THE STORY
OF
THE ZULU CAMPAIGN.
BY
MAJOR ASHE (Late King's Dragoon Guards),
AUTHOR OF "THE MILITARY INSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE," ETC.
AND
CAPTAIN THE HON. E. V. WYATT-EDGELL
(17th Lancers, Killed at Ulundi).
SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON,
CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STREET.
1880.
[All rights reserved.]
Gilbert and Rivington, Printers,
St. John's Square.
HUMBLY DEDICATED, AS A POOR TRIBUTE AND OFFERING.
Worthy of the Race of Guzman, and of the soldier of Lodi and Arcola,while recalling memories of him who gave to the gods of the Tiberthe gift most precious to Rome—Human Valour—Prince Louis Napoleon'sname will live in the hearts of all his English comrades, as a type of purechivalry, of knightly generosity, and as a rainbow of Hope over two greatwestern powers, for centuries at war, but now allied in friendship.
PREFACE.
Some apology or explanation may be deemed requisite,for delaying the publication of this "Story ofthe Zulu War" for more than a year after itsconclusion. The little book itself was written veryshortly after the capture of the king, Cetywayo, andthe tardiness of its appearance has been, to a certainextent, intentional on my part.
Although it may seem ungracious and, perhaps,ungrateful to cavil at the war criticisms and descriptionswhich, by every post and telegram, adornthe pages of contemporaneous journalism, I wouldsubmit that the practice of writing ex cathedrâ onwar topics the day after an engagement, is tooearly to allow us to examine motives as well asfacts, so that we may form conclusions to which wecan only justly arrive, when "Time, the corrector,where our judgments err," has softened prejudiceand exposed partisan feeling. The worst and mostvalueless criticisms on Waterloo were given to theworld immediately after the fight of Mont St. Jean.The most unreliable, and indeed erroneous, opinionsin regard to the splendid errors of In