HARMAN
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Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 10:39 pm |
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Very Interesting story.
By Dr. JC van der Walt
My very personal search for the grave of Midshipman Coker began in 1997 whilst doing research in the Killie Campbell Africana Library. The 19-year old soldier was the operator of the Gatling machine gun that fired 200 rounds of bullets per minute. I searched for more information on this interesting soldier. Later it became an obsession to locate his grave in the military cemetery at fort eShowe.
Midshipman Lewis C. Coker of HMS Active joined the British Navy at the age of 12 years aboard the ship Britannia and from the age of 14 had been at sea.
He was regarded as a promising officer and was placed in charge of the Gatling machine gun. On 22 January 1879 he took part in the battle of Nyezane.
During the 72-day siege of eShowe, Coker preferred to sleep outside next to the Gatling gun. He died during the siege. The melancholy graveyard near the site of the ruins of the kwaMondi military fort is a stark reminder of the futility of the Anglo Zulu war of 1879.The graves of 28 officers and men tell a story of young men who died from enteric fever, dysentery, typhoid, bronchitis, pneumonia, sunstroke and stab wounds. One soldier committed suicide by drowning. After a few visits to the graveyard I remained disappointed because I failed to find the grave of gunner Coker. Eventually I came across a book, �The Naval Brigade in South Africa,� by Fleet-Surgeon Henry F. Newbury, a survivor of the siege. He describes Coker as follows:
�He was of a most genial, kindly disposition and gave great promise of being an excellent officer.� He was buried on the following day, and being generally beloved, nearly every officer of the fort followed his remains to the grave. Captain Campbell and myself being the chief mourners.� The cemetery at eShowe was a pattern of neatness and good taste.� Flowers, ferns and small shrubs were planted about in the cemetery, the graves were neatly turfed and the whole was enclosed by a light wooden railings.� The graves received the constant care of the men, especially that of Mr. Coker, who was a favourite among them; they erected a cross at his head, on which was neatly carved by one of them the following inscription:
�In memory of Lewis Cadwallader Coker, Midshipman, Naval Brigade, HMS Active, who died at eShowe March 16, 1879, aged 19 years.� On 3 February 2003 I was in bed and seriously ill with flu. In a delirium I dreamed of the grave of Lewis Coker. When I woke up I got into my car and drove to the lonely graveyard at kwaMondi east of eShowe. Tall grass covered the entire melancholy graveyard. There was total silence. Perspiring profusely I slowly stumbled from grave to grave. I photographed every headstone in the graveyard. Alas, after two hours of searching I could not find the grave of Midshipman Lewis C. Coker.
Feeling dizzy, I sat down on the nearest grave and took a close-up photograph of the very old headstone. The inscription carved in stone had eroded away over 124 years.
Only part of the name �lader� was still visible. After spending an hour sitting on the grave in a dazed state, fear gripped me I, as I could not stand up. My legs were lame.
Was something holding me down? The same afternoon I had the film developed and I went back to bed with the photographs of the graves beside me.
The flu was killing me. I had a bad dream about Midshipman Coker. When I woke up, I had another look at the very last photograph. Then it dawned upon me: the �lader� name on the headstone was �Cadwallader�. The grave that �held me down� was that of Lewis Cadwallader Coker!
My search for the grave of gunner Coker was over.
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