To mark the centenary of the Battle of Omdurman and the British conquest of the Sudan, Greenhill are publishing Omdurman, 1898: The Eyewitnesses Speak. This new book edited by Peter Harrington and Frederic A. Sharf presents previously unavailable accounts of the campaign. It is an evocative record of one of the most outstanding campaigns in British imperial history. The authors present the full background to the campaign and cover the period between 1881 and 1898 when Britain and Egypt were at war against the Sudanese Mahdi. Particular attention is paid to the battle of Omdurman, and there are never before published eyewitness accounts of the action from officers of the 21st Lancers, the Seaforth Highlanders and the Lincolnshire Regiment. Frederic A. Sharf is an expert on first-hand accounts of Victorian campaigns. Peter Harrington is the curator of the Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection at Brown University, Rhode Island, and the author of British Artists and War and, with Frederic A. Sharf, "A Splendid Little War": The Spanish-American War, 1898. The following excerpt is from the diary of Captain A. E. Hubbard: 'We sighted the Khalifa's Army at about 5.40am though of course the cavalry must have seen them considerably earlier. When we first saw the long lines of Dervish banners they must have been two miles away, the entire length of front occupied by the advancing force must have been three to three and a half miles. With long range volleys at 1400 yards, the firing all long our line was now continuous and rapid and the ground in front began to get dotted with white clad corpses. Two or three men of my regiment were quickly down and being carried by the stretcher-bearers to the rear - and others too, were quickly hit (six men from my own Company) and we saw, that nearly all these losses were caused by a group of Dervish riflemen lying down in a little sandy hollow, about 700 yards off, and quietly popping at us. Fire was brought to bear on them from our rifles and also some Maxims and after a short time their fire ceased. A small body (about 200) of Baggara horsemen with desperate gallantry endeavoured to charge the whole British Brigade. It was a splendid sight to see them coming along, and we all rather hoped (or I did) that some would reach our bayonets, but they simply withered under the terrible fire of our rifles and the small handful remaining wheeled at about 600 yards from our line and endeavoured to retire. I saw men rolling out of their saddles and riderless horses everywhere, and I don't believe six of the whole lot got back again. The pluck and bravery shown by the Dervishes, under an absolutely appalling hail of bullets, was most marked through the day. To our extreme right was developed a Dervish flank attack and so great were their numbers that the Camel Corps and artillery had to retire, the artillery losing a gun or two. In place of our own men was seen a Dervish host, led by a Green standard, coming over the ridge and threatening our right. As they came round the ridge, however, they came under the fire of one of our gun-boats and so accurate was the shell-fire from the gun-boat that this green-standard led host could not stick it, but retired slowly and in perfect order back round the hill with shot and shell dropping thick among them. (Later there were counted on this ridge alone 1185 dead bodies.) One of the chief incidents of the first phase was the behaviour of a small party of Dervishes, headed by a white banner - I suppose that banner had, at one time led an army - but when I particulary noticed it, there were about a dozen men round it only and they came slowly and deliberately on straight for us. As one man dropped another took on the banner - until only three were left - still on they came and then only one man was left - and he staggered slowly on, spear in one hand and banner in the other - no one could hit him though thousands of bullets were directed at him. At last he dropped, about 500 yards from our line, but as he fell, he planted his white standard in the ground and there it remained until we moved on later.' Back to Greenhill Military Book News No. 84 Table of Contents Back to Greenhill Military Book News List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1998 by Greenhill Books This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com