The March to Magdala

A special correspondent's collected field letters chronicle a British military expedition into the Ethiopian highlands to secure the release of detained nationals. Presented largely in the original, present-tense dispatches, the account follows embarkation, sea transport, successive marches through rugged mountain passes, and the strain of supply and transport, describing camps, skirmishes, and the culminating assault on a remote mountain stronghold. Vivid landscape sketches and portraits of local peoples and customs are interwoven with tactical detail and reflections on the hardships, uncertainties, and how early predictions compared with actual experience.