Idaho news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1887-1891, 1891-09-19
PRIVATE HENRY HOOK.

On Jan. %, 1876, Private Henry
Hook, with his company, under Lieut..
Bromhead, was stationed at Rorke's
Drift to guard the ford and hospital
and stores. He thus tells his gallant
story:
Between 8 and in the afternoon,
when was engaged preparing the tea
for the sick at the out-of-door cooking
place, just at the back ofthe hospital
for | was hospital cook-two mount
ed men, looking much exhausted and
their horses worn out, rode up to me.
One was in his shirt sleeves and with
| out a hat, with revolver strapped
round his breast; the other had his
coat and hat on. They stopped for
a moment and told me that the whole
force on the other side OF the river
had been cut up and that the Zulus
were coming on in great force. They
then rode off. | Immediately ran to
the camp close by and related what |
| heard. We We're at once fallen in and
set to work to strengthen the post by
| loopholing the windows OF the build
| lngs and to make breastworks OF bis
cult boxes aud mealie bags About
half an hour latter the Zulus were seen
coming round hill and about twelve
hundred yards off. We were then told
OFF to our posts. was placed in one
OF the corner rooms OF the hospital.
About this time Capt. Stevens and all
his men except one native and two
Europeans, non-commissioned Off
GERS, deserted us and went OIL to Help
makair. We were so enraged that we
| fired several shots at them, one OF
which dropped European non-com-
missioned officer. From my loop
hole saw the Zulus approaching in
their thousands. They began to fire.
| yelling as they did 50, when they We're
| five hundred or six hundred yards off.
They came on boldly, taking advan-
tage OF ant hills and other cover, and
We were soon surrounded. More than
half OF them had muskets or rifles.
began to fire when they were 900
| yards distant. / managed to clip sew
eral OF them, for | had an excellent
rifle and was o ''marksman" Irecol-
lect particularly one Zulu. He was
about four hundred yards off, and
was running from one ant hill, to an
other As he was running from cover
to cover | fired at him; my bullet
caught him in the body, and he made
a complete somersault. Another man
was lying below an ant hill, about
three hundred yards off, popping his
head out now and again to fire.
! took careful aim, but my bullet went
just over his head. / thenlowered my
sight and fired again the next time he
showed himself. / saw the bullet
strike the ground in q direct line, but
| about ten yards short. then took
little fuller sight, aimed at the spot
| out, and when ne showed himself
fired. did not then see whether he
was struck, but he never showed
again. The next morning, when the
| lighting was over, | felt curious to
know whether had hit this man, so
| went to the spot where / had last
seen him. found him lying dead,
with his skull pierced by my bullet.
The Zulus Kept drawing closer and
closer and / went on firing, killing
several OF them. At last they got
close up and set fire to the hospital
There was only one patient in my
room with q broken leg, and he was
burned and / was driven ont by the
flames and was unable to save him.
At first / had a comrade, but he left
after q time he was killed on his way
to the inner intrenchment. When
/ driven out of this room / retired by
partition door into the next room,
where there We're several patients.
For q few minutes | was the only
fighting man there. A wounded man
OF the Twenty-fourth came to me
from another room with a bullet
wound in the arm. | tied it up.
Then John Williams came in from an
other room, and made q hole in the
partition, through which he helped
the sick and wounded men. Whilst
J he was doing this the Iulus beat
/ in the door and tried to enter.
stood at the side and shot and bay
oneted several could not tell how
many, but there were four or fivelying
dead at my feet. They threw assegais
continually, but only one touched
me, and that inflicted scalp wound
which ] did not think worth report
ing; in fact, did not feel the wound
/ at the time. One Zulu seized my rifle
and tried to drag it away. While we
were tussling ! slipped in o cartridge
and pulled the trigger-the muzze was
against his breast, and he fell dead.
Every now and again Zulu would
| make rush to enter-the door would
| only let III one man at q time-but
J bayoneted or shot every one. When
! all the patients were out excepting
I one, who. owing TO n brokpr loo could
not move, / also went through the