The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-03-08 00:00:00

THE BATTLE AT RORKE'S DRIFT.

DESCRIPTION OF THE MASSACRE, BY THE REV. MR. WITT.
One of the passengers by the Warwick Castle was the Rev.
Mr. Witt, a Swedish Lutheran missionary, whose house
formed the centre of the improvised fort at Rorke's Drift,
so gallantly defended by Lients. Chard and Bromhead.—The
following account of the engagement, which was given by
Mr. Witt, was published in the Daily Chronicle on
Wednesday morning
It was on January 22, 1879, bright and warm rose
the sun over my station, Oecarburg„ situate at the
Buffalo river on the Natal side. At the farm is a
Drift into the Zulu country, known by the name of
Rorke's Drift. Ten minutes walk from the Drift
were my houses, two large buildings situate at the
border of the Zulu country, and at the very places
where the greatest resistance from the Zulus was ex-
pected. Those buildings were found very fit indeed
for military purposes, and at the request of the
general commanding the forces I had left them at
his disposal. A large outhouse, 80 by 20 feet, which
I used as a church, was turned into a commissariat
store, and my dwelling-house, 60 by 18 feet, was
made a hospital, in consequence of which I had to
send away my wife and three children. I myself
stayed and acted as interpreter to the doctor in charge
and the black people. Before the above-mentioned
day all was quiet, waggons arriving constantly aug-
menting the store of provisions, and the only variation
in this monotony were the reports of skirmishes taking
place on the other side of the river, but heavy
storm is often preceded by sudden calm. The
22nd came, and witnessed the battle in which
the warriors on both sides showed, or, per-
haps were compelled to show, a courage that
cannot be denied either by contemporaries or by
posterity. Behold, on the one side, a thousand
soldiers, reinforced by equal their numbers of black
ones, leaving their camp to attack an enemy more
than ten times their number; behold on the other
side, this mass of Zulus, who, close together, walk
straight against the mouth of the cannon. Look
how thousands after thousands are killed; and never-
theless the mass proceed without fear over the dead
bodies of their comrades against the destroying
weapon; on the one side, a few dozen white troops,
the only remainder of that thousand—look how :they,
after having shot away all their ammunition, keep
close together, trying yet awhile to fight for their lives
with the bayonet; behold on the other side the black
ones, how they are fighting against the intruder and
oppressor, fighting for liberty and independence,
coming close to their bayonets, and making them
harmless by taking the corpses of their brethren and
throwing them on them. Who wins your warmest
sympathy, the captain, who knowing that he is
lost, stops a moment to spike the cannon and die, or
the Zulu, who in his excitement leaves his fellows
soldiers behind, and alone makes the attack on the
hospital at Rerke's Drift, resting his gun on the
very barricade, and firing on those inside? Is your
admiration greater for those 95 who entered the com-
missariat store at Oscarburg, and defended it against
5,000 Zulus than for those 5,000 who fought outside
the whole night, trying to overpower the whites,
and who withdrew at daybreak, leaving 1,000
dead, hundreds of whom were lying even on
the very verandah of the house? Indeed, your admira-
tion ought to be as great for one as for the other.
Where did you find greater courage or contempt of
death than theirs; Dr. R and myself. had in the morn-
ing made up our minis to pay a visit to a missionary
In the neighbourhood. When about to start at noon,
we were told that a great fight was taking place over
the river. In company of the chaplain of the forces
we ascended a hill 500 feet high, between the station
and the river, from which we had an excellent view of
what was going on at a distance of three miles as the
crow flies. We saw the place where the camp was made,
the whole spot thronged with black figures swarming
about. Between us and the camp lay a great level ground,
and on this flat we saw three lines drawn, the one
end reaching the camp and the other the river. The
whole of it was a shocking eight—the heavy firing
from the rifles mixed with the rolling sound from the
big guns, and the movements of the lines, all this
caused a nervous dread that something terrifying
was going on. What struck us in the beginning was
that a good many of the officers of the Native Con-
tingent had one by one crossed the river some miles
below the Mission Station and came galloping in
towards it as fast as the horses could carry them,
and on the left hand side we noticed some of the
mounted natives crossing at the Drift, and driving
some cattle before them. Although we could not
clearly comprehend this movement, we did not pay
much attention to it, our minds being far from dream-
ing of the real facts. In the meantime the three lines
had drawn themselves more close together to one spot,
where was a large Kaffir kraal, which was gradually
surrounded, and fired at. How many had entered it
I do not know, and will probably never learn, because
all who were inside there were certainly killed by the
Zulu bullets. After twenty minutes heavy firing the re
sistance ceased, and the attacking ones divided them-
selves again. Half of them returned towards the
camp, and the other half, from 5,000 to 6,000, ap-
proached the river, and the place where I was. Firing
every now and then they reached at last the river,
where another skirmish took place. The spot where they
croesed was half a mile below the Drift and Droven,
defended by a few Natal Kaffirs. A tolerably good
force could have easily prevemted their crossing.
Having killed these few Natal Keffirs, they crossed
one by one, and this being done, they sat down for
half-an-hour in order to get some rest, and to strengthen
themselves from the snuff box. There they separated,
again divided into two parties, the one following the
course of the river, the other taking its way towards
us. We now perceived that the house of a neigh-
bouring farm on the Natal side was on fire, but we
were so far from fancying that the Zulus would
cross the river that we never had the slightest
idea of the real state of things, but were still thinking
that the approaching black people were our own
troops. They now were so close to us that their bullets
could easily have reached us, and we saw that they
were all naked. Reality then also stood naked before
us—the thick masses that swarmed in the camp were
the Zulus, who had taken possession of it, the close
lines. Firing at the Kraal were Zulus; and, lastly,
those who had crossed the river and were approaching,
were Zulus. The few whites whom we had seen
galloping now and then to the Natal side, perhaps
were the only surviving of all those who a week
before had entered the Zulu country. Our
eyes were opened, but why had they not been
before? How had the idea of the possibility of a
disaster on our side been so far from us that the
clearest facts had been unable to enter our minds?
The officers' flight, the burning farm, the immense
masses, (say 20,000) moving to and fro in light lines,
why had not this long ago told us that the Lord's
thoughts are not our thoughts, nor our ways His?
These ideas were crossing my mind while we speedily
descsnded the hill, followed by the Zulus. Arrived
at the houses we saw at once a new proof of the
sad truth for which our eyeil had just been opened.
The tents, which surrounded the houses, and were
used by a company left there under Major Sporld-
ing for the protection of the hospital and the
commissariat store, bad been pulled down, and
a temporary barricade of meal sacks was made
between the houses, at a dietance of twenty yards
from one another. Here we met with anxious ques-
tions from many lips :—" Da the Zulus come here?"
and we were compelled to answer, " In five minutes
they will be here !" and at the same moment the fight-
ing began in the neighbourhood. Though wishing to
partake in the defence of my own house, and at the same
time inthe defence of an important place for the whole
colony, yet my thoughts flew to my wife and to my
children, who were at a short distance from there,
and did not know anything of what was going on,
and having seen one part of the Zulus going in
that direction, I followed the desire of my heart,
saddled my horse, and started to warn my family.
What my poor family had to suffer previously, after
five days; journey towards liaritzburg, chased by the
Zulus and frightened by all sorts of reports, I will pass
over as of no interest for other people. The attack
on Oecarburg had been awful. Before I started
I saw a Zulu alone at the barricade, kneeling
and firing. Soon the whole force drew nearer; the
battle became heavier. Presently the hospital was
on fire; our people found it impossible to defend
themselves inside the barricade. They must retire
within the walls, thus entering the Commissariat Store.
The sick people were brought here, except five, who
could not be removed, and who were assegaied by the
Zulus or burnt in the hospital. All this was eertaealy
a great personal loss for me as all my property was
burnt, but it wee of great importance for the whole
colony, and especiay for the people in the Com-
missariat store, as the gameA of the burning house
enabled them to aim properly on ell Zulus, and thus
keep them at a fair distance. If the Zulue had known
what they were about, they would never base cet
to the house, and the heavy darkness of that dreadul
night would have nude eur troops unable to defend
themselves as they did,