Captain Moriarty. Court Marshalled

Posts : 1862 Join date : 2009-03-25

We talk about Chelmsford being a bad commander for not fortifying and dividing his forces, yet Captain Moriarty done just that. If he had lived I think he should have a faced a court marshall. I know in other discussions it is said he have no choice, because the river had cut one side off from the other. But I can see no reason why he could not have ordered all the men to stay together on one side. I also know that the waggon's were carrying ammunition but I don't think mens lives were less important.

Posts : 2008 Join date : 2011-08-01 Age : 26

He did laager his waggons.

However he could only get 2 across so he had most the men with him and left a small detachment to gaurd the other 2 waggons.

The reason the where suprised is the fog stopped them from seeing more then 80 yeads to thier front.

Moriarty died bravly, he came bursting out his tent shooting 3 Zulus and fighing on with a spear till he was killed.

He had no choose

Cheers

Subject: Re: Captain Moriarty. Court Marshalled Thu Sep 20, 2012 10:20 am

Captain Moriarty used the term 'laager' loosely.
The laager that he had formed on his side of the river had large gaps between the wagons and no wagon barrier at all near the river.
Moriarty had been told by Major Tucker that his defenses would not do, but Moriarty had shrugged it off and had done nothing to fix them. His only precaution against attack was to post two sentries outside the wagons..

Captain Moriarty may have died heroically but it was the choices he made which lead up to the loss of british life experianced during the battle.

Subject: Captain Moriarty . Court Marshalled Thu Sep 20, 2012 12:05 pm

Hi Sean G.
Welcome to the forum , unfortunately Moriarty did a shabby job on his defences and paid the ultimate price , along with approx 80 other poor souls under his command .
Cheers 90th. Salute

Subject: Re: Captain Moriarty. Court Marshalled Fri Sep 21, 2012 7:42 am

Thanks 90th
Its good to finally be able to talk to others that share a passion for the AZW

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