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Battlefield Cairns. |
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Isandlwana 1879 |
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The Cairns at Isandlwana. |
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Below: The Cairns at Isandlwana Upon leaving the field at 1800hrs on 22nd January 1879 the victorious Zulu Army had inflicted casualties of around 1350 British and Colonial troops. Lord Chelmsford briefly took back the camp in darkness that night, wishing to spare his men the views of devastation at Isandlwana.
The remains of No: 3 column retired on Rorke’s Drift just before dawn the next morning. No attempt was made to bury the British dead and they were left where they fell.
It would be weeks before Chelmsford was confident that the Zulu threat to Natal had abated and he was therefore comfortable to investigate the condition of the devastated camp at Isandlwana and to bury the dead. |
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On 14th March 1879 Major Wilsone Black was ordered forward with a small escort to Isandlwana to survey the camp. He reported back the horrific state of the decomposing bodies and the stench of death still very much around. His report recommended immediate action to clear the field of British dead.
On 15th May 1879 Major Black again led a probe back to Isandlwana from Rorke’s Drift to access the suitability to recover abandoned wagons from the site. His report suggested that there were sufficient wagons available for recovery and so Chelmsford was duty bound to recover the wagons and bury the dead.
On 21st May 1879 a sizeable British force with infantry and cavalry under the command of General Marshall began burial of all the British dead—except men from the 24th who would be buried by their own regiment under Colonel Glyn’s request. Bodies were quickly buried and covered with rocks. |
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On 20th, 23rd and 26th of June 1879 Black again returned to the field and buried the remains of the 24th dead. Again shallow graves were dug and stones piled upon the dead.
It would not be long in the African climate before the shallow graves and the contents became exposed. In September 1879 another expedition was tasked with clearing the skeletal debris that was exposing itself from the graves and again the effort was not sufficient to secure the graves and cairns. In early 1880 another force was tasked with clearing the site as best they could.
In 1883 the final attempt was made to once and for all to inter the graves properly. Deeper and wider graves were dug out of the earth, the bodies were exhumed from the old graves and reinterred. The cairns were again constructed over the graves where they now lie today. The cairns are regularly whitewashed and maintained by the appropriate South African authorities. Most of the 300 plus cairns have anywhere from 2 to 20 men buried underneath and the cairns on “The Nek” have the highest concentrate on the field. |