Sandile was born with one leg shorter than the other, which made it difficult for him to walk, but he nevertheless played an important role in the Frontier Wars.

The Xhosa nation had long been divided between the eastern Gcaleka (ruled at the time by Sarhili) and Sandile's Rharhabe to the west.

However there was great agitation via the Graham's Town Journal, of Eastern Cape settlers who wanted to annexe and settle this territory.

In addition to the regular British columns, the war involved several groups of mixed "Burgher forces", comprising mainly Khoi, Fengu and Boer Commandos, who were recruited locally to fight on the colonial side under their leader Andries Stockenstrom.

At one point, violence flared up again after Ngqika tribesmen supposedly stole four goats from the neighbouring Kat River Settlement.

Sandile gained considerable respect for successfully eluding the British during their intensive sweeps of the Amatola forests, in spite of his physical disability.

On 23 December 1847, the Keiskamma to upper Kei region was annexed as the British Kaffraria Colony, with King William's Town as capital.

The Xhosa forces advanced into the colony and British Kaffraria erupted in a massive uprising in December 1850, joined by half-Khoi, half-Xhosa chief Hermanus Matroos, and by large numbers of the Kat River Khoikhoi.

Similarly, on January 7, Hermanus and his supporters launched an offensive on the town of Fort Beaufort, which was defended by a small detachment of troops and local volunteers.

They expelled the remainder of Hermanus' rebel forces (now under the command of Willem Uithaalder) from Fort Armstrong, and drove them west toward the Amatola Mountains.

Insurgents led by Sandile's brother Maqoma established themselves in the forested Water Kloof, and held out for a considerable time in this stronghold.

Following the cessation of hostilities, the Xhosa, in desperation, turned to the millennialist movement (1856–1858) of the Prophetess Nongqawuse, which began in neighbouring Transkei 1856, and led them to destroy their own means of subsistence in the belief that it would bring about salvation by supernatural spirits.

While the ensuing famine effected primarily the Gcaleka on the other side of the Kei, it also caused hardship among Sandile's people, and a wave of impoverished refugees.

A series of devastating droughts across the Transkei began to place severe strain on the relative peace which had prevailed for the previous few decades.

The Cape Colony was swiftly pulled into the conflict as they were traditional allies of the Fengu, and the British Governor got involved with the intention of using the war as a pretext to annex the final independent Xhosa state, Gcalekaland.

Born about 1820 Killed in the Ninth Kaffir War 1877/1878 and buried here on 9.6.1878 Recent excavations - overseen by the local Xhosa community - have confirmed the body's identity and dispelled centuries-old rumours that Sandile was posthumously decapitated.