CHIEF Mashayamombe showed prospector Henry Hartley a rich reef of gold on the northern bank of the Mupfure River and he became the first Englishman to be shown gold in the country. He broke the news to Thomas Baines and German explorer Carl Mauch. The Natal Mercury wrote: “So the question of the ancient Ophir is at last settled … we are all in a high state of excitement.” Several years after the discovery in 1865, Rhodes despatched the Pioneer Column in 1890 which was in essence a controlled gold rush. Every member was promised 16 gold mining claims. Once they got to Salisbury on September 12 1890, they rushed to Mashaymombe’s ‘Hartley Hills’ to stake their claims. A leading pioneer confirms this gold rush: “We were seized with the gold fever, and immediately after disbandment, we rushed off on horseback, in wagons or with donkeys to the ‘Hartley Hills’ in a mad rush to stake out fortunes in gold properties.” When eventually the Mashayamombe people ran away or refused to work for the miners, the Native Commissioner for Hartley, David Moony, set up an office at Muzhuzha, one of Mashaymombe’s headmen, to press-gang them to work on the mines. One day Moony confronted Muzhuzha on why he was not sending men to the mines. Moony beat up Muzhuzha in front of his subjects. The angry people killed Moony. Two other white men, John Stunt and A. Shell, came looking for Moony. They were bound and thrown into the Mupfure River. The killing of the three white men signalled the start of the First Chimurenga in Mashonaland. On June 21 1896, Captain J.F. Taylor was sent to attack Mashayamombe. They were repulsed and they retreated. Then a force from Salisbury under Captain P.A. Turner burned Chifamba and Muchena’s villages. But their advance was halted as they entered Mashaymombe’s stronghold on the banks of Mupfure. Turner fled back to Salisbury. Mashayamombe pursued them and Turner was killed in flight. Mashayamombe’s area was rid of settlers except a small number at Hartley Hills. He laid siege to this group at Hartley Hills. Rhodes sent a force to rescue the miners. Mashayamombe broke his siege and went back to his fortress along the Mupfure River. “In April 1896, Lt. Colonel Edwin Alderson of the Queen’s West Kent Regiment was sent to Rhodesia commanding four companies of mounted infantry to deal decisively with Mashayamombe. Lt Alderson had at his disposal 622 men, 311 of them regular imperial troops. Several accounts talk of another reinforcement under Major A.V. Turner who joined Lt Alderson as between 180 and 200. Thus the total troop complement was in excess of 1 000. McGregor, who was involved in the fighting, said: “My company saw very little of the other troops as the front of the position was extensive and intervening hillocks divided us into separate units. As we slithered down the sloping ground, volleys fired in rapid succession greeted us. In one place the rebels had posted themselves under the river’s original bed and were firing at us between the rocks. The rally call now sounding, we postponed our advance and returned to camp for the night… “The next day it was our turn to guard the camp, so I know little of the engagement which took place, but the firing was heavy and incessant. When the force returned at sunset we found that our own casualties were on the increase. “The accounts given of the days’ work varied, but I concluded that in spite of all possible efforts it was unpredictable to dislodge the rebels from their caves. “On the third day, it was our turn again and we soon arrived at the river’s bank. A large kraal showed on the crest of the rocks opposite and we decided to assault it when a muffled report came followed by a cry ‘Coryndon’s shot’. Coryndon, a young fellow had been shot through the head as he was passing the mouth of a cave. “We sent for dynamite. Volunteers were called, Lt Sauthen (M.I.) with corporal Tamett of the explosive party. They had only gone a quarter of a mile when shots were fired at them from four different directions. Our friends concentrated on one cave, but the rebels were now making it difficult and all idea of getting through was abandoned and the little party returned.” The battle raged for three days, but the Pioneers could not dislodge Mashayamombe. The biggest force to fight the war was at Mashayamombe, but they could not defeat him. McGregor says: “After burying our dead with full military honours we left the district.” Mashayamombe actually settled down when the rains came to plant his fields. Then Rhodes ordered that the imperial troops be replaced by the police. The BSAP went and established a fort at Mashayamombe’s kraal and named it Fort Martins. Mashayamombe’s crops were raided and destroyed. Mashayamombe attacked Fort Martin, but failed to capture it. Then the Pioneers sent overtures for a truce to buy time while they organised another attack. They came back the following month. Mashayamombe met his death in this battle and his forces eventually succumbed. What is shocking is how this enormous fight during the First Chimurenga went unreported and why so few people in the country know who Mashayamombe was to celebrate his feat.