The Globe-republican., 1898-09-08
ROUTED THE DERV|SHES.
AngIo-Egyptian Troops Utterly An
initiate Them.
THEIR ATTACK BRAvELY MET.
Fanatics Compelled to Give Way to Dis
elpllne-Were Literally Mown Down
Regiments Melt to Companies, the Lat
ter to Squads-D;e Under Standards.

l. Ter TO SQU0OS@Oip lnOef St800af0S,
OMDURMAN, on THE NILE, Nubia,
Sept. 1.-The sirdar General Sir Her
bert Kitchener, with the khalifa's
black standard, captured during the
battle, entered Omdurman, the capital
of Mahdiam, at 4 O'Clock this after
noon, at the head of the Anglo-Egyp-
tian column, after completely routing
the dervishes and dealing a death
blow to Mahdiam.
Roughly our losses were 200, while
thousands of the dervishes were killed
and wounded.
Last night the Anglo Egyptian army
cncamped at Agaiza, eight miles from
Omdurman. The dervishes were three
miles distont. At dawn to-day our
cavalry, patroliing toward Omdurman,
discovered the enemy advancing to
the attack in battle array, chanting
war songs. Their front consisted of
infantry and cavalry, stretched out for
three or four miles. Countless ban
ners fiuttered over their masses and
the copper and brass drums rcsound-
ed through the serried ranks of
the savage warriors, who ad-
vanced unwaveringly with all their
oldtime ardor Our infantry formed
up outside the camp. On the left were
the first battalion Northumberland
fusileers, the second battalion Lam
cashire fusileers and the first battalion
grenadier guards, with the Maxim
battery, manned by the royal Irish
fusileers. In our center were the first
battalion Warwickshire regiment, the
first battalion Cameron Hlghlanders
and the first battalion Lincolnshire
regiment with Maxims worked by a
detachment Of the royal artillery,
under Major Williams. On our right
| was the Soudanese brigade, command
ed by General Maxwell and General
| Macdonald. The Egyptian brigades,
commanded by General Maxwell, were
supported by the Maxim-Nordenfelt
batteries.
At 7:20 a. N. the enemy crowded the
ridges above the camp and advanced
steadily in enveloping formation. At
1:40 our artillery opened fire, which
was answered by the dervish rificmen.
Their attack developed on our left;
and in accordance with their tradi
tional tactics, they swept down the
hillside with the design of rushing our
flank. But the whitening fire main
tanned for fifteen minutes by all our
line frustrated the attempt, and the
dervishes baked, swept toward our
center, upon which they concentrated
a fierce attack. A large force of horse
men, trying to face a continuous hail
of bullets from the Cameron High
landers, the Lincolnshire regiment
| and the Soudanesc, was literally swept
away, leading to the withdrawal of
the entire body, whose dead strewed
the field.
The bravery of the dervishes can
hardly be Overestimated. Those who
carried the flags struggled to within
a few hundred yards of our fighting
line, while the mounted emirs abso-
lutely threw their lives away in bold
charges.
When the dervishes withdrew be-
hind the ridge in front OF their camp
the whole force marched in echelon of
battalions toward Omdurman. AS our
troops surmounted the crest adjoining
the Nile, the Soudanesc on our right
came in contact with the enemy, who
had reformed under cover of a rocky
cminencc and had massed beneath the
black standard of the lxhalifa in order
70 1yn off
the fortunes of the day. A mass,
5000 strong bore down upon the
Soudanese.
General Kitchener swung round the
center and left of the Soudanese and
seized the rocky eminence, and the
Egyptians, hitherto in reserve, joined
the firing line in ten minutes, and be-
tack home.
The flower of the khalifas army
was caught in depression and within
zone of whitening crossfire from
three brigades from the ate ndant ar
tillery. The devoted Mahdists strove
heroically to make Roadway, but every
rush was stopped, while their main
body was literally mown down by q
sustained deadly crossfre.
Dsfantly the dervishes planted their
standards and died beside them. Their
dense masses gradually melted to COM
panies and the companies to driblets
beneath the leaden hail Finally they
broke and fed. leaving the field white
with jibbah-clad corpses, like a snow
drift dotted meadow.
At 1l:15 the sirdar ordered an adj
vance and our whole force in line
drove the scattered remnant of the
foe into the desert. our cavalry cut
ting off their retreat to Omdurman.