Grand Total.
1st Division... 9215
2nd Regiment... 10,238
General Wood's Flying Column. 3092
Total, effective and non-effective: namely, Europeans, 15,660, and
natives, 6885... 22,545
Out of this grand total there were about 400 sick and non-effective with
the 1st Division, 300 with the 2nd Division, and 600 (including some of
Wood's Irregulars, absent and not accounted for since the 28th of March)
with Wood's Flying Column. So that altogether, deducting, say, 1500,
Lord Chelmsford had at his disposal, from the middle of April, a total
of 21,000 troops, of which over 15,000 were European. Colonels Pearson
and Wood were made Brigadier-Generals, and the former was to command
Number 1 Brigade, 1st Division, and Colonel Pemberton, 3-60th, the
other. They both, however, had to give up their commands through
sickness, and Colonels Rowland, V.C., C.B., and Clark, 57th Regiment,
succeeded them.
Major-General Clifford, V.C., C.B., had the following staff for the
management of the base of the operations and the maintenance of the
lines of communication between Zululand and Natal:--
Lieutenant Westmacott, 77th Foot, aide-de-camp; Major W.J. Butler,
C.B., assistant-adjutant and quartermaster-general, stationed at Durban;
and Captain W.R. Fox, Royal Artillery, deputy assistant-adjutant and
quartermaster-general.
On the arrival of the boys with the waggons at Pieter-Maritzburg, they
reported themselves at the headquarters of the transport corps, and were
told that they were not to go down to Durban, but were to load up at
once and accompany the Dragoon Guards, who were to march the next
morning for the front.
This time the lads were mounted, as their fathers thought that they
would gain more benefit from their experience if they were able to move
about instead of being confined to the sides of their waggons, and it
was a satisfaction to their mothers that, in case of any untoward event
again happening, they would be in a better position for making their
escape.
General Newdigate's columns were encamped at Landmann's Drift; the
cavalry, under General Marshall, was also there. The march was
altogether without incident.
Some days passed quietly, when a small party of horse made an expedition
to Isandula; they reported that nearly a hundred waggons were still
standing upon the field of battle. On the 17th of May, three days
later, the rumour ran through the camp that the cavalry were to start on
the 19th, to bury the dead and bring away the waggons. The Army Service
Corps and waggons were to accompany the party, which was to consist of
the Dragoon Guards and Lancers, with a party of native mounted scouts.
In the afternoon of the 18th the two boys went to Colonel Marshall's
tent; they waited patiently until he came out, accompanied by two or
three other officers.
"We have come to ask, sir, if you will allow us to go with your column.
We are in charge of waggons here, but they are not going. We were at
the battle, and saw the whole thing, and were taken prisoners afterwards
and carried to Umbelleni's kraal, where we were liberated when Colonel
Wood's cavalry attacked the Zlobani hill. We are well mounted, sir, and
are good shots; so, if you will let us go, we could keep with the scouts
and not be in your way."
"How did you see the fight?" General Marshall asked.
"We had gone up to the top of the hill, sir, before it began, and
fortunately the natives did not notice us."
"Oh, yes, you can go," the general said. "Probably you can give us a
better account of the action than any one else, as others who escaped
were occupied by their own business, and could not mark the general
progress of the battle. So you were taken prisoners! Well, I am going
out now, but if you will call in this evening at about half-past eight,
I shall be glad to have a talk with you."
In the evening the boys called upon the general, one of the most popular
and dashing officers in the service. Three or four of his staff were
there, and all listened with great interest to the boys' account of
their adventures.
"You seem to have plenty of pluck and coolness, youngsters," the general
said, when they had finished. "In future you need not trouble to ask
for permission to accompany me whenever the cavalry go out, providing we
have natives mounted with us; you must go as recruits, and can either
keep with them or ride with my orderlies."
Much pleased with the permission given, the lads returned to the
waggons, and the next morning they started on their way.
The column bivouacked that night at Dill's Town, and reached Rorke's
Drift between three and four o'clock in the morning, and were there
joined by the Natal Carabineers and Colonel Harness, R.A., with guns.
At daybreak on the 20th the reconnoitring force crossed the river. No
signs of the enemy were seen until they neared Isandula; then
signal-fires blazed up on the hills to the right, and spread quickly
from hill to hill far into the interior. Pushing steadily on, the plain
of Isandula was reached by ten o'clock. The whole scene of the conflict
was overgrown with long grass, thickly intermixed with growing crops of
oats and Indian corn. Lying thickly here, and scattered over a wide
area, lay the corpses of the soldiers. The site of the camp itself was
marked by the remains of the tents, intermingled with a mass of broken
trunks, boxes, meat-tins, papers, books, and letters in wild disorder.
The sole visible objects, however, rising above the grass, were the
waggons, all more or less broken up.
The scouts were placed in all directions to give warning of the approach
of any enemies. The Army Service Corps set to work to harness the
seventy pairs of led horses they had brought with them to the best of
the waggons, and the troops wandered over the scene of the engagement,
and searched for and buried all the bodies they found, with the
exception of those of the 24th Regiment, as these, Colonel Glyn had
asked, should be left to be buried by their comrades. The bodies of the
officers of Colonel Durnford's corps were all found together, showing
that when all hope of escape was gone they had formed in a group and
defended themselves to the last. The men of the Royal Artillery buried
all the bodies of their slain comrades who could be found, but the
shortness of the time and the extent of the ground over which the fight
had extended rendered anything like a thorough search impossible.
The object of the expedition was not to fight, and as at any moment the
Zulus might appear in force upon the field, a start was made as soon as
the waggons were ready. Forty of the best waggons were brought out,
with some water-carts, a gun-limber and a rocket-battery cart. Twenty
waggons in a disabled condition were left behind. Some seventy waggons
were missing, these having been carried off by the Zulus, filled either
with stores or with their own wounded. Having accomplished this work
the cavalry rejoined headquarters at Landmann's Drift.
On the 27th of May the column advanced, Newdigate's division leading the
way. By two o'clock in the afternoon the men had crossed the Buffalo
and marched to Kopje-allein through a bare and treeless country. One of
the most popular figures in the camp was the Prince Imperial of France,
who, having received a military education at Woolwich, and being anxious
to see service, had applied for and obtained leave to accompany the
expedition. The young prince had been extremely popular at Woolwich,
and was indeed an immense favourite with all who knew him--high-spirited
and full of life, and yet singularly gentle and courteous in manner. He
was by nature adapted to win the hearts of all who came in contact with
him. His abilities too were of the very highest order, as was proved by
the fact that, although suffering under the disadvantage of being a
foreigner, he yet came out so high in the final examination at Woolwich
as to be entitled to a commission in the Royal Engineers. When it is
considered how keen is the competition to enter Woolwich, and that all
the students there, having won their places by competitive examinations,
may be said to be considerably above the average of ability, it will be
seen that, for one who had previously gone through an entirely different
course of education, and had now to study in a language that was not his
own, to take rank among the foremost of these was a proof both of
exceptional ability and industry.
A splendid career was open for the young prince, for there is little
doubt that, had he lived, he would sooner or later have mounted the
throne of his father, and there are few pages of history more sad than
those which relate to his death in a paltry skirmish in a corner of
Africa. To Englishmen the page is all the more sad, inasmuch as, had
the men accompanying him acted with the coolness and calmness generally
shown by Englishmen in a moment of danger, instead of being carried away
by a cowardly panic, the Prince Imperial might yet be alive.
At Kopje-allein Newdigate's column was joined by that of General Wood.
Three days were spent in carefully exploring the country, and on the 1st
of June the division, as nearly as possible 20,000 strong, with a
baggage-train of 400 native waggons, moved forward and encamped near the
Itelezi River. The flying column of General Wood went on one march
ahead, and the country was carefully scouted by Buller's horse for
twenty miles round, and no Zulus were found.