The camp was evidently wrongly placed, and was clearly taken by
surprise. Major Tucker went out from Luneberg in person, with a small
party of horsemen, followed by 150 of the 80th, to see what could be
recovered, and the bodies of the dead were brought over the river and
buried, while twenty-five of the enemy's dead were discovered, and a
couple of wounded taken prisoners. From these men it was ascertained
that Umbelini himself was in command, having with him some men belonging
to our old antagonist Manyanyoba. Mcame, a powerful induna, had been
asked to join in the foray, but refused. When Tucker and his handful of
horsemen arrived on the banks of the river, the enemy were seen to be
retreating, but they could not be followed until the infantry came up.
Curious to remark, the waggons were not taken, and many of them were
only half plundered by the savages, who seemed most anxious to decamp
with what spoil they had secured.
For his conduct in this affair Lieutenant Harward was subsequently tried
by court-martial. The ground of complaint was his having galloped off on
his horse--the only one present on the scene--leaving his men engaged in
a desperate engagement. The loss of the camp, or anything of a similar
nature, was in no way charged against him. His defence was that he had
ridden off to obtain assistance from the nearest point--that this was
his duty--and that he could not send a soldier in his place, as none of
them could ride. In the event the Court acquitted him. But in May of the
ensuing year (1880), the Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief issued the
following special general order relative to a court-martial recently
held on an officer in South Africa:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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