Flashman And The Tiger

[2]. In connection with Flashman’s defence of the wagon with his revolvers, it is interesting to note that one of the Zulu warriors, a son of Chief Sirayo, later described how he had seen one of the British force, "a very tall man", keeping up a spirited revolver fire from an empty wagon. "We all said what a very brave man he was … he kept his ground for a very long time." This admittedly does not sound like Flashman, and Mackinnon and Shadbolt, in The South African Campaign of 1879-80, are probably correct when they identify the hero as Captain Younghusband of the 24th Regiment.

[3]. This was not the only incident of its kind at Isandhlwana. The editor is indebted to Colonel John Awdry of Fovant for drawing his attention to the experience of General (formerly Lieutenant) Smith-Dorrien, one of the survivors of the battle. During the rout Smith-Dorrien came on a man who had been kicked by his horse and could not mount; Smith-Dorrien helped him into the saddle and gave him a knife, and the rider, having promised to catch a horse for Smith-Dorrien, promptly fled from the battlefield. If Flashman’s account of his own evasion were not so precise, one would be tempted to identify him with Smith-Dorrien’s fugitive. (See The Man Who Disobeyed, by A. J. Smithers.)

[4]. The battle of Isandhlwana (the place of the Little House or Little Hand) was fought on January 22, 1879, when 1600 British and native troops of Lord Chelmsford’s force invading Zululand were overwhelmed by 20,000 warriors of the impis of King Cetewayo (Ketshwayo). What Flashman was doing there is a mystery. Earlier in the present volume he refers to a visit paid to South Africa in connection with a mine (whether gold or diamond he does not say) belonging to a relative of Lady Flashman’s, and there is evidence elsewhere that later he took part in an expedition through unexplored territory in the interior, but how he came to be involved in Chelmsford’s operations is still unexplained. Usually in his memoirs he is careful to give full military and political background to his activities, but in this case he treats Isandhlwana, and the equally famous defence of Rorke’s Drift, as mere incidents in his story, and clarification must wait on further study of the Flashman Papers, or possibly of Dawns and Departures of a Soldier’s Life, should the missing volumes of that work come to light. There, it may be, will be found some account of the preliminaries to the Zulu War—the border friction between the Transvaal Dutch and Cetewayo’s people, Britain’s annexation of the Transvaal and failure to settle the border question, the decision to send in Chelmsford’s three columns, the establishment of the base at Isandhlwana, and Chelmsford’s departure thence with part of his force in the hope of gaining a quick victory over the Zulu army, while Major Pulleine was left to defend the Isandhlwana camp, only to be wiped out by a Zulu attack which was entirely unexpected.