The times., 1898-10-03
0mdurman Was Not a Battle,
But a Necessary Massacre.
THE DERVISHES' MAD RAGE
They Rushed Upon the Gums of the
Allied Forces With the Reckless
of Fanatieism and Many
Charge OF the Tventy-First Lane
ers.

lz,uU0 or lJoUV human DelnSS VINO per-
ished there The best friends of the vic
tors, the stanchest advocates of the tri-
umph of civilization over barbarism can
not describe 1t in less gloomy terms than
as necessary massacre. 1t demon
strated once more that the courage of
fanaticism is superior to that of civiliza-
tion. Courage is perhaps the wrong
word to apply TO a reckless bravado with
which hordes Of dervishes rushed to
death. which was as futile and inevitable
as If they had flung themselves over a
precipice. Nevertheless. it Is impossible
to withhold tribute of admiration of
their savage valor. which spared nothing
In it's sacrifice to Allah
G. w. Steevens's account In the Daily
Mail of the first attack by the dervishes
upon the British and Egyptian lines says:
The First Attack.
III was now half-past 6. The flags
seemed still very distant. the roar very
faint. and the thud of our first gun was
almost startling. 1t may have startled
them. too, but II startled them into life
The line of flags swung forward and a
mass of white flying linen swung forward
with it, too. They came very fast and
they came very straight, and then pres
entity they came no farther With a
crash the bullets leaped out of the Brit
ish rifles. ShrapneI whistied and Max
inns growled sayageIy. From all the line
came perpetual fire, fire, fire. shrieked
forth in great gusts of destruction
And the enemy! No white trooper
for five minutes, but the baggara and the
blacks came on. The torrents swept into
them and hurled them down In whole
companies.
hahdism's Last and Greatest Day.
1t was the last day of Mahdism and
the greatest. They could never get near.
and they refused to hold back BY now
the ground before US was all white with
dead mems drapery. Rifles grew red-hot.
The soldiers seized them by the slings and
dragged them back to change for cool
ones. 1t was not battle, but an execu-
ton.
In the middle of IL all we were surprised
to find that We were losing men. "'hc
crash of our own fire was so urodi,yous
that we could not hear their bullets
whistle; yet they came and swocped
down and found victims. The derYishes
were firing at their extreme range and
their bullets were many of them, almost
spent, but as they always fire high they
often hit. So that while you might have
thought you were at a shoot Of rabbits
you suddenly heard the sharp cry Bear
er party there, quick. and a man was
being borne away.
But loss on this scale was not to be
considered beside the awful slaughter of
ffs. HgarNF Ffgh. how -fiH
men needed only time and ammunition
and strength to point a rifle 10 kill them
off to thevery last man. Only by now
small wonder-they were not coming on
They were not driven back; they were all
killed in coming on. One section of fire
after another hushed and by S o'clock the
village and the plain were still again. The
last shell had burst over the last visible
group of dervishes; now there was moth
ing but the unbending. grimly expectant
line before Agaica and the still carpet of
white in front.
"To Omdurman.''
1--WE waited half an hour or so. and
then the sudden bugle called US to our
feet.
:" Advance, it cried.
ITO Omdurman,' added we.
Slowly the force broke up and ex-
panded.
Movement was slow, since the leading
brigades had to wait till the others had
gone far enough inland TO take their posi-
tions We passed over corner OF the
field of fire and saw for certain what aw-
f,A slaughter we had done The bodies
were not in heaps, bodies hardly ever
are but they spread evenly over the
acres and acres.
1T was now twenty minutes to ten,
when suddenly from rearward broke out
a heavy crackle of fire. We thought per-
haps a dozen men or so had been sham
ming dead; we went on. staring at Om-
durham But next instant we had TO
turn and gallop hot-heeled back again.
For the crackle became crashing. and
the crashing waxed TO a roar. Dervishes
were firing at us from the top of Gebel
S,Irgham; dervishes were firing behind
and to the right of it.
The Charge of the Twenty-F1rst.
/ This IS Mr.. Stevens's account of the
now famous charge of the Twenty-first
Lancers, charge whereof it must De
said. as of that of the Light Brigade at
Balaklava, 1T was magnificent, but it was
not war
Knee to knee they swept Oh till they
I were but 200 yards from the enemy, then
suddenIy-then in a fiash-they saw the
trap. Between them and the 5000 there
| yawned suddenly deep ravine: out or
| the ravine there sprang Instantly cloud
| of black heads and brandished lightning
| of swords and a thunder of savage voices.
| Three thousand, if there was one, TO a
| short five hundred: but 1t was too late TO
| check now Must go through with 1t now
| The bllnders of British cavalry are the
| fertile seed of British glory. Knee to
n hsvll on
| dred yardS-fifty-knee to knee
| Slap. 1t was just like that said a
| captain. bringing his fist hard into his
| open palm. Through the swordsmen they
| shore without checking-and then came
| the khor.
Right Through the Line.
"And through everything. clean out TIE
other side. they came. those that kept up
or got up in time The others were on
the ground--im pieces by now. Twenty
four of these. and of those that came out
seveuty-feur had felt sword OF spear.
."They chafed and stamped and BIAS
| phemed to go through them, though the
colonel wisely forbade them to face the
| pit anew Forebearing second charge,
the lancers dismounted and opened fire
| The carbines at short range took IN
oppulent vengeance for the lost. Bsk.
| hack. baek.3they drove them, till they
came into the fire of the Thirty-second
Battery Then shrapnef flew shrieking
| over them. the three thousaSd fell all
| ways and died"
| None too extravagant is Mr.. Stevens :
| final tribute to the dervishes who perish
ed on OmdurmanS bic s1y field. Ii Is a
| fitting climax to the record of dreadful
day: IN,
..The honor of the fight must sttl sc