In March 1846, on the Cape Colony's eastern frontier, during a daring rescue of a Xhosa prisoner, the Khoikhoi man shackled to him was killed when the prisoner's rescuers hacked off his hand. On the Xhosa chiefs’ refusal to surrender the ‘murderers’, war was declared. This article examines the etiology of the incident and the ensuing war, taking into account the fr...