At this time, Townshend began to overplay his hand and alienate his superiors. When Winston Churchill, who had got to know him well in the Sudan, asked him to read over an early draft of his 1899 book "The River War", Townshend in his notes attacked allies such as Sir Herbert Kitchener, Sir Archibald Hunter and Hector MacDonald, aka "Fighting Mac", as all having "got a reputation – perhaps greater than they can uphold." After Omdurman, Townshend resigned from the Egyptian Army to take up a staff position in the Punjab, but then refused the job, as he wanted a command in South Africa, writing to both Redvers Buller and Sir Evelyn Wood, asking to be sent to South Africa, where relations with the Transvaal were declining and war was thought likely. After learning that neither Buller and Wood were able or willing to do so, Townshend arrived in India to take the staff command in the Punjab, only to learn the position had already been filled, as he had refused it. He then went to meet the Viceroy Lord Curzon, who then gave him the staff job after all. Shortly afterwards, the 5th Marquis died and Townshend asked for leave to go to England to settle the Townshend family affairs, which greatly annoyed Curzon as this prolonged absence left the staff job in the Punjab empty again.