msford had no alternative, therefore, but
to invade Zululand.

ISANDLWANA

The force under Lord Chelmsford's command was divided into four columns.
These were composed partly of British soldiers, partly of Colonists, and
partly of blacks. The first column, under Colonel Pearson, crossed the
Lower Tugela; the second, under Lieutenant-Colonel Durnford, R.E.,
consisting of native troops and Natal Volunteers, was to act in concert
with column three; the third, under Colonel Glyn--but directed by the
General, who assumed all responsibility--crossed the Buffalo River; and
the fourth, under Colonel Evelyn Wood, entered Zululand from near
Newcastle on the north-west. The plan was for the four columns to
converge upon Ulundi, in the neighbourhood of the king's kraal, where
fighting might be expected to begin.

[Illustration: MAP OF ZULULAND AND ADJOINING PORTIONS OF NATAL.]

The crossing of the Buffalo River was effected without difficulty or
resistance, and ten days after the central column formed a camp at
the foot of the hill Isandlwana (the Little Hand). On the morning of
the 22nd the Commander-in-Chief advanced at daybreak, for the
purpose of attacking a kraal some miles distant. The camp at
Isandlwana was left in charge of a force of some eight hundred mixed
troops--regulars, volunteers, and natives. Strict orders to defend
and not to leave the camp were given, but in spite of these orders
portions of the force became detached. Suddenly, unobserved by them,
there appeared a dense impi of some twenty thousand Zulus. The
savage horde rushed shouting upon the small British detachments,
rushed with the swiftness of cavalry, attacked them before they
could unite, and swooping down with tremendous velocity, seized the
camp and separated the British troops from their reserves of
ammunition. In face of this warrior multitude our troops were
defenceless. A few moments of wild despairing energy, a hand-to-hand
struggle for life between the white man and the bloodthirsty savage,
groans of wounded and yells of victory, and all was over. Of the six
companies of the 24th, consisting of more than half the infantry
engaged, but six souls escaped. The rest died where they fell, with
no kindly hand to give them succour, no British voice to breathe a
burial prayer. But some before they dropped managed to cut their way
through the ring of Zulu spears. Two gallant fellows, Lieutenants
Melvill and Coghill, almost succeeded in saving the