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What events led to the 1896 Matabele uprising in which 244 settlers were slain in Matabeleland and Mashonaland, and in which hundreds of homes, ranches and mines were burned, and what role did famous big game hunter Frederick Selous play in rescuing the surviving settlers?
In 1896, Frederick Selous would publish a stirring personal narrative of the uprising and his role in saving the lives of numerous settlers in his book titled "Sunshine and Storm in Rhodesia."
In March 1896, the Matabele revolted against the authority of the British South Africa Company. According to Selous, the Matabele knew "that the entire police force of Matabeleland, together with most of the big guns and munitions of war up till then stored in Buluwayo, had been captured by the Boers"; and they despised the apparently "unarmed and defenceless" civilians. Accordingly, after another month of preparations the massacre began. The story of the struggle is not pleasant reading; for blood was up on both sides. The rebellion was inaugurated by what Mr. Selous calls "a series of the foulest murders it is possible to conceive"; it was crushed by men "vowing a pitiless vengeance."
Rather than wait passively, the settlers immediately mounted patrols, called the Bulawayo Field Force, under such figures as Frederick Selous and Frederick Russell Burnham; these rode out to rescue any surviving settlers in the countryside and went on attack against the Matabele. Selous raised a mounted troop of forty men to scout southward into the Matobo Hills.
In 1896, Frederick Selous would publish a stirring personal narrative of the uprising and his role in saving the lives of numerous settlers in his book titled "Sunshine and Storm in Rhodesia."
In March 1896, the Matabele revolted against the authority of the British South Africa Company. According to Selous, the Matabele knew "that the entire police force of Matabeleland, together with most of the big guns and munitions of war up till then stored in Buluwayo, had been captured by the Boers"; and they despised the apparently "unarmed and defenceless" civilians. Accordingly, after another month of preparations the massacre began. The story of the struggle is not pleasant reading; for blood was up on both sides. The rebellion was inaugurated by what Mr. Selous calls "a series of the foulest murders it is possible to conceive"; it was crushed by men "vowing a pitiless vengeance."
Rather than wait passively, the settlers immediately mounted patrols, called the Bulawayo Field Force, under such figures as Frederick Selous and Frederick Russell Burnham; these rode out to rescue any surviving settlers in the countryside and went on attack against the Matabele. Selous raised a mounted troop of forty men to scout southward into the Matobo Hills.