Anglo-Zulu War of 1879

A cavalry officer's view of the Anglo-Zulu War

There are several comprehensive histories of the Zulu War written during the time it was being fought or completed shortly after the cessation of hostilities. Whilst this book is one of them, several considerations make it exceptional. One of the authors was a serving cavalry officer in the campaign and so in addition to his reports of incidents based on his own personal experience much of his information came from reliable and candid conversations and interviews with fellow officers whilst the campaign was underway. This has resulted in the inclusion in this book of much detail concerning equipment, logistics, fortification measures etc. which has been overlooked by other reporters as potentially uninteresting to civilian readers. These matters were, of course, of every day importance to those who were dealing with them and this valuable information has been included here for military history students and posterity. Reports of actions are also finely drawn as a consequence of a thorough understanding of conditions in the field from a soldier's perspective. The account of the disaster on Hlobane mountain is particularly interesting and well formed. Wyatt Edgell, the 'on the spot' reporter was sending information back to England for the penmanship of Waller Ashe to craft into this book. Wyatt Edgell was an officer in the 17th Lancers and was, in fact, tragically killed at Ulundi. So this Leonaur edition also includes a brief history of the 17th Lancers during the Zulu War and additionally benefits from the inclusion of illustrations and battlefield maps which were not included with any of the original texts.
Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket.