Mount Moorosi

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Mount Moorosi (Baphuthi Chief Moorosi's Mountain Fortress) Thaba Moorosi.jpg
Mount Moorosi (Baphuthi Chief Moorosi's Mountain Fortress)
Mount Moorosi
Moorosi's Mountain
Lesotho rel location map.svg
Red triangle with thick white border.svg
Mount Moorosi
Mount Moorosi
Highest point
Coordinates 30°16′43″S27°52′20″E / 30.27861°S 27.87222°E / -30.27861; 27.87222
Geography
Location Quthing District, Lesotho
Parent range Drakensberg

Mount Moorosi (or Moorosi's Mountain) is a mountain in the Drakensberg mountain range on the banks of the Orange River in southern Lesotho. It acquired the name Moorosi's Mountain after Moorosi, the Chief of a local tribe, who, after committing acts deemed to hostile to the Cape Colonial administration, fortified himself on the mountain. A Royal Engineer who was posted to the mountain after the siege began stated that: "Moorosi's Mountain is an isolated kopje, rising steeply on the south bank of the Orange River, about 1,500 feet, and connected with the range on the south by a low narrow nek." [1]

For actions during the siege three Victoria Crosses were awarded to British troops: Peter Brown, Edmund Hartley and Robert Scott. [2]

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Morosi was a Baphuthi chief in the wild southern part of Basutoland. He led a revolt against the Cape Colony government in 1879, in defence of his independence south of the Orange River. The British refused to help the Cape Government. However, Letsie, the paramount chief and first son of Moshoeshoe, and many of the Sotho ruling establishment, rallied to support the Cape forces, and the rebellion was put down after several months of arduous fighting. Morosi was beheaded and his body mutilated by Cape troops.

References

  1. Hulme, J. J. "Morosi's Mountain 1879; A Royal Engineer's Report". Journal Vol8 No 3. South African Military History Society.
  2. Tylden, Geoffrey (1936). "The capture of Morosi's Mountain, 1879". Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research. 15 (208–15).