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Subject: Anyone know the regiment. Fri Dec 11, 2009 11:44 pm
I heard a shot fired, and then another, and in a few moments a kind of whirlwind seemed to be coming towards us, which proved to be the native and white troops all mixed together dashing for the laager. Some clambered over the wagons, while others crawled underneath, in their mad endeavour and haste to get inside.
Under the wagon next to mine was General Sir Evelyn Wood, and in the mad rush of the troops he was rolled over and over, and his head coming in contact with the wheel of a wagon, was badly cut, and had to be surgically treated.
On investigation it turned out that one of the natives had seen what he thought to be an enemy lurking in the grass, and fired at him, and the rest of the natives, under the impression that the enemy was charging them, jumped up and fell back on the white troops ; these in turn finding these naked devils right in amongst them, thought they were Zulus, and jumped up and also dashed for the laager.
It was certainly much to be regretted, but still more so that two hundred men of a certain regiment, which shall be nameless, actually left their rifles in the trench in their haste to get into camp. Had it been a genuine Zulu charge the whole affair might undoubtedly have turned out a disaster ; as it was, the men were soon got in hand again, and returned to their posts. This time, I believe, the disposition of the troops was changed.
Source: MELTON PRIOR CAMPAIGNS OF A WAR CORRESPONDENT
90th
Posts : 10204 Join date : 2009-04-07 Age : 64 Location : Melbourne, Australia
Subject: anyone know the regt. Sat Dec 12, 2009 12:47 am
hi dave. I have seen this a couple of times , I wont stick my neck out I will have a closer look today. A couple of reg"s come to mind . cheers 90th.
M Brady
Posts : 4 Join date : 2009-10-25 Location : County Sussex, NJ
Subject: Re: Anyone know the regiment. Sat Dec 12, 2009 2:33 am
I was going to say 58th on the way to uLundi, after I remembered the green KRRC was down on the coast. Mike
90th
Posts : 10204 Join date : 2009-04-07 Age : 64 Location : Melbourne, Australia
Subject: anyone know the regt. Sat Dec 12, 2009 7:56 am
hi M Brady. You are spot on , it is indeed the 58th Regt. Part of the 2nd Div , On 6th June at the post which was to be named FT. NEWDIGATE. cheers 90th.
Mr Greaves
Posts : 747 Join date : 2009-10-18
Subject: Re: Anyone know the regiment. Sat Dec 12, 2009 12:14 pm
Quote :
two hundred men of a certain regiment, which shall be nameless, actually left their rifles in the trench
Did they get them back.
1879graves
Posts : 3116 Join date : 2009-03-03 Location : Devon
Subject: Re: Anyone know the regiment. Sat Dec 12, 2009 12:24 pm
Hi Dave
Just eleven days later this happened:
From Fort Newdigate I accompanied Wood's Flying Column to the frontier to escort 240 empty wagons to be refilled at Landsman's Drift. It was the 17th June before we got back to Fort Newdigate again, and then with some 600 loaded wagons, having picked up some 400 extra at Landsman's Drift. Meanwhile, some of the force had been moved on, and Fort Marshall, sixteen miles farther on, was being commenced. On arriving at the spot where Fort Newdigate was to be constructed on the 6th June, our camp was laid out as usual in the shape of a great rectangle; the wagons formed the wall, and about 200 yards outside it the new fort was commenced. By sundown the walls had begun to rise. Piquets were posted all round at some distance from the laager. It was a moonlight night and clouds were flitting across the moon, and a shadow from one of these was mistaken for an advancing body of Zulus. The piquet gave the alarm and the men manned the sides of the laager. Unfortunately some of the piquets, in falling back, took refuge in this partially constructed fort. I was asleep in a tent outside the laager. The order was for all tents outside the laager to be lowered when the alarm sounded. My stable companion, Alexander of the 21st R.S. Fusiliers, had some difficulty in awakening me, and before I could get out of the tent firing had commenced from the laager, so, striking the tent as best we could, we rushed into the laager. Undoubtedly the men's nerves were in a bad state, owing, I consider, to the fact that they were young soldiers and that the Staff never missed an opportunity of instilling into their minds the fierceness of the enemy and their love of night attacks. In a few minutes every face of the laager was blazing away and a battery in action at one corner was firing " grape." It was a long time before the firing could be stopped, and then it was found to be a false alarm, but a disastrous one for there were four casualties, three of them in the embryonic Fort, where the walls were not high enough to give cover from fire from the laager. It was found afterwards that there was no enemy within fifteen miles. Our expenditure of ammunition was heavy, 50,000 rounds it was said at the time. This place was more generally known after this as " Fort Funk." We had several more false alarms before we fought the battle of Ulundi, but these I will not describe here.
Last edited by 1879graves on Sat Dec 12, 2009 1:58 pm; edited 1 time in total
Frank Allewell
Posts : 7673 Join date : 2009-09-21 Age : 73 Location : Cape Town South Africa
Subject: Re: Anyone know the regiment. Sat Dec 12, 2009 1:57 pm
58th Regiment I think?
prm502
Posts : 30 Join date : 2009-09-29
Subject: Re: Anyone know the regiment. Mon Dec 14, 2009 9:41 am
pretty sure its the 58th
Mr Greaves
Posts : 747 Join date : 2009-10-18
Subject: Re: Anyone know the regiment. Mon Dec 14, 2009 4:01 pm
Could this have been the same incident.
"On 6th June 1879 a piquet caused a false alarm and the whole column rushed to take position in the entrenched area of the camp. Fire was given and some 1,200 rounds discharged before the troops could be brought under control. It was symptomatic of the nervousness these inexperienced troops felt about the Zulus."