During the Anglo-Zulu War the warriors of King Cetshwayo kaMpande defended their kingdom with outstanding bravery.
On 22 January 1879 some 22 000 Zulu warriors encircled 1 774 British and colonial troops at Isandlwana Hill and killed 1 329 of them within two hours of hand-to-hand combat.
Among the dead were 471 Blacks who sided with the British. Most of the dead had been disembowelled. The Zulu lost some 1 000 men.
Realising that the British camp was completely surrounded and that the warriors were killing every soldier in sight, an unknown soldier saddled his horse and fled with others on the Fugitive’s Trail towards the uMzimyati River and the safety of Natal.
The soldier did not escape; the warriors caught up with him and speared him to death.
His skeleton was lying in the hot Zululand sun for six months before a burial party arrived to bury the bleached skeletons of more than 1 300 British and colonial troops.
This soldier’s remains could not be identified and his relatives in England had no grave to visit.
The lonely grave was forgotten and only unidentified until 130 years later in April 2008.
Archaeologists of AMAFA, the custodian of the relics of the Battle of Isandlwana, were busy with excavations at this grave, when they discovered a metal tunic button on the skeleton.
A photograph of the rare metal tunic button was e-mailed to British military medals expert, John Young in London.
Young identified the markings on the tunic button as well as the soldier to whom it belonged to.
Colour Sergeant MC Keane was 24 years old when he was killed.
Keane was the only member of the General Staff Corps on duty at Isandlwana at the time.
He was a staff clerk to Colonel John Crealock, military secretary to Lord Chelmsford, commander of the British invasion of Zululand.
Historian, Arthur Konigkramer, spokesperson of AMFA, said: ‘This is a truly remarkable discovery.’
The Zululand Observer invites the descendants of Colour-Sergeant MC Keane to contact the editor, Dave Savides, with more information.
SOURCE: Steward Maclean
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