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REFERENCE
VOORTREKKER - ZULU CONFLICT 1837 -1838 THE
REBELLION OF LANGALIBALELE ANGLO-ZULU WAR 1879 TRANSVAAL WAR OF INDEPENDENCE 1880-1881 THE ZULU CIVIL WAR 1883 - 1888 |
The continuing strengthening of the independent Zulu nation by King Cetshwayo was perceived as a growing threat to the colonists of Natal, and in December 1878 the British Colonial government issued an ultimatum that was impossible for the Zulu Nation to accept as it required them to disband their army and swear allegiance to Queen Victoria. When these demands were not met, three British columns, under the command of Lieutenant-General Lord Chelmsford, who despite considerable experience in the field nonetheless made the fatal mistake of underestimating the fighting ability of the Zulus, crossed the Thukela and Buffalo rivers on the 12th January 1879 and invaded Zululand. The Zulus retaliated and on Wednesday 22nd January 1879 the Zulu Army, of some 20 000 warriors, attacked and overran the British camp at Isandlwana, slaughtering over 1400 Imperial troops, colonial volunteers and native levies. Survivors of the route fled along a torturous trail, now known as the Fugitive’s Trail crossing the swollen Buffalo River at Fugitive’s Drift, among these were Lieutenant Melville, who was trying to save the Queen’s Colours and Lieutenant Coghill who came to his rescue when he was swept off his horse in the river. Both were killed on the Natal bank of the river as they scrambled up the hillside. (They were posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross). |
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| After the
Battle the Zulu reserve force of some 4000 warriors led by King Cetshwayo’s brother Dambulamanzi went on to attack the British garrison at the Swedish Mission station at Rorke’s Drift, that was being used as a commissariat and hospital. Here the “heroic hundred” repelled the attackers after a 12 hour battle. The British lost 17 men and won 11 Victoria Crosses, the most ever awarded in a separate military engagement. |
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the disastrous British attack on Hlobane Mountain where the British were once again outmanoeuvred by the Zulus and only escaped after suffering severe losses at the hands of the Zulu army. Then came the equally disastrous attack by the Zulu army on the British camp at Kambula where they were driven off, also suffering very heavy losses. The massacre at Meyer’s Drift, and the death of the Prince Imperial, the last hope of the Napoleonic dynasty who was killed when his patrol was ambushed, the Zulu attack on the British column intent on relieving the British garrison besieged at Eshowe at Ginginhlovu were just more events in this war, which finally ended with the defeat of King Cetshwayo at the Battle of Ulundi on 4th July 1879. |
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