Fort Pearson, Tugela River, Natal, 1879

Photograph, Zulu War, 1879.

One of the three main points of entry into Zululand was at the Lower Tugela Drift near the coast. No 1 Column, consisting of just under 5000 men, with a supply train of 384 ox wagons, nearly 3400 oxen and some 600 civilian drivers, commanded by Colonel C K Pearson, began crossing the Tugela by flat-bottomed, iron pont on 12 January 1879. Since the pont could only transport one company of infantry, a single wagon, of two or three spans of oxen at a time, the process was a slow and laborious one. It was not until 15 January that the last of the troops were across, and the passage of supplies continued for some days afterwards. Fort Pearson was built on the Natal bank of the river to complement Fort Tenedos, which had already been built on the Zulu side.

One of 169 photographs collected by Lieutenant-Colonel H F N Jourdain.