Fugitive's Drift

Most scholars, historians and authors have concentrated on the battle for the British camp that was fought on the eastern slopes of Isandlwana, Mountain on 22 January 1879, attempting to analyze it ad nauseum every which way possible. What most ignore is that much, if not most, of the action actually took place on the western and northern sides of the mountain on the Rorke’s Drift or Fugitives, side.

Such actions include the loss of the two remaining artillery pieces of N5 Battery when they fell into a donga; Colonel Durnford’s Last Stand; the graves of Captain George Shepstone and his men of the fleeing Natal Native Horse on the western slopes of the mountain and the battle for the aManzimnyama Drift.

The British are very sensitive about two things above all else – losing (or, in Army-speak, misplacing) their artillery pieces and secondly, losing their Colours to the enemy. Both of these horrendous disasters occurred at Isandlwana. To put it in perspective, the Regiment’s favourite sport of the seduction of the Colonel’s wife by one of the other officers, for example, comes way down on the list of priorities.

The Diehard re-enactment team on site with the colours

Two of the 7 pounder RML cannon of N5 Battery had been left behind in the camp that...

Excerpt from his book 'We Wander the Battlefields'. Submitted by Pam McFadden, Curator of the Talana Museum. Should you wish to read the entire book it is available here.
 
In 1978 an English / American film company, Samarkand came to South Africa to make the film Zulu Dawn, about the worst military defeat ever suffered by a white British army at the hands of a black army in South African history. This happened at a place called Isandlwana in Zululand in 1879.

Isandlwana (Talana Museum)

Unfortunately nobody on their production staff had any knowledge of the Zulu War or of this battle. I had contacted them because I was concerned that they would fly the incorrect flag in the battle sequence, which was not the Regimental flag of the 24th Regiment. This was incorrectly painted by the Victorian painter Alphonse De Neuville in his painting The Last Sleep of the Brave.

Last Sleep of the Brave (Wikipedia Commons)

It was the Queen’s Colour, the Union Jack which had been taken to Isandlwana, the Regimental Colours remained with HQ staff at base camp...

Sotondose’s Drift on the Buffalo River is not really a drift at all. Situated at the bottom end of an upside-down triangle with Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift comprising the other angles, access is down very steep rocky hillsides on either flank. At low water it consists of a difficult boulder-hopping crossing for foot traffic only. It is marked by a curiously shaped so-called “coffin rock’.

Coffin Rock (Talana Museum)

A couple of hundred yards upstream there is a large flat deep-water pool which is easily swimmable. That is, if one can swim in the first place, and is not dragged down by heavy clothing or equipment. I have always crossed the river here with my tour groups after a hot-and-sticky hike over the eight miles of the Fugitive’s Trail. Of course, we also took the precaution of rigging a lifeline across the river and had a Zodiac with an outboard motor and life jackets in case any person either got into difficulties or preferred a ride.

Curiously enough, there is also another large rock in the middle of this pool which, at full water level, also protrudes like a coffin. Readers who have watched “Zulu Dawn” will recognize the spot as where Lieutenant Vereker, lying pinned under his horse, makes a miraculous shot at a Zulu, triumphantly carrying off the Queen’s Colour, on the opposite bluff...