and shot every day, whilst the ivory was gradually piled up under the wagons. At this juncture they were visited by some of the Boer pioneers, who were travelling north from the headquarters of their great leader, Pretorius, then settled on the Magaliesberg. The Boers were astounded at the good luck and the skill of Oswell, and not a little jealous. They dreaded lest he or any brother sportsman should furnish the natives with guns and ammunition, which might be used to resist the Boer advance.’

100. Oswell, William Cotton Oswell, Hunter and Explorer, I, 261–266. In August 1851, having along with Livingstone been told about the fall's location by locals, Oswell noted ‘waterfall, spray seen 10 miles off’ on a manuscript map. Oswell's initial sketch map was the source for at least two additional maps produced in 1852 revealing the Fall's location, one by John Arrowsmith, published by William Cooley, and another by Charles Andersson: W. D. Cooley, Inner Africa Laid Open, in an Attempt to Trace the Chief Lines of Communication Across that Continent South of the Equator: with the Routes to the Muropue and the Cazembe, Moenemoezi and Lake Nyassa; the Journeys Of the Rev. Dr. Krapf and the Rev. J. Rebmann on the Eastern Coast, and the Discoveries Of Messrs. Oswell And Livingstone in the Heart of the Continent (London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1852); November 1852 Andersson Map in collection of Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, replica donated H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden to Botswana National Archives in March 2011, which is also the basis for map in Andersson, Lake Ngami Exploration and Discovery. Also Rhodesiana (The Royal Rhodesia Africa Society, 1956), 1, 12.

101. Oswell, William Cotton Oswell, Hunter and Explorer, II, 9–10; also 26–30 which confirm Oswell's subsequent role as a secret service courier during the Crimean War, following his joining staff headquarters at the invitation of his friend and Kweneng hunting colleague Steele, who had by then risen to the position Secretary to the Commander-in Chief, Lord Raglan. It is clear from the earlier (1850–1852) correspondence between the Cape and London that the imperial authorities had more than a passing interest in the activities and reports of Galton as well as Oswell, e.g. BPP (Confidential Print) Orange River Territory 1360 Vol. 38 and 1646 Vol. 66.

102. Methuen, Life in the Wilderness, 197–198. Bain, still refused to honour the deal, partially placating the Kgosi with other goods.

103. Cumming, A Hunter's Life in South Africa, 163.

104. Schapera, Livingstone Family Letters, I, 138; Missionary Correspondence, 50–51.

105. Schapera, Livingstone Family Letters, I, 261–262, 264; II, 48–49.

106. Schapera, Livingstone Family Letters, I, 231: Schapera's footnote on Livingstone to Moffat November (?) 1847: ‘The year in which this letter was written is fixed by its contents, and the month (approximately) by Moffat's endorsement: ‘Copied for Mr. Parker, Birmingham, December 25th’ (J.F. Parker was a friend to whom Moffat often sent extracts from D.L.'s letters, c.f. Moffat to Tideman, 24.i.1849)’; also 249: D.L. to Moffat 11 August 1848 – ‘the date fixed by Moffat's endorsement: ‘Livingstone, 11, August 1848, Acct. of Sechele's decision copied to Parker.’’

107. Schapera, Livingstone Family Letters, II, 48. Of the subsequent order, 69, Livingstone to Moffat November 1849: ‘The articles sent to Paul were delivered. He sends his salutations, & so does Sechele. I shall endeavour to get Thipe to take out the karosses for Tippen, Lawden & Parker.’

108. A. Anderson, Twenty-Five Years in a Wagon: Sport and Travel in South Africa (London: Chapman and Hall, 1888), 135; see also Chapman, Travels in The Interior, I, 81: ‘Sechelli invited me to ride around the hill with him. One servant of his followed, carrying a double barrel gun of the most beautiful finish I have ever seen.’ Baldwin, African Hunting from Natal to the Zambezi, 176: ‘some target shooting in the afternoon, and Sechele said he was sore at heart for being beaten; he had a beautiful double barrel rifle.’

109. Livingstone Family Papers, I, 170–171, 237; II, 80,89; Schapera, David Livingstone South Africa Papers, 42;

110. Livingstone to Moffat 29 September 1847 in Schapera, Livingstone Family Letters, 211–225: the correspondence further identifies a David Dikop at the LMS station at Dikgatlhong as being sought for the job, while also noted the transpiring of ceremony in which the Bakwena charmed ‘about 80 guns’.

111. SAAT, II (1851–53), 345–354, 363–366; see also Bloemhof Commission of 1871, Report and Evidence, testimony of Paul Kruger, 31 May 1871, and P. Kruger, The Memoirs of Paul Kruger as Told by Himself (Toronto: George Morang, 1902), 44.

112. Following also draws on annual on site battlefield inspections undertaken by author with BDF Staff College students and staff, 2008–2012.

113. Schapera, Praise Poems of Tswana Chiefs, 132–136: ‘Rramokonopi wabo Kgosidintsi, otlhotse akonopano le Poulwe; erile motshegare Poulwe alapa, gasala gokonopa Rramokopi. Kwena, utla hutshe ya ngwana wa Leburu, obontshe ba bina Kgabo botshelo, battle batshele kawina boo rramogotswena; bagothele madi akgofa bafete, ebe ere Dimo asala aaja wena wesi fela.’

114. In this initial assault the invaders advanced from behind impressed Bahurutshe auxiliaries, using them as human shields; Sechele instructed his men not to fire on their hapless brothers, an action that gained him the subsequent allegiance, as well as respect, of many Bahurutshe, Chapman, Travels in the Interior, I, 83 and BNA PP 1/1/11: B.S. Morebedi's c.1940 account: ‘Gatwe Kgosi Sechele a bua ka lentswe je logolo, a re, ‘Ba bangwe mo go bone ke ba ga rona, mme ba seka ba utlwisiwa botlhoko. Mafoko a, a ga Kgosi Sechele, a tsenya. botsalanao mo Bahurutshe. Erile ba sena go boela kwa morago, Bahurutshe ba bo ba simolola go ngwega mo Maburung ba tshabela kwa go Kgosi Sechele.’ Many of those that fled at the opening of the battle were Bangwaketse, Bakgatla bagaMmanaana and Bakaa, groups that had joined the Bakwena at the battle.

115. While the cannon could have fired course shot, which according to battlefield analysis would have been the optimal deployment in defending the hillside against Boer assault, from the limited available evidence, including below, that the Bakwena appear confined themselves to less than effective single solid shot.

116. Chapman, Travels in The Interior, I, 82.

117. That the gun had been successfully mounted and fired by Sechele's Bakwena and subsequently Montshiwa's Barolong prior to its 1899 restoration by Colonel Baden-Powell is further documented: The Journals of Elizabeth Price, 390: ‘We all thought it was an earthquake till, I think, in the morning we heard Sechele's sons had been firing off a cannon, which they have up above’; and J. Mackenzie, Austral Africa; Losing it or Ruling it: Being Incidents and Experiences in Bechuanaland, Cape Colony and England (London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, I, 1887), 236: ‘the old cannon of Montsioa, mounted between the wheels of an ox-wagon, was also brought into requisition to proclaim the general joy and satisfaction.’

118. Personal communication by Gerry de Vries, Secretary, Cannon Society of South Africa, 12 December 2011.

119. Robert Moffat letter to Thompson, 6th/20th September, 1852, in Schapera, David Livingstone South African Papers, 165–170.

120. Kruger, The Memoirs of Paul Kruger, 38–39, who further notes ‘When the mountain on which Secheli's town lay was already partly taken, Louw du Plessis, who was serving the guns, accidently hit a large rock, and the ball, rebounding, struck my head with such force that I fell to the ground unconscious. A certain van Rooyen had to help me to my feet, and at the same time bound up my aching head in a cloth. While I was lying unconscious and van Rooyen was busying himself about me, a Hottentot servant of my brother's, thanks to his accurate aim, kept the Kaffirs at a safe distance. When I came to myself, the first thing I saw was that the Kaffirs were creeping up behind rocks and boulders, and I realized the danger to which my burghers would be exposed if they were not warned in time. I at once got up to lead the attack on the dangerous points, although my wound prevented me from carrying my musket. The Kaffirs kept up a hot fire from every cave and gorge.’

121. David Livingstone South Aftrica Papers, 152–154. Dutch original in TA, 230–235. The ‘Approved Version’ of the Dutch text appears in SAAT, II, 363–366.

122. Holden, History of the Colony of Natal, 380–384.

123. Dutch text in SAAT, II, 363–366; translation in Schapera, David Livingstone South Africa Papers, 154–159.

124. Letter posted on Livingstone Online, www.livingstoneonline.ucl.ac.uk, original at Royal Geographical Society, Archives, DL 1/1/3, CC No: 0288

125. Kruger, The Memoirs of Paul Kruger, 39.

126. Chapman, Travels in the Interior of Africa, I, 83: ‘They fought the whole day and Sechele held his position. His servant was killed while loading his guns, and Sechelli himself had two or three bullets through his hat and jacket.’

127. A. Anderson, Twenty-Five Years in a Wagon, 128–130.

128. The role of Sechele's siblings is at least suggested in Kgabo Tebele ‘Kaga Kgosi Sechele I, Kgosi ekgolo ea Morafhe wa Bakwena’, n.d., c. 1910, Setswana manuscript in File 739, W.C. Willoughby Papers, Shelly Oak College, Birmingham. Alternatively Shelly Oak College, W.C. Willoughby Papers, File 739, Kgabo Tebele ‘Kaga Kgosi Sechele I, Kgosi ekgolo ea Bakwena’ n.d, unpublished handwritten Setswana manucript. Please note no box or page numbers.

129. Ramsay, ‘The Batswana-Boer War of 1852–53’, 197–198.

130. Kgabo Tebele, ‘Kaga Kgosi Sechele I’.

131. Ramsay, ‘The Batswana-Boer War of 1852–53’, 198–202, for post-Dimawe conflict.

132. SAAT, IV (1859–1863), 154. Natal Mercury, 22 December 1859 and also 3 May 1860 which further noted that: ‘Sechele has returned from his visit to Pretorius, and a very friendly feeling has been established between the Boers and his own people.’

133. This could include an archaeological survey of the site from the specialised perspective of ‘battlefield detectives’. Archeology at Dimawe has heretofore been limited to confirming the site's general importance: Phenyo Thebe, ‘Recent Archeological Research: The Dimawe Sites’, in Zebras Voice/Lentswe La Pitse Naga (Gaborone: National Museum Monuments and Art Gallery) 25, 1 (1998), 7–8; Makgolo Makgolo, ‘Archeological Impact Assessment (AIA) report Manyana Granite Project, October 1992’. A subsequent 2007 AIA ignored nineteenth century evidence in a failed attempt to restart mining at the site.

134. Livingstone, Missionary Travels, 38; further discussion in Schapera, David Livingstone South African Papers, 43–45. Livingstone was ultimately given a reprieve enabling him to acquire among other things 100 lbs of lead, much of which he ‘gave’ to the Makolo Kgosi Sekeletu. Johnston later observed (Pioneers of South Africa, 268): ‘Even with due acknowledgment of Oswell's help, it is difficult to understand from what quarter Livingstone obtained sufficient funds in 1852 to purchase outfit for his great journey to the Zambezi, his tent, his trade goods, guns, and gunpowder. He had drawn all his meagre salary as a missionary (about £ 100 a year) due to him up to date; but he was helped a little by selling the handsome presents of ivory made to him by Sebituane [Sekeletu's father] and other chiefs.’