STORIES OF THE BATTLE--OMDURMAN.
There are numberless incidents and details remaining untold of the
great battle and the fall of Omdurman. So singular and interesting an
action is almost without parallel. "That villainous gunpowder" of
former days was so sparingly used in the fight by the Sirdar's army
that every part of the battle-field could be plainly seen. In the
first stage the heaviest firing was by the British; the Lee-Metfords
with cordite made little or no smoke. Maxwell's men of the Khedivial
army, with their Martini-Henrys, never fired so fast as to cause any
thick white cloud to shut out the view and hang between them and the
enemy. Lewis's and Macdonald's brigades were never very heavily
engaged whilst the troops remained zerebaed. Perhaps it was the light
south wind which blew the men's rifle smoke behind us at once, but
that was not what I thought. There seemed to be none to blow away. I
recall that in the thick of the battle of Tamai with Davis's square,
and at Abu Klea, the smoke cloud that hung like a curtain before our
eyes was a source of danger. Save for the erratic, occasional whizzing
of the enemy's bullets, the thud of a hit and the dropping, weltering
in his blood, of a man here and there, watched from our firing lines
the combat enlisted and fascinated the attention with barely a
suggestion of danger to the onlooker. Few will ever see again so great
and brave a show. A vast army, with a front of three miles, covering
an undulating plain--warriors mounted and afoot, clad in quaint and
picturesque drapery, with gorgeous barbaric display of banners,
burnished metal, and sheen of steel--came sweeping upon us with the
speed of cavalry. Half-a-dozen batteries smote them, a score of Maxims
and 10,000 rifles unceasingly buffeted them, making great gaps and
rending their ranks in all directions. With magnificent courage,
without pause, the survivors invariably drew together, furiously,
frenziedly running to cross steel with us. Their ardour and mad
devotion won admiration on all sides in our own ranks. Poor, misguided
Jehadieh and hocussed Arabs of the spacious and cruel Soudan! With
such troops disciplined and trained by English officers the policing
of Africa would be an easy affair. Try and try as they did, they could
not moving openly pass through our blasts of fire. Some few there were
who got by subtler means to within 600 yards of the British front and
200 yards from Maxwell's blacks, there to yield their lives.
Among the earliest, if not the first man, wounded in the zereba on 2nd
September was Corporal Mackenzie, of "C" Company Seaforth Highlanders.
About 6.10 a.m. he was hit in the leg by a ricochet. The wound was
dressed, and Mackenzie stuck to his post. At 6.30 a.m., when the
action was almost in full swing, as Private Davis and Corporal Taylor,
R.A.M.C., were carrying a wounded soldier upon a stretcher to the
dressing hospital, Davis was shot through the head and killed, and
Taylor was severely wounded in the shoulder.
Whilst our batteries were hurling death and destruction from the
zereba at the Khalifa's army, Major Elmslie's battery of 50-pounder
howitzers was battering the Mahdi's tomb to pieces and breaching the
great stone wall in Omdurman. The practice with the terrible Lyddite
shells was better than before, and the dervishes, even more clearly
than we, must have seen from the volcanic upheavals when the missiles
struck, that their capital was being wrecked. It must have been
something of a disillusion to many of them to note that the sacred
tomb of their Mahdi was suffering most of all from the infidels' fire.
Several of the gunboats assisted in the bombardment, but their chief
duty was to drive all bodies of the enemy away from the river. Major
Elmslie threw altogether some 410 Lyddite shells into Omdurman. Most
of them detonated, but there were a few that merely flared. It was the
fumes from these that imparted a chrome colour to the surrounding
earth and stonework. Why the Khalifa did not make greater use of his
artillery and musketry became more of a puzzle than ever when we saw
how well provided he was in both respects. He had a battery of
excellent big Krupps that were never fired, besides eight or ten
machine guns. As for rifles, his men must have carried at least 25,000
into action against us. Had they employed these in "sniping" as at
Abu Kru, the Sirdar would have had to march out and attack them.
The victory of Omdurman owed much to the masterly serving of the
artillery. Even in Macdonald's severely contested action, the three
batteries of Maxim-Nordenfeldt 12 1/2-pounders did much to save the
situation. These were Peake's, Lawrie's, and de Rougemont's, with, in
the latter part of the fight, three Krupp guns of the horse artillery.
The Camel Corps also brought up two Maxims to help at the close of the
battle to repulse Sheikh Ed Din. Macdonald handled his guns as
superbly as he did his infantry. At the Atbara against Mahmoud, the
light powerful Maxim-Nordenfeldts had proved that they could be
successfully fought side by side with infantry. Between the battalion
intervals, therefore, the dauntless gunners stood firing point-blank
at the dervish columns. Throughout the battle Major Williams' 32nd
Field Battery, R.A., fired 420 rounds. Three of the Maxim-Nordenfeldt
batteries (all Egyptian) fired 100 rounds per gun, whilst Major
Lawrie's battery, No. 4 Egyptian, also Maxim-Nordenfeldt guns, fired
over that number, or 900 rounds in all. All these batteries were of
six guns each. Captain Smeaton fired from his six Maxims, stationed in
the zereba south-east corner, 54,000 rounds. One of the wants much
felt by the gunners was the need of more shrapnel during the action.
Twice at least the allowance supply was temporarily exhausted. Yet it
is not to be assumed on that account that the reserve ammunition was
difficult to be got at or that the firing lines were insufficiently
fed. The arrangements in these respects were admirable. During the
zereba action, the Grenadier Guards fired the largest number of
rounds. The Camerons fired 34 rounds per man. Five companies of the
Lincolns in the firing line, 32 rounds each man. The Northumberland
Fusiliers fired in all 1200 rounds, and the Lancashire Fusiliers 400
rounds.
Many of our wounded were hit with bullets from elephant guns, brass
cased Mausers, Remingtons, and repeating rifles. The great majority of
the dervishes carried Remingtons, and these, as a rule, were in
passably good condition. Probably they were officers or crack shots
among the Jehadieh and Arabs that fired into the zereba with the small
bore Mausers. Most of their shooting was too high, though the
direction was right enough. When the first phase of the action ceased
at 8.30 a.m., hundreds, if not thousands of wounded dervishes upon the
field rose and moved away. Some of these were seen going back towards
Omdurman, others walked towards the west to rejoin their friends. No
attempt was made on our side to molest them, the order to "cease fire"
having been given. It was either then or a little earlier that the
large body of natives, possibly camp followers, behind the Khalifa's
force, melted away, flowing back to the town. At that time some of our
army camp followers, or servants, went forward from the zereba to pick
up trophies from the field. A party of four went towards a small group
of dead dervishes lying about 300 yards on the left front of Maxwell's
brigade. I noticed them picking up spears and swords. A correspondent
rode out to join them, Mr Bennett Stanford, who was formerly in the
"Royals." In company with another colleague I rode out from the
British lines to join him, curious to see the effect of our fire. At
the moment a dervish arose, apparently unwounded, and spear in hand
charged the servants, who incontinently bolted back to the zereba. My
companion also turned back, but I was yet over 200 yards away, and so
rode forward. One of the men attacked by the dervish was a native
non-commissioned officer. He had followed the others out. Dropping
upon his knee he aimed at the dervish, but his Martini-Henry missed
fire. He fired again and missed, then, the dervish being very near
him, ran for the zereba. Mr Bennett Stanford, who was splendidly
mounted, with a cocked four-barrelled Lancaster pistol aimed
deliberately at the dervish, who turned towards him. Waiting till the
jibbeh-clad warrior was but a score of paces or so off, Mr Stanford
fired, and appeared to miss also, for the dervish without halt rushed
at him, whereupon he easily avoided him, riding off. Then the dervish
turned to the soldier who, encumbered with his rifle, did not run
swiftly. By that time I had drawn up so as to interpose between them,
passing beyond the dervish. I pulled up my rather sorry nag--my best
was for carrying despatches--and took deliberate aim. The dervish
turned upon me as I wished. I fired and believe hit him, and as my
horse was jibbing about fired a second shot from my revolver with less
success, then easily got out of the dervish's reach. He had a heavy
spear and showed no sign of throwing it as I rode away, keeping well
out of his reach. The camp followers by then were all safe, and so was
the native soldier, Mr Dervish having the field very much to himself.
Thereupon an A.D.C., Lieutenant Smyth, came galloping out and riding
hard past, fired at the fellow but missed. Checking his horse
Lieutenant Smyth wheeled it about, and he and the dervish collided.
The man, who by this time appeared somewhat weak, grabbed the
Lieutenant and strove to drive his lance into him. With great
hardihood Lieutenant Smyth fired his revolver in the dervish's face,
killing him instantly. It was a wondrous narrow escape for the
Lieutenant. The instant afterwards I asked him if he had been badly
wounded, but he declared that he was untouched, a statement I could
scarcely credit, and so repeated my question in another form, to
receive a similar answer. In the excitement of the moment he no doubt
did not feel the slight spear wound he actually received upon the arm,
which saved him from the thrust aimed at his body. An examination of
the dead dervish showed he had received four bullet wounds.
The following is a brief and well-balanced account of the charge of
the Lancers furnished me by an officer who was present:--"We moved
along to the left--_i.e._, east of Surgham--following up the enemy on
that flank. Our object was to prevent them retiring into Omdurman or,
at any rate, delay their retreat. A body of dervishes were seen
crouching not far off to the right. Colonel Martin determined to push
the enemy back and interpose between them and the town. The regiment,
of four squadrons, was wheeled into line. When 300 yards off we
started to charge, and were met by a heavy musketry fire from the
enemy. At first it was ill-directed, but very soon casualties occurred
in our ranks from it. Instead of a few dervishes, we tumbled upon over
500 hidden in a fold of the ground. They were in a khor, or nullah,
into which we had to drop, and they lined it twenty deep in places.
Our weight, however, carried us through. The dervishes, when we struck
them, did not break, but "bunched" together, showing no fear of
cavalry. There was half a minute's hacking, cutting, spearing, and
shooting in all directions; then we cleared them, and rallied on the
far side. Halting about 300 yards off, men were dismounted, and we
opened a sharp fire from our carbines on the enemy, driving them to
the westward in ten minutes. The charge was really successful in its
object, as the retirement from that part of the field into Omdurman
was stopped. We left perhaps sixty dervishes on the field in the
charge, and killed about 100 more with our subsequent fire." The
dervish leader who was sitting on a fine black Dongolawi horse was
killed in the melee. A trooper met him in the khor and ran him through
with his spear.
By far the finest feature of that morning of battles was the action
fought by Colonel Macdonald with his brigade. The dervish forces that
sought to crush him numbered fully 20,000 men. To oppose them he had
but four battalions, or in all less than 3000 Soudanese and Egyptian
soldiers. With a tact, coolness, and hardihood I have never seen
equalled, Colonel Macdonald manoeuvred and fought his men. They
responded to his call with confidence and alacrity begotten of long
acquaintance and implicit faith in their leader. He had led several of
the battalions through a score of fierce fights and skirmishes, always
emerging and covering himself and his men with glory, honour and
victory. All of them knew him, they were proud of him, and reposed
implicit confidence in their general. Unmistakably the Khalifa and his
son, the Sheikh Ed Din, thought that their fortunate hour had
come--that, in detail, they would destroy first Macdonald, then one by
one the other Khedivial brigades. What might have been, had father and
son arrived at the same time and distance on both sides of Macdonald,
as they evidently intended, I will not venture to discuss. Happily the
onslaughts of the wild, angry dervishes did not quite synchronise, and
Colonel Macdonald was able to devote virtually his whole firing
strength to the overthrow of the Khalifa's division ere rapidly
turning about first one then another of his battalions to deal with
the Sheikh Ed Din's unbroken columns. The enemy on both sides got very
close in, hundreds of them being killed almost at the feet of the men
of the 1st Khedivial brigade. Dervish spears were thrown into and over
the staunch and unyielding Soudanese and Fellaheen soldiery. Peake's,
Lawrie's, and de Rougemont's batteries stood their ground, side by
side with the infantry, never wavering, firing point-blank upon the
dervish masses. Majors Jackson, Nason, and Walter were, as usual,
proud of the steadiness of their blacks--the 11th, 10th, and 9th
battalions--whilst Major Pink, of the 2nd Egyptian, was elated with
the stout way his soldiers doubled, wheeled, and at a critical moment
rushed to fill up a gap near one of the batteries. The "Gippies"
looked without flinching straight into the eyes of the dervishes, and
fired volleys that would have done credit to a British regiment. The
hulking, physically strong "Fellah" had at last taken the measure of
his enemy, and meant to prove himself the better man of the two. And
he did--delighted with himself and his comrades, calling to them,
chiding the dervishes, and stepping out of the ranks to meet the
onrush of those of the enemy who came near, to stop it with bullet or
bayonet. But chief of all was Macdonald, going hither and thither and
issuing his orders as if on parade, with a sharp snap to each command.
Two armies saw it all, and one at least admired his intrepid valour.
One hundred black-flag Taaisha, the Khalifa's own Baggara tribesmen
and part of his body-guard, charged impetuously. Spurring their horses
to their utmost speed leading the footmen, down they came straight for
the brigade. Cannon, Maxims, and rifles roared, and, bold as the
Taaisha rode, neither horse nor man lived to get within one hundred
yards of our Soudanese and Gippies. Steady as a gladiator, with what
to some of us looked like inevitable disaster staring him in the face,
Colonel Macdonald fought his brigade for all it was worth. He quickly
moved upon the best available ground, formed up, wheeled about, and
stood to die or win. He won practically unaided, for the pinch was all
but over when the Camel Corps, hurrying up, formed upon his right,
after he had faced about to receive the Sheikh Ed Din's onslaught. The
Lincolns, who arrived later on, helped to hasten the flight of the
enemy, whose repulse was assured ere they or any of Wauchope's brigade
were within 1200 yards of Macdonald. Lewis's brigade were not even
able to assist so much, and such outside help as came in time to be of
use was in the first instance from the guns of Major Williams' and
another battery, and the Maxims upon the left near Surgham hurried
forward by the Sirdar himself, as I saw. General Hunter came over to
the headquarters-staff galloping to get assistance, and rode back with
Wauchope's brigade, which doubled for a considerable distance, so
serious was the situation and nervous the tension of that thrilling
ten minutes. Had the brilliant, the splendid deed of arms wrought by
Macdonald been done under the eyes of a sovereign, or in some other
armies, he had surely been created a General on the spot. If the
public are in search of the real hero of the battle of Omdurman there
he is, ready made--one who committed no blunder to be redeemed by
courageous conduct afterwards. He boldly exercised his right of
personal judgment in a moment of extreme peril, and the result amply
justified the soundness of his decision.
It was about 11.50 a.m. when the Sirdar wheeled his army about to
resume the march upon Omdurman. The dervishes who had escaped
slaughter had bent their bodies and run from the fatal field, going
far off behind the western range of hills. Moving slowly and in
echelon, as when we first set out, we passed over part of the
battle-field. Groups of unwounded dervishes, who insisted on fighting
and sniping the troops, had to be dealt with as well as all others who
persisted in being truculent. Like everybody else at the head of the
column, I was shot at repeatedly. All of the enemy, however, who
showed the least disposition to surrender were left unmolested.
Hundreds of dervishes who had been wounded hobbled on in front of our
army. We could see the Khalifa's forces behind the hills watching us
and streaming upon a parallel line towards Omdurman. But the dervishes
were no longer in compact military array or ranged in division under
chiefs. They were mostly scattered in small groups and bands spread
over a very wide area. It was a rabble, and had lost semblance of
being an army with power of concerted action. When Macdonald's fight
was over, the Egyptian cavalry under Colonel Broadwood returned and
formed up near the camelry. They, with the Camel Corps, moved forward
on the right as before during the final advance upon the Khalifa's
capital. Men and horses had done a week of the hardest kind of work,
but both were yet willing and full of spirit. As for the 21st Lancers,
the few mounts remaining fit for work scarcely counted as a cavalry
force. The gunboats and the infantry saw to our left, which was not
difficult, for upon that hand the country was quite bare. About 2 p.m.
the army reached the northern outskirts of Omdurman, the British
division upon the left. Gatacre's men were nearest the Nile, Maxwell
and Lewis being almost opposite one of the main thoroughfares of the
town. A halt for water--the great necessity--food, and rest was
ordered. Parties were instantly detailed to fill water-bottles and
fantasses, iron tanks. The cooks, too, got to work, and fires were
kindled with wood torn from neighbouring huts, and a meal was
prepared. Under the burning sunshine, down upon the loose dirt and
gravel, officers and men sprawled to rest themselves. There was a very
muddy creek or inset near, and thither went thousands, parched with
thirst, to drink, not hesitatingly but gulping down copious draughts
of water, tough and thick as from a clay puddle. I wandered with my
horse a little way into the town, and ultimately down towards the main
stream of the Nile, where the water was cleaner and cooler than by the
halting-place. There were plenty of dervishes to be seen about,
looking from lanes and walls, but they were far from being
particularly aggressive at that part of the town. Indeed, several
large groups of men, Arabs and negroes, came up bearing white rags on
sticks in front of them. I went forward and met parties of them, and
advised them to go into the British lines, where the soldiers would
receive them as friends. Watering my horse, I let him feed on grass by
the river's brink, filled my water-bottle, and then returned by a
circuitous route. The natives were not all inclined to be friendly,
for a few preferred shooting at the stranger. But their practice was
very bad.
Returning to where the troops still lay, I found that a fresh movement
was afoot. Report had been brought that hundreds of lesser sheikhs and
leaders were in the town ready to surrender with their followers if
their lives would be spared. The assurance sought was quickly conveyed
to them. Slatin Pasha, who had been indefatigable on the battle-field,
watching the course of events and locating the commands of the various
important dervish chiefs, had received news that the Khalifa was still
in the town. The Pasha, on passing over the field, had searched around
the black flag and other noted leaders' banners to see who lay there.
In the heaped dead about the Khalifa's flag he had seen Yacoub,
Abdullah's brother, and many more leaders, but the arch head of
Mahdism, the Sheikh Ed Din and Osman Digna were nowhere to be found.
Amongst the dead Emirs identified were Osman Azrak, leader of the
cavalry, Wad el Melik, Ali Wad Helu, Yunis, Ibrahim Khalil, Mahmoud's
brother, el Fadl, Osman Dekem, Zaki Ferar, Abu Senab, Mousa Zacharia,
and Abd el Baki. The Khalifa had come into action riding a horse. As
that did not suit him he changed for a camel and, finding the latter
position too dangerously conspicuous, rode off the field on
donkey-back. Perhaps the most concise summing up of the battle fell
from a "Tommy's" lips: "Them dervishes are good uns, and no mistake.
They came on in thousands on thousands to lay us out, but we shifted
them fast enough."
It was not quite four o'clock, afternoon. Slatin Pasha had got news
from former friends that the fugitives and townspeople would gladly
surrender, so the sooner the Sirdar marched in and took possession the
better. True, the Khalifa with several hundreds of followers, or
mayhap a thousand or more, was yet within the central part of
Omdurman. Most of his Jehadieh, it was urged, would give in at once if
an opportunity were afforded them, and Abdullah could be caught. With
Maxwell's brigade, Major Williams' battery and several Maxims, the
Sirdar and headquarters staff pushed along the wide thoroughfare that
leads from the north past the west end of the great rectangular wall,
towards the Mosque inclosure and Mahdi's tomb. The infantry, guns, and
Maxims preceded but a few paces in front. Vile beyond description was
Omdurman, its dwellings, streets, lanes, and spaces. Beasts pay more
regard to sanitation than dervishes. Pools of slush and stagnant water
abounded. Dead animals in all stages of decomposition lay there in
hundreds and thousands. There were besides littering the place camels,
horses, donkeys, dead and wounded fresh from the battle-field. And
there were many other ghastly sights. Dead and wounded dervishes lay
in pools of blood in the roadway. Several of the dying enemy grimly
saluted the staff as we passed. An Emir who, horribly mauled by a
shell, lay pinned under his dead horse waved his hand and fell back a
corpse. Our guns and Maxims had opened once or twice to turn the armed
fugitives from the town. The compounds and huts were full of wounded
and unwounded dervishes, most of the latter having Remingtons and
waist-belts full of cartridges, besides carrying spears and swords.
In the open thoroughfares there were many bodies of women and children
lying stark and stiff. The majority of these victims were young girls.
Many of the poor creatures had evidently been running towards the
river to try and escape when caught and killed by jealous and cruel
masters or husbands. The scenes were shocking, the smells abominable
and quite overpowering to many who sought to ride in with the General.
There was something like a reception for the Sirdar on his entering
the town. The women and children, mostly slaves, filled the
thoroughfares, and in their peculiar guinea-fowl cackling fashion
cheered the troops. Notables in jibbehs, which they had not yet had
time to turn inside out, as nearly every native did afterwards, came
and salaamed, smote their breasts, and kissed the hands and even the
garments' hem of the Sirdar and his staff. In truly Oriental fashion
they completed the ceremonial of obeisance and fealty by throwing dust
upon their already frowsy enough heads. It was curious to watch the
various recognitions extended to Slatin, and how the latter did not
forget his old friends, who had been kind to him, or his Eastern
manners in exchanging courtesies. When they realised that we were not
cannibals, which they did very quickly, and that the Khalifa and
others must have deceived them, they ran about amongst the troops. It
was with difficulty at times the ranks were kept clear of them. Our
Western leniency surprised them. The Sirdar shook hands with certain
of the notables, including several of the Greeks and Jaalin. One of
the most extraordinary incidents was the appearance of the Khalifa's
own band with drums and horns to play in the 13th Soudanese. Evidently
it was a case of black relations, for they played the battalion, Major
Smith-Dorian's, out as well as into town on the following day.
The people were ordered to carry the good news about that none who
gave up their arms would be killed or hurt, and that there was no
intention on our part to sack the town or injure anybody. What? A
captured city in the Soudan not to be given over to the victorious
troops to do with as they liked! I am sure the natives of both sexes
were amazed. And I cannot say all looked quite satisfied at the
announcement. The crowd in the streets quickly increased; they
evidently believed that we meant them no harm, and that they could do
as they liked. In the bombardment the Lyddite shells had knocked down
a gateway leading into the buildings and square mile of town enclosed
by the great rectangular stone wall built by the Khalifa. For a space
of fifty yards, several big holes had been blown in the structure,
which was fourteen feet high and over four feet in thickness. Some of
these breaches led into the beit-el-mal, or public granary. A few
wretched, hungry slaves ventured to help themselves to the grain,
chiefly dhura, that had partly poured out into the street. No one
interfered with them. Within half an hour all the women and children
in the town apparently, to the number of several thousands, were
running pell-mell to loot the granary. Men also joined in plundering
the Khalifa's storehouse. They ran against our horses, tripped over
each other and fell in their crazy haste to fill sacks, skins, and
nondescript vessels of all sorts--metal, wood and clay--with grain.
Women staggered under burdens that would assure their households of
food for months. It became a saturnalia and jubilee for the long,
half-starved slaves, men and women. By-and-by looting became more
general. The houses of Emirs who had run away or been killed were
entered and plundered by the populace. Donkeys were caught and loaded
with spoils of war, and driven off to huts on the outskirts near where
the troops bivouacked after their long and fatiguing day. During the
earlier part of that night there was much noise and hubbub in Omdurman
with constant firing of rifles. Maxwell's men, however, assisted by
numbers of friendly Jaalin, finally succeeded in enforcing something
like order and peace.
[Illustration: KHALIFA'S HOUSE.]
After the reception near the centre of the town the Sirdar proceeded
with part of Colonel Maxwell's brigade along the west side of the big
wall. Osman Digna's house was passed on the way. We got as far as the
south-west corner into full view of the Mahdi's tomb, which was about
400 yards to the east. In the same direction and equidistant was the
Khalifa's house. Beside us was the Praying Square or Mosque, a space
of bare ground of about ten acres or so in extent. As soon as the
troops got beyond the big wall and in sight of the tomb and Khalifa's
house, a brisk fusilade from Remingtons by the Jehadieh body-guard
protecting Abdullah was opened against us. Fortunately, the big stone
wall was not loopholed on either side. Indeed there appeared to be no
provision for its defenders to fire from it unless they mounted to
the top. The Sirdar and staff fell back, and the guns and Maxims went
forward a little. Maxwell's men then dealt with the enemy, and the
Sirdar, still led by Slatin Pasha, whom the dervishes called
"Saladin," turned back to try and make his way through the breaches in
the north wall. Troops were sent in to clear the compound of
dervishes, most of whom surrendered at once. But exit upon the south
side was barred by interior walls and gates. Then the Sirdar essayed
going along by the river's margin between the wall, the Nile, and the
forts, to turn the south-east angle. A sharp and accurate fire from
the Jehadieh stopped that advance for a time. Gunboats were ordered
forward to drive the dervishes from their cover. The soldiers pushed
farther through the compound, and the gunboats swept the Jehadieh with
Maxims and quick-firing cannon. About 5 p.m., with the shadows rapidly
lengthening, the rough way between the river and the great wall was
partly cleared of the enemy. Thereupon the Sirdar and staff forded a
dirty, wide creek, the crossing being girth high, and trotted a few
hundred yards up stream. With double teams, four guns of the 32nd
Battery, Major Williams', were got across the pool, accompanying the
headquarters.
Entering a gateway through the outer rectangular wall, the force moved
towards the Mahdi's tomb and the Khalifa's chief residence or palace.
The Sirdar and staff reined up before Abdullah's doorway, for the
dervish leader's house was surrounded by an inner wall and various
small buildings. We were in a higgledy-piggledy looking corner,
surrounded by rough shelters or stables for animals, horses and
camels, and the unfinished but covered approaches to the Mahdi's tomb.
The staff sat on horseback facing the doorway and dwelling; I pulled
in opposite beside an angle of the wall. Upon the Sirdar's right were
some corrugated iron roofed sheds, and a little in front the Praying
Square. Behind was the Mahdi's tomb, and at no great distance various
important dervish buildings. Abdullah had so planted himself that he
had easy and private access to all places of public resort as well as
the official quarters.
[Illustration: MAHDI'S TOMB--EFFECT OF LYDDITE SHELLS.]
Slatin Pasha, Colonel Maxwell, and several soldiers, with one or two
others, went in and searched for the Khalifa. A few minutes previously
he had slipped out by a back door with the more important part of his
personal treasures. His harem had been sent away earlier in the day.
Mr Hubert Howard, correspondent of the _New York Herald_ and the
London _Times_, was near the headquarters staff. He came over to where
I was and chatted. To a companion who had joined me he offered some
cigarettes. He said it had been a splendid day, and he had seen much.
Nothing could have been better than the way things turned out, and he
was glad he had been through it from first to last, cavalry charge
included. Then he said he would like to get a photograph or two of the
surroundings and the Khalifa's house. I told him the light was spent
and he could get no good results. He said he would try, and rode
inside the courtyard. A minute or less later, there was the roar and
crash of a shrapnel shell, which burst over our heads in very
dangerous proximity. The iron and bullets struck the walls and rattled
upon the corrugated iron roofs alongside. "That," I said to my
companion and an artillery officer hard by, "was one of our own guns."
The officer, Major Williams, I think, replied he feared indeed that it
was so. A similar opinion was apparently entertained by the Sirdar and
staff, for gallopers were sent to the officer in charge of the two
guns of the 32nd Battery left on the west side of the wall in the main
thoroughfare, to cease firing at once. Before riding up to the
Khalifa's door the Sirdar had hailed the gunboats, and one of them,
the "Sultan," came near enough inshore for us to converse with those
on board and for the commander to receive orders to stop all firing at
Abdullah's quarters. A few seconds after the first shrapnel burst,
another pitched over our heads, aimed apparently like the previous one
at the Khalifa's compound. Indeed, it appeared so later, for those of
our men at the south-west corner of the wall saw a number of armed
Jehadieh who were gathering behind Abdullah's compound. The Maxims
also opened fire on what was probably a body of the enemy covering
Abdullah's retirement, and who, at any rate, were firing at the
troops. Immediately after the second shell exploded the Sirdar and
headquarters rode off, returning by the road we entered, to the main
thoroughfare upon the west side of the enclosing wall. I remained a
few minutes longer, two shells bursting overhead in the interval, and
with my companion retraced our steps, rejoining the headquarters'
following. Mr Hubert Howard was struck upon the side of the head by a
bullet or fragment of a shell and killed instantly. His body was
removed and covered up by Colonel Maxwell and his men.
[Illustration: INTERIOR MAHDI'S TOMB (GRILLE AROUND SARCOPHAGUS).]
[Illustration: KHALIFA'S GALLOWS (CUTTING DOWN HIS LAST VICTIM).]
Arrangements were made for the instant pursuit of the Khalifa, who, I
was told, only left his palace about five o'clock or sometime after we
had penetrated into Omdurman. Notables and dervishes who came in to us
were freely used by the staff to run hither and thither conveying
intimation to all their friends, that the war being over they should
lay down their arms. In that way the news of the collapse of Mahdism
was widely spread, and bands of thirty and forty of the Jehadieh and
even of the Baggara surrendered. The presence of our Soudanese
soldiers facilitated matters, for they saw in them, at any rate,
countrymen. I had no difficulty in persuading several large groups of
dervishes, whom I could see from my horse inside their compounds, to
come out into the lanes or roadway and lay down their rifles. By such
means the headquarters' advance through the town was made possible and
relatively easy. The sun had set and darkness was upon us before the
Sirdar and staff, going at times in single file, reached the common
prison where the Assouan merchant, Charles Neufeld, was confined.
Whilst accompanying a convoy of rifles presented by the Egyptian
Government in 1886 to Sheikh Saleh of the friendly Kabbabish tribe,
Neufeld had been captured by a party of dervishes. Like the other
European prisoners who fell into their hands, he had undergone great
hardships and experienced all the trials of misfortune. Neufeld and
several hundred natives who had incurred the Khalifa's ire or distrust
were found in a pestilential enclosure less than an acre in extent,
surrounded by mud-walls. All of them wore heavy leg chains, and a
few were handcuffed besides. The principal jail deliveries were by
disease and the gallows; the latter were almost daily in use. Three
rough sets of them stood together near the great wall. Limbs of trees
stuck into the ground, with a cross-piece overhead, that was how the
gallows were fashioned. A last victim of the Khalifa was cut down
shortly after the troops entered Omdurman.
[Illustration: NEUFELD ON GUNBOAT "SHEIK"--CUTTING OFF HIS
ANKLE-IRONS.]
Neufeld was found under a mat-covered lean-to built against the
mud-wall. There was no other protection for the prisoners from
sunshine or rain than coarse worn matting spread upon sticks and laid
against the walls. The enclosure was without any sanitary arrangements
whatever. A well had been dug near the middle of the yard and from
there the prisoners drew all the water they used. The Sirdar conversed
with the prisoner, and a fruitless effort was made to find the jailer
and have Neufeld's irons removed. Ultimately, when night had quite
fallen and it was pitch dark, Neufeld was set upon an officer's horse,
and the Sirdar and headquarters bringing him with them rode outside to
where the main body of the army was bivouacking upon the desert, north
of Omdurman. Later on I found means to have Neufeld's irons removed.
He had three sets of leg irons fastened round his ankles; a heavy bar
weighing fourteen pounds, and two thick chains above that. The heavy
rings upon the legs we could not get off without other appliances than
a hammer and iron wedge, so they were left to be removed next day on
the gunboat "Sheik." It was found necessary on that occasion to grip
the rings in a vice and cut them with a cold chisel. We, however, so
freed his limbs that he could walk. Having written a second batch of
despatches by the light of a guttering candle and handed them to the
press censor, we lay down in our clothes to try and sleep--no easy
thing to do when you had to hold the bridle of your hungry horse the
while, and other equally restless Arab steeds were, after their
manner, seeking to eat him or kick him to pieces. We were without food
or water, for in the thrice altered camping grounds our servants had
got lost. In a flurry between dozing and waking we spent the night,
hoping for the morrow. When it came there was daylight but no
breakfast. Indeed, it was not until the afternoon of the 3rd September
that our servants and baggage re-appeared.