Until the custom of making human sacrifices was put down with a strong hand by Great Britain, Coomassie, the capital, was as much a City of Blood as was the ill-famed Benin, a very different place from the town of to-day, with its wide, regular streets and stuccoed houses painted red and white.
With this country of Ashanti we have come repeatedly into conflict from the early days of last century, when trading stations became established on the coast. The Dutch, too, found their way thither with the same object in view, and out of the rivalry between them and us trouble arose that came to a head in 1872. In that year the Dutch traders who had established themselves on the Gold Coast were bought out by us, their possessions being transferred to this country in return for some land concessions in the island of Sumatra. To this arrangement King Coffee of Ashanti took exception, as he lost thereby certain annual tributes which the Dutch had hitherto paid him, and by way of showing his resentment he carried off several missionaries and attacked our allies the Fantis.
It was necessary to bring King Coffee and his turbulent subjects to reason, so in September 1873 Sir Garnet Wolseley was sent out to Ashanti with an expedition. The task was no easy one, for before Coomassie was reached the troops had to fight their way through the bush, and the African bush is not to be treated lightly, with its tangled masses of vegetation, dark belts of forest, rivers and morasses. Moreover, the campaign had to be completed before the hot season came on, when the terrors of pestilence and fever would have to be faced.
That Sir Garnet Wolseley did accomplish the task set him is a matter of history. By February of the following year King Coffee was forced to make peace, one of the terms being that he should discontinue human sacrifices.
In this five months’ campaign four Victoria Crosses were won, and of these the first two fell to Lieutenant the Hon. Edric Gifford (the present Lord Gifford) and Lance-Sergeant Samuel McGaw of the 42nd Regiment. The latter earned his distinction at the battle of Amoaful, the first victory of any consequence, when the Ashantis were completely routed. At that engagement McGaw led his company through the dense bush in splendid style, himself fighting all through the day, although suffering from a very severe wound received at the commencement of the battle.
Lord Gifford’s Cross was won for a long series of useful services rendered to his commander, though more particularly for his exceptional bravery at the taking of the town of Becquah on February 1st, 1874. At the beginning of the campaign (his first taste of active service, by the way) he organised a body of scouts, loyal natives who knew the country well and could be relied on. With this little band he ranged ahead of the army, hanging upon the enemy’s skirts, so to speak, and ferreting out their intentions by means of his spies. It was dangerous, highly dangerous, work, for it meant thrusting himself almost into the very arms of a foe who showed no mercy in war.
“It is no exaggeration,” says the official account, “to say that since the Adansi Hills were passed he daily carried his life in his hands in the performance of his most hazardous duty.” With no other white man by him, Lieutenant Gifford captured many prisoners, and the information he was able to procure for his chief was naturally of the utmost value.
If he carried his life in his hand while out scouting there is no doubt that he did the same at the taking of Becquah. Gifford and his scouts were through the stockade and into the town some time before the troops stormed it, and were in the thick of the fighting throughout. Of that day’s work, as well as of the scouting in the bush, Sir Garnet took full note when sending his despatches, and the young lieutenant of the South Wales Borderers saw himself duly gazetted.
Major Reginald Sartorius (now a Major-General) is another V.C. man who gained his decoration in far-off Ashanti. At the attack on Abogoo he bravely risked his life to save a wounded Haussa sergeant-major who had fallen under a heavy fire; and he is also famous for a most plucky ride through the heart of the enemy’s country to establish connection between the main body and Captain Glover’s column.
The name of Sartorius, it may be mentioned, is like that of Gough in figuring twice in the honoured list of V.C.’s, and in each case it is two brothers who have thus won double distinction. Major-General Euston Henry Sartorius received his Cross for an exploit in Afghanistan, mention of which will be found in the next chapter.