Action at Sihayo's Kraal

The 12 January 1879 action at Sihayo's Kraal was an early skirmish in the Anglo-Zulu War. The day after his invasion of Zululand, the British General Lord Chelmsford led a reconnaissance in force to the kraal of Zulu Chief Sihayo. This force had orders to burn the kraal to the ground as punishment for two of Sihayo's sons having entered the British Colony of Natal to kill two of Sihayo's wives who had fled there.

Action at Sihayo's Kraal
Part of the Anglo-Zulu War
A depiction of the action, British General Lord Chelmsford observing in the centre foreground
Date 12 January 1879 Location Zululand 28.303°S 30.610°E / -28.303; 30.610 Result British victory
Belligerents
British Empire	Zulu Kingdom
Commanders and leaders
Lord Chelmsford	Mkumbikazulu kaSihayo  †
Strength
3 companies 24th Regiment of Foot; 1 battalion Natal Native Contingent (NNC)	70+ warriors
Casualties and losses
2 NNC men killed; 20 NNC men and 2 officers wounded	30 killed, 4 wounded
Approximate location in present-day South Africa

The British force drove off a numerically inferior Zulu force but found the kraal unoccupied, Sihayo having answered a call to arms from the Zulu king Cetshwayo. The kraal was burnt and the British returned to their camp. The attack is believed to have led Cetshwayo to attack Chelmsford's force over the other two British columns operating in Zululand. The British were subsequently defeated by the Zulu army at the Battle of Isandlwana.

Background

The British High Commissioner for Southern Africa Sir Henry Bartle Frere had been attempting to form a confederation of British possessions in Southern Africa. As part of this ambition the annexation of neighbouring Zululand was planned, this led to the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879.[1] The pretext for the war was an ultimatum issued by Frere to the Zulu king Cetshwayo.[2] The ultimatum required the surrender of the brother and two son's of Chief Sihayo, who had entered Natal to abduct and murder two of the chief's wives who had escaped.[2][3]

Other clauses including the payment of cattle as fines, the turning over of chief Mbilini for raiding cattle in British territory and the admittance of missionaries to Zululand. The document also required wholesale changes to the Zulu system of government including limits on the use of the death penalty, the requirement for trials, supervision by a British official and the abolition of the Zulu army and associated restrictions on marriage.[2] The ultimatum was harsh, demanding radical change in the Zulu way of life, intended by Frere that Cetshwayo would reject it.[4]

On 11 January 1879 the ultimatum expired and the British forces, under Lord Chelmsford entered Zululand in three columns.[5] The main force, the centre column under Chelmsford, crossed the Buffalo River into Zulu territory at Rorke's Drift and made camp.[6]

Advance

Movements during the Action at Sihayo's Kraal.

  British advance

  Movement of 1/24th

  Movement of 1/3rd NNC

Initial engagement (white circle)

  Movement of mounted units

  Movement of troops to burn Sihayo's Kraal (black circle)

Chelmsford determined to attack Sihayo's kraal (a type of homestead with a cattle enclosure) which lay some 8 km (5.0 mi) from his camp. He did this to secure his left flank for the advance upon the Zulu capital of Ulundi and as a punitive measure against Sihayo for his son's transgressions.[3] Chelmsford ordered a force, commanded by Colonel Glyn of the 24th Regiment of Foot, to leave the camp at 3:30 a.m. on 12 January; this was later described as a reconnaissance in force.[6][7] Glyn's command was a mixed force of men from his regiment, men of the Natal Native Contingent (commanded by Major Wilsone Black) and some irregular mounted infantry (commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Russell).[8] Chelmsford chose to accompany the force, usurping command of it from Glyn.[8]

The British troops proceeded north-east from the camp keeping to a track on the right hand bank of the Bashee River.[9] After around 8 km (5.0 mi) a quantity of cattle were observed on the far side with a number of Zulus to the hills above them. Chelmsford ordered the troops across the river to prepare for an attack.[9][6] Whilst Glyn and Chelmsford consulted on their battle plan, the Zulu taunted the British saying "Why are you waiting there? Are you looking to build kraals? Why don't you come on up?".[8]

Action

An engagement between British mounted irregulars and the Zulu

The Zulu defended a horseshoe-shaped gorge and Chelmsford ordered Russell's mounted men to move to the south where the hillsides could be climbed and to sweep around behind the Zulu on the heights to threaten them and cut off any retreat.[8][9] In the meantime three companies of the 1st battalion of the 24th Regiment and the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Regiment of the Natal Native Contingent (under Commandant Hamilton-Browne) were to assault the Zulu on the lower ground and attempt to seize the cattle.[6][8] The 2nd Battalion of the 3rd Natal Native Contingent (commanded by Commandant Cooper) were held in reserve.[8]

The NNC led the advance and did so enthusiastically until they came within gunshot of the Zulus who were hiding among boulders, shrubs and caves at the sides of the gorge.[6][8] At this point they were challenged by a Zulu shouting "By whose orders do you come to the land of the Zulus?".[8] A newspaper reporter, Charles Norris-Newman, with the British recorded that no reply was made but Hamilton-Browne claimed that his interpreter, Lieutenant Duncombe, replied "By the orders of the Great White Queen".[8] The Zulu then opened fire on the British right flank, their first shot striking a man of the Natal Native Contingent (NNC) and breaking his thigh bone.[8][9]

The NNC became pinned down and were reluctant to assault the Zulus, who fired from the rough ground. Attempts by their non-commissioned officers to force them forwards by clubbing them with rifles failed and Black ordered men of the 24th Regiment forwards in support.[8] This succeeded and the NNC followed Black, who led the charge with his sword in one hand and his hat waved above his head in the other. Black's hat was soon shot from his hand but he escaped unscathed despite being almost struck by a boulder thrown at him by a Zulu from above.[8]

The 2nd Battalion of the NNC was also brought up in support but the action was over by 9:00 a.m., lasting around half an hour.[8][10] At least a dozen Zulu were killed along with two NNC men, around twenty NNC men and two of their officers were wounded.[7]

Russell's mounted contingent found around sixty Zulu in the heights; they dismounted and exchanged fire.[7] By 10:00 a.m. the fighting had ended; outnumbered, the Zulu were driven off for the loss of ten killed.[7][11] One of Sihayo's sons, Mkumbikazulu, a suspect for the incursion into Natal was among the dead.[12]

Burning of the kraal

After the action a force of four companies of the 2/24th and part of the 2nd Battalion of the 3rd NNC commanded by Colonel Degacher of the 24th Regiment was sent to Sihayo's kraal with orders to burn it to the ground.[13] The kraal was located some 6 kilometres (4 mi) further along the Bashee valley and 60 metres (200 ft) above it.[7][8][10] Degacher found the kraal, its neighbouring homesteads and mealie fields deserted aside from three old women and a young girl.[7][8][13] The settlement was burnt to the ground and the force marched back to its camp by the Buffalo River, reaching it by 4:00 p.m.[10][11][12]

Aftermath

The British defeat at Isandlwana

The British officers were reasonably pleased with the day and considered that the NNC had performed well in their first action.[7] The total Zulu casualties were estimated at thirty killed and four wounded.[14] At least one of the wounded was taken prisoner and treated at the British hospital at Rorke's Drift, he was killed in the Battle of Rorke's Drift on 22/23 January.[15] The British captured 13 horses, 413 cattle, 332 goats and 235 sheep with some of these being driven into Natal.[7][10] The British troops were pleased with this as they anticipated payment of prize money for the livestock.[11] Chelmsford wrote to Frere,

I am in great hope that the news of the storming of Sihayo's stronghold and the capture of so many of his cattle ... may have the salutary effect in Zululand and either bring down a large force to attack us or else produce a revolution in the country. Sihayo's men have I am told always been looked upon as the bravest in the country and certainly those who were killed today fought with great courage.

— Williams 2015, p. 67

Sihayo and his senior son, Mehlokazulu, escaped the action, having left the day before with his fighting men to answer Cetshwayo's call to arms at Ulundi.[7][8] News of the attack reached the Zulu king whilst he was considering which of the three British columns to attack. The news seems to have convinced him to attack the centre column; part of Chelmsford's force was subsequently annihilated by the main Zulu army at the Battle of Isandlwana on 22 January.[12]

The locations of the actions have been disputed as records kept by the British were vague and no battlefield relics have been recovered.[8][13] The historian Keith Smith places Sihayo's kraal at Sokhexe, a settlement still occupied by Sihayo's descendants and the earlier action at a location somewhat to the south near Ngedla hill.[16]

References

Citations

1. Knight 2008, p. 5.
2. Greaves 2012, pp. 30–31.
3. Smith 2014, p. 26.
4. Paulin 2001, p. 70.
5. Knight 2000, p. 292.
6. Rothwell 1989, p. 26.
7. Williams 2015, p. 67.
8. Knight 1992, p. 37.
9. Smith 2014, p. 27.
10. Rothwell 1989, p. 27.
11. Smith 2014, p. 30.
12. Canwell 2004, p. 98.
13. Smith 2014, p. 28.
14. Rothwell 1989, p. 276.
15. Greaves 2012, p. 120.
16. Smith 2014, p. 31.

General sources

• Canwell, Diane (2004). Zulu Kings and their Armies. Pen and Sword. ISBN 978-1-84415-060-1.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Greaves, Adrian (2012). Rorke's Drift. Orion. ISBN 978-1-78022-497-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Knight, Ian (1992). Zulu: Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift 22nd – 23rd January 1879. Windrow & Greene. p. 37. ISBN 978-1-872004-23-5.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Knight, Ian (2000). The Anglo-Zulu War, 1879. Archival Publications International. ISBN 978-1-903008-00-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Knight, Ian (2008). Companion to the Anglo-Zulu War. Pen and Sword. ISBN 978-1-84415-801-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Paulin, Christopher M. (2001). White Men's Dreams, Black Men's Blood: African Labor and British Expansionism in Southern Africa, 1877–1895. Africa World Press. ISBN 978-0-86543-929-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Rothwell, Captain J.S. (1989). Narrative of the Field Operations Connected with the Zulu War of 1879. London: Greenhill Books. ISBN 1-85367-041-3. OL 8980321M – via Quartermaster General's Department, Intelligence Branch, War Office.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Smith, Keith (2014). Dead Was Everything: Studies in the Anglo-Zulu War. Frontline Books. ISBN 978-1-4738-3723-2.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Williams, Paul (2015). Custer and the Sioux, Durnford and the Zulus: Parallels in the American and British Defeats at the Little Bighorn (1876) and Isandlwana (1879). McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-9794-2.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)