Death of the Prince Imperial: Was Carey a coward, or did he get a raw deal?

[gloriousbattle]

"Uh... your Highness, there might be a few Zulus out this far ahead of our
lines, don't you think..."

"Uh, yeah, MR. CAREY, there MIGHT be a few Zulus out this far ahead of our
lines and I MIGHT be the deposed Prince Imperial of France and you MIGHT be just another damned shave-tail lieutenant and my mother MIGHT be the exiled French Empress who just MIGHT be best pals with your Queen and I just MIGHT THINK it's a good idea to go cruising for babes in that (obviously deserted) village up there. Capiche?"

"Uh... yes your Higness."

"Okay.  Oui, then.  C'est la guerre!"

And the rest is history.

[gloriousbattle]

Hmm.  Id'a thought this one would generate some chatter.  So far, 59 reads but no replies.  Well, other than me talking to myself.

Anyway, I thought of this when I saw on another board that someone had recently done it as a scenario for a con.  Seems like it could be one of those fun "Colonel Blimp" style Colonial things, where everything happened as the result of the cowardice or unbelievably brave stupidity of the participants.

In any case, Game On!

[THE CID]

Apparantly the Princes trousers were too tight and he could not get his leg over { oo er } his mount when the Zulus attacked. So he was done for before Carey had a chance to rescue him.  THE CID.

[Matthew83]

Hello chaps,

As a commited zulu war addict I couldn't resist.

Here's a link to the uniform the prince was wearing when he was killed, it currently resides in a french museum.

Just scroll down the page a bit for the image.

http://www.rorkesdriftvc.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2192&start=15&sid=d72d1d0a5b2a1a7ccaa092dca50e985d


I'd say too much effort was made to apportion blame at the time, afterall this was victorian England and the death of a prince could not be brushed aside without heads rolling.
For what it's worth, I'd say the prince and Carey were both without blame, rather it is a credit to the zulus that they were time and time again able to evade the scouts of the British army and close with them before any meaningful resistance could be mustered, Isandlwana anyone?
I'm sure I've read somewhere that the prince fell after trying to mount, something about him grabbing at his saddle and it coming loose.

Cheers

Matt

[Gibby]

Did the museum sew up the holes in it?

No one involved was a coward. It sounds to me like the prince was doomed before anyone could effectively get in a position to help.

[Matthew83]

Gibby, if you look at the blue undershirt, there are clear assegai entry points on the left shoulder and mid torso.

I'm sure he was immobilised by a thrown spear to the leg and he was found wearing only a sock, so it makes sense that he was probably partially stripped before being despatched.
It was afterall the zulu custom to remove the clothes of a defeated enemy for purification ceremonies.
The uniform was found in a nearby kraal soon after.

Cheers

Matt

[Gibby]

Beg your pardon, I didn't scroll down far enough originally. You're right, you can clearly see the damage from the Assegai. Such things often make me shiver! I'd love to go visit this museum some time.

[joroas]

Wasn't taht one of Donald Featherstone's wonderful books, along with "All for a shilling a Day"?

[gringo]

the little i know on the subject says the Prince died nobly and was praised by

the Zulus who dispatched  him..........how true is this? i guess its a jigsaw puzzle...

[gamer Mac]

I believe that I got this guy killed at last years BLAM in the game produced by Malamute and Captain Blood.

Link to some of the photos from the game in this thread.
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=23177.0

[Marine0846]

My take is that Capt. Carey got alot of bad press.
I would think it would be hard to tell a Prince that he could not do this or do that.
After the Prince was killed, they had to blame someone.
After all Carey was " in charge."

[FramFramson]

My understanding is that the prince and Carey were sent to scout in what was supposed to be a more-or-less safer area (credit to the Zulus for getting in there undetected). The prince was always supposed to be under guard with a larger force than just Carey, but had forced the party to leave early that day. The ambush occurred after they stopped in a low Kraal to sketch terrain. They had also set a small grass fire and had not posted a guard. So they signaled their location, didn't keep watch, and were situated in a location with poor visibility. Whoops!

As for the Prince not making his saddle, the version I read was that his horse bolted at the sudden ambush of Zulus and that the prince could only grab a holster. He dragged along for a bit, but fell and was partially trampled by his horse before being overtaken by the Zulus.

The primary charge of cowardice against Carey was laid not so much because he didn't fight but because he and the couple of other scouts (three? four?) actually paused to meet and wheeled round on their mounts to look on the scene without so much as firing a shot at the Zulus. It wasn't that Carey didn't fight, or even that he ran, but that he didn't even make token resistance. That may have been the smart thing to do (I guess you'd have to have been there to know for certain), but to Victorian authorities it looked terrible.

[H.M.Stanley]

I've only read about it in Brave Men's Blood.

It looked to me that the Authorities needed a scapegoat ...

The chap died bravely by all accounts; all wounds to the front

[Dr Mathias]

Are we certain that Flashman was not involved somehow? One of the scouts perhaps? I would blame him.

In all seriousness, I find it interesting that the scouting party didn't take a swipe at the Zulu band that ambushed them.

[Captain Blood]

I believe that I got this guy killed at last years BLAM in the game produced by Malamute and Captain Blood.

Link to some of the photos from the game in this thread.
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=23177.0

Aye. Been there. Done that. Got the donga.

Played the scenario several times. It makes for a very enjoyable, nay thrilling game