A
HOT FIGHTING AT FERKEH
Published: July 12, 1896
Copyright © The New York Times
A
Night March in Two Divisions and over Difficult Roads, and Then an Attack So
Energetic that the Dervishes, after a Desperate Stand, Were Forced to Fly for
Their Lives into the Desert-An Eye
Witness’s
Description:
First
of the London papers to publish a detailed account of the battle at Ferkeh in
which Gen. Kitchener defeated the follower of the Mahdi’s army, was The
Chronicle. That journal’s special correspondent in the Soudan was an eye
witness of the fight, and after it was over he rode hastily back to Akasheh,
while his rivals rested at Ferkeh. From Akasheh his letter went by camel post
to Ambigol Wells and was telegraphed to England. The enterprising correspondent
had been in the saddle just twenty hours when he reached Akasheh, having
meanwhile made the trip to Ferkeh, seen the battle, written his story, and
returned. His account of this very important engagement fellows: At 2 P. M. on
Saturday, (June 6,) I was told to be ready to march out with the infantry at 4
P. M. It was to be a night march, followed by an attack at dawn. Starting at 4,
we would have about two and three-quarter hours of daylight, but the most
difficult part of the march would have to be done by starlight only, namely,
the passing of the staff, three infantry brigades with their mounted officers,
the I00 camels or the ammunition reserve, and another 100 with the hospital
equipment, over a narrow and broken path. along the river bank, the worst portion
being a mere cornice of rock above the Nile, were men and animals had to move
cautiously one by one in the darkness. The result was, or course, long and
weary halts, slow short mounts. and though we started at 4 it was nearly 2 A.
M. when the rear guard, with the last of the camels, reached the bivouac, between
eleven and twelve miles south of Akasheh, near the deserted village of
Sarkamatto. There are two routes from Akasheh to Ferkeh, (1) the desert route
by a series of sandy Khors east of the mass of rocky hills, of which Dal
Mountain is the highest point and Jebel Ferkeh the southern summit; (2') the
river route, partly by rocky and sandy khors in the desert on the western side
of the hills, partly near or upon the river banks. Its last three miles is a
plain between Sarkamatto and Ferkeh, sloping from the hills to the river bank.
The desert route was the really easy route for an army. The river route seemed
all but impossible, and was therefore carelessly watched by the enemy. So the
Sirdar choseit for his main advance. The Sirdar's plan was to send Major Burn-Murdoch
up the desert route with a mounted force. composed of one battery of horse
artillery; 800 sabres, cavalry; 670 rifles, camel corps; 717 officers and men
of the Twelfth Soudanese, mounted on transport camels till they reached the
actual scene of action, and two Maxim guns. In all, Burn-Murdoch had some 2,500
men. They were to be in position on the hills east of Ferkeh by 4:30 A.M. on
Sunday, concealing their presence from the enemy, keeping so far back as to be
out of the field of fire of the river column, and opening with their artillery
as soon as they heard their guns. At about 5 A. M. they were to use their artillery
and Maxims to break up from the flank any attempt of the enemy to mass for a
charge, and when Ferkeh was taken they were to have the cavalry and camel ‘men ready
to fall on the flank of the retiring dervishes, and pursue southward, the object
being to destroy and capture all their force. The Sirdar himself had in the river
route column the following force: Two mule and camel batteries, (12 guns,) two Maxims,
and Hunter Pasha’s infantry division of three brigades. The Brigadiers and
their regiments were: First Brigade (Lewis Bey)-Third Egyptians, Fourth
Egyptians, Tenth Soudanese; Second Brigade, (MacDonald Bey)-Ninth Soudanese,
Eleventh Soudanese, Thirteenth Soudanese; Third Brigade, (Maxwell Bey)-Second
Egyptians, Seventh Egyptians, and Eighth Egyptians. In all the river column
mustered over 7,000 men. They were to halt near Sarkamatto and bivouac without
fires. There was to be no noise of any kind, no lights, not so much as a
burning cigarette tip; no bugles were to sound, and, if any of the enemy’s patrols
were met they were to be bayoneted, no rifles being discharged on any account.
The troops were to be ready to attack Ferkeh at 5 A. M.I The discipline of the
troops was excellent. The night march was absolutely silent, and at the bivouac
it was hard to realize that 7,000 men were around one in the darkness. The camels
(which no power on earth can keep silent) were kept well to the rear in a rocky
hollow. I got just one hour of sleep on the sand by the track and at 3 A. M.
was getting breakfast and preparing to move. A few minutes before 4:00AM, I
mounted my horse and rode forward. I soon found the Third Brigade, marching in
darkness and silence, and rode with them till the dawn began, about 4:30, when
I gradually worked my way nearer the front of the long infantry column. The
light had increased, so that one could see the bold plateau of Ferkeh Mountain
against the sky in front to the left, and the shadowy line of palms along the
river on the right-between was a narrow sandy plain with scattered rocks. Daylight
came quickly, but at 5 all was still silent in front. I was then about one and
a half miles north of Ferkeh, and it struck me the place must have been evacuated
in the night. But the fact was that the dervish outposts were in the broken ground
a few hundred yards in advance of the village, and did not sight our leading brigade
till we were close Up. But just at 5:05came a patter of rifle shots, and then
the deep boom of one of Burn-Murdoch's guns from beyond Jebel Ferkeh. A minute later
one of our own mountain batteries was in action on the rocky slope west of the
hill, and one heard volley firing from Lewis's brigade. I put my horse to a
sharp canter so long as the ground allowed, and made for the slope between the
mountain and the village, which seemed to promise a good view. As I passed
along the column, it was pleasant to see how the men were quickening the pace.
They evidently meant business. We had heard Hammuda’s corps was about 4,000
strong. It certainly seemed to me that there was even a larger force pitted
against us, but in the broken ground they held it was not easy to estimate
their numbers accurately. The village ran for a mile along the
river-well-built, clay-walled houses, with numerous straw tukuls for the
extra force assembled there-and on an island a great castellated structure partly
in ruin. Three large mounds of clay rose among the rocks on the east side of
the place. The First Brigade, under Lewis, was advancing against the north end
of the village, the Egyptians near the river, the Third leading, the Tenth
Soudanese on their left MacDonald's Soudanese brigade was pushing forward
between the village and the hills, and as space was made for it, Maxwell’s
Egyptian brigade pushed in between the First and Second, so as to form the
centre. The whole then pivoted on its right so as to close in upon the north and
east of the village, while Burn-Murdoch’s camel men of the Twelfth worked forward
along the hills to bring its south approaches under fire. The dervishes made a
hard fight. Surprised they might be, but there was not a vestige of panic.
Their spearmen tried to check the advance of the second brigade but the sharp
and steady volleys of the Sudanese and the fire of the guns and the Maxims from
the hills drove them back. They never even succeeded in massing outside the
rocks they held. On our right the dervish cavalry charged Lewis's Egyptian battalions.
and were met and beaten back with two heavy volleys. So far there had been a
pattering are of dervish rifles from various points in the rocky ground before
us. but now the Jehadia, their trained black troops, tried to advance against
our left. I should say there were fifteen to eighteen hundreds of them. They
formed a dense line so far as I could see. three deep. and for a few minutes
their fire was heavy and rapid. They came on boldly out of cover and along
their black line one saw a ceaseless blaze of fire from right to left each man
loading and pulling trigger as fast as he could. It was the critical moment of
the fight. Would the long. thin line of the Egyptian Army hold its own? Yes;
steady volleys answered the rapid fire of the Jehadia, and then from the hills
came the rattling din of our Maxims and the deeper voice of the guns. and the
shrapnel burst into white rings of smoke just in front of the dervish line.
Such
a storm of fire was never seen in the Soudan before, and the wonder was that
the Jehadia held their own for even a few minutes. As a spectacle it was
magnificent. The village the bright river all bathed in the morning sunlight,
the contending lines, bright with fire flashes and wreathed in smoke, and
Ferkeh Mountain sending back the echoes of the guns from its dark precipices. Hurrah!
the Jehadia are retiring. Taking cover among the rocks. and on goes our line
after them. to hunt them out. The guns send a storm of shells into the village and
then the three brigades close in upon it and we can see a great hollow square before
us. The lines were dressed as if for a review. The men on the left and right faces
fired steadily half left and half right. But neither the artillery preparation
for the attack nor the volley firing lasted long. The Sirdar meant to save
ammunition. The word was given, and in our fellows went with the bayonet, and
gradually cleared the place from north to south. There were some tough
hand-to-hand fights in the lanes and in the houses. In one corner alone of the
great village we counted 126 dervishes dead. By 6:30 o’clock Ferkeh was ours,
and then we heard the fire of the pursuit rolling away southward. and on the
other bank the skirmishing of our friendlies hunting down those who had swum
across. Hammuda was found dead outside the village. He must have been killed
early in the fight. None of the British officers was hit-a wonderful escape,
for they were in the saddle in the firing line, and the dervish Remington being
mostly cut down to carbine length, carried high. There are several dervishes
wounded in the field hospital. It is no easy matter to help them, as the
wounded dervish has an ugly habit of jumping up and stabbing anyone who
approaches him. I myself saw our principal medical officer, Hunter, go out with
the stretcher men to move a wounded dervish, but one of the men kept his rifle ready.
The women seem to have been mostly sent away. One child, a boy. Lay dead in the
village, killed by a chance shot. The women who remained were laughing and
joking with the soldiers, and most of the prisoners were anxiously inquiring whether
they could not enlist in our Soudanese regiments. The village is full of dead,
for the bayonet and Martini volleys at close quarters make very sure work. In
all the hollows of the broken ground dervishes are lying dead or wounded. In
one I found six dead in a row, killed by the Maxim. All through the village the
dead lay in and near the houses, mostly with a look of repose on their faces,
which had not the collapsed look of men who have died of disease. Even where
the - wounds were terrible the face seemed in repose. On a sloping path at the
north end of the village a bearded man lay dead, his back to the slope, so that
he seemed to face me as I urged my horse up it. The right side of his forehead
was simply blown out by a Maxim bullet, but despite the gaping wound there was
no sign of pain, terror, or excitement on the dead features. If the wound had
been covered, one might have thought he was resting. There is not the ashy
paleness of a dead European face. One hears of the rivers of blood shed on the
battlefield. That is poetry. There was very little blood on most of the dead.
Sometimes it was hard to say where the wound was that had laid them low. In
some of the houses there had been fierce fighting, and in one there was a heap
of dead-six or eight-in the open courtyard. Some- times, too, one saw signs of
the completeness of our surprise-the cooking of the morning meal begun and
suddenly interrupted as the storm of fire burst upon the village. I did not
realize the full boldness of our night march till I saw in the daylight the rough,
stony track and the narrow ledges of rock above the river which we had traversed
in the darkness of Saturday night.
Near
this pass, as I rode inside the belt of palms on the river bank, a man in a
very suspicious dress came out of the bush. It looked very like the new
ornamented jibbas I had seen on several of the Mahdist dead and prisoners a few
hours before. I loosed my pistol in its holster, and then, affecting a coolness
I did not feel, wished him good day. He returned my greeting and saluted me,
and then I used my small stock of Arabic to exchange a few remarks with him. He
expressed great delight at hearing of the dervish defeat, but my friends here thought
he was a dervish fugitive. He retired into the bush as I rode away. A little
further on I had a narrow escape from an undoubted dervish, probably a scout
cut off by our advance. He was on my track, _and it would have been a question
of a tired man with a revolver against a dervish spear, had not three of the
friendlies happily come in sight and sent him racing for his life up one of the
khors. The friendlies are everywhere in the hills and now make a clean sweep of
all astray dervishes to be found in them. Half-way to Akasheh I was overtaken by a cavalry
soldier riding with a dispatch, and the rest of our journey We made together.
After to-day. I take it, the desert and river routes to Ferkeh will be as safe as
a London street, for the friendlies have just (9:30 A. M.) marched in 136 dervish
prisoners, captured at various points southeast of Akasheh. A few who were so foolish
as to resist capture were shot, but the news of Ferkeh generally produced a prompt
surrender.
Burn-Murdoch
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