Canada's First Foreign Military Campaign Siege of Kartoom
September 15,1884
Sep 15, 1884 - The Nile Voyageurs, Canada's first official participants in an overseas war, set sail for Egypt, comprising a force of 386 lumbermen, Caughnawaga Indians and Ottawa boatmen under the command of F.C. Denison. In early 1884 British General Charles Gordon went to the Sudan to rescue Egyptian garrisons cut off by a Muslim uprising led by the Mahdi; but he allowed himself to become trapped in the capital, Khartoum.
The Battle of Khartoum, Siege of Khartoum or Fall of Khartoum was the conquest of Egyptian-held Khartoum by the Mahdist forces led by Muhammad Ahmad. Egypt had held the city for some time prior, but the siege that the Mahdists engineered and carried out from 13 March 1884 to 26 January 1885 was enough to wrest control away from the Egyptian administration. After a ten-month siege, when the Mahdists finally broke into the city, the entire garrison of Egyptian soldiers was killed along with 4,000 Sudanese civilians.
Photo Credit Compiance:
- The Battle of Omdurman - Wiki Commons
- George W. Joy's portrayal of Gordon's death “General Gordon’s Last Stand”
