At the Battle of Rorke’s Drift were any Martini Henry rifles found beside the bodies of dead Zulus such as on the hill or in the orchard. I read Colour Sgt Bourne heard in-coming rifle fire, which he says was similar to that of the Martini Henry Rifle.
If the Zulus had acquire Rifles from Isandlwana or on the way down the furtive trail, surly there would have been some left among the dead, that could clarify for sure that the Zulus did have British rifles.
I can find nothing that states that Martini Henry rifles was found among the dead Zulu.

hi oh2.
I have never read anything concerning M.H.RIFLES being found on the dead zulus at R.DRIFT, I would say that there wasnt any M.H RIFLES there, as there would have been mention of it in some sort of record either , officially or unofficially.

cheers 90th.

I dont think the Zulu at RD had played a part at Ishandlwana so they could not have any MHs from there.

I thought that rifles had been taken from the British killed on the fugitive trail. The Zulus that attacked Rorke’s Drift were the reserve regiment that was used to stop the British fleeing the Battle Field, chasing them down to the buffalo.

So its a myth then.

hi all.

I am quite sure that the troops killed in flight on the fugitives trail had most likely ran out of ammunition for their rifles , well before they were caught up with and killed, and ditched them when the ammo ran out, as they are quite heavy and cumbersome, so it would be a dead weight to run along with , they would be looking to ditch anything that would have slowed them down. The zulus may have come across them and saw no bullets and continued on their merry way. Once the fighting was over at R.D. the surviving zulus may have gone back the way they came, and possibly picked up the bullet less rifles in the hope of finding or obtaining bullets at a later date.

cheers 90th.

Hi this comes from Adrian Greaves Rorkes Drift.

It states that the Zulu reserve came across Lieutenant Dysons small detchment on the ridge and annihilated all of them, taking there rifles and ammo. The guardain of the battle field George Chadwick always accepeted that Dyson ans his men died on the ridge. On the spur their are a number of graves and one contains 24th Regimental buttons, boot protectors and human bones under the cairn. It was in the same area that the Zulu reserve passed over and it is believed to be were Dyson and his men were stationed. The Zulu reserve having now tasted blood flushed with sucess, continued their rapid advance to their allocated position blocking the Isandlwana to Rorkes Drift road. Their they came across Lieutenant MacDowells small force of Enigeers who were busy repairing the damaged roadway across a watercourse 1 mile from Isandlwana. His men were swiftly overwhelmed, and so another 10-15 Marti-Henrys were taken by the Zulus. During 2001 an author undertook a survay of Rorkes Drift immediately above the caves and terraces. In one day searching he found 6 spent Marti-Henry cases. So it is possible that some Zulus were using captured British rifles to shoot at the defenders.

Drummer Boy

Theres not a shred of proof that Dyson was killed on the ridge, its not mentioned by Essex who was one of the last men down the re entry.
I discussed this very issue with George Chadwick, he was convinced that there was loss of life on the ridge and had located a cairn that 'leaked' boot protector buckles and other detrimus, there was only one cairn and that was near the re entry point. Its location is now forgoton. I saw the cairn and have spent many hours looking for it again, to no avail. But as George was wont to say, it could have been one man or ten, he didnt know.
Ken Gillings, noted authority, is a forum member, I do know that he holds strong views about this.
So if any martini were lost on the ridge it would have been very minor quantities.
Again the only force working on the roadway was the fatigue party under Anstey, whether that was on the road to the front of the camp or the rear is debatable. But as Anstey took his place in line its doubtful that he was left out on a limb.
The engineers in question were brought up by Chard, he left the camp to ride back to RD and instructed the small group of engineers, to continue on to the camp. I would question that they had time to get up the hill from the stream, of load there tools and get sent back to the stream to start work whilst the balance of the camp was under arms.

The force that invaded Natal was allready passed the combat point on the ridge before hostilities effectivly began. They took no real part in the fugitives chase so their potential gathering of MH's was severly restricted. The only suggestion that MH was used at RD was from Frank Bourne, he mentions the 'crack' of the shot.
Some where down this thread Neil, an acknowledged expert in the MH gave his opinion on the sounds of the possible guns used.
After the battle of RD patrols went out into the surrounding areas and killed of wounded Zulu. Its highly likely that some wounded had crawled into the nooks and crannies on the Oskaberg only to be shot afterwards during the clean up, this could explain any MH cases found.

I must congratulate you on your school prowess, wonderful articulation for a lad of 14.
Keep it up.

Regards

The men Stayed at Rorkes Drift for many months with nothing more then what they had taken with them on the morning of the 22nd. The conditions were terrible and the men had to sleap outside every night. They had no cups, plates or spoons and many fell ill includind Chard, who recovered but some newspapers reported his death.

The dispatching of the wounded Zulus at RD was mainly done by members of the NNC who used their own weapons, those dispatched by the British would have been done so by way of bayonet. I doubt very mush they would have wasted what ammunition they had left.

Wasn't Chard servant held up in the cave during the battle. Does he not mention Zulus firing from that position.

More than enough evidence and statements to point towards the troops shooting the wounded and so called 'spies'. It was officially denied and the blame put on the NNC inorder to refrain from "upsetting the civilians at breakfast".

Regards

I did a little research last night about the so called road repairs.

One of the most telling issues is from Coghills diary/notes when he comments that the road the General had taken was in poor repairand not passable for a wagon so Anstey had been dispatched with a repair crew.

Regards

Yes Chards African wagin driver ran to the saftey of a cave and hid in the bck of it, but to his horror some Zulus entered and started firing at the British from their. He stayed hidden throughout the battle and a number of shots from the defenders entered the cave killing a Zulu.

"My wagon driver, a Cape (coloured) man, lost his courage on hearing the first firing around the hill. He let loose his mules and retreated, concealing himself in one of the caves of the Oscarberg. He saw the Zulus run by him and, to his horror, some of them entered the cave he was in, and lying down commenced firing at us. The poor wretch was crouching in the darkness, in the far depths of the cave, afraid to speak or move, and our bullets came into the cave killing one of the Zulus. He did not know from whom he was in the most danger, friends or foes, and came down in the morning looking more dead than alive. The mules we recovered; they were quietly grazing by the riverside."

John R.M. Chard,

Captain and Bt. Major, R.E.

Just a few suggestions on the how the MH Cartridges may have ended up in the cave/

After the Battle R.D was still used by the British Army. They may have placed looks out’s up there,firing a signal shot if Zulu were seen in the area.

Back it the 70s relic hunters were all over the Battlefields. Perhaps some of these wanted to see the so called cave for themselves, while bending over to get access to or from the cave some of the cases they had found elsewhere could have fallen out onto the cave floor. (Just Suggestions)