In 1879, a communiqué from Frederic Thesiger, 2nd Baron Chelmsford to the Secretary of State for War in London details the crushing defeat of a British force at the hands of the Zulus at the Battle of Isandlwana. In the aftermath of the battle, the victorious Zulus walk amongst the scattered bodies of dead British soldiers and gather their Martini-Henry. At a mass Zulu marriage ceremony witnessed by missionary Otto Witt and his daughter, Zulu King Cetewayo is also informed of the great victory.