Alleged massacre of Zulus at Kambula Hill by John Snook

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North Devon Advertiser - Friday 05 September 1879

This will be private 347 John Snook 1/13th Regiment SAGS medal 1878-79 clasp

500 or 300 or 0? I have not come across any other such claim, Zulu or Briton, from any other source.
Has anyone else?

Julian,

Frank Emery obviously considers Pte. Snook’s allegation in the prologue of The Red Soldier, and in doing so introduces Woodgate and D’Arcy’s opinions on the subject. Emery expanded on the subject of the actions in the wake of Khambula in his article The British Pursuit at Khambula, 29th March, 1879, which appeared in both editions of There Will be an Awful Row at Home About This.

Captain & Paymaster Howard Hutton, Frontier Light Horse, records in his journal that during the pursuit after Khambula that his party did great execution with captured spears, assisted by some fifteen men of Wood’s Irregulars. Taking ample revenge for Hlobane, on the Zulu who had thrown down their weapons. The Zulu bodies lie in “sixtys & seventys…”

JY

Interesting. I must re-read these.

Hi All

This published in the Western Mail 1st September 1879:

The statement made by a private soldier in Brigadier -General Woods column that 500 wounded Zulu were massacred on 31st of March is flatly contradicted by Gen Wood, who states that there is not a shadow of truth in it.

31st March is a few days after the description of the defeated Zulus being pursued after Kambula.

Hi Julian

My mistake, it should read 30th and not the 31st, all the same.

This was published in The Cambrian News on 13th June 1879:

A letter has been read by the Aborigines Protection Society from the war office with reference to the assertion that after the battle of Kambula Hill a number of wounded Zulus were killed by the British forces, and stated that the General commanding Her Majesty's forces in Natal has been called upon to enquire into the circumstances, and to report whether there is any truth in the statement in question.

Even so, the battle and pursuit took place on the 29th.

Julian,

On Sunday, 30th March 1879, Captain Howard Hutton records this: Today Raafs [sic] was sent out with his men over the field of pursuit & tells me he found many alive which he had killed at once.

JY

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North Devon Herald 29 May 1879.

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North Devon Herald 11 September 1879.

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North Devon Herald 25 September 1879.

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Echo (London) 06 September 1879.

Andy

Hi Julian

It appears to have occurred on the 30th. I was merely referring to a newspaper article.

It seems then we have British infantrymen (Snook & Jarvis) reporting on what Raaf's men did on the 30th.

Julian,

That should be Commandant Pieter Johannes Raaff, (1849 - 1893) the commanding officer of the Transvaal Rangers, also known as Raaff’s Rangers. The double ff is one of my pencil note corrections in They Fell Like Stones…

Raaff was denied the campaign medal for the Zulu War, allegedly due to financial irregularities, but received the C.M.G. for his services for his services to the Crown.

An irregular soldier from his teenage years until his death in 1893 whilst serving with the British South Africa Charter Company forces in what is now Zimbabwe.

JY

John, thanks. Revenge indeed then and not just for the Zulu pursuit to Fugitives' Drift but also for the post-Hlobane pursuit still fresh in these men's minds.

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London Daily Chronicle - Friday 13 June 1879

» Battle of Kambula Hill,
» Organized massacre !
» SOUTH AFRICA—THE ZULU WAR— ALLEGED CRUELTY OF THE BRITISH TROOPS.—QUESTION.