Page 29 - GAHS Journal Volume 9

GREYSTONES ARCHAEOLOGICAL & HISTORICAL SOCIETY JOURNAL VOLUME 9

defenders, with General Gordon being killed on the steps of his
palace. Under intense fire from Mahdist forces, they withdrew
once it was realized that there were no survivors.

The British then withdrew from Sudan leaving it to be ruled
by Mahdi forces for the next thirteen years. The public blamed
Gladstone for the death of General Gordon and for the delay in
arranging a rescue mission and he was forced to resign within
two months.

Muhammed Ahmad bin Abd Allah died from typhus six
months after his capture of Khartoum.

Report of Colonel Burnaby's death

A comprehensive account of Colonel Burnaby’s death,
written by Bennet Burleigh, was published in the Aberdeen
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Journal of 5 March 1885. Bennet Burleigh was one of the most
celebrated war correspondents of the period. He was the first to
report the failure of the Gordon relief expedition, which led to the
slaughter of the Khartoum garrison and apparently asked the
telegraph operator to keep the line busy for the next twenty-four
hours by sending passages from the Bible so that no rival
correspondents could send reports home! (There’s a house
called Burleigh Lodge in the Burnaby Estate, presumably named
after him.)

Some extracts from Bennet Burleigh's description of the
battle of Abu Klea follow.

Aberdeen Journal, 5 March 1885
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The Night of the Battle

All lights were put out after dark, and talking and smoking
even were forbidden. A silence broken only by the whiz, ping, or

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