Who was the mystery defender of the cave?

Posts : 947 Join date : 2011-10-21 Location : Algoa Bay

Hi All,
A very intriguing question is begged vis-à-vis who the mystery defender of the Isandlwana cave was.
Bearing in mind that it has been recorded, variously, that the following were found in the cave ;

1) human remains ( details sketchy)
2) pieces of tunic ( not defined )
3) many empty Mh cases
4) a piece of rope

I tend to believe it was one or two of the picquets posted (usually in twos or threes) on top of the mountain who took refuge there when they saw the camp was lost.
However , it could just as easily have been a man or men from one of the groups, such as Younghusband's who were fighting around the base of the mountain who fled upwards to escape the inevitable.
It will be interesting to hear what others think about this.

regards

barry

Subject: Re: Who was the mystery defender of the cave? Wed Dec 04, 2013 5:53 pm

Hi Barry
If we accept the cave as being the one above the Younghusband defence then I would say the last man would have climbed up to the cave rather than down. Fairly easy climb to get up and its not that high of the slope. To climb down wouldn't have got the soldier to any safer position. And that climb would be a real bugger.

Cheers Mate

Posts : 1862 Join date : 2009-03-25

Did they find the remains of this soldier?

Subject: Who was the mystery defender of the cave ? Wed Dec 04, 2013 11:46 pm

Hi Barry .
I tend to think it was one of Younghusband's men , Yes 24th they found the remains of a soldier who had a rope around his neck and was found dead beneath the cave , his head was bashed in from memory , I've posted this on here previously in it's own thread .
90th. agree

Posts : 1862 Join date : 2009-03-25

I thought the Soldier in the cave was shot.?

Subject: Who was the mystery defender of the cave ? Thu Dec 05, 2013 12:26 am

24th .
He was shot , but in the thread on that subject , when we were trying to ascertain who he was , I think from memory it was one of Ian Knight's books were he stated that the man beneath the cave had rope around his neck , more than likely after he was shot they tied the rope around his neck and dragged him out of the cave , and was then no doubt mutilated .
90th agree

Posts : 1862 Join date : 2009-03-25

This was obtained from native sources.

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Subject: Who was the mystery defender of the cave ? Thu Dec 05, 2013 1:53 am

Hi Barry, 24th and Springbok .
Type in '' The Last Survivor Of Isandlwana '' in the search box and 8 pages covering this topic will appear .
90th agree

Posts : 2593 Join date : 2009-04-24

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Posts : 947 Join date : 2011-10-21 Location : Algoa Bay

Hi 90th, CTSG,
Thanks for the link to the earlier discussion on this subject on the forum.
However ,although there was much speculation and interesting discussion, the question raised has not been answered.
Some things that bother me were that ;
1)there was an eclipse on at the time so any distance shooting would have been vey difficult in the darkness.
2) spent Mh cartridges were found inside the cave.
3) torn red cloth was also found inside the cave
4) a dead unidentified body with a damaged skull was found on the slope 100m below the cave.

Now the Mh cartridges found inside the cave suggest the defender was not a colonial. No records seem to exist on the fate of the picquets who were on top of the mountain. So the body found with the skull damaged could quite well have been one of them. Will we ever know?

regards,

barry

Posts : 1862 Join date : 2009-03-25

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