The immense significance of guns in Basuto society, compounded with past grievances, resulted in a rebellion led by chiefs Lerotholi and Masopha, which erupted on 13 September 1880.

Heavily outnumbered and stretched thin by the simultaneous outbreak of other revolts, the Cape Colonial Forces failed to achieve a decisive military victory.

The Cape's subsequent efforts to enforce disarmament and re-establish the rule of law in Basutoland met with stiff resistance from Masopha and his supporters.

[17] In April 1878, the colonial authorities dispatched 80 African policemen and 700 Basuto warriors to apprehend Morosi's son Doda; the dispute was resolved peacefully.

[18] Doda was finally imprisoned after being implicated in horse theft, his subsequent escape from captivity and Morosi's refusal to hand him over impelled Cape Colony prime minister Sir Gordon Sprigg to authorize the forced disarmament of the Baphuthi.

Austen ordered Letsie I to assist the Cape in the campaign, threatening to hand over parts of Quthing to white settlers and establish garrisons of colonial troops in Basutoland.

[16][19] In 1878, the Cape Parliament had passed the Peace Preservation Act, which allowed for the confiscation of the firearms of the African population in exchange for a monetary compensation.

[23] Many had worked in railway construction and the diamond mines in Griqualand West with the express purpose of purchasing modern breech-loading and smoothbore rifles.

The delegation argued that the annexation was a violation of prior agreements between Moshoeshoe and Wodehouse, while disarmament was unnecessary since the Basuto remained loyal to the Cape.

White traders abandoned Basutoland, and Basuto loyalists fled to the magistracies for protection as armed bands roamed freely in the region.

[29][30] Sprigg urged Letsie I to negotiate Masopha's unconditional surrender, until a force of Cape Mounted Riflemen (CMR) could arrive to assist him.

Letsie and his armed retinue, returned to their village on 19 August after several days of negotiations, fearing that they would be ambushed if they remained outside Thaba Bosiu any longer.

Letsie I then held another pitso—under Sprigg's new terms the rebel chiefs were to appear in court where they would receive a token fine, pledge to compensate those whose property they had seized, and comply with the gun regulations.

[25] On 13 September 1880, a 212-man unit of Cape Mounted Riflemen under Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Carrington crossed into Basutoland in the vicinity of Wepener in order to reinforce the isolated magistracy at Mafeteng.

[25] The heavy casualties suffered by the Basuto during their frontal assaults caused them to increasingly adopt the tactics of the Boer Commando; employing ambushes and defending fortified positions.

While the Basuto remained inferior marksmen in comparison to their opponents, the quality and the quantity of the arms at their disposal had increased considerably since the Boer wars.

In Griqualand East, Charles Brownlee reported that the Basuto clans residing south of Drakensberg had been incited to revolt by the rebels in Basutoland on 4 October.

Some tribes feared disarmament, others opposed the continuous erosion of traditional power structures, while others believed that merely by killing the local white population, colonial rule would disappear.

[34] Frere was recalled to Britain and Major General Henry Hugh Clifford, who had temporarily succeeded him, opposed both the war and Sprigg's policies.

[33] Clarke was aiming to relieve Mafeteng, whose garrison was forced to exchange messages written in Greek, since some Basuto chiefs spoke both English and French.

[46] The battle at Qalabane demoralized the Cape Mounted Yeomanry, which had previously successfully repulsed much larger bodies of enemy troops, but the Basuto hailed the clash as a great victory.

[49] Letsie I officially remained loyal to the Cape, while tacitly supporting the rebellion by confiscating land from Basuto loyalists and accepting Austen's severed head as a peace offering from Transkeian chief Tlokwa.

Basuto loyalist leaders like Jonathan Molapo surrendered their weapons on Letsie's orders so as to maintain control of the country in case the rebels were defeated.

Fearing that Free State burghers might defect to the South African Republic, Cape authorities refused to allow new Boer volunteers to join the Basutoland campaign.

On 9 May 1881, Thomas Charles Scanlen replaced Sprigg as prime minister, while Basutophile Jacobus Wilhelmus Sauer was appointed as the new Secretary for Native Affairs.

[56] Masopha demanded to be granted almost arbitrary power, refusing to pay his share of the hut tax and forbidding the return of the local magistrate.

Robinson then set 15 March as the new deadline for the enforcement of the Award, threatening to confiscate land from the chiefs failing to abide to it and to redistribute Quthing District to white volunteers who fought in the war.

[66] A month later, a number of Basuto chiefs including Masopha, failed to appear at a pitso called by Orpen's successor Matt Blyth, thus rejecting Scanlen's new proposal for semi-autonomous rule.

Facing continued diplomatic protests from the Free State and unable to enforce the law in Basutoland, the Cape Parliament passed the Disannexation Act in September 1883.

The Basuto retained their guns, prevented the alienation of their land to white settlement and thwarted the absorption of their country by the Free State, which would have inevitably occurred had they gained complete independence.