"Private Wassall, 80th Regiment, for his gallant conduct in having, at the imminent risk of his own life, saved that of Private Westwood, of the same regiment. On the 22nd of January, 1879, when the camp at Isandhlwana was taken by the enemy, Private Wassall retreated towards the Buffalo river, in which he saw a comrade struggling and apparently drowning. He rode to the bank, dismounted, leaving his horse on the Zulu side, rescued the man from the stream, and again mounted his horse, dragging Private Westwood across the river, under a heavy shower of bullets."
LORD CHELMSFORD'S POLICY--PROMPTNESS AND DECISION OF SIR GARNET WOLSELEY--THE HUNT AND CAPTURE OF CETYWAYO--DEPARTURE FROM NATAL--THE LAST OF THE ZULU KINGS A PRISONER IN THE CASTLE OF CAPE TOWN--GREAT MEETING WITH ZULU CHIEFS--SIR GARNET WOLSELEY'S SPEECH--SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTRY--END OF THE WAR.
Before leaving the shores of South Africa, Lord Chelmsford took occasion at Cape Town to make a public defence of his policy, in which he denied that he had been guilty of hesitation and vacillation. His mind was made up at a very early date, and he went on unswervingly to Ulundi by the route he had originally resolved upon. If the work were to be done over again he would adopt the same plan of campaign. In marching upon Ulundi no calculation was made for assistance from the coast column--only indirect support was reckoned upon. After the crushing defeat at Ulundi no advantage would have been gained by endeavouring to penetrate the difficult country lying north of the king's kraal, even had the state of supplies permitted it. "While, therefore, one portion of the force retraced its steps towards the Blood river, escorting the sick and wounded, and taking with it all the empty waggons, the others moved _viâ_ Kwamagwasa to St. Paul's, and then completed the chain of strongly entrenched posts extending east and west along the centre of Zululand at intervals of about twenty miles. So far one side of the question. On the other hand, men of unquestioned ability and experience, correspondents for several of the leading journals of the world, did not hesitate to blame Lord Chelmsford severely. These men were on the spot, were qualified to form an opinion, and it is absurd and unjust to imagine that political bias of any sort guided their pens.