Osman Digna

Osman Digna (c.1836-1900) was a follower of the Mahdi in Sudan. His birthplace is unknown. Both Suakin and Rouen, France were said to be the town where he was born. When he was called Osman Ali, Osman Digna lived in Alexandria, Egypt, where he dealt in the selling of slaves. After the English forced him to quit his business, he took part in the revolt of Arabi Pasha. After the failure of that movement at the Battle of Tel al-Kebir (September 13, 1882), he attached himself to the cause of the Mahdi.

About this time he received the name Digna because of the fulness of his beard. He maintained himself at the head of a powerful army around Suakin and inflicted a severe defeat on Baker Pasha near Tokar, southeast of that place, on February 4, 1884. Immediately after this victory, however, he was defeated by General Graham near Tokar and at Tamanieh. As the Mahdi's ablest general, he was largely responsible for the fate of Gordon and the loss of the Sudan to the English. In December, 1888, he suffered a bloody reverse at the hands of General Grenfell at Suakin, where he lost an arm. In 1899 he fought in the last campaign of the Mahdist forces, whose strength had been broken in the previous year at Omdurman. On January 19, 1900, he was captured near Tokar and sent a prisoner to Rosetta.