in the British service, but continued in Egyptian service, concentrating on training Sudanese troops. In 1889 he received the Distinguished Service Order for his conduct at the Battle of Toski and in 1891, after the action at Tokar, he was promoted substantive major. During the Mahdist War, MacDonald commanded a brigade of the Egyptian army in the Dongola Expedition (1896), and subsequently distinguished himself at Abu Hamed (7 August 1897) and Atbara (8 April 1898). At the Battle of Omdurman (2 September 1898) the British commander, Lord Kitchener, unwittingly exposed his flanks to the Dervish (i.e., Mahdist) army. MacDonald swung his men by companies in an arc as the Dervishes charged and by skillful manoeuvring held his ground until Kitchener could redeploy his brigades. When the fight was over MacDonald's troops had an average of only two rounds left per man. After Omdurman, MacDonald became a household name in Britain. He received a brevet promotion to colonel in the British Army, appointed an aide-de-camp to Queen Victoria, and received the thanks of Parliament and a cash award. His fame was especially high in his native Scotland: on 12 May that year, described as "one of the heroes of Omdurman," he was entertained to luncheon by the council of the City of Edinburgh, and many Scots felt that MacDonald, and not Kitchener, was the true hero. In October 1899, MacDonald received the temporary rank of brigadier general and was seconded to command the Sirhind district in the Punjab with headquarters at Umballa. Following the outbreak of war in South Africa the same month, he was in December ordered there to command the Highland Brigade, part of the army of Lord Roberts. He received the substantive rank of colonel on 4 January 1900, arrived in Cape Town on 18 January 1900 by the transport Dwarka, and six days later assumed command of the Highland Brigade stationed at Modder River, with the local rank of major general. While in South Africa he prepared the way for Lord Roberts's march to the relief of Kimberley by seizing Koodoesberg (5–8 February 1900), and by this demonstration the attention of the Boers was distracted from the main advance. Later the same month he took part in the Battle of Paardeberg (16–27 February 1900), where he was wounded by a gunshot in the foot in an attack on a Boer laager. He was discharged from hospital in