THE ZULU WAR.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1592, 27 March 1879, Page 3

THE ZULU WAR.

particulars of the disaster at boree’s DRIFT. By the John Elder Cape papers to the 22nd February were received in Melbourne. The following account of the recent disastrous conflicts in Zululand is condensed from the letters of the war correspondent of the “ Natal Witness ’’ : It was at this part of the day, viz., about half-past 12 p.m., that a suspicion that something was going on in the camp first struck soma of us. Mr Longcast, interpreter to the Lieutenant-General, learned from one of

the prisoners that on immense array was expected from the King’s that day, numbering, it was estimated by those who knew the regiments named, 20,0*00 or 25,000 men. He was employed in cross-examining some of the other prisoners, when suddenly ho and those standing round heard the distinct report of big guns in the direction of the camp, and the Kaffirs about said, “ Do you hear that P There is fighting going on in camp!” This was at once reported to the General, who was by this time some way down the hill, making for the spot near the Araange stream, where the mounted police and Carbineers were off-saddled. He only stopped by them for a second or two, and then moved on towards the lower part of the Amange, where the road crosses, where he was going to select a spot for the camp. While doing so, however, a native on horseback, who had just galloped down from the opposite ridge where the camp could bo seen, began to halloo, and on a staff officer who spoke the language going up to him, he said that an attack was taking place on the camp—that he could see heavy firing and hear big guns. On this being reported to Lord Chelmsford, he at once galloped up to the top of the hill »s fa"t as possible, and on arriving at the crest of the hill every glass was at once levelled at the camp. All, however, seemed quiet; the sun was shining brightly on the white tents 5 no sound of firing could be heard; and, though bodies of men could be seen moving about, yet they were naturally put down as some of their own troops. Tins was at 1.45 p.m., and not the faintest suspicion of any disaster had then crossed our minds. We believed an attack had been made on the camp and had been repulsed, as those who knew Lord Chelmsford’s disposition for defending it had every reason to beiievd. Some little time was passed on this ridge, and it was not until a quarter to 3 that Lord Chelmsford turned his horse’s il2 a d campwards, When we had been at the head of the valley on the left it had been decided that the head-quarters’ camp should move to the spot at the Amange stream, but it, is likely that anxiety to hear what the attack on the camp had really been induced the General to return to it in person. The Carbineers and mounted infantry accompanied him, and the l-24th, the four guns, and the mounted police remained with the 2-3rd N.N.C, to form the new camp. No incident occurred worthy of note during the first miles. We certainly noticed that some of the tents had disappeared, but supposed they had been struck in accordance with the orders given in the morning, and as yet unaltered. No vestige of suspicion of the real truth had as yet entered our minds. When about four miles from the camp we fell in with the N.N.C , which had been ordered to return so many hours previously, but. which, seeing that the camp was attacked by a force much superior in numbers, had wisely halted. Prom it we received no information of which wo were not already aware. About half-an-hour afterwards we were met by a solitary horseman coming at a footpace from the direction of the camp, who, as he came nearer, was recognised as Commandant Lonsdale, whom we knew to have ridden on. It is little exaggeration to say that those who heard him tell the General —“ The camp is in the possession of the enemy, sir !” will not soon forgot it. His account of his own adventures is also one of the most stirring of the many rumors and so-called histories with which we have been inundated, and possesses the great advantage of undoubted truth. Commandant Lonsdale was quietly returning to camp—he had been ill —was tired, and was slowly jogging along with the sort of lazy perseverance characteristic of a tired traveller. He had crossed the small waterwash to the south of the camp, when his attention was attracted by a bullet passing rather close to him, and on looking up he saw a blacktnan, who had evidently just fired. The real truth was of course far from his mind, and he merely thought it was one of his own contingent carelessly firing off his rifle, and purstied hifi way. To some extent the incident seems fortunately to have woke him up, and although he saw what seemed to be our own redcoats sitting in groups in and around the tents, he kept hie eyes open, and when absolutely within ten yards of the tents he saw a great black Zulu come out of one with a bloody assegai in his hand. This made him look about more closely, and he saw that black men, and black men only, were the wearers of our redcoats. The truth dished on him —he could read the scowl of hatred on every face, but his self-pos-session does not seem to have failed him, for quietly turning his pony round, he galloped off before the enemy wore aware of his intention. A hundred and fifty shots are said to have been fired at him as he did so, but by the mercy of Providence he escaped, and was thus enabled to warn the General, and so save his life and the lives of those with him. Undoubtedly, had such warning not been given, Lord Chelmsford, accompanied by his staff, and the troops with him, would have walked into the skilful trap thus laid, and, under such circumstances, few would have escaped. As it was, although those who watched men’s faces could have seen that something very much out of the common had happened, the necessary measures which the occasion called for were taken without delay or hesitation. Major Gossett, AD.O., was sent to call up Colonel Glyn and the remainder of the troops. The 1 3rd N.N.C. were at once extended in lino, with the mounted infantry and Carbineers respectively on the right and left banks, the General and his staff occupying the centre of two native battalions, and the march forward was resumed without delay. When we were about three miles from the camp the General ordered the troops to halt in a watercourse, on the further side of which was the last ridge which concealed their advance from those holding the camp. This measure was evidently absolutely necessary, as without doubt the force that had been able to carry the camp would make but small ado with the native contingent 1000 strong, and the few mounted men, We wore forced to wait for our supports. A weary time it was, Waiting, waiting, every man looking at his neighbour, and wondering what the end might be. Meantime the mounted men had been ordered to send pickets forward to ascertain what was going on, and the contradictory reports they brought in added to the general uncertainty. An hour and a half must at least have passed in this way, when the General ordered Colonel Russell to go forward with the mounted infantry, and ascertain their numbers beyond a doubt. He did so, and in a short halfhour returned. Matters were as bad to the full as represented. The entire camp was swarming with Zulus like a disturbed antheap with ants. Many of the tents wore burning, and the numbers estimated as holding the road, our only outlet to Natal, were put down as at least 7000 men. Under such circumstances there was only one thing to be done, viz., to wait for our supports, and then cut our way through the enemy, and Lord Chelmsford and his advisers decided at once on this course. Tardily, as it then seemed to us, Colonel Glyn, the l-24th, the guns, the police, and the 2-3rd Natal Native Contingent, made their appearance, and then, without doubt or hesitation, Lord Chelmsford placed his men in battle order and commenced his march on the camp. He first spoke to the l-24th, telling them that the camp had been taken in our absence, that the enemy held it in great force, and that he depended on them to re-take it and re-open our communications. His speech, short and pithy, was received with cheers, and there could be no doubt that the men meant what the cheer implied, and intended to conquer or die. A few hours after this the camp was retaken.

It appears that very soon after our departure bodies of the enemy wore reported to our left, and about G a.m. a company of the N.N.C. was ordered to scout in that direction. There seems to have been nothing of any consequence for a couple of hours beyord reconnoitering towards the left, which only resulted up to 9 a.m. in discovering small bodies of the enemy. At that hour, however, an officer of the N.N C. returned, and reported that the Zulus were in immense force, and advancing, driving the pickets and scouts before them. By this time Colonel Durnford, E E,, with 300 mounted natives and a rocket battery under Captain Russell, R.A., had arrived from Eorke's Drift, making up the force in camp to, I believe,

Bome 700 whites and 600 blacks. In round numbers these consisted of some 335 men of the l-24th, 90 men of the 2-24th, 80 artillerymen, 30 Carbineers, 35 mounted police, 35 mounted infantry, and some 20 Buffalo Border Guard and Newcastle Bides. This estimate is rather under the mark than over it, and does not include the numerous noncombatants always to be found in n camp. As soon as it was understood that the Zulus were advancing in force, the soldiers who had been sent out as a road party were recalled, and Colonel Durnford’s mounted men were divided into three bodies, one being sent up the hill to the left, one on the left front, and one back by the waggon road, round the Srndhlwana hill. Those sent out to the left became almost immediately engaged, and firing was soon after heard all along the crest of the hill. At this period of the day all the troops were drawn up alongside of the guns, on the left of the Native Contingent Camp, facing the hill. At about 10 o'clock Colonel Durnford’s mounted men reappeared on the crest of the hill, closely followed by the Zulus, whoare described as swarming oyer the centre ridge like bees. A company of the l-24th was now ordered to advance on to the eastern neck of the Sandhlwana-hill, whore it joined the ridge on which the Zulus were, and it also at once came into action with the right wing of the enemy, which was advancing along the north side of the Sandhlwana, preparatory to outflanking the camp on the right. The mounted natives who had been forced to retire also supported this company. Meanwhile the Zulu left was being rapidly pushed forward, driving some of Colonel Durnford’s men before it, in spite the heavy artillery fire which was opened off it and on the more slowly advancing centre. The infantry now came into action all along onr line, and from every account their fire seems to have been steady and rapid. The enemy fell in hundreds, mowed down by the Martini-nwi 7J-, but Bti, l cam ®°“ . !a appa ' , rently undiminished numnero. Nothing seems to hare deterred them. Ab rank ati?r rank of the foremost fell, others pressed forward steadily and quickly. They do not appear to have made much use of their guns, but to hate depended, on their numbers to bring them at last within such distance of our men that they could use their assegais. All Colonel Durnford’s mounted men seem by this time to have joined those defending the camp, and the company of the 24th which had been sent up to the neck had retired ; but it was cut off by the Zulu centre, and never rejoined the rest. Young and old, regulars and volunteers; alike fought as gallantly as ever British soldiers did side by side* It would bo as invidious as possible to select names to mention where all were alike brave, but I cannotlpass over the cool gallant conduct of the colonial lads, some of them mere boys, who defended the right. Every account agrees in that, whatever else it differs in, and whatever comfort there is for those who have to mourn in knowing of the gallant behaviour of these boys is theirs without stint. I cannot learn that the ammunition ran short. _lt may have in individual instances, but I think the end came too soon for it to have done so in the majority of cases. As soon as the Zulu main body saw that its wings wore approaching each other it rushed forward with the afisegai, and despite the heavy fire it encountered bore down all opposition by sheer weight of numbers. A scene of utter confusion now seems to have occurred • horse and foot, black and white, Zulu and English, all in a struggling mass, making gradually through the camp towards the road where the Zulu right already closed the way of escape. What happened during that half-hour even those who lived to tell can remember but little. Every man who had a horse attempted to escape towards the river; those who had none died where they stood ; but even to mounted men escape was all but impossible. The country was rugged, broken, and covered with boulders and water washes ; a country in fact over which the active Zulus could run as fast if not faster than horses. Then in front was the Buffalo, which had to be crossed where no ford was, and where many a brave man who had so far made his escape succumbed. Many were drowned, many were assegaid, a few shot. And so the pursuit went on, even into Natal. Not a few died even after the colonial side had been gained, for many lost their horses and arms in the river even when they succeeded in crossing in person. Dawn had hardly made its appearance on the morning of the 23rd ere the troops were again in motion. We marched steadily forward to Rorke’s Drift, the smoke rising from the missionaries’ house on the other side suggesting to us further disaster. As, however, wo neared the river, men could be seen manning the walls of an old ruin next to the building used as a commissariat store, some of them waving coats, &c., and Colonel Bussell, with the mounted infantry, was ordered to ford the river and go straight up to them. Our belief in Zulu cunning had by this time got so strong that it was not until the mounted men reached the building, and were received with true English cheers, that we were fully persuaded it was not a trick. The fact that the punt ropes were untouched also proved to us that the Zulus could not have had everything their own way, and it was with anxiety to reach our men and hear their news that we watched the Carbineers, who had crossed at the ford, cast off the ropes and prepare to tug us over. Little time was occupied in so doing, or in reaching the commissariat store, and the cheers which burst forth from our men as the General cantered up and said—“ Thank you all very much for your gallant defence,” were pleasant to hear. A gallant defence it indeed had been eighty men ten of whom were sick in hospital, had beaten off and thoroughly defeated some 3000 Zulus Hushed with their late victory. They had hardly had half an hour’s warning during which to make what preparations were possible for defending an extremely weak position. Fortunately there were plenty of sacks of mealies, &c., to be had, and temporary fortifications were rapidly constructed with them. From 3 a.m. to 5 a.m, the Zulus camo on again and again with undaunted pluck. They succeeded in taking the hospital and burning it, though in doing so they lost ten times the number they killed, and they charged up to the very walls, and attempted to unscrew the bayonets which met them. Greater bravery than that displayed on either side could not have been, but the little body of English soldiers behind their frail rampant knew they were fighting to hold a most important post, and never hesitated for an instant; whereas the Zulus, who no doubt thought thev could easily cut up a handful of men like those opposed to them, after their recent achievements, were beginning to find out their mistake. The engagement, however, continued the whole livelong night, the Zulus once and again attempting to take the place by storm. At last, fairly discouraged, they retreated just as dawn was breaking. Our loss, as may be imagined, was severe; out of eighty men one-fourth had fallen, thirteen killed and nine wounded, of whom some have since died, But if our loss was severe that of the enemy must have been something enormous. They had come on again and again in broad daylight, and by the light of the burning house, up to the very muzzles of the guns, and their dead were heaped up in scores all round the barricade. Within 300 yards of the spot our burying parties counted 351 bodies, while on the road they had taken in retreat the dead and wounded*lay thick. That in this engagement the enemy iost 500 killed and 200 or 300 wounded is, I think, a very moderate calculation, and the lesson taught them by that gallant company of the 24th _ is one they will not soon forgot. I fully believe that the loss the Zulus incurred in taking our camp, which I cannot estimate at less than 2000 to 3000 men in killed and wounded, add' d to their repulse and loss at Borke’s Drift, will have a very great effect on their minds, nor do I anticipate that they will run the risk of incurring such again, unless under circumstances exceptionally favorable to themselves. So ended the four davß during which No. 3 column advanced into Zululand from Rorke’s Drift, and returned to it—four days which will bo memorable so long as the colony exists, and so long us England takes interest in the deeds of her little armies in foreign land*.