Battle of Isandlwana

Background

In December 1878 the British High Commissioner in southern Africa, Sir Bartle Frere, gave the Zulu king Cetshwayo an ultimatum that he knew could not be accepted, including the disbanding of the Zulu army. When it expired, Lieutenant-General Lord Chelmsford invaded Zululand on 11 January 1879 with three columns. The central column, which Chelmsford accompanied, crossed the Buffalo River at Rorke's Drift and on 20 January made camp below Isandlwana, a steep rocky hill. The camp was not entrenched or protected by a wagon laager. Meanwhile the main Zulu army, about 20,000 men under Ntshingwayo kaMahole and Mavumengwana kaNdlela, had left the royal kraal at Ulundi and moved toward the column.

The Battle

Before dawn on 22 January, believing the Zulu army was to the southeast, Chelmsford took about half the column to find it, leaving the camp under Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Pulleine of the 24th Regiment: five companies of the 1st Battalion and one of the 2nd, two 7-pounder guns, mounted volunteers and police, and companies of the Natal Native Contingent. Colonel Anthony Durnford arrived later in the morning with mounted African troops and a rocket battery, taking about 1,700 men in the camp. The Zulu army was in fact hidden in the Ngwebeni valley a few miles to the northeast, and around noon a patrol of Durnford's horsemen stumbled on it. The Zulu regiments rose and attacked at once in their classic formation, the "horns of the buffalo": the chest attacked the front while the two horns swept around the flanks. Pulleine's companies formed an extended firing line well forward of the camp, and for a time the volleys of the 24th pinned down the Zulu center. But the line was long and thin, Durnford's men on the right ran short of ammunition and fell back, and the Zulu horns closed around the camp. When the British line pulled back toward the tents it broke, and the fighting became hand-to-hand. Few escaped; lieutenants Melvill and Coghill were killed trying to save the Queen's Colour of the 1st/24th. A partial eclipse of the sun darkened the field that afternoon.

Weapons

The British regulars fired the Martini-Henry Rifle, supported by two field guns and Hale's rockets. The Zulu warriors carried the Zulu Iklwa stabbing spear, throwing spears and the large cowhide shield, and some had old firearms. The Zulu Impi relied on speed, numbers and discipline to close with the enemy.

Aftermath

More than 1,300 of the camp's defenders were killed, including about 50 officers and most of the 1st/24th; the Zulu lost perhaps 1,000 killed and many more wounded. That afternoon and night part of the Zulu reserve attacked the mission station at Rorke's Drift and was driven off by about 150 men, earning eleven Victoria Crosses. Britain sent reinforcements, and Chelmsford defeated the Zulu army at Ulundi on 4 July 1879. Cetshwayo was captured and the Zulu kingdom broken up.