Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1880-01-29

dreds of yards and exposing them to a
merciloss hro, at the same time leaving
the fort in comparative gloom.
Seeing their game was up, the Lu-
lus, with bravery worthy of a'better
cause, calamity rushed to the assault.
As they jumped into the ditch and
scrambled toward the parapet, the fire
Of the defenders opened in real earn
est rife bullets, shrapnel and grape
created a fearful carnage, while the
grenades, thrown at close quarters in
to their struggling masses, added fear
fully to the mortality. Perceiving
that the enemy directed all their eff
forts to carrying that portion of the
defense fronting the hospital building,
the engineer officer suggested to the
commander the destructive effect Of
an enflade fire, and accordingly field
piece was moved to the right, to a por-
ton of the breastwork curving out
ward from the main parapet.
Here the gun. placed in position and
pointing along the front of the line,
opened the fire with grape, sweeping
the scarp and hurting the enemy to
the ditch with every discharge as
ones hands would sweep flies from a
board. The yells, shrieks and groans
were now frightful, many of the Zulus
being doubtless buried alive in the
ditch beneath the bodies OF those CON
tinually falling from the parapet. But
they never desisted; with a seeming
contempt for death, fresh swarms
promptly took the place of those an
initiated. Savage yells we're now an
swered by the Anglo Saxon cheer, as
the soldiers hitherto animated by dis
cipline and azealous discharge ofduty,
pe~rceiying that their position was i'm
pregnable, gave way to the burning
feeling of revenge. Notwithstanding
the high order Of their training, they
were but men after all, and it was not
to be wondered at if they INDUCED in
shouts Of derision as they foiled every
attempt of those who the day previ-
ously had butchered their comrades.
The audacity OF the Zulus was I'M
exampled. Occasionally one or more
who would dash unscathed through
the tempest of missiles, would strug-
gle upward. and seizing the muzzle of
a rifle, attempted to wrest it from the
clutch of its owner, and hang on with
desperate tenacity, only desisting after
receiving a deadly bayOnet thrust from
the defenders right hand man.
Thus the conflict ragged through the
night. There we're two conditions
which caused the extraordinary pro-
longation OF this fight. First-The
large numbers of the enemy, which
enabled them to pe~rsistently renew
the attack as often as they were re-
pulsed; and, second, the possession on
the part of the garrison of a large
amount of reserve ammunition, which
enabled them to meet each attack with
a well-sustained vigorous fire. Else,
how could the little force OF 100 men
hope to have successfully resisted 5000
Zulus (that is the number computed)?
Had it been otherwise, as at Issndula,
they would have been slaughtered to
a man.
The anxious thoughts and feelings
of suspense that this devoted little
band doubtless had during this night
of horror, we are not in possession Of,
we can merely suppose that their ma
tional spirit, which in itself includes
the Hottest courage, added to the
consciousness that in Providence,
their undaunted hearts and strong
depended the issue, caused them
to look at the matter like men, deter
to die at their posts.
But all things must have an end.
As is the custom of troops Of more
civilized nations, the Zulus chose the
darkest hour before the dawn" for
their last and greatest effort. As
usual, they stole and crept forward,
but as soon as the freballs performed
their Office they started up boldly,
and in a column of surprising density
threw themselves against the defenses.
The artillery thundered. and the
small arms ratified like the close
'rpll' on a drum. Upward they
mountad, only to be dashed back
The ~epflading gun again did
its work. The ditch was now choke
full of dead and the glacis literally
paved with the same, but the supply
for deaths harvest seemed inexhaust-
ible; and, as, crowding forward as
thick as a herd of cattle on the coun
tersearp, the engineer officer, deem
ing the opportune moment had
arrived, applied the electric current
and sprang the fougassel a report,
louder than all others combined.
shook the earth, followed by an up
heayal that for a few minutes filed
the air with q flying mass of debris
and mangled remains. Phe smoke,
joined to the 'sulphurous canopy
already overhanging the. scene of car
mage, rendered the atmosphere i'm
penetrable TO human gaze; but when
this wGa rapidly waited aside by the
rising wind Of the morning, a specta.
Gle was revealed which was truly ap-
palling. The whole Of the open space
was filed with a mass of dead and
dying Zplus, while of those who had
escaped upharmed, none were in close
proximity, but we're to be seen in the
distance, making all speed toward the
river. In the course of twenty min
utes the bush had hidden from view
the last Zulu combatant. The fou-
gasse gave the coup de grace to the
enemy. Hn.r7.~
Standing on the parapet, the garri-
son INDUCED in three exultant Ulcers:
and then a reaction of feeling ensued
which unbent the high-strung deter
minstion TO which each mind had been
wrought during the eyentfql night
Rough, hard men could be seer in
tears as they rung each Others hands.
and their admiration for their officers,