The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-10-11 00:00:00

MEMENTOES OF ISANDLANA.

e Correspondent of The limes with Brigadier Clarke's
-Aug Column, Ulundi, writes .
,_ On the 12th oi August great excitement was caused
by the finding of it.be two seven-pound guns captured
aAt. handlana, The cavalry reconnoitred towards
• Luanzekanze in force, and after vainly searching the
ruined kraal found the two guns at last in a small
ellY about half a mile on the Iflundi side of Amanze-
.-enze. A. rough pole for draught, with ox-yoke
.aAtached, was found upon the track in the direction of
ttuidi and firet attracted attention, and not far from
• - Lrus the guns and their carriages were found, having
,
'nen tumbled apparently in haste into the gully with-
.- out any other attempt at concealing them, This
would seem to bear out the story told by some of the
natives, that the guns were being brought to Ulundi
en the day the action was fought, but for some reason
unexplained were ordered to be taken back again.
..._Amanzekanze itself is only about seven miles from
and quite accessible, even by' wheeled con-
veyance. Indeed the cavalry brought the guns back
to "nun up on their carriages. The kraal, which was
,red by the Zulus themselves, must have contained at
toast 400 huts, and the remains of the magazine—a
~ect,angular building built of clay and wattle—could
easily be recognized. There are still large quantities
ograin left stored in hutsraised upon poles, or in
others on the ground covered with hides.
Further mementoes of Isandlana remain in the kraal
In the shape of a military wagon, a limber box of a,
Beven•ppunder gun, with many of the shells still undis-
tprbeu In it: about 60 shell altogether were found-
-43 ahrapnel, five common and eight double shell—
besides about 20 rockets, which, no doubt, belonged to
Poor Russell's ill-fated detachment. Scattered about
are all sorts of articles which one would not expect to
in such a place—a plougb, a new man-trap, a
e▪
mstn's vice, and a hundred quaint odds and ends. A
Workshop of some kind existed there, as a number of
tools were lying about.
„ The guns were found not to have been spiked, and
" strange how the idea that they were spiked was
ever broached, for the surviving officer of the battery
who escaped always asserted to the contrary, The
Funs are not injured; but gun nipples had been placed
in the vent-holes, no doubt with a view to firing the
charge with a percussion cap. This would hardly have
succeeded, however, as one gun had been loaded with
a common shell out of which the power had been
taken, but no charge of powder had been placed behind
the shell in the gun, perhaps under the idea that the
shell itself was a species of cartridge.
On the 13th another great find was made. By dint
(I threats some of our natives had extracted from
tins the whereabouts of the cave in which the powder
had been hidden in the hills towards the north, and Sir
,a-arnet Wolaeley and his Staff rode out about twelve
miles, and had the satisfaction of seeing barrel after
barrel taken out and hauled up to the top of the cliff,
until the whole store, amounting to about half a ton,
had been collected, when, by the help of a long train
carefully laid, the whole was exploded.

-

!k, With respect to the guns taken at Isandlana, The Times
01 Monday published the following letter
Sir,— It will probably be interesting to some of your
readers to hear that the two guns captured by the
it‘se e. 4., Zulus at Landlana, which were recovered on thelith
L'ext,, kat., are in wirfect order. Nipples had been forcibly
screwed into the vent of each of them so as to enable
them to be fired by percussion caps. Into the powder-
Chamber of one of them an empty common shell had
'ttiv, peen rammed tight. I expelled this shell with ten
drams of fine gunpowder, which exactly filled all
I r 5,1 stu+.ll,:avhiladole space between the base of the shell and
.1 t sfsheine'sdßate of ,the vent. I found that the papier•mach4
ivalr had haw driven into the shell, otherwise the shell
ivas teriptsr4Sso,know,
It has MR inorttateo, )4re g!ft thvi2Mitilefooed the-
gnia with this shell theniselteli eltht this4/SiSearitAo
me to be very improbable.
1. Because in that case they must have emptied the
Olell (which is invariably carried filled) for no apparent
reason.
2. Because I do not think it would have occurred to