AFRICANWARSAND WHITEINVADERS
emigrants near the Vaal River, who lost their livestock but saved most of
their skins by lashing their wagons together in a circle to form a laager,
which the Ndebele were unable to penetrate. During 1837, strengthened
by new arrivals from the colony, the emigrants went on the offensivewith
mounted commandos. In January, they destroyed an Ndebele settlement,
killing 400 people and regaining their livestock. In October, a commando
about 330 strong attacked the Ndebele headquarters and sentthe entire
community fleeing northward
across the Limpopo into modern Zim-
babwe, where they eventually carved out a new "Matabeleland"
at the
expense of the Shona inhabirants.P
The emigrants, meanwhile, had tried to organize themselves into a
coherent community. That was not easy.They had left the Cape Colony in a
series of trek parties, each ofwhich was organized by a prestigious man and
consisted of his kinsfolk, neighbors, and dependents. North of the Orange,
those parties tended to amalgamate into larger groups under conspicuous
leaders-Andries
Hendrik Potgieter, Gerrit Maritz, Piet Retief, and Piet
Dys-but
the leaders quarreled and their followers took up their quarrels.
Tensions were exacerbated when some of the men elected Retief as gover-