SLAUGHTER OF ZULU WOUNDED BY BRITISH FORCES.

South Canterbury Times, Volume XV, Issue 2072, 12 November 1879, Page 2

SLAUGHTER OF ZULU WOUNDED BY BRITISH FORCES.

We quote the following from the London “Echo”: —Sergeant J ar vis,9othLight Infantry (Colonel Wood’s column), has written a letter describing the battle of Kambula, from which we extract the following:—Our cavalry chased them seven miles, and the Zulus, overcome with fatigue and exhausted by having no food, and marching 10 miles to our camp to attack us, threw down their arms and begged for mercy. The mercy shown to our comrades at Isandula and to our volunteers the day previous was shown to them, and the slaughter of Zulus who were shot down and killed by officers’ swords helped to swell the casualties of these Zulus. Here is another soldier’s letter from the seat of war. The writer, James Poxwell, in the course of a letter to his brother, who lives in Calvert Road, Battersea, describes the battle of G-inghilova. He adds : —“ after they ran away they formed upon a big mountain, but we sent a rocket up to them, which killed 75 of them. Best part of us had to turn out and bury all those that were dead, which was an awful job ; we had to dig big holes and bury them on top of one another, some of them not being quite dead, but they all had to go in.” Of course, these soldiers’ statements will meet with official contradiction, as others have done already, but, we shall prefer to believe the private letters of private soldiers to their friends rather than the official denials forwarded by Sir G-arnet Wolsely from officers in command.