Dictionary of Battles / From the Earliest Date to the Present Time

by Thomas Benfield Harbottle

Khartoum (Soudan Campaign).

This city, defended by an Egyptian garrison under General Gordon, was invested by the Mahdi in the early part of 1884, and, after a gallant defence, was stormed January 26, 1885. The forerunners of the relieving force, consisting of the river gunboats under Lord Charles Beresford, arrived off the city on the 28th, two days too late, and after a brief engagement with the Mahdist batteries, returned down the river.