Due in part to overcrowding, a civil war broke out between the amaNgqika (Ngqika Xhosa) and the amaGcaleka (Gcaleka Xhosa).
As the Cape had signed a defence treaty with Ngqika, it was legally required to respond to Ngqika’s request for military assistance in 1818.
Stockenström was thus ordered to lead his commando, as an ally of Ngqika, against Ndlambe’s amaGcaleka.

After swiftly intercepting and defeating the Gcaleka army, he withdrew his commando and stationed his Graaff-Reinet burghers to defend the left flank at the Kat River.
However, after the Cape withdrawal, the amaGcaleka regrouped in 1819 and this time invaded the Cape Colony itself, attacking Grahamstown.

Stockenström thus took to the field again.
He was first ordered to position his Graaff-Reinet commando to meet any attack across the northern section of the frontier.
Then while the Cape, Stellenbosch and Swellendam commandos advanced against the main amaGcaleka army, Stockenström’s Graaff-Reinet commando was ordered to clear insurgents from the dense bush in the Fish River area – previously regarded as impenetrable.
After successfully implementing this supposedly impossible campaign, Stockenström was promoted to captain in the Cape Regiment.

The war ended in October 1819, when Gcaleka agreed to recognise Ngqika’s independent leadership of the Western Xhosa, and the area between the Keiskamma and Fish rivers was declared a neutral zone, closed off from both black and white settlement.

From about this period, Stockenström’s relationship with Governor Lord Charles Somerset declined, in part because of his “outspoken criticism of Somerset’s frontier policy or his refusal to allow the settlement of the 1820 Settlers in his district and his opposition to their location on the frontier”, Duminy suggests, and in part because of a quarrel with the Governor’s son, Col.
Henry Somerset.
In addition, Stockenström was friendly with Acting Governor Sir Rufane Donkin, and since Grahamstown editor Robert Godlonton was a staunch supporter of Col.
Somerset, this “meant that the remainder of his public career was characterized by personal and political feuds”.

His military career ended in July 1820 when he was transferred to the Corsican Rangers.

The Graaff-Reinet district’s involvement with the frontier was also reduced by the creation in 1821 of the separate district of Albany (out of Uitenhage) and in 1826 of the district of Somerset East (out of Graaff-Reinet).
However Stockenström remained landdrost until the reform of 1828 which abolished his office.

In his final year as landdrost, he played a significant role in the Cape by lobbying for Ordinance 50 (1828) to grant the right to own land to the Khoikhoi and all other free black inhabitants of the Cape.
A project that led to his later establishing of the Kat River Khoi Settlement.
Due in part to overcrowding, a civil war broke out between the amaNgqika (Ngqika Xhosa) and the amaGcaleka (Gcaleka Xhosa). As the Cape had signed a defence treaty with Ngqika, it was legally required to respond to Ngqika’s request for military assistance in 1818. Stockenström was thus ordered to lead his commando, as an ally of Ngqika, against Ndlambe’s amaGcaleka.
After swiftly intercepting and defeating the Gcaleka army, he withdrew his commando and stationed his Graaff-Reinet burghers to defend the left flank at the Kat River. However, after the Cape withdrawal, the amaGcaleka regrouped in 1819 and this time invaded the Cape Colony itself, attacking Grahamstown.
Stockenström thus took to the field again. He was first ordered to position his Graaff-Reinet commando to meet any attack across the northern section of the frontier. Then while the Cape, Stellenbosch and Swellendam commandos advanced against the main amaGcaleka army, Stockenström’s Graaff-Reinet commando was ordered to clear insurgents from the dense bush in the Fish River area – previously regarded as impenetrable. After successfully implementing this supposedly impossible campaign, Stockenström was promoted to captain in the Cape Regiment.
The war ended in October 1819, when Gcaleka agreed to recognise Ngqika’s independent leadership of the Western Xhosa, and the area between the Keiskamma and Fish rivers was declared a neutral zone, closed off from both black and white settlement.
From about this period, Stockenström’s relationship with Governor Lord Charles Somerset declined, in part because of his “outspoken criticism of Somerset’s frontier policy or his refusal to allow the settlement of the 1820 Settlers in his district and his opposition to their location on the frontier”, Duminy suggests, and in part because of a quarrel with the Governor’s son, Col. Henry Somerset. In addition, Stockenström was friendly with Acting Governor Sir Rufane Donkin, and since Grahamstown editor Robert Godlonton was a staunch supporter of Col. Somerset, this “meant that the remainder of his public career was characterized by personal and political feuds”.
His military career ended in July 1820 when he was transferred to the Corsican Rangers.
The Graaff-Reinet district’s involvement with the frontier was also reduced by the creation in 1821 of the separate district of Albany (out of Uitenhage) and in 1826 of the district of Somerset East (out of Graaff-Reinet). However Stockenström remained landdrost until the reform of 1828 which abolished his office.
In his final year as landdrost, he played a significant role in the Cape by lobbying for Ordinance 50 (1828) to grant the right to own land to the Khoikhoi and all other free black inhabitants of the Cape. A project that led to his later establishing of the Kat River Khoi Settlement.
Andries Stockenström