THE ZULU REBELLION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13227, 12 July 1906, Page 6

THE ZULU REBELLION.

DETAILS'BY MAIL. ■"■..■'- '—■.:'.■■:"./' : ;■■■■••■'-/";' : .V ■. : .'"' :;; -' : ■''■:-■■•'. V'.:'i|i| DESCRIPTION OF ENGAGEMENTS. ':':% The following; details of fighting in Zjliv, laud arc taken from copies of the Cape ,; Times, which tame to hand yesterday ; ...:'. v ;.;|i| Willi COLONEL LLTCHARS' COLUMN. ' " Under date:.'Kr»;,!t~kop. May 30, Renter**: 'S?g .ipccial telegraphed;— With the object of in. • terc»p:iiig rebels and removing cattle Colonel . Lcitchan, with- three squadrons' of the Urn. von Field Force, and a squadron of ffw?ve<, i':% crossed into- -Zuiuiand. Th* column en- ' >;$$ trenched in a s»**lie garden, and passed a restless night, partly owing to the bitter * cold and partly rumoured proximity <>{ I the enemy. At daybreak * patrol galloped !in saying the rebel. s wore upon them. 'Vim .< news was quickly and silently passed around, and the men had barely time to saddle their' horses when '• they perceived moving ma*>««. Oolowel Leuch&ra harried round, and gave each squadron its position. The rebels cam* '- tip under splendid cover quickly and silently. ';.* But suddenly, niton within 100 yd», they began yelling like demons, kicking their shields, - brandishing »«*§*«, firing »h*t*, and shouting "They are, inside; catch them with your hand?."' The troops aimed stead. ,',j : ily and fired continuously The rebel fire w«t ineffective, «nd Sill sunrise the enemy displayed great determination Mtd bravery. , ('hie was shot five yards from oar Sine, aad came shooting and shouting into the open. ~'>,.•; He received six. shot* simultaneously. Sibindi'* loyalist • occupied the rent re ot : | out position, standing together Th« rebel* *'| fired continuously at the ma.**, killing thee* .'. and wounding 12 Towards the. end th* V 9 Zulu leader shouted, " Fail on them: their .ammunition i* exhausted.". The rebels" took fresh heart, but were quickly repelled. '| Colonel Leuchar* then ordered the loyalists " to advance, and, led by a young chief, Xyoniyeewa, and Ringing their watery, they , ''_;"* charged, and drove the rebels out of the V dongas. ■.- :}'"^ : DISASTER NARROWLY AVERTED. 'v Reutor's correspondent with Colonel Mac- -y : \ ketiEie at Nkatulhl* Mountain telegraphed on ' June 30:—Yesterday made, tho sixth day of V 1;, almost continuous attack on Miganamia't :;jf stronghold; and before noon the whole of ;,;* the high hills on the Bshow« side of Mom*. .", Gorge were occupied by our troops, and th* '•';'; rebels have now been' shifted from the look- f-i outs from which, lor the past month, they » ,< have been watching Colonel Mackenzie's movements on the Nkandhla side of the ;'.' gorge. The past week has been one of her- -■**' culean effort,' and it is a positive marvel '•: how the men stood the physical strain. A - sweeping movement has cleaned the Insuzi '' valley and numerous difficult dongas approaching, and also the whole of Sittanan* da's main position, and the rebels appear to be now hustled in th© direction of Sipu»,dei)i ;';•.' Mountain into fairly open country. To- - day's work is likely to prate th* most arduous of all the work done since the rebellion >* began. Colonel Mackenzie broke up th* ; . s ■/, laager 'overlooking Mom* stronghold on Sunday afternoon, and moved along th* western flank of the gorge to the north some four miles. Yesterday morning he, spread his . f whole force along the western flank, dismounted, and descended again into the goi-jt*, / and btfgan the ascent opposite tho face, '.>■; capturinc; many cattle from the places which the rebels had considered perfectly safe raxing ground. A POM-POM, VOLLEY., ■ The rebels made an effort to drive off th* cattle .when-out troops were discovered climbing up to them, but wero checked by 0. the pompom section firing'a, whole belt of bhellfi right insto their midst, and they cleared pell-mell. In the meantime th* Z.M.K. and the D.N.M.R. were proceeding across* the gorge to the northwards with their , horses, making a short out to sei/.c the wag- S gon road to enable, Colonel Mackenzie's .-' transport to eloso up. Colonel Mantel's bri. :< gade ascended the ridge above Cetewayo'n ■■'■■'. grave, driving everything t<, the front' of Colonel Mackenzie's advance,' *so that the rebels %er« compelled to retire, in front of '*, Colonel Mk.'kehxie's main line of advance. Th* Natal Rangers, who art expected' to join in the operation*, have not arrived yet. V but the waggons are moving forward with the guns and pom-poms, with about 100 of Roystons Horse under , Major Knot!. Colonel I-tystou arid the. bulk of the regiment itJOied straight across the gorge and climbed up to the rebels' main position. Practically every kraal of Sigananda s people '.;:":'' was destroyed as Roys ton's Horse swept fors ward. Only occasional sniping took place up ( to that ixiir.t, but when tho descent into the Sipundcni Valley lx'gan clusters of rabelj in fighting formation began to oppo.«» the advance. It was soon evident that the r*bels were in strong force. No lew than four impis wore located, and by eleven o'olock heavy firing was in progress along the whol* 1 line of advance, but the rebels, did not wait for close quarters. Our heavy fire had eon- i siderable effect among them. Every corps inflicted loss on the enemy. The waggon road through the forest was the general ren- , desvoua, and by throe o'clock the D.L.L. ' Z.M.R.M., M.D.M.R., and Carbineers had ;/i ', reached the. objective; but Royston's Hon* in the centre was still making "for. tho main road when Captain Clark's squadron advanced smack into th* position .where th* ) . impis had gathered in th* dense bush at the bottom of a donga. ~.■ : « ! NATIVE LEVIES TAKE! TO FLIGHT. The advance line consisted of levies and " whit© troops, one of the latter between # every two or three of the levies to give th« lino a stiffening; but at the sight of the > impi the. levies cleared back to the bill, leaving Clark, Fryet, and Midgelcy aot! 15 ; l men in an ugly corner. There was first a ' .shower of assegais and then with a volley of "Asutus" nearly 300 rebels darned into our small party. The charging Zulus went clean through our lino, killing Alexander • and wounding Clark and one of his men. Ihe rebels come back, practicnliv surround- ■> - ing Clark and his small force. Clark, lying down, plied his revolver, id the same time ■ calling his men to be steady and shouting ' Colonel Itoystoii, Colonel "itoyston, come on. Trooper. Holmes, with a wound in his thigh propped himself against a' tree and kept his rifle warm. Trooper Flvnn, who had one eye closed by the blood of an assegai wound, also kept up his fire; white a third man, whose- name is unknown, lying wounded on the ground, also plied his rifle with effect.- All grouped round the prostrate leader. It was a desperate moment, three - or four men being down and the rest scat- ' tered in a ring cf, howling rebels. The ".: wnnes were only momentarily safe because of the difficulty the rebels had of fretting r : close, and owing to the rock and f*ngled undergrowth. . . ■ ■■ COLONEL ROYSTON TO THE RESCUE. Again the impi dashed in, and practical!* ' % the whole party were hors do combat when Colonel Royston. followed bv Major Eraser. Captains Cunningham, Godson, Poliock, ami Watt and men from the nearest squadron, mixed up anyhow, dashed into the.donga ■ in the nick of time. Levy-leader Hopkins fell wounded at the feet of Colonel Rovston, and for a few minutes the rebels showed no OM signs of defeat. Colonel Rovston rapid!? termed three rough sides of a square, ami! a hail of lead was poured into the howling mass of Zulus, who.jrone back a few varus Up the donga, and using their guns, "once more, formed for a charge. Thev hurled a •shower of a-ssegais, but the hot fire proved too much for them, falling in heaps. Colonel - Koyston and his officers and men put up a hue .effort to hem the rebels in. but after i losing V killed in a. space of less than a hundred yards square they broke and cleared , : .: into the tmck bush below. It was a desper- \ ate oncountcr, and it was only the splendid '-•[ way in which the men stood up to over- - whelming odds that saved a serious disaster. ,'., Colonel Royston's opportune appearance m '' the scene was the turning-point, and hit reinforcements complete! vindicated the white man s prestige. • ':'' Hawkin3 had no chance of li vine long; he had . two assegais 'in his chest and diver* assegai wounds, and he died just after we reached '; laager. One loyal levy was killed and two wounded. " ' A careful estimate places the rebd carnalties at 140 dead, including S3 killed in ' Clark s hot corner. Only 250 cattle were • ' driven into laager. It is 'utterly impossible to clear the awful bushv dongas. " -KS