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Chapter 16 THE KING CHASE1 Reduction The battle of Ulundi marks the climax of the war. It demonstrated once more the military and technological superiority of British over Zulu. This British victory differed from the earlier ones in one important respect: it occurred at the seat of the Zulu King, in the heart of the Zulu kingdom. The moral effect was overwhelming. Organized Zulu resistance to the British invader collapsed. Chiefs in threatened areas were ready to forsake the King and to make peace in order to spare their people further ravages of war. In the hour of victory, Lord Chelmsford, the Lieutenant General commanding the British army in the field, was subordinated to Lieutenant General Sir Garnet Wolseley. Lord Chelmsford had been much criticized at home after the disaster at Isandlwana. His differences, not least over the use of the Natal levies, with the Supreme Chief and Lieutenant Governor of Natal, Sir Henry Bulwer, raised questions about his ability to conduct the campaign. The High Commissioner, Sir Henry Bartle Frere, who had worked to bring on the war, had also been discredited when the reverse occurred. In these circumstances Wolseley was appointed Governor of Natal and the Transvaal and Special High Commissioner to the Native Territories to the north and east of them on May 28th. He had a reputation for getting things done. Now he had plenipotentiary power to end this unwanted war, which had gone on too long and cost too much money. He arrived in Natal during the last week in June. He could communicate with the Lieutenant General, deep in the Zulu country, only with difficulty, which difficulty gave the Lieutenant General time enough to retrieve his reputation at Ulundi. The British army could not remain in the heart of Zulu country without further supplies. The Lieutenant General proposed that it should move to a post near the coast, where it could be reduced to a size appropriate to police the country and supplies could be sent up from the coastal plain. The Special High Commissioner had no choice but to fall in with the proposal, though he preferred Mthonjaneni as a forward post.2 The victorious army left the Mahlabathini plain and the smoking ruins of the enemy’s great places and returned to the laager on the right bank of the White Mfolozi. The following day, July 5th, the Headquarters Column led the way back up the mountain to the laager at the top. Extra oxen had been sent down to help move the wagons up the steep grade. The Flying Column followed and spent the night at the campsite of the 30th. It reached the top of the mountain on the 6th. The laager there was broken up and the army prepared to move. It was cold on the mountain top and there was a strong wind on the 5th. It was windy and dusty on the 6th. The fine weather that had aided the British advance was ending. That night a violent storm broke over the mountain. For the next two days the columns were immobilized by torrents of rain, gale-force winds, and bursts of hail. The mud became knee-deep. Large black worms, some four feet long and thick as broom handles, wriggled out of the muck. It was intensely cold. Many horses and hundreds of oxen perished from exposure. The carcasses lay all around the camp. Rain and cold notwithstanding, Colonel Buller set out with his horsemen on patrol at three in the morning of the 7th, and they were out all day. The Natal Native Horse made up a part of the force. It met no enemy, although some of the mercenaries were almost struck by lightning, and returned at dark with a herd of about three hundred cattle, which made up for some of those lost at the laager. Next day a ration of rum was served all around in celebration of their victory on the 4th. During the night the horses broke loose from the picket line and wandered over the mountain in the rain and fog. In the morning the troops scoured the mountainside for several miles to get them back.3 The weather cleared on the 9th, but it was still bitter cold. The Flying Column left Mthonjaneni during the afternoon. At kwaMagwaza, where the Lieutenant General wished to locate the new advance post, it halted and built a small fort on the 11th and 12th, then proceeded to St. Paul’s, a...

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