Chelmsford ignored this and various peace offers from Cetshwayo in order to strike while the Zulu were still recovering from their defeats and to attempt to regain his reputation before Wolseley could remove him from command of the army.
Chelmsford ignoreret dette og forskellige fred tilbud fra Cetshwayo for at slå mens Zulu stadig genoprettelse fra deres nederlag og at forsøge at genvinde sit ry før Wolseley kunne fjerne ham fra kommandoen over hæren.