Mount Moorosi Explained

Mount Moorosi
Other Name:Moorosi's Mountain
Map:Lesotho
Map Relief:yes
Location:Quthing District, Lesotho
Coordinates:-30.2786°N 27.8722°W
Range:Drakensberg

Mount Moorosi (or Moorosi's Mountain) is a mountain in the Drakensberg mountain range on the banks of the Orange River in southern Basutoland (modern Lesotho). It acquired the name Moorosi's Mountain after Moorosi, the Chief of a local tribe, who, after committing acts deemed to hostile to the Cape Colonial administration, fortified himself on the mountain. A Royal Engineer who was posted to the mountain after the siege began stated that: "Moorosi's Mountain is an isolated kopje, rising steeply on the south bank of the Orange River, about 1,500 feet, and connected with the range on the south by a low narrow nek."[1]

For actions during the siege three Victoria Crosses were awarded to British troops: Peter Brown, Edmund Hartley and Robert Scott.[2]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Morosi's Mountain 1879; A Royal Engineer's Report . South African Military History Society . Hulme . J. J. . Journal Vol8 No 3.
  2. Tylden . Geoffrey . 1936 . The capture of Morosi's Mountain, 1879 . Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research . 15 . 208–15 .