THE BATTLES OF AMOAFUL AND ORDASHU.
1874.
For years the Ashantees had been a source of trouble and annoyance to
the British settlers on the Gold Coast, and the campaign of 1873-74 was
by no means entered upon without considerable provocation from this
barbarous and fanatical people.
With the march of time, Britain extended and strengthened her hold
upon the settlement, and ultimately, pursuing this policy, brought out
the Danes, and made exchanges with the Dutch there. These proceedings
culminated in Britain becoming possessors of the whole of the territory
formerly under Dutch protection. The taking over of the Dutch forts
caused heart-burning among the Ashantees. Particularly was this the
case with regard to Elimina, where, at the time the negotiations for
the transfer were being considered, a number of Ashantee troops were
lying.
King Koffee Kalkali, the ruler of the Ashantees, protested against the
transfer, maintaining that the Dutch had no right to hand over the
territory to Britain, as it belonged to him. Notwithstanding, the Dutch
contrived to get rid of the truculent Koffee and his followers then
stationed at Elimina.
Not only did the Ashantees resent the Anglo-Dutch agreement, but other
tribes in several instances also took objection. This especially was
the case as regarded the Fanties and Eliminas, who hated each other,
and interchanged hostile acts, although by this time both were under
one common protection.
The old hatred of Britain had been awakened. King Koffee assumed a
dominant and aggressive spirit, and became bent on invasion. To some
extent he was abetted by the Eliminas, who, in part at any rate, were
disloyal to the whites. From these causes arose the campaign of ’73-’74
and the battles of Amoaful and Ordashu.
At the outbreak of hostilities the British force available to resist
attack was ridiculously meagre, numbering, it is computed, not more
than 600 men, scattered over several stations.
At home, the Government was slow to act, and not until repeated
application had been made for white troops was the appeal given heed to.
That renowned soldier Sir Garnet Wolseley was commissioned to operate
against the Ashantees. The announcement gave great satisfaction. If the
spirit of the wild tribe was to be crushed, it was felt that Sir Garnet
was the man to do it. But his task was no light one, and without white
troops the issue was doubly doubtful.
His instructions, briefly, were to drive the Ashantees back over the
Prah, then to follow and punish them until they should consent to
be peaceful, should release their prisoners, and comply with terms
necessary to our own interests and those of humanity.
The deadly nature of the coast, “the white man’s grave,” was doubtless
a potent factor with the Government in that they did not immediately
acquiesce with Sir Garnet’s request for white troops. But, as we know,
the Government at last acceded, and the regiments selected for service
in that disease-pregnated country have added lustre to their fame and
also another page of glorious history to the story of the pluck and
endurance of Britain’s soldiers. The total number of troops under the
command of Sir Garnet Wolseley being made up of Colonel Wood’s native
regiment of 400 men, Major Russell’s native regiment of 400, the 42nd
Highlanders (Black Watch) 575 strong, the Rifle Brigade 650, 75 men of
the 23rd Fusiliers, Royal Naval Brigade 225, 2nd West India Regiment
350, Royal Engineers 40, and Rait’s artillery 50.
About the end of October, 1873, Sir Garnet Wolseley began his forward
march into the interior. There was fighting to be done ere long, for
the enemy made an attempt to arrest the progress of the troops by
besieging Abrakrampa, the chief town of the province of Abra, of which
the native king was Britain’s staunch ally. A three days’ ineffectual
leaguer ensued, during which the Ashantees lost heavily, while not
so much as one white man was injured. With Sir Garnet close behind,
the Ashantees thought it best to recross the Prah and retreat towards
Coomassie.
Through the dense bush the troops marched in the garish and dazzling
sunlight, and at the end of their daily tramp through the hostile
country they were glad to lie down and rest in the huts provided for
them. In the way of rations the men were well looked after by the
commissariat department, the fare being as follows:--One and a half
pounds of meat, salt or fresh, one pound of pressed meat, one and a
quarter pounds of biscuits, four ounces of pressed vegetables, two
ounces of rice or preserved peas, three ounces of sugar, three-quarters
of an ounce of tea, half an ounce of salt, one-thirteenth of an ounce
of pepper. With such substantial and varied feeding the hardships
of the march were minimised and weakness was rare--another striking
illustration of the truth of the maxim of the great Napoleon that “an
army goes upon its belly.”
The further the British force progressed, denser and loftier grew the
forest, although the Engineers with unflagging energy had cleared a
pathway as far as the Prah. On the 15th December, 1873, Sir Garnet
Wolseley was able to report “the first phase of the war had been
brought to a satisfactory conclusion by a few companies of the 2nd
West India regiment, Rait’s artillery, Gordon’s Houssas, and Wood’s
and Russell’s regiments, admirably conducted by the British officers
belonging to them, without the assistance of any other troops except
the marines and blue-jackets who were upon the station on his arrival.”
Sir Garnet arrived at Prashu on the 2nd January, 1874, and was
joyfully received by the assembled soldiers. Early in the same morning
an Ashantee embassy was espied on the other side of the Prah. These
ambassadors brought a letter from the truculent King Koffee, in which
the wily savage had the audacity to point out that the attack upon him
was unjustifiable.
The “Times” correspondent wrote that “many stories were afloat about
the King of Ashantee’s proceedings. The following is a fair specimen,
and illustrates well the extreme superstition of the Ashantees, showing
by what influences Koffee is popularly supposed to be guided, and upon
what councillors he is supposed to rely in the present crisis. Koffee,
the story goes, recently summoned a great meeting of his fetish men,
and sought their advice as to how he should act towards Britain, and
whether he ought to seek for peace or stake his fortunes on the result
of a war. The fetish men at first declined to give an answer, until
they had been guaranteed that, no matter what their reply was, their
lives should not be forfeited. Having been assured upon this point,
they then replied that ‘they saw everything dark, except the streets of
Coomassie, which ran with blood.’ King Koffee was dissatisfied with the
vagueness of this reply, and determined to appeal still further to the
oracle. He resorted to what he considered a final and conclusive test.
Two he-goats were selected, one entirely black, the other of a spotless
white colour, and, after due fetish ceremonies had been performed over
the two goats, they were set at each other. The white goat easily
overcame and killed his opponent. King Koffee, after this test, was
satisfied that he was doomed to defeat at the hands of the white men.”
He immediately sent the embassies before referred to, to seek for
peace, but the object which was of greatest importance to him was to
avoid the humiliation of seeing his territory invaded by the whites.
When, however, he found that all his conciliatory overtures were
powerless to hinder the advance of the British, the national pride of
the chiefs and the ardour of the fighting population was too strong
to admit of any restraint. These causes, combined with the threatened
humiliation of seeing his capital invaded by the British and his fetish
supremacy destroyed, nerved him for one desperate effort.
For this final move Sir Garnet was prepared. In his notes for the use
of his army the commander says:--
“Each soldier must remember that with his breechloader he is equal to
at least twenty Ashantees, wretchedly armed, as they are, with old
flint muskets, firing slugs or pieces of stone that do not hurt badly
at more than forty or fifty yards range. Our enemies have neither guns
nor rockets, and have a superstitious dread of those used by us.”
With these and similar heartening instructions, the coming fight was
anticipated eagerly by our troops, the Fanties alone, who were employed
as transport bearers, proving unreliable. These latter deserted in
thousands, thus throwing extra work upon the white troops, many of the
regiments having to carry their own baggage.
Information was received at the British headquarters on the 30th
January, 1874, that a big battle was pending on the morrow. The natives
were assembled in enormous strength, and were prepared to offer a stout
resistance. On the eve of the fray the advance guard of the British
force was at Quarman, a distance of not more than a couple of miles
from Amoaful, one of the principal villages of the country. Between
these two places lay the hamlet of Egginassie, and to this point Major
Home’s Engineers were busily engaged preparing a way for the advancing
force.
In front of Amoaful 20,000 of the natives had taken up a position.
Of this fanatical horde there was not a man but would be ready to
perpetrate the most wanton cruelty, and to whom butchery was but
second nature. As usual, the Ashantees were armed with muskets that
fired slugs. They held a position of considerable strength upon the
slopes of the hill that led to Amoaful. The dense nature of the bush,
high walls of foliage, through which our troops had to pass, made
it difficult for the soldiers to fire with precision, or make rapid
progress. The protection of not only our flanks, but also our rear,
was a matter of special importance and anxiety, for in the enclosing
screen of underwood it would be no difficult task for a stealthy and
numerous foe to surround and decimate small detachments of the not over
strong British force. But every precaution was taken to guard against
surprise, and the British general had every confidence in each member
of his force, officers and men alike.
The troops were early on the move, and with precision they filed into
their allotted places. Led by Brigadier Sir Archibald Alison, the front
column was comprised of the famous Black Watch, eighty men of the 23rd
Fusiliers, Rait’s artillery, two small rifled guns manned by Houssas,
and two rocket troughs, with a detachment of the Royal Engineers.
The left column was under the command of Brigadier McLeod, of the
Black Watch, and contained half of the blue-jackets, Russell’s native
troops, two rocket troughs, and Royal Engineers. Lieutenant-Colonel
Wood, V.C., of the Perthshire Light Infantry, had charge of the right
column, which consisted of the remaining half of the naval brigade,
seamen and marines, detachments of the Royal Engineers, and artillery,
with rockets and a regiment of African levies. The rear column was made
up of the second battalion of the Rifle Brigade, 580 strong, and the
entire force was under the skilful command of Sir Garnet Wolseley.
The forces were disposed so as to form a large square. By this means
Sir Garnet hoped to nullify the favourite flank tactics of the enemy,
but to some extent the formation had to be broken on account of the
entangling brushwood.
The battle of Amoaful was fought on the 31st January. Lord Gifford
and his scouts were the first to get in touch with the enemy, and the
desultory firing heard warned the leading column that the conflict
was opening. The British forces met opposition about eight in the
morning, and soon after the spirting of red musketry and the curl of
white smoke were conspicuous in the dark, thick bush. So fierce was the
onslaught that it is calculated that had the Ashantees used bullets
instead of slugs scarcely a man of the Black Watch would have lived to
tell the tale. Nine officers and about a hundred men of the regiment
were rendered useless by the blinding fire of the Ashantees. The
marshy nature of the ground impeded progress, and in the underwood the
skulking natives fired incessantly at the advancing troops.
Under a heavy fire, the left column were struggling to oust the enemy.
There, while urging on his men, the gallant Captain Buckle, R.E., was
mortally wounded, having been hit by two slugs in the region of the
heart.
The troops succeeded in occupying the crest of the hill, where a
clearing had been made, and the enemy was driven away from this
position by an advance of the naval brigade and Russell’s regiment.
“Colonel McLeod,” says Sir Garnet Wolseley, “having cleared his
front, and having lost touch of the left column, now cut his way in a
north-easterly direction, and came into the rear of the Highlanders
about the same hour that the advance occupied Amoaful. I protected his
left rear by a detachment of the Rifle Brigade. Our left flank was now
apparently clear of the enemy.”
The right column were also soon hotly engaged, and so dense was the
jungle between it and the main road that the men, in firing, had the
greatest difficulty to avoid hitting their comrades of the Black Watch.
Mr. Henty, regarding this, says:--“Anxious to see the nature of the
difficulties with which the troops were contending, I went out to the
right column, and found the naval brigade lying down and firing into
a dense bush, from which, in spite of their heavy firing, answering
discharges came incessantly, at a distance of some twenty yards or so.
The air above was literally alive with slugs, and a perfect shower of
leaves continued to fall upon the earth. The sailors complained that
either the 23rd or 42nd were firing at them, and the same complaint
was made against the naval brigade by the 42nd and 23rd. No doubt
there was, at times, justice in these complaints, for the bush was so
bewilderingly dense that men soon lost all idea of the points of the
compass, and fired in any direction from which shots came.”
Casualties in the right columns were also numerous, and Colonel Wood,
the commander, was brought in with an iron slug in his chest. The
command of the wing now devolved on Captain Luxmore. But though the
village was entered, the fighting was by no means at an end, and a
final great effort was made by the Ashantees to turn the rear and drive
the British from Amoaful. Sir Garnet immediately ordered the Rifle
Brigade, hitherto unemployed in the battle, to take the back track and
defend the line of communication towards Querman.
This was about one o’clock in the afternoon, and the Rifles succeeded
in repulsing the natives. It will thus be seen that on all sides of the
square the Ashantees had tried to break through. For more than an hour
they maintained the attack, but the resistance offered completely set
their attempts at nought. The climax came when Sir Garnet, observing
that the Ashantee fire was slackening, gave orders for the line to
advance, and to wheel round, so as to drive the enemy northwards before
it.
The movement was splendidly carried out. The wild Kosses and Bonnymen
of Wood’s regiment, cannibals, who had fought steadily and silently
so long as they had been on the defensive, now raised their shrill
war-cry, slung their rifles, drew their cutlasses, and like so many
wild beasts, dashed into the bush to close with the enemy, while the
Rifles, quietly and in an orderly manner as if upon parade, went on in
extended order, scouring every bush with their bullets, and in five
minutes from the time the “Advance” sounded, the Ashantees were in full
and final retreat. Even then the enemy were not inclined to take their
beating without protest, and for several hours continued to harass the
troops by sudden but abortive rushes.
Terrible carnage had been wrought on the Ashantees. The losses they
suffered have been estimated at between 800 and 1200 killed and
wounded. The king of Mampon, who commanded the Ashantee right, was
mortally wounded. Amanquatia, who commanded the left, was killed; and
Appia, one of the great chiefs engaged in the centre, was also slain.
The British loss was over 200 officers and men killed and wounded, the
Black Watch suffering most heavily, having one officer killed, and 7
officers and 104 men wounded. In his despatch Sir Garnet said:--
“Nothing could have exceeded the admirable conduct of the 42nd
Highlanders, on whom fell the hardest share of the work”--the highest
praise for which any regiment could wish.
Having thus delivered a crushing blow to native power, the troops
marched forward to complete the work which they had so well begun. It
was evident that before the spirit of the Ashantee savage could be
thoroughly broken Coomassie must be entered. Towards this end, Sir
Garnet and his troops immediately set their faces.
Hard fighting, however, was not yet at an end, and on the day following
the rout at Amoaful, February 1st, the Ashantees made a stand at
Becquah, an important town standing a short distance from the line
of communication, and which would undoubtedly have been the cause of
considerable trouble and loss of life had the General moved directly
north without causing the place to be destroyed.
Only about a mile separated the camp from Becquah, and the force
creeping silently upon the village, soon engaged with the enemy. Sharp
firing took place, and the natives, unable to withstand the assault,
turned tail and fled. The men of the naval brigade were the first to
enter the place, and soon the huts were a mass of flames. Some native
accoutrements and much corn fell into our hands. Following this,
several villages which lay between Amoaful and Coomassie were taken
with comparatively little fighting, the Ashantees having evidently
taken much to heart the severe loss inflicted on them on 31st January.
Each village passed through had its human sacrifice lying in the middle
of the path, for the purpose of affrighting the conquerors.
“The sacrifice,” says Mr. Stanley, “was of either sex, sometimes a
young man, sometimes a woman. The head, severed from the body, was
turned to meet the advancing army, the body was evenly laid out, with
the feet towards Coomassie. This laying out meant no doubt, ‘regard
this face, white men; ye whose feet are hurrying on to our capital, and
learn the fate awaiting you.’”
The spectacle was sickening, and the wanton cruelty made the victorious
troops even more determined and anxious to put an end to these
frightful barbarities.
From behind a series of ambuscades, the advance was again resisted at
the river Ordah. After clearing out the enemy, it was learned that a
large force had assembled at Ordashu, a village situated about a mile
and a half beyond the northern bank of the river. Things had become
serious for the Ashantees, and King Koffee now sent another letter to
Sir Garnet, imploring him to halt in order that he might gather the
indemnity, at the same time promising to give up his hostages, the
heir-apparent and the queen mother. Sir Garnet’s reply was firm. He
would march to Coomassie unless King Koffee fulfilled his promise by
the next morning. The hostages failed to arrive, and the British troops
were on the forward move at half-past seven in the morning.
The advance guard, consisting of Gifford’s scouts, the Rifle Brigade,
Russell’s regiment, and Rait’s artillery, were early in touch with
the enemy, who had sought to impede progress at Ordashu. King Koffee
himself directed the battle from a village nearly a couple of miles
from the scene of conflict. As the successive companies marched up
they became engaged, and the firing was fast and furious. The enemy
must now drive back the invaders or submit, and the throes of this
final struggle for supremacy between barbarity and civilisation, the
Ashantees fought with great bravery. But the Rifle Brigade proved as
steady as a rock. When they moved it was forward, the rapid fire of
the sniders and the well-placed shots of Rait’s artillery gradually
demoralising the defenders.
In this fashion the Rifle Brigade were gradually drawing close up to
the village, and at the critical moment, with a ringing cheer and a
rush, they carried the day. Although the village had been occupied
the natives continued to rush to their doom, and the terrible loss
inflicted on them by the Rifles was greatly added to by the naval
brigade’s fire and that of the troops of the main column, as they
attempted to carry out their favourite flank movement.
The corpses lay thick on the roadside, while the bush was littered
with dead and dying. Sir Garnet rushed the whole of the army through
Ordashu, and then, without loss of time, “the Forty-Twa” were again in
the van, heading towards Coomassie, a sufficient force having been left
to guard Ordashu.
At Coomassie the troops had little difficulty in effecting occupation.
The king and his household had fled, and further fight in the Ashantees
there was none. Lord Gifford’s scouts were the first to enter the town,
and were followed by the Black Watch.
Coomassie, a veritable Golgotha, was razed to the ground, the palace
destroyed, and the fierce spirit of the Ashantees quelled.