Organization and Uniforms
of the Mahdist Armies
1883-1898

Early Battles and Uniforms
1883-1885

by Doug Johnson
Illustrations by Greg Rose

THE EARLY BATTLES, 1883-5

There are almost no reliable contemporary figures for the size of various Mahdist forces in the early battles. it is only in the Eastern Sudan, under Osman Digna, that the Mahdists seemed to have kept any record of the number of troops involved. Some of the figures given here are estimates arrived at well after the event.

SHAYKAN, 1883

The Mahdi's entire army in Kordofan after the fall of El Obeid probably numbered 40-50,000 men. The Ansar had captured nearly 14,000 rifles (mainly Remington single-shot breach- loaders), and five cannons (small brass mountain guns). There were only 5-7000 trained riflemen in the entire army (almost all Sudanese who were formerly in the Egyptian army), and none of the cannons were used by the Ansar until the siege of Khartoum. There were also only about 3-4000 horsemen in the army; the rest were sword and spearmen.

Hicks' force was harrassed by a flying column of 3000 men, mostly horsemen. Another 1000 horsemen remained with the Mahdi's main army. These were used to help transport 5000 riflemen to the forest of Shaykan when Hicks' force was finally trapped. The riflemen ringed Hicks' square with continuous sniper fire. The final assault was launched by about 30,000 footmen armed with sword and spear.

FIGURE 1: Early Mahdist Warriors, 1883-85

A. Sudanese warrior, Abu Klea.

B. Sleeveless and short-sleeved jibbas, Abu Klea: collar decoration red, lozenge patch on chest red or green, waist decorations red or black, hem sometimes trimmed in red.

C. Beja warrior, 1884: cotton robe, colors: white, gray, tan, terra-cotta.

D. Early jibba, Eastern Sudan, 1885: lozenges and squares red and dark blue, borders (neck, sleeves, hem) red. Embroidered taggia (skull cap); design in red and dark blue.

E. Rizaygat baggara horseman, 1883.

ABU KLEA, 1885

The British force at Abu Klea was less than 1500 men, and at Abu Kru less than 1000 men. We have no reliable figures for the Mahdist forces at either battle. At Abu Klea there were local recruits, reinforcements from Kordofan and the main army camped outside Khartoum, as well as some former Egyptian army riflemen and a small contingent of horsemen.

The horsemen acted as scouts and kept out of the main assault, though there were mounted amirs leading their men and one compact band of about 25 horsemen in the final charge. The infantry were divided into three main groups: the riflemen who kept up a continuous skirmishing fire from behind the sand dunes before the assault (standard Ansar tactics), a main assault force of sword and spearmen from Kordofan and the Gezira (the land between the Blue and White Niles), and a reserve of local warriors. Neither the bulk of the riflemen nor any of the reserve were involved in the final charge. One estimate of the total force, given by a Mahdist prisoner (who had once been an Egyptian soldier) was 9- 11,000 men.

Estimates of the final assault force vary from 1500 to 5000. As it lost at least 1000 men killed, it most likely numbered 5000, so about half the Ansar force was involved in the main battle. The intelligence department finally estimated that the Mahdist force was composed of: 2060 men from Berber, 2000 from Metemma, 1000 f rom Khartoum, and 4-6000 from Kordofan. This force contained only some 460 ex-Egyptian army riflemen.

THE EASTERN SUDAN, 1884-5

The Uthman Diqna's earliest battles with the Egyptian army along the Red Sea coast, he sometimes won even when outnumbered by his enemy. Figures for only the main battles are given here.

El Teb (4 February 1884): 1200 footmen, armed with swords and spears (defeated a force of 3700 men).

2nd El Teb (29 February 1884): 6000 men. Also had 4 Krupp field guns, 1 brass gun, 1 Gatling gun and two rocket tubes captured from Baker, but only two Krupps seeed to have been used in the battle. There were also some riflemen using captured Remingtons, but their numbers were extremely small, they were used only in the first skirmish of the battle, and being untrained they were not as effective as at Abu Klea and Abu Kru. Some 2500 3000 footmen were involved in the main assault. The Ansar lost about 1500 men.

Tamai (13 March 1884): Uthman Diqna may have had a total of 12,000 men in the hills around Tamai, though not all were committed to the battle. There were about only 150 riflemen (again very ineffective because untrained). Total Ansar casualties were 1500-2000.

Hashin (20 March 1885): Only about 3000 footmen facing a force of 10,000 British. About 250 killed.

Tofrek (22 March 1885): No less than 2000 footmen, all armed with spears and swords, maybe more. Lost about 1000 men. In all of these battles the Beja were organized according to their tribal sections (Hadendowa, Bisharin, etc.), fighting under their own leaders.

UNIFORMS, 1883-5

Early in the Mahdiyya the Mahdi proclaimed the dress of the Ansar to be a patched jibba (a loose cotton shirt, hanging down to about the knees, with sleeves coming just below the elbows), close fitting cotton drawers, a skull cap, a turban (imma) with a tail (aziba) hanging free behind the left ear. The jibba was to be found mostly among the troops in the main army, but it was infrequently worn in battles against the British in 1884-5. This is because so many warriors were regional levies, and few came from the more organized army of the Mahdi.

At Abu Klea and Abu Kru most of the Ansar wore a white cotton robe wrapped around the waist, with one end tied over the left shoulder, shaved heads and a white cotton skull cap. The riflemen in the force (most of whom came from the Mahdi's camp at Omdurman) wore jibbas. There were a few warriors in the main assault force who were also wearing jibbas. Some observers claim these were the men of higher rank. They could also have been among those who came from the Mahdi's main camp. The jibba worn at Abu Klea does not seem to have been like the later jibba. They had very short sleeves or no sleeves at all. There were very few patches, mostly diamond or lozenge shape, not the rectangles and squares common on later jibbas.

In the Eastern Sudan the Beja wore their normal costume throughout 1884 and during most of the battles of 1885. This was a cotton waist cloth, or cotton trousers, or a cotton robe as described for Abu Klea above. As the cloth was exposed to extreme wear it was rarely white, but more often stained by dust and grime to drab shades of gray, tan or terracotta. A few Beja sewed a patch of red or blue on to their clothes to show their adherence to the Mahdi, but most did not.

The Beja throughout these battles normally did not shave their heads (as prescribed by the Mahdi), but wore their hair long and in elaborate hairstyles. Contrary to what some figure makers have listed in their catalogues, there do not seem to have been any distinct tribal hairstyles or manner of dress to distinguish the different Beja sections. The Beja seem to be the only Mahdists in this period who carried shields into battle. They were not used at Abu Klea or Abu Kru.

A few individuals in 1884, and several more in 1885, shaved their heads and donned patterned skull caps and jibbas. The patches on both the skull caps and jibbas were mostly red and dark blue, but again, they were not the same shape or style of decoration as later became familiar.

By the time of the Battle of Ginnis (30 December 1885) the more familiar standard style of jibba began to appear, but one sketch of the battle still shows some Ansar in the sleeveless jibba . I have yet to see an example of this sleeveless jibba in any museum, however.

More Mahdist Armies 1883-1898

More Sudan

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