General Gatacre Part 22

"We arrived at Kerreri about 12 noon, and found a village on the river with much open ground to our front and south-west, with a conical hill standing up in the plain about two miles to the south. We settled down to eat in the village, and in about an hour our cavalry sent in to say that the Khalifa's army was on the march from Omdurman towards us in three bodies, a centre and two wings. As soon as we had had our food, we set to work to get our troops into position in a kind of semicircle round the village, and strengthened ourselves with a zariba and trench, where zariba thorns were unprocurable; this we finished by dark, and then sat down to eat and sleep. The night pa.s.sed quietly. The Khalifa missed a chance of doing us much damage by not attacking at night, but luckily he did not disturb us.

"At 3.30 a.m. we stood to our arms, ready for an attack at dawn. It was a beautiful moonlight night, and I had been up most of the time, watching my line and inspecting the patrols, etc. About six in the morning of the 2nd we got intelligence that the Khalifa's army was coming on, and presently they began to pour across the open ground about two miles off, yelling like demons, apparently an endless stream of men and horses. I have never seen anything like it--banners flying all along the line, guns firing, etc. For an hour they kept pouring along in thousands, and suddenly the centre of the ma.s.s turned, and came straight for us. I made all my men lie down, so that nothing could be seen of us except our zariba fence. As soon as they got within range, about 2,300 yds., we opened {211} fire with all our guns, rifles, and Maxims, and a hail of lead fell on the army; but they were impervious to any influences of this kind, and kept pressing on and on till we literally mowed them down by hundreds. After about three-quarters of an hour, the ground was strewn with dead and dying, and then, as our fire did not slacken, they began to turn and go, but only at a walk, no running about it.

[Sidenote: The great fight]

"Then we advanced, and after we had moved on about one mile the centre of the Dervish force returned to the charge and fell upon a Soudanese Brigade, to whose a.s.sistance I sent a British Brigade (General Wauchope's); this stayed the Dervish attack, which was driven back and followed up. The whole force advanced and poured a heavy fire into the retreating Dervishes, who slowly withdrew, fighting. We had now been at work fighting and moving from 3.30 a.m. under a heavy sun without water, and had still four miles to march over a very sandy country, so we started in fighting formation, keeping ourselves ready at any moment to face west again. Well, they finally drew off to the hills, and we moved slowly on-towards the water, which one Brigade reached at 2 p.m.

and the other at 3.30 p.m.; halted there till 4.30 p.m., and then marched on again into Omdurman, about three and a half miles; this we did not reach till dark, as we had to go carefully. There were still a lot of Dervishes in the town, and our gun-boats were sh.e.l.ling them, up the river and in the town. We had to bivouac out in the desert, as we could not find a suitable place. We could get no water that night, as the river was too far to send to, and it was not safe to allow small parties to go out.

{212}

"Next morning we marched down to the river and bivouacked on the water's edge, and there we are now.

"The total dead counted were 10,324 as near as could be; the wounded it would be impossible to count, as they all crowded away on to the river-bank and into the town, but there were thousands of them, possibly another 10,000 or more, some with the most fearful wounds. I went out the next afternoon and also the day following with water for the wounded. I sent out many mules laden entirely with water, and we relieved many of these unfortunates, but no doubt many died from want of water.

"Now the whole thing is over, except an excursion to Fashoda, which the Sirdar is arranging; I think he goes up to-morrow with 100 men of the Northumberland Fusiliers in a steamer.

"We had a nice day at Khartoum; we (800 men from various battalions), two or three bands, nearly all the officers, and an equal number of Egyptians steamed up on gun-boats to Khartoum, landed opposite Gordon's Palace, hoisted the Union Jack and Egyptian flag simultaneously, saluted them, and then held a Memorial Service for Gordon. All our clergymen were present; the Sirdar made me stand on his right hand, thus paying a compliment to the British troops. Afterwards we wandered about and hunted among the ruins to find traces of Gordon."

[Sidenote: Friendly words]

There is no doubt that the General enhanced his reputation enormously in this campaign. Not only was his work done in the sight of Europe, but it was done under the eyes of a very exacting master. _The World_ wrote at the time: {213} "Perhaps the highest compliment that can be paid him is that he has satisfied the Sirdar." Another paper said: "General Gatacre is a keen soldier--a workman 's'il y en a.' His idea of practising troops in the field during a campaign was an inspiration.

The conventional idea has been that in the field the only alternatives were fighting and taking it easy. Result when campaigning in a bad climate, laziness in camp, rum, fever, and loss of condition generally."

In a letter of congratulation from a Civil Service friend in India, we find the following generous appreciation:

"You yourself are becoming more famous every day, to the great delight of your friends and well-wishers; and I was proud to see that at the Atbara you gave them a touch of the same bravery and indifference to danger that you delighted us with at the old club at Simla, when you rushed across the open and disarmed that Pathan servant who, after murdering the cook's mate, was firing 'promiscuous,' while we all huddled in the next block. Do you remember?"

One of his former Chiefs on the Bombay side wrote:

You ought to have been a K.C.B. long ago, but you are all right now, and nothing can keep you back."

{214}

CHAPTER XIV

1898-1899

COLCHESTER

[Sidenote: Festivities]

On November 15, 1898, the Honours Gazette for the recent campaign was published, and Gatacre found himself a Knight Commander of the Bath.

Having also been awarded the Second Cla.s.s of the Imperial Order of the Medjidieh by His Highness the Khedive, he was now in possession of two stars as well as two additional war medals. He had the honour of receiving his knighthood at the hands of Her Majesty Queen Victoria at Windsor on December 10, 1898. Not long afterwards he received an invitation to stay at Windsor Castle, and had the honour of dining with Her Majesty.

[Sidenote: 1899]

In the following February it was notified that Her Majesty the Queen had been graciously pleased to nominate Sir William as one of the officers to receive a Reward for Distinguished and Meritorious Service.

The whole nation was delighted with the success of its representatives in Egypt, and as all hearts had been wrung by the tragedy of 1885, so now all rejoiced with the victors of 1898. A {215} unanimous vote of thanks was pa.s.sed in both Houses of Parliament. A large copy of these gratifying words printed on vellum and bound in red and green covers respectively was presented to each of the senior officers named therein. These were forwarded through Lord Kitchener, who added a few words endorsing the appreciation of Sir William's good work.

The Lord Mayor of London gave a dinner at the Guildhall in the Sirdar's honour. The Lord Provost of Edinburgh invited Lord Dufferin and Lord Kitchener to accept the Freedom of that ancient city. Edinburgh had reason to feel a special interest in the campaign, for one of the brigadiers was a Midlothian man and there had been two Highland regiments in his command. Lord Dufferin was especially pleased to see Gatacre again, for as Viceroy of India he remembered him well while serving on the Headquarters Staff.

There were also two gala days when the General was the central figure; for his native county of Shropshire was very proud of her son. On December 15 Sir William was enrolled a Freeman of the City of Shrewsbury with much acclamation and many kindly speeches. The county town of Bridgnorth also entertained him handsomely, and reminded him that he had signed their roll in the year 1860. Sir William was not a pretentious speaker, but when called upon for a speech on such occasions his ideas were simple and his words fluent and appropriate.

The appointment he had held at Aldershot {216} having been cancelled on his departure for Egypt, the General found himself unemployed for a time after his return, but at the end of October he was informally invited to say whether the Poona First-cla.s.s District in India or the command of the Eastern District with Headquarters at Colchester would be the more agreeable to him. It was without hesitation that he chose the latter. From August 1880, when he left Dover with his regiment, to August 1897, when he had returned to take over his brigade at Aldershot, he had served continuously in India, while (with a short interval of five months) he had been working in the tropics for a further ten months. He had now nearly completed thirty-seven years'

service, of which twenty-three had been spent in India. There was therefore to him a most attractive novelty about serving at home, and the independent provincial command that was offered to him would, he knew, in many ways prove most congenial. He took over the command from General Burnett on December 8, 1898, and went into residence at Colchester the next day.

The Eastern District at that time included the nine counties which lie between Norfolk and London, and between Nottingham and the sea. The General Officer Commanding was directly responsible to the War Office for the troops of all arms, regular, militia, and volunteers, within this area. During the training season the work was very heavy and necessitated a great deal of touring. His previous experience in Bombay {217} had given the General a special interest in coast defence, and it was therefore with pleasure that he again found himself in command of a long sea-board.

In the last year of his command, 1903, the Army Reorganisation scheme slightly changed his official position, but this was purely technical, and only affected his last six months there.

[Sidenote: In Suss.e.x]

Occasionally Sir William was called upon to take part in the training outside his own district. Early in the year 1899 he was detailed to conduct one side of a staff-ride that took place in Suss.e.x. An imaginary Blue Force was supposed to be concentrated at Eastbourne, while the Defence held the heights to the north of Ashdown Forest. The wild and picturesque district over which the operations were conducted added immensely to Gatacre's pleasure in the trip; he wrote with enthusiasm of the miles of heather-land, and had in the end the further satisfaction of finding that, as the Blue Invader, he had defeated his Red Opponent by a night-march on Dorking.

Among other events of the London season Sir William was present at the Royal Academy Dinner. Invitations to all sorts of public functions and city dinners followed throughout the summer. As the journey from Colchester only occupies one hour, it was possible for him to enjoy all such London diversions without in any way neglecting his professional duties.

Further evidence of his enhanced reputation was afforded by his selection to command a Division on Salisbury Plain in the forthcoming {218} manoeuvres. Two Divisions were organised, under the general direction of Sir Charles Mansfield Clarke. One had its headquarters at Perham Down and was commanded by Sir Leslie Rundle, the other by Gatacre with headquarters on the Downs above Bulford. This latter Division consisted of two brigades under Colonel Ian Hamilton and Colonel Clements; the staff remained in camp throughout the ten weeks'

training, but the troops (which included units from the militia and volunteers as well as the regular army) took part in the training for two or three weeks only. This was the first occasion on which khaki uniform was worn in England; a certain battalion having recently returned from abroad, came into camp as it was, before refitting with home clothing. The camp lasted from June 25 to September 3; at the end Sir William wrote that his stay had been most instructive, and that Sir Charles Mansfield Clarke had expressed himself as much pleased with all that had been done.

Throughout this summer the situation in South Africa, so far as it could be known through the daily papers, was giving rise to great anxiety, and the probability of an outbreak of hostilities before very long became more and more apparent. Early in October Gatacre was warned that in the event of an Army Corps proceeding to South Africa he had been selected for the post of Lieutenant-General commanding the Third Division. Sir George White had only a week before started to take command of the forces in {219} Natal, and had borrowed Gatacre's A.D.C.; and at the same time the 6th Company Army Service Corps had been sent off from Colchester to the Cape.

Before the middle of the month Sir William's appointment and the details of his command were gazetted, and he received orders to sail on the Union-Castle Line mail steamer _Moor_ on Sat.u.r.day, October 21, from Southampton. His departure from Colchester was fixed for Friday the 20th. Although it was scarcely ten months since he had been resident in the district, the General had, as usual, become very popular with all cla.s.ses. The Mayor and Corporation insisted on being given an opportunity of expressing their congratulations and good wishes.

"The Council," they said, "felt that they were parting not only with a distinguished officer and an ornament to Her Majesty's service, but with a brother citizen."

[Sidenote: Off to the Cape]

Crowds of friends were a.s.sembled on the platform that Friday afternoon, every officer of the garrison was there in uniform, and there were many persons who had come in by train to cry "G.o.d-speed," for not a few had husbands, sons, and brothers already at the front. Many people at that time thought that the war would be a very short affair after the arrival of the reinforcements, and it was in this spirit that a lady in her farewell greeting said: "Good-bye, General--good luck to you; but I fear it will all be over before you get out." To which the General replied so gravely that she felt reproved: {220} "Make no mistake. We have a long tough job before us."

In the evening papers that same day the news of the battle of Talana Hill was published. This was the first conflict of the three years'

war, and very naturally the account of it added fervour to the public interest in the official departures. Two troopships were leaving Southampton that Sat.u.r.day as well as the Union-Castle liner which was to carry Sir Redvers Buller and his three divisional commanders. The public knew by what train the officers would travel, and both at Waterloo and at Southampton the popular enthusiasm was expressed with extraordinary vehemence.

{221}

CHAPTER XV

1899