As the situation at Isandlwana deteriorates the first men start to try and reach the Buffalo river down what is now know as the fugitives trail little knowing that they would run into the men of the Zulu Right Horn
1 of those men was a Officer, Horace Smith-Dorrian
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who would famously command II Corps at the Battle of Mons, and the Battle of Le Cateau before being relieved of his command during the 2nd Battle of Ypres.

In his memoirs Smith-Dorrien recalled the steadiness of the 1st/24th:
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“Here was a more serious matter for these brave warriors (Zulus) for the regiment opposed to them were no boy recruits but war-torn matured men, mostly with beards, and fresh from a long campaign in the old colony where they had carried everything before them.
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Possessed of splendid discipline and sure of success they lay on their position making every round tell so that when the Zulu army was some 400 yards off it wavered”
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His escape down the Fugitives Trail was terrifying:
Coming upon a steep slope above Sothondose’s Drift, Smith-Dorrien found a young mounted private of the 24th who was badly injured and bleeding profusely from an assegai wound. Dismounting to help bind the wound,
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Smith-Dorrien with the help of another officer who was himself injured tried to get the private back onto his horse. As they did so, a large body of Zulus attacked them, the two injured men are immediately killed and Smith-Dorrien lost his horse and only escaped
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with his life by jumping from the cliff and plunging into the river below.
As he dragged his battered and bleeding body from the river he came across a young European called James Hamer who seemed to have been stunned by a fall from his horse. Smith-Dorrien,
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again without any regard for his own safety managed to grab a loose horse and helped Hamer into the saddle. Hamer then somewhat ungraciously rides off and leaves Smith-Dorrien to make his own way back
On foot and surrounded by fleeing and panicking men he headed to Helpmekaar
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Pursued by a group of Zulu warriors, only the careful use of his revolver cartridges kept them at bay over the three miles he had to walk to safety. At sundown he finally staggered into Helpmekaar having had to walk every step of the way from the Buffalo river.
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