The town of Abu Hamed was a small, inscrutable network of houses and alleyways on the bank of the Nile river, surrounded on three sides by a slightly elevated plateau. Three stone watchtowers stood nearby, from which Mahdist lookouts spotted Major-General Hunter's force advancing from the north.[1] The reinforcements from Berber had not arrived in time, but the town's commander, Mohammed Zain, refused to flee.