Battle of Rorke's Drift close to defeating the much smaller garrison, but were ultimately repelled. Eleven Victoria Crosses were awarded to the defenders, along with a number of other decorations and honours. Rorke's Drift, known as "kwaJimu" ("Jim's Land") in the Zulu language, was a mission station and the former trading post of James Rorke, an Irish merchant. It was located near a drift, or ford, on the Buffalo (Mzinyathi) River, which at the time formed the border between the British colony of Natal and the Zulu Kingdom. On 9 January 1879, the British No. 3 (Centre) Column, under Lord Chelmsford, arrived and encamped
Michael McConnell and Jack Baker Michael McConnell and Jack Baker Michael McConnell and Jack Baker are pioneering advocates of marriage rights for gay couples. Jack Baker was a name used by Richard John Baker during his activist work in the 1970s to promote full equality for gay men and women. He and Michael McConnell applied in Hennepin County for a license to marry, then appealed the clerk's denial to the Minnesota Supreme Court, which dismissed the claim. "Under the law at the time (since repealed) governing the [U.S.] Supreme Court's jurisdiction over appeals from state-court decisions, "Baker v. Nelson" reached the justices as a mandatory