Inside Dunn’s World: Known and Unknown
A continuing series exploring the people who shaped his world — and those shaped by it.

What was it like to be a Zulu warrior fighting alongside John Dunn?

We do not know his name. We do not know what he thought of the white man in the wideawake hat, the one who hunted elephants and held councils under milkwood and fig trees. But we know he was there.

When Dunn crossed into Zululand in 1879 with 300 armed men, he was not alone. Many of those men were Zulu — warriors from his own homestead, from surrounding kraals, from families who had pledged loyalty through marriage, cattle, or shared cause.

Did they see Dunn as a chief? A comrade? A useful ally? Or something more complicated?

The official reports called them “Dunn’s Scouts.” The Zulu called them abantu bakaDunn — Dunn’s people. They fought, marched, patrolled and bled across battlefields from the Tugela to the Mhlathuze. Some wore feathers. Some carried muskets. Some had buried kin on both sides.

Their voices were never recorded. But they were there — and they deserve to be remembered.

📌 Quick Facts:

📍 Who: The unnamed warriors in Dunn’s service
📅 When: 1879–1883
🔗 Connection to Dunn: His scouts, his fighters, his people, his family

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