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Date	Original Topic
24th April 2001	Another Rorkes Drift Witness, and Link By Richard Howes To anybody who may be interested- Found this link to Swedish land surveyor August Hammar (1856-1931)- apparently a witness to the Battle of Rorkes Drift, and friend of Otto Witt. Details at: http://www.abc.se/~m2976/hjelm/hjelmaren/hjelmaren41.html
Date	Replies
26th April 2001	Peter Critchley Richard, That is an interesting story, and one which I haven't yet come across. Is there any other evidence of his being at both Isandhlwana and Rorke's Drift? Peter
3rd April 2004	Michael Hathorn I wrote the article on August Hammar in Hjelmaren Newsletter No 41. August Hammar was my maternal grandfather, and he died in 1931 when I was 9 years old. The description of him arriving at the Swedish Mission at Rorkes Drift to stay with Otto Witte I got from a letter he wrote in Swedish to his parents in Sweden. I suspect that there are subsequent letters (still in Sweden) that I am trying to trace. The story about him watching the battle of Isandlawana from a distance of about 5 miles, and his witnessing the battle of Rorkes Drift from a nearby hill, I got from my mother, aunt and uncle, all children of August. According to a Mr Vermaak who I met a few years ago in Helpmekaar, there would have been no real danger to a white man in civilian clothes near these battles - the Zulus were confining their attention to the British soldiers in their red uniforms. I am persuing the question of further letters of August Hammar which may through more light on the question of his witnessing these battles, and will e-mail any findings to this site.
4th April 2004	Michael Hathorn Further to my e-mail yesterday, there is a detailed account of this in a pair of articles entitled "August Hammar 1856-1931" written by O.G.Reitz (published about 1959 in S Africa. If anyone wants it, I can e-mail the relevant paragraphs to you.