The engagement began by the Dervishes opening fire at 5 a.m. from an outpost on the Jebel Ferkeh, a mountain on the north side of the village close down by the river under which the River Column had to pass.
The 2nd Brigade brought a heavy fire to bear upon the hill, and quickly clearing it, the march continued. As the column reached the more open ground beyond Jebel Ferkeh, the troops opened out, and the brigades on the right and left got into fighting formation, with two battalions thrown forward and one in reserve. The 1st Brigade then moved towards the river to attack the enemy's left wing, whilst the 2nd Brigade advanced on the right wing near the Jaalin camp; the 3rd Brigade coming up from the rear to fill the intervening gap.
The entire force then steadily advanced, firing as they went, whilst the Desert Column shelled the enemy from the south and rear. The Dervishes fought with the courage of despair, and frequently charged the Egyptian troops. Small bodies of the enemy continued fighting in the huts forming the different camps long after any organized resistance had ceased to be possible, and obstinately refusing quarter. Hut after hut had to be cleared at the point of the bayonet amid vigorous hand-to-hand fighting, and in one hut alone eighty Baggara corpses were subsequently found.
Position after position was taken, and an utter rout ensued. Such of the Dervishes as survived the attack of the River Column fled to the south, only to find their retreat cut off by the Desert Column, which by this time had advanced on the flank of the enemy, who were thus effectually caught as intended. Many of their mounted men, finding themselves headed off by the cavalry, galloped back to die in front of the lines of infantry.
The footmen, too, were seen hurrying to and fro seeking a way through the encircling Egyptian forces. Such of them as succeeded were closely pursued by the cavalry, and at least 150 were thus slaughtered within a few miles of Ferket.
The enemy's losses were estimated at 1,000 killed and wounded, and over 500 were taken prisoners. The Egyptian loss, on the other hand, was limited to twenty men killed and eighty wounded. The Dervish Emir in command was Osman Azrak, who had lately superseded Hamuda; and the former and at least forty other emirs were among the slain.
The whole fight was but a short affair, the first shot being fired at 5 a.m., and two hours later the whole thing was over.
Burn Murdoch, with the Desert Column, continued to follow up the pursuit as far as Suarda, which he occupied the next morning.
The effect of the engagement at Ferket was that fifty miles of the Nile Valley were cleared of the Dervishes; that the only organized army of the Khalifa near the frontier was destroyed; and that Suarda, which had for many years been the starting-place for raids on the Nile villages, became the advanced post of the Sirdar's army.