3 T 4 
THE STRAND MAGAZINE. 
that of the Dervishes will ever be seen again, 
so hopeless, and so utterly opposed to all 
tactical considerations. 
The Battle of Khartoum, as it is officially 
styled, took place on September 2nd, 1898. 
The march had been so arranged by Lord 
Kitchener that on the night before the in- 
tended battle we had the advantage of a 
glorious full moon. This was a very prudent 
precaution in view of the probability of a 
night attack. Nevertheless, it was rather an 
anxious time, as I think the Dervishes could 
have got within two hundred yards of us 
before being detected, and, with a very 
inadequate zareba for protection, a determined 
rush by vastly superior numbers would have 
been a serious thing. However, we were not 
put to any such test, and the battle took place 
in the brightest sunshine, and under conditions 
simply ideal from our point of view. 
The British troops, twenty-two thousand 
in number, were disposed in a sort of 
crescent formation, each flank of which rested 
on the Nile, on which lay a gunboat flotilla 
armed with quick-firing guns, a most valuable 
auxiliary armament. On the left were our 
artillery, then the infantry brigades as 
follows : From left to right — Lyttelton’s, 
Wauchope’s (British), Maxwell's, Macdonald’s, 
and Lewis’s (Sudanese and Egyptian) in first 
line ; Collinson’s in reserve. The cavalry 
and camel - corps were, of course, recon- 
noitring in front. The original intention was 
to attack the Dervishes, who were encamped 
some five miles off, and we were preparing to 
advance at about four o’clock in the morning 
when the cavalry sent in word that the enemy 
were anticipating us, and were moving out to 
attack us. Accordingly we remained where 
we were, and were rewarded with one of the 
finest sights a soldier could wish to see. 
The Gebel Surgham hill, from which the 
charge was expected, was rather more than a 
mile and a half off, a perfect artillery range, 
and not out of reach of our rifles. 
Everything was ready, ranges taken, guns 
unlimbered, magazines charged, and ammuni- 
tion supply handy. We waited in absolute 
silence and in complete reliance on the fire 
discipline and steadiness of our young soldiers. 
Over the north-west shoulder of the hill 
suddenly a white banner appeared, quickly 
followed by many others, rising out of dense 
hordes of Dervishes, whose drums and war- 
cry, “ Allah ! Allah E' could be clearly heard 
even at that distance. These masses con- 
tinued extending across our right front until 
we were enveloped by them. I should think 
the ranks were fifty deep, mostly swordsmen 
and spearmen, with comparatively few rifle 
men, clad for the most part in white patchwork 
jibbehs. A forest of multi-coloured banners 
waved over their heads. Each Emir had his 
own particular standard, and these flags were 
regarded with the same feelings of loyalty and 
reverence by those who fought under them as 
are the colours of British regiments. Our 
artillery fully availed themselves of their 
opportunities. It was impossible to miss 
such a huge target : shell after shell 
dropped into the yelling crowd, the gaps 
made by them being easily discernible. 
Then our rifle-fire opened. The enemv 
fell in swathes, banner after banner sank to 
the ground, but rose again as fresh bearers 
replaced those who had fallen, only to fall in 
their turn. But for a time “ nothing could 
stop that astonishing infantry.” They never 
paused to fire, their only object was to get to 
close quarters, and they pressed on with un- 
diminished ardour. There was no gleam of 
success to encourage them. With a growing 
consciousness that they could hardly touch 
their enemy, they came on for nearly a mile 
under the pitiless hail of bullets and shrapnel. 
Then flesh and blood could do no more ; they 
faltered, broke up into fragments, and fell 
back, leaving an appalling proportion of dead 
and wounded on the ground. An attempt 
was made to collect mounted men for a 
charge, but it was futile. About two hundred 
started, but none reached our line. They fell 
like corn before the sickle. Only a handful 
of riflemen got within a few hundred yards of 
Wauchope’s Brigade, and from a fold in the 
ground caused most of our casualties, but an 
enfilading fire from my Brigade Maxims 
accounted for nearly all of them. In this 
attack they lost some sixteen thousand men in 
killed and wounded, against our casualties 
of about a hundred. 
What civilized army would have faced such 
an ordeal for half the time that these gallant 
barbarians did ? There have been in com- 
paratively recent times several desperate 
charges in battle, but none in which the con- 
ditions were so unequal and the chances of 
success so hopeless as in this. In the great 
American Civil War the Federals at Cold 
Harbour and at Fredericksburg, and Pickett’s 
Virginians at Gettysburg, had similar tasks, 
but not nearly so impossible. In fact, the 
Virginians did actually reach the Northern 
lines, though only to reel back half annihilated. 
At Khartoum the British lines were not 
reached at all, and for sheer gallantry 
the honours of the day rested with the 
defeated. 
