The Story of the Zulu Campaign

by Waller Ashe; Edmund Verney Wyatt-Edgell

It was subsequently ascertained that the attacking Zulu force consisted of nine regiments sent from Ulundi—making a force of 23,000—and of Umbelini's mercenaries; together forming a total of not less than 25,000. Tyangwayo was in chief command, whilst Umbelini held the next rank. The latter having retreated in the direction of the Upper Pongolo Drift, was subsequently pursued and killed by a patrol under the command of Captain Prior, of the 80th Regiment. A wounded prisoner of some importance, by name Waishlahla, who was brought into camp on the 2nd, pointed out to Colonel Wood the bodies of Mubalawa and Maheitjesa, sons of Mnyame, killed on the 29th; and this man said that he knew that Mabuna, son of Umbangasita, Makweli, son of Umlandela, Ummensododo, son of Umfoonsa, and Tyangwayo, his brother, were also killed on that day, together with, according to the Zulu estimate, above 3000 of the king's bravest and best men! There is little reason to suppose that these figures are exaggerated; for 1500 bodies lay about the vicinity of the camp on the night of the 29th, though in the morning many were gone.

The sad duty of burying their own dead and the bodies of the enemies occupied the troops nearly the whole of the week following upon the attack upon the Kambula camp. During the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd of April above 800 Zulus were buried, while others were subsequently found in the caves and krantzes near. There were also 326 fire-arms picked up, amongst which were recognized one Snider belonging to the Artillery, and 16 Martini-Henrys belonging to the 24th and 80th Regiments. Lieut. Bright, 90th Light Infantry, Lieut. Nicholson, R.A., Mr. Ferreira, interpreter, seven privates 13th Light Infantry, ten privates 90th Light Infantry, and one colour-sergeant, two Frontier Light Horse, and one of Buller's Horse were interred on the day following the attack, the service being read in the most impressive manner by General Wood. Wounded Zulus were for some days continually brought into the camp; and these men, as soon as they found that their wounds were attended to, and that the soldiers were kind to them, became most communicative. They said that Cetywayo had sent all his available men, with the exception of two of his favourite regiments, retained as a bodyguard. These prisoners also all agreed in setting down the Zulu losses on the 28th and 29th at 3000 men.

When such individual and numerous acts of bravery were exhibited, it seems superfluous to pick out any special cases; but it would be wrong not to particularly mention the name of Captain Woodgate, whose gallantry and sang-froid were the theme of the whole garrison. During the whole of the action, and while carrying orders from the camp to the fort, he was more exposed than any other officer, and on more than one occasion he deliberately risked his life to save wounded men from being assegaied. To Colonel Buller also the same praise must be accorded for his self-devotion at Zlobani and the heroic manner in which he exposed himself in carrying off wounded men from the very midst of the enemy.

The situation being in every way so admirably adapted to military requirements, it was now resolved to make a permanent station at the Kambula Kop; and new works were day by day added to those already completed. Four well-constructed magazines were built in hollow and sheltered spots, yet close to the guns. Each magazine was lined with wooden frames, with splinter-proof timbers to cover the top, while sheeting planks were placed round the sides and passages. These frames were all perpendicular to the length of the passage—that is to say, across its breadth and about two feet apart. Eight feet thickness of earth was placed over the roof of each magazine, while a stout tarpaulin was stretched over the splinter-proofs to guard against the wet. Gabions were sunk to act in the place of cesspools, and receive the drainage, while a small parapet guarded the entrance to the passage, with a small hole through which ammunition was handed out. Twenty men, in relays, were detailed for this work—that is to say, for each magazine—and although they were to a certain extent unskilled labourers, the officers taught them in such an excellent manner that the four magazines were completed in twenty-four hours. The ditches round the fort were so deep that bridges had to be made, part of which was permanent and part movable. Four entrances into the fort were left, seven feet wide, so as to admit the guns and waggons when supplies arrived. These entrances were closed by rifle-proof doors and gates made of strong planks, strengthened by cross-beams, and lined inside with thin sheet iron and raw bullock hides. These hides formed an admirable substitute for sheet iron, as they were quite bullet-proof and not liable to be set on fire. Two more ditch caponnières were also added, to give increased flanking fire. The terreplein of each of these works was sunk, so that the loopholes were within one foot and a half of the level of the ditch. This method had many advantages, and provided for the trick adopted by the Zulus of lying down in the ditches and counterfeiting death, until an opportunity is afforded for rushing at the parapet. A large supply of brushwood was usefully employed to improve the drains under the parapets, which suffered severely from the continued wet weather. During spare hours the men were never idle, and from the brigadier downwards every officer was encouraged to employ his leisure in instructing the men in every species of field-defence. Gabions for revêtements, fascines, hurdles, sandbags, sods, pickets, chevaux-de-frise palisades, and small shell fougasses occupied the surplus hours not devoted to drill, recreation, and rest, and the few engineers belonging to the garrison declared that as pupils the volunteers at this work were beyond compare.

As in the last action it was found that the enemy were enabled to considerably annoy the troops by occupying some neighbouring eminences, the interior works were strengthened with considerable skill. The parapets were raised, extra traverses erected, and the terreplein sunk. The faces of the work were also made more nearly perpendicular to the enemy's possible fire. Shelter-pits for skirmishers were dug in all directions. These trenches being only required upon sudden emergencies were not made large, being only two feet wide by a foot and a half deep, and with a parapet built so as to reach a height of a foot and a half. These gave room and partial shelter to a couple of men, and to each spot the best marksmen were told off. Horse trenches were also constructed, so that these animals could be sheltered from musketry fire. These were twenty-four yards in rear of the line of the infantry trench, and were five feet long, three feet wide at top, and two feet wide at bottom, with ramps, with a slope of one-half at each end. The parapets of these trenches were three feet high, with a thickness of two feet at the top. Half a dozen men could make such a trench in half an hour. These shelter-trenches were not so neatly dressed as the models to be seen at Chatham or Portsmouth, but they were pre-eminently workmanlike. They followed the contour of the rather broken ground, and were so made that cavalry could easily advance over them. At the intervals for this advance each trench overlapped its neighbour.

In contemplation of the removal of the waggons as soon as the advance should be made, roughly-built block-houses, made of contiguous logs placed vertically and quite bullet-proof, were constructed to substitute the shelter afforded by the former. The logs were twelve feet long, and three feet of this were buried in the ground, the buried ends being spiked into transverse beams; roughly-hewn beams formed the roofs, and over these was placed brushwood covered with four feet of earth. Green timber, of which there was an undiminished supply, was used, and, when necessary, this was covered with raw hides to prevent danger from fire. Now, as the enemy had no artillery, and was not likely to understand its employment, even if provided with the guns captured at Isandhlwana, no defence could be more suitable. An ordinary work could, it was found, be often defiladed from a neighbouring height, while a well-made blockhouse, with carefully prepared roof, was, in every case, impregnable to rifle-fire. The plan for the roofs was as follows:—The young trees or branches were placed with the roots and thick ends inwards, while the smaller ends, sharpened and shaved down thin, were allowed to project over the walls of the building till they reached to within three feet of the ground. These boughs, if thin and with smaller branches between them, would not allow the means for climbing on the roof, should the Zulus attempt it, as they would not bear the weight of a crowd of men. In positions where the blockhouse could not be commanded by any neighbouring height, the roof was made flat and surrounded with a parapet of earth, so as to afford a second tier of fire.

Whilst these works were in progression, and some few days after the battles of Zlobani and Kambula, some officers sitting upon a coign of vantage at an elevated part of the fort, suddenly descried three dark figures with shields and assegais coming at a rapid trot towards their southern front, along the hunting-road which leads from the Blood river and the Buffalo. At first they seemed steadily progressing, as if wishing to make a quick journey, but under no apprehension of pursuit. As they moved quickly on they were lost sight of in the bush, and as the surrounding country was made up of wooded krantzes and dark ravines, in which an army might lie concealed, it was not likely that they would be seen again for some time. Away, however, a little to the right of where these men had passed, was quickly seen a larger party, consisting of about a score of savages, evidently in pursuit of the first-named runners. Their shields were flourished aloft, and their assegais waved in triumph as they followed the spoor of the first party, who had evidently taken to the bush as the most effectual way of escaping the keen eyes of their pursuers. Finding no traceable spoor which they could with certainty follow, they became suspicious, and commenced retracing their steps; and while this was being accomplished the three runners were seen to emerge cautiously towards the crest of the left krantz, now holding a good start of the pursuing party. While they came steadily on in the direction of the camp, however, a keen-sighted scout, who had taken the precaution to climb a huge rock which jutted out above the gorge, saw the quarry, and announced his success by discharging his rifle, and waving the assegai in the direction of the fugitives, whom it was now believed were messengers bringing despatches.

The Zulu, it should be borne in mind, is a born athlete; usually until forty or fifty, and rich, he is a spare man, with scarcely an ounce of superfluous flesh about him, and kept in continual training by constant exertion and no excess of food. He can, as a rule, at a moment's notice take a letter or small packet and run his eight or ten miles, or even walk his seventy or eighty, without breaking down. The ground over which the pursued were running was grassy veldt, while that upon which were the pursuers was sprinkled with low thorn-bushes, mixed with rocks and gravel. The pursuing party, however, were evidently the fresher of the two, while the messengers looked like men who were at the tail of a long journey. The foremost party came struggling on until they reached some clumps of thorn-trees, which, affording cover, were taken advantage of to recover breath and observe the enemy's proceedings. The chase was now getting most exciting. Both the chased and the chasers were plainly visible to those in the camp, while the former only could observe their enemies. Noting here and there a footprint, which served to show them that they were on the right track, the Zulus in pursuit dashed down the ravine and some distance beyond where the three had doubled. The whole party went nearly 300 yards before the leaders halted in consequence of finding no spoor, and they then spread out like hounds in a fox cover to find some signs of their quarry.

It was really wonderful, the rapid and dashing manner in which these human bloodhounds strove to hit off the trail, while, having regained their wind, the pursued trio moved on, not in great haste, but quietly and with a considerable amount of care, that they might not be seen by their enemies. For this purpose they now moved with the utmost caution over a ridge, and entered the wooded valley which lay at the foot of the kop, whereon stood the fort, being there completely out of sight of the pursuers, who were still puzzling over the spoor. The messengers—aware that they were encountering a double risk, as they knew that the wood into which they had gone would probably contain Zulu scouts sent to watch the fort, and who might have seen and laid in ambuscade for them—therefore trotted quickly across till they came to a somewhat open plain, with a line of willow-like trees, evidently denoting the banks of a stream. Knowing that the pursuers in rear would be only temporarily puzzled by the loss of spoor, they therefore decided that the least risk would be incurred by making a final rush across the open road. Waiting for a moment to decide for what part of the stream they should make, they took a rapid glance around, and then made a sudden bolt for the plain. Scarcely 200 yards had been crossed when a terrific yell broke out from the pursuers, denoting that the pursued had been discovered by the Zulus in rear, who immediately sent a couple of scouts to the heights, the better to watch which side of the plain the messengers would make for. These scouts at once shouted to the party below, and, joining them, the whole body was quickly in pursuit. The messengers had, however, almost 500 yards' start, and had obtained their "second wind." They knew, therefore, that, if not lamed by a chance shot, they would probably get over the river and under the guns of the fort before they could be overtaken. How or where to cross the river they seemed not to know, as in some places it is deep and wide, and in others shallow, with marshy banks and long weed-like grasses. Here and there, also, the stream bubbles and boils through deep gorges where only a baboon could ascend or descend. Seeing the willow-looking trees, the stout runners fortunately concluded that the water would be deep where they grew, and they wisely chose another part where low bushes prevailed, and where there were indications of a rapid slope in the ground, which would give them shelter in crossing. The pursuers were about 350 yards behind when the runners reached the bank, which they found steep and rocky, the stream itself running rapidly over a stony bed. Although, like most Zulus, these messengers could swim well, they could not swim safely encumbered with a heavy gun, a bunch of assegais, a shield, and a heavy leathern mailbag, nor could they calculate on reaching the opposite bank without being shot at while so encumbered. On examining the bed of the river, they decided that it could be waded, and that if not, drowning was a more preferable death than torture in the king's kraal, which, if found with letters upon them, was sure to be their fate. They instantly decided, therefore, to cross.

Meanwhile those in the camp had not been idle, for half a dozen of Buller's men, known marksmen, were despatched to a point where they could command the drift and catch the pursuing party en flagrant délit if they attempted to follow too closely. A few minutes' interval and a smart canter brought eight rifles in all to a favourable spot, where, unseen by the enemy, they could watch the proceedings of both friend and foe, and materially assist the crossing and escape of the former. Quietly dismounting, and placing two men, both as vedettes and in charge of the horses, the remainder took up position and waited for the dénouement of this somewhat exciting little episode. Not long indeed had they to wait. As the quick-scented harrier changes from scent to view, and gives melodious tongue as the quarry is in sight, so dashed on the pursuing white shields right up to the banks of the stream, and looking for a moment at the troubled waters, seemed to hesitate what course to pursue, imagining perhaps that some ambush was intended. Meanwhile the messengers had effected the crossing in safety, though not without difficulty. Taking up more tightly the straps that bound the mailbags to their naked bodies, and with their rifles in one hand and shields and assegais in the other, they scrambled like cats down the bank, selecting those points where most ripples appeared upon the water, and managed thus to wade to the opposite bank. The depth was in no part greater than to cover them above the waist, although the rush of the stream was so rapid as to render a foothold difficult. As soon as they found themselves all in the water, they linked arms in some peculiar manner and thus opposed a successful barrier to the current, which otherwise, and if taken singly, would have been too much for them. Half a dozen Zulus who had outstripped their comrades were the first to enter the stream in pursuit, which at the point where they took it was not so favourable, and about fifty yards in width.