THE ZULU WE.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XII, Issue 9420, 15 May 1879, Page 2

THE ZULU WE.

Lieut. Chard's Report.

, TtteV report • 'of , Lieut. Glhafd'upo'n the splendid defence of Rorke's Drift by him. and the small force under his command, was published on March 11. Ho had been left in charge at Rorke's Drift ,b,y Major Spalding, who had. gories to Helpmakaar to hurry forward a company! of : the 24th, Regiment. It was at 3>lsion the {afternoon of Jan. 22 that Lie jit. Chard was first informed of the disaster, at la&nduU j' ( and immediately afterwards., he received a message from Lieut. Brom- ' head — commander of the company of the 24th Regiment at the camp near the' commissariat stores— asking him to come up at once.. He , immediately gave instructions to strike tents, and to put all stores, into tha waggoni. He made. fciv way to the commissariat store, where he found tha^ Lvput..Bronih6a.d.^ad ! r,eceiv i ed a note from the 3rd column stating that the enemy was advancing in force against the post at Rorke's Drift, which th«y were. ordered* t6 strengthen" 'and i nold ! at all costs. Bromhead had already begjin the work of entrenchment* and Ohajrd then superintended' the 'arrangements. " I went," he sayi, " round our position 'down. tdjt&e ponfe, and"fcrbug[hVup r itfong, with 'their guard one s6rg«arit ' and ■ six men, the gear, waggons, ! &6. ■. . T desire here to mention for approval the offer ; of these pont guards, Daniels : and Sergeant Milne of the 3rd' Buffs, who, with 1 their comrades, volunteered to mobr-the) ponts out ..in the middle of > the -stream* and there to defend . th#m -from . the ■ decks, , with a few men to assiit. 1 - We arrived' back atour post at 3.30.p.m., md ishortly after an officer with some of Durnford's Horse came in, and asked orders from me. I requested him to send a detachment to observe the drifts and points, and to throw out f Vddettes'in the direction of the enemy, in order to check their advance; asmuoh. as possible* hitmen fall-, ing back upon the post when forced jto retire, and thereafter to assist in the defence. I next requested Lieut. Bromhead to station his men, and, having sffejn every man thoroughly know his post, the rest of the work -went quickly off." . ' ' Firing was first heard behind the hill to the south' at' 4.20 — about one hour after they had received the first hipt about the disaster:*. " The officer 6f Durnford's Horse returned, reporting, that the enemy were 'now close upon us. His men, he told me, would not obey orders, but were going off towards Helpmakaa, and I myself saw them in retreat, numbering apparently, about 100, going in that direction. About the same time Captain. Sfcephenaon'a detachment of thie Natal Native Contingent left vs — as- did that officer himself, , . : I

Chard now saw (that their line of defence was too extended, and at once commenced, an inner ihtrenchraent of biscuit boxes, «ut of vrhioh they had. completed a wall-two -boxes high, " when•bout 4.20 jj.m., 500 or 600 of the enemy came guddeniy in sight around the hill to the south.! /They 'advanced at a run agaimt our south .wjall, but;rrere met by a well-sustained' are'; yet,' notwithstanding, heavy loas, they continued to advance till, within 50yds of the.^wallj j when their leading men encountered, such a hot fire from our front— with, a mobs fire from thil store, that they were checked. Taking advantage, however, of the cover afforded by| the cook-house and, the [ovens',] they kept up thence.. h.eavy._musketry volfcys '; .the greater. • numbe.r, i however, .without, stopping at all,, moved on towards the left round ouv ; Hospital, andUthenqa made a. rush upon ' the north-west wall ' and our breastwork of mealie bags. After a ; short but desperate fight, those assailants were driven^baok witnheavy loss into the bush around our works. r Th« majn body of the enemy 'close behind had ''meantime lined the lodged --rqeksV/and filled some cave* overlooking, us at a distance qf^LOO yard* to sbuth,,-j«henqe they k«pt up a continuous fire. Another bocly, advancing somewhat niore 1 tOthe'leffthanHhoae who first attacked us, occupied a garden in the hollow of . the. road and also tbi buah beyond it in great force, taking special advantage of the bush, which we -.had not time to cut down. The enemy Vas thus able, to advance close to par '.works, and in this part aoon held one whole side of the wallj while- l we, onthe other hand, kept back a series of deiper-1 ate assaults which -were made on a line extending from the hospital all along the wallas far ; aa the bush. But such attacks: wrre most splendidly met and repulsed, by: our men. with .the} bayonet. ., Corporal Schieas/of the Native Natal Contingent, greatly djatiuguiah.ed himaeJf by conspicuous' gallantry." The fire from the r«ck behind our post, though badly direoted,! took us completely in reverse, and was so. heavy that ;we suffered very [severely, and at 6 p.ni. were finally forced to retire behind the entrenchment of biscuit, boxes. All tjhfs f time the enemy had: been attempting, to , force the hospital,; andsoo^ after succeeded in Beating fire to the roof. The garrison of the hospital defended the building room by room,; bringing out the sick who could be removed 1 before they ' retired.' -Privates' Williams, Hook, it. Jone», and W. Jones of the 24th Regiment were the last : four men to leave, holding the doorway against the Zulus with bayonets, their' ammunition, being multe-expended; From want of interior communication and from ■moke it was, found impossible to carryoff all the sick, and, with moat heartfelt 'sorrow and regret, we could not save a few poor fellows from a terrible death." The enemy then made ; espedarte attempts to fire the roof of the stores, and seeing that and the- hospital on fir*, they converted the mealie-bag B heaps into a sort of redoubt, which gave a second line of fir e . all along> Tfy ey , were , now completely surroundedj andj after, repulsing several furious aisaults, they were events ally, forced to retire to ' the Miiddli and then to the inner wall of the kraal on the east of> the position they < first had. Throughout it all,; they bad. to sustain a desultory, fire kep£ . up* . all .night j t .but all the aiaaulta were vigorously ..repulsed. ; The men fired with the greatest coolnesi, not wasting a single shot — a matter oi the utmost importance in the circumstances. Even the light from the burning hospital proved, of; great- advantage.^ The firing'

finally ceased at 4 a.m on Jan .23 ; and at daybreak the Zulus were observed passing ojufc of sigKt over the hills to the southk west. Even then, however, the little band/did-not relax their vigilance. They strengthened their position as much as possible, and this proved to be wiae, for about^-a.m^^A-iar^e^badTrofitlßK enemy once more .appewedT on* the Jtflb to the .aoujftwesfc/ .Wood ,wa&<iieWon to Helpmakaar asking helpsbut about &_a*m. British .TJwrd .Column appeared;~and at the sight of this thVen'ehay, who had been gradually advancing . towards T ua com-" menced falling back " a» : / our' >t*oops approached." 'And so it wai all brer. Lieut -Chard estimates the number of thj9.i.4'fct*ckJtag, .force . .«t !300'0V.o>' w"hom abput ,3[>p i; were. killed, j :/Th>i total number of mWin th*camp ja^Eorke's Drift was 139. The ; foUojy.in^ia the, .li# of/killed ; Sergt; Mtaxfield \^^ Privates iScjkniah, .paydeni Adainsj O61e, ; ; ifcriah, -Chidr,' and 'Williams,! "alfli of I: the/ 2-24tt a I £rlvate» Nichollsy Hor/ig^n;^Jeiikirißj l-24th j iMp p Byrne, •• Conunißsai-nnt 'TC'epUt&ufcnt j ?K? o V.fiV'/H' t i'piWt ,jßataliJS T -ativß 'ContinKout ; Trooper Anderson, ;I{at a!:: -Native Cavalry,; ,& private yfc'fte, JN/$ fioaYalif ioaYaliy f t Td'tal'ls,'andJl2 wdun'dedj of/whom two have'Mnce tfied^SemWilUama;^:&th ; Private Beckett,- *• iJ24th7 :K Itf a 1 general order issued by L(HA<JKelpfidCJrjApeoting. this; brilliant Idef ©rioeVhrf say* ha f eela •ure .^ftgallantr conduct; of. "th^.garrison , wUi V eceire aniple; xecognitipn, traits t^e,.exainple.set ( - ( by a:iew ; brar^)D|en, and the'su'ccesß that atten.(i!e^; their, noble efforts, will b» taken. to' Ke art by all under hii command. ;/ ' ' - ' " f