1819 — The Battle of Graham's Town

On April 22, 1819, the Xhosa prophet-warrior Makhanda led some ten thousand warriors in a daylight assault on the British garrison at Graham's Town, one of the largest African offensives of the Cape Frontier Wars. The attack was revenge for seized cattle. A garrison of barely three hundred held, and after the assault the Xhosa were driven back from the town.

Makhanda died escaping Robben Island. Yet his name outlived the battle and the island alike. In 2018, the city was renamed Makhanda in his honor, so the place he once attacked now carries the name of the man who led the charge against it.