fighting, the soldiers of the North, as well as those of the South,
sank to the ground in hopeless exhaustion. They had fought like fiends
from early morning, travelled miles of country, scrambled through
thickets, across quagmires and stagnant waters, hauling guns and
waggons and stores, assisting the wounded, savagely attacking and
repulsing attack; and now that a truce for the night had been declared,
the soldiers found themselves so worn and weak that many paid no
attention to the cravings of hunger and the urgings towards material
comforts, but lay down on the ground and bivouacked where they had
stood when the order to cease fighting reached them.
[Illustration: “UP THE BANK THEY STRUGGLED AND
SCRAMBLED” (_p._ 212).]
All the dark, stormy night it rained a chilling rain. A cold wind
moaned through the trees, and so exhausted were the unwounded that the
wounded lay in the main unattended. Grant himself lay with no other
covering than the clothes he wore, his head to the stump of a tree,
and passed the night as best he could. To add to the horrors of the
night, the two gunboats, riding safely upon the bosom of the Tennessee,
kept up a deafening bombardment of the Confederate quarters throughout
the whole of the night, the shells shrieking and crashing among the
trees, hurling great limbs, and even whole tree-tops, to the ground,
and finally setting fire to the leaves that were on the ground and the
underbrush, until the badly wounded were burned where they lay.
It was indeed a night of horror, of suffering, and of despair.
But worst of all for the South, in the middle of the night Buell
arrived, and had the field of battle explained to him; and when the
morning dawned, his army--22,000 men--fresh and eager to fight,
marched upon the scene, together with General Wallace’s 5,000 reserve.
When Beauregard arose to continue the battle, he found himself
hopelessly outnumbered, and, fighting bravely still, was rapidly driven
from all the advantages he had gained, and in the end routed. His men
marched a miserable march to Corinth, again through sleet and mire,
but, fortunately for them, the North had been too sorely cut up to
follow for any great distance. In this woeful retreat 300 men died of
cold and privation.
In this Battle of Shiloh about 100,000 troops all together were
engaged, and of these 23,269 were killed, wounded, or missing. It was
simply a hard, stubborn fight from start to finish; and the death of
Johnston, and Buell’s fortunate arrival in the nick of time, in all
likelihood saved the Northern army from a most disastrous defeat. The
Confederates fought with the fury that distinguished them all through
the war. On the other hand, the Federals fought with the dogged
determination which ultimately won them the rights for which they had
taken up arms. Draper, in his history of the American Civil War, gives
the following as the Federal and Confederate losses:--
In Grant’s army there were six divisions. Their losses, in killed and
wounded, were:--
1st. McClernand’s, loss both days 1,861
2nd. W. H. L. Wallace’s, loss both days 2,424
3rd. Lewis Wallace’s, loss second day 305
4th. Hurlbut’s, loss both days 1,985
5th. Sherman’s, loss both days 2,031
6th. Prentiss’ (no report), loss estimated 2,000
------
Aggregate loss 10,606
Of Buell’s army, four divisions had marched to Grant’s aid; of these,
three were engaged:--
2nd. McCook’s loss 881
4th. Nelson’s loss 693
5th. Crittenden’s loss 390
-----
Aggregate loss 1,964
The Confederate losses were 1,728 killed, 8,012 wounded, 959 missing.
Total, 10,699.
General Beauregard, after Shiloh, retired from the command of the
Confederate forces on the plea of ill-health, and General Bragg was
made permanent commander.
[Illustration:
[_Photo., Handy, South Washington, D.C._
PRESIDENT LINCOLN.]
[Illustration:
AMOAFUL
BY G. A. HENTY]
The 31st of January, 1874, will long be a day noted in the memories
of the people who were, prior to that time, a scourge to their
neighbours and a standing menace to the native tribes under the British
protectorate at Cape Coast. It is probable that the exact date itself
has long ere this been forgotten, even if--which is very doubtful--the
Ashantis possess a calendar, or have any means of calculating the dates
of events, unless these happen to occur on the longest or shortest day,
or, perhaps, on the occasion of a new or full moon. The memory of the
battle, however, owing to a singular custom that prevails among them
and the other peoples of the coast, will never be lost as long as the
Ashantis remain a tribe. As the Greeks and Romans used to swear by
their divinities, the Ashantis swear by their misfortunes; and the most
solemn oath that can be taken by a king or chief of these peoples is
a national defeat or disaster. Assuredly, then, Amoaful will for many
generations be one of the most binding oaths among the Ashantis.
Ashanti had long shared with Dahomey the reputation of being the most
warlike and bloodthirsty of the peoples of West Africa; they were
constantly at war with their neighbours, the object of the incursions
committed being not so much the extension of territory as the carrying
away of large numbers of prisoners, to be sacrificed on the occasions
of their solemn festivals. They had long borne ill-will to the British
at Cape Coast, because of the protection granted by us to the Fanti
tribes; and from the commencement of the present century hostilities
have broken out at frequent intervals, and more than once the Ashantis
have carried fire and sword up to the very walls of Cape Coast, and on
one occasion defeated and destroyed a British force under Sir Charles
Macarthy.
This state of occasional warfare might have continued indefinitely,
had not the British exchanged some possessions with the Portuguese,
acquiring by this transaction the town of Elmina, some five miles north
of Cape Coast Castle, and the protectorate of the district lying behind
it. The tribe of this district had been allies of the Ashantis, and
Elmina itself had been their port of trade. The Portuguese had been in
the habit of paying a small annual sum to the Ashanti; this sum was
considered by them to be a present, but was regarded by the Ashantis as
a tribute. Ashanti, therefore, objected to the transfer, and marched an
army across the Prah to the assistance of their allies in the districts
dependent on Elmina. Early in June, having brushed aside the resistance
of the Fantis, the invading army reached Elmina, being joined by all
the tribes in its neighbourhood. A small party of Marines and Marine
Artillery were landed from the ships on the coast, and inflicted a
severe blow on the invaders as they were on the point of entering the
town.
The position was so serious that the British Government sent out Sir
Garnet Wolseley, with some twenty British officers, to organise, if
possible, a native force to cope with the enemy; or, if this could
not be done, to prepare the way for the landing of a British force of
sufficient strength to strike a heavy blow at the Ashantis in their
own country. Just as the party left England, a disaster befell us.
Commodore Commerell started to ascend the Prah with boats from the
squadron on the coast. They had gone but a short distance when they
were fired upon by the Ashantis, in ambush behind the bushes lining the
bank of the river. Commodore Commerell was severely wounded, as were
other officers and many seamen, and the expedition was forced to return.
The attempt to get up a large native force failed; but an expedition
was undertaken from Elmina, composed of bluejackets and marines, and a
portion of the 2nd West Indian Regiment, and this, after a sharp brush
with the enemy, burnt several villages and cleared the neighbourhood of
the Ashantis, who had been suffering very much during the wet season
from disease and the want of food. An attack on Abra Crampa, whose
king had joined us heartily, was repulsed; there was sharp fighting at
Dunqua and other skirmishes; and the Ashantis, disheartened by want
of success, and more than decimated by fever, fell back across the
Prah. The invasion had, thus far, been repelled solely by the naval
forces, aided by the 2nd West Indian Regiment and two native regiments
commanded by Sir Evelyn Wood and Major Baker Russell, each of whom had
some eight English officers under him.
[Illustration: CAPE COAST CASTLE.]
A road was made to the Prah, huts erected at suitable distances for the
use of the white troops, and when these landed, early in January, all
was ready for their advance. The force consisted of a battalion of the
Rifle Brigade and the 42nd; the 23rd Regiment remained on board the
transport that had brought them, it being considered that it was better
for them to stay in reserve, as the difficulties of carriage were so
great that the fewer the number of men taken up the better. There
was also a naval brigade, composed of bluejackets and marines, some
companies of the 1st and 2nd West Indian Regiments, Wood and Russell’s
native regiments, and a battery of little mountain guns commanded by
Captain Rait, and manned by natives trained by him, and a small party
of Royal Engineers. After a few skirmishes of no great importance, the
force made their way nearly to Amoaful, where it was known that the
Ashanti army was assembled in force to oppose their further advance.
[Illustration: “THE BONNY MEN LED THE ADVANCE”
(_p._ 221).]
The white regiments halted at Ingafoo, while the two native
regiments, with the Engineers and Rait’s artillery, marched forward to
Quarman, a little more than half a mile from the enemy’s outposts. Lord
Gifford, who commanded the scouts, lay all day in the bushes within
sound of the voices of the Ashanti, while Major Home, R.E., with the
sappers, cut paths almost up to the edge of the bush. At half-past
seven on the morning of the 31st of January, a naval brigade, with
two companies of the 23rd who had just come up, the 42nd, and Rifle
Brigade, arrived at Quarman and marched on without a halt, followed
by the force already in the village, where a garrison was left with
the baggage. The two native regiments were now reduced to but seven
companies altogether, owing to the necessity for leaving garrisons at
the various posts along the road. The plan of operations had already
been determined upon. The 42nd Regiment were to form the main attacking
force. They were first to drive the enemy’s scouts from the little
village of Agamassie, just outside the bushes where Gifford’s scouts
were lying, and were then to move straight on, extending to the right
and left of the path, and, if possible, to advance in a skirmishing
line through to the bush. Two guns of Rait’s battery were to be in
their centre, and to move upon the path itself. Half the naval brigade
and Wood’s regiment were first to cut a path out to the right, and then
to turn parallel with the main path, so that the head of the column
should touch the right of the skirmishing line of the 42nd, while
the other half of the naval brigade, with Russell’s regiment, was to
proceed in similar fashion on the left.
The two companies of the 23rd were to come on behind the headquarter
staff; the Rifle Brigade were to remain in reserve. The intention was
that the whole should form a sort of hollow square, the column on the
right and left protecting the 42nd from the flanking movements upon
which the Ashantis were always accustomed to rely for victory. With
each of the flanking columns were detachments of Rait’s battery with
rocket tubes.
The 42nd, as they burst out from the bush, encountered but little
opposition; the eight or ten houses composing the village being
occupied by but a small party of the enemy, who fled at once into the
bush beyond. This was so thick, and the open ground round the village
so small, that it was necessary to clear away a space for the bearers
of the litters, surgical appliances, and spare ammunition, and it was
nearly half an hour before the rest of the force issued from the narrow
path into the open.
The pause had been a trying one, for a tremendous roar of fire told
that the Black Watch were hotly engaged, and, indeed, had gained but a
distance of a couple of hundred yards while the native labourers were
clearing the bush round the village. As soon as they reached the open
space, the flanking columns turned off to the right and left, and it
was not long before the increasing roar of musketry showed that they,
too, were engaged.
The scene bore little resemblance to that presented by any modern
battle-field. The Ashanti bush consists of a thick wood of trees
some forty or fifty feet high, covered and interlaced with vines and
creepers, while the heat and moisture enable a dense undergrowth to
flourish beneath their shade. Above all tower the giants of the forest,
principally cotton trees, which often attain a height of from 250 to
300 feet.
Progress through this mass of jungle and thorn is impossible even
for the natives, except where paths are cut with hatchet or sword.
These paths are generally wide enough only for a single file, and two
persons meeting in opposite directions have a difficulty in passing
each other, the more so as long use wears down the soft, moist earth
until the tracks are converted into ditches two or three feet deep.
The ground across which the 42nd were trying to force their way was
more open than usual, owing probably to the undergrowth having been
cleared away to furnish firing to the little village. It was somewhat
undulating, and the depressions were soft and swampy. Each little rise
was held obstinately by the enemy, who, lying down beyond the crest,
behind trees, or in clumps of bush, kept up an incessant fire against
the Black Watch; and even the aid of Rait’s two little guns and two
rocket troughs failed to overcome their resistance. The two flanking
columns encountered even more strenuous opposition: before they could
advance into the bush a way had to be cut for them by the natives under
the orders of the Engineer officers. Although the troops endeavoured to
cover this operation by an incessant fire into the bush on either side,
the service was a desperate one. Several of the men fell dead from the
fire of their hidden foes, others staggered back badly wounded, and
Captain Buckle, of the Royal Engineers, one of the most zealous and
energetic officers of the expedition, fell mortally wounded by two
slugs in the neighbourhood of the heart.
Little wonder was it that, although the natives behaved with singular
courage, at times they quailed under the fire to which they were
exposed; consequently the advance of the two columns soon came to a
standstill, and the men lying down kept up a constant fire on the
unseen enemy, directing their aim solely at the puffs of smoke spurting
from the bushes. So difficult was it to keep the direction in this
dense bush that both columns had swerved from the line on which it was
intended that they should advance. The roar of fire was so general and
continuous that none of the three columns were in any degree certain
as to the direction in which the others lay, and from each of them
messenger after messenger was sent back to Sir Garnet Wolseley, who had
taken up his position with his staff at the village, complaining that
the men were exposed to the fire from the other columns.
The noise was, indeed, out of all proportion to the number of
combatants. The Ashantis use enormous charges of powder--which, indeed,
would be absolutely destructive to the old Tower muskets with which
they were armed were these loaded with tightly-fitting bullets. This,
however, was not the case, as on the powder three or four slugs of
roughly chopped-up lead were dropped loosely down: the noise made
by the explosion of the muskets so charged was almost as loud as
that of small field-pieces; and, indeed, although but two or three
hundred yards from the village the reports of Rait’s mountain guns
were absolutely indistinguishable in the din. The trees broke up the
sound in a singular manner, and the result was a strange and confused
reverberation, mingled with the hissing sound rising from the storm of
bullets and slugs mingled with that of the rockets. Well was it for
our soldiers that the enemy used such heavy charges, for these caused
the muskets to throw high, and the slugs for the most part whistled
harmlessly over the heads of the troops and almost covered them with
the showers of leaves cut from the trees overhead.
For an hour this state of things continued, the two companies of the
23rd were then ordered to advance along the main path and to aid the
42nd in clearing the bush, where the Ashantis still fought stubbornly
not two hundred yards from the village. Two companies of the Rifle
Brigade were sent up the left-hand road to keep that path intact up to
the rear of the Naval Brigade, while on the right, the rear of Colonel
Wood’s column was ordered to advance further to the right, so that the
column might form a diagonal line, and firing to their right only,
not only cover the flank of the 42nd, but do away with the risk of
stray shots striking them. Wounded men were now coming fast into the
village--42nd, Rifles, Naval Brigade, and natives.
[Illustration: ASHANTI]
On the left the firing gradually ceased, and Colonel McLeod, who
commanded there, sent in to the general to say that he was no longer
hotly attacked, but that he had altogether lost touch of the left of
the 42nd. He was therefore ordered to cut a road north-east until he
came in contact with them. He experienced a resolute opposition, but
the rockets gradually drove the Ashantis back. In the meantime, the
42nd were fighting hard. In front of them was a swamp, and on the rise
opposite the ground was covered with the little arbours that constitute
an Ashanti camp. Not an enemy was to be seen, but from the opposite
side the puffs of smoke came thick and fast, and a perfect rain of
slugs swept over the ground on which the 42nd were lying. The path was
so narrow that Rait could bring but one gun into position. This he
pushed boldly forward, and, aided by Lieutenant Saunders, poured round
after round of grape into the enemy until their fire slackened and the
42nd were again able to advance.
Step by step they won their way, each advance being covered by the
little gun, which did terrible execution among the crowded, though
unseen, ranks of the enemy. The camp was won; but beyond it the bush
was thick and absolutely impenetrable for a white soldier, and it was
necessary to advance solely by the narrow path. This was swept by
a storm of slugs from the bush on either side, although the Snider
bullets searched the bush and the guns poured in showers of grape. At
last the Ashanti fire diminished, and the troops dashed forward up the
lane, and the bush thickened on either side until too dense even for
the Ashantis to occupy it. With a cheer the Black Watch issued from the
upper end of the pass, and spread out into the wide open space dividing
the village of Amoaful into two sections. For a short time the Ashantis
kept up a fire from the houses and from the other end of the cleared
space, but the 42nd soon drove them from the houses; and a shell from
a gun fell among a group at the farther end of the clearing and killed
eight of them, and the rest retreated at once. Major McPherson and
eight other officers were wounded, and the total of 104 casualties in a
force of 450 men showed how severe had been the struggle.
It was now twelve o’clock, and although they had lost their camp and
village and had suffered terribly, the Ashantis were not yet finally
beaten. The principal part of the force that had been engaged upon our
left had swept round to the right, and were pressing hard upon our
right column, and cutting in between them and the 42nd. Fortunately,
however, the left column had cut its path rather too much to the east
and now came into the main path, and so formed a connecting link
between the 42nd at Amoaful and the head of the right column. Although
the latter had been strengthened by the addition of a company of the
Rifles, it suffered severely: Colonel Wood and six naval officers were
wounded, together with some forty men. The fire of the enemy at last
slackened, and it seemed as if all was over, when suddenly a tremendous
fire broke out from the rear of the column, showing that the Ashantis
were making a last and desperate effort to turn our right flank, and to
retake the village from which they had been driven in the morning.
For a few minutes the scene in the village was exciting. So near were
the enemy that the slugs came pattering down among the remainder of
the Rifles still held in reserve there, and they and the guard of
the reserve ammunition prepared to resist an attack, three companies
of the Rifles at once moving out to prolong the rear of the right
column, and so to cover that side of the village. For a while the
roar of musketry was as heavy and continuous as it had been during
the morning, and continued so for three-quarters of an hour. While it
was going on another strong body of the enemy attacked Quarman, but
the small force of forty men of the 2nd West Indian Regiment and half
a company of Wood’s regiment, under the command of Captain Burnett,
although taken by surprise--for with a great battle raging but half a
mile away, they had no idea of being attacked--defended themselves with
great gallantry, and even sallied out and brought in a convoy that had
arrived near the village, and finally, being reinforced by a company of
Rifles, took the offensive and drove off their assailants.
Finding themselves met on whatever side they attacked, the Ashanti
fire began to relax. As soon as it did so, Sir Garnet gave the word
for the line to advance, sweeping round from the rear so as to drive
the enemy northward before them. The movement was admirably executed.
A company of men who had been raised at Bonny, and who had fought
steadily and silently all the time they had been on the defensive, now
raised their shrill war-cry, and slinging their rifles and drawing
their swords, dashed eagerly forward, while by their sides, skirmishing
as steadily and quietly as if on parade, the men of the Rifle Brigade
searched every bush with their bullets; and in five minutes from the
commencement of their advance the Ashantis were in full retreat.
The number of casualties on the part of the white and native troops
amounted to about 250--a very heavy proportion, considering the
comparatively small number of the force engaged. Fortunately the
wounds, for the most part, were comparatively slight: the flying slugs
inflicted ugly-looking gashes, but seldom penetrated far. Captain
Buckle, of the Engineers, was the only officer killed, but the number
of wounded was large, and included two other Engineer officers out of
the total of five engaged.
No one had shown more determined bravery than the natives, who worked
as sappers under their orders. The work was trying enough for the
men, who for five hours remained prone, returning the fire of their
invisible foes. The natives, however, for the same time, were working
continuously, cutting paths through the thick bush and exposed
defenseless to the enemy’s fire. Nearly half their number were among
the wounded. The total number of deaths did not exceed twenty. On the
side of the Ashantis no accurate record was obtained of the number who
fell. It is their custom always to carry off the killed and wounded,
unless hotly pressed; and therefore, until the last rush of the Black
Watch into Amoaful, they had ample time to follow their usual custom.
Nevertheless, the number of dead found was very large, and the lowest
calculation placed their loss at 2,000. Among these was Ammon O̰uatia,
the general-in-chief of the Ashantis, and Aboo, one of the six great
tributary kings of Ashanti. The Ashantis fought with extraordinary
pluck and resolution; they, indeed, enormously outnumbered the
little British force, and their position was admirably adapted for
their peculiar method of fighting. But, on the other hand, they were
wretchedly armed, and their old and worn-out muskets were poor weapons
indeed compared with the breechloaders of the whites, who had, in
addition, the assistance of their guns and rocket tubes.
[Illustration: “EACH LITTLE RISE WAS HELD OBSTINATELY BY
THE ENEMY” (_p._ 218).]