Now, when the Khalifa Abdullah saw that the last army that remained to
him was broken, that all his attacks had failed, and that thousands of
his bravest warriors were slain, he rode from the field of battle in
haste, and, regaining the city, proceeded like a brave and stubborn
soldier to make preparations for its defence, and, like a prudent man,
to arrange for his own flight should further resistance be impossible.
He ordered his great war-drum to be beaten and the ombya to be blown,
and for the last time those dismal notes boomed through the streets of
Omdurman. They were not heeded. The Arabs had had enough fighting.
They recognised that all was lost. Besides, to return to the city was
difficult and dangerous.
The charge of the 21st Lancers had been costly, but it was not
ineffective. The consequent retirement of the Dervish brigade protecting
the extreme right exposed their line of retreat. The cavalry were
resolved to take full advantage of the position they had paid so much
to gain, and while the second attack was at its height we were already
trotting over the plain towards the long lines of fugitives who streamed
across it. With the experience of the past hour in our minds, and with
the great numbers of the enemy in our front, it seemed to many that
a bloody day lay before us. But we had not gone far when individual
Dervishes began to walk towards the advancing squadrons, throwing down
their weapons, holding up their hands, and imploring mercy.
As soon as it was apparent that the surrender of individuals was
accepted, the Dervishes began to come in and lay down their arms--at
first by twos and threes, then by dozens, and finally by scores.
Meanwhile those who were still intent on flight made a wide detour to
avoid the cavalry, and streamed past our front at a mile's distance in
uninterrupted succession. The disarming and escorting of the prisoners
delayed our advance, and many thousands of Dervishes escaped from the
field. But the position of the cavalry and the pressure they exerted
shouldered the routed army out into the desert, so that retiring they
missed the city of Omdurman altogether, and, disregarding the Khalifa's
summons to defend it and the orders of their Emirs; continued their
flight to the south. To harry and annoy the fugitives a few troops were
dismounted with carbines, and a constant fire was made on such as did
not attempt to come in and surrender. Yet the crowds continued to run
the gauntlet, and at least 20,000 men made good their escape. Many
of these were still vicious, and replied to our fire with bullets,
fortunately at very long range. It would have been madness for 300
Lancers to gallop in among such masses, and we had to be content with
the results of the carbine fire.
While all this had been going on, the advance of the army on Omdurman
was continuing. Nor was it long before we saw the imposing array of
infantry topping the sandhills near Surgham and flooding out into the
plain which lay between them and the city. High over the centre brigade
flew the Black Flag of the Khalifa, and underneath a smaller flash of
red marked the position of the Headquarters Staff. The black masses of
men continued to move slowly across the open ground while we fired at
the flying Arabs, and at twelve o'clock we saw them halt near the river
about three miles from the city. Orders now reached us to join them, and
as the sun was hot, the day dragged, all were tired and hungry, and the
horses needed water, we were not long in complying, and the remnants of
the Dervish army made good their retreat unmolested.
We marched back to the Nile. The whole force had halted to drink, to
eat, and to rest at Khor Shambat. The scene was striking. Imagine a six
hundred yards stretch of the Suez Canal. Both banks are crowded with
brown- or chocolate-clad figures. The northern side is completely
covered with the swarming infantry of the British division. Thousands of
animals--the horses of the cavalry, the artillery mules, the transport
camels--fill the spaces and the foreground. Multitudes of khaki-clad men
are sitting in rows on the slopes. Hundreds are standing by the brim or
actually in the red muddy water. All are drinking deeply. Two or three
carcasses, lying in the shallows, show that the soldiers are thirsty
rather than particular. On all sides water-bottles are being filled from
the welcome Nile, which has come into the desert to refresh the weary
animals and men.
During the attack on MacDonald's brigade the Egyptian cavalry had
watched from their position on the southern slopes of the Kerreri Hills,
ready to intervene, if necessary, and support the infantry by a charge.
As soon as the Dervish onsets had ended and the whole mass had begun to
retreat, Broadwood's cavalry brigade formed in two lines, of four and of
five squadrons respectively, and advanced in pursuit--first west for two
miles, and then south-west for three miles more towards the Round-topped
Hill. Like the 21st Lancers, they were delayed by many Dcrvishes who
threw down their arms and surrendered, and whom it was necessary to
escort to the river. But as they drew nearer the mass of the routed
army, it became apparent that the spirit of the enemy was by no means
broken. Stubborn men fired continually as they lay wounded, refusing
to ask for quarter--doubting, perhaps, that it would be granted. Under
every bush that gave protection from the lances of the horsemen little
groups collected to make a desperate stand. Solitary spearmen awaited
unflinching the charge of a whole squadron. Men who had feigned death
sprang up to fire an unexpected shot. The cavalry began to suffer
occasional casualties. In proportion as they advanced the resistance of
the enemy increased. The direct pursuit had soon to be abandoned, but
in the hope of intercepting some part of the retreating mob Major Le
Gallais, who commanded the three leading squadrons, changed direction
towards the river, and, galloping nearly parallel to Khor Shambat,
charged and cut into the tail of the enemy's disordered array. The
Arabs, however, stood their ground, and, firing their rifles wildly in
all directions, killed and wounded a good many horses and men, so that
the squadrons were content to bring up their right still more, and
finally to ride out of the hornet swarm, into which they had plunged,
towards Surgham Hill. The pursuit was then suspended, and the Egyptian
cavalry joined the rest of the army by the Nile.
It was not until four o'clock that the cavalry received orders to ride
round the outside of the city and harry such as should seek to escape.
The Egyptian squadrons and the 21st Lancers started forthwith, and,
keeping about a mile from the houses of the suburbs, proceeded to make
the circle of the town. The infantry had already entered it, as was
evident from a continual patter of shots and an occasional rattle of
the Maxim guns. The leading Soudanese brigade--Maxwell's--had moved
from Khor Shambat at 2.30, formed in line of company columns and in the
following order:--
^ Direction of Advance ^
XIVth XIIth Maxims 8th 32nd XIIIth
Soudanese Soudanese Egyptians Field Battery Soudanese
The Sirdar, attended by his whole Staff, with the Black Flag of the
Khalifa carried behind him and accompanied by the band of the XIth
Soudanese, rode in front of the XIVth battalion. The regiments were soon
enveloped by the numberless houses of the suburbs and divided by the
twisting streets; but the whole brigade pressed forward on a broad
front. Behind followed the rest of the army--battalion after battalion,
brigade after brigade--until all, swallowed up by the maze of mud
houses, were filling the open spaces and blocking and choking the
streets and alleys with solid masses of armed men, who marched or pushed
their way up to the great wall.
For two miles the progress through the suburbs continued, and the
General, hurrying on with his Staff, soon found himself, with the band,
the Maxims, and the artillery, at the foot of the great wall. Several
hundred Dervishes had gathered for its defence; but the fact that no
banquette had been made on which they could stand to fire prevented
their resistance from being effective. A few ill-aimed shots were,
however, fired, to which the Maxim guns replied with vigour. In a
quarter of an hour the wall was cleared. The Sirdar then posted two guns
of the 32nd Field Battery at its northern angle, and then, accompanied
by the remaining four guns and the XIVth Soudanese, turned eastwards and
rode along the foot of the wall towards the river, seeking some means
of entry into the inner city. The breach made by the gunboats was found
temporarily blocked by wooden doors, but the main gate was open, and
through this the General passed into the heart of Omdurman. Within the
wall the scenes were more terrible than in the suburbs. The effects
of the bombardment were evident on every side. Women and children lay
frightfully mangled in the roadway. At one place a whole family had
been crushed by a projectile. Dead Dervishes, already in the fierce heat
beginning to decompose, dotted the ground. The houses were crammed with
wounded. Hundreds of decaying carcasses of animals filled the air with
a sickening smell. Here, as without the wall, the anxious inhabitants
renewed their protestations of loyalty and welcome; and interpreters,
riding down the narrow alleys, proclaimed the merciful conditions of the
conquerors and called on the people to lay down their arms. Great
piles of surrendered weapons rose in the streets, guarded by Soudanese
soldiers. Many Arabs sought clemency; but there were others who
disdained it; and the whirring of the Maxims, the crashes of the
volleys, and a continual dropping fire attested that there was fighting
in all parts of the city into which the columns had penetrated. All
Dervishes who did not immediately surrender were shot or bayoneted, and
bullets whistled at random along or across the streets. But while women
crowded round his horse, while sullen men filed carefully from houses,
while beaten warriors cast their spears on the ground and others, still
resisting, were despatched in corners, the Sirdar rode steadily onward
through the confusion, the stench, and the danger, until he reached the
Mahdi's Tomb.
At the mosque two fanatics charged the Soudanese escort, and each killed
or badly wounded a soldier before he was shot. The day was now far
spent, and it was dusk when the prison was reached. The General was the
first to enter that foul and gloomy den. Charles Neufeld and some thirty
heavily shackled prisoners were released. Neufeld, who was placed on a
pony, seemed nearly mad with delight, and talked and gesticulated with
queer animation. 'Thirteen years,' he said to his rescuer, 'have I
waited for this day.' From the prison, as it was now dark, the
Sirdar rode to the great square in front of the mosque, in which his
headquarters were established, and where both British brigades were
already bivouacking. The rest of the army settled down along the
roadways through the suburbs, and only Maxwell's brigade remained in the
city to complete the establishment of law and order--a business which
was fortunately hidden by the shades of night.
While the Sirdar with the infantry of the army was taking possession of
Omdurman, the British and Egyptian cavalry had moved round to the west
of the city. There for nearly two hours we waited, listening to the
dropping fusillade which could be heard within the great wall and
wondering what was happening. Large numbers of Dervishes and Arabs, who,
laying aside their jibbas, had ceased to be Dervishes, appeared among
the houses at the edge of the suburbs. Several hundreds of these, with
two or three Emirs, came out to make their submission; and we were
presently so loaded with spears and swords that it was impossible to
carry them, and many interesting trophies had to be destroyed. It was
just getting dark when suddenly Colonel Slatin galloped up. The Khalifa
had fled! The Egyptian cavalry were at once to pursue him. The 21st
Lancers must await further orders. Slatin appeared very much in earnest.
He talked with animated manner to Colonel Broadwood, questioned two of
the surrendered Emirs closely, and hurried off into the dusk, while the
Egyptian squadrons, mounting, also rode away at a trot.
It was not for some hours after he had left the field of battle that
Abdullah realised that his army had not obeyed his summons, but were
continuing their retreat, and that only a few hundred Dervishes remained
for the defence of the city. He seems, if we judge from the accounts
of his personal servant, an Abyssinian boy, to have faced the disasters
that had overtaken him with singular composure. He rested until two
o'clock, when he ate some food. Thereafter he repaired to the Tomb, and
in that ruined shrine, amid the wreckage of the shell-fire, the defeated
sovereign appealed to the spirit of Mohammed Ahmed to help him in his
sore distress. It was the last prayer ever offered over the Mahdi's
grave. The celestial counsels seem to have been in accord with the
dictates of common-sense, and at four o'clock the Khalifa, hearing that
the Sirdar was already entering the city, and that the English cavalry
were on the parade ground to the west, mounted a small donkey, and,
accompanied by his principal wife, a Greek nun as a hostage, and a
few attendants, rode leisurely off towards the south. Eight miles from
Omdurman a score of swift camels awaited him, and on these he
soon reached the main body of his routed army. Here he found many
disheartened friends; but the fact that, in this evil plight, he found
any friends at all must be recorded in his favour and in that of his
subjects. When he arrived he had no escort--was, indeed, unarmed. The
fugitives had good reason to be savage. Their leaders had led them only
to their ruin. To cut the throat of this one man who was the cause of
all their sufferings was as easy as they would have thought it innocent.
Yet none assailed him. The tyrant, the oppressor, the scourge of the
Soudan, the hypocrite, the abominated Khalifa; the embodiment, as he has
been depicted to European eyes, of all the vices; the object, as he was
believed in England, of his people's bitter hatred, found safety and
welcome among his flying soldiers. The surviving Emirs hurried to his
side. Many had gone down on the fatal plain. Osman Azrak, the valiant
Bishara, Yakub, and scores whose strange names have not obscured these
pages, but who were, nevertheless, great men of war, lay staring up at
the stars. Yet those who remained never wavered in their allegiance.
Ali-Wad-Helu, whose leg had been shattered by a shell splinter, was
senseless with pain; but the Sheikh-ed-Din, the astute Osman Digna,
Ibrahim Khalil, who withstood the charge of the 21st Lancers, and others
of less note rallied to the side of the appointed successor of Mohammed
Ahmed, and did not, even in this extremity, abandon his cause. And so
all hurried on through the gathering darkness, a confused and miserable
multitude--dejected warriors still preserving their trashy rifles, and
wounded men hobbling pitifully along; camels and donkeys laden with
household goods; women crying, panting, dragging little children; all in
thousands--nearly 30,000 altogether; with little food and less water
to sustain them; the desert before them, the gunboats on the Nile, and
behind the rumours of pursuit and a broad trail of dead and dying to
mark the path of flight.
Meanwhile the Egyptian cavalry had already started on their fruitless
errand. The squadrons were greatly reduced in numbers. The men carried
food to suffice till morning, the horses barely enough to last till
noon. To supplement this slender provision a steamer had been ordered up
the river to meet them the next day with fresh supplies. The road by
the Nile was choked with armed Dervishes, and to avoid these dangerous
fugitives the column struck inland and marched southward towards some
hills whose dark outline showed against the sky. The unknown ground was
difficult and swampy. At times the horses floundered to their girths in
wet sand; at others rocky khors obstructed the march; horses and camels
blundered and fell. The darkness complicated the confusion. At about ten
o'clock Colonel Broadwood decided to go no further till there was more
light. He therefore drew off the column towards the desert, and halted
on a comparatively dry spot. Some muddy pools, which were luckily
discovered, enabled the bottles to be filled and the horses to be
watered. Then, having posted many sentries, the exhausted pursuers
slept, waking from time to time to listen to the intermittent firing
which was still audible, both from the direction of Omdurman and from
that in which the Dervish army was flying.
At 3 A.M. on the 3rd Colonel Broadwood's force moved on again. Men and
horses seemed refreshed, and by the aid of a bright moon the ground was
covered at a good pace. By seven o'clock the squadrons approached the
point on the river which had been fixed for meeting the steamer. She
had already arrived, and the sight of the funnel in the distance and the
anticipation of a good meal cheered everyone, for they had scarcely had
anything to eat since the night before the battle. But as the troopers
drew nearer it became evident that 300 yards of shallow water and
deep swamp intervened between them and the vessel. Closer approach was
prevented. There was no means of landing the stores. In the hopes of
finding a suitable spot further up the stream the march was resumed. The
steamer kept pace along the river. The boggy ground delayed the columns,
but by two o'clock seven more miles had been covered. Only the flag at
the masthead was now visible; and an impassable morass separated the
force from the river bank. It was impossible to obtain supplies. Without
food it was out of the question to go on. Indeed, great privations must,
as it was, accompany the return march. The necessity was emphasised
by the reports of captured fugitives, who all told the same tale. The
Khalifa had pushed on swiftly, and was trying to reorganise his army.
Colonel Broadwood thereupon rested his horses till the heat of the day
was over, and then began the homeward march. It was not until eleven
o'clock on the 4th of September that the worn-out and famished cavalry
reached their camp near Omdurman.
Such was the pursuit as conducted by the regular troops. Abdel-Azim,
with 750 Arabs, persisted still further in the chase. Lightly equipped,
and acquainted with the country, they reached Shegeig, nearly a hundred
miles south of Khartoum, on the 7th. Here they obtained definite
information. The Khalifa had two days' start, plenty of food and water,
and many camels. He had organised a bodyguard of 500 Jehadia, and was,
besides, surrounded by a large force of Arabs of various tribes. With
this numerous and powerful following he was travelling day and night
towards El Obeid, which town was held by an unbeaten Dervish garrison
of nearly 3,000 men. On hearing these things the friendly Arabs
determined--not unwisely--to abandon the pursuit, and came boastfully
back to Omdurman.
In the battle and capture of Omdurman the losses of the Expeditionary
Force included the following British officers killed: Capt. G.
Caldecott, 1st Royal Warwickshire Regiment; Lieut. R.G. Grenfell, 12th
Royal Lancers, attached 21st Lancers; Hon. H. Howard, correspondent of
the TIMES. In total, the British Division and Egyptian Army suffered 482
men killed or wounded.
The Dervish losses were, from computations made on the field and
corrected at a later date, ascertained to be 9,700 killed, and wounded
variously estimated at from 10,000 to 16,000. There were, besides, 5,000
prisoners.