Napier's troops arrived at Annesley Bay in the Red Sea, early in 1868. Markham was attached to the force's headquarters staff, with responsibility for general survey work and in particular the selection of the route to Magdala, the king's mountain stronghold. Markham also acted as the party's naturalist, reporting on the species of wildlife encountered during the march southward from the coast. He accompanied Napier to the walls of Magdala, which was stormed on 10 April 1868. As the king's forces charged down the mountain to meet Napier's advancing troops Markham recorded: "The Snider–Enfield rifles kept up a fire no Abyssinian troops could stand. They were mown down in lines ... the most heroic struggle could do nothing in the face of such vast inequality of arms." Markham added that although the king's misdeeds had been numerous and his cruelties horrible, he had finally died as a hero.