Queen Victoria&#x27;s Longest Day Battle of Isandhlwana (1879) - Charles Edwin Fripp The &quot;horns&quot; of the Zulu attack never achieved total envelopment of the British and their encampment, as they charged in behind the withdrawing British troops, separating them from the camp.  Though some escaped in the direction of Rorke&#x27;s Drift to the west, most of those fleeing headed through the hills to the southwest, the shortest route to the Buffalo River.