2010_5_01 Chinese Gordon at Khartoum
At times I could forget what books I had brought home from my job at Bookman’s Used Books in Tucson. I would pick something on a whim, bring it home, put it on a shelf, and promptly forget I had it; then months or years later I’d run across it just when I needed it. It’s funny how that works. For example, I had totally forgotten that I had obtained one of Olivia Manning’s nonfiction books, THE REMARKABLE EXPEDITION, which had gotten buried in an obscure corner of the history section of my library. I had read Manning’s fine novel, THE BALKAN TRILOGY a few years ago. I relocated THE REMARKABLE EXPEDITION just as I was doing some reading on Egypt and the Middle East in the 19th century-- to be specific, THE DEVIL’S GAME by Robert Dreyfuss and THREE EMPIRES OF THE NILE by Dominic Green. Manning’s book was about the search for Dr. Livingston by H.M. Stanley, an ordeal that lasted five years; but the first chapter dealt with General Gordon, who had become known as “Chinese” Gordon because he had served in China. (Actually I ran across THE REMARKABLE EXPEDITION and delved into it because I was looking for information about H.M. Stanley who was the great-great-grandfather of Richard Stanley a South African filmmaker who I was interested in in 2007.) But once I started reading the first Chapter I became fascinated with Manning’s narrative about the encounter between General Gordon and the Madhi, the promised one of Islam, much like the Jewish Messiah. The Madhi personally admired Gordon for his courage and spirituality; but he was also the British Commander in the Sudan. My original interest in the confrontation between the two men was the 1966 movie called “Khartoum,” with Lawrence Olivier playing The Madhi and Charleston Heston, playing Gordon. Their joint impact on me was great, staying with me for many years.
However, movies don’t always jibe with the historical record. In the movie Gordon dies at Khartoum with all his medals on his chest and dressed in his resplendent uniform; he perishes by thrown spear in the his side, like Christ was penetrated by a sharp blade as he hung on the cross. Well, it was true he did have all his medals on and he was clad in his dress uniform. Indeed, he looked so impressive it stopped the invaders for a minute as they gazed wide-eyed up at him elevated on some steps, as if he was a Deity they should respect, as he peered down at them, as if they were his unruly children. But in fact the thing that brought him down was a shot to the brow, not a spear. He died instantly. His head was cut off and put on a pole and brought to the tent of The Madhi, a man named Mohammed Ahmed who had the requisite mole on his cheek, which according to tradition was to be the identifying mark of The Madhi. Gordon’s body was thrown in the river to be devoured by crocodiles. What followed his death was a bloody slaughter, one of the worst in history, which was avoided by the movie, which should be no surprise. 4000 people in Khartoum were hacked to death and cut into pieces over a six hour period. I have tried to picture to myself what the executioners looked like after that particular labor. They had to be covered in blood and bits of flesh, plus being exhausted. But the Madhi Army wasn’t through as there were another 6000 that had been captured earlier and they too had to be killed. All of it was cold blooded murder. The massacre somehow received religious sanction. The only people who survived were some women who were divided up among the generals of the Madhi Army. Women in most Muslim countries always end up with the short end of the stick. I think of the Iranian film I wrote about recently, about that stoning of a woman falsely accused by a gaggle of men eager to kill her.
As for Gordon he posthumously became a Christian martyr and a Victorian icon/hero, celebrated for his courage and defiance against hopeless odds. Two columns of soldiers arrived two days after the final battle at Khartoum. Some say the PM, Gladstone, told them not to rush. He was not an admirer of Gordon who often ignored what his superiors told him to do. In a way he reminds me, minus the religious passion, of General George Custer, a man waiting to die in order to be ranked a hero/leader for his kind and time. A painter named George William Jay painted a heroic picture of Gordon in 1885. He stands at the top of the stairs, as was reported at the time of his death, where he defiantly faced the man about to launch his spear at him. Joy titled his painting, “Gordon’s Last Stand,” which again seems to echo Custer’s path to the Hall of Fame.
The Chinese Gordon of Khartoum certainly took a heroic, noble pose, and wanted to be seen and measured by that standard, but at bottom he was a complex man who was riddled by self doubt and self-loathing. He was also in very poor health. During his battles with slave traders he endangered his own health. His legs, for example, were scabbed over due to riding so much on the back of a camel. He was plagued by fevers, prickly heat, boils and recurrent bouts of malaria. He had a tendency to drink too much, as he was fond of brandy. It eventually damaged his liver. He smoked too much which bothered his heart and gave him chest pains. At times his arms would experience numbness. It’s surprising he never had a stroke.
He also had his personal demons. Some say he was a boy-oriented sexually but given the strictures and rigors of his faith he probably was a would-be pederast. In any case, he never did marry and died at age 51. At times he was out of his head, being pursued by furies only he saw. He was prone to panic attacks which made him dizzy. And he often saw himself as a worthless sinner. “I have brought it on myself, for I have prayed to God to humble me to the dust, and to visit the sins of Egypt and the Sudan on my head. It would be little to say, take my life for theirs, for I do earnestly desire a speedy death. I am weary of the continual conflict with my atrocious life.”
He got his wish, instant death, by the grace of a bullet to the brain.
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