The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1898-10-29


ting off their retreat. About sixty camel
men bit the dust in the first few volleys,
but the searching fire of the Melik made
the enemy waver, and soon they COM
menced to retire. apparently little discon-
certed. though the ground was strewed
with their dead and dying. leaving thir-
teen hundred slain upon the field. They
now slowly trudged northward toward
the black standard. round which from
10, coo to 90 600 white gibbas glistened in
the sun.
The situation now flashed on me in
moment. Far from being beaten in
their attack on the square. they had
cleverly found out our weak flank.
The main body had given the British
wing a wide berth. though still making
a bold show in our front, and were now
concentrating for a supreme effort to
break through the Egyptian brigades, un-
der Lewis, Macdonald and Maxwell. form
ing our right flank In the meantime the
sirdar, with reckless anxiety to reach
Omdurman, and coming to the conclusion
that the dervishes in his front, checked
by the fire from our square, might retire
to the town. sounded the advance, order
ing the Twenty first lancers, screening the
Thirty-second battery and the left flank,
to- clear the ground of the enemy
With splendid audacity this small body
of horse-some three hundred and fifty
troopers commenced the work. Since the
beginning of the fight had noticed about
fifteen hundred dervish spear and swords
men had been lying perdu in depression
Of the ground on our left front, and as
yet had not Fbeen in action. The gallant
leader of the lancers, Col Martin, taking
this party for a remnant of the left der
wish frontal attack, gave the order to
charge, and a column of dust was all
could see of one of the most brilliant and
reckless charges in the history of cavalry.
They were too close to the enemy to
couch Iances effectively and the casual
ties of the gallant horsemen would have
been fewer If they had discarded these
weapons for the swords, Arriving on the
verge of the shallow nullah, the enemy
confronted them. a perfect wall Of swords
and spears. only too anxious to meet,
them. With the impetus of the charge
a lane was opened up through the der
wish ranks, which closed on the horsernen
as they passed through, the dervishes
hacking at the horses with their long
swords, and a melee commenced which
is probably the bloodiest on record.
The troopers shortened their lances, and
stabbed and butted their way through
the dervish masses reforming and re-
charging. But the enemy still showed
bold front, ham-stringing their horses,
and slashing at all unfortuna tes who
had fallen, till their faces were unrecog-
nizable. One of the troop commanded
ing to his horse stumbling, and was i'm
mediately cut to pieces, which was the
case with the majority of men who had
lost their mounts. Among the many
heroic deeds in this famous charge was
another officer saved by comrade, who
dismounted, and assisting him to slip up
behind him, rode to the rallying point,
saying: II will do the riding, you can
do. the, shooting" as he handed him his
revolver.
This plucky charge cost the Twenty
first twenty-three officers and men killed
and forty-five wounded, ,thirty-one horses
killed and thirty-eight wounded. Almost
simultaneously with this daring, British
exploit the deryish attack on the Egyp:
tian flank commenced north of Kerriri.
!. Macdonald 8 brigade had Just moved out
of square formation to- keep in touch
with the general movement in echelon
heading toward Omdurman, when the
enemy, from 10000 to $1,000 strong, rally
ing around the black standard, came into
sight over the Kerriri hills The general
Immediately formed two sides of square
with thanking Maxims, and the toughest
infantry fight of the day commenced.
The dervishes steadily advanced with
supreme confidence in their power to de-
stroy the Egyptian battalions, for thou
sands of these men confronting us had
dealt with Egyptians under. Hicks Pasha,
but this time they soon found that they
had to do battle with, though similar ma
terial as of yore, an article that had been
drilled, disciplined and nodded into a
splendid fighting machine by the patience
and perseverance of British officers.
In spite of the excellence Of the Egyp-
tan fire the dervishes came on, leaving
hills of slain and dying in their wake,
still confident that at close quarters the
Egyptians must fall back. In perfect
touch with each other, the Egyptians
steadily held their ground. The sirdar,
now seeing the seriousness Of this fresh
attack, in answer to Macdonald's request
for British regiment, at last sent Wall
chope to his support with the Seaforths
and Lincolns. Doubling back to the right
flank, the latter regiment, coming up on
the right Of the Tenth Soudanese, were
just in time to prevent serious situa-
ton, for the majority of Macdonald's
men had fired away their ammunition till
they were down to three cartridges per
man. ..> - ~
At the same time Tudway's camel men
dlsmounted from their beasts and joined
the fighting line In fact, Macdonald had
not one man too many to stem the sud.
den onslaught. Three thousand dervishes
were, either manned or struggling in their
death agony In front Of Macdonald's bril-
gade before they showed signs that they
had had enough of it, when they began
to sullenly retire southwestwardly, but
not before their cavalry had made a SUI
preme effort to break the Egyptian ranks
"a charge in its way as brilliant as that
of the Twenty-f1rst lancers, which had
taken place but a few minutes before.
-Four hundred Baggara horse, ostensibly
escorting the banners of Osman Azrak
and Yakub, the brother of the khalifa,
suddenly made desperate charge on the
Egyptian lines. Starting OF at a hard
canter, they increased their speed, till
they raced forward into the very Jaws,
OF death--into the sweeping fire of the
Maxims. Many, Keeling in their saddles,
their squirting veins clothing their white
gibbas with deep red, still swung their
crusader swords with impotent fury at
their adversaries, till they lost their bal
ance and toppled over to the ground,
Many of their sweating steeds, speckled
With foam and blood, continued the charge
right home
Others, their horses stumbling and
plunging. riddled with bullets, rose from
under their dying chargers and. with
shouts of the Prophet on their lips, hur-
ried forward ON foot till they withered
away under the deadly hail from the
Egyptian lines. This Baggara charge
took place about fifteen minutes past 10
a. M, and practically ended the battle.
though desultory firing continued till D.
M, when all the brigades, black, brown
and white, were en- route to Omdurman.
This unlocked for flank attack of the
Khalifa on our right raised the battle
of Omdurman-in spite Of the overwhelm-
Ing numbers of the enemy-from a mere
one-sided butchery to the dignity of a
we'll balanced fight The Khalifa's tao
tics after ALL were not by any means
contemplate. He made a strong frontal
attack while he tried to work round our
TANKS. On his right side the British
brigade appeared too strong for hir. so
he tried the left, which was COMO
Of khedival troops, the sirdar unwittingly
playing into his hands by the rather