The basis of the Egyptian military force—Early services of Colonel Séves, a Mussulman Frenchman—Assignments to staff duty—General Stone's difficulties in staff organization—The Ministers of War jealous of the Etat-Major—Ratib's hatred of the staff service—Description and sketch of Ratib—One of the most cowardly and incapable of commanders—Something more concerning the American officers in Egypt—The author's connection with the Khedive's army—Assigned to the active command of the army and navy—The American and foreign officers assigned to the Abyssinian expedition—The Egyptian staff.
THE organization of the Egyptian army as we found it when we went to Egypt was based on the French system. There had been a staff, but there was nothing left of it on our arrival, and it became necessary to organize a new one.
Colonel Séves, an officer in the army of Napoleon I., left France after the fall of the First Empire, offered his services in 1816 to Mehemet Ali, and organized his regular army. Egypt had been torn by internecine war for centuries, her fields wasted, and her population reduced to two million souls, and those in the midst of starvation and misery, when he took charge of her military system.
Mehemet Ali was then instilling new life into a wretchedly impoverished country by forcing all classes to cultivate the rich soil, and in the mean time he was glad to avail himself of the services of a trained soldier to organize and discipline his forces. It was that army, of which Colonel Séves was chief of staff, which under Ibrahim Pacha gained the victories at St. Jean d'Acre, Konieh, and other fields, and revived the name of Egypt, whose people had been debased in slavery. Ibrahim began by subduing the warring tribes of Egypt and bringing under his power the Bedouins of the desert ; afterward, entering Arabia, he soon crushed the turbulent Wahabees. Throughout Egypt, Arabia, Palestine, and Syria all the discordant elements were brought under subjection, and the peaceful tillers of the soil were protected in their flocks and herds. Their history in those days, however much they may have fallen under the ban later, proved that the much-abused fellaheen, when properly commanded and officered, can be led to victory.
Ibrahim in his march upon Constantinople was only checked by superior European power. England menaced Egypt in his rear, and it was only in this manner that the Sultan, tottering to his fall, was saved from utter ruin. Suleiman Pacha (Colonel Séves), who rendered such highly important service in these military experiences, like others of his countrymen of that day, found it easy to change his religion when it suited his interest to do so. Becoming a Mussulman, he accepted all the accessories of that faith, and had a well-filled harem. He avoided European society, and only countenanced foreigners when business forced him into their association. In spite of an habitual air of dignified reserve he could unbend on occasion, and, being of versatile mind and well informed, was often very entertaining. One thing he could not do—namely, disguise his French origin. He was a brave and good soldier, and had he left a staff as good as the well-drilled army, he would have conferred a great benefit upon Egypt. Suleiman Pacha died an aged man shortly after the Crimean war—it is said he died a “ true believer”—and with him faded out the organization of the Egyptian staff.
When, in the spring of 1870, General Stone entered the War Office of Egypt as chief of staff of the army, he found there no staff existing. There was one “ colonel of the staff” on the rolls, but he, an able French officer, was in England on special duty procuring supplies, and he remained there until 1880. He found in the War Office no maps, no military books, no military magazines or journals. There had been no chief of staff in the Egyptian army since the death of Suleiman Pacha, who during the last half of the reign of Mehemet Ali had caused a number of pupils to be sent to France to receive a military education, and on their return had attached them to his staff, which was organized on the principles in vogue in France at the time of Napoleon I.
No new chief of staff of the army was appointed until 1870, when General Stone was called to Egypt by the Khedive Ismail to take the position. Of the former staff officers, but few remained alive, and they had all been called to other duties, generally civil, where their education made them very valuable. Among these may be named Cherif Pacha, the present Prime Minister, one of Suleiman Pacha's favorite and most capable officers, who in 1870 was already Prime Minister and regent of the kingdom during the temporary absence of the Khedive ; Murad Pacha, now president of the mixed tribunals at Cairo ; and Ali Pacha-Ibrahim, recently Minister of Public Instruction. All was therefore to be created anew. And not only this, but the general officers of the army, who had grown up to their higher grades during the time while no staff existed, had little or no idea of the duties or the usefulness of staff officers or of a staff organization.
General Stone began by preparing a report setting forth the necessity of a staff in the army and the duties of staff officers, with an account of the relations which should exist between the staff, the commanders, and the troops.
This report, submitted through the Minister of War to the Khedive, was highly approved by the latter, and the organization of a staff was ordered. Then commenced for General Stone the heavy labors required in finding and preparing the officers for their duties and preparing the army for its working with a staff. His first recommendation was for the education of the army. He procured from the Khedive an order that no man should thenceforth be promoted in the Egyptian army, even to the grade of corporal, unless he could read and write well. Then, to enable men of all ranks to attain promotion, he procured an order for the establishment of a school in each battalion, where not only the officers but also the non-commissioned officers and soldiers could have instruction during at least an hour and a half each day. Next he procured an order authorizing him to organize a good staff college, where selected pupils taken from the best schools could be trained in the higher studies required for the education of staff officers. This school turned out year by year, from 1873 onward to 1878, very able young officers, who were placed on duty in the staff bureaus and with the general and superior officers who had come from America. A few intelligent young officers of artillery and cavalry who could speak either French or English were called into the staff and placed on duty with the author, the only foreign officer in direct command of the troops, and there they received unremitting care and attention from their general, who exercised them in the practice of various staff duties.
Next, the chief of staff procured from the Khedive an order for the organization of a special school for non-commissioned officers, and in this he soon had fifteen hundred sergeants and corporals, under instruction, causing them to be taught reading, writing, arithmetic, and the keeping of regimental and company books. These men formed two model battalions for the army, and as fast as they finished the course of instruction were sent back to their companies, carrying with them uniform instruction in drill, and were replaced by other intelligent non-commissioned officers drawn from their regiments. This school was kept up in the barracks attached to the War Office, so that General Stone could inspect the instruction frequently.
The results of these organizations were quickly apparent, and were most satisfactory. In 1870 one third of the officers in the Egyptian army could neither read nor write, and not one tenth of the rank and file could read or write. In 1873 more than seventy per cent of the rank and file of the army could write well enough to make their own written applications for leave of absence and appeals for justice.
Finding the children of the non-commissioned officers coming to their parents in the school to learn, General Stone proposed to the Khedive the establishment of a special school for soldiers' sons—not as a charity, but as the right of the soldier bearing arms for the country to have his children educated by the nation. This suggestion was promptly acted upon by the Khedive, and for each division of the army a school was established in which the sons of the soldiers of the division were received, put in a clean and neat dress, taught and given their dinner each day, returning to their mothers at night. Those soldiers whose families lived far from the stations where they were serving could have their sons provided with bed and board at the school without expense to them.
In a few years this institution, established at the suggestion of American civilization, had become so important that twenty-eight hundred sons of soldiers were receiving a good education instead of being left ignorant and nearly naked to run about in the villages and towns. The instructors in these schools were mostly officers of the army detached from their regiments for this service, and soldiers detailed on special duty attended to the kitchens and dormitories, so that the cost was not excessive. The Khedive expended $75,000 yearly on these schools for soldiers' children. The promise was great ; but, unfortunately, European civilization came in 1878, demanding economy for the benefit of the bondholders, and the first economy made by the European commission was the destruction of the staff college and the schools for soldiers' sons ! Neither of these schools has been re-established during the recent reforms ; but it is to be hoped they will be when Egypt shall again be governed for the Egyptians, and not exclusively for the benefit of Europe.
Among the American officers who first took service in Egypt were a few who had been employed on staff duty in America. These were Colonel Alexander Reynolds, formerly quartermaster U. S. A. and afterward brigadier-general in the Confederate army ; Colonel Rhett, who had been chief of ordnance in the Confederate army commanded by General Kirby Smith ; Colonel Allen, engineer officer under General Sheridan ; Lieutenant-Colonel Purdy, formerly assistant adjutant-general in Franklin's corps ; Lieutenant-Colonel C. C. Long, formerly captain and commissary of musters under General Lew. Wallace ; and Colonel F. A. Reynolds, formerly of the Confederate artillery. Colonels Alexander Reynolds and F. A. Reynolds were assigned to the staff of General Loring. So also was Colonel Allen ; but the latter resigned after two years' service. Lieutenant-Colonel C. C. Long was assigned first to the staff of a native brigadier-general, serving in Loring's corps ; afterward to the section of orders and correspondence in the staff bureau, and later still he was detailed as chief of staff to Colonel Gordon, when the latter became, in 1874, Governor-General of the provinces of the Equator. Lieutenant-Colonel Purdy, promoted to the grade of colonel in the fall of 1870, was placed in charge of the third section of the staff bureau, the section of maps, etc. Colonel Rhett was assigned to ordnance duty under the orders of the Minister of War.
Gradually the various sections of the general staff were formed in the War Office and were placed under the direction of officers who from time to time came only from America. As fast as the staff college produced graduates, these were made lieutenants and assigned, some to General Loring, others to the sections in the War Office, and they were trained for the performance of their special duties. A library was formed, where large numbers of standard military works and books on tactics from all the nations were placed, and where were deposited each week the military magazines and journals of America, England, France, Germany, Austria, and Russia. The library now contains nearly 4000 volumes.
From the first year of the existence of the staff, officers were sent out to explore and map the country ; and the expeditions of the corps gradually pushed farther and farther toward the south until, in 1874, '75, and '76 these expeditions pressed their work through Kordofan and Darfour (previously unknown in its geography) down to the Equator, and far off to the south-east to Berbera, Harrar, Guardafui, and Juba.
It would not be too much to assert, General Stone having furnished me with the data to sustain the statement, that the Egyptian general staff officers, between the years 1871 and 1878 explored and mapped in detail more of unknown African territory than all the other explorers of the world. This may seem a bold assertion, but an examination at Cairo of the reports and maps of the staff explorers in Africa will bear it out. It is not intended to compare the work of any one Egyptian officer with the grand discoveries of Stanley and others, but the aggregate work done in hitherto unexplored portions of Africa by the Egyptian staff is more than that of all the European explorers during the period mentioned.
Staff officers trained in the staff college of Egypt did their duty well in the campaigns of Abyssinia and Bulgaria and Servia. Although the first graduates came out into service only in 1873, yet at the time of this writing six per cent of all the graduates have fallen dead on the field of battle, while two per cent have died in the work of exploration in the Soudan or of disease there contracted. Of those now living, nearly all are at present employed in the public works and surveys of the country, being sought for by all the civil departments as the most honorable and best educated young men of the country. Some are yet exploring the Soudan and mapping the distant frontiers—doing, in fact, on their small army pay, the work which was formerly done by men like Sir Samuel Baker and Speke. In the public works and in the provincial surveys these officers are each doing work which, in their absence, would require the importation of European engineers, who would require double, treble, or five times their salaries. Thus the sums of money paid by Egypt for the formation of the staff are largely repaid by the service these officers are daily performing.
The purpose was from the first the formation of an Egyptian staff. Its foundations were laid in the staff college, and the association of the graduates with the very able officers obtained from America was to them a school of the very highest instruction. How it is now is a question, but before the “ reformer” came there would have been no difficulty in promptly placing competent staff officers in three corps d'armée, should there have been a necessity for such a force.
In 1873 General Stone, by authority of the Khedive, began the establishment of a printing office in the War Department. At first this office printed only circulars and reports; but little by little it was enlarged and improved until well-executed maps and admirably printed books were issued from it. Among the general economies of 1878 this printing office was thrown out of the budget and condemned to death by European civilization ; but it continued to work, paying its own expenses by its work until recently, when it has become the basis of a national printing office.
It is not to my purpose to say much of the Etat-Major. I was not one of the general Egyptian staff before going to Abyssinia ; but as there were a number of the staff on this expedition, a few words are necessary.
General Stone located his staff headquarters at the Citadel, near Cairo, and early in the day began, as stated, the herculean task of organizing and putting the system into operation, there being absolute necessity for it. Securing a number of experienced officers, he succeeded in establishing the offices, and was ready for duty either in the barracks or with an army in the field. Lithographic, photographic, and printing offices were also established, with experienced men in charge. No enlightened government had a better system. To give it the necessary Arab infusion, a large number of competent young native officers had already been educated, and others were progressing rapidly at the military school. Special attention was given to staff instruction. So far everything was promising. To reconcile the army to the introduction of the system and to work it successfully was the difficult task General Stone had to perform. Assisted by myself and others, he had to combat the customs and prejudices not only of those immediately above him, but of every officer in the army and every person connected with it by the tie of relationship or influence, including the much-vaunted Coptic clerks, who were a power in the land. There was no general-in-chief in reality ; there was one called by the title, but his duties were to sit upon commissions, and he never pretended to issue an order. All orders emanating from the Minister of War were sealed by him, and with few exceptions the entire army sent its papers to him directly or to some Arab in his immediate office. I fought against this, and did my best to have correspondence sent through the chief of staff. The one through whom it was sent to the minister was usually some under officer, or may be a Coptic clerk. If the chief of staff issued any order, it was exceptional. I do not now speak of matters relating to explorations and scientific observations : these were under the control of the chief of staff. The Minister of War, though extremely amiable, looked upon the interference of the staff as an infringement of his rights and dignity, and a deprivation of a certain share of prestige. He insisted on his seal being put to every paper however trifling, and he never could be persuaded of the staff's utility or made to understand that a staff added to his dignity and saved him trouble. How often have the general-in-chief and Secretary of War in the United States had difficulties about orders? In Egypt every commanding officer, from the highest in rank to the lowest subaltern, was in reality his own adjutant-general, quartermaster, and commissary, and as a rule a civilian clerk attended to all the duties. All these important officers saw that they could in no other way sit upon their divans and hold levées with contractors, thereby filling their pockets sub rosa with side tributes. There is nothing an Eastern man likes so much as this affected importance while it fills his coffers. Added to this, he has a natural distrust of change and a great dislike for sharing his authority with a foreigner. This made the War Minister bitterly averse to any interference by the staff.
But there was a greater cause of hostility to the staff sent with the army on this expedition. It was a deep-seated opposition to the war, not only on the part of the officers and soldiers, but of the entire people of Egypt. I believe this feeling entered into the cabinet of the Khedive, and the fact that the staff was determined to do their whole duty brought upon them the hostility of Ratib Pacha and his officers. All these manifold difficulties the staff sent to Abyssinia had to combat. Senseless theories of Egyptian indolence and criticisms on Coptic clerks may be a safety-valve for disappointed hopes and imaginary grievances. Impotent and vindictive rage may vent its hatred upon the Khedive and his family, but it does not do away with the fact that we went to Egypt to assist him in his military establishment. Every intelligent man, before he went, knew what he had to encounter, and if the staff did not succeed in overcoming all the difficulties before them their consciences were clear that they did the best possible in human power to do.
After landing at Massowah it soon became necessary to organize the army and to assign the numerous staff officers to duty. I said to the general (Ratib Pacha) that there was no objection to his personal staff, but there were legitimate duties for the Etat-Major to perform, and I proposed at once to assign its several members to the duties they were best fitted for. This was readily assented to, and no man could have been more complaisant so far as promises went. I have already stated the duties expected of Colonel Dye. I assigned General Field as inspector-general, and Lieutenant-Colonel Mökln and Captain Sormani as his assistants. Lieutenant-Colonel Derrick (until the arrival of Colonel Lockett) was assigned to duty as chief engineer, with Major Dennison, Major Dorholtz, Captain Irgins, and two Egyptian lieutenants as assistants. Major Loshe was made quartermaster and commissary, and Captain Porter his assistant, with an Egyptian lieutenant assigned as Arab and English translator. Dr. Wilson was surgeon of the staff, Dr. Johnson (soon after) his assistant. Lieutenant-Colonel Ali Bey was put in charge of the ordnance. The other Egyptian officers were assigned to duty where they could be most useful, including my personal staff. The other positions in the army, at the particular request of the general, were left in the hands of the Arabs, who were accordingly ordered to their respective duties.
A part of the small island near our residence was fortified by Major Dennison, who with good judgment collected the wreck of Arrendrup's command and encamped it there. The main body of the expedition brought with us was tented on the mainland, under the command of Raschid Pacha and Osman Pacha, both Circassians. Ratib Pacha, the commander, prided himself also upon being a Circassian. He had been a slave of Saïd, a former Viceroy, and held the honorable position of pipe-cleaner to his Highness. Ratib was of dark complexion, small in stature, and past fifty ; compact and wiry, he could be very active when his fears or interests excited him. Sent when a boy by Saïd to Paris, he had been evidently educated in the salons of the demi-monde of that magnificent city, and returned to Egypt speaking French glibly and with an affectation of Parisian manners. Upon his return Saïd made him a lieutenant. It was not long after this that Saïd in a fit of caprice struck him. He solaced his wounded amour-propre by shooting himself through the upper part of his nose in the endeavor to discover his brains. Remorse shadowed the Pacha, and to make amends he promoted Ratib. Subsequently the ex-pipe-bearer attained the nominal rank of general-in-chief of the army. His immediate staff were Riffat Effendi, an educated Arab and Turkish scholar, and Major Turnheysen, who had seen service in Austria and had been with Maximilian in Mexico. There were three Egyptian officers on his staff in addition. We were informed that the Coptic clerks had an immoderate and dangerous influence over princes and others in authority, which they used possibly in their own interests, and that when one was a Mussulman, as was Riffat, who really acted as an adjutant-general, he became still more dangerous. Ratib, who had been a slave and was ignorant of his duties, took this man as his clerk and correspondent. The clerk certainly became the “ sphinx in the background” and helped materially to ruin the expedition. Riffat was a voluminous writer, and falling into the power of the enemy, he was one of those who helped to pacify King John and to scare the cowardly Ratib, through his correspondence, into giving many rich presents to that barbarous potentate.
I entered the service of the Khedive in 1869, and was offered higher rank, but preferred to go as Lewan Pacha, equivalent to brigadier-general, but with the promise of promotion soon after arriving. This and many other promises were fulfilled. I wish to say here that I was indebted to no one during my stay in Egypt for any favors except the Khedive, Nubar Pacha, and Stone Pacha ; and in matters of pay, to Mr. Farman, American consular agent. I was the friend of General Stone before he went to Egypt, and subsequently as he had opportunity he did me kindnesses. I never failed to render them to him whenever it was in my power to do so. He went thither as chief of staff for the army of Egypt, and there was no man more competent, by reason of education, experience, ability, and industry, to fill the position. When I was in command of the larger portion of the army of Egypt, and subsequently, I never failed to aid him in carrying out his designs, in the organization of the staff, and in pursuing its legitimate duties, even at the sacrifice of my own interests at times, of which I shall speak hereafter. My first experience was as inspector-general of the army.
I was indebted to the Khedive and his minister during this service for the highest and most complimentary appreciation, and no one labored more in building up the army which was subsequently destroyed by the new rulers of Egypt. No army could have been more cordial than that of Egypt was, during this period and subsequently, in obeying my instructions and in adopting my recommendations. While in the midst of my arduous duties as inspector-general, in the early part of 1870, I was suddenly summoned to the palace of Abdeen, in Cairo, the residence of the Khedive, and introduced into his private office. I found seated at his table the Khedive, Kassim Pacha, the Minister of War, the general-in-chief, and General Stone. I was invited to a seat next to General Stone. The Khedive in person, after ordering nearly his entire army to Alexandria and the coast of Egypt, and discussing many things not necessary to mention, directed the Minister of War to assign me to the command of both army and navy, with my headquarters at Alexandria, and the palace of Moussaffa Khanah as my residence ; later I was given the use of Gabara Palace, the late residence of Saďd Pacha, the former Viceroy. When the Khedive made this announcement General Stone arose in his seat and turned toward me as though he were surprised. But for this I should have believed that he had had something to do with it. It was the act of the Khedive alone. Having commanded departments and armies in my own country, I felt fully prepared to meet the responsibilities, and therefore did not share the astonishment. On parting with the Khedive, he said to me that I must come to him in person or correspond directly with him for whatever I desired, and that it should be at once attended to ; and to insure the matter he said, “ Communicate in English.” In the first years I sent considerable correspondence to the chief of staff which was acted upon, and throughout, when it was not acted upon promptly, I never failed in time to get all I wanted by communication with the Khedive. It was generally thought that General Stone burdened himself with too many new officials, though to be sure he had extensive explorations and scientific duties for them to perform. Many of them who came were very able and accomplished, but still there were too many who had little to do. Accustomed to lives of usefulness at home, life became irksome to them in Egypt, and a number left soon after arriving there, while others took seats in the bureaus at the Citadel to lament the fate that had brought them to the country. Those ordered as assistants in the Abyssinian campaign were as follows : Colonel William M. E. Dye, who graduated at West Point in 1853. He served on the frontier before the Civil War, and was a colonel and brevet-brigadier-general in the U. S. A. during its progress. He resigned in 1870 and entered the Egyptian service late in 1873. This officer, who had come to Egypt before we started, for what service I am not informed, was subsequently on duty at the Citadel in one of the offices of General Stone. He came to Abyssinia as assistant to the chief of staff. General Charles W. Field graduated at West Point in 1849. He served for many years on the frontier, was a major-general in the Confederate service, and was wounded in front of Richmond. He went to Egypt as a colonel, and had only arrived a short time before our departure. Of Colonel Lockett, a graduate of West Point in the engineer corps, who had been a colonel in the Confederacy, I have already spoken at some length. Lieutenant-Colonel Ali Bey was an Italian in the Egyptian army. Colonel Derrick, engineer, served in the Confederacy as captain of engineers. He had not been long in Egypt. Lieutenant-Colonel (Baron von) Mökln had been an officer in the Austrian army, and had not been long in Egypt when he started for Abyssinia. Major Loshe had been an officer of volunteers in the Civil War and subsequently in the U. S. A. He had only recently come to Egypt. Dr. Wilson, an assistant surgeon U. S. A., had seen much service in the field and during the Civil War. Captain Porter, son of Admiral Porter, arrived in Egypt as the expedition was leaving, and was assigned to duty with it. Captain Irgins served during and after the Civil War as an officer in the U. S. A. Captain (Count) Sormani, an Italian, was appointed just before leaving. Major (Count) Turnheysen, aide-de-camp to the commanding general, was appointed in the army on the eve of departure.
One of the most useful officers on my staff was an Egyptian, Ibrahim Lutfy Effendi (now colonel). Many years in the army, he served on my staff as an adjutant-general for nearly ten years, and was one of the most accomplished and useful officers in Egypt. He knew English well, was familiar with French and Italian, and was a good Turkish and Arab scholar. For Americans he entertained the warmest affection. During the long time spent in my office in continuous and ardent labor, while in command of the largest portion of the Egyptian army, he became acquainted with every officer, and was known to every soldier in it. Being kindly in his nature, he never let an opportunity pass to do some good action to his fellow-soldiers. In consequence he had the affection of the entire army. Another characteristic which added to his importance in the mind of the people was his religious fervor. For the many years he had been with me, though a man of weakly constitution and delicate health, attending day and night to his duties, he said the prayers of his Mahometan faith five times a day, making his ablutions before he did so. I never knew him to miss one. He had been to Mecca and returned. After going through the painful ordeal and coming back he was what they termed a hadji, which with his ascetic character clothed him with a sort of sanctity among the Mahometans in the mosques of Alexandria and Cairo, where he was best known. There were other officers whose names have been mentioned already, or will be in the course of this narrative.