HISTORICAL DICTIONARIES OF WAR, REVOLUTION, AND CIVIL UNREST Jon Woronoff, Series Editor 1. Afghan Wars, Revolutions, and Insurgencies, by Ludwig W. Ada- mec. 1996. Out of print. See No. 30. 2. The United States–Mexican War, by Edward H. Moseley and Paul C. Clark Jr. 1997. 3. World War I, by Ian V. Hogg. 1998. 4. The United States Navy, by James M. Morris and Patricia M. Kearns. 1998. 5. The United States Marine Corps, by Harry A. Gailey. 1998. 6. The Wars of the French Revolution, by Steven T. Ross. 1998. 7. The American Revolution, by Terry M. Mays. 1999. 8. The Spanish-American War, by Brad K. Berner. 1998. 9. The Persian Gulf War, by Clayton R. Newell. 1998. 10. The Holocaust, by Jack R. Fischel. 1999. 11. The United States Air Force and Its Antecedents, by Michael Rob- ert Terry. 1999. 12. Civil Wars in Africa, by Guy Arnold. 1999. Out of print. See No. 34. 13. World War II: The War Against Japan, by Anne Sharp Wells. 1999. 14. British and Irish Civil Wars, by Martyn Bennett. 2000. 15. The Cold War, by Joseph Smith and Simon Davis. 2000. 16. Ancient Greek Warfare, by Iain Spence. 2002. 17. The Vietnam War, by Edwin E. Moïse. 2001. 18. The Civil War, by Terry L. Jones. 2002. 19. The Crimean War, by Guy Arnold. 2002. 20. The United States Army: A Historical Dictionary, by Clayton R. Newell. 2002. 21. Terrorism, Second Edition, by Sean K. Anderson and Stephen Sloan. 2002. 22. The Chinese Civil War, by Edwin Pak-wah Leung. 2002. 23. The Korean War: A Historical Dictionary, by Paul M. Edwards. 2002. 24. The “Dirty Wars,” by David Kohut, Olga Vilella, and Beatrice Julian. 2003. 25. The Crusades, by Corliss K. Slack. 2003. 26. Ancient Egyptian Warfare, by Robert G. Morkot. 2003. 27. The French Revolution, by Paul R. Hanson. 2004. 28. Arms Control and Disarmament, by Jeffrey A. Larsen and James M. Smith. 2005. 29. The Russo-Japanese War, by Rotem Kowner. 2005. 30. Afghan Wars, Revolutions, and Insurgencies, Second Edition, by Ludwig W. Adamec. 2005. 31. The War of 1812, by Robert Malcomson. 2006. 32. The Arab-Israeli Conflict, by P. R. Kumaraswamy. 2006. 33. Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Warfare, by Benjamin C. Gar- rett and John Hart. 2007. 34. Civil Wars in Africa, Second Edition, by Guy Arnold. 2008. 35. The Northern Ireland Conflict, by Gordon Gillespie. 2008. 36. The Anglo-Boer War, by Fransjohan Pretorius. 2009. 37. The Zulu Wars, by John Laband. 2009. Historical Dictionary of the Zulu Wars John Laband Historical Dictionaries of War, Revolution, and Civil Unrest, No. 37 The Scarecrow Press, Inc. Lanham, Maryland • Toronto • Oxford 2009 SCARECROW PRESS, INC. Published in the United States of America by Scarecrow Press, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 www.scarecrowpress.com Estover Road Plymouth PL6 7PY United Kingdom Copyright © 2009 by John Laband All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Laband, John, 1947– Historical dictionary of the Zulu wars / John Laband. p. cm. — (Historical dictionaries of war, revolution, and civil unrest ; no. 37) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-0-8108-6078-0 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-8108-6300-2 (ebook) 1. Zululand (South Africa)—History, Military—19th century—Dictionaries. 2. Zulu (African people)—Wars—Dictionaries. 3. South Africa—History, Military—19th century—Dictionaries. I. Title. DT2400.Z85L317 2009 968.04’403—dc22 2008049635 ϱ ™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Manufactured in the United States of America. Contents Editor’s Foreword Jon Woronoff vii Acknowledgments ix Reader’s Notes xi Acronyms and Abbreviations xv Maps xvii Chronology xxiii Introduction xli THE DICTIONARY 1 Glossary 327 Bibliography 331 About the Author 381 v Editor’s Foreword If you like your wars nice and neat, one side against the other, or just the “good guys” beating the “bad guys,” this is not the book for you. In its simplest form, the Zulu Wars can be regarded as a three-way struggle between the Zulus, the Boers, and the British, in various combinations and at various times from 1838 to 1888. But the Zulus were also divided among themselves and lapsed into several civil wars during this period. The Boers were also not very well unified, not being one single political entity. The British, of course, were a single force and had the advantage in soldiers, weapons, wealth, and backing. So of course the Boers beat the Zulus, then the British beat the Boers and the Zulus. But eventually the Boers overcame the British and created a state dominated by the Afrikaners, which in the fullness of time was decolonized and run by the Zulus and others in the modern state of South Africa. Given the rather confusing and changing situation, a historical diction- ary such as this is extremely valuable. It provides the background—first in an extensive chronology and next in a comprehensive stand-alone in- troduction—that places the historical events in context. The dictionary then examines the various people, places, and events; skirmishes and battles; military units and formations; and equipment and logistics. The bibliography is particularly important because it collects most relevant literature written by eyewitnesses and distant observers in English, as well as Afrikaans and sometimes Zulu. The author is not related directly to any of the three participants, which is a definite advantage. John Laband studied at the University of Cambridge in England and the University of Natal in South Africa, and he is currently a professor of history at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. He is also an associate of the Laurier Cen- tre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies, and he has written vii viii • EDITOR’S FOREWORD about the Zulu Wars extensively, including several books and numer- ous articles. He has also shown increasing interest in the Zulu people themselves, having coedited Zulu Identities: Being Zulu, Past and Present. This Historical Dictionary of the Zulu Wars thus benefits from Professor Laband’s considerable knowledge and experience as well as his desire to bring greater fairness and balance to an area in which this is sometimes lacking. Jon Woronoff Series Editor Acknowledgments A historical dictionary covering 50 years of conflict in 19th-century Zu- luland and its neighboring states must owe an enormous debt to scholars who have researched not only the Zulu kingdom but also colonial Natal and the Cape, the Boer republics, the Ndebele, Tsonga, Swazi, Pedi, So- tho, Griqua, and Mpondo polities, and the British military and empire. Two fellow historians with whom I have collaborated in the past, Ian Knight and Paul Thompson, were as generous as ever with their advice and assistance, and in compiling this dictionary I have been especially dependent on their expert publications. I received valuable assistance from my doctoral student Heiko Stang in compiling the bibliography, and from Brian Scribner and Owen Cooke in researching Boer and Brit- ish biographical entries. Brian Henderson, director of the Wilfrid Lau- rier University Press, and Eveline Escoto, administrative assistant to the History department at Wilfrid Laurier University, kindly assisted me in preparing the maps and illustrations for publication. Jon Woronoff, se- ries editor, exercised great forbearance during the book’s long gestation and lent a steadying hand. I must also thank Wilfrid Laurier University for granting me a course release and sabbatical leave, which were es- sential for completing this book. My colleagues in the Department of History and the Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies were unfailingly supportive. Fenella, as always, sustained me while I wrestled with yet another manuscript. ix Reader’s Notes There is no settled terminology for either the various conflicts in Zulu- land between 1838 and 1888 or the progressive dismemberments of the Zulu kingdom. In the interests of consistency, concision, and clarity, variant terms have been eliminated from the text. This has meant decid- ing which particular form should be adopted throughout when variants exist, and establishing new terms where none is commonly in use. Thus the British invasion of 1879 is called the Anglo-Zulu War, and the Zulu uprising of 1888 the uSuthu Rebellion. The Boer invasion of 1838 is termed the Voortrekker-Zulu War to parallel the war of 1879. Civil war wracked Zululand in 1840, 1856, and 1883–1884. The issues behind these wars diverged, but for convenience they are termed the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Zulu Civil Wars. Zululand was partitioned in 1879, 1882, and 1884 in very different circumstances on each occasion, but as with the civil wars, it is expedient to refer to them as the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Parti- tions of Zululand. In accordance with modern orthographic practice, Zulu words are alphabetized by the root word and not the prefix, thus iKlwa, and not Iklwa (stabbing spear). Entries in the dictionary that include a number, such as that of a regiment, battalion, or battery, are alphabetized under the name of the military formation, for example “Natal Native Contin- gent, 1st Battalion” or “Royal Artillery, H Battery, 4th Brigade.” The same goes for field formations, such as “Column, No. 1” or “South African Field Force, 1st Division.” Events such as numbered invasions, wars, or partitions are alphabetized under the name of the event, such as “Anglo-Zulu War, 1st Invasion” or “Zulu Civil War, 1st.” Zulu terms and their plurals regularly employed in the dictionary are listed in the glossary with an English translation.