TOPIC:

The SAGS to Private Hughes sold yesterday for a hammer price of GBP 6,500. Totals: GBP 8,372.

Picture courtesy of Spink

SAGS (1) 1877-8-9 (1476. Pte. J. Bartles. 1/24th. Foot.)

John Bartles served with the 1st Battalion, 24th (2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot and appears on the British Army Index for 1871 serving in Malta. This would make him a veteran of the Regiment's campaigns in South Africa, fought since 1875 against a variety of enemies including the Griqua in 1875 and the Galeka from 1877-78.

Isandlwana- Opening Moves

Both battalions of the 24th participated in the campaign (each fielding six companies) with the 1st Battalion forming the principal element of Number Three Column, which was under the overall command of Colonel Richard Glyn of the 1st/24th: therefore Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Pulleine was appointed to command in his stead.

Upon crossing the Buffalo River on 11 January, the column (accompanied by the Commander-in-Chief, General the Lord Chelmsford) found itself pitching camp nine days' later at the base of a prominent feature - the hill at Isandlwana. Chelmsford, eager to bring the campaign to a swift conclusion, departed at dawn on 22 January with half the column's strength (some 2,800 men) leaving behind Pulleine with approximately 1,300 men - five companies of the 1st/24th, one company of the 2nd/24th, 700 men of the Natal Native Contingent, two 7-pdr artillery pieces and a rocket battery.

Battle and Defeat

Failing to take any defensive measures to secure the camp, Pulleine's force was subsequently surprised by a vast Zulu army totalling some 20,000 warriors which, by additionally using the terrain to their advantage, swept forward to the attack using their traditional 'Horns of the Buffalo' strategy - a central advance supported by encircling forces on both flanks. Pulleine deployed the 24th Foot some way in advance of the camp in an extended firing line, aiming to subdue the Zulus with superior firepower - the young Private Hughes must have been one of those men in the line; what he likely thought and felt at that moment defies description.
For at least an hour, the British held the Zulu warriors at bay, inflicting significant casualties with their powerful Martini-Henry rifles and aided by support from the two 7-pdr guns from N/5 Battery Royal Artillery. However, as the mounted force (commanded by Colonel Anthony Durnford) began to withdraw in the face of mounting numbers of Zulus, this exposed the right flank of the British infantry firing-line; G Company (2nd/24th) was swiftly overrun and the remainder also began a withdrawal, loading and firing as they went, back towards the camp. However, by this point the Zulu encirclement of the position had almost been completed and the remains of the British force were left with no option but to either try to fight their way out or fight to the death - the result has subsequently been recorded as one of the most famous 'Last Stands' in British military history, immortalised in paintings, books, and the 1979 major motion picture 'Zulu Dawn' starring Peter O'Toole and Denholm Elliot amongst many other household names.

In the words of How Can Men Die Better by Lieutenant-Colonel Mike Snook:

'When the Zulu main bodies reached the tents, the great majority of the 600 redcoats in the field that day were still alive. They were not scattered over the open veldt before the camp, as many would have us believe. They were formed in close order, they were resolute and they were skilfully led. They were grim, frightened, and knew that they were doomed to die. Above all else though, with the stubborn arrogance that has typified the British infantry over the centuries, they were determined to sell their lives dearly. It was to be a fight to the finish with no quarter asked or given, and these men would take some killing; a lesser foe might not have achieved it. This is the story of those men and of the brave warriors who killed them. By any standard it is a tale of extraordinary high drama.'

Of the 1,800 men at Isandlwana over 1,300 of them were killed; the bodies of the slain were afterward buried in mass graves on the battlefield, their last resting places still marked to this day by white-painted stone cairns.