At two o'clock in the afternoon on the 22nd Major Spalding, still unaware of the disaster at Isandlwana, left the station in order to ascertain the whereabouts of a company of the 1/24th due two days earlier, while Lieutenant John Chard of the Royal Engineers rode down to the drift itself in order to inspect the work being carried out there. At roughly 3.30 two officers of the Natal Native Contingent - Lieutenants Vane and Adendorff - came upon the drift bearing the news of Isandlwana and that one wing of the Zulu impi was bearing down on th ...
Chard had not counted on the fickleness of the natives, however. At 4.30 Sgt James Reynolds, Otto Witt - a Boer who lived in the Drift - and the Reverend George Smith came scampering down from Osakburg with the news that the Zulus were fording the xxx river and were 'no more than five minutes away.' Soon after one of the mounted natives under Vause reported that the Zulus were about a minute away. At this point, the Natives broke. Having already seen the slaughter at Islanwalda, the Natives - and Vause - headed for the rear. Upon seeing thei ...
Eleven Victoria Crosses were awarded to the British defenders, the most ever received in a single action. This high number may be interpreted as a reaction to the earlier British defeat at the Battle of Isandlwana. The extolling of the victory at Rorke's Drift took the public's attention away from the massive defeat at Isandlwana and the fact that Lord Chelmsford had disobeyed orders by entering Zululand.
Dalton was not originally named among the VC recipients, eventually receiving his medal in January 1880 after an outcry because a n ...
