History of the Zulu War

by Alexander Wilmot

The transport difficulty.

This was a large army, the most powerful force of Europeans ever engaged in war within South Africa. The occasion was supreme, as the greatest power of the native races had challenged the white man to a combat à l'outrance, and the question simply was whether the Queen or Cetywayo should rule supreme in the southern portion of this continent. Reinforcements were sent out with immense celerity, and landed with the utmost despatch and with neither casualty nor danger. But the delay in moving them was most disappointing. It must have puzzled the Zulus immensely to understand why we were so extraordinarily slow. Five weeks had elapsed since the battle of Ginghelovo without any set engagement with the enemy taking place, and the Press began to grumble. Transport rose to unprecedented rates. Twenty shillings per cwt., or £20 per ton, was charged for the carriage of provisions a distance of fifty-four miles, from D'Urban to Pietermaritzburg. Oxen died in hundreds, and the progress of the battalions of infantry which were marching against an enemy famous for their celerity was most disheartening. The plan of Lord Chelmsford was that of sending on masses of troops, whose impedimenta in the shape of baggage and means of supply was so enormous as to completely cripple their movements. At a subsequent period, after the arrival of Sir Garnet Wolseley, we shall find that officer successfully employing more than 2000 Zulu carriers; but this method, cheap and efficient, does not seem to have been tried by Lord Chelmsford.

To lessen the enormous difficulties of transport, which crushed the efforts of our soldiers, a successful attempt was made to find a landing-place on the Zululand coast. H.M. gunboat Forester was sent on this quest, which was ultimately successful, and Port Durnford was established as a place for landing supplies. This cut off more than a hundred miles of difficult road, and was of immense service to the advancing columns. During May, 1879, the Forester[33] performed important duties in this service, and more than once fired at bands of the enemy near the seashore.

It is impossible to write any chronicle of the movements of General Crealock's column which would be of interest. It crawled along among hundreds of dead oxen killed in dragging its heavy baggage and supplies over bad roads. Enormous expenditure for commissariat and transport services went on, and it was very evident that this war would be waged at frightful cost. The British lion growled in England, and there was an undoubted echo in the colonies.

Position of the forces.

On the 15th of May, the head-quarters of the South African field force, under Major-General Newdigate, was situated on the Buffalo river, near Doornberg. The force comprised:—Right wing of the 17th Lancers; three companies 1-21st Regiment; six companies 58th; N battery, 5th Brigade, Royal Artillery, with six 7-pounders, under Colonel Harness; N Battery, 6th Brigade, with six 9-pounders; Army Service Corps, Army Hospital Corps, Bengaugh's Native Battalion, Natal Pioneers, and Natal Carbineers. Colonel Tatton Browne commanded the Royal Artillery, and Captain Anstey the Royal Engineers. Twelve miles further on, at Conference Hill, was the most advanced post, where Colonel Davies, Grenadier Guards, commanded. The garrison was composed of six companies of the 94th Regiment, Bettington's troop of Natal Horse, a detachment of the Royal Engineers, and Shepstone's Mounted Basutos. Another fort and laager had been erected for their defence, while eight miles further on towards the north-east was Brigadier-General Wood's new camp at Magwechana, close to the Sand Spruit, one of the sources of the White Umvolosi. General Marshall was with the cavalry camp. The experience of Isandhlwana was thoroughly sufficient, and the most complete precautions on all occasions were taken to prevent the possibility of disaster. Forts and fortified positions covered the country, but, nevertheless, there is excellent authority for saying that if a Zulu impi had been ordered to invade, there would have been no difficulty in driving back the weak border guard which lined the Tugela, getting behind the regular forces, and making a rapid destructive raid and an equally rapid retreat.[34] Cetywayo's neglect of his opportunities was more useful in protecting Natal than the immense armed force which, with infinite toil and a slowness almost passing description, moved on towards Ulundi. Loud were the public outcries at the transport break-down and the tardiness of operations. General Newdigate's magnificent force seemed paralyzed, and the difficulties of grass for horses and supplies for troops en route was the theme of every journal and the excuse for a delay which was as costly as it was disappointing.

On the 17th of May, a road was made in the direction of Landman's Drift, and a few days afterwards all the cavalry proceeded to Rorke's Drift, and thence to Isandhlwana, for the purpose of burying the dead. It was certainly full time to perform this duty. One of the disgraceful occurrences or sad consequences of the Zulu war is the fact, which cannot be slurred over without comment, that the bodies of our brave men who fell at Isandhlwana remained unburied for more than four months. Two regiments of Dragoon Guards, with the Lancers and numerous other troops, moved on with alacrity to perform the honourable task. The force advanced in line, échelon, or column of squadrons, with extensive advance and rear guards, as well as flankers. At night the men bivouacked in groups of twelve, with their saddles turned inwards and placed in a circle. At last they looked down from the Biggarsberg upon Rorke's Drift and the Isandhlwana mountain in the distance. One regiment of the Lancers and one of the Dragoon Guards, as well as half the Natal Carbineers, swept the country in the neighbourhood. The smoke of blazing huts rose up like burnt-offerings from the hill-altars of Zululand. The signal-fires of the savages helped to light up the country at night, and the British were again on the field where Cetywayo had gained his first and last victory. General Marshall, with Dragoons, Lancers, irregular horse, police, and artillery, crossed the river at daybreak, and advanced in open order. But my readers will prefer to read an account of what was seen and done at Isandhlwana from the pen of a soldier who was there. The correspondent of the Times of Natal writes:—

Troops marching.

"We pushed on very steadily and carefully, and at half-past nine our advance-guard was on the ridge overlooking the valley beyond Isandhlwana. There it lay, a magnificent stretch of country, with undulating plains for miles, only broken by dongas and small rises, and bordered by high hills on each side. Who would have thought, looking down on the quiet scene, that it had witnessed one of the most terrific fights and disasters of modern times? The grass had grown up over the whole site of what had once been our camp, and was thickly intermixed with mealie stalks and oat hay, green and growing yet. Among these lay the bodies of our poor soldiers, scattered about in all postures, and in all stages of decay; while the positions of our tents were indicated by the broken remains of boxes, trunks, tins of preserved meats, remnants of the tents themselves, and masses of disordered papers, books, and letters, etc., etc. The only thing, however, that at once drew the attention of a casual observer was the broken remains of waggons and the skeletons of horses and oxen. Everything else was hidden at first sight, and required searching for to be noticed. One thing we had observed coming along the road was the fresh spoor of a waggon or two, and we conjectured that it had been recently used in conveying crops from Sirayo's valley away into the strongholds further inland. The spoor of two mounted Kafirs, and one on foot, was also traced by the scouts fresh that morning; one of the horses was shod all round, and these men were evidently of the party left by the enemy to watch the coming of our troops. For some time after our arrival, and while preparations were being actively carried out to harness the horses to the best waggons, all the men except those on vedette or other duty were allowed to wander over the scene of the disaster. The Carbineers, under Captain Shepstone, made immediately for their camp, and tried to find any relics of their dead brethren. Nothing of any consequence was, however, found near their lines; but upon searching over the ground where the bodies of some of them had been seen on the night after Isandhlwana, Captain Shepstone came upon the bodies of Colonel Durnford, Lieutenant Scott, and nearly all the Carbineers, except London and Bullock, and those few who were killed along the fugitive path. Poor Durnford was easily recognizable, and he had on his mess waistcoat, from the pocket of which Shepstone took a small pocket-knife with his name on it. Two rings were also taken, and are with the knife to be sent home in memoriam to the colonel's father. Durrant Scott lay partially hidden under a broken piece of a waggon, and had evidently not been mutilated or touched after his death. He had his patrol jacket on, buttoned across, and although the rest of the body was only a skeleton, yet, strange to say, the face was like in life, all the hair being still on, and the skin strangely parched and dried up, although perfect. Both these bodies lay right in the midst of the rest of the young colonists who fell gallantly in defence of their country; and, judging from the position in which they all were, they must have made one last gallant stand, and have been killed altogether. None of these so found had attempted to run, but had stuck together in life as we found them in death. Knowing all of them well, and how they did their duty, I felt it almost impossible to examine any, and had to leave the scene for another one. I can only add that Durnford's body was wrapped in canvas and buried in a kind of waterwash, while all the others were covered over with stones, etc., and their names written in pencil on wood or a stone close by them.

Isandhlwana revisited.