Prior to Sihayo's Kraal

Posts : 1862 Join date : 2009-03-25

Was there any skirmishes between the British and the Zulu's prior to the attack on Sihayo's Kraal. Or was this the first action that to place between the two armies during the Anglo Zulu War.

Posts : 2558 Join date : 2009-04-06 Age : 61 Location : UK

Good question. I'm sure there must have been little snipes at each other, but I don't recall reading anything other that the first action after invading Zululand was at Sihayo's Kraal.

Posts : 629 Join date : 2009-01-20 Age : 45

Didn't Wood or Buller get into a small argument on the 7th or 8th Jan with a body of Zulus.

Subject: Prior to Sihayo's Kraal Fri Jun 17, 2011 4:54 am

Hi all.
No 3 Column didnt cross into zululand till the 11th jan ( Unopposed ) and the attack on Sihayo's Kraal was I think the 12th
so fairly certain there wasnt any prior contact . Cant remember reading of any contact on the 7th or 8th Jan with Wood / Buller
either . Happy to be corrected . Idea

.
cheers 90th.

Posts : 527 Join date : 2009-02-28

I do recall reading that an incident did take place early morning on the 10th or the 11th. It was thought that Sirayo would oppose Glyn.s crossing at RD. Some of Bullers men were sent out and no sooner after leaving the camp they came under fire from a small party of Zulu's. I make have got this wrong,but when I have time I will check, this incident is recorded in the Zulu Campaign by . Major Ashe

Posts : 420 Join date : 2011-05-14

Page 33 of Ashe & Wyatt-Edgell, the morning after the meeting with Chelmsford & Wood. Buller's men were fired upon. Later the same day Robert Barton & the FLH have a brush with some Zulus. Which given that Chelmsford & Wood met on 11th January 1879, would be the 12th the same day as the attack on Sihayo's stronghold.

kwaJimu1879

Subject: Prior to Sihayo's Kraal Fri Jun 17, 2011 9:56 am

Hi Saul David 1879.
Checked my copy of Ashe it reads to me the skirmish took place on the 12th .
cheers 90th. Idea

Subject: Re: Prior to Sihayo's Kraal Fri Jun 17, 2011 11:37 am

There was a small "skirmish " on the 6th near Vermaarks on the Biggarsberg when Shepstone arrested the male inhabitants of a local kraal who had been signalling troop movements.
Then on the way back from meeting Woods the Chelmsford party raided a group of kraals and liberated a herd of cows. In fact several hundred cattle, some horses and a number of sheep and goats is how Norris Newman puts it.
So the first hostile action would I assume have been credited to Shepstone. The first casualty was a member of the NNC at the commencement of the attack on Sirayo's kraal, he was wounded by a sniper.

Regards

Posts : 1604 Join date : 2009-09-21

Just an observation ref; this book. It was published in 1880. Yet it says it was by Wyatt-Edgel who was killed at the Battle of Lundi which as you know was in 1879. Can I take it they were writing this book while serving in the Zulu War.

Posts : 527 Join date : 2009-02-28

Thanks for that, saves me hunting around, but as you have got the books open. Was there not an incident involving Captain Barton who was moving further into Zululand.

Posts : 420 Join date : 2011-05-14

Dave,

Edmund Wyatt-Edgell was corresponding with Waller Ashe, until his death at the Battle of Ulundi, 4th July 1879. It was that correspondence which formed the basis of the book.

Saul David 1879,

I think you find I already mentioned Robert Barton in my previous posting, unless you're referring to one of the other Captain Bartons?

kwaJimu1879

Posts : 527 Join date : 2009-02-28

Jimu. You did. Apologies. Didn't read it correctly.

Subject: Re: Prior to Sihayo's Kraal Sat Jun 18, 2011 12:25 pm

What ever happened, it was the British who initiated contact.

Wasn't Cetshwayo particularly careful NOT to give the British any excuse whatsoever to start a war?

Cetshwayo wasn't stupid, he knew he was being forced into a corner by ever increasingly outrageous demands and knew the British would be delighted for any Zulu aggression.

Even after invading Zululand, the Zulus eluded any contact with Chelmsford's column, as per Cetshwayo's orders.

In the absence of any Zulu contact whatsoever, Chelmsford was forced to attack Sihayo's kraal. This was the first action of the AZW.

Posts : 1261 Join date : 2010-04-12

Cetshwayo, was not a man that could be trusted, take a look the conditions he agreed to if he was to be recognised as the Zulu King by the British. Conditions imposed by Stepstone during his coronation.

Posts : 1095 Join date : 2009-01-14 Location : East London

Chard1879. Could you post what the conditions, were that was imposed at the coronation.

Posts : 1604 Join date : 2009-09-21

"Cetshwayo was crowned twice - by the Zulu people and by agents of Queen Victoria. The 'colonial coronation' was accompanied by 'laws' - allegedly agreed to by the new king - that gave Britain the discretion to depose him. These 'laws' dealt with the proportionate powers of subordinate chiefs and the requirements for execution of Zulu subjects. The first five years of Cetshwayo's reign followed a now familiar pattern the 'raising up' of favourites within the Zulu hierarchy and courting of the British against Boer expansionism. Disease had meanwhile decimated Zululand cattle herds and the resulting tension led first to internecine raids and murder, then spilled over to affect white settlers in the form of harassment and stock theft. Both contravened Cetshwayo's 'coronation laws' and invoked Britain's 'right and duty' to depose him."

Subject: Re: Prior to Sihayo's Kraal Sat Jun 18, 2011 10:13 pm

Chard1879:

" the conditions he agreed to" :lol!:

With the metaphorical gun pointing to his head!

Posts : 527 Join date : 2009-02-28

Tasker. It was the King who asked to be recognised by the British, not the other way around. The British agreed providing he agreed to certain regulations, one being stop killing your people for nothing.

Subject: Re: Prior to Sihayo's Kraal Sun Jun 19, 2011 9:19 am

Saul David
C'mon Prof surely a tad naive?
Shepstone bulldozed his way across Southern Africa with all the arrogance of a Brit imperialist. That applies to his dealings with the Zulu, he invited himself into Zulu land. And as for that tatty old so called coronation? In theory yes Cetswayo wanted recognition, but for one reason..........first comes the missionary etc. He wanted to protect his kingdom and like a true diplomat was prepared to suffer the English if that would aid his cause.
Bottom line was that Frere wanted him gone, in spite of his own government, and used Theopolis and Chelmsford to do so.
Zululand was a soverign state. The so called coronation and recognition was a means to an end. The Brits knew the highly contentious 'conditions' would never be enforcable.

Regards

Subject: Re: Prior to Sihayo's Kraal Sun Jun 19, 2011 9:22 am

Why should a king in a distant country thousands of miles away, feel it necessary to seek and agree to British conditions?

We all know the answer, of course, and let's not pretend we believe it was the British Government's shocked concern, over the fate of two of Cetshwayo's unfaithful women.

The same old excuses are used by a certain superpower and its side-kicks to intefere in other countries' affairs and wage war today. (Unless of course, those counties don't have any oil, or anything else of interest that can be plundered).

Nothing much has changed.

Subject: Re: Prior to Sihayo's Kraal Sun Jun 19, 2011 4:58 pm

But all that aside. Cetshwayo ammitted after his capture that had the British not annexed the transvaal, war would have broken have broken out between the zulus and the Dutch Settlers. Perhaps its a good thing the Brit's did bulldoze there way in.

Old H. Here you go.

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