Page 22 - GAHS Journal Volume 9

THE DEATH OF COLONEL FRED BURNABY

Ubayyid) by the Mahdi’s followers armed only with spears and
swords who seized their arms and ammunition after which they
besieged El Obeid and over a period of four months starved it
into submission. A force of 40,000 of the Mahdi’s followers then
defeated a force of 8,000/10,000 poorly trained Egyptian soldiers
commanded by Colonel William Hicks who were lured into the
Sudanese desert and then massacred at the battle of El Obeid.
Other supporters of the Mahdi wiped out a smaller force of
Egyptians commanded by Colonel Valentine Baker near the Red
Sea port of Suakin. However, these Mahdi forces were defeated
th
by Major General Graham on 29 February 1884 at the battle of
El Teb during which Colonel Burnaby was wounded while acting
as an intelligence officer under General Valentine Baker.
General Graham conducted his successful campaign from
Suakin between February and April 1884, winning the battles of
El Teb and Tamai, and was then withdrawn to Egypt leaving
General Gordon to depend upon his own resources.

General Gordon had reached
Khartoum on the Nile, the capital of
th
Sudan, on 18 February 1884 where
his arrival was greeted with great
jubilation as many of the inhabitants
were opposed to the Mahdi. Initially
transport routes to the north of
Khartoum remained open but shortly
afterwards telegraph lines were cut
with communications to and from
Egypt reduced to messages carried by
overland runners. General Gordon's
intention to use an old Arab military
adversary to counter the Mahdi’s
forces was vetoed by London leaving him with no option but to
prepare for military operations. He immediately put the city into

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