The Journals of Major-Gen. C. G. Gordon C.B. At Kartoum

<p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Now mark this if the Expeditionary Force and I ask for no more than two hundred men does not come in ten days the town may fall; and I have done my best for the honour of our country. Good bye. These are the poignant last words written by Major-General Charles George Gordon in the final entry of his journal kept at the city of Khartoum in the Sudan in January 1885 just prior to the fall of that city. Gordon and at least 10000 residents of the city were slaughtered in the butchery which followed.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Having first been appointed Governor-General of the Sudan in 1873 by the Egyptian government-with the approval of the British government-Gordon had worked hard to bring the country to order suppressing the Islamic slave trade and uplifting the population. He was recalled to that office in 1883 following the outbreak of the 1881 Islamist uprising under a self-proclaimed Mahdi of Islam (the Guided One) in the Sudan.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Sent to Khartoum to organise the evacuation of the city Gordon succeeded in arranging the safe departure of over 2500 civilians but stayed on with a small group of soldiers and others to defend the city against the Mahdist forces. </span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>The resultant siege lasted more than a year during which time Gordon kept a what became a six volume journal smuggled out in parts back to the British authorities. </span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>This journal recounted the day-to-day life adventures battles tactics survival mechanisms of the besieged city-such as the building of homemade landmines out of water cans filled with dynamite and wooden dummy sentries in uniform on the city walls-among many other innovations.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>The journals-which read like a thriller-were also full of bitter recrimination towards the British government which Gordon blamed for refusing to intervene despite officially encouraging him to go in the first place.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>The year-long defence of the city gained Gordon wide admiration in Britain and finally public pressure forced the government to organise a relief column. </span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>This force however arrived two days too late: Khartoum had fallen and Gordon had been killed and decapitated and his head paraded around as trophy by the Mahdist leaders.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>This new edition of all six of Gordon's Journals of Khartoum is not a facsimile reproduction but has been entirely reset to modern standards. It contains all the author's original illustrations digitally restored to the highest quality possible. </span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>This edition also has the original enlightening preliminary remarks by his brother commissary-general Sir Henry Gordon and the full set of appendices which contain supplementary letters proclamations and other significant data.</span></p>