Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1891-07-11
On Which one of the Fierce Battles
With the Hulus Was
Fought
An English officer RecOunts Fray
in Which he Took a Lively
Interest.
Daring Work of the Men in Throwing
up BreaStworks in Face
of Death.

Mtfp~l uOuuiAlU curing Tie Aulu war,
BY the combined forces of Sir Bartle
Firere aud tse Colonial Cape Mounted
Rifles.
Lieutenant Edward Hale. British Of
ficer who participated in this engagement, !
was interviewed recently The following
account Is therefore from the lips of an
actual participant in what was perhaps
the iercest and bloodiest battle of the
whole campaign, and will be found to be
of interest
Picture to yourself, said Lieut.. Hale,
gigantic mountain, the terminus of a
series of rocky and almost mpassabIe de.
files into the heart of Z1luland. Carve
away three Of It's sides perpendicularly, as
with a huge knife, and run a deep river
almost completely around it, save where
on its remaining side a narrow but deep
slope, extending from the broad plateau at
the top TO the very foot, offers some little
chance of carrying the place by assault,
and you have a pretty good i1sa of Moro
81 s Mountain On the broad plateau at
the summit, stretching for half mile
back to where the gigantic precipices de-
scended three hundred feet to the bottom of
the dark and swollen waters on the river,
Morosi had eutrenched himself with near
" 1000 of his most devoted followers.
He had an abundant supply Of good rifles
and plenty of ammunition, food, etc Over
the northwest part Of the plateau he had
built a heavy wall for purposes of defence
and behind this his sharpshooters sat all
Gay long and commanded the approach to
the mountains Across the surface OF the
slope several high swanzes or rough stone
walls had been placed at intervals Of about
one hundred yards, the last or lowest one
being nearly level with the plain on which
our forces we're encamped.
LAS commander of the expedition,
vas particularly anxious to force Morosi's
position with as little loss Of life rs pos
sible. 1t was O'Clock in the afternoon
when ! ordered up the mortar battery to
make a breach in the swanzes. The NOR
tar was an entiquated thing dated 1902,
with homemade fuses of colonial manu-
facture, and a bad ft at that. It had been
sent up to US from Che Cape where
it had stood outside of the govern
meat house for | don t know how ong,
exposed to every kind Of wind and
weather.
Keeping out of range Of Morosi's bul-
lets, the shells from this oil mortar fell
short many hundred feet of the first
sWaazs.
'', saw at once that that mortar must be
brought at least a quarter OF a mile near
er TO the enemy in order to be effective,
and consequently within range of the
enemy's bullets William Townsend, a
dare devil in the rifles, volunteered to lead
in the building of shield behind which
TO work the mortar Selling a huge stone
in his arms he ran rapidly forward with
il, zigzagging as he went, deposited it
and returned unharmCd, though repeated
attempts were made to kick him off Two
other brave fellows repeated the trip, and
and got of scott free The fourth reached
the shield, deposited his stone and was on
the way back when a Zulu bullet reached
him and dropped HIM in the tail grass out
OF sight Notwithstanding this accident,
however, the men kept at work, and in
two hours had raised a circle breastwOrk
four feet high We lost two more men in
bringing up the mortar; but once beneath
the shelter of the SHE d, it meant mischief
for the Zuius.
The very first shell we fred described a
high curve in the arr and exploded half
way up the slope k0o,<ng a big breach
in the center swau2 lra-re were six Of
them) and routnga whole troop of sharp
shooters concealed behind 1t A sharp
cannouadjug which was kept up for the
next two hours was SO efftctual as to
breach every swauzs in the hill by sun
down and rs tie night closed in ds-
termined to carry the mountain by assault
before tae rising OF the moon.
lit was close onto 3 o'clock when the
men were called away. Pistols had been
,-tF 4 III
Inspected an hour before, so there was no
delay in starting, 1t was volunteer at
tick, but there were nlenty. rs II was
known that a reward of $500 had been
offered to the man lucky enough to get
N0roSI head 10y the CeIonia government,
lin the hush Of the moonlight night the
men walked straightforward to the foot OF
the slope, when the outsklrt sentrieS OIL
Noroa, entrenched behind the first
Swauza fired point blank into their faces
and fed up the mountain. Our force now
charl ed up the slope, the men, there be-
ing no .Gnger any reason for concealment.
cheering Justify as theyapproached the first
swanze, Rushing rapidly through tn
wide breach, and bdyonetting a few /.m
fanatics who stayed behind TO eng, ga he
hated white men, they were * con
fronted with a solid wall of stor4 six fee.
high, along whose unbroken extent no
breach at all was visible. As mad my
self seen it knocked into flinders for halt
lts width. | could only conjecture that a
swarm of Zulus must have repaired il
since sundowu, which indeed, turned ont
% be the case
There was now nothing to do but 10
scale the wall, which our men proceeded
10 30 IN the face of sca.hing fte was
iuwardly praying that they had not had
time 70 build mp the swanze further up the
slope, as 10 nave 70 scale them near the
body where they crnlL bring every gun TO
tell, meant annlhiIation to the attacking
force
The first thing when got on top Of the
wal, / found myself an excellent shooting
mark for a score Of Zulu rifles. To ms
great surprise found myself in a second
or two on the upper side # the swanze.
charging at the head Of ms men. Before
Us. deliberately picking off swanza. 4 COM
plny 81 Ll.us pluckily stood their ground
The young m9ou, rising Just al this mo-