(Ebook) Lost Souls: The Forgotten Heroes of Eshowe by James Mace ISBN B07BWJTTG9

(Ebook) Lost Souls: The Forgotten Heroes of Eshowe by James Mace ISBN B07BWJTTG9

In January of 1879, three columns of British soldiers, under the command of Lord Chelmsford, and without the knowledge or consent of Her Majesty’s government, commence the invasion of the Zulu Kingdom. The southernmost No. 1 Column, led by Colonel Charles Pearson, advances towards the old mission station at Eshowe, thirty-five miles into Zulu territory. Their intent is to establish a supply depot from which to support the centre No. 3 Column’s advance on the Zulu royal kraal at Ulundi. As the vast force of British soldiers and their African allies slogs its way across the coastal hills, incessant rains, coupled with the ever-present threat of fever and other disease, promise to be as fearful a nemesis as the lurking armies of Zulu warriors. On the 22nd of January, calamity strikes a hundred miles to the north, when nearly half of No. 3 Column is destroyed during a catastrophic battle along the mountain of Isandlwana. Over the coming weeks, Zulus surround the fort at Eshowe, cutting the column off from all communications and resupply efforts. With retreat now impossible and too few soldiers to continue prosecuting the war on their own, Pearson and his men prepare for a siege. As the British Empire finds itself committed to war, albeit reluctantly, reinforcements are dispatched from England. Over the next two months, Lord Chelmsford rallies his forces into a flying column to relieve the besieged garrison at Eshowe. Food and supplies dwindle at the fort, while numerous regiments of Zulu warriors converge on the old mission. Chelmsford knows he must act quickly, lest Colonel Pearson and another thousand British soldiers suffer the same fate as the poor souls whose bodies litter the slopes of Isandlwana.**