Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1885-01-29
Ell MAHDI REPULSED.
The British Force Marching to
GOrdOn's Relief Attacked.
Hordes Of Arabs Throw Themselves
Upon q Hollow Square.

despatch has been received at the war
Office in London from General Lord Wolseley.
which reads substantially as follows:
General Stewart has had heavy engage
ment with a portion of the Mahdi's forces
near the Abu-Klsa wells, about twenty-three
miles this side of Metemnef. The
rebels had collected from Berber. Met
emneh and Omduraman- This last place,
1 regret to say, the prisoners report
was recently captured by the Mahdi
and thus the men were released from there fa,
light General Stewart On the afternoon w
January 10 General Stewards cavalry re-
ported that the enemy were in position some
lew miles this side Of the wells. As it was
TOO late IN the day to allow an advance and
successful encounter General Stewart
blvouacked where he was for the night.
Inc enemy kept up O harmless fire all
night and erected works on General Stewards
right flank On Saturday General Stewart
endeavored to draw the enemy on to make
an attack, but the rebels hesitated In con-
sequence Of this General Stewart left alI INN
lmpediments and eamels under guard Of tHe
Sussex regiment and some mounted infantry
and moved forward, keeping his forces
IN the form of square. Ali the men were on
loot. The British army passed around the
enenYS left flank, forcing them to make am
attack or be subject to an infilade fire. The
enemy wheeled to the left and delivered d
We'll organized charge under Witnering
tire from our men. The square was unfortu-
nately penetrated about its left rear.
where heavy cavalry and camel
regiment were in position. by sheer vvaioF1f ,f
numbers The admirable steadiness 81 our
men enabled them to maintain a hand-to
hand fight with the opposing forces while Sc
we're punishment was being inflicted upon the
enemy by all other parts Of the square The
enemy were finally driven back under heavy
fire from all Sides
The Ninefnanfh Hu=SarS +ho,, ,,,,ey.,.4 -.
ward to the wells, which were in our posses
sion by in the evening. The enemy left not
less than 500 slain around the square Pris-
oners who were taken while the enemy were
retiring report that the number Of the
enemy who were wounded was ouite excnn-
aonal. One immediate effect of the bat
tie is that many of the rebels are sub
mlttIng. 1t was necessary for the army to
remain at the wells some hours to obtain
water. As soon as practicable the intention
was to push on with all expedition to Metem-
neh. The English wounded are doing well
General Lord w Wolseley says General Stewart
concludes his reports as follows:
1T has been my duty to command a force
from which exceptional work. exceptional
hardship and exceptional fighting have been
called for. 1t would be impossible to ade-
quately describe the admirable support given
to me by every officer and man of the force
regret to say that our loss was severe, but
our success has been SO complete that it NAV
dishearten the enemy to such an extent that
all their future fighting may be Of a less OBJ
stlnate character
General Lord Wolseley says General Stew
arts operations have been most creditable to
him as a commander and the nation has
every reason to be proud Of the gallan1ry and
splendid spirit Of her majestY's soldiers on
this occasion Our losses were nine COM
mlssoned officers killed and nine wounded
and slxLY-tive commissioned officers and
~,
Stewards force consists of about ], 500 men all
told.
Among the number Of the British who fell
was Lieutenant Colonel Burnaby. who made
the famous "Ride to Khivan Beside Col
onel BuTnaby the following were killed: Ma
Jor carmichael, Of the Fifth Lancers; Major
Atherton, of the Fifth Dragons: Major
Cough, OF the Royal Dragons; Captain
barley and Lieutenant Law, of the Fourth
Dragons; Lieutenant Wolfe, of the Scots
Greys and 1leutenants Pigott and Delisle
o. the Naval Brigade. Lord st. Vincent and
Lord Airlie were wounded.
Colonel Burnaby was killed by thrust OF
an Arabs spear, which entered his neck and
severed the Jugular vein. When General
Stewards horse was ahot the rider fell to the
ground and was badly shaken, but he soon
recovered and obtained another mount Gen.
Stewards orderly was killed by his side The
English soldiers had had neither food nor
water since the night before the battle
The battle was fearful hand-to-hand fight
Most Of the Arabs were armed with spears
and protected by spiked shields Of ox-hide.
They rushed to close quarters and swarmed
over the bodies Of their dead and wounded
comrades The English troops, after the
first few rounds had been fired, fought with
shortened sabres and with sword bayonets
welded at half-arm length.
The news Of battle in Egypt surprised
the government, as severe fighting was not
expected Serious doubts are expressed as to
whether General Wolseley's force is sufficient
| Iy strong to reach Khartoum. Colonel Bur
naby's death is greatly deplored in London.
He was favorite in all the clubs and In
political and military circles, where the news
has been the great topic Of conversation. His
death has been more talked about than the
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