The Siege of Eshowe

22 January 1879 3 April 1879 Eshowe was a mission station, abandoned some months before, but now selected for an entrenched post, in preference to more open and commanding ground to the north, in consequence of the necessity of utilising the buildings for the storage of supplies. The station consisted of a dwelling house, school, and workshop, with store rooms three buildings of sun dried brick, thatched there was also a small church, made of the same materials, but with a corrugated iron roof and a stream of good water ran close by the station. Here the column encamped, and preparations for clearing the ground and establishing a fortified post for a garrison of 400 men were made. Two companies of Buffs, two companies Native Contingent, and some mounted men, were sent back to reinforce Lieutenant Colonel Ely, 99th Regiment, who, with three companies of his regiment, was on the march to Eshowe with a convoy of sixty wagons. On the 25th, Major Coates was sent down to the T