Autograph letter signed, from Jack Churchill, on Winston Churchill's cavalry charge at Omdurman.
$10,298 · Offered by Biblio
[Undated, though, 1898]. Winston on the 'sound' of charge, sheathed his sword at once and went into it with his 'Mauser' pistol Winston Churchill's brother Jack writes to their mother with details of Winston's participation in the cavalry charge at the Battle of Omdurman, often cited as the last great cavalry charge in British military history. The charge became part of the legend of the young Churchill, but Jack's early report presents it as a military blunder, wasting troops and allowing the escape of the Khalifa. The Battle of Omdurman was fought during the Anglo-Egyptian conquest of Sudan, pitching forces commanded by Herbert Kitchener against the Khalifa's Mahdist forces. Churchill served as a cavalry officer in the 21st Lancers, while - against the objections of Kitchener - reporting on the war for the Morning Post. His regiment "galloped by accident into a hidden ravine crammed with armed men. Churchill, who shot and killed at least three of the enemy with his Mauser pistol, was cool and courageous but lucky to survive a bout of hand-to-hand fighting in which 22 British officers and men were killed. Nevertheless he was eager to renew the charge at once. 'Another fifty or sixty casualties would have made our performance historic', he explained to Lady Randolph, 'and made us proud of our race and our blood'" (ODNB). Churchill extensively publicized his role in the charge, presenting it as a triumph. He reported on it in his despatches back to the Morning Post, in The Riv
- Year: 1898
- Binding: unknown
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