New Research = New Subplots

When I continued my research on the Anglo-Zulu War, I learned about the three sons of Shepstone who had joined the armed forces that were gathering to fight the Zulus. And because Theophilus Shepstone is a major player in my storyline, I figured to use this in the story.

You see, for many years, Theophilus Shepstone had played the part of an advocate for the Zulus, since he was the Natal Secretary of Native Affairs. Like John Dunn, he spoke fluent Zulu, and other native African languages, too. The Zulus came to trust him, and looked up to him. But he had always wanted a land of his own to rule. It's one of the reasons he didn't like Dunn, who was given a land of his own to rule in Zululand by the Zulu king.

There was a border dispute between the Zulus and the Boers, which had been going on for a long time. And for a long time, Shepstone sided with the Zulus on that issue. But an opportunity arose for Shepstone to become the ruler of the Transvaal Republic, which was a Boer colony. He grabbed it, and now that he was the president of the Transvaal, he reversed himself and backed the Boers on the border issue, forsaking all the years of support he had given the Zulus.

What a guy. So yeah, since the war is starting, and three of his sons participate, I have an opportunity to make this storyline even more interesting than it already is. Cool.