In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Chapter 14 IN THE ZULU HEARTLAND Raid on Ntabankulu From June 7th to 17th the invasion of Zululand was in abeyance. The Headquarters Column, with part of the Cavalry Brigade and the mounted troops of the Flying Column, remained in laager at the Ntinini river. The line of communication extended thirty miles back to Koppie Allein, and the forward depot established at Fort Newdigate had supplies to sustain the invading army only for a fortnight. More supplies must be brought up. The Flying Column, with some infantry from the Headquarters Column and the other part of the Cavalry Brigade, convoyed the supply train back and forth.1 The need for more supplies, especially of ammunition, was magnified by the Zulu resistance at Zunganyana on June 4th and 5th. Yet it was rumoured that the Zulu King wanted to negotiate, and his envoys came to camp on the 4th and left on the 6th.2 The reconnaissance on the 8th showed that the Zulus were no longer in force in front, but there was no telling when or where they might gather to fight again. Soldiers worked to improve the laager at the camp.3 There was another alarm on the morning of the 9th, but the men took their places as though it were a drill.4 The mounted troops made several reconnaissances . Colonel Buller’s rough mercenaries grumbled at being under the temporary command of the Lieutenant General. They complained of being kept under arms for an indefinite period every morning, and they did not like false alarms. They even suggested their horses were not given the usual corn or grain.5 The onset of winter, the dry season, turned the grass from green to yellow, then to brown. The ground hardened and the surface became dusty. Streams dried up or became trickles. The Ntinini ran from pool to pool between high banks covered with ferns and creepers. Mimosa remained green on the sides of the hills, and a certain cactus bloomed in scarlet flowers, but overall the country seemed bleak. The hills, formed from antiquity by erosion, were mostly flat topped and their slopes were scarred with gullies. The valleys had many boulders and outcrops of rock. The homesteads in the vicinity had been burnt or abandoned, but their food pits yielded corn and melons and fruit resembling pomegranates. A few Zulus were seen occasionally on Zunganyana. Sometimes they took shots at wood cutting parties. The caves in the hillsides and the holes in the sides on the gullies were searched, and yielded rifles, helmets, belts, saddlebags, broken MartiniHenry cartridges, valises and an assortment of personal items belonging to Europeans. All these articles were presumed to have come from the battlefield of Isandlwana, seventeen miles to the west.6 The 2nd Battalion fell in with the camp routine. Its own encampment was about one hundred yards off the northern face of the laager.7 The rifles of the battalion were muzzle-loaders and they were kept loaded and plugged for action. Now and then the riflemen were given leave to fire to empty the old charges. On one occasion when they did so, the noise brought forth from the river an ample British officer, stark naked but for the pistol he brandished. No one had told him they were going to fire their rifles. He had heard them while he was bathing, assumed it was an attack and hastened back to the laager.8 The men were better with spears than rifles, of course. There was little game about, somewhat to the irritation of the British officers, for gentlemen must hunt.9 While encamped at the Nondweni, some officers’ dogs had flushed a springbok (a type of small antelope) near the camp. It had fled towards the river, where some of the men were drawing water. One of them had set down his buckets, drawn a short spear and crouched. The buck dashed by. At twenty yards he sprang up and threw and brought the animal down.10 Every morning the battalion paraded by companies, each company with its small calico flag before it. The mornings were cold, sometimes frosty. Each man turned out wrapped in his blanket, legs sticking out at the bottom, spears at the top. They got to know the British soldiers in a general, friendly way. ‘Halloa Johnnie!’ They were all Johnnie to one another.11 There may still have been some uncertainty as to the route ahead. The track from Rorke’s Drift...

Share