Battle of Abu Klea
From Freepedia
Abu Klea is a halting-place for caravans in the Bayuda Desert of Sudan. It is on the road from Merawi to Metemma and 20 m. N. of the Nile at the last-mentioned place.
Near this spot, on 17 January 1885, a British force marching cross-country to the relief of General Gordon at Khartoum was attacked by the Mahdists, who were repulsed. On the 19th, when the British force was nearer Metemma, the Mahdists renewed the attack, again unsuccessfully. Sir Herbert Stewart, the commander of the British force, was mortally wounded on the 19th, and among the killed on the 17th was Col. F. G. Burnaby.
Image:Battle scene abu klea.jpg
Several officers and men of HMS Alexandra were killed at the battle. Their Gardner gun was run out to the left flank of the square to provide covering fire. The square closed behind them leaving them exposed. After seventy rounds were fired, the gun jammed and as the crew tried to clear it they were cut down in a rush by the dervishes. Out of the forty men in the Naval contingent, Lieutenants Alfred Piggott and Rudolph de Lisle were killed along with Chief Boatswain's Mate Rhodes and five other seamen and seven more were wounded. Lord Charles Beresford was 'scratched' on the left hand by a spear as he managed to duck under the gun. The weight of the rush pushed the sailors back into the face of the square which held firm and pushed the enemy back.
The column was too late to save Khartoum; it was taken by the Mahdists just a few days later.
This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, which is in the public domain.
