Editing Battle of Rorke's Drift (section)

==Aftermath==
As dawn broke, the British could see that the Zulus were gone; all that remained were the dead and severely wounded.<ref name="autogenerated1905">Private Henry Hook's account in ''The Royal Magazine'' 1905. Also Colenso 1880 and Crealocke in Lock and Quantrill 2005.</ref> Patrols were dispatched to scout the battlefield, recover rifles, and look for survivors, many of whom were killed
when found. At roughly 7:00&nbsp;a.m., an [[impi]] of Zulus suddenly appeared, and the British manned their positions again.

No attack materialised, however, as the Zulus had been on the move for six days prior to the battle and had not eaten properly for two. In their ranks were hundreds of wounded, and they were several days' march from any supplies. Soon after their appearance, the Zulus left the way they had come.{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}}

Around 8:00&nbsp;a.m., another force appeared, and the defenders left their breakfast to man their positions again. However, the force turned out to be the vanguard of [[Frederic Thesiger, 2nd Baron Chelmsford|Lord Chelmsford]]'s relief column.

At the end of the fighting, 351 Zulus lay dead on the battlefield. 17 British were killed, and almost every man in the garrison had sustained some kind of wound.<ref name="Army Museum - Rorke's Drift"/>

Breakdown of British and colonial casualties:<ref>Whybra 2004, pp. 62–64</ref>
* 1st/24th Foot: 4 killed or mortally wounded in action; 2 wounded
* 2nd/24th Foot: 9 killed or mortally wounded in action; 9 wounded
* [[Commissariat and Transport Department]]: 1 killed in action; 1 wounded
* [[Natal Mounted Police]]: 1 killed in action; 1 wounded
* 1st/3rd NNC: 1 killed in action
* 2nd/3rd NNC: 1 killed;<ref>Also, as mentioned, one member of Stevenson's 2nd/3rd NNC, Corporal William Anderson, was killed by British fire while fleeing the station just prior to the arrival of the Zulus.</ref> 2 wounded

The number of Zulu casualties is subject to widely varying estimates. It has been estimated that, including wounded Zulus who were killed after capture, at least 500 were killed.<ref name="autogenerated1905"/><ref>Lock and Quantrill 2005, p. 232, "...&nbsp;it is possible that all the Zulu wounded were put to death.".</ref> Having witnessed [[Battle of Isandlwana|their own dead at Isandlwana]], the members of Chelmsford's relief force had killed the captured, wounded Zulus they came across,<ref>Thompson 2006, p. 69</ref> as did the station's defenders. Trooper William James Clarke of the Natal Mounted Police described in his diary that "altogether we buried 375 Zulus and some wounded were thrown into the grave. Seeing the manner in which our wounded had been mutilated after being dragged from the hospital&nbsp;... we were very bitter and did not spare wounded Zulus".<ref>Lock and Quantrill 2005, pp. 231–232</ref> [[John Laband|Laband]], in his book ''The Zulu Response to the British Invasion of 1879'', accepts the estimate of 600 that Shepstone had from the Zulus.<ref>Laband 1992, p. 108.</ref>

Samuel Pitt, who served as a private in B Company during the battle, told ''[[Western Mail (Wales)|The Western Mail]]'' in 1914 that the official enemy death toll was too low: "We reckon we had accounted for 875, but the books will tell you 400 or 500".<ref name="autogenerated232">Lock and Quantrill 2005, p. 232</ref><ref>Smith, David. ''Rorke's Drift'',''[[The Guardian]]'' 21 April 2009, gives "about 400 Zulus" killed.</ref><ref>Carroll, Rory. ''Legendary Battle of Anglo-Zulu War marred by brutal aftermath'', ''[[The Guardian]]'' 29 April 2003</ref> Lieutenant [[Horace Smith-Dorrien]], a member of Chelmsford's staff, wrote that the day after the battle an improvised gallows was used "for hanging Zulus who were supposed to have behaved treacherously."<ref name="autogenerated232"/>