The Story of the British Army

by Charles Cooper King

When the advance began, the stations between the coast and the Prah numbered eight in the sixty-nine miles that covered the distance.

Soon the Prah was reached, the river that the Ashantis believed would never be crossed by a white man; but Lieutenant Grant of the 5th crossed it first, none the less. Here the stream, some 70 feet wide and 9 feet deep, was bridged with a crib bridge, and King Koffi Calcali sent ambassadors to treat for peace. But it was too late, even if the barbaric potentate could be trusted.

The army pushed on, deserted at times by the carriers, and little helped by the native allies; though the black regiments commanded by Russell, Wood, and Webber did some useful work.

The Adansi Hills and Bahrein river were successively crossed, and a skirmish occurred at a village near Adubiassie, in which Captain Nicol was killed; but the first serious battle was that of Amoaful, in which the Ashanti army stubbornly fought for more than five hours before they fell back beaten.

The bush was terribly dense, the tracks were but 8 feet broad. Paths had therefore to be hewn by the engineers in every case where the slightest width of front was necessary.

Strong in numbers, and acquainted with the jungle tracks, the Ashantis were able to assail both flanks and rear of the column as well as hold it in front. Simultaneous attacks could be, and were, made during and immediately after the battle on the fortified posts along the line of communication with the Prah and Cape Coast at Quaman, Fomanah, etc.

The fighting formation that could best meet these difficulties was, as in most of our African wars, a species of square. The advance was made in three columns. The centre, which formed, so to speak, the front face as far as possible, and was composed of the 42nd and the detachment of the 23rd, with Rait’s guns, was to seize the village of Egginassie. The left column, the Naval Brigade, and Russell’s native regiment, with some Royal Engineers and two rocket troughs, was to move by a road cut through the bush some few hundred yards from the central column. The right column was also built up of the Naval Brigade, with another native regiment, and some Engineers and rocket tubes. The 2nd Battalion of the Rifle Brigade formed the reserve or rear face, if required, of the square. The village of Egginassie was occupied with but little opposition, and the firing was continuous and heavy, as the troops advanced farther. Fortunately the missiles were slugs, not bullets, or the loss would have been serious. As it was, many men were hit, some severely, and Captain Buckle was killed. The total casualties amounted to 250, while the Ashanti loss was heavy, and their leader, Ammonquantia, was slain.

The following day the village of Bequah was taken, and further severe skirmishing took place at the passage of the Ordah, which had to be bridged, and while the baggage convoy was being packed at Ordahsu, a further effort was made to disturb the column, and Lieutenant Eyre was killed. Here the defence was half-hearted, and the capture of the capital, Coomassie, was not opposed. It was “a town over which the smell of death hangs everywhere and pulsates on each sickly breath of wind—a town where, here and there, a vulture hops at one’s very feet, too gorged to join the filthy flock preening itself on the gaunt dead trunks that line the road; where blood is plastered like a pitch coating over trees, floors, and stools—blood of a thousand victims yearly-renewed; where headless bodies make common sport; where murder, pure and simple, monotonous massacre of bound men, is the one employment of the king, and the one spectacle of the populace.”[68]

One of the many reasons for the war was a wish to put down the barbarous horrors of King Koffi Calcali’s reign, and a stipulation to that effect was made in the treaty, but it was disregarded. It required a second expedition to carry the measure into effect, by the deposition of the king’s successor, Prempeh, and the bloodless occupation of the capital—measures over which gloom was cast by the death of Prince Henry of Battenberg. Finally, in the first expedition, the city was set on fire, the king’s palace destroyed, and the army turned back to the coast. It was quite time; the rains had set in, and what were rivulets on the march up were now unfordable streams on the march back. Men half swam, were half dragged over these, their clothes being carried on the heads of natives. In one case, the bundle was lost, and, it is said that the unfortunate owner paraded the next morning with nothing but his helmet and rifle!

The war was over, and a treaty of peace signed; but after the retirement of Sir Garnet Wolseley from Coomassie, Captain Reginald Sartorius, who led the advance of Captain Glover’s force from the Volta, rode alone through the ruins of the city to communicate with the general commanding, and won thus the Victoria Cross. But this expedition was too late to join hands with the main column, though it had some skirmishing on the way; as also were those of Captain Butler with the Akims, and Captain Dalrymple with the Wassaws. Small as the war was, and of very short duration, it was sufficiently deadly. By July 9, 1874, thirty-eight officers of the whole force were dead.[69]