Isandlwana by Adrian Greaves

Author:Adrian Greaves
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9781844686025
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2017-05-20T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

After Isandlwana

I have terrible news to tell you …

Private Houseman, 2/24th Regiment

Chelmsford's return to Isandlwana

January 22 began frustratingly for Chelmsford's force, including four companies of the 2/24th who found themselves chasing elusive groups of Zulus. As the morning wore on, disquieting messages began to reach Chelmsford's staff officers that there might be a problem at Isandlwana. As early as 9.30 am a message was received from Pulleine that the Zulus were advancing towards the camp. A junior staff officer, Lieutenant Berkley Milne RN, was dispatched to a nearby hilltop with his telescope; he saw nothing amiss. Chelmsford then set off to scout the area between Magogo Hill and the Mangani waterfall. Accompanied only by a small escort, he did not think it prudent to inform his staff officers of his whereabouts, and when subsequent messages arrived from Isandlwana, Chelmsford could not be found until 12.30 pm. Distant firing could now be heard from the direction of Isandlwana, so Chelmsford and his staff rode to the top of a nearby hill and observed the camp through field glasses. Nothing untoward could be seen, partly because of the thick heat haze and because the battle at the camp was taking place inside a long valley. Chelmsford assumed that any Zulus there had long been rebuffed, but he nevertheless decided to ride back towards the camp, leaving Glyn to concentrate the force and organise the new campsite near Mangeni, a location considered by Chelmsford to be ideal as a bivouac site for the night

Colonel Arthur Harness RA was with the guns that accompanied Chelmsford's force, and during the morning he heard gunfire from the camp and realized that Isandlwana was probably under serious attack. He spontaneously ordered those under his command to march back to the camp. His force had only travelled a mile and a half when a message from Chelmsford ordered him to about-turn to the new campsite. Meanwhile, Russell arrived on the scene and informed Chelmsford that a message had arrived to the effect that Durnford was also engaging the Zulus. An uneasy Chelmsford and his staff set off towards the camp to ascertain the situation. After a few miles they came across Commandant George Hamilton-Browne's battalion observing the camp; Chelmsford again ordered Hamilton-Browne to advance just as Commandant Rupert Lonsdale arrived to report that the camp had been lost. Lonsdale had ridden back to the camp having suffered from a fall and sunstroke; as he approached the camp in a dazed state he suddenly realised it was in Zulu hands. Only two hundred yards from the camp he turned and, riding for his life, escaped across the plain towards Chelmsford's force. Based on hearsay, much has been erroneously written about Lonsdale's injury. Harford's recently discovered letters mention the incident and he puts the record straight:

It was now nearing the 11th January, the date fixed for the troops to move across the border. Lord Chelmsford had arrived at Rorke's Drift and Lonsdale rode over to have an interview with him but received no definite orders with regard to the movements of the Contingent.

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