The Dash for Khartoum - A Tale of Nile Expedition

G.A. Henty was a 19th century novelist, special correspondent and Imperialist. His best-known works are historical adventures. Khartoum is the capital of Sudan. It is located at the point where the White Nile meets the Blue Nile. This area is known as The Mogran. From here the Nile flows to the Mediterranean Sea. Muhammad Ali, the ruler of Egypt, founded the city in 1821. It quickly left the status of outpost becoming the center of trade and especially the slave trade. When the city was invaded the British were led by General Gordon. This siege led to the massacre of the Anglo-Egyptian garrison. Henty used his cast knowledge of this area in writing this story in which two boys accompany the expedition to rescue General Gordon from the besieged city.

English author and war correspondent George Alfred Henty lived from 8 December 1832 to 16 November 1902. He is most well-known for his historical fiction and adventure books, including The Dragon & The Raven (1886), For The Temple (1888), Under Drake's Flag (1883), and in Freedom's Cause (1883). (1885). He was a British journalist who served as G. A. Henty's war correspondent. He was raised in Cambridge and finished his education there at Gonville and Caius College. He continued to cover important wars that followed, such as the Italian and Austro-Italian Wars. He wrote 122 books, most of which were geared toward young readers. He also wrote non-fiction, adult fiction, and short tales. In Henty's stories, the main character is a boy or young man who is going through a challenging situation. His characters are consistently low-key, astute, courageous, truthful, and resourceful with a lot of "pluck." The date was put at the bottom of the title page of each of Henty's 122 historical fiction works in their first printings.