Dictionary of Battles / From the Earliest Date to the Present Time

by Thomas Benfield Harbottle

Isandhlwana (Zulu War).

Fought January 22, 1879, when six companies of the 24th Regiment, with two guns and a small force of Natal volunteers, under Colonel Durnford, were overwhelmed and massacred by the Zulus, under Matyana. Of the regulars, 26 officers and 600 men were killed, in addition to 24 officers, and a large number of men in the Colonial force.