Rorke's Drift

by Adrian Greaves

  During 1826 Farewell and Fynn accompanied Shaka’s army of over 40, 000 warriors on an expedition against the distant Ndwandwe clan. The result was a total slaughter of the Ndwandwe; an event that distressed even Farewell and Fynn, though Shaka was delighted with the 60, 000 captured cattle. Shaka’s absolute disregard for the sanctity of human life was difficult for the Europeans to comprehend; on a daily basis a dozen executions were normal.

  Shaka’s rule was total until 1827 when his mother, Nandi, suddenly died. It is said that Shaka’s grief was so intense that he required every Zulu to experience his loss. At a gathering of some 20, 000 souls within the homestead, enforced wailing and summary executions commenced and continued for more than a day until well over 1, 000 of the multitude lay dead. Shaka then decreed that during the next twelve months no crops could be grown, children were not to be conceived, or milk drunk – all on pain of death. The situation continued for three months until Shaka tired of mourning, whereupon some normality returned.

  The damage and carnage was such that Shaka’s half-brothers, Dingane and Mhlangana, clandestinely agreed that Shaka must die. They waited until the army was on campaign and stabbed Shaka to death during a meeting with his remaining advisers. His body was unceremoniously buried in a pit weighted down with stones. Many years later the site was purchased by a farmer, and today Shaka’s grave lies somewhere under Cooper Street in the small town of Stanger, north of Durban.

  Within days the exhausted and anxious army returned in expectation of Shaka’s wrath, only to be relieved when Dingane welcomed his army back, fed them and then authorized their leave. Dingane thus ensured their loyalty and, being unchallenged, he assumed the mantle of king. Curiously, the title ‘king’ appears to have evolved from a spontaneous gesture by Lt Farewell during an earlier meeting between Shaka and Farewell. In awe of Shaka, Farewell took a smear of grease from one of his cannon wheel hubs and ceremonially anointed Shaka on his forehead – after which, he was referred to as ‘the king’.

  At no more than 30 years of age, Dingane settled into a life of luxury and security. He enjoyed singing and dancing and clearly had an artistic inclination. Unlike Shaka, Dingane spent most of his time in the isiGodlo (harem) or reviewing parades of warriors and cattle. He reduced the size of the Zulu army and Shaka’s previous policy of random butchery ceased, though miscreants were still summarily executed without trial or mercy.

  In 1838 a Boer trek leader, Piet Retief, took a party of Boers to Dingane’s royal homestead kraal to seek permission to settle; instead of gaining permission they were massacred. Dingane immediately sent his warriors to destroy the unsuspecting waiting Boer families and in a further night of slaughter, another 523 souls died, mainly women and children. The Boers exacted revenge in their victory at Blood River towards the end of 1838. After this defeat Dingane withdrew his army and regrouped his forces at umGungundhlovu. The following Boer trekkers streamed across the Drakensberg mountain range and began settling on the central plateau. They named the settled area the ‘Free Province of New Holland in South East Africa’ and its centre of crowded wagons became known as ‘Pietermaritzburg’ after two Boer notables, Piet Retief and Gert Maritz. At the same time the British formally occupied Port Natal and renamed it ‘Durban’ after Sir Benjamin D’Urban, Governor of the Cape Colony. They negotiated a truce with Dingane but then abandoned the port to the Boers.

  Having controlled the advancing Boers, Dingane decided to re-establish his control over the non-Zulu tribes by undertaking a punitive expedition against his younger half-brother, Mpande, who promptly fled to the Boers for protection with nearly 20, 000 of his people. The Boers realized the Zulus were in disarray and mounted a massive counter-expedition, which included Mpande’s Zulus in support of the Boers, mainly to recapture their lost cattle and horses.

  Dingane sent two ambassadors to plead for a truce with the Boers who were camped at the site of the Blood River battle, but the two were promptly executed out of vengeance for their suspected complicity in Retief’s murder. During the protracted skirmishing which followed, the Boers recovered most of their cattle and Dingane was forced to flee across the northern Pongola river where his own people, eager for a return to peace, murdered him.

  The news of Dingane’s death swept across Natal and then beyond to the many tribes who had been displaced by Shaka and Dingane. These commenced their own steady trek back to their homelands, only to discover the Boers were settling on their lands. The Boer Volksraad (Council) decreed that the natives, now starving and homeless, were to be rounded up and moved into a native homeland well away from the Boer sphere of influence. The British at the Cape heard of the plan towards the end of 1841 and forbade the Boer action. British troops re-seized Durban and quickly dispatched sufficient administrators to govern the area while the Volksraad endeavoured to regain control over the increasingly contrary Boers, who had even endeavoured, unsuccessfully, to enlist the support of the King of Holland. Unbeknown to the Boers, it was a wasted exercise, as Holland had no intention of provoking Britain.

  In 1845 Britain annexed the whole of Natal into the Cape Colony, including Boer-held territory. Reluctantly the Boer Volksraad acquiesced. The Boers had overreached themselves and, by provoking the British, lost sovereignty over lands won by their great sacrifice. Settlers continued arriving from Europe and Durban rapidly prospered as the influence of Pietermaritzburg declined. During the European upheaval in Natal the Zulus, under their new king Mpande, had decided to avoid further confrontation with the whites and had withdrawn to the north side of the Buffalo and Tugela rivers.

  During the relatively peaceful years that followed, Mpande ruled the Zulu nation fairly but firmly according to Zulu custom. It was a period of consolidation after the internecine wars of 1838 and 1840 and the Zulus were also recovering from the economic impoverishment resulting from white settlers’ encroachment. Mpande turned his attention to the isiGodlo, and to feasting until he became too obese to walk. His activities in the isiGodlo produced nearly thirty sons; the firstborn was named Cetshwayo and was followed shortly by a brother named Mbulazi. As Mpande aged, schisms developed within the Zulu nation and gradually the subservient chiefs and clans gradually inclined to either Cetshwayo or Mbulazi. The two brother princes were now in their early twenties and led the uThulwana and amaShishi regiments respectively. Cetshwayo was a traditionalist and hankered after the regal days of Shaka whereas Mbulazi was more inclined to intellectual matters, though equally devious and powerful; it was 1856 and both sought to be king.

  As usual, resolution came through bloody conflict, perhaps the worst seen or recorded in African history. Near Ndondakusuka hill Cetshwayo mustered 20, 000 warriors, the uSuthu, and pitted them against Mbulazi’s army of 30, 000, the iziGqoza, which included many women and old men. The confrontation took place on the banks of an insignificant stream, the Thambo, which fed into the Tugela river. The battle lasted no more than an hour with Mbulazi’s army being heavily defeated. In customary Zulu fashion, Cetshwayo gave orders for their total slaughter and only a handful of survivors escaped. Cetshwayo was later song-praised for his victory as being the victor who ‘Caused people to swim against their will, for he made men swim when they were old’.2

  Following the battle Cetshwayo effectively took over the running of the Zulu nation, leaving Mpande a mere figurehead. Cetshwayo had long since observed the underlying tension between the British in Natal and the Transvaal Boers and knew he was in a position of considerable strength. He now had full control of Zululand and in order to strengthen his grip further he astutely courted friendship with the British, whereupon Shepstone, Secretary for Native Affairs, went to Mpande and suggested that, in the name of Queen Victoria, Cetshwayo should be appointed heir apparent. Mpande accepted the proposal on behalf of the Zulus though Cetshwayo was aware that his future now depended, to a degree, on British support. Mpande died in 1872 after thirty relatively peaceful years on the Zulu throne, a reign marred only by his two sons’ recent battle by the T
ugela. Mpande was the only Zulu king of the era to die of natural causes.

  Cetshwayo became king in his mid forties and immediately sought British confirmation of his position. Shepstone readily agreed and, in a sham ceremony on 1 September 1873, Cetshwayo was crowned king of the Zulu nation – in the name of Queen Victoria. Cetshwayo, perhaps the most intelligent of all the Zulu kings, now ruled a united nation, his army was at its strongest and the Zulus had a most powerful friend, Queen Victoria - and no apparent enemies.

  With his military position secure, Cetshwayo began to strengthen his economic and political control. Since the reign of Shaka young men had been obliged to serve in the army as a means of binding the nation together. The units or amabutho were the king’s active service units and in peacetime gave service at the king’s command, often as tax officials or by undertaking policing duties. Apart from drawing young men into an amabutho or unit for military and work purposes, this arrangement also served to accustom warriors into identifying the Zulu king as their leader, regardless of their origins. However, when young men came from an outlying area or had recently been absorbed into the Zulu nation, they were allocated menial work and were known as amalala (menials), amanhlwenga (destitutes) or iziendane (unusual hairstyles).

  These warriors remained in their regimental amabutho until the king authorized their ‘marriage’; this was another misunderstood concept that has often led to confusion. Zulu marriage has invariably been interpreted through European eyes with overtones of repressed Freudian sexuality and transposed with European values of marriage. To a Zulu man, marriage denoted the most significant event of his life by giving him the right to take a number of wives; he was free to establish his personal kraal and he could own land for his cattle and crops. The king controlled marriage as a means of keeping his young men under arms and out of the economic structure of Zululand. Had every warrior been permitted to establish his own kraal at will, the effect on various Zulu social processes, including production and reproduction, would have resulted in economic instability. Concomitantly, by delaying the time when Zulu women could marry, the growth and pressure of an increasing population could be strictly controlled and the Zulu birth rate maintained in line with economic production.

  The Zulu army and its weapons.

  British intelligence led Chelmsford to believe that the total strength of the Zulu army amounted to between 40, 000 and 50, 000 men immediately available for action. The total Zulu population at the time only amounted to some 350, 000 people and so this figure is probably correct. Each year young men of the age of 16 were formed into a regiment, which after a year’s probation was placed in a military kraal or headquarters. This first year also symbolized the transition from boyhood to manhood as a warrior. This kraal might belong to another regiment with which the young one was incorporated, or it might be newly formed. As a rule several regiments of different ages were combined at the same kraal, so that the young soldiers might have the benefit of the experience of their seniors and, when the latter died out, might take their place and maintain the name and prestige of the military kraal. In this manner corps were formed, occasionally some thousands strong.

  The Zulu army consisted of twelve such corps and two regiments, each with its own military kraal. These corps necessarily contained men of all ages, some being married, others unmarried, some being old men scarcely able to walk, and others mere boys. Five of these corps each consisted of a single regiment, while the remaining corps was composed of several regiments. Each corps or regiment possessed its own military kraal and had one commander, one second in command, and several junior commanders who controlled the flanks in action. The uniform of the Zulu army was clearly laid down and was somewhat different, as a rule, in each corps. The great distinction was between the married and unmarried regiments. The former were obliged to shave the crown of the head, and to wear a ring made of hemp and coated with a hardened paste of gum and grease; they also carried shields with predominantly white colouring, whereas the unmarried regiments wore their hair naturally and had coloured shields.

  In 1878 the total number of regiments in the Zulu army was thirty-four, of which eighteen were married and sixteen unmarried. Seven of the former were composed of men over 60 years of age, so that for practical purposes there were only twenty-seven Zulu regiments fit to take the field, amounting to some 41, 000 warriors. Intelligence figures of the day break these down as 17, 000 between 20 and 30 years of age, 14, 500 between 30 and 40, 5, 900 between 40 and 50 and 4, 500 between 50 and 60.

  In the ordinary European acceptation of the word, drill was unknown in the Zulu army. They could, however, perform a number of movements with some accuracy, such as forming a circle of companies or regiments. Their skirmishing skills were extremely good, and could even be performed under a heavy fire with the utmost determination. The officers had their duties and responsibilities according to their rank, and discipline was most rigidly enforced. Commodore Sullivan, writing in August 1878, gave a high account of the discipline of the Zulu army. He stated that the regiments were so well disciplined that ‘the men never fell out of the ranks on the march under any pretext; they marched at the double, and were said to keep up from 50 to 60 miles daily, carrying their own provisions’.

  The Zulu army required but little commissariat or transport. Three or four days’ provision, in the shape of maize or millet, and a herd of cattle proportionate to the distance to be traversed, accompanied each regiment. The older boys followed each regiment and assisted in driving the cattle; they also carried the provisions and camp equipage, which consisted of sleeping mats and blankets. The Zulus would also avoid rivers that were impassable to the British Army but when necessary the Zulus adopted a remarkable method to get across. When they came to a river, which was out of their depth, they would plunge into it in a dense mass, holding on to one another, those behind forcing the others forward, and thus they would succeed in crossing, with the loss of only a few of their number.

  When hostilities were decided upon, messengers were sent out by the king, travelling night and day if necessary, to order the men to assemble in regiments at their respective kraals where their commanding officers were ready to receive them. When corps or regiments were assembled at the headquarters they were usually ordered to proceed to the king’s royal homestead. Before marching a circle, or umkumbi, was formed inside the homestead, each company together, and their officers in an inner ring with the first and second in command at the centre. The regiment then proceeded to break into companies, beginning from the left-hand side; each company formed a circle, and marched off, followed by boys carrying provisions, mats and food supplies. The company officers marched immediately in rear of their men, the second in command in rear of the left wing, and the commanding officer in rear of the right. On arriving at the king’s royal homestead certain important ceremonies took place, and various medicines were administered to the warriors to enhance their fighting capacity and render them immune from British firepower. On the third day after their assembly at the king’s homestead they were sprinkled with medicine by the doctors and, after all necessary formalities were completed, the warriors started on their expedition.

  Prior to marching off, the regiments re-formed companies under their respective officers, and the corps selected by the king to take the lead advanced. The march was in the order of companies for the first day, after which it was continued in the umsila or path, which may be explained by likening it to a British division advancing in line of brigade columns, each brigade in mass; each regiment in close column. The line of provision-bearers moved on the flank; the intervals between the head of columns varied, according to circumstances, from several miles to within sight of each other, constant communication being kept up by runners.

  The march was then continued in this order, but the baggage and provision-bearers fell in rear of the column on the second day, and the cattle composing the commissariat were driven between them and the rearmost regiment until the force appr
oached the enemy. When the latter appeared in sight the whole army formed an umkumbi for the purpose of enabling the commander-in-chief to address the men, and to give his final orders for attack.

  When the enemy were sighted, the Zulus advanced in a long thick line with the bulk of their force remaining out of sight; the line then broke up in apparent confusion on approaching the enemy. The flanks moved off rapidly to the right and left and, circling round, formed the horns or claws that gripped the enemy, while the centre body now attacked. By 1878 Zulu weapons of aggression consisted of both traditional Zulu spears and obsolete European rifles. Cetshwayo’s generals still drilled their soldiers using Shaka’s shock tactics of the mass charge and close-quarter fighting to the death; the thrust of the stabbing spear underarm into the belly of the opponent was the final act. There were a number of different types of throwing spears common in 1879, most of which had 6-inch blades with the iron shank visible for several inches before being set into the long shaft.

  The manufacture of stabbing spears was a highly skilled craft. It was entrusted to particular clans such as the Mbonambi and the Cube. The iron ore was collected at surface deposits and smelted in a clay forge with the aid of goatskin bellows. The blade was hammered into shape, tempered with fat and sharpened on a stone before being set into a short wooden shaft. It was glued with strong vegetable glues and bound with wet cane fibre. A tube of hide, cut from a calf’s tail, was rolled over the join and allowed to shrink. At its best, such a weapon was tough and sharp and well designed for its purpose. However, by 1879 there is a suggestion that the importation of iron implements from white traders had led to a decline in the indigenous iron industry. Certainly there are a number of stories of blades bending or buckling in use.