Sir Harry Smith's Medal for Gallantry

Sir Harry Smith's Medal for Gallantry
Awarded by Major General Sir Henry George Wakelyn Smith, Bt GCB
Country	Cape of Good Hope
Type	Military decoration for bravery
Eligibility	All ranks
Awarded for	Gallantry in action
Campaign	8th Cape Frontier War
Status	Unofficial
Statistics
Established	1851
First awarded	1851
Total awarded	31
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In the Colonies and former Boer Republics which became the Union of South Africa in 1910, several unofficial military decorations and medals were instituted and awarded during the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Sir Harry Smith's Medal for Gallantry is an unofficial military decoration for bravery, awarded for actions following the siege of Fort Cox in December 1850, at the beginning of the 8th Cape Frontier War. The medal was privately instituted in 1851 by Major General Sir Henry George Wakelyn Smith Bt GCB, at the time the Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Cape of Good Hope.

Fort Cox was situated inland from King William's Town. During the unrest in the Eastern Cape in December 1850, which led to the outbreak of the 8th Cape Frontier War, the longest, costliest and bloodiest of the frontier wars, Cape of Good Hope Governor Sir Harry Smith travelled to the Fort to meet with prominent Xhosa chiefs. Smith's reputation for humiliating treatment of the various chiefs had already fostered a deep, smouldering anger amongst the Xhosa peoples, even though he still believed that they regarded him as their Inkhosi Inkhulu or Supreme Chief.

One of the chiefs, Mgolombane Sandile, paramount chief of the Rharhabe clan, refused to attend the meeting outside the fort on 19 December and was therefore declared as deposed and a fugitive by Smith, who ordered the gathering of some 3,000 Ngqika and their chiefs to capture Sandile and his rebels to demonstrate their own loyalty to the Crown and avoid the fate of those who defied it. This was the last straw and Fort Cox then came under siege from warriors of the Xhosa tribes, led by Chief Sandile.

Fort Cox was not provisioned to withstand a long siege, had no artillery and could only be supplied with water by hazardous expeditions to and from the Keiskamma River far below. Several attempts to relieve the Fort were unsuccessful and Smith, concerned that his being trapped in Fort Cox would affect the Colony's morale and cause the defection of loyal Xhosa tribes, decided to fight his way out. On 31 December 1850, escorted by about 250 men of the Cape Mounted Riflemen, which consisted of Khoisan and Coloured men under white officers, Smith succeeded to get through the Xhosa lines and safely reached King William's Town, after evading an attempt to stop him at Debe Nek. Fort Cox was finally relieved on 31 January 1851.

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