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Date	Original Topic
10th August 2001	Gatling guns By Vaughan Birbeck I read recently the defenders of Rorke's Drift had a couple of Gatling guns in their armoury. I know these were used elsewhere in the Zulu War but did the 24th have anything more powerful than their rifles to rely on? All info gratefully received. Vaughan
Date	Replies
10th August 2001	Ian Woodason Not at Rorke's Drift, I am sure that if they were there they would have used them as they used the same ammo as the Martini Henry! - The Gatlings were manned by the Royal Artillery and the Royal Navy - neither of which had a unit at the battle of Rorke's Drift. Wilbur Smith in his Courtenay series has a couple of Gatlings in use at Rorke's Drift during the battle - artistic licence! along with one of his creations winning the VC there - maybe he should be on this site, Peter! Ian Woodason www.keynshamlighthorse.com - dedicated to the pursuit of memorials to those involved in the Anglo Zulu War of 1879.
10th August 2001	Stephen McDonald Agree. Definitely no gatlings at either RD or Isandhlwana. In the second campaign, where Chelmsford pushed thru to Ulundi, gatlings were used. I'm not sure that gatlings used the same ammo as Martini-Henrys' as I thought the casings and bullets were smaller. Could be in err tho.. Stephen, Ottawa CANADA
11th August 2001	John Young The British Army model of Dr Gatling's gun, manufactured by Armstrong's did use the .450 Boxer cartridge as used by the Martini-Henry rifle. However it is feasible that the Gatlings used by the Naval Landing Brigades used a larger calibre of .650. One of the purposes for the larger calibre was to de-mast ships in combat. The Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 was the first time that the British Army had used the Gatling Gun against an enemy - Major J.F. Owen's No.10 Battery, 7th Brigade which was designated as the "Mounted Gatling Field Battery". However Major R.J. Rait of the Royal Artillery, had previously demonstrated the Gatling in a case of psychological warfare against the Asante in 1874. John Young Anglo-Zulu War Research Society
17th February 2004	john this place sux