Rorke's Drift By Those Who Were There: Volume I

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Around 8:00a.m., another force appeared, and the defenders left their breakfast to man their positions again. However, the force turned out to be the vanguard of Lord Chelmsford's relief column.

The alphabetical list of descriptions is so easily to follow, Volume 1 covers from Adendorff to Jobbins, so it is easy to realise what at least some of Volume 2 will have in store.

Kearney, L. H. (16 March 1940). "40,000 Cheered When Wagstaff's 1914 Team Beat Australians With Eleven Men". Sunday Mail (Brisbane). Of the 11 patients, nine survived the trip to the barricade, as did all the able-bodied men. According to James Henry Reynolds, four defenders were killed in the hospital: one was a member of the Natal Native Contingent with a broken leg; Sergeant Maxfield and Private Jenkins, who were ill with fever and refused to be moved were also killed. Reportedly, Jenkins was killed after being seized and stabbed, together with Private Adams who also refused to move. Private Cole, assigned to the hospital, was killed when he ran outside. Another hospital patient killed was Trooper Hunter of the Natal Mounted Police. [34] Among the hospital patients who escaped were a Corporal Mayer of the NNC; Bombardier Lewis of the Royal Artillery, and Trooper Green of the Natal Mounted Police, who was wounded in the thigh by a bullet. Private Conley, with a broken leg, was pulled to safety by Hook, although Conley's leg was broken again in the process. [35] Cattle kraal and bastion [ edit ] The book includes all the citations for the 11 (yes eleven) Victoria Crosses earned over the 12 hours of fighting. The fighting was hand-to-hand at times, with bayonets being used against spears in the night time. Gunner John Cantwell; N Batt, 5th Brig Royal Horse Artillery (demoted from bombardier wheeler the day before the battle) After the battle, 351 Zulu bodies were counted, but it has been estimated that at least 500 wounded and captured Zulus might have been massacred as well. [37] [40] Having witnessed the carnage at Isandlwana, the members of Chelmsford's relief force had no mercy for the captured, wounded Zulus they came across, [41] nor did the station's defenders. Trooper William James Clarke of the Natal Mounted Police described in his diary that "altogether we buried 375 Zulus and some wounded were thrown into the grave. Seeing the manner in which our wounded had been mutilated after being dragged from the hospital... we were very bitter and did not spare wounded Zulus". [42] Laband, in his book The Zulu Response to the British Invasion of 1879, accepts the estimate of 600 that Shepstone had from the Zulus. [43]

What we get is a sensible, reasoned and well supported new analysiss that eschews all modern accounts to return to the words of those whe were there. His arguments are cogent and difficult to deny but he is the first to admit that several survivors change their accounts over the years. Some to appease the communities where the dead came from others for self aggrandisement or simple old agae and confused memory. Hanson, V. D. (2001). Why the West Has Won: Carnage and Culture from Salamis to Vietnam. London: Faber. p. 333. ISBN 978-0-571-20417-5. It was the thought of that implacable church and its obvious disgust for me … I had learnt this day that God was…a cut above the class to which we belonged. That day, I think, the painter was loosed from its mooring and my faith began a slow drift into non-belief (Prebble 1993: 96).The attitude of Garnett Wolseley shines through. He despised the two lieutenants, Chard and Bromhead, who lead the defence, writing about Chard after presenting him with his VC

Morris, Donald R. The Washing of the Spears: A History of the Rise of the Zulu Nation under Shaka and Its Fall in the Zulu War of 1879. Da Capo Press, 1998, ISBN 0-306-80866-8. Estimates vary: Thompson 2006, p. 65, gives 100. Knight 1996, p. 27, gives 100 to 300. Knight, Ian. Greaves, Adrian, (ed.). Redcoats and Zulus, 2004, p. 116.Sir Garnet Wolseley, taking over as commander-in-chief from Lord Chelmsford later that year, was unimpressed with the awards made to the defenders of Rorke's Drift, saying "it is monstrous making heroes of those who, shut up in buildings at Rorke's Drift, could not bolt and fought like rats for their lives, which they could not otherwise save". [49] On 22 January 1879, during the final hour of the Battle of iSandlwana - one of the greatest disasters ever to befall British troops during the Victorian era - a very different story was about to unfold a few miles away at the mission station of Rorke's Drift. When a Zulu force of more than 3,000 warriors turned their attention to the small outpost, defended by around 150 British and Imperial troops, the odds of the British surviving were staggeringly low. The British victory that ensued, therefore, would go down as one of the most heroic actions of all time, and has enraptured military history enthusiasts for decades. By the time the Undi Corps reached Rorke's Drift at 4:30p.m., they had fast-marched some 20 miles (32km) from the morning encampment they had left at around 8 a.m., then to spend some 11.5 hours continuously storming the British fortifications at Rorke's Drift. Henderson then followed his departing men. Upon witnessing the withdrawal of Henderson's NNH troop, Captain Stevenson's NNC company abandoned the cattle kraal and fled, greatly reducing the strength of the defending garrison. [28] Outraged that Stevenson and some of his colonial NCOs [29] had also fled from the barricades, a few British soldiers fired after them, killing Corporal William Anderson. Nice to see some ‘new’ photographs that I had not seen before, but there was one photograph that I had seen before, which in my opinion is incorrectly identified. That is the photograph identified as Prince Dabulamanzi kaMpande listed as No. 34. The photograph has previously appeared in Ian Knight’s Nothing Remains But to Fight. As some of the forum might be aware I have something of a close affinity with the descendant family of Prince Dabulamanzi. I vividly recall showing my late, great friend Prince V. A. Shange the photograph in Nothing Remains But to Fight, and his response he refuted it then with the words “That is not my grandfather! That is my Great Uncle his half-brother, Prince Ndabuko.”

Why did they sing 'Men of Harlech' if it was not to add to the impression that it was a Welsh regiment? Knight 1996, p. 38, "Although the Zulu position was a commanding one – a squad of good shots armed with efficient rifles could have made Chard's position untenable within minutes – the Zulus were neither good shots, nor well armed." The Duke of Wellington was famously dismissive of any attempt to create a record of the events of the Battle of the Waterloo. He compared it to trying to remembe who danced with whom a at a Ball. Since eveeryone's recollection is different it is impossible to divine the truth. Also, as mentioned, one member of Stevenson's 2nd/3rd NNC, Corporal William Anderson, was killed by British fire while fleeing the station just prior to the arrival of the Zulus.Most Zulu warriors were armed with an assegai (short spear) and a nguni shield made of cowhide. [20] The Zulu army drilled in the personal and tactical use and coordination of this weapon. Some Zulus also had old muskets, antiquated rifles, and some captured Martini-Henrys as used by the defenders, though their marksmanship training was poor, and the supply of powder and shot was low, and of poor quality. [21]