116 
ACHIEVEMENTS OP FIELD ARTILLERY. 
guns were relied upon to support eitlier division should it meet with a 
check, and cover their rally for a second effort. The official account of 
the war states that the effect produced by our guns on the Egyptians 
throughout the campaign had been immense, and that it was expected 
that in the event of our meeting with a reverse our artillery fire would 
have been overpowering. 
Had the divisions not carried the position with a rush, artillery, 
completely in the open under musketry fire from an intrenched foe 
flushed with the repulse of an infantry assault, must have been placed 
in so trying a situation that it says much for what our guns had done 
on previous occasions that it was in contemplation to assign it to them. 1 
The infantry, however, fully answered the demands upon them, as it 
was tolerably certain that they would, and therefore the guns were 
never really called upon in the last action of the war. 
The marked effect which artillery had produced on previous occasions 
haviug been referred to, it is right to notice the part played by a weak 
detachment of the arm in the very first fight which took place on the 
banks of the canal. It is on a very small scale, but the impression 
made by the guns was far-reaching, and the behaviour of those who 
handled them under trying circumstances formed one of the most 
brilliant episodes of the short struggle. 
When the force which was intended to strike the decisive blow of the 
war landed at Ismailia, it was found that the water in the sweet water 
canal was rapidly falling, and that the enemy were endeavouring to cut 
off our supply. It therefore became desirable to push forward a small 
force rapidly to protect the canal from injury, and, as the spot at 
Magfar where injury could most readily be inflicted, lay but a few 
miles to our front, it was happily possible to start it off* immediately. 
On the 24th of August, therefore, a force consisting of three squadrons 
of Household Cavalry,two guns of “N” Battery, “A” Brigade, 2 R.H.A., 
a detachment of the 19th Hussars, and some Mounted Infantry were 
sent to join General Graham at Nefisha, and, with the 2nd Battalion 
York and Lancaster, and Royal Marine Artillery, moved out under him 
for Magfar. 
The enemy’s outposts at Magfar fell back before the advance of our 
cavalry towards Tel-el-Maskuta, a point on the canal where it was 
now ascertained that a second dam had been constructed, and that a 
strong force of his infantry was there in position. 
Seeing an opportunity of striking a more telling blow than would be 
involved in merely destroying a dam, Sir Garnet Wolseley determined 
to push on and engage the enemy in an important action. A message 
was, therefore, sent to Ismailia to call forward the brigade of Guards 
and all the artillery and cavalry that were disembarked and ready to 
move. 
Meanwhile a delaying action must be fought by what had become 
the advanced guard of the force behind. 
General Graham’s infantry were got into position, therefore, about 
3200 yards from the enemy’s position on the Tel-el-Maskuta dam, and 
1 “ The Campaign in Egypt in 1882,” by Colonel J. F. Maurice, p. 74. 
2 <e N ” Battery, u A” Brigade was reduced in February, 1884, and-has neyer been re-formed. 
