THE NILE FRONTIER.
At the end of March, 1886, Mohammed-el-Kheir was still at Kermeh, with a
considerable force distributed between that place and Dongola. Although
there was nothing to show that the contemplated invasion of Egypt had
been abandoned, there is reason to believe that the Khalifa's attention
was at this time diverted by events which occurred in Kordofan, where
many of the tribes broke out into open revolt against his authority.
Probably from this cause, and from troubles which arose on the
Abyssinian frontier, no further move in the direction of Egypt had been
attempted since the fight at Ginnis.
Seeing no further prospect of fighting, General Stephenson had quitted
the Anglo-Egyptian force, which, on the 18th January, was concentrated
at Kosheh, and returned to Cairo. It was now determined to fix the
frontier of Egypt once more at Wady Halfa, and to this point all the
troops and stores were withdrawn by the 15th April, not, however,
without the loss of two steamers which were wrecked in trying to pass
the Cataract. The British troops were sent back to Assouan, and the
defence of Wady Halfa was thenceforth left entirely to the Egyptian
soldiers.
As soon as the news reached Omdurman that the Anglo-Egyptian forces had
retired there was great rejoicing, and fresh impetus was given to the
northward movement. The Khalifa took steps to reinforce the various
Emirs in command, and at the same time sent proclamations by the hands
of emissaries to Egypt. These proclamations called upon the people of
Upper and Lower Egypt "to rise as one man and destroy the Turks and
infidels." They also announced that "the Khalifa of the Mahdi would
shortly take Constantinople, Mecca, and all other parts of the world."
In pursuance of this programme, in the month of June the Dervish forces
again began to advance on the Nile, and on the 15th occupied Akasheh
once more, whilst a party advanced to Ambigol Wells and destroyed the
railway between that point and Akasheh.
In July, the further carrying out of the project of invasion was
suspended in consequence of the Khalifa receiving news that his emir
Mohammed-es-Sherif had sustained a most serious defeat in Darfur.
For this, and other reasons, he was prevented from sending the
reinforcements intended to his followers on the Nile. On 6th July,
the commandant, Colonel Smith, reported from Wady Halfa that
Mohammed-el-Kheir was retiring to Khartoum, and Wad-en-Nejumi was not
coming to Dongola, whilst all the Dervishes were leaving that province
and massing at Khartoum. The Colonel added that "in this direction all
heart appears to have died out of the movement."
In October, however, the situation took another turn, and General
Stephenson, in a despatch to the British Government, reported that the
force of the enemy in the Dongola district and to the north, including
that on the way down from Berber, might be reckoned at from 7,000 to
10,000 fighting men, 1,500 of whom were armed with rifles; 5,000 of the
number were already in Dongola and other places to the north. The force
possessed two or three steamers and a fleet of native boats. The
despatch stated that "a serious advance upon the frontier may be
apprehended and should be guarded against."
On the nth November, Major-General the Hon. R. H. de Montmorency (now
Lord Frankfort), commanding the British troops in Alexandria, was sent
to take command of the troops at Wady Halfa.
On the 29th, the advanced guard of the enemy, under Nur-el-Kanzi, was at
Abkeh, eight miles south of Wady Halfa and was estimated at about 2,000
men. The intention of the Dervishes was not to attack Wady Halfa at
first, but to make a descent on the river at Argin, a few miles to the
north of Halfa, thus cutting the communications, whilst the main body
would besiege that place. To frustrate this design a fortified post was
established at Argin, and also at Deberra, ten miles to the north of
Halfa.
On the 30th, having first repaired the break which had been made in the
railway, Colonel Chermside advanced with the Egyptian Cavalry, Camel
Corps, and a battalion of infantry to the enemy's camp at Gemai, which
he found deserted, and occupied it.
At daybreak on the 1st December, the main body, consisting of two and a
half Egyptian battalions, under General de Montmorency, left Wady Halfa
for Gemai, where it joined Chermside. The latter with his force then
pushed on to the enemy's main position at Sarras, thirty miles south of
Halfa. The Dervishes retreated across the desert before his advance, and
he was only able to come up with a few stragglers. De Montmorency halted
the main body at Gemai and went on with his staff to Sarras, where he
arrived the same evening. His intention had been to break up
Nur-el-Kanzi's force, but finding that the Dervishes refused to make a
stand anywhere, after remaining at Sarras two days, the General returned
with the whole force to Wady Halfa.
At the end of the year a band of Dervishes again gave trouble, occupying
Sarras once more. From this point they threatened Wady Halfa and
devastated the neighbouring country. They then retired, but only to
return in April, 1887.
On the 27th April it was reported that the Emir Nur-el-Kanzi, with the
advance guard of a formidable force, had occupied Sarras and pushed
forward an outpost as far as Gemai.
Colonel Chermside, who commanded at Wady Halfa, at once despatched Major
Rundle with 200 cavalry and two guns of the Camel Battery _en route_ to
Sarras, with orders to march by night and to prevent the natives giving
notice of the advance of the main body.
The 9th Soudanese Battalion, under Captain Borrow, and the 1st Egyptian
Battalion, under Major Lloyd, moved out soon after, and early next
morning concentrated at Abkah.
The cavalry were directed to push on, and at daylight to engage the
enemy and keep him occupied until the arrival of the infantry. These
instructions were ably carried out, and a block-house situated on the
hills overlooking Sarras was seized, as well as the railway station and
a block of buildings adjacent. This operation was performed under fire
from another block-house on the hills to the eastward, held by the
enemy's riflemen.
At 5.15 a.m. a cavalry patrol was pushed along the destroyed railway
line, but before it had advanced a quarter of a mile it came across the
main body of the Dervishes, and retired to the railway station, from
behind which a heavy fire was now directed on the enemy's position.
Messages were at once sent back to Colonel Chermside, who was by this
time advancing with all haste with the remainder of the column.
At 6.30 the two guns of the Camel Battery came up, and, after firing
twenty rounds, breached the second block-house, which was then promptly
stormed and taken. The guns were then turned on the enemy's main
position, which was shelled with satisfactory results.
Chermside, with the infantry, had by this time arrived, and the enemy
having evacuated their camp and retired into a narrow ravine about 200
yards from the river, two companies were detached to turn the left of
their position, the remainder being retained as support near the railway
station.
The cavalry had been previously sent to take part in the turning
movement, and succeeded in doing this simultaneously with the front
attack which was now made, driving in with considerable loss some fifty
Arabs. The enemy's second line, seeing the cavalry in their rear, made
no attempt to join the first line, but made straight for the river and
escaped. In the meantime, as the two detached companies had neared the
enemy's left, the spearmen with wild yells rose from the ravine, and
dashed down the bank on them. The shock was so great that the small
Egyptian force was compelled to fall back on its supports, nevertheless
fighting all the way. They were promptly reinforced, and again advanced.
The enemy contested every inch of the ground, fighting hand to hand, and
falling almost to a man. Many of them were killed in the river, and
others, in attempting to turn the left of the infantry, fell under the
fire of the reserve of the fighting line. Here their leader,
Nur-el-Kanzi, was killed.
At a quarter to 11 a.m. the enemy's whole position, with ten standards
and a considerable quantity of arms and ammunition, was captured. Nearly
their whole fighting force of 200 men was annihilated, whilst the
Egyptian loss was but twenty-one killed and thirty wounded.
The Dervishes from the first were hopelessly outnumbered, and the fight
was principally interesting as being the first action fought by the
modern Egyptian soldier independent of British support.
After the action the whole of the Egyptian troops withdrew to Wady
Halfa, where for a short time they were allowed to enjoy peace and
tranquillity.
This state of things was not destined to last. On the 18th June another
descent was made on Sarras, to which its former inhabitants had
returned. The Dervishes, on this occasion, contented themselves with
plundering the houses, and carrying off the women and any other objects
of value they could lay hands on, after which they again retired south.
At a council of emirs held at Omdurman early in August, it was decided
to resume the advance on Egypt. By the end of the month, a force of
2,000 men, under the Emir Mohammed Ahmed-el-Hashim, left Ferket for
Sarras, which, on the 27th September, was again occupied. On the 19th
October the Dervish force at Sarras, having been joined by
reinforcements from Dongola, amounted to 2,500 men. On the 25th a
message was received from Khor-el-Musa, the outpost fort, four and a
half miles from Wady Halfa, that a body of 1,000 Dervishes was in sight
and marching on Halfa. Colonel Wodehouse, then in command, advanced with
the mounted troops and came in view of the enemy watering their camels
near the Abka Pass. The 9th Soudanese Regiment had meanwhile taken up a
position on the hills three miles south of Khor Musa. The mounted force,
having completed its object, prepared to fall back on the infantry. At
this moment, it was sighted by the enemy's cavalry, which, followed by
their infantry, approached and opened an ill-directed fire. Wodehouse's
camels had difficulty in moving rapidly over the rocky ground, and
delayed the retiring force. Taking advantage of this, the Dervishes
dashed into the midst of the Egyptian mounted troops, and several
hand-to-hand encounters took place. The retirement on the infantry
supports was gradually effected, and the 9th Soudanese then checked and
eventually drove them back with loss. The Egyptian casualties were one
man killed and two wounded.
After this skirmish, the Dervish force retired to Gemai, which it
adopted as a permanent outpost, the main body remaining at Sarras. The
idea of a direct attack by the Mahdists on Wady Halfa seems to have been
for the moment abandoned.
After a time the difficulty of keeping a large body, like that at
Sarras, supplied with food became apparent to their leaders. Small-pox,
too, broke out in their camp, and numbers of deaths occurred daily.
Under these untoward circumstances, and with the continued troubles in
Darfur on his hands, the Khalifa was once more obliged to postpone the
execution of his project of invasion.
On the 4th June, 1888, the last detachment of British troops, viz., one
company of the Welsh Regiment, was withdrawn from Assouan, and the
protection of the frontier was intrusted solely to the Egyptian army.
The skirmish in which Colonel Wodehouse defeated the enemy was followed
by a series of desultory raids, not only in the vicinity of Wady Halfa,
but at many points between that place and Assouan, raids which spread
terror in the hearts of the villagers. The Egyptian troops, by
establishing posts along the Nile and by patrolling the river by
gunboats, did their best to repress and punish these forays. One of the
most serious of these was the midnight capture and recapture of the
Egyptian fort of Khor Musa on the 29th August, 1888. At this date, the
Dervish force was still occupying Sarras, which had become a sort of
central point for the raiders, and from this point the attack on the
fort was directed. The fort itself was a native house on the river bank
converted into a fortification.
In the darkness of the night, some 500 Dervishes arrived close to the
fort, and a small party, detached from the main body, crept quietly up
under the river bank unperceived until close under the walls. The sentry
at the south-western corner, hearing a noise, challenged, and was
immediately shot. The corporal of the guard, hearing the report of a
rifle and a shout outside the walls, at once opened the western gate on
the river, and was shot down. The assailants then streamed through the
gate and killed the whole of the guard. The garrison, suddenly roused,
turned out, and finding the south end of the fort full of the enemy,
fought their way into the northern section. Here, for two hours, they
made a stubborn resistance, firing from every available spot, though
without much effect, the enemy being protected by the intervening walls.
The defence, thus far, had been conducted by a native major, who, on the
first alarm, had telephoned to Wady Halfa for assistance. The news
reached Colonel Wodehouse at 11.30 p.m., and, without delay, he
despatched reinforcements by train, as well as a detachment of cavalry
as a guard. The gunboat _Metemmeh_ also got under way, and at 1.30 a.m.
opened fire on the portion of the fort held by the enemy.
Lieutenant Machell, who arrived with the troops, posted his men in such
a way as to prevent any possibility of the enemy escaping, and with
fifty men crept stealthily round, until they arrived at the western
gate, which had been left open. Here his men, rapidly forming up, fired
a volley straight into the mass of the enemy collected inside. The
latter, completely surprised, attempted to climb the wall, but only to
be met at the point of the bayonet by the men waiting below to receive
them. Machell then dashed in through the gate and, forming his men into
a rough line, repulsed the assailants, who, finding their retreat cut
off, fought with the energy of despair. Soon all within the adjoining
inclosure were either killed or wounded, and the fort was again in the
possession of the Egyptians. The bodies of eighty-five, mostly Baggara
and Jaalin Arabs, were found in and around the fort, and many others
fell in the line of retreat. The Egyptian loss was also severe,
amounting to nineteen killed and thirty-four wounded.[145]
The reverse sustained by the Dervishes, on this occasion, was a serious
discouragement to their leaders, whilst, at the same time, it gave
increased confidence to the riverain population.