From Korti to Khartum: A Journal of the Desert March from Korti to Gubat, and of the Ascent of the Nile in General Gordon's Steamers [Ill. Ed.]

by Col. Sir Charles W. Wilson

Overview

From 1884 to 1885, British Army officer Charles William Wilson took part in the Khartoum Relief Expedition, commanded by Garnet Wolseley. He was part of the advance rescue force led by Sir Herbert Stewart. After Stewart was mortally wounded Brigadier-General Wilson took command of this group of about 1,400 men. On two Nile steamers Wilson’s Desert Column reached Khartoum in the afternoon of 28 January 1885. It came two days too late: Khartoum had been seized by the Mahdists in the early hours of January 26. Between 5,000 and 10,000 inhabitants were slaughtered, among them Major-General Charles George Gordon.

This book, first published in 1886, is Charles William Wilson’s Journal of the march from Korti to Gubat, and of the voyage in General Gordon’s steamers to the junction of the two Niles. The Journal formed part of a daily journal that Wilson kept whilst employed in the Sudan, and sent home by nearly every mail. It was transcribed from his field-notes immediately following his return to Korti, whilst all the events which it describes were still fresh in his memory. Wilson released it to the public upon strong encouragement of his friends back home in England, allowing the reader to read for himself the vivid account “of courage […] of discipline […] of dash […] of endurance […].”

Richly illustrated with a special picture and map pack.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781787206267
Publisher:	Borodino Books
Publication date:	07/11/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	476
File size:	64 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Major-General Sir Charles William Wilson, KCB, KCMG, FRS (14 March 1836 - 25 October 1905) was a British Army officer, geographer and archaeologist.

Born in Liverpool, he was educated at the Liverpool Collegiate School and Cheltenham College. He attended the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich and was commissioned as an officer in the Royal Engineers in 1855.

His first appointment was as secretary to the British Boundary Commission in 1858, dutied to map the 49th parallel between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. He spent four years in North America, during which time he kept a travel diary. In 1864 he worked on the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem where he identified the eponymous Wilson’s Arch. He was appointed to the Ordnance Survey of Scotland in 1867.

In 1867 he joined the Palestine Exploration Fund and had a leading role in the Survey of Western Palestine project. In 1868 he joined the Ordnance Survey of Sinai. In 1872 he was elected to the Society of British Archaeology. In 1874 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society.

He became director of the topographical department at the British War Office, assistant quartermaster-general in the British Intelligence Department and, in 1876, received an Order of the Bath and then headed the Ordnance Survey of Ireland. From 1879-1882 he was consul-general in Anatolia. In the summer of 1882, he took part in Garnet Wolseley’s expedition to put down the rebellion of Colonel ‘Urabi.

From 1884-1885, Wilson took part in the Khartoum Relief Expedition, commanded by Wolseley. He was part of the advance rescue force led by Sir Herbert Stewart. He was appointed director of the Ordnance Survey in Ireland and was director-general from 1886-1894. From 1895 until his retirement in 1898, he served as the director-general of military education.

He served director of the Palestine Pilgrims’ Text Society, then chairman of the Palestine Exploration Fund from 1901 until his death in 1905, aged 69.