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Date	Original Topic
14th April 2005	Picture from the cover of Blood on the painted mountain By Phil Peplow HI, I am trying to track down the original picture of Buller winning his VC at Hlobane which Ron Lock used on the dust jacket of his excellent book. (My young son kindly ripped it off and lost it). I would like to find the source of the engraving if possible regards Phil
Date	Replies
14th April 2005	Coll Phil There is a contemporary painting by Victorian artist, Richard Caton-Woodville of Buller rescuing Captain Cecil D'Arcy of the Frontier Light Horse, a study of which is in the book that I'm looking at 'Zulu War : Then and Now' by Ian Knight and Ian Castle, but I don't know if that is the image you are seeking. The details of the painting I also obtained from this title. Coll
14th April 2005	Martin Everett Phil, It was published in the Ilustrated London News and the image on the book cover was supplied by John Young.
14th April 2005	Martin Everett Phil, Having walked the ground and been down the Devil's Pass - illustration suggests that the artist was not supplied with a good sketch.
14th April 2005	John Young Phil, As Martin has indicated the image did come from my collection, it appeared in the 1900 I.L.N. at the time of Buller's recall from the 2nd Anglo-Boer War. I could get you the exact date but it would mean removing it from its frame. John Y.
14th April 2005	Martin Everett Phil, On the same subject there is a more famous illutration of this event by Stanley L Wood - this was used in one of James Bancroft's book - I think on 'Zulu War VCs' - when this image was captioned as being Edward Browne winning the VC - wrong day and wrong battle
14th April 2005	John Young Martin, That despite the illustration, also my collection, going to James Bancroft, with a note clearly stating it was Redvers Buller. John Y.
14th April 2005	Phil Peplow Coll, Martin, John, Thanks very much for the information which narrows the search considerably. If I struggle to find the exact date John I might be cheeky and ask you to have a look inside the frame if you dont mind best regards Phil
14th April 2005	L.J.Knight "did you think i would leave you dying,when theres room on my horse for two !." Redvers Buller, what a man !.can you imagine the yob's today if there was a few more like him around, regards to all..L.J.Knight
14th April 2005	Phil Peplow L.J. I couldnt agree more. I dragged my family down to Devon for a two week holiday so I could go around Buller's house at Crediton which happened to be open for a few days regards Phil
17th April 2005	Ron Lock Its pleasing to see that "Blood on the Painted Mountain", written ten years ago, still arouses interest. Phil: I hope you manage to get a copy of the ILN pic. of Buller winning his V.C. As a sequel to "Zulu Victory" Peter Quantrill and I have recently finished "Zulu Vanquished: The Destruction of the Zulu Kingdom" (to be published by Greenhill in September) which, in fact, deals again with the battles of Hlobane and Kambula but with much new evidence. And to sort out some questions and theories, about a month ago, early one morning, a sort of brains trust assembled on top of Hlobane Mountain: David Rattray, Rob Caskie, Shaun Friend, Jack Crutchley, Peter Q. , myself and, last but not least, David's friend and headman of many years standing, "Satchmo" Armed with all the contemporary evidence we could muster between us, we tramped the mountain and the nek. It was a magnificent day and the vista was stunning. We drew a number of conclusions and in one of those moments when one stands in awe, knowing that you have touched the hand of history, we came upon a low stone parapet, no more than knee high, and there amongst the rocks we found three cartridge cases in an advanced state of decomposition. It was spell binding to think that the last time they were held was by a trooper of the Frontier Light Horse as, facing the enveloping abaQulusi warriors, he desperately loaded his carbine. The cartridges were left where they were found but as David read from Mossop's "Running the Gauntlet", at the very spot which Mossop described so well, it would not have taken much imagination for us to hear on the wind, an anxious whinney from "Warrior", eager to carry his master away. Ron Lock.
17th April 2005	Ron Lock Its pleasing to see that "Blood on the Painted Mountain", written ten years ago, still arouses interest. Phil: I hope you manage to get a copy of the ILN pic. of Buller winning his V.C. As a sequel to "Zulu Victory" Peter Quantrill and I have recently finished "Zulu Vanquished: The Destruction of the Zulu Kingdom" (to be published by Greenhill in September) which, in fact, deals again with the battles of Hlobane and Kambula but with much new evidence. And to sort out some questions and theories, about a month ago, early one morning, a sort of brains trust assembled on top of Hlobane Mountain: David Rattray, Rob Caskie, Shaun Friend, Jack Crutchley, Peter Q. , myself and, last but not least, David's friend and headman of many years standing, "Satchmo" Armed with all the contemporary evidence we could muster between us, we tramped the mountain and the nek. It was a magnificent day and the vista was stunning. We drew a number of conclusions and in one of those moments when one stands in awe, knowing that you have touched the hand of history, we came upon a low stone parapet, no more than knee high, and there amongst the rocks we found three cartridge cases in an advanced state of decomposition. It was spell binding to think that the last time they were held was by a trooper of the Frontier Light Horse as, facing the enveloping abaQulusi warriors, he desperately loaded his carbine. The cartridges were left where they were found but as David read from Mossop's "Running the Gauntlet", at the very spot which Mossop described so well, it would not have taken much imagination for us to hear on the wind, an anxious whinney from "Warrior", eager to carry his master away. Ron Lock.
17th April 2005	Melvin Hunt Ron Thanks for that. Good to hear of the new book. Have you carried out your planned expedition covering Dennisons escape route yet? Cheers Mel
19th April 2005	Ron Lock Melvin, Yes, that's what the brains trust was all about.
19th April 2005	Melvin Hunt Ron Any chance of you doing an article on it for the "Your Stories" Link?. I'm sure we would all welcome it as a precursor to the new book.
20th April 2005	Phil Peplow Ron, I have been lucky enough to walk Hlobane a few times, most recently with the late Fred Duke. I forgot to ask him if he knew of any British graves around the site. I have never heard of there being any. Am I correct in assuming there are non? regards PhilI
21st April 2005	Peter Ewart Phil Do you mean apart from Campbell & Lloyd? They're still there (just!) and when I visited them five years ago they'd just been interfered with - again - as part of the continuing trend; whether for muti or buttons or both, who knows? I believe explosives had been used this time. If my sense of direction is right they'd be on the SE slopes, I suppose. What happened to the half or dozen or so of Weatherley's men described by Dennison as lost at the same spot, I wonder? Peter
21st April 2005	Melvin Hunt Phil, Peter, Apart from the Campbell and Lloyd grave I don't think that there are any more identifiable gravesites on Hlobane although Ron describes, in his book (Blood on the Painted Mountain) how he found mounds near Campbell and Lloyd's graves that could have been the graves of Weatherleys men.
24th April 2005	Ron Lock Apart from Campbell and Lloyd's common grave, which would now be almost impossible to find were it not for the remnants of the stone wall that surrounds it, there are no other marked graves on Hlobane. The unmarked ones, close to the above, are plain to see when the grass has been burnt. Because of the graves proximity to C & L, I believe that they are those of Weatherleys men, shot during Wood's senseless burial service for C & L. AMAFA have indicated that there would be no objection to an examination of the graves provided such was supervised by an archaeologist - so, if there is an arachaeologist out there planning a holiday in S.A., how about it? I have a casualty list, KIA, of 103 men of the Frontier Light Horse, Transvaal Rangers and Bakers Horse etc. whose remains were either given a superficial burial on Hlobane or were just left for the elements and animals to dispose of. There are at least two reports of burial parties visiting Hlobane in 1879. Captain W. E. Montague, a master story teller in my opinion, describes the scene in his book "Campaigning in South Africa": "Filing along we came upon a skeleton in the long grass, a few fragments of hair alone remaining ..." (That was in August, five months after the battle). "On the crest of the narrow nek" (Devils Pass?) "we found numerous skeletons, many a good deal broken up, probably by the monkeys" (baboons) "... and at the base of the mountain they lay thicklky enough in a broad line ... extending for three miles from the actual mountain ... Weatherley was recognised by his long fair moustache ... and the skeleton of a boy, his son, not many yards from him. We gave them what burial we could ..." If I remember rightly, the May report, three months earlier, also said that the corpses had been buried. When Wood returned to Hlobane a year or so later with Campbell's widow, to erect a cross on the joint grave, no mention was made by Wood, or any other person in his party of other graves. But Captain Robert Barton's body, unburied, was found by men of Wood's escort, having been led to it by the Zulu warrior who had actually killed Barton. I am left with the mpression that little effort was made to intern the dead on Hlobane and even less effort to mark their graves - if indeed there were any. Although monuments to brave men abound in Natal, many in respect of obscure actions in almost inaccessable places, there are no memorials to commemorate those, black or white, who fell at Hlobane or Kambula. I hope that this inexplicable ommission will be rectified in the near future. Melvin: Your earlier reference to Dennison. During a recent visit to Hlobane (one of three made during the last nine months) we found, by following native trails, four routes by which desperate men on horse could have descended the mountain. Four such routes make sense as Dennison mentions twenty seven men as, at that point, having successfully made the plain below. However, in the pursuit that followed, many were overtaken and killed.