The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1880-07-30

selves in the defle, and they retreated to
our fortifications on the sea coast. Their
report Of affairs did not, by any means,
add confidence to the troops arriving to
reinforce them.
I" In the spring of 1875, Ratib Pasha,
myself and other Generals, with $4,000
men, landed on the shores Of the Red sea,
where we had foFti6cation, having been
conveyed to that point by steamer. Leav-
ing . good garrison, we marched, with
camel transportation, to the interior.
Abyssinia rises gradually from the coast
until it sttains height of three or four
thousand feet, when you come suddenly
on table land. The country resembles
Mexico, from Vera Cruz to the summit of
the mountains, only not 30 high, more
than anything know Of When about
fifty miles inland, we constructed two
forts, about six miles apart, and our main
body continued to advance.
By reconnoitering, discovered that
King John was on the move, and was
circling around us with q formidable
army In Abyssinia the women and chill
dren go with the fighting men.
THE ENEMY
dev CURED everything in the country be-
fore and around them. They were badly
off for water and provisions, and myself
and other Generals concluded that King
John must break through our lines, or at
tempt that movement, or else perish with
all his horde.
In this emergency, we advised Ratib
Pasha to concentrate our forces between
the two forts, and, using them for points
of support, impose a barrier between the
savages and their object. The Pasha
would not follow our counsel, but marched
the army out to meet King John. That
person desired nothing better He came
on like q thunder storm. In the open
field the untried Egyptians could not
stand the shock. The cavalry was thrown
back upon the infantry in dire confusion.
The infantry lost their order and became
demoralized. From rank to rank terror
spread. In vain did my white staff and
all the American and foreign officers draw
their swords and implore the fugitives to
turn and fight. Some of my bravest aids
were killed in performing this duty. We
looked for the Pasha, but he had left in
great haste, followed by his staff. The
slaughter was horrible, and the carnage
was only stopped when, at length, we
managed to partially rally the fngitives
inside the walls of one of the forts-the
one nearest to the coast
at is not my province, nor do I desire,
to say anything that would offend the
Khedive, and / refrain from expressing
myself harshly relative to the conduct Of
his chosen officers. Our wounded covered
the country, and they would not even al
low me to take out force of cavalry
and bring the poor devils in. That was
on March Z. We lay in the fort all next
day, expecting an attack at any moment.
Aheia Ahe aaB%ea IN thaa IpagiRS Of wMasfA
rounded us amphitheatrically, covered
with Abyssinians These were the women
and children, which we did not know
then, the distance being too far.
Just as the sun was rising, the war
riors, headed by three chiefs, came pour
ing down the defile
LIKE HUMAN TORRENTS.
/ have seen many grand things, but that
was the grandest spectacle ever my eyes,
or those of any civilized man beheld. The
ground seemed covered with men, while
above them tossed wild flowers, spears
glittered by thousands, and shields and
bracelets flashed in the beams of that
cloudless African sun. An immense skirm-
ish line, well armed, was flung forward
to attack US at close quarters To hear
the yelling you would think the day of
final account had come. Our Egyptians
had plucked up some courage and fought
very handsomely. Suddenly black col
umn of about 700 men separated itself
from the Abyssinian army and rushed
straight for one of the angles of our fort.
We had but $500 men left, so you may
Judge the odds. To the threatened angle,
with pistol or earbine, every American
and white officer rushed. With our Rem
ington repeaters, with grape and canister,
fred at close range, we smote that tre-
mendous column again and again. With
savage shouts, which expressed courage
/ have never seen excelled, the dusky
enemy rallied at every murderous dis
charge, and came right up to the muzzIes
of our guns. Why the other columns
did not attack is astonishing, because,
had the attack been Simultaneous, we
would have been slaughtered to man.
ave bent every energy to the work
before us, and concentrated all our deadly
FIRE on that terrible column. At length,
torn through and through, with swaths
of men lying heaped up on every side,
the enemy gave despairing yell, turned
and fed. Their whole army stampeded
with them, and we were again able to
breathe freely, but felt sad and sore at
heart.
THE ABYssINIANs
had taken eight hundred of our people
prisoners, including some white officers
When they retreated they left behind
many wounded, and these the Egyptians,
infiamed to fury, butchered as they lay.
al went, with other chiefs, TO the Pasha,
who had fortified himself and his friends
with big loayes of bread, famous for keep
ing of balls, in the middle of the fort,
and begged of him to stay the hand of
the soldiery, If not for humanity, at least
for policy's sake. Nothing wss done to
stop the dreadfnl work and said to the
Pasha, Mark you, sir, feel it my duty
to say to you unless you save the wound
ed enemy the Abyssinians viii return to
night and find out all about this butchery,
then they viii 60 back and slay our pris-
oners TO the last man. Neither had this
any effect. ! recommended that the dead
be buried, but, instead, the Egyptians col.
lected wood and burned the bodies, add
ing hideousness to the scene. Had the
Re~ha han \ raan fsf in1OmouN ax,1 an,