THE ASHANTI WAR, 1873-4.
On the 9th of December, 1872, the King of Ashanti despatched from
Coomassie an army of 40,000 men to invade the British Protectorate on
the Gold Coast. This army crossed the Prah in three divisions on January
29th, 1873, and spread itself slowly over the country, ravaging as it
advanced. In August, 1870, the garrisons on the West Coast of Africa had
been reduced to four companies, two at Sierra Leone, and two at Cape
Coast. This reduction, no doubt, was one of the principal causes which
led to the invasion, for at that time there were only 160 soldiers of
the 2nd West India Regiment to defend 160 miles of territory.
In June, 1873, the head-quarters of the 2nd West India Regiment being
ordered from Demerara to Cape Coast Castle, A Company of the 1st West
India Regiment embarked at Kingston, Jamaica, on the 10th of that month,
and proceeded to Demerara to garrison that place. In September, the
native levies that had been raised on the Gold Coast to resist the
Ashantis being found utterly worthless, it was decided to send three
battalions from England and the 1st West India Regiment from Jamaica, to
invade in turn the Ashanti territory and dictate terms of peace at
Coomassie.
On the 15th of November, the two companies (C and H) from Nassau, under
the command of Major Strachan, arrived at Jamaica, and, on the 3rd of
December, the head-quarters and five companies (B, C, E, G and H), under
the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Maxwell, embarked at Kingston on board
the hired transport _Manitoban_. Proceeding to Barbados, A Company, which
had been moved from Demerara, was embarked on the 9th of December, and the
same evening the regiment sailed for the Gold Coast, arriving at Cape Coast
Castle on the 27th, and disembarking on the 29th, 575 strong. The officers
serving with the expeditionary force were Lieutenant-Colonel Maxwell, Major
W.W.W. Johnston, Captains Sampson, Butler, Niven, J.A. Smith, Steward,
and Shearman, Lieutenants Allinson, C.J.L. Hill, Bale, Molony, Cole,
Bell, Clough, Elderton, Beale-Browne, and Barne, and Sub-Lieutenants
Harward, Spitta, Hughes, Burke, Edwardes, Tinkler, and Ellis.
The regiment on landing was encamped on Prospect and Connor's Hills, two
heights overlooking the town of Cape Coast, and Colonel Maxwell assumed
command of the garrison in the Castle.
Sir Garnet Wolseley having already driven the Ashantis out of the
Protectorate after the actions at Dunquah and Abracampa in November, and
having garrisoned the various stations between Cape Coast and the Prah,
had, a few days before the regiment landed, gone on to Prahsu with his
head-quarter staff. The _Himalaya_ and _Tamar_, with the 23rd Royal
Welsh Fusiliers and the 2nd Battalion Rifle Brigade, which had been
cruising about outside for sanitary reasons, now came into the
roadstead, where the _Sarmatian_, with the 42nd Highlanders, was already
lying, and everything was ready for the advance on Coomassie.
Accordingly, before daybreak on the 1st of January, the right
half-battalion of the Rifle Brigade landed and commenced its march to
the front, followed the next morning by the other half-battalion. On the
mornings of the 3rd and 4th the two half-battalions of the 42nd landed,
and passed to the front in a similar manner.
The Fantis had shown so much disinclination to act as carriers, and so
few had been obtained, that the advance of these two battalions had
exhausted all the available carriers, and there were none for the 23rd
Fusiliers. It was necessary to adopt stronger measures, unless the
expedition was to fall through, and on the 4th of January the 1st West
India Regiment was posted in a cordon of sentries around the town of
Cape Coast, while the armed police seized all the able-bodied men in the
town, except those employed as canoe-men. This step was entirely
successful, and on the morning of the 5th the right half-battalion of
the 23rd landed and marched to the front, being followed next morning by
C Company of the 1st West India Regiment.
The difficulty with the carriers had in the meantime increased instead
of diminishing. Numbers had deserted, abandoning their loads, and the
transport was almost in a moribund condition, the 23rd Regiment being
even re-embarked for want of carriers. Sir Garnet Wolseley in this
emergency called upon the West India regiments for assistance, saying
that the fate of the expedition was hanging in the balance; and in
response to his appeal, they both volunteered to carry supplies, in
addition to their arms, accoutrements, and ammunition.
Accordingly, on the 7th of January, the head-quarters of the regiment,
under Colonel Maxwell, with A and E Companies, marched to Inquabim, the
first stage; being followed the next morning by G and H Companies, under
Captain Butler; while B Company remained at Prospect Hill to furnish the
necessary garrison guards at Cape Coast Castle.
The head-quarters arrived at Dunquah on the 8th, where C Company had
been halted by Colonel Colley, who was in charge of the transport and
communications, and had already been actively engaged driving in
carriers and furnishing escorts for the convoys of provisions.
On the 9th, at 1.30 a.m., A Company, under Captain Shearman, paraded
and marched into the Ecumfie district for the purpose of driving in
carriers from that neighbourhood, and, at the same hour, the
head-quarters and E Company continued their march to Mansu, where they
arrived the same evening.
Provisions being now urgently required at the stations immediately in
front of Mansu, 78 men of E Company, being all that were available, and
140 of the 42nd Highlanders, started at three o'clock in the morning of
the 12th, as carriers, each man with a load of 50 lb. weight, besides
his arms and accoutrements. On the evening of the same day Captain
Butler, with H Company, arrived at Mansu.
The carriers continued deserting by whole tribes, and the need of them
had become so urgent, that orders were issued to shoot any attempting to
desert, while parties of the regiment were continually passing backwards
and forwards between Dunquah and Mansu as guards over the convoys. To
relieve the pressure, 94 men of G and C Companies left Dunquah on the
13th with ninety-four 50-lb. loads, and, reaching Mansu the same day,
started next morning at daybreak for the Prah.
On the 17th, Captain Butler marched with H Company to Essecooma, a place
about twenty miles due east from Mansu, to drive in carriers, and a
similar party was sent out next day from Dunquah, under Lieutenant
Roper, to Adjumaco and Essiaman.
During all these arduous duties, and since the 8th of January, so great
was the scarcity of provisions at the front, that the non-commissioned
officers and men of the regiment were placed upon half rations of salt
meat and biscuit, without the grocery ration.
On Sunday, the 18th of January, the transport being now in sufficient
order, owing to the number of carriers driven in from the surrounding
districts by the regiment, the advance of the army commenced, and the
head-quarters of the 42nd Regiment marched from Mansu; their left wing,
and 100 men of the 23rd Fusiliers, moving up from Yancoomassie Fanti,
and occupying their lines for the night. The Rifle Brigade moved
simultaneously to the front from the stations ahead.
Next morning, E Company, under Captain J.A. Smith, marched with the left
wing of the 42nd for the Prah, and G Company, under Captain Steward,
came up to Mansu from Dunquah, leaving A and C Companies, under Captains
Niven and Shearman, at Dunquah and the Adjumaco district.
On the 23rd, orders were received from the front by telegram, that the
head-quarters and 200 men were to march for the Prah at once, there to
receive further orders. Captain Butler, who had been ordered in with H
Company from Essecooma, two days before, arrived at Mansu the same
evening, and the next morning, the head-quarters and G Company marched
for the Prah, H Company following on the 25th. Halting at Sutah and
Yancoomassie Assin, the head-quarters arrived at Prahsu on the 27th,
and on the morning of the 28th, the 200 men required crossed the Prah
and marched to Essiaman. During this march the men had been obliged to
carry their _tentes d'abri_, blankets and waterproof sheets, and seventy
rounds of ball ammunition, in addition to their field kits and arms and
accoutrements. On arriving at Essiaman, E Company, which, under Captain
J.A. Smith, had crossed the Prah a day or two before, was found
occupying an important post at the cross roads.
A few minutes after reaching this village, urgent orders were received
to push on as quickly as possible to the summit of the Adansi Hills, and
again proceed to the front with all speed, leaving fifty men at
Fommanah, the capital of Adansi. On the 29th, the head-quarters were at
Accrofumu; on the 30th, they crossed the Adansi Hills, and halted at
Fommanah for the night, leaving E Company, under Captain Smith, at the
cross-roads at the foot of the hills, in accordance with later orders
that had been received, and Lieutenant Spitta with twenty-five men at
the summit. The men were now becoming much exhausted from their long
marches, marching, as they did, double stages every day. Their burdens
were unusually heavy for troops, and they were still kept on half
rations.
At Fommanah a very pressing letter was received from the chief of the
staff, asking at what hour next day the regiment might be expected to
join the head-quarters of the army at Insarfu, what numbers it could
put into the field, and whether the boxes of small-arm ammunition
ordered up from Prahsu had arrived with it. A considerable action was
considered imminent on the morrow.
At daylight on the morning of the 31st, the head-quarters marched to
Ahkankuassie, leaving Captain Steward and Lieutenant Hughes with fifty
men at Fommanah. At about eight o'clock the sound of heavy and sustained
musketry was heard, and the men, eager to join in the first battle
fought on Ashanti soil, pushed on. At Adadwasi a large number of
carriers, with reserve ammunition, who had halted there, frightened at
the sound of the firing, were found, and were at once taken on, arriving
at Insarfu about 1.30 p.m.
The firing, which had ceased for a short time, now recommenced, the
Ashantis making one of their favourite flank attacks on Quarman, the
next village in front. The situation appeared grave, the town being
crowded with terrified carriers and wounded men, and Lieutenant Hill
with a half-company was sent out to act with the 2nd West India Regiment
and skirmish.
After a time, however, the musketry ceased, and the carriers, with the
reserve ammunition, were pushed on hurriedly under the escort of a
company of the Rifle Brigade, the 1st and 2nd West India Regiments being
directed to hold Insarfu. Scarcely had the carriers started than the
firing again commenced, the ambushed Ashantis having attacked the
convoy, which fell back upon Insarfu. After a short delay, a second
attempt was made to get the ammunition through to the front, and this
time it proved successful. It was now dark, and Captain Buckle, R.E.,
who had been killed that morning, was buried outside the town, the
firing party of the 1st West India Regiment being employed as
skirmishers to protect the funeral party, instead of in the usual
manner.
The next morning, orders were received for the 2nd West India Regiment
to proceed to Amoaful, and hold it until the return of the army from
Coomassie; while the 1st West India Regiment was directed to hold
Insarfu, in which was the 2nd field hospital with 120 wounded officers
and men. The work was arduous in the extreme, the men, when not on
sentry or patrol, being employed in clearing the thick bush round the
town, and endeavouring to strengthen the post. While the engagement at
Amoaful, Quarman, and Insarfu was going on, a party of the 1st West
India Regiment, which was escorting treasure from Fommanah to Dompoassi,
was fired upon by some ambushed Ashantis about one hundred yards from
the latter village. The escort promptly returned the fire, but the
carriers all dropped their loads and ran away. After firing a few
desultory shots the Ashantis retired, and the escort remained with the
scattered boxes of specie, which were too numerous for them to carry on
themselves. Fortunately the fugitive carriers, running headlong into
Fommanah, spread the alarm, and Captain North, of the 47th Regiment,
immediately marched with a party of the 1st West India Regiment, under
Lieutenant E. Hughes, and a few men of Russell's Regiment, to Dompoassi,
near which he found the treasure quite safe, it having, with the
exception of one box, which had been dropped by its bearer some three
hundred yards down the road, away from the rest, and where a turn in the
path hid it from sight, been collected together by the escort. No trace
was found of the enemy, and the party of the 1st West India Regiment
returned to Fommanah.
On the morning of the 2nd of February, the head-quarters of the army
advanced from Amoaful to march on Coomassie. There were, notwithstanding
the defeat on January 31st, still large numbers of Ashantis on the
flanks of the road, in the neighbourhood of Quarman and Insarfu. During
the day succeeding the battle, they concentrated lower down the road,
and, on the morning of the 2nd of February, made a desperate attempt to
sever our line of communications by attacking the post of Fommanah.
"The post was in command of Captain Steward, 1st West India Regiment,
who had a garrison of 1 officer and 38 non-commissioned officers and
men, 1st West India Regiment; and Lieutenant Grant, 6th Regiment, with
102 of the Mumford Company of Russell's Regiment. There were also
present two transport officers--Captain North, of the 47th Regiment, and
Captain Duncan, R.A.--three surgeons, and two control officers; and in
the palace, which was situated in the main street of the long straggling
town, and used as a hospital, were 24 European soldiers and sailors,
convalescents. The pickets had reported Ashantis in the neighbourhood
early in the morning, and had been reinforced; but the village was far
too large to be capable of defence by this small garrison; and when,
about 8.30 a.m., the place was attacked from all directions by the
enemy, they were able to penetrate into it. Captain North, in virtue of
his seniority, assumed the command, but while at the head of his men was
shot down in the street of the village, and was obliged by severe loss
of blood to hand over the command to Captain Duncan, R.A.
"The enemy, as has been said, penetrated into all the southern side of
the village, which they set on fire; meanwhile the sick from the
hospital were removed to the stockade at the north end of the village,
which was cleared as rapidly as possible, the houses being pulled down
by the troops and labourers acting under Colonel Colley's order.[63]
"At half-past two, Colonel Colley reported as follows: 'We have now
cleared the greater part of the village, preserving the hospital and
store enclosure. Difficult to judge of numbers of the Ashantis; they
attack on all sides, and occasional ones creep boldly into the village,
but generally keep under cover of the thick bush, which in places comes
close to the houses.' The firing ceased about 1 p.m.; but on a party
going down for water an hour later, they were hotly fired upon. No
further attack was made upon the post.
"This attack on Fommanah seriously interfered with the transport
arrangements. Hitherto, though a few shots had been fired at different
convoys, the panics and difficulties had always been overcome by the
energy of the transport officers; but the vigour and strength of this
attack frightened the carriers so thoroughly that it was impossible to
move them for some days." In this affair the 1st West India Regiment
lost one sergeant and five privates wounded, and Russell's irregulars
three men wounded.
The Ashantis, although repulsed, still remained in the neighbourhood of
Fommanah, and on February 3rd, an escort over a convoy of carriers,
consisting of a sergeant and three men of the 1st West India Regiment,
was fired upon between Dompoassi and Fommanah, the sergeant and one
private being wounded.
The European Brigade pushed on to Coomassie, after several days' hard
fighting, entered the Ashanti capital on the evening of the 4th of
February, burned it and marched out on the 6th, and arrived at Insarfu
on the downward journey on the 9th. Lieutenant-Colonel Johnston,
commanding the head-quarters of the 1st West India Regiment at Insarfu,
was directed to break up his post, burn the town as soon as all the
troops had passed through, and then to follow to Fommanah, where Sir
Garnet Wolseley intended remaining a few days, in order to endeavour to
arrange a treaty with the Ashantis.
The head-quarter staff left Fommanah on February 14th for Cape Coast,
and the European troops being ordered to push on, on account of the
commencement of the rains, the 1st West India Regiment was detailed to
relieve the 42nd as the rear-guard of the army. On it fell the duty of
destroying the fortified posts to the north of the Prah, and the removal
of the sick and wounded and stores. Carriers were still so scarce that
it was not until the 20th that Essiaman was cleared out and the stockade
destroyed, and the three rear companies of the regiment marched into the
bridge-head at Prahsu--which, during the advance to Coomassie, had been
held by C Company, under Captain Niven--on the 21st. On the 23rd they
crossed the Prah, and the bridge was then destroyed.
By the 27th of February all the European regiments had embarked for
England, the 2nd West India Regiment was under orders for the West
Indies, and upon the 1st West India Regiment fell the duty of
garrisoning the colony. Two hundred men were left at Prahsu, where a
strong redoubt had been constructed, fifty at Mansu, and the remainder
at Cape Coast. On the departure of Sir Garnet Wolseley, on the 4th of
March, Colonel Maxwell, of the 1st West India Regiment, administered the
government of the Gold Coast.
Previous to the departure of the General the following general order was
published:
"(General Order No. 43.)
"HEAD-QUARTERS, CAPE COAST CASTLE,
"_3rd March, 1874_.
"Before leaving for England the Major-General commanding wishes to
convey to the soldiers of the 1st and 2nd West India Regiments his
appreciation of their soldierlike qualities, and of the manner in
which they have performed their duties during the recent campaign.
Portions of the 2nd West India Regiment have been in every affair in
the war, and the regiment generally has undergone fatigue and
exposure in a most creditable manner.
"When, owing to the desertion of carriers, the transport
difficulties became serious, the men of both these regiments
responded most cheerfully to the call made upon them, and, by daily
carrying loads, helped to relieve the force from its most pressing
difficulties.
"In saying 'good-bye,' the Major-General assures them he will always
remember with pride and pleasure that he had the honour of
commanding men whose loyalty to their Queen, and whose soldierlike
qualities, have been so well proved in the war now happily at an
end."
The rains having set in at the Prah, and much sickness prevailing, it
was decided to relieve the posts between that river and the coast. In
fact, the mortality that had occurred at Prahsu in 1864 showed that
West India troops should not be encamped there without urgent necessity;
and no such necessity now existed, as the King of Ashanti had agreed to
the treaty, which had been left unsettled up to Sir Garnet Wolseley's
departure. Captain J.A. Smith, with fifty men of the regiment, escorted
the Ashanti chiefs sent down by the king, and arrived at Cape Coast on
the 12th of March. On the 18th, H Company marched in from Prahsu, and
embarked on the 20th for Sierra Leone in the transport _Nebraska_, which
vessel also conveyed the 2nd West India Regiment to the West Indies. C
Company was the last withdrawn from the Prah, arriving at Cape Coast on
April 2nd.
It had been most disappointing to the two West India regiments to have
been prevented from entering Coomassie, within some twenty-five miles
from which their head-quarters were halted. West India regiments rarely
have opportunities of seeing active service elsewhere than on the West
Coast of Africa; and, although the duties assigned to them in the second
phase of the war were most important, holding, as they did, the detached
posts from the Prah up to the front, keeping open the communications,
protecting the convoys, sick and wounded, and constantly furnishing
patrols and escorts, yet they felt it rather hard to have been deprived,
in their solitary field for distinguishing themselves, of the honours of
fighting beside their European comrades at Amoaful and Ordahsu.
On the return of the regiment from the bush, the fatigues and exposures
of the campaign began to have their effect upon both officers and men.
In ordinary years, in times of peace, Europeans who are seasoned to
tropical service, can serve for twelve months in the deadly climate of
West Africa without suffering much loss; but any unusual exposure or
hardship is at once followed by an alarming increase of sickness. The
1st West India Regiment was the only corps which, after enduring all the
fatigues of a campaign in the most deadly climate in the world, did not
enjoy the advantage of a change to a healthier station. Added to this,
the season proved to be unusually unhealthy, and that variety of African
fever known as "bilious remittent," which can only be distinguished from
yellow fever by the fact of its not being contagious, broke out.
Sub-Lieutenant L. Burke succumbed to this scourge on March 1st,
Lieutenant T. Williams on April 9th, Lieutenant W.S. Elderton on May
10th, and Sub-Lieutenant E.W. Huntingford on June 12th, while
Lieutenant-Colonel Maxwell, Lieutenant Clough and Lieutenant Roper,
being invalided, died on passage to England, and Captain Butler after
arriving in England. In addition to these deaths, eight other officers
were invalided, and out of twenty-six officers who were serving with the
regiment on the 28th of February, only ten were left in West Africa on
the 30th of June.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 63: Colonel Colley had arrived at the northern side of the
village, from Ahkankuassie, soon after the command had devolved upon
Captain Duncan.]