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Rorke's Drift, 64km from Dundee, in
KwaZulu-Natal, was a trading post and mission
station on the Natal - Zululand border, situated
near a natural ford (drift) on the Buffalo
(Umzinyathi) River.
At 2.00pm on the 22 January 1879, Major
Spalding, still unaware of the disaster at
Isandlwana, left the trading post in order to
ascertain the whereabouts of No.1 company due two
days earlier. He left camp saying to Lieutenant John
Chard of the Royal Engineers, “You will be in
charge, although, of course nothing will happen, and
I shall be back again early this evening.”
Lieutenant Chard then rode down to the river to
inspect the work being carried out on the drift.
At 3:30pm two officers of the Natal Native
Contingent arrived at the ford bearing the news of
the battle at
Isandlwana, and that one wing of a Zulu impi
(regiment) was bearing down on the trading post.
Lieutenant Chard quickly returned from the river
to find that Lieutenant Bromhead, who had also heard
the news, was in the process of organising the
defences.
Mealie (maize) sacks, each weighing 200lbs, were
used to build a sturdy barricade and with the help
of 250 men from the Natal Native Contingent. There
was no time to evacuate the patients from the
hospital so six Privates were detailed to barricade
the doors and windows and knock loopholes in the
outside walls.
At 4.00pm Surgeon James Reynolds, Reverend Otto
Witt (the Swedish missionary who ran the mission),
and Reverend George Smith came scampering down from
a hill overlooking the station with news that
thousands of Zulus were fording the river and were
no more than five minutes away.
The approaching Zulu force was numerically
vastly superior to the soldiers at Rorke's Drift.
The uDloko, uThulwana and inDluyengwe impis mustered
more than 4,000 men, none of whom had been drained
by the battle at
Isandlwana earlier that day.
At this point, Lieutenant Vause and the mounted
natives, having already seen the slaughter at
Isandlwana hill,
headed for the rear. Upon seeing their comrades
retreat, Stephenson's Natal Native Contingent leapt
over the barricades and followed. Outraged that
Stephenson and his European officers were following
their charges, some British soldiers fired after
them.
In a matter of minutes the Lieutenant Chard's
defending force had been reduced by more than half.
In fact there were now a mere 139 men to defend the
depot.
In what proved to be a magnificent tactical
move, Lieutenant Chard ordered that a second line of
defence be thrown up to bisect the area. A solid
line of biscuit boxes was built from the corner of
the store down to the front defence. This would give
the garrison a second chance if the hospital and
surrounding area was to fall into enemy hands.
It was about 4.30 pm when Sergeant Gallagher
yelled 'Here they come, as thick as grass and as
black as thunder!' as the first warriors from the
inDluyengwe impi swept down from the Oscarsberg Hill
to attack the back of the trading post.
Although the Zulus initial attack had been
repulsed there was nevertheless a weakness in the
British defences. The section of the barricade in
front of the hospital was poorly constructed and by
taking cover in the thick bush at the bottom of the
slope, the Zulus were able break through and torch
the thatch roof of the hospital and store.
"The white men had by
this time made their
preparations; they were quite
ready. The Zulus arrived at
Rorke's Drift. They fought, they
yelled, they shouted, 'It dies
at the entrance! It dies in the
doorway!' They stabbed at the
sacks; they dug with their
assegais. They were struck; they
died."
Description of the fighting
by Munyo of the uThulwana inutho
in " A Zulu Boy's Recollection
of the Zulu War" G.H. Swinny ,
London 1884.
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While the front of the post was coming under
attack, the older more experienced Zulu impis, the
uThulwana, inDlondlo and uDloko, started showing
themselves on the slopes of the Oscarsberg Hill.
Seeing that the back of the British position was
heavily defended, they moved round the post to
regroup with the inDluyengwe in the flat land in
front of the hospital and the rocky ledge.
The Zulu army was already in possession of
firearms, obtained from white traders over the
years. But these were 20 or 30 years old and no
match to the Martini-Henrys now in use by the
British army. However, they still proved useful for
Zulu sniper shots from the Oscarberg hill.
Chard was becoming concerned as his men were
wounded. He could not afford to lose more men and he
was also well aware that the hospital was on fire.
The men stuck in the hospital were in a
decidedly unenviable position. The building was a
curious arrangement of small rooms with a central
spine running most of the way through.
With the roof burning and Zulus at the window,
Private Williams broke through the mud-brick wall to
join up with Private Hook on the far side. A
fire fight erupted as Zulus fired through the door
and Hook returned fire.
Together they worked there way through
the building, with one man to defend the
existing hole, the other would break through
the wall and, by picking up both Robert and
William Jones and some patients on route,
the defenders were able to break through to
a window looking onto the yard outside.
Lekker Links
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Lieutenant Chard and the other soldiers
had by this stage regrouped in front of the
store house. The Zulu fire from the hill had
been negated, thanks to the building between
the British and the Oscarsberg hill. Fearing
that this final defensive area might fall to
the enemy, Chard ordered the building of a
makeshift stronghold using excess Mealie
bags not used to construct the original
barricade.
Lieutenant Chard became aware that there
was some activity near the hospital when he
saw men clambering through a window on the
second storey. Corporal Allen and Private
Hitch ran the 30m gauntlet to pull the
survivors from the burning building to
relative safety.
With all the men lying in the
small area in front of the store and in the
cattle kraal, the garrison settled in for
the last gruelling part of the battle.
As night fell, the Zulu attacks grew
stronger as the snipers on Oscarberg - now
devoid of targets - joined the attack. The
blazing hospital gave the British an eerie
light to fight by and indeed helped them to
a certain degree, as they could see from
which direction the attacks were being
launched.
As the building burnt out, the inky
blackness benefited the Zulus. Lieutenant
Chard was never quite sure where the Zulus
were to attack from and by taking up war
cries from different areas, the Zulus kept
the defenders constantly on the alert.
The cattle kraal came under renewed
assault and had to be evacuated by 10:00pm,
leaving the remaining men in a small bastion
around the storehouse.
Lieutenant Bromhead, at about midnight,
gathered a group of men around him and with
bayonets fixed charged the Zulus, routing
them from the kraal. Reverend George Smith,
in between handing out ammunition, prayed
that the Zulus would go away and leave the
garrison in peace. Eventually his prayers
were answered. Zulu attacks finally ended by
2:00am, replaced by harassing fire from the
Zulu firearms and assegai until 4:00am.
As dawn broke on the 23 January, the
British could see that the Zulus were gone;
all that remained were the vast piles of
dead - nearly 350 Zulu soldiers and 17
British soldiers.
At about 7:00am a Zulu impi appeared on
Kwasinqindi Hill opposite the trading post,
and the weary redcoats manned their
positions once again.
Unexpectedly the Zulu army did a wide
detour around the front of the trading post
and slipped over the Buffalo (Umzinyathi)
River back into Zululand. The Zulus could
see from the hill what Chard couldn't see
from the post - Lord Chelmsford's force
coming back into Natal from the direction of
Isandlwana
hill.
Following the
Battle of
Isandlwana the day before, Lord
Chelmsford's army had spent an uneasy night
at the base of the
Isandlwana
hill, where they had seen a dull glow,
which they correctly assumed was Rorke's
Drift post burning.
Lord Chelmsford started moving back
towards Rorke’s Drift before daylight in an
attempt to spare his men from the gruesome
sight of thousands of dead men, both Zulus
and British. On route they passed a large
party of Zulus who slipped passed, quite
close to the British force. This did nothing
to reassure Lord Chelmsford and he was more
convinced than ever that Rorke's Drift had
been destroyed.
After arriving at the Buffalo
(Umzinyathi) River, Lord Chelmsford sent
some of the mounted infantry up to the
trading post to investigate. Private Hook
recalled, “We broke into roar after roar
of cheering, waving red coats and helmets,
and we cheered again and again.”
A bronze plaque was erected by the
Historical Monuments Commission in 1954 in
honour of the British solders who died at
Rorke's Drift.
In 1999 the other side to the story was
remembered when a memorial was constructed
to the Zulu warriors who fought for their
embattled kingdom.
Under guidance from the
Anglo-Zulu War Historical
Society – a project is
underway to construction a
traditional Zulu village at
Rorke’s Drift – with local Zulu
people, in traditional Zulu
dress, to show off their proud
traditions and culture.
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