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ssBAVE DEFENCE OF BOBKE'S DRIFT
CHANGED SOUTH AFRICAN HISTORY
( By a Special Correspondent )
0N the Tugela River, near its junction with the Buffalo River,
in Natal, South Africa, about 60 miles north-west of Durban,
there stands a fine bridge close by an old ford, still known as Rorke's
Drift; Today it is a quiet pastoral spot, a slumbering valley surrounded
by low hills. But 67 years ago, on January 22, 1879, it was the scene
of a bloody struggle, in which two young lieutenants and a handful
of British troops withstood for almost a day the
persistent attacks of about 4000 Zulu warriors.
The epic of Rorke's Drift is one of
the most colorful and glorious in
cidents in British historv.
"MOT. only did it stir the
patriotic hearts of all Eng
lishmen, but it saved a colony
for the Empire, and its effect
on the subsequent history of
South Africa is incalculable.
Its immediate effect was to avert
disastrous" defeat in a war the
British had undertaken lightly to
check the rising aspirations of the
fierce Zulu tribes and to assert
British supremacy in Natal. It
drove home to Britain, in the most
forcible manner, the fact that she
had grossly underrated the strength
of her native enemy, and saved her
from making the same fatal mis
take a second time.
It prompted the hurried despatch
from England of a force strong
enough to subdue the Zulus in
workmanlike fashion, and it re
sulted ultimately in a peace that
immeasurably strengthened Bri
tain's hold in South Africa, and
so contributed largely to British
victory in the Boer War 20 years .
later.
The British gained their first
foothold in South Africa with the
conquest of the Dutch territory of
Cape Colony in 1795. It was not
until 1824, however, that the first
nBritish settlers established them
selves on the coast of Natal. They
received little encouragement from
the British Government until the
Boers set up a- republic at Pieter-
ijnaritzburg and seized Port Natal
if Durban), where British subjects
and a British magistrate were in
residence.
1 To check this move England sent
a force to garri- ,
son the port in J
1842, and after 2
jjhree years of i
spasmodic fight- I
ibjx tuit.Vi t. h p 51
toers, Natal was annexed as a Bri-
sh possession.
: The hinterland of Natal at this
time was in the hands of a native
race, the Zulus, whose rise and fall
as a nation forms a unique chapter
ip modern African history.
I At the close of the 18th century
they had been an unimportant tribe
numbering a few thousands in the
region of St. Lucia's Bay, north of
Ejurban. But about 1810 they were
moulded into a well-organised mili
tary aristocracy by their ruler,
Chaka, and in a few decades they
Had become the Spartans of Africa.
'I Like their Greek prototype, the
Zulus separated the boys from
Wpmen and girls at an early age,
and placed them in special kraals
oil barracks where they were taught
tjjje art of war, the history of their
trbe and a warrior code of morals.
. They developed into a people ad
mirable in many ways — brave, in-
telligent, disciplined and, according
to! their code, chivalrous in combat
but they treated their women
harshly and they lived by conquest.
! Pushing out south and west, be
fore the coming of the white men,
the Zulu armies had - subdued all
neighboring tribes, to whom they
pflered the alternatives of absorp
tion or battle. In the latter event
they slew all, both men and women
bvpr the age of puberty,, and
brought up the children in the Zulu
Way of life — the youths as war
riors, the girls as servants.
Chaka was' kindly disposed to
wards the whites he met late in his
if. It was he who granted them
: /|
I :;i
! 'I
land at" Port Natal
in the early 1820's.
He proposed also
to send an em
bassy to King
William IV of
England, but he
was murdered by
his two half-bro
thers before this
could be done.
After an interreg
num of some five
years, Panda
Chaka's full bro-
t h e r succeeded
the usurpers as
chief.
Panda followed
Chaka's example
in cultivating the
. white .men. .He
opened his terri
tories to Chris
tian missionaries
and traders, granted concessions in
his land to Transvaal Boers in
1854, and signed a treaty with Bri
tain when she annexed Natal in
1855.
Then in 1856 a quarrel broke out
between Panda's two sons, Cetewayo
and Umbulazi, as to who should in
herit from their father. The British
authorities were called in to medi
ate, and they awarded the heirship
to Cetewayo. It was a decision they
were to regret.
Panda died in 1873, and Cete
wayo became the absolute ruler of
his tribes. It soon became apparent
that he was hostile to the whites,
Boers and British alike," and one of
his first acts was to revive the
military code of his uncle, Chaka.
r wis ruie over ms
4 people was tyran-
2- nous, and he was
4 described by a
icontemp orary
missionary as "an
able man, but for cold, selfish pride,
cruelty and untruthfulness worse
than any of his predecessors."
Incidents on the Transvaal-
Natal border between Boers and
Zulus had always been frequent,
and now they became more so.
When in 1877 Britain annexed the
Transvaal she inherited this legacy
of trouble, and decided something
must be done about it.
A- commission appointed by the
lieutenant-governor of Natal in
quired and found almost entirely in
favor of the Zulus; but the High
Commissioner for Natal, Sir Bartle
Frere, thought the Commission's
report "one-sided and unfair to the
Boers," and he was convinced in
any case that English interests re
quired that the power of Cetewayo
be curtailed.
Frere was cautioned by the Home
Government against too hasty
action, but apparently Lord Chelms
ford, Commander-in-Chief in
South Africa, felt he had sufficient
troops on hand to undertake a war
against the Zulus with a prospect
of success. .
Accordingly, the British authori
ties demanded of Cetewayo that he
accept a British adviser at his
court. Cetewayo ignored the de
mand, and a month later a British
force of 5000 whites and 8200 na
tives invaded Zululand under
Chelmsford's orders, to wage war
against 40,000 well-trained Zulu
warriors. . .
The British force was divided
into three columns, each of which
travelled by a different route to
converge on the royal kraal .at
Uluiiui. iiie right column, under
Colonel Pearson, advanced in the
first instance towards Eshowe, and
the left column, under Colonel
Evelyn Wood, towards Utrecht.
The centre column, with Chelms
ford in personal command, advanc
ed up the Tugela River past Rorke's
Drift, and thence northward. This
column at first totalled about 1600
whites and 2500 natives, but as gar
risons were established at vital
points on the way the number of
British troops was gradually whit
tled down to something under a
thousand.
On January 22, 1879, the column
encamped at a spot named Isan-
dhlwano, and Chelmsford went for-
- ward with a small party to recon
noitre. The camp, which was left
in the charge of Colonel Durnford,
contained the expedition's main
ammunition dump, including two
7-pdr. guns with their powder and
shot, 800 Martini-Henry rifles and
some 40,000 rounds. It was gar-
risoned by 56 officers and 800 odd
other ranks.
During Chelmsford's absence a
Zulu force of 10,000 launched a sud
den attack on the camp and over
whelmed it. Almost every man was
killed, and all the arms fell into
the Zulus' hands.
Chelmsford and his party return-
ed to the camp to
find it a sham
bles, and he was
left with no alter
native but to re
treat to the near
est post, Rorke's
Drift, where he
had left a garri
son of 80 men of
the 24th Regi
ment, under Lieu
tenants Chard
and Bromhead,
plus a field hos
pital with about
40 casualties and
2fl nrlrl nrtlfirliAC
As he proceeded throughout the
night, Chelmsford knew he was go
ing to strike trouble when Ije got
there, for his small force was held
up a number of times by parties of
Zulus. Indeed, he had probably by
this time wiped Rorke's Drift out
of his calculation. Such a lightly
garrisoned place was sure to have
fallen by now.
But when he reached the Drift
at 8 a.m. next day, after having
fought his way through a consid
erable body of Zulus, an amazing
sight greeted him.
Th% post consisted of a small mis
sion cottage with a thatched out
house used as the hospital. Nearby
was a native kraal used by native
troops. As Chelmsford approached
lie i o u ri n one ,
ground 1 i t tered j
with the bodies of 2
slain Zulus (there j
were actually <
about 400). The '
hospital was a smoking ruin, but a
parapet of sandbags and farm ve
hicles had been erected between the
hospital and the store, and behind
this a remnant of the garrison held
the place intact.
From the two officers and the
remnants of the garrison he heard
a remarkable story. He was told
that at 3.15 p.m. the previous day
an officer and a carabineer galloped
in from the direction of Isandhl-.
, wano and told of the calamitous
attack that the Zulus had made
there. Orders were given at once
to fortify the post.
Tents were struck, the mission
house and the hospital were hur
riedly barricaded with sand bags
and loopholed, and a parapet of
farm vehicles and sandbags was
erected to join the two buildings,
which were 30 yards apart. The
river guard was then recalled and
. all available men were posted.
Soon after 4 p.m. firing was
heard from the south and scouts
reported the enemy close at hand.
On news of this a native contingent
with their native officer, which had
been posted in the kraal, deserted
the garrison and made themselves
scar'ce.
About 4.30 p.m., the enemy sur
rounded the nost. About 600 Zulus
. charged to within 50 yards of the
defences, while the main body took
up positions among some rocky
cliffs 400 yards away. When the
natives found they could not take
the barricade by storm owing to
the fire of the defenders, they
turned their attention to the hos
pital.
They managed to set fire to the-
building and it had to be evacu
ated. Five of the patients were
burned to death. As darkness came
on, the Zulus attacked from all
sides, seven times during the night.
In the light from the burning hos
pital the garrison made every shot
tell, but slowly . they were forced
back into the kraal east of the
house. There they hung on until
dawn. Casualties amounted to 25
killed and 31 wounded.
At 4 a.m. firing ceased, and the
enemy withdrew out of sight over
the nearby hillocks. During the
respite the garrison collected what
arms they could from the fallen
Zulus, and then set about strength
ening their defences. A friendly
Kaffir was sent with a note to the
next military post at Ilelpmakaar,
asking for assistance. This was
the position when Chelmsford ap
peared.
Chelmsford left some of his party
at the Drift to further strengthen
the defence, and pushed on to his
base headquarters at Pietermaritz-
ourg. xvieanwnue cne ngnt column
had reached Eshowe, but on receipt
of news of the defeat at Isandhl-
wano, most of the mounted and
native troops were sent back to
Natal, leaving at Eshowe a garrison
of about 1300, which was eventually
hemmed in by the enemy. The left
column fared little better, for
though it actually advanced from
Utrecht it was forced to remain on
the defensive.
At his base Chelmsford called a
conference of staff officers, decided
to attempt to hold the line of the
Tugela River and reorganised his
forces accordingly, bringing up all
his reserves. At the same time he
appealed to the High Commissioner
for a strong additional force from
England.
r lNews or lsana-
4 hlwano and
2 Rork e's Drift
I reached England
3 on February 11,
three weeks after
the fatal day, and 10,000 troops
Were immediately ordered to South
Africa. They arrived in the middle
of April. Meanwhile there had
been other engagements, in one of 1
which Louis Napoleon-, Prince Im-
perial of France, was killed.
By the end of June Chelmsford
was ready to begin his campaign.
On July 1 he attacked Cetewayo at
his capital, Ulundi, defeated the
Zulu army and received the submis
sion of the subsidiary chiefs. Cete
wayo fled, but was later captured
and sent to Capetown, where he was
formally deposed and the country
portioned out among 11 of his
chiefs, also John Dunn, a white ad
venturer, and a Basuto chief, Hlubi,
both of whom had rendered signal
service to the British.
At first a resident was appointed
to advise the chiefs, but seven years
later Zululand was annexed and be
came part of Natal proper under
an English lieutenant-governor.
For their heroic defence of Rorke's
Drift both Lieutenants Bromhead
and Chard were awarded the V.C.
and promoted to the rank of major,
and a number of N.C.O.S and pri
vates were also decorated.
Today about "500,000 Zulus live in
peace, and the descendants of the
warrior Cetewayo are the spokes
men of their people in South Afri
can affairs, and highly regarded by
British officials. The Zulu still have
no vote, but education is open to
them and it must only be a matter
of time when they will achieve full
British citizen rights.
I Warrior King
| Help Sought
none Help
I CETEWAYO, chief of the t z Zulus, drawn from life by an 7 7 English missionary in 1877. 4 Help
I CETEWAYO, chief of the t
z Zulus, drawn from life by an 7
7 English missionary in 1877. 4
none Help
EHEROICfenderoT | Rorke's Drift — Lieut . /. R. 2 Chard (far left) and Lieut , G. a Bromhead (right.) AT LEFT is a & . c o n t emporary 2 artist's impres- sion of the re- | lief of Rorke's ;> Drift by t h e j ! South A f r ican <! Commander - in- Chief, Lieut.- !j General Lord',' Chelmsford. |> Help
EHEROICfenderoT
| Rorke's Drift — Lieut . /. R.
2 Chard (far left) and Lieut , G.
a Bromhead (right.)
AT LEFT is a &
. c o n t emporary 2
artist's impres-
sion of the re- |
lief of Rorke's ;>
Drift by t h e j !
South A f r ican <!
Commander - in-
Chief, Lieut.- !j
General Lord','
Chelmsford. |>
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