G 



ABYSSINIA. 



to accept their submission, and ordered Sir 

 Charles Staveley to advance on Islamgie, relax- 

 ing no precautions that I had considered ne- 

 cessary for the attack. The scarcity of water 

 rendered it impossible to retain any consider- 

 able body of cavalry before Magdala ; my per- 

 sonal escort, under a native officer, only re- 

 mained, and, with a few details of other corps, 

 was sent under the command of Lieutenant 

 Scott, aide-de-camp, to watch the west side 

 of Magdala, where they took up a good posi- 

 tion until the arrival of the cavalry, under 

 Colonel Graves, who completed the investment 

 up to the Kaffir Burr Gate, which was watched 

 by the Gallas. The Bashilo was held by the 

 headquarters detachment of the Scinde Horse, 

 under Major Briggs, and detachments of the 

 Third Dragoon Guards, Third and Twelfth 

 cavalry, under Major Miller, to secure that 

 point and provide against the escape of the 

 enemy in that direction by the Minjerra ravine. 

 A detachment of the Beloochees, under Lieu- 

 tenant Beville, ascended by the spurs of Fahla, 

 and occupied that important position, where 

 they were reenforced from the second brigade 

 by the headquarters wing of the Tenth native 

 infantry, under Colonel Field. The artillery 

 was placed in position, and the troops advanced, 

 preceded by Captain Speedy, of the intelligence 

 department, with a small escort of the Third 

 Light cavalry, under Lieutenant-Colonel Loch, 

 to communicate with the chiefs who wished to 

 surrender, and to prevent any misunderstand- 

 ing. No resistance was offered. Sir Charles 

 Staveley effected an entrance to Islamgie and 

 Selassie through a difficult crevice in the rocky 

 escarps. It would be impossible to arrive at 

 any correct estimate either of the numbers of 

 the armed men who laid down their weapons 

 or of the mass of people, men, women, and chil- 

 dren, whom we found on Islamgie. It was ne- 

 cessary to collect and guard the arms that were 

 surrendered. It was also necessary to send 

 down all the disarmed soldiers and the miscel- 

 laneous multitude that followed them to the 

 plain below before I could proceed actively 

 against Magdala. 



" Theodore himself, having abandoned his at- 

 tempt to escape, was making preparations for 

 defence, and offering us defiance in front of 

 Magdala. By three o'clock the Abyssinians 

 having nearly all cleared away from Islamgie, 

 I ordered the attack of Magdala to be at once 

 carried out. The entrance of Magdala is three 

 hundred feet above the terreplain of Islamgie, 

 and the ascent is by an extremely steep and 

 rugged path. Viewing the very difficult nature 

 of the approach, I made the attack as strong as 

 possible, and massed the whole of my artillery 

 fire to cover it, in order to overpower the 

 enemy's resistance and prevent the heavy 

 casualties which I should otherwise have in- 

 curred. 



" The assaulting force consisted of the second 

 brigade, led by the Thirty-third (Duke of Wel- 

 lington's) regiment, accompanied by detach- 



ments of the Eoyal Engineers and Madras and 

 Bombay Sappers and Miners, with means of 

 clearing away obstacles, the first brigade to 

 be in close support. I concentrated the fire of 

 the artillery on the gateway and the north end 

 of the fort, which were crowded with the 

 houses of the soldiers, avoiding as much as pos- 

 sible the higher part of the interior occupied 

 by the Abyssinian prisoners and non-combat- 

 ants. The enemy carefully concealed them- 

 selves from view, so that the place seemed al- 

 most deserted, although, when entered by our 

 troops, it was found to be thronged with sol- 

 diers who had thrown away their arms, re- 

 leased prisoners, and the numerous voluntary 

 and involuntary followers of Theodore's for- 

 tunes. The artificial defences consisted of stone 

 walls, loop-holed and surmounted by strong and 

 thick barricades of thorny stakes, with narrow 

 stone gateways ; the lower one built up in the 

 interior, the higher one being seventy feet above 

 the lower, and approached by a very steep nar- 

 row path winding among the soldiers' huts. 

 The attack was ably conducted by Sir Charles 

 Staveley, and gallantly carried out by the troops. 

 Fortunately, the defences were very unscien- 

 tifically constructed, and, though the attack 

 was met by a sharp fire from the enemy, yet 

 they could not direct it on the head of the 

 storming party without exposing themselves 

 to the rapid and fatal fire of the Snider rifle, 

 and our loss was, in consequence, very small. 

 The Koyal Engineers and Sappers and leading 

 sections of the Thirty-third regiment were long 

 before they could force an entrance, and dur- 

 ing that time nine officers and men of the 

 Eoyal Engineers and Sappers received wounds 

 or contusions. At length an entrance was 

 found by means of the ladders, near the gate 

 and by the leading men of the Thirty-third, 

 who scaled a rock and turned the defences of 

 the gateway. The enemy was driven to the 

 second barricade, and when that was carried 

 all resistance ceased. 



" Among the dead near the outer gateway 

 were found several of Theodore's most devoted 

 chiefs. One of them, Dejach Enjeda, had 

 urged Theodore to massacre all the prisoners, 

 a course from which he was dissuaded by 

 others. Close to the second gateway lay the 

 body of Theodore. At the moment when the 

 barricade was forced by the Thirty -third, Theo- 

 dore fell, as I have since learned, by his own 

 hand. His troops immediately fled, some by 

 the Kaffir Burr Gate, which was found choked 

 with arms that had been cast away in their 

 flight. Of these fugitives the greater'part fell 

 into the hands of the Gallas, and the remainder, 

 seeing the fate of their comrades and hearing 

 the taunting invitations of the Gallas, returned 

 to Magdala and surrendered. 



" The command of Magdala was intrusted to 

 Brigadier-General Wilby, who held it with the 

 Thirty-third and part of the Forty-fifth regi- 

 ments. So thickly was the fortress inhabited, 

 and so great was the crowd of people, that it 



