diff --git a/src/animationFactory.js b/src/animationFactory.js
index 01ffea1d..0c47fe94 100644
--- a/src/animationFactory.js
+++ b/src/animationFactory.js
@@ -109,8 +109,13 @@ AnimationFactory.prototype.rebaseHighlightPart = function(animationQueue, rebase
   var slowTime = fullTime * 2.0;
 
   // we want to highlight all the old commits
-  var oldCommits = rebaseResponse.toRebaseArray;//.reverse();
+  var oldCommits = rebaseResponse.toRebaseArray;
+  // we are either highlighting to a visBranch or a visNode
   var visBranch = rebaseResponse.destinationBranch.get('visBranch');
+  if (!visBranch) {
+    // in the case where we rebase onto a commit
+    visBranch = rebaseResponse.destinationBranch.get('visNode');
+  }
 
   _.each(oldCommits, function(oldCommit) {
     var visNode = oldCommit.get('visNode');
diff --git a/src/git.js b/src/git.js
index a00f781f..590e82b6 100644
--- a/src/git.js
+++ b/src/git.js
@@ -736,11 +736,12 @@ GitEngine.prototype.rebaseStarter = function() {
 
 GitEngine.prototype.rebase = function(targetSource, currentLocation) {
   var targetObj = this.resolveID(targetSource);
+  /*
   if (targetObj.get('type') !== 'branch') {
     throw new GitError({
       msg: 'Only rebase onto branches! Not individual commits'
     });
-  }
+  }*/
 
   // first some conditions
   if (this.isUpstreamOf(targetSource, currentLocation)) {
diff --git a/src/tree.js b/src/tree.js
index 6f9cb7a1..710696a1 100644
--- a/src/tree.js
+++ b/src/tree.js
@@ -42,6 +42,10 @@ var VisBranch = VisBase.extend({
     }
   },
 
+  getFill: function() {
+    return this.get('fill');
+  },
+
   getID: function() {
     return this.get('branch').get('id');
   },
@@ -505,9 +509,9 @@ var VisNode = VisBase.extend({
     };
   },
 
-  highlightTo: function(branch, speed, easing) {
+  highlightTo: function(visObj, speed, easing) {
     // a small function to highlight the color of a node for demonstration purposes
-    var color = branch.get('fill');
+    var color = visObj.get('fill');
 
     var attr = {
       circle: {