Fort Tenedos was a large earth-walled fort constructed on the Zulu side of the

Tugela River The Tugela River (; ) is the largest river in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. With a total length of , and a drop of 1370 metres in the lower 480 km, it is one of the most important rivers of the country. The river originates in M ...

in January 1879, opposite Fort Pearson, to support the British at the start of the

Anglo-Zulu War The Anglo-Zulu War was fought in present-day South Africa from January to early July 1879 between forces of the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. Two famous battles of the war were the Zulu victory at Battle of Isandlwana, Isandlwana and th ...

Construction

On 2 December 1878 Captain W. R. C. Wynne embarked in command of the 2nd Field Company of the Royal Engineers for Natal, part of the small number of reinforcements sent to the colony ahead of the

of 1879. The company joined the first column under Colonel Charles Knight Pearson at the mouth of the

on 12 January and the following day crossed the river with them.Vetch 1900, p. 264. In the presence of the Zulu, Wynne with his company of Royal Engineers, assisted by the line, laid out and built Fort Tenedos on the left (Zulu) bank of the Lower Tugela. The earthwork fort, large enough to shelter the entire column and a quantity of stores, was completed between 13 and 17 January. It was named Fort Tenedos after the British warship , anchored off the mouth of the Tugela. Her crew formed part of the Naval Brigade.''Illustrated London News'' 8 March 1879, p. 219.

Defences

The fort's armament consisted of two guns from the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

, two 7-pounder guns with the Naval Brigade, and a

Gatling gun The Gatling gun is a rapid-firing multiple-barrel firearm invented in 1861 by Richard Jordan Gatling of North Carolina. It is an early machine gun and a forerunner of the modern electric motor-driven rotary cannon. The Gatling gun's operatio ...

. Local British units consisted of the 91st Highlanders, Natal Hussars, the Durban Mounted Rifles, Alexandra Mounted Rifles, Stanger Mounted Rifles, and the Victorian Mounted Rifles. There were also some 2,200 Natal Natives formed into two battalions of the 2nd Regiment,

Natal Native Contingent The Natal Native Contingent was a large force of auxiliary soldiers in British South Africa, forming a substantial portion of the defence forces of the British colony of Natal. The Contingent saw action during the 1879 Anglo-Zulu War. The Nat ...

, and a company of Durnford's Natal Native Pioneer Corps. These men were recruited from local African tribes hostile to the Zulus.

References

Sources

* Laband, John (2009).
Historical Dictionary of the Zulu Wars
'. The Scarecrow Press, Inc. . * * ''

The Illustrated London News ''The Illustrated London News'', founded by Herbert Ingram and first published on Saturday 14 May 1842, was the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. The magazine was published weekly for most of its existence, switched to a less freq ...

''. No. 2073.—Vol. LXXIV. 8 March 1879. p. 219. Attribution: *

Construction

Defences

References

Sources

Further reading