, 1879-03-24
INCIDENTS or THE BRITISH DISASTER IN ZULU.
LAND

r.
INCIDENTS or TIE BRITISH DISASTER IN zulu
LAND.
L,oudan Itn.et, N1reh q.
Col, Smtth-l)orten, ii0rcsfont, Derkhamp-
stca(, has received the following utter from Ills
son, Lieut.. II. Slntth-Uorlcn, who tas ncon en-
gagged Iu the special ileltl-,ransport service In
Xu,nla.u,, anl w!,o escaped from the conflict ut
lsa!ltufn:
'slsonIr's DHir1, Buffalo River, Jau. 995.-siuco
wsp.c ,hu first part OF my letter, dreadful .lls
nstcr has happened to LIS. 1t seems to me
pure mlsay1n that an alive to tell you about
It, On tllr 21st Of jauasy at' order ca1nu to me,
then stationed at sorkc's Drift, to 70 cut to ad
yauced camp to escort twenty y-fyo wngons from.
thcru tu Nosken Drift anil bring 1hrm back
loatle,. with supplies. Accordingly / slept In
camp. At about . a. NJ. OIL tic morIs-
lug Of tho aod, thu General sent for mo an1 toll
,ne Mot to take s}e wagons, but to convey
dlapatch to Col. Duruforl, who Was ut R0rke's
Drift, with about 500 mounted black fellows,
as battle was expected. 1tu tCol. Durnfortl)
accordingly started of With Ills snen to totn the
CAMP l did mol rcluru with him, hui carnn
out M hour afterwards hy Hyself. When I
arrived In camp t1'lnt the greater part Of thu
column gone out With the Gcncra! tn meet tho
taking furcc left n thu canp Wiz. iye contpa.
nics u llp First Battalion of The Twc.lty-fourt!,
two guns, ubout tjU0 Nntlyo Contingent, ainl d
few servants looking utter the tcnts; tile army
hospital carps {thlfteen mcn}, a1nl thu SILK lii
tls hospital tcuts. Tho first Zulu fnrce as-
peatcu about . o'clock In thu. morning, Two
companies of tho IweHtr-fourth were sent out
alter ihrn. Tic zuus seemed to rc,trc. und
| there was firing Kept III at long raiigcs. At
| abont ! 40 tho Xulus wefo seen coming over
tho hills In thousands. 'iileY wero IN
must nerfect order, AMl SEEMED to 10 In
atout twenty rows of sIIrmlsbers one brnhil
| the ntlwr. THEY wora IN seni'clrclc round
our two Hanks and III front OF lis. a1l must .avu
covered several tnilca Of ground. Nobo!y kuows
idea ia At least 10 tU. We'll, tu rat the account
surt, III l,alt an hour they were right ~ 10 llle
caul,. WIS mt with the front companies Of the
Twtnty.fuurth handing them snare a1EInunittnn
BuljetA were living all over thp pkAcG, butl never
see,ued to nutIce them. 1'Ilu Xutls nrarly all
hai tiEcarnas Of same kind aiMt lots VI ntla.uH.
| thu. Nefsire No know w|ere We Weft. they
ra,nu right tns0 tic cntnp hsseEnln, ercrybot}f
right alIt lest. Everybody tllsn who llad horst
began tu is. Thu 0neIIJ wcrd going ut kind
Of i very list hnlf-wuIk and f,af.r,n,. On lopk-
inE round W. saw that We Wcru completely sur
roNuad uu4t lllc rs,ad to Kurke's nritt was cut
oil, Thu rlncg WhGrh thEy Hepnlttl thlnlleyt
was wlero NO all nude for. Everybody wont
prll.tnrll oyur CroHn.t covered with huge h0"l.
tlces an! rocks until We got tn u dat sprint
ar gully: How tie isofse. got over
crock whci did no. belong tu mr., and wh!cl! 1
expected to GO on fts head every minute. Wo
had to 70 bang through tlleln at thu sprint.
| Lots OF our men wero killed there, had lots
| Ut marvellous escapes aMt WAS firing away at
them With my revolver AZ ] goll0ped along.
| TIE ground there down TO the river was so
broken that tue Zulus wont as last ~ tue lossts,