
I managed to survive the battle of Isandlwana unscathed, even though we were thoroughly ousted.  For 3 months we waited, tending to our horses and keeping ourselves busy, waiting for the next order. We had won at Kambula and Gingindlovu but all we had done was maintain our position.  Lord Chelmsford was half-mad after he found out that Sir Wolseley had been going around his orders, and when the higher-ups told him to fall in line under Wolseley?  Oh that was the straw that broke the jack-ass’s back.  We even received peace offerings from Cetshwayo, but he ignored them all.  He wanted control of his army back, and wanted his reputation back from some lowly knight...

After Chelmsford had got his reinforcements he was still in poor sorts, as he had more men than he could equip or feed, or even move...  He had to rearrange everyone around, destroying formations and chains of command.  Wolseley was on his way to Natal and then it became a race...  We claimed Newdigate, Napoleon, and Durnford, and were almost within glassing range of Ulundi when letter from Wolseley came again, which was thoroughly ignored, and a week later he ignored another order from Wolseley.  Cetshwayo sent everything they bloody had as a peace offering, but Chelmsford wouldn’t take it.  He asked for more than they had on purpose to force a battle.  

When the fighting finally started on the Mbilane me and the 17th were in the back, and got to watch most of the fighting happen from relative safety.   We formed a square, with us at the back and the other cavalry holding up the sides.  We had two gatling guns and a few 9- and 7- pound cannons making up the sides.  They charged like madmen but never got close enough for us to see their eyes, and the only ones that were any danger were the few riflemen they had hiding in the grass.  They had us completely encircled, but with spear and wicker shield they held no chance against our machineguns and rifles.  I was very pleased with my sharps.  When the Zulus finally retreated after around 2 or 3 hours we were sent along with the Dragoon Guards, colonial cavalry, and a few native regiments to chase down the stragglers and shoot them in the back.  With ridglines of dead men circling us, I’d have thought Chelmsford had seen his fair share of bloodshed by then, but he wanted more.  It wasn’t enough dead to repair his reputation.

We led the way, and we were taken by surprise...they came out of the bushes like rats and set on us with rifles.  I managed to spear one, but I took a bullet to my shoulder, and hit the ground and all went black.  I woke up scrambling for my pistol with my left arm, my right one dangling limp, every movement making an... utterly indescribable pain fill my body as the shattered pieces of bone knocked against eachother and tore my flesh.  I took cover underneath my dead horse and damn near shot one of the native cavalrymen who attempted to rescue me.  

I had... I had a lot of time to think back at the hospital in Natal... if I had ever decided to go back what good would I have been?  No one would hire a one-armed man over a complete one... when so many intact men are seeking work... and what woman could take a crippled man?  But the Cavalry couldn’t remove me... I made sure that Chelmsford knew he owed me for my arm... The cavalry would keep me as long as I pulled my weight...