The operations against Mahdism during the eleven years from the end of
the Nile expedition and the withdrawal from the Sudan to the
commencement of the Dongola campaign will be more easily understood if,
instead of narrating them in one chronological sequence, the operations
in each province are considered separately. The mahdi, Mahommed Ahmed,
died at Omdurman on the 22nd of June 1885. He was succeeded by the
principal khalifa, Abdullah el Taaisha, a Baggara Arab, who for the next
thirteen years ruled the Sudan with despotic power. Cruel, vicious,
unscrupulous and strong, the country groaned beneath his oppression. He
removed all possible rivals, concentrated at Omdurman a strong military
force composed of men of his own tribe, and maintained the ascendancy of
that tribe over all others. As the British troops retired to Upper
Egypt, his followers seized the evacuated country, and the khalifa
cherished the idea, already formulated by the mahdi, of the conquest of
Egypt, but for some years he was too much occupied in quelling risings,
massacring the Egyptians in the Sudan, and fighting Abyssinia, to move
seriously in the matter.
_Upper Egypt._--Mahommed el Kheir, dervish amir of Dongola, however,
advanced towards the frontier in the autumn of 1885, and at the end of
November came in touch with the frontier field force, a body of some
3000 men composed in nearly equal parts of British and Egyptian troops.
A month of harassing skirmishes ensued, during which the Egyptian troops
showed their mettle at Mograka, where 200 of them held the fort against
a superior number of dervishes, and in combats at Ambigol, Kosha and
Firket. Sir Frederick Stephenson, commanding the British army of
occupation in Egypt, then concentrated the frontier field force at
Firket, and attacked the main body of the enemy at Ginnis on the 30th of
December 1885, completely defeating it and capturing two guns and twenty
banners. It was here the new Egyptian army received its baptism of fire
and acquitted itself very creditably. Although checked, the dervishes
were not discouraged, and continued to press upon the frontier in
frequent raids, and thus in many bloody skirmishes the fighting
qualities of the Egyptian troops were developed. In April 1886 the
frontier was drawn back to Wadi Halfa, a fortified camp at the northern
end of the desolate defile, Batn-el-Hagar, through which the Nile
tumbles amid black, rocky hills in a succession of rapids, and debouches
on a wide plain. The protection of the frontier was now left in the
hands of the Egyptian army, a British force remaining at Assuan, 200 m.
to the north, as a reserve in case of emergency, and two years later
even this precaution was deemed unnecessary.
In October 1886 Wad en Nejumi, the amir who had defeated Hicks Pasha in
Kordofan three years before, and led the assault at Khartum when General
Gordon was slain in January 1885, replaced Mahommed el Kheir as
"commander of the force for the conquest of Egypt," and brought large
reinforcements to Dongola. An advanced column under Nur-el-Kanzi
occupied Sarras in April 1887, was attacked by the Egyptian force under
Colonel H. Chermside on the 28th of that month, and after a stubborn
resistance was defeated with great loss. Nur-el-Kanzi was killed and ten
standards taken.
Battle of Toski.
The troubles in Darfur and with Abyssinia (q.v.) induced the khalifa to
reduce the garrisons of the north; nevertheless, the dervishes
reoccupied Sarras, continued active in raids and skirmishes, and
destroyed the railway south of Sarras, which during the Nile expedition
of 1884 and 1885 had been carried as far as Akasha. It was not until May
1889 that an invasion of the frontier on a large scale was attempted. At
this time the power and prestige of the khalifa were at their height:
the rebellions in Darfur and Kordofan had been stamped out, the
anti-mahdi was dead, and even the dervish defeat by the Abyssinians had
been converted by the death of King John and the capture of his body
into a success. It was therefore an opportune time to try to sweep the
Turks and the British into the sea. On the 22nd of June Nejumi was at
Sarras with over 6000 fighting men and 8000 followers. On the 2nd of
July Colonel J. Wodehouse headed off a part of this force from the river
at Argin, and, after a sharp action, completely defeated it, killing
900, among whom were many important amirs, and taking 500 prisoners and
12 banners, with very small loss to his own troops. A British brigade
was on its way up stream, but the sirdar, who had already arrived to
take the command in person, decided not to wait for it. The Egyptian
troops, with a squadron of the 20th Hussars, concentrated at Toski, and
thence, on the 3rd of August, General Grenfell, with slight loss, gained
a decisive victory. Wad en Nejumi, most of his amirs, and more than 1200
Arabs were killed; 4000 prisoners and 147 standards were taken, and the
dervish army practically destroyed. No further serious attempts were
made to disturb the frontier, of which the most southerly outpost was at
once advanced to Sarras.
The escape from Omdurman of Father Ohrwalder and of two of the captive
nuns in December 1891, of Father Rossignoli in October 1894, and of
Slatin Bey in February 1895, revealed the condition of the Sudan to the
outside world, threw a vivid light on the rule of the khalifa, and
corroborated information already received of the discontent which
existed among the tribes with the oppression and despotism under which
they lived.
_The Eastern Sudan._--In 1884 Colonel Chermside, governor of the Red Sea
littoral, entered into arrangements with King John of Abyssinia for the
relief of the beleaguered Egyptian garrisons. Gera, Amadib, Senhit and
Gallabat were, in consequence, duly succoured, and their garrisons and
Egyptian populations brought away to the coast by the Abyssinians in
1885. Unfortunately famine compelled the garrison of Kassala to
capitulate on the 30th of July of that year, and Osman Digna hurried
there from Tamai to raise a force with which to meet the Abyssinian
general, Ras Alula, who was preparing for its relief. By the end of
August Osman Digna had occupied Kufit, in the Barea country, with 10,000
men and entrenched himself. On the 23rd of September Ras Alula attacked
him there with an equal number of men and routed him with great
slaughter. Over 3000 dervishes with their principal amirs, except Osman
Digna, lay dead on the field, and many more were killed in the pursuit.
The Abyssinians lost 40 officers and 1500 men killed, besides many more
wounded. Instead of marching on to Kassala, Ras Alula, who at this time
was much offended by the transfer of Massawa by the Egyptians to Italy,
made a triumphant entry into Asmara, and absolutely refused to make any
further efforts to extricate Egyptian garrisons from the grip of the
khalifa. Meanwhile Osman Digna, who had fled from Kufit to Kassala,
wreaked his vengeance upon the unhappy captives at Kassala.
Handub.
Battle of Afafit.
In the neighbourhood of Suakin there were many tribes disaffected to the
khalifa's cause, and in the autumn of 1886 Colonel H. Kitchener, who was
at the time governor of the Red Sea littoral, judiciously arranged a
combination of them to overthrow Osman Digna, with the result that his
stronghold at Tamai was captured on the 7th of October, 200 of his men
killed, and 50 prisoners, 17 guns and a vast store of rifles and
ammunition captured. For about a year there was comparative quiet. Then
at the end of 1887 Osman Digna again advanced towards Suakin, but his
force at Taroi was routed by the "Friendlies," and he fell back on
Handub. Kitchener unsuccessfully endeavoured to capture Osman Digna on
the 17th of January 1888, but in the attack was himself severely
wounded, and was shortly after invalided. Later in the year Osman Digna
collected a large force and besieged Suakin. In December the sirdar
arrived with reinforcements from Cairo, and on the 20th sallied out and
attacked the dervishes in their trenches at Gemaiza, clearing the whole
line and inflicting considerable loss on the enemy, who retired towards
Handub, and the country was again fairly quiet for a time. During 1889
and 1890 Tokar became the centre of dervish authority, while Handub
continued to be occupied for the khalifa. In January 1891 Osman Digna
showed signs of increased activity, and Colonel (afterwards Sir Charles)
Holled Smith, then governor of the Red Sea littoral, attacked Handub
successfully on the 27th and occupied it, then seized Trinkitat and Teb,
and on the 19th of February fought the decisive action of Afafit,
occupied Tokar, and drove Osman Digna back to Temrin with a loss of 700
men, including all his chief amirs. This action proved the final blow to
the dervish power in the neighbourhood of Suakin, for although raiding
continued on a small scale, the tribes were growing tired of the
khalifa's rule and refused to support Osman Digna.
In the spring of 1891 an agreement was made between England and Italy by
which the Italian forces in Eritrea were at liberty, if they were able,
to capture and occupy Kassala, which lay close to the western boundary
of their new colony, on condition that they restored it to Egypt at a
future day when required to do so. Three years passed before they
availed themselves of this agreement. In 1893 the dervishes, 12,000
strong, under Ahmed Ali, invaded Eritrea, and were met on the 29th of
December at Agordat by Colonel Arimondi with 2000 men of a native force.
Ahmed Ali's force was completely routed and himself killed, and in the
following July Colonel Baratieri, with 2500 men, made a fine forced
march from Agordat, surprised and captured Kassala on the 17th of that
month, and continued to hold it for three years and a half.
_The Abyssinian Frontier._--On the Abyssinian frontier Ras Adal was in
command of a considerable force of Abyssinians early in 1886, and in
June of that year he invaded Gallabat and defeated the dervishes on
the plain of Madana; the dervish amir Mahommed Wad Ardal was killed
and his camp captured. In the following year the amir Yunis ed Dekeim
made two successful raids into Abyssinian territory, upon which Ras
Adal collected an enormous army, said to number 200,000 men, for the
invasion of the Sudan. The khalifa sent the amir Hamdan Abu Angar, a
very skilful leader, with an army of over 80,000 men against him. Abu
Angar entered Abyssinia and, in August 1887, attacked Ras Adal in the
plain of Debra Sin and, after a prolonged battle, defeated the
Abyssinians, captured their camp, and marched on Gondar, the ancient
capital of Abyssinia, which he sacked, and then returned into
Gallabat. King John, the negus of Abyssinia, burning to avenge this
defeat, marched, in February 1889, with an enormous army to Gallabat,
where the amir Zeki Tumal commanded the khalifa's forces, some 60,000
strong, and had strongly fortified the town and the camp. On the 9th
of March 1889 the Abyssinians made a terrific onslaught, stormed and
burnt the town, and took thousands of prisoners. A small party of
dervishes still held a zeriba when King John was struck by a stray
bullet. The Abyssinians decided to retire, fighting ceased, and they
moved off with their prisoners and the wounded negus. That night the
king died, and the greater part of the army having gone ahead with the
prisoners, a party of Arabs pursued the rearguard, which consisted of
the king's bodyguard, routed them, and captured the king's body, which
was sent to Omdurman to confirm the report of a brilliant victory sent
by Zeki Tumal to the khalifa. Internal strife prevented the new negus
of Abyssinia from prosecuting the war, which thus, in spite of the
Abyssinian success, resulted in the increased prestige of the khalifa.
From this time, however, the dervishes ceased to trouble the
Abyssinians.
_Darfur and Kordofan._--On the outbreak of the mahdi's rebellion
Slatin Bey was governor of the province, and when Madibbo, the
insurgent sheikh of Rizighat, attacked and occupied Shakka and was
following up his success, Slatin twice severely defeated him, and,
having concentrated his forces at El Fasher, repulsed the enemy again
at Om Shanga. Mahdism, however, spread over Darfur in spite of
Slatin's efforts to stay it. He fought no fewer than twenty-seven
actions in various parts of his province, but his own troops, in
course of time, became infected with the new faith and deserted him.
He was obliged to surrender at Dara in December 1883, and was a
prisoner, first at Obeid and then at Omdurman, until he escaped in
1895. In January 1884 Zogal, the new dervish amir of the province,
attacked El Fasher, where Said Bey Guma and an Egyptian garrison 1000
strong with 10 guns was still holding out, and captured it. He also
reduced the Jebel Marra district, where the loyal hill-people gave him
some trouble.
After the death of the mahdi in 1885, Madibbo revolted against the
khalifa, but was defeated by Karamalla, the dervish amir of the
Bahr-el-Ghazal, and was caught and executed. A war then sprang up
between Karamalla and Sultan Yusef, who had succeeded Zogal as amir of
Darfur. Yusef was joined in 1887 by Sultan Zayid, the black ruler of
Jebel Marra, and Karamalla's trusted general, Ketenbur, was defeated
with great slaughter at El Towaish on the 29th of June 1887. Osman wad
Adam (Ganu), amir of Kordofan, was sent by the khalifa to Karamalla's
assistance. He forced back the Darfurians near Dara on the 26th of
December, routed Zayid in a second battle, entered El Fasher, and, in
1888, became complete master of the situation, the two sultans being
killed. The Darfurian chiefs then allied themselves with Abu Gemaiza,
sheikh of the Masalit Arabs, who had proclaimed himself "Khalifa
Osman," and was known as the anti-mahdi. The revolt assumed large
proportions, and became the more dangerous to Abdullah, the khalifa,
by reason of its religious character, wild rumours spreading over the
country and reaching to Egypt and Suakin of the advent to power of an
opposition mahdi. Abu Gemaiza attacked a portion of Osman Adam's
force, under Abd-el-Kader, at Kebkebia, 30 m. from El Fasher, and
almost annihilated it on the 16th of October 1888; and a week later
another large force of Osman Adam met with the same fate at the same
place. Instead of following up his victories, Abu Gemaiza retired to
Dar Tama to augment his army, to which thousands flocked as the news
of his achievements spread far and wide. He again advanced to El
Fasher in February 1889, but was seized with smallpox. His army,
however, under Fiki Adam, fought a fierce battle close to El Fasher on
the 22nd, which resulted in its defeat and dispersion, and Abu Gemaiza
himself dying the following day, the movement collapsed.
In 1891 Darfur and Kordofan were again disturbed, and Sultan Abbas
succeeded in turning the dervishes out of the Jebel Marra district.
Two years later a saint of Sokoto, Abu Naal Muzil el Muhan, collected
many followers and for a time threatened the khalifa's power, but the
revolt gradually died out.
_The Bahr-el-Ghazal._--The first outbreak in favour of Mahdism in the
Bahr-el-Ghazal took place at Liffi in August 1882, when the Dinka
tribe, under Jango, revolted and was defeated by Lupton Bey with
considerable slaughter at Tel Gauna, and again in 1883 near Liffi. In
September of that year Lupton's captain, Rufai Aga, was massacred with
all his men at Dembo, and Lupton, short of ammunition, was forced to
retire to Dem Suliman, where he was completely cut off from Khartum.
After gallantly fighting for eighteen months he was compelled by the
defection of his troops to surrender on the 21st of April 1884 to
Karamalla, the dervish amir of the province. He died at Omdurman in
1888.
In 1890 the Shilluks in the neighbourhood of Fashoda rose against the
khalifa, and the dervish amir of Gallabat, Zeki Tumal, was engaged for
two years in suppressing the rebellion. He got the upper hand in 1892,
and was recalled to oppose an Italian force said to be advancing from
Massawa; but on reporting that it was impossible to invade Eritrea, as
the khalifa wished him to do, he was summoned to Omdurman and put to
death. The country then relapsed into its original barbarous
condition, and dervish influence was nominal only. In 1892 the Congo
State expedition established posts up to the seventh parallel of north
latitude. In 1893 the dervish amir, Abu Mariam, fought with the Dinka
tribe and was killed and his force destroyed, the fugitives taking
refuge in Shakka. In the following year the Congo expedition
established further posts, and in consequence the khalifa sent 3000
men, under the amir Khatem Musa, from Shakka to reoccupy the
Bahr-el-Ghazal. The Belgians at Liffi retired before him, and he
entered Faroga. Famine and disease broke out in Khatem Musa's camp in
1895, and a retreat was made towards Kordofan.
_Equatoria._--In the Equatorial Province, which extended from the
Albert Nyanza to Lado, Emin Bey, who had a force of 1300 Egyptian
troops and 3000 irregulars, distributed among many stations, held out,
hoping for reinforcements. In March 1885, however, Amadi fell to the
dervishes, and on the 18th of April Karamalla arrived near Lado, the
capital, and sent to inform Emin of the fall of Khartum. Emin and
Captain Casati, an Italian, moved south to Wadelai, giving up the
northern posts, and opened friendly relations with Kabarega, king of
Unyoro. On the 26th of February 1886 Emin received despatches from
Cairo via Zanzibar, from which he learned all that had occurred during
the previous three years, and that "he might take any step he liked,
should he decide to leave the country." He determined to remain where
he was and "hold together, as long as possible, the remnant of the
last ten years." His troops were in a mutinous state, wishing to go
north rather than south, as Emin had ordered them to do, and
unsuccessfully endeavoured to carry him with them by force.
His communications to Europe through Zanzibar led to the relief
expedition under H. M. Stanley, which went to his rescue by way of the
Congo in 1887, and after encountering incredible dangers and
experiencing innumerable sufferings, met with Emin and Casati at
Nsabe, on the Albert Nyanza, on the 29th of April 1888. Stanley went
back in May to pick up his belated rearguard, leaving Mounteney
Jephson and a small escort to accompany Emin round his province. The
southern garrisons decided to go with Emin, but the troops at Labore
mutinied, and a general revolt broke out, headed by Fadl-el-Maula,
governor of Fabbo. On arriving at Dufile in August 1888, Emin and
Jephson were made prisoners by the Egyptian mutineers. In the meantime
the arrival of Stanley at Lake Albert had caused rumours, which
quickly spread to Omdurman, of a great invading white pasha, with the
result that in July the khalifa sent up the river three steamers and
six barges, containing 4000 troops, to oppose this new-comer. In
October Omar-Saleh, the Mahdist commander, took Rejaf and sent
messengers to Dufile to summon Emin to surrender; but on the 15th of
November the mutineers released both Emin and Jephson, who returned to
Lake Albert with some 600 refugees, and joined Stanley in February
1889. The expedition arrived at Zanzibar at the end of the year.
Emin's mutinous troops kept the dervishes at bay between Wadelai and
Rejaf, and eventually severely defeated them, driving them back to
Rejaf. They did not, however, follow up their victory, and under the
leadership of Fadl-el-Maula Bey remained about Wadelai, while the
dervishes strengthened their post at Rejaf. In 1893 Fadl-el-Maula Bey
and many of his men took service with Baert of the Congo State
expedition. The bey was killed fighting the dervishes at Wandi in
January 1894, and the remnant of his men eventually were found by
Captain Thruston from Uganda on the 23rd of March 1894 at Mahagi, on
the Albert Nyanza, whither they had drifted from Wadelai in search of
supplies. They were enlisted by Thruston and brought back under the
British flag to Uganda.
In consequence of the Franco-Congolese Treaty of 1894, Major
Cunningham and Lieutenant Vandeleur were sent from Uganda to Dufile,
where they planted the British flag on the 15th of January 1895.