The Defence of Rorke's Drift, 22 January 1879

Engraving by Leopold Flameng after Alphonse de Neuville, published by the Fine Art Society, 15 July 1881.

After their victory at Isandlwana on 22 January 1879 around 4,000 Zulus pressed on to Rorke's Drift, a mission station on the Buffalo River. One Company of the 2nd Battalion 24th Regiment of Foot held them off for twelve hours. This was a welcome boost to British morale after the disaster of Isandlwana, but it had little effect on the campaign as a whole. Unsurprisingly, it was the defence of Rorke's Drift and the subsequent award of eleven Victoria Crosses, rather than the defeat at Isandlwana, that passed into British folklore.