The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-09-05
AbduIIah, with His Harem, and Os-
man Digna, His Chief General,
Fleeing to the Desert.
BRITISH LOSS TWO HUNDRED
WHILE THOUSANDS OF DERvIsHEs
LEFT DEAD ON THE FIELD.
One Newspaper Correspondent killed
and Another Injured-CeIe-
bratinE in London.


OAIDURAIAN, opposite Khartoum, on the
Nile. Nubia. Sept. 2, by camel post to Nazri,
Sept. 4.-The Sirdar. together with Gen. Sir
Herbert Kitchener, with the khalifas black
standard. captured during the battle, en-
tered Omdurman. the capital of Mahdism,
at o'clock this afternoon, at the head of
the Anglo-Egyptian column, after COM
pletely routing the Dervishes and dealing a
death blow to Mahdism. Roughly our losses
were two hundred. while thousands of the
Dervishes were killed or wounded.
Last night the AngIo-Egyptian army en-
camped at Agaiza, eight miles from Om-
durman. The Dervishes were three miles
distant. At dawn to-day our cavalry. pa
trolling toward Omdurman, discovered the
enemy advancing to the attack in battle
array. chanting war songs. Their front
consisted of infantry and cavalry, stretched
ners fiuttered ever their masses, and the
copper and brass drums resounded through
the serried ranks of the savage warriors,
who advanced unwaveringly, with all their
old-time ardor. Our infantry formed up
outside the camp. On the left were the first
battalion Northumberland Fusileers. the
second battalion Lancashire Fusleers 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 Highlanders and the first
battalion Lincolnshire Regiment with Max
Inns, worked by detachment of the Royal
Artillery under Major Williams. On our
right were the Sudanese brigades COM
manded by General Maxwell and General
Macdonald. The Egyptian brigades held
the reserves and both f1anks were supported
by the Maxim Nordenfeldt batteries. At
7:2O a. m. the enemy crowded the ridges
above the camp and advanced steadily in
enveloping formation. At 7:4O o'clock our
artillery opened fire, which was answered
by the Dervish rifemen. Their attack de-
Veloped on our left, and, in accordance with
their traditional tactics, they swept down
the hillside with the design of rushing our
nank But the whitening fire maintained for
nfteen minutes by all our line frustrated the
attempt. The Dervishes baked and swept
toward our center, on which they concen-
trated fierce attack. A large force of
norsemen. trying to face a continuous hail
OF bullets from the Cameron Highlanders.
the Lincolnshire Regiment and the Sudan
ese, 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 overstated. Those who carried the flags
struggled to within few hundred yards of
fighting line url,f
absolutely threw their lives away in hold
charges. When the Dervishes withdrew n
the ridge in front of their camp the whole
force marched In echelon of battalions to-
ward Omdurman. AS our troops surmounted
the crest adjoining the Nile, the Sudanese
on our right came into contact with the
enemy. who had reformed under cover of a
rocky eminence and had massed beneath
the black standard OF the khalifa in order
10 make supreme effort to retrieve the
fortunes OF the day. A mass, Is. 900 strong
bore down on the Sudanese.
General kitchner swung round the CEN
ter and left of the Sudanese and seized the
rocky eminence and the Egyptians, hither-
10 IN reserve, Joined the firing line in ten
minutes and before the Dervishes could
drive their attack home. The flower of the
khalifa's army was caught in a depression
and within a zone of whitening cross-fire
from three brigades, with the attendant ar
ullery. The devoted Mahdists strove he
roically to make headway, but every rush
was stopped, while their main body was lit
orally mown down by sustained deadly
cross-f1re.
Dehantly the Dervishes planted their
STANDARDS and died beside them. Their
dense masses gradually melted to companies
and fha mt
leaden hail. Finally they broke and fed
leaving the field white with Jibbah-clad
corpses, like a snow-drift dotted meadow
At 11:15 the Sirdar ordered an advance and
our whole force in line drove the scattered
remnant of the foe into the desert. our
cavalry cutting off their retreat to Ondur-
man.
Among the chief incidents of the battle
was brilliant charge by the Twenty-first
dancers under Lieutenant Colonel Martin
Galloping down on detached body of the
enemy. they found the Dervish swordsmcn
massed behind and were forced to charge
home against appalling odds The lancers
hacked through the mass, rallied and keat
the Dervish horde al bay Lieutenant c,ran-
fell. nephew OF General Sir Francis Gren-
FELL was killed. four other officers were
wounded, twefity-one men were killed and
twenty wounded.
The Egyptian cavalry was in close fight
ing throughout with the Baggara horsemen
For short period the enemy captured and
held the gun, but It was brilliantly rctaken
The heroic bravery of the Dervishes evoked
universal admiration. Time after time their
dispersed and broken forces reformed and
hurled themselves on the Anglo-Egvptians
their Emirs conspicuousIy leading ana