THE CAPTURE OF OMDURMAN.
At 2 p.m. on the day of the fight, the Sirdar, having ascertained that
little or no resistance was to be expected in the town, advanced, with
Maxwell's brigade and the 32nd Field Battery of Royal Artillery,
through the suburbs of Omdurman to the great wall forming the Khalifa's
inclosure.
On their way the force was met by a number of sheikhs, bearing a flag of
truce, who informed the Sirdar that the inhabitants desired to
surrender. This was accepted on condition that all the fighting men at
once laid down their arms, and gave themselves up. The inhabitants then
swarmed out in thousands from their houses, and cheered the troops.
Leaving two guns and three battalions to guard the approaches, the 13th
Battalion and four guns of the field battery were pushed down by the
north side of the wall to the river, and, covered by three gunboats,
which had been previously ordered to be ready for this movement, the
troops penetrated the breaches made in the walls by the howitzers of the
37th Battery, stationed on the opposite bank, marched south along the
line of forts, and, turning in at the main gateway, found a straight
road leading to the Khalifa's house and the Mahdi's tomb. The gates of
the Khalifa's house were found to be barred, and the gunboats proceeded
to shell the building from the river. In doing this they narrowly
escaped killing the Sirdar, who had taken up a position close by. The
Hon. Hubert Howard, one of the newspaper correspondents, was struck by a
fragment of one of the last shells fired into Omdurman, and killed on
the spot. The house was shortly after entered, but not without
resistance from some of the Baggaras concealed there, and who had to be
killed.
On the house being taken, a move was made on the mosque containing the
tomb of the Mahdi. Here a couple of Dervishes rushed out and charged
Maxwell's men, killing one, and wounding another. Both the assailants
were bayoneted. The mosque was then entered, and found to be quite
deserted.
The portion of the mosque in which was the wooden sarcophagus containing
the Mahdi's remains was thirty-six feet square, and was surmounted by a
dome some seventy feet in height. The building was much damaged by the
fire from the howitzer battery and gunboats.
To the great disappointment of every one, there were no signs of the
Khalifa, whose capture was the only thing necessary to complete the
Sirdar's triumph. It appears that the Dervish leader had quitted the
town only a short time before the entry of the troops, and after he had
made a vain effort to collect his men for further resistance. So rapid
was his flight that some of the least attractive of his wives, and other
incumbrances, were dropped on the road, and over 100 of the baggage
camels, which had been told off to accompany him, fell into the hands of
the victors.
On the subject of the Khalifa's last days at Omdurman and his subsequent
flight, Mr. Charles Neufeld (a German subject, who after eleven years'
captivity was found and released by the Sirdar), in his lately published
book, "A Prisoner of the Khalifa," writes as follows:--
"The Khalifa had been sitting for eight days in the mosque in
communion with the Prophet and the Mahdi, and it was either on
the Tuesday night or Wednesday morning immediately preceding the
battle that the decision to move out of town was arrived at. On
the Wednesday afternoon a grand parade of all the troops was
held on the new parade ground, and, while it was being held,
alarming news was brought by Abd-el-Baagi's messengers.... That
night the rain came down in torrents, and the following day the
army arose uncomfortable, and maybe a little dispirited, but
Abdullah restored their good spirits by the relation of a
vision. During the night the Prophet and the Mahdi had come to
him and let him see beforehand the result of the battle; the
souls of the faithful killed were all rising to paradise, while
the legions of hell were seen tearing into shreds the spirits of
the infidels.
"But all the time the gunboats were approaching, and soon
shells were screeching through the air over the little
shuddering group of prisoners. At night the soft thud of
thousands of feet told of the host of fugitives entering the
town. It was all very well for the Khalifa to order a salute to
be fired in honour of a victory; other messengers were hurrying
in with grave faces, and desiring to see one of the subordinate
Emirs before facing Abdullah.
"Between ten and eleven at night a riderless horse from the
British or Egyptian cavalry came slowly moving, head down,
towards the Dervish lines. The Khalifa had related how, in one
of his visions, he had seen the Prophet, mounted on his mare,
riding at the head of the avenging angels, destroying the
infidels. The apparition of the riderless horse was too much;
at least one-third of the Khalifa's huge army deserted,
terrified. When Yakoub told him of the desertions, Abdullah
merely raised his head to say, 'The prophecy will be fulfilled,
if only five people stay near me.' His Baggara and Taaishi
stood by him, but they, too, were losing heart, for the
Khalifa, on his knees, with head bowed to the ground, was
groaning, instead of, as customary, repeating the name of the
Deity. However, he pulled round a little as the night
progressed, and invented visions enough to put spirits into the
remaining but slightly despondent troops.
"When the day had gone hopelessly against him, and he had been
persuaded to enter the town, he ordered the drums and ombeyehs
to be sounded, and endeavoured to make a final stand at the
large praying inclosure. But few obeyed the summons, and of
those that came some slunk away, and others jeered at the
disconsolate and discredited prophet. Finally he sent his
secretary to collect his household, but the secretary did not
return. Stopping two fugitives, he sent them to ascertain the
whereabouts of the enemy, and they came upon the Sirdar and his
staff not 1,200 yards away. Abdullah, warned in time, contrived
to slip away, whilst the Sirdar changed his direction and made
the complete circuit of Omdurman."
The gunboats which had been employed in clearing the streets having
returned, the remainder of Maxwell's brigade, which had been left at the
corner of the wall, was now pushed forward, and occupied all the main
positions of the town. Guards were at once mounted over the principal
buildings and the Khalifa's stores, and the Sirdar then proceeded to
visit the prisons and release the European prisoners.
Amongst the captives liberated, besides Neufeld, were Joseph Ragnotti,
Sister Teresa Grigolini, and thirty Greeks. Neufeld was in chains, which
had to be filed off before he was restored to liberty.[175]
In the arsenal were found large stores of ammunition, with thousands of
weapons of all sorts, including some sixty cannon, also Dervish spears,
swords, banners, drums, flint-lock muskets, rifles, camel equipments,
and military odds and ends of various kinds, many of them captured from
Hicks's army nearly fifteen years before.
Whilst Maxwell's brigade was thus occupied, the British brigades and the
remainder of the Sirdar's army had moved up from Khor Shambat, which
they quitted at 4.30 p.m. On arriving at the wall they met with no
opposition, and shortly after sunset marched into the town, amidst
shouts of welcome from the populace. They continued their march, amid
sickening stenches and scenes of misery and desolation, till they
reached the open ground on the west side of the town. Here, as the
various troops came up, they bivouacked for the night.
There was a certain amount of street fighting in the darkness, when
isolated bands of Dervishes from time to time fired upon the Soudanese,
who could not be restrained from retaliating. These struggles were
attended by some loss of life, and no doubt partly account for the 300
or 400 dead bodies found in the town.
Of the services rendered by the gunboats during the day's fighting it
is difficult to speak too highly. During the battle they guarded the
left flank of the army, doing great execution with their guns on the
dense masses of the enemy. As already related, when the Camel Corps were
so hard pressed, one of the vessels was able, by dropping down stream,
to turn back a large body of Dervishes coming round Kerreri Hill. As the
Sirdar's victorious army advanced, the gunboats likewise pushed on, and
went alongside the walls of Khartoum, helping to silence the fire from
the houses near the river. Their services, however, did not end there,
and at 8 p.m. they, together with the Egyptian cavalry and Camel Corps,
started south in pursuit of the Khalifa, the gunboats proceeding up the
White Nile. Unfortunately, they were unable to render much assistance
owing to the state of the river, which, having overflown its banks, was,
though two miles in breadth, only navigable near the middle.
In consequence of the flooded state of the country, which prevented the
troops from communicating with the gunboats conveying the forage and
rations of the troops, the latter were compelled to abandon the pursuit
after following up the flying Khalifa for thirty miles over marshy
ground.
The gunboats continued their course south for ninety miles, but were
obliged to return without being able to come in touch with the Khalifa,
who left the river and fled westward towards Kordofan.
At 4 a.m. on the 3rd September, the Anglo-Egyptian army marched out and
bivouacked at a spot four miles south of Omdurman, whilst parties were
told off to bury the soldiers who had fallen in the battle of the
previous day.
The battlefield presented a sickening sight. The effect of the expanding
bullet had been most deadly. The bodies of the slain lay closely strewn
over acres and acres of ground, which were white with their calico
uniforms. Some of the dead lay composedly with their slippers placed
under their head for a last pillow; some knelt as if cut short in the
middle of prayer; others were found literally torn to pieces by
fragments of shells and by Gatling bullets. Mingled with the bodies were
some seemingly as dead as the rest, but who sprang up when approached,
and with sword or spear rushed at the nearest foe. These had in every
case to be bayoneted or shot.
Incidents like those last referred to occurred not only during the
search of the battlefield, but also at the period when, the Dervish
attacks having been successively repulsed, the advance on Omdurman was
resumed. They were taken advantage of to bring charges of cruelty
against the Sirdar and his men, which on inquiry proved to be grossly
exaggerated in those cases where they were not entirely unfounded.
It was alleged that the Sirdar ordered, or gave it to be understood,
that the Dervish wounded were to be massacred; that the troops wantonly
killed or wounded unarmed Dervishes when no longer in a position to do
injury; that Omdurman was looted for three days after its occupation;
that when the Sirdar's force was advancing on the town fire was opened
by the gunboats on mixed masses of fugitives, including women and
children, in the streets.
To these charges the Sirdar subsequently gave a categorical denial,
which, so far as the allegations related to himself personally, was
wholly needless.
Captain Adolf von Tiedemann, of the Royal Prussian General Staff,
writing on the subject, says:--
"As regards the conduct of Lord Kitchener, I rode on the day of
the battle from beginning to end--_i.e._, from 5.30 a.m. till 9
p.m.--with very short interruptions, in his immediate vicinity,
and heard and saw everything ordered or done by him. It would be
an insult to Lord Kitchener if I attempted to contradict the
insinuations made against him personally; such evident calumnies
would never be given credence to for a moment in the mind of any
intelligent man possessed of common sense. If the Sirdar had
been so bloodthirsty as the writer of the article in
question[176] wishes us to believe, he would have found
opportunities enough at every step during his entry into
Omdurman to gratify his desires, for, after the Khalifa had fled
from the town, crowds of unarmed Dervishes rushed towards him,
and it would have been easy enough for his escort to have cut
them down. Lord Kitchener received them with kindness, and, as
every one on his staff can testify, he did all in his power to
put a stop to the street fighting which broke out here and there
in the town. Putting aside all regard for his personal safety,
he, as I saw several times, rode into narrow streets and
courtyards, with uplifted hand, calling out to the inhabitants
gathered there, 'Amân!' ('Peace!').
"As regards the killing of the wounded on the battlefield, that
was a necessary measure which was as regrettable as it was
indispensable. After the first attack of the Dervishes had been
repulsed, and when the Anglo-Egyptian army was moving off by
brigades to its left towards Omdurman, I myself left the staff
and rode over a great part of the battlefield, but I registered
a mental vow never to do so again. A wounded and apparently
defenceless Dervish lying on the ground is much more dangerous
than his fellow with a whole skin and arms in his hand rushing
against one. One knows perfectly what to expect from the
latter, while the apparent helplessness of the former makes one
forget the necessary caution and also the fact that a bullet
fired by a wounded man makes quite as big a hole as one fired
by an unhurt person. During my ride over the battlefield I
several times saw Dervishes who had been lying on the ground
suddenly rise and fire off their rifles into the ranks of the
troops marching near them or who had already passed by them,
and for these latter it was simply demanded, as a measure of
self-preservation, that they should secure themselves against
such attacks by a chain of scouts pushed to the front. It is
not only the moral right, but the duty, of the soldier to make
use of his arms against an enemy from whom it is to be expected
that he will use his weapons to inflict loss on the troops to
which he (the soldier) belongs, and the behaviour of the
wounded Dervishes was such as to justify this belief. It is
quite possible that here and there some wounded enemies may
have been shot who had no hostile intentions, and who were only
intent on saving their lives, but it is difficult to realize
the peaceable intentions of such. To make out a few such
isolated instances and accusations of useless cruelty against a
whole army appears to me absurd.
"Besides, one heard of a large number of cases in which not
only British, but also black, soldiers received and treated
their wounded enemies with great kindness, although at times
they had but a poor reward for it. I myself saw a man of the
32nd Field Battery giving a wounded Dervish a drink out of his
water-bottle, holding up his head the while with his hand, and
then leaving a piece of bread, which he took out of his own
haversack, on the ground beside him."
It may be admitted that in the heat of the battle some of the enemy were
killed whose lives might have been spared, but this is no unusual
occurrence in the best-disciplined armies, also that a number of wounded
were killed after the fighting was over. But in all or nearly all such
cases it appears that these acts were dictated by necessity, on account
of the Dervish habit of pretending to be dead, only to make a last and
unexpected onslaught on his enemy. Such tactics were common at the
battle of Omdurman, and many of the Sirdar's men fell victims in
consequence. Mr. Bennett himself related how he saw with his own eyes a
"slightly wounded man suddenly rise up and stab no less than seven
Egyptian cavalrymen before he was finally despatched." That the troops
had to adopt somewhat drastic measures in consequence is likely enough,
though what took place was far from being the wanton cruelty and
indiscriminate slaughter which was alleged.
That Omdurman was looted for three days was a charge with even less
foundation, inasmuch as the morning after the battle the troops were
marched out of the town before daylight to a position some miles
distant, and from that time until they went down the river they were not
permitted to enter the place, except on one occasion, to which reference
is made later on. Between the place of bivouac and the town, a line of
sentries was established, and through this none but officers were
allowed to pass.
The charge that the gunboats fired on the fugitives is, if true, only
partially so. The fugitives who fled from the battlefield into Omdurman
were naturally shelled as long as they were within range, otherwise time
would have been afforded them to organize a fresh resistance, in which
case the town could only have been occupied with heavy loss. As regards
the women and children, the Sirdar, the day before he directed the
gunboats to bombard, sent a warning to the Khalifa to withdraw the women
and children. More than one person who visited Omdurman has reported
that, although several bodies of men were seen lying about, in no case
was the body of a woman or child found.
Another accusation was that no attempt was made either on the day of the
fight, or on the following day, to do anything for the wounded
Dervishes, who were left without food, surgical assistance, or water.
With reference to this, the Sirdar states that, considering the
condition of the troops and the means at his disposal, he did everything
in his power to relieve suffering amongst the enemy. It must be
remembered that the total number of Dervishes wounded was estimated at
16,000. To attempt the medical treatment of anything like that number
was manifestly far beyond the capabilities of the field hospitals. Of
these, the large hospital established at Khor Shambat administered first
aid to the wounded, and passed them on to Omdurman; some were also
treated in the smaller field hospitals in the camps; but in Omdurman
itself great difficulty was experienced in attempting to administer aid
to the large number of wounded, scattered as they were amongst the
native houses and huts. To provide for this, an Egyptian doctor, Hassan
Effendi Zeki, who had been a prisoner with the Dervishes, formed a
hospital in a central position in the town where upwards of 400 of the
worst cases were tended, many outpatients coming daily to have their
wounds dressed. According to the "Daily News" correspondent, from 6,000
to 7,000 wounded Dervishes were treated in this hospital, to which,
according to the same authority, the Sirdar, on entering Omdurman,
directed the inhabitants to bring the wounded. It is difficult to see
what more could have been done under the circumstances.
Besides the matters already referred to, the Sirdar was attacked in
regard to a step which was taken by his direction, although in his
absence (on the subsequent Fashoda Expedition), namely, the destruction
of the Mahdi's tomb and the disposal of his remains.
What occurred was that the tomb was destroyed by charges of gun-cotton,
the body was disinterred, cast into one of the steamer's furnaces, and
the ashes thrown into the Nile. The head, it is stated, was retained by
a British officer in the Egyptian service.
As what happened excited a good deal of indignation in Europe, it is
only just to give the Sirdar's explanation. He stated that after the
battle of Omdurman he thought that it was politically advisable,
considering the condition of the country, that the Mahdi's tomb, which
was the centre of pilgrimage and fanatical feeling, should be destroyed;
the tomb was also in a dangerous condition owing to the damage done to
it by shell fire, and might have caused loss of life if left as it was.
He was advised by Mahommedan officers that it would be better to have
the body removed, as otherwise many of the more ignorant people of
Kordofan would consider that the sanctity with which they surrounded the
Mahdi prevented this being done. The Sirdar added that "the skull of the
Mahdi was now buried at Wady Halfa."
When to the above it is added that so high an authority as Lord Cromer
has declared that, under the exceptional circumstances of the case, the
destruction of the tomb and the removal of the body were "political
necessities," there is little more to be said with respect to an act
which, at first sight, every one was disposed to regard with
abhorrence.[177]
On the morning of Sunday, the 4th September, the Sirdar visited
Khartoum, being transported across the Nile in the gunboat _Melik_. At
the same time representatives of every corps belonging to the expedition
passed over in the _Dal_ and _Akasheh_. Khartoum, though in ruins,
presented, as seen from the river, a picturesque and pleasing
appearance, with its gardens and palm trees extending almost to the
water's edge.
Gordon's palace, now a ruined mass of buildings, with the upper story
fallen in, was still conspicuous. The staircase in front, where he met
his death, no longer existed. The adjoining grounds, long since fallen
into neglect, were still full of blossoming shrubs, and orange, citron,
and pomegranate trees.
As the troops disembarked, just thirteen years too late to save the man
who had so long and so heroically defended Khartoum, a crowd of
wondering natives assembled to watch what was about to take place.
No sooner had the troops landed than they were formed up into three
sides of a square, facing the front of the ruined palace. In the centre
were the Sirdar, his staff, and the general officers commanding the
different brigades. At a signal from the Sirdar, the British and
Egyptian flags were simultaneously hoisted on flag-staffs erected on the
palace, and the bands played "God save the Queen" and the Khedivial
Hymn, whilst the gunboat fired a royal salute of twenty-one guns, the
officers and men all standing at attention.
"Three cheers for the Queen" were then given, the men shouting
enthusiastically and waving their helmets in the air. This was followed
by "Three cheers for the Khedive," and again all present heartily
responded.
The various chaplains attached to the British division now came to the
front. The Guards' band struck up the "Dead March" in _Saul_, followed
by a funeral march from the Egyptian band. The chaplains then performed
a short but impressive service, and the Soudanese band concluded the
ceremony by playing Gordon's favourite hymn, "Abide with me."
The service finished, several of those present, guided by Slatin Pasha,
walked through what were once the streets of Khartoum, now only a
collection of rubbish heaps. All the stone and building material had
been removed to construct the houses at Omdurman. The only edifices
spared in any way were the palace, the arsenal, and the Austrian mission
building. Only a few of the inhabitants remained in the place which was
formerly the capital of the Soudan.
A detachment of the 11th Soudanese was left to guard the flags which
remained floating over the palace, and the rest of the troops then
returned to Omdurman.
On the following day, the whole of the Sirdar's army was paraded and
marched, with full military display, through the streets of Omdurman,
as well to give the natives an idea of the strength of the
Anglo-Egyptian force, as to impress on them that the Mahdist rule was a
thing of the past. The place reeked with filth, and the smell was
overpowering. Bodies of men and animals lay decomposing in the streets,
and on every side was squalor and misery.
After this the British troops, with the exception of some companies of
the Northumberland Fusiliers, were shipped off as rapidly as possible to
Cairo. There was no more fighting to be done, and the men were beginning
to feel the after-effects of the past week's marching and fatigue. In
addition to this, enteric fever had begun to set in, and the hospital
tents were crowded. However, by the end of the month, nearly the whole
of the British division had left.