At 4:00, Surgeon James Reynolds, Otto Witt - the Swedish missionary who ran the mission at Rorke's Drift - and army chaplain Padre George Smith came down from Oscarberg, a hill overlooking the station, with the news that the Zulus were fording the river at what later became known as "Fugitive's Drift" to the southeast and were "no more than five minutes away." Soon after, one of the mounted natives under Henderson reported that the Zulus were about a minute away. At this point, the mounted natives broke. Having been the last unit to retreat from the slaughter at Isandlwana, they deserted and Henderson was unable to stop them. Upon seeing this flight, Stephenson's NNC company leapt over the barricades and followed. Outraged that Stephenson and his European NCOs also deserted, a few British soldiers fired after them, killing Corporal Anderson.

At a stroke, the defending force had been reduced by more than half to 150 men, of which only the 96 of B Company could be considered a cohesive unit, and 35 of whom were hospitalized (only about 9 of which couldn't defend themselves). Chard immediately realised the need to shorten the perimeter, and gave orders for a new line bisecting the post to be constructed, with the hospital being evacuated. As the natives disappeared, Private Fredrick Hitch, posted as lookout atop the storehouse, reported a Zulu column of four to six thousand approaching. Almost immediately after the Zulu vanguard, 600 men of the iNdluyengwe appeared from behind Oscarberg and attacked the south wall which joined the hospital and the storehouse. In what is the best-known phrase from the battle, one of the defenders yelled "Here they come, as thick as grass and as black as thunder!"

Immediately, a heavy volley of gunfire was opened up at 500 yards, and while at first ragged, the British fire soon steadied, piling up the Zulu dead. The majority of the attacking force swept around the wall, while a few took cover, from where they were either pinned by continuing British fire or retreated to the terraces of Oscarberg, where they began a harassing fire of their own. As this occurred, a large force swept onto the hospital and northwest wall, and those on the barricades - including Dalton and Bromhead - were soon engaged in fierce hand to hand fighting. The British wall was too high for the Zulus to scale, so they resorted to crouching under the wall, trying to get hold of the defenders' rifles, slashing at British soldiers with assegai or firing their weapons through the wall. At places, they clambered over each others' bodies to drive the British off the walls, but a "peculiar aversion to the bayonet" defeated these breaches.

Zulu fire, both from those under the wall and around Oscarberg, began to find its mark. Corporal Schiess was shot in the leg, and then lost his hat to a Zulu shot; Commissary Dalton, leaning over the parapet to shoot a Zulu, was wounded in the shoulder by a bullet and dragged out of the line to have his wound dressed; Keefe, 'B' Company's drummer, suffered a skin wound to the head; Corporal Scammell, of the NNC, was shot in the back, and Private Byrne, attempting to help him, was killed by a shot to the head, as was 'Old King' Cole, another private in 'B' Company (see below at hospital section). The fire from the mountain only grew worse; Privates Scanlon, Fagan and Chick were slain. At least 1/3 (five) of the 17 killed, or died of wounds, were struck at the Front wall.

It became clear to Chard that the front wall, under almost constant Zulu attack, could not be held, and at 6 o'clock Chard pulled his men back into the yard, abandoning the front two rooms of the hospital in the process. The hospital was becoming untenable; the loopholes had become a liability, as rifles poked through were grabbed at by the Zulus - but if the holes were left empty the enterprising warriors stuck their own weapons through to fire into the rooms. Among the soldiers assigned to the Hospital were the following: Corporal William Wilson Allen; Pvts: Cole; Dunbar; Frederick Hitch; Horrigan; John Williams; Joseph Williams; Alfred Henry Hook; Robert Jones; William Jones

As it became clear that the front of the building was being abandoned, John Williams began to hack his way through the wall dividing the central room and the back of the hospital. As he made a passable hole the door into the central room came under furious attack from the Zulus, and he only had time to drag two bedridden patients out before the door gave way. Pitted against the Zulus, Joseph Williams managed to kill several before being overwhelmed. The remaining men in the room, Private Horrigan, Adams, and two more patients, were stabbed to death by the rampaging Zulus. The surviving two patients were taken by John Williams into one of the corner rooms, where he linked up with Private Hook and another nine patients.

The previous scene was played out again; Williams hacked at the wall to the next room with his pick-axe, as Hook held off the Zulus. A firefight erupted as the Zulus fired through the door and Hook returned the compliment - but not without a bullet smashing into his helmet and stunning him. Williams made the hole big enough to get into the next room, occupied only by Private Waters, and dragged the patients through. The last man out was Hook, who killed the Zulus who had knocked down the door before diving through the hole. Williams once again went to work, spurred by the knowledge that the roof was now on fire, as Hook defended the hole and Waters continued to fire through the loophole. After fifty minutes, the hole was large enough to drag the patients through, and the men - save Private Waters and Beckett, who hid in the wardrobe - were in the last room, being defended by a pair of privates going by the name Jones. {Waters was wounded and Beckett died of assegai wounds}. From here, the patients clambered out a window and then ran across the yard to the barricade. Of the eleven patients, nine survived the trip, as did all the able-bodied men. According to James Henry Reynolds only 4 men were killed in the Hospital: one was a Native with a broken leg who couldn't be moved; Sgt Maxfield and Private Jenkins who were ill with fever and refused to be moved; and a Private Adams who also refused to move. A Private Cole assigned to the hospital was killed when he ran outside. Private Joseph Williams reportedly defended a small window at the far end of the Hospital, and 14 dead Zulus were found later beneath the window. Williams with Private John Williams {above} and two patients tried to hold a hospital entrance with bayonets; but the entrance was forced and Joseph Williams was seized; dragged outside and stabbed with assegais. Reportedly Jenkins was also killed after being seized and stabbed; another Hospital patient killed was Trooper Hunter of the Natal Mounted Police. Among the hospital patients who escaped were a Corporal Mayer of the N.N.C; Bombardier Lewis of the Royal Artillery and Trooper Green of the Natal Mounted Police who was wounded in the thigh by a spent bullet. A Private Conley with a broken leg was pulled to safety by Hook, although Conley's leg was broken again in the process.

The evacuation of the hospital completed the shortening of the perimeter. As night fell, the Zulu attacks grew stronger as the snipers on Oscarberg - now devoid of targets - joined the attack. The cattle kraal came under renewed assault and was evacuated by ten o'clock, leaving the remaining men in a small bastion around the storehouse. Throughout the night, the Zulus kept up a constant assault against the British positions; Zulu attacks only began to slacken after midnight, and finally ended by two o'clock, instead being replaced by a constant harassing fire from the Zulu firearms - a fire that in turn only ended at four o'clock. Chard's force had lost fifteen dead, with eight more - including Dalton - seriously wounded, and virtually every man had some kind of minor wound. They were all exhausted, having fought for the better part of ten hours, and were running low on ammunition as well. Of 20,000 rounds in reserve at the mission, only 900 remained.

As dawn broke, the British could see that the Zulus were gone; all that remained were the vast piles of dead - over 370 bodies were counted. Patrols were dispatched to scout the battlefield, recover rifles, and look for survivors. At roughly 7am, an impi of Zulus suddenly appeared, and the weary redcoats manned their positions once again. But no attack materialized. The Zulus were utterly spent, having been on the move for six days prior to the battle and having not eaten properly for two. In their ranks were hundreds of wounded, and they were several days march from any supplies. Soon after their appearance, the Zulus left the way they had come.

Around 8am, another force appeared, and the redcoats abandoned their makeshift breakfast of rum, tea and biscuits to man their positions once again. This was no Zulu force, however; the vanguard of Lord Chelmsford's relief column had arrived.[

I was just browsing though my collection from the London Illustrated News. I came across this sketch by Private Mellsop 24th Regiment, of the newly constructed cemetery at Rorkes Drift. You can clearly see the 17 freshly piles of earth.

Henry Hook writes.
“As for our own comrades, we buried them. This was done the day after the fight, not far from the place where they fell, and at the foot of the hill. Soon afterwards the cemetery was walled in and a monument was put up in the middle. The lettering was cut on it by a bandsman named Mellsop, who used bits of broken bayonets as chisels. He drew a capital picture of the fight. Those who had been killed in action were buried on one side of the cemetery, and those who had died of disease on the other side. A curious thing was that a civilian named Byrne, who had taken part in the defence and was killed, was buried outside the cemetery wall. I don't know why, except that he was not a regular soldier.”

RORKE'S DRIFT - ANGLO ZULU WAR 1879 - HOLTS BATTLEFIELD TOURS 2009

A guided tour of Rorke’s Drift with Ian Knight. Again Covers a lot of facts that you will want to know.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTRhvT6oNtU&feature=related

Loved the bit, when Ian Knights talks about Christian Ferdinand Schiess and how he won the VC.

thanks pete, for posting the knight vids from isandlwana,rd etc. i must make an effort and get to these places. the money i have spent on books and collectables from the zulu war. i could have gone TWICE at least !!!

90th.

I was thinking exactly the same.

HI all

It's well worth the trip i would love to go again and there's always something that gives you that lump in
the throte and a tear in the eye

hi all
Found this , how ironic.
Chard left RD on the morning of 22nd jan with , Corp gamble, sapppers Cuthbert, Mclaren and Wheatley 5th R.E..
Chard went back to RD, and the others met their fate at Isandlawna. Now on the 22nd at Isandlwana , PVT Cooper
was sent back with a small party ( others unknown) to collect fresh rations from RD to supply the regt at Isandlwana.
Cooper survived RD. Its all about fate and luck of the draw by the look of it.
cheers 90th.

A side note with the party which left ISANDLWANA on the 22nd , Pvt Thomas Cole 2/24th , accompanied Cooper and the others back to RD, Thomas Cole was killed at RD. There is that word fate, again.
cheers 90th.

hi all.
JULIAN WHYBRA posted this link on the RDVC FORUM, thought i would post it here.
http://www.genealogyworld.net/azwar/garr.html
cheers 90th.

ps. I should write the list was compiled by GRAHAM MASON.

Hi 90th. I saw this as well. Julian seems to have some trouble finding a member of the 1st Battalion, 3rd Natal Native Contingent
A Private Umkungu. I have been looking for this chap. But came up blank. I will keep looking.

I do own a copy of Julians Book. thats why i have taken an interest, in the chap he looking for.

There is a Umkungu mentioned in Natal; a History and Description of the Colony: Including Its Natural .(1876)
Not sure if its the same chap.

http://www.archive.org/stream/natalahistoryan00manngoog
Pages 299, 301,302,

Letter from Africa: 'This is Britain's own version of the 300 Spartans'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/audio/2009/apr/20/david-smith-rorkes-drift-africa

Time line of attack. 2 Second change

I read an account by V.D. Hanson's and his take on Rorkes Drift. In "Carnage and Culture."

Question being “Why did the British win against the odds?

Hanson putts forward, that it was European discipline: that of which "grew out of the training and regulations of the British army, the fear of and respect for their officers, and the comradeship and allegiance to one another." Entrenched behind makeshift fortifications of biscuit tins and mealie bags.

British riflemen fired constantly without let-up for ten hours, cutting down scores of Zulu attackers as they sought to penetrate British defences. Their enemy could do little in the face of such co-ordinated defensive strategy. They came as individuals; the British defended as a team. The Zulus had "no understanding with a modern force of disciplined riflemen who would aim, fire, and reload modern firearms on command, and when shooting individually do so according to strict protocols concerning the range and nature of the target." Neither did they have any experience in handling those firearms. Lacking the sort of training that the British soldiers had received, the Zulus were unable to understand "Western decisive battle in which lines of soldiers sought to charge or fire in careful unison, and to do so in order and on command before, during, and after the melee." For them, Western victories were due to magic, and the only way to counter that was by even more potent witchcraft. But science knows no cultural boundaries.

Logical and plausible. Comments from other members most welcome..

G.

In this book by V.D. Hanson, does he just mention Rorkes Drift, or doe's he give his opinions on other Battles relating to the Zulu War of 1879. His account of Rorkes Drift made ggod reading, and I think he does have a point.