Obituary The Rev D.J. O'Sullivan

"Taking his life in his hands by crossing a fusillade between two divisons of the English army to stop their firing on each other"

Would this have been the incident involving John Chard, telling his men to duck behind a wall, when they came under fire by the British?

That was the Fort Funk incident i think.

Cheers

Extract form 48 Years service


"From Fort Newdigate I accompanied Wood's Flying Column to the frontier to escort 240 empty wagons to be refilled at Landsman's Drift. It was the 17th June before we got back to Fort Newdigate again, and then with some 600 loaded wagons, having picked up some 400 extra at Landsman's Drift. Meanwhile, some of the force had been moved on, and Fort Marshall, sixteen miles farther on, was being commenced. On arriving at the spot where Fort Newdigate was to be constructed on the 6th June, our camp was laid out as usual in the shape of a great rectangle; the wagons formed the wall, and about 200 yards outside it the new fort was commenced. By sundown the walls had begun to rise. Piquets were posted all round at some distance from the laager. It was a moonlight night and clouds were flitting across the moon, and a shadow from one of these was mistaken for an advancing body of Zulus. The piquet gave the alarm and the men manned the sides of the laager. Unfortunately some of the piquets, in falling back, took refuge in this partially constructed fort. I was asleep in a tent outside the laager. The order was for all tents outside the laager to be lowered when the alarm sounded. My stable companion, Alexander of the 21st R.S. Fusiliers, had some difficulty in awakening me, and before I could get out of the tent firing had commenced from the laager, so, striking the tent as best we could, we rushed into the laager. Undoubtedly the men's nerves were in a bad state, owing, I consider, to the fact that they were young soldiers and that the Staff never missed an opportunity of instilling into their minds the fierceness of the enemy and their love of night attacks. In a few minutes every face of the laager was blazing away and a battery in action at one corner was firing " grape." It was a long time before the firing could be stopped, and then it was found to be a false alarm, but a disastrous one for there were four casualties, three of them in the embryonic Fort, where the walls were not high enough to give cover from fire from the laager. It was found afterwards that there was no enemy within fifteen miles. Our expenditure of ammunition was heavy, 50,000 rounds it was said at the time. This place was more generally known after this as " Fort Funk." We had several more false alarms before we fought the battle of Ulundi, but these I will not describe here."

Cant remember ever reading of a Rev crossing into a fusillade of gunfire to stop the two sides firing at each other .
90th.

Its got me searching as well, wasnt there a blue on blue at Eschowe?

Hi Springy .
I seem to think there was one at Eshowe which was caused when some of the troops mistook a uniform or pair of trousers for the zulu army. I'm not home so cant check my books .
Cheers 90th.  

I cant find any mention of him, if he was on the second invasion there were a number of incidents along the coast including one on the uPoko river, but no mention of the Reverend.

Cheers

Is this the same artical! Can't see it all on phone. Or is it a different chap.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=68&dat=18881101&id=ymIBAAAAIBAJ&sjid=FSoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5646,746166

The only D. J. O'Sullivan I can find in the Medal Roll is a Lieutenant in the 4th Regiment, Natal Native Contingent.

As to him going out with the Guards, I can find no mention of him being on board 'The Clyde'.

There was the 'friendly fire' incident with the IInd Division and Wood's Flying Column during the advance to Ulundi, in which John Chard came under fire.  The 4th N.N.C were present at that incident.

With regard to the capture of King Cetshwayo, there were officers and men of the 4th N.N.C. involved in the encirclement of the umuzi supporting Marter's K.D.G.'s, so if the Lieutenant and the Reverend are one and the same it is feasible he may have witnessed the king's detention.

Impi,

Almost the same article but with minor variations and drawn from another source, which in turn has 'cribbed' it from another publication.

'Jimu

Yes , I'm with Jimu , cant say I've heard of Rev O'sullivan .
Cheers 90th.