THE ZULU WAR, 1879.

Zululand lies to the north-east of Natal, and its inhabitants are the most warlike of all the Kaffir tribes. Chaka, who became chief of the Zulus in 1810, established a military despotism, which converted the whole manhood of the tribe into a disciplined army, obedient to the will of one man. These warriors 219in battle fought with desperation, as on their return from an expedition, all cowards were ruthlessly massacred. Chaka found the Zulus a pastoral unimportant clan, and left them the most martial native race in South Africa. In 1828 this ferocious chief was assassinated by his brother Dingaan, who succeeded him. Dingaan, who did not possess the military ability of his brother, waged an exterminating war against the Boers; but at length being utterly defeated by them under Andreas Pretorius, in 1840 he fled for refuge among the Swazies, who received and murdered him. His brother Panda, who had revolted against Dingaan with a portion of the tribe and joined the Dutch, was then proclaimed King of the Zulus, and wisely preferring trading to warfare, continued on friendly terms with the Boers and the English till his death in 1872. Panda was succeeded by his son Cetewayo, and at the request of the Zulu nation, Sir Theophilus Shepston was present at his installation as King, representing the British Government. But Cetewayo was ambitious, and soon abandoned the pacific policy of his father, to follow the militant example of his predecessor Chaka. He re-organised the old regiments, and formed new ones, trained and disciplined by means of torture and death. He armed his men with guns, instead of only shield and assagai, and perfected the peculiar Zulu formation for attack in three divisions; two “horns” to assail the flanks and rear of an enemy, and a main body to advance and complete the victory. In 1878 this army numbered over fifty thousand men, eager for battle, commanded by an ambitious and savage chief, a menace and cause of apprehension to all its neighbours. Another savage chieftain, and an ally of Cetewayo, named Sekukuni (of whom more, presently) who defied the Colonial Government, and had in 1876 repulsed an attack of the Boers on his stronghold, gave rise to a common saying among the natives, “If the bull-calf (Sekukuni) has to be left alone, what will happen when the elephant (Cetewayo) attacks the white man?” In August, 1878, two sons of Sirayo, a favourite chief of Cetewayo, with a party of Zulus, made an incursion into British territory, and seized two women whom they claimed as runaway wives of their father Sirayo. Resistance was useless, and the women were carried across the river Buffalo and slain. The surrender of the offenders was demanded by the Colonial 220Government, and a fine of five hundred cattle as a reparation for the violation of the Natal territory. Neither being forthcoming, Sir Bartle Frere sent an ultimatum to the Zulu King, requiring among other things, the disbandment of his army, and freedom of marriage among his people; also informing him that unless he complied with the terms on, or before December 31st., he would be invaded by a British army to enforce these demands. The time allowed by the ultimatum being expired, and Cetewayo making no sign, on January 11th., 1879, the British forces under the command of Lord Chelmsford, crossed the Buffalo and Tugela rivers, and the war began. The army was divided into three columns, with two smaller bodies of troops under Colonel Durnford, R.E., and Colonel Rowlands, V.C., the whole being intended to effect a junction near Ulundi. The first column commanded by Colonel Pearson of the 3rd. Buffs, was composed of the 2nd. battalion 3rd. Buffs, Lieutenant-Colonel Parnell, and afterwards six companies of the 99th. Regiment; a detachment of Royal Artillery with four guns, one gatling and a rocket battery, under Lieutenant Lloyd, R.A.; a Naval Brigade of one hundred and seventy seamen and marines from H.M.S. Active, under Captain Campbell, R.N., one hundred mounted Infantry under Captain Barrow, 19th. Hussars, some mounted Volunteers, and one thousand natives under Major Graves, 3rd. Buffs. Second column, Colonel Glyn, 24th. Regiment, commanding. Seven companies 1st. battalion 24th. Regiment, and 2nd. battalion of the 24th., under Colonel Degacher, a detachment of Royal Artillery with two seven-pounders under Major Harness, a body of Natal Mounted Police under Major Dartnell, and Mounted Volunteers, with a native contingent of one thousand men under Commandant Lonsdale, formerly of the 74th. Highlanders. Third column, Colonel Evelyn Wood, V.C., commanding; comprising the 90th. Regiment and 1st. battalion 13th. Regiment, Royal Artillery with four seven-pounders and two rocket tubes, under Major Tremlett, one hundred mounted Infantry under Major Russell, Frontier Light Horse, two hundred strong, under Major Redvers Buller, one hundred volunteers, and a body of five thousand Swazies. There was also a contingent of Boers, all crack shots, under Commandant Piet Uys.

221The total strength of the army, including the garrisons, was about sixteen thousand men, with twenty guns; the European portion of which, much under one half, being the only reliable, as the Native Contingent was not equal to the enemy in bravery, and after the disaster at Isandhlwana almost useless. Colonel Pearson’s column on the 18th. of January began its march into the interior, and on the 22nd., near the Myezane river, attacked and defeated a body of Zulus, estimated at from five to seven thousand men.

On the following day the column arrived at the deserted mission station of Ekowe, when it received news of the terrible disaster at Isandhlwana, on the day previous. Pearson decided on holding the position with the British portion of his force; the Native Contingent, and the Mounted Corps, being sent back to the Lower Tugela. Lord Chelmsford sent him instructions to do the best he could with the troops under his command; and under the direction of Captain Wynne, R.E., the post was fortified and rendered impregnable to the attacks of any force without artillery.

On January 10th., Colonel Glyn’s column, with whom was Lord Chelmsford, encamped at Rorke’s Drift. On the 12th. a portion of the force, after a smart skirmish, burnt Sirayo’s kraal, and captured a large number of cattle. On the 20th. the column encamped near the isolated hill known as Isandhlwana, and on the 22nd., Lord Chelmsford and Colonel Glyn, with the second battalion of the 24th. Regiment, the mounted men, and four guns, set out in search of a large body of Zulus, reported to be near a place called Matyan’s kraal; leaving in camp five companies of the 1st. battalion 24th., one company of the 2nd. battalion 24th., about seventy artillerymen with two guns, and part of the Native Contingent, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Pulleine. Colonel Durnford, who had been left at Rorke’s Drift with five hundred natives and a rocket battery, was ordered up to take command of the camp. The commander-in-chief who had neglected to fortify his camp at Isandhlwana, either by throwing up entrenchments or “laagering” his waggons, proceeded to encounter the enemy, who retired as he advanced. Meanwhile a force of from fourteen to twenty thousand Zulus, 222including some of their best regiments, led by Dabulamanzi, the king’s half-brother, were preparing for an attack upon the camp.

About nine o’clock on the morning of the 22nd., Colonel Durnford arrived, and took over the command from Colonel Pulleine. The mounted men, with the rocket battery, under Colonel Durnford in person, advanced some four miles from the camp, and began to skirmish with the enemy, being unaware of their vast superiority in force. The rocket battery was suddenly surrounded and destroyed to a man; the mounted men fled towards the camp, pursued by thousands of Zulus, who came on in regular order in battalions eight deep, and all the troops in the camp rushed to their arms. For a time the enemy were checked by the tremendous fire with which they were received, and their ranks showed signs of wavering, when the Native Contingent broke and fled, making a fatal gap in the lines, through which the Zulus poured like a torrent; and about the same time the right “horn” of their attack having swiftly worked round to the rear of the hill beneath which the camp was pitched, took the position in reverse, and launched about four thousand bounding and leaping warriors on the flank of the devoted British force. In an instant all was confusion, two companies of the 24th. not having time to form rallying squares were annihilated, the gunners of the Mountain Battery were assegaied; Major Smith, R.A., being killed while endeavouring to spike one of the guns. Some of the mounted natives managed to escape, but the soldiers of the 24th., the Mounted Police, and Volunteers, in groups, or back to back, kept their foes at bay while their ammunition lasted, and then fought hand to hand till the last man fell where he stood.^[78]

In the midst of the carnage, Lieutenants Coghill and Melville made a desperate but unsuccessful attempt to save the 223colours. They escaped from the field, but in swimming across the Buffalo, Melville’s horse was killed, and Coghill returning to assist his comrade, who was clinging to a rock, his horse was also shot, and the colours fell into the river. The two officers reached the Natal side safely, but were overtaken and slain about three hundred yards from the river’s bank. Their bodies were found lying side by side, and the colours which they had died to save, were found ten days afterwards in the rocky bed of the river.

The victory of the Zulus cost them dear, between two and three thousand of them being killed in the battle, or died afterwards of their wounds.

The British loss was terrible, fifty imperial and colonial officers, and over eight hundred non-commissioned officers and men having perished around that fatal hill. Five entire companies of the 1st. battalion of the 24th. fell, with ninety men of the 2nd. battalion, and hundreds of natives. Upwards of one hundred waggons, fourteen hundred oxen, two seven-pounders (afterwards retaken), eight hundred Martini-Henry rifles, and a vast quantity of stores of all kinds, fell into the hands of the enemy.

Meanwhile the column under Lord Chelmsford, after a slight skirmish, was returning towards the camp, and about four miles from it met with the Natal Native Contingent, which had halted in a state of dismay at the turn affairs had taken. Half an hour afterwards a solitary horseman came up. It was Commandant Lonsdale, who had unsuspiciously ridden into the captured camp, and escaping a shower of bullets, brought the almost incredible news that the camp was in possession of a Zulu army. The General immediately sent an order for Colonel Glyn’s troops to join, and on their arrival marched at once towards Isandhlwana hill.

The daylight was fading, and darkness had set in before the column, unopposed, reached the fatal camp, which they found silent, and deserted by all but the dead. The tents were upset, the waggons destroyed, and the whole place strewn with the dead bodies of men and horses.

After a sad bivouac, Lord Chelmsford marched at dawn for Rorke’s Drift, expecting to find it in the hands of the 224enemy, but to his surprise and gratification found it still in the possession of an heroic handful of the 24th.

On the advance of the centre column, a company of the 24th., and a small body of natives, under the command of Lieutenant Bromhead, had been left to guard some sick men and stores at Rorke’s Drift. “A worse position,” says one present, “could hardly be imagined. Two small thatched buildings, about thirty yards apart, with thin walls, commanded by rising ground in the south and west, completely overlooked on the south by a high wall. On the north side an orchard and garden gave good cover to an enemy up to within a few yards of the houses.” The place had formerly been a Swedish Mission Station. One of the buildings was filled with stores, and the other had been converted into a military hospital. Some fugitives bringing tidings of what had happened at the camp, Lieutenant Bromhead and Lieutenant Chard, R.E., who was with him, at once set to work to strengthen the position. The buildings were loopholed and barricaded, and connected by defences formed by a few waggons sacks of “mealies,” and Indian corn, and biscuit boxes. The natives, terror-stricken, fled, and the garrison was reduced to the company of the 24th., consisting of about eighty men; the total number within the defences—including thirty-five sick in the hospital—being one hundred and thirty-nine all told. The place was soon surrounded by three or four thousand Zulus, who commenced a series of desperate attacks. They set fire to the hospital, which the garrison defended room by room, but five sick soldiers perished in the flames. Such was the fury of the assault, that the garrison were forced to retire to an inner line of defence. Six times the Zulus got inside the barricades, but each time they were hurled back with loss. At length, after a conflict which lasted from five p.m. on January 22nd. till four a.m. on the following morning, the Zulus retired defeated and disheartened, leaving three hundred and seventy dead around the post. Their whole loss was probably about five hundred, while the heroic defenders had but seventeen killed and ten wounded.

The left column, under Colonel Evelyn Wood, after the Isandhlwana disaster, by order of Lord Chelmsford, fell back 225to a strong position at Kambula Kop, about twenty miles from the Blood river, where was formed an entrenched camp. From this position a series of dashing raids upon the Zulu kraals and stores was made by the Frontier Horse, under Colonel Redvers Buller, and the Dutch Burgher troop of Piet Uys, which inflicted great damage on the enemy, who were astonished by the daring and range of these expeditions.

About the end of March, Colonel Wood received a letter from Lord Chelmsford, to the effect that he was taking steps for the relief of Colonel Pearson, at Ekowe, and directing Wood to make a diversion in the direction of the Zlobani to distract the enemy. His force had been strengthened by a body of Mounted Infantry, and some Border Horse, commanded by Colonel Weatherley, formerly of the 4th. Dragoons. About twelve miles from the camp was a precipitous, thickly-wooded, and almost inaccessible stronghold of the Zulus, known as the Zlobani, or Inhlobani mountain, at which place they had gathered together great herds of cattle—their chief wealth—thinking it impregnable. This fastness Colonel Wood resolved to attack, with his mounted men and natives, operating simultaneously against the mountain on both sides. His force was divided into two columns, under Colonels Buller and Russell.

Buller’s force, with whom was Colonel Wood, attacked the mountain at dawn on March 28th., and under cover of the mist gained the summit with trifling loss; the Zulus retreating into caves, with which the place abounded. Colonel Russell’s column had scarcely reached the westward side of the mountain, when he was aware of a Zulu army of twenty thousand, marching rapidly, with the object of cutting off Buller’s retreat. Russell abandoned some cattle he had taken; sent his native troops back to Kambula, and formed up his mounted men at the foot of the mountain, to cover the retreat of Buller. The Zulus on the mountain seeing the advance of their warriors, came out of their hiding places, and harassed the movements of Buller’s men, who had no alternative but to descend the rugged side of the mountain by paths “utterly impracticable for even led horses.” The retreat soon became a rout, for the Zulus occupied the rocks; pouring a hot fire at point blank 226range into the struggling mass of men and horses, and using their assegais with fatal effect. But for the heroic efforts of Colonel Buller, Major Leet, and Commandant Darcy, the force would have been exterminated. How Buller escaped was almost miraculous, he saved the lives of six of his men at least, personally, and was one of the last down the rocks, where only one horseman could pass abreast, called the “Devil’s Pass.” Once clear of this precipitous path, the worst was over; the retreat being covered by Colonel Russell, and the remainder of the force reached Kambula, with a loss of over one hundred killed and wounded, including thirteen officers. Colonel Weatherley and his son, a lad of fifteen, and the whole of his Border Horse, except eight, were slain. Captain Barton, of the Coldstream Guards, who lost his life in endeavouring to rescue a wounded trooper, and eighteen of his men perished; also the gallant old Boer leader, Piet Uys,^[79] whose father and uncles had fallen in the wars against Dingaan.

Encouraged by this success, next day the Zulu army, numbering twenty-five thousand men, made a most determined attack upon the entrenched camp at Kambula, which was manned by detachments of the 18th., 80th., and 90th. Regiments, with a battery of Royal Artillery, under Major Tremlett, and some Volunteers. For more than four hours raged a desperate conflict, during which the enemy, in spite of enormous losses, madly rushed on with deafening yells, till their assegais clashed against the British bayonets; but finding all their efforts of no avail, and mowed down by the deadly fire, lost heart, and began to retire in confusion. A ringing cheer arose from the camp, the mounted men sprang into their saddles, and led by Buller and Russell, pursued the enemy for seven miles, strewing their way with the bodies of hundreds of Zulus, and amply avenging the disaster of the previous day. General Wood on seeing the panic-stricken flight of the enemy, exclaimed, “Oh, for two regiments of British cavalry!”

227The loss of the enemy in killed and wounded was variously estimated from three to four thousand; fifteen hundred dead bodies were lying around the camp at nightfall, of which many were carried away before morning, but the victors were occupied for two days in burying their dead foemen. The wounded that were captured, were kindly treated, and their wounds dressed.

The British loss was two officers^[80] and twenty-three men killed, and eight officers and fifty-seven men wounded.

A week or two before this, another disaster, similar to the affair at Isandhlwana, but fortunately of lesser magnitude, befel Captain Moriarty and a company of the 80th. Regiment, encamped on the bank of the Intombe River; who were surprised in the early dawn, by an overwhelming body of Zulus, and two-thirds of the party slain on the spot. Lieutenant Harvard, the only surviving officer, leaving the remnant of his men to shift for themselves, galloped off to Luneberg for help; and it was only by the exertions and bravery of Colour-Sergeant Anthony Booth, that a man escaped. For this service, Sergeant Booth well won, and obtained, the Victoria Cross.

All this time the force under Colonel Pearson remained blockaded at Ekowe. Pearson had made some successful raids on the enemy; but his stock of provisions was rapidly diminishing, and he was anxiously expecting relief.

On March 29th., Lord Chelmsford, with a force of three thousand three hundred English soldiers and seamen, from the “Shah,” “Tenedos,” and “Boadicea,” with gatling guns and a rocket battery, and about two thousand two hundred Natives, set out from Fort Tenedos for Ekowe. On the 2nd. of April he was attacked by the Zulu army, under Dabulamanzi, at Ginghilovo. The enemy fought with desperation, but their frantic attacks were repulsed with enormous loss, and after a very sharp action of about one and a half hours, they fled in disorder, hotly pursued by the mounted men, under Captain 228Barrow. Eight hundred Zulus were buried on the field, and their total loss must have been over a thousand men. The British casualties were trifling.

Ekowe was relieved two days after, the works destroyed and the post abandoned; the whole force returning to the Lower Tugela.

In the meanwhile large reinforcements arrived from England, including the 1st. Dragoon Guards, the 17th. Lancers, the Royal Scots Fusiliers, the 58th., 91st., and 94th. Regiments, and drafts for other corps in the Colony, the whole amounting to over ten thousand officers and men. Among the new arrivals was the unfortunate Prince Imperial, who reached Durban two days after the conflict at Kambula, and was appointed an extra A.D.C. on the head-quarter staff.

An immediate advance into Zululand was decided on, and organised in three divisions. The first under General Crealock, C.B.; the second under Major-General Newdigate; and the third—a flying column—under General Wood; with whom was Lord Chelmsford, acting in advance of the second division; Ulundi being the object of the combined operations. For a time the invaders were almost unopposed, the enemy seeming to realise the uselessness of attacking, with assegai and shield; entrenchments, and squares of men armed with breechloaders, gatlings, and rockets; but they had gained wisdom by experience, and avoiding fighting, overran defenceless territory and carried off cattle, at the same time as a ruse, sending messengers with proposals of peace.

At the commencement of this final stage of the war, occurred another untoward accident, which cast a gloom over the whole campaign, and thrilled the heart of England with shame and indignation. On June 1st., the Prince Imperial of France, Louis Napoleon, while out on a reconnoitring expedition with Lieutenant Carey of the 98th. Regiment, and six troopers of Bettington’s Horse, was surprised and killed by a party of Zulus. As an officer in the camp wrote:—“The news of his death fell like a thunderbolt on all.” His body was next day recovered and sent to England.

On June 5th. was a smart cavalry skirmish, in which Lieutenant Firth, of the 17th. Lancers, was killed.

229Lord Chelmsford, with General Newdigate’s division and Wood’s flying column, kept steadily advancing; establishing posts, and securing his communication as he moved forward. On July the 3rd., Colonel Buller, with five hundred cavalry, pushed forward to the Umvalosi River, on the road to Ulundi, to reconnoitre the country. He crossed the river, but had advanced but little beyond it, when he was suddenly assailed in front and flank by five thousand Zulus, who attempted to surround him and cut off his retreat. Buller retired, not without loss, hotly pursued, and would have suffered much, but for the fire of the nine-pounder guns of Major Tremlett, which checked the enemy. In this affair, Lord William Beresford, of the 9th. Lancers, who had obtained six months’ leave from India, and had come to Africa from sheer love of fighting, gained the Victoria Cross for his gallantry in rescuing from the pursuing Zulus a dismounted trooper of the Frontier Light Horse.

Next day, in the early morning,^[81] Lord Chelmsford crossed the Umvalosi, with a total strength of four thousand Europeans, and about eleven hundred natives, with two gatlings, and twelve guns. In the front were the 80th., 90th., and 13th. Regiments, with four seven-pounders, two nine-pounders, and two gatlings; the 58th. and 94th. Regiments, with two seven- and four nine-pounders; and in the rear the Scots Fusiliers, with three squadrons of the 17th. Lancers. About eight o’clock he reached the King’s kraal at Ulundi, and was attacked by the Zulu army, variously estimated at from fifteen to twenty thousand men. The troops were formed in a hollow square four deep, which the furious and repeated charges of the enemy, who advanced with the utmost bravery, in spite of a murderous shell and rifle fire, utterly failed to break, and at no point did they succeed in approaching nearer than thirty yards. In forty minutes the Zulus were in full flight, pursued by Colonel Drury Lowe, and the 17th. Lancers, who did terrible execution, literally cutting them up with lance and sabre.

The British loss in this battle, which virtually ended the war, was Captain Wyatt-Edgell (17th. Lancers) and ten men killed, and about seventy officers and men wounded.

The loss of the enemy was upwards of fifteen hundred killed, there being no wounded on the field, as the native contingent despatched all they could find with their assegais.

Sir Garnet Wolseley, who had arrived at the Cape at the end of June from London, now superseded Lord Chelmsford in the command, who with Generals Newdigate and Crealock, Sir E. Wood, Colonel Buller, and the principal officers, returned to England. Sir Garnet despatched two columns in pursuit of Cetewayo, under Colonel Clark of the 57th. Regiment, and Colonel Baker Russell, C.B., of the 13th. Hussars. For sixteen days the fugitive king baffled his pursuers, but on August 28th. he was captured in a kraal in the almost impenetrable Ngome Forest, by Major Marter of the 1st. Dragoon Guards.

On the 1st. of September, 1879, the sixth anniversary of the day when Cetewayo was installed King of the Zulus, by Sir Theophilus Shepstone, and on the same spot, was held a meeting of chiefs; who in the presence of Sir Garnet Wolseley, acknowledged the sovereignty of Queen Victoria, abolished the military system, and gave up the importation of arms into Zululand. They also agreed to condemn none of their subjects to death without a trial, and their men were also to be free to marry when they pleased. Fugitives from justice were to be given up, and in all disputes the decision of the British Resident was to be final.

The cost of this war was estimated to be about £5,230,000.

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