By Sheer Pluck

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It was now about twelve o'clock; but although the Ashantis had
lost their camp and village, and had suffered terribly, they were
not yet finally beaten. They had moved the principal part of the
forces which had been engaged upon our left round to the right, were
pressing hard upon the column there and the 23d, and were cutting
in between the latter and the 42d, when a fortunate accident enabled
us to meet this attack more effectively. The left column had cut
its path rather too much to the east, and came into the road between
the 42d and 23d, forming a connecting link between them; while the
right column, having at last cut away the whole of the brush wood
in which the Ashantis had so long wedged themselves between them
and the road, were now in direct communication with the 23d. They
had been reinforced by a company of the Rifle Brigade. Our front,
therefore, was now entirely changed, and faced east instead of
north. The Ashantis in vain tried to break the line, but desisted
from their efforts.

The firing died away, and it was thought that the battle was over,
when at about a quarter to one 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 flank, and to retake the village
from which we had driven them at eight in the morning. So near
was the rear of the column to the village that the slugs fell fast
into the reserve who were stationed there. Three companies of the
Rifles were sent up to strengthen the line, and for three quarters
of an hour the roar of the musketry was as heavy and continuous
as it had been at any time during the day. Then, as the enemy's
fire slackened, Sir Garnet gave the word for the line to advance,
sweeping round from the rear so as to drive the enemy northwards
before them.

The movement was admirably executed. The Bonny men of Wood's
regiment, who had fought silently and steadily all the time that
they had been on the defensive, now raised their shrill war cry,
and slinging their rifles and drawing their swords--their favorite
weapons--dashed forward like so many panthers let loose. By their
side, skirmishing as quietly and steadily as if on parade, the men
of the Rifle Brigade searched every bush with their bullets, and
in five minutes from the commencement of the advance the Ashantis
were in full and final retreat. The battle ended at about half past
one, having lasted five hours and a half.

The Ashantis were supposed to have had from fifteen to twenty
thousand men in the field. What their loss was could not accurately
be calculated, as they carry off their dead as fast as they fall;
but where rushes were made by our troops, as they had not time
to do this, they lay everywhere thick on the ground. By the most
moderate computation they must have lost over two thousand. Ammon
Quatia himself was killed, as well as Aboo, one of the six great
tributary kings. The body of the king's chief executioner was also
pointed out by some of the prisoners. They fought with extraordinary
pluck and resolution, as was shown by the fact that although wretchedly
armed, for upwards of five hours they resisted the attack of troops
armed with breech loaders, and supported by guns and rockets. Their
position was a good one, and they had, no doubt, calculated upon
coming down upon us from the rising ground, either on the flank or
rear, with advantage, should we succeed in pushing forward.

Upon our side the loss in killed was very slight, not exceeding
eight or ten. The 42d out of a total of four hundred and fifty had
a hundred and four wounded, of whom eight were officers. In the
right hand column, Colonel Wood, six naval officers, and twenty men
of the Naval Brigade, with many of the native regiment, were wounded.
Of the sixty engineer laborers twenty were wounded; while of their
five officers Captain Buckle was killed, Major Home and Lieutenant
Hare wounded, together with several of their white soldiers. Altogether
our casualties exceeded two hundred and fifty. Fortunately but a
small proportion of the wounds were serious.

While the battle was raging at one o'clock Quarman was attacked by
a strong body of Ashantis coming from the west, probably forming
part of Essarman Quatia's force. Captain Burnett, who was in command,
having under him Lieutenant Jones of the 2d West Indian regiment,
and thirty-five men of that corps and a few natives, conducted the
defense, and was well seconded by his men. Although the attacking
force was very greatly superior, and took the little garrison by
surprise--for they did not expect, while a great battle was raging
within a distance of a mile, that the Ashantis would be able to
spare a force to attack a detached party--the garrison defended
itself with great gallantry and complete success, not only beating
off the enemy whenever they attacked, but sallying out and assisting
to bring in a convoy of stores which was close at hand when the
attack began.

Amoaful was a town capable of containing two or three thousand
inhabitants. Great quantities of grain and coarse flour were found
here. These were done up in bundles of dried plantain leaves,
each bundle weighing from five to fifteen pounds. This capture was
of great service to the commissariat, as it afforded an abundant
supply of excellent food for the carriers. The troops were in high
spirits that night. They had won a battle fought under extreme
difficulty, and that with a minimum of loss in killed. There were
therefore no sad recollections to damp the pleasure of victory.

Frank had been twice struck with slugs, but in neither case had
these penetrated deeply, and he was able to sit round the camp fire
and to enjoy his glass of rum and water. Two kegs of rum were the
only stores which that night came up from the rear, thanks to the
consideration of a commissariat officer, to whom the soldiers felt
extremely grateful for providing them with an invigorating drink
after their long and fatiguing labors of the day.

At about a mile and a quarter from Amoaful lay the town of Bequah,
the capital of one of the most powerful of the Ashanti kings. Here
a considerable force was known to be collected before the battle,
and here many of the fugitives were believed to have rallied. It
would have been impossible to advance and leave this hostile camp
so close to a station in our rear. Lord Gifford was therefore sent
out at daybreak to reconnoiter it. He approached it closely, when
twenty men sprang out from the bush and fired at him, fortunately
without hitting him. When he returned and made his report the
general determined to attack and burn the place, and orders were
issued for a column, consisting of Russell's regiment, Rait's
battery, and the Naval Brigade, supported by the 42d and commanded
by Colonel M'Leod, to start at one o'clock.

The march was not opposed through the bush, but as the scouts entered
the clearing a heavy fire was opened upon them. Lord Gifford and
almost the whole of his party were more or less severely wounded
when the sailors rushed in to their support. For a short time the
enemy kept up a heavy fire from the houses, and then fled, leaving
about forty of their number dead on the ground. The town, which was
about twice the size of Fomana, was burned, and the column returned
to the camp.

A great portion of the town was destroyed and the place stockaded,
and then all was in readiness for the advance upon Coomassie. Amoaful
was to be left in charge of the 2d West Indians, who had now come
up. Each man received four days' rations and each regiment was to
take charge of its own provision and baggage. The advance started
at seven in the morning, Russell's regiment, Rait's battery, and
the Rifle Brigade. Then came the headquarter staff followed by the
42d and Naval Brigade. The hammocks and rations went on with the
troops. The rest of the baggage remained behind. The road differed
in nothing from that which had so long been followed. It bore
everywhere marks of the retreating enemy, in provisions and other
articles scattered about, in occasional dark stains, and in its
plants and grass trampled into the ground, six feet in breadth,
showing that the usual negro way of walking in single file had
been abandoned. The rate of progression was slow, as the country
had to be thoroughly searched by the advance. There were, too, many
streams to be crossed, each causing a delay.

At one of the villages there was a large camp, where about a thousand
men were assembled to make a stand. The defense was, however,
feeble in the extreme, and it was evident that they were greatly
demoralized by their defeat on the 1st. Russell's regiment carried
the place at a rush, the enemy firing wildly altogether beyond
the range of their weapons. Several were killed and the rest took
precipitately to the bush. A few shots were fired at other places, but
no real resistance took place. On reaching the village of Agamemmu,
after having taken six hours in getting over as many miles, the
column halted, and orders were sent for the baggage to come on
from Amoaful. The troops were set to work to cut the bush round the
village, which was a very small one, and a breastwork was thrown
up round it. The troops were in their little tentes d'abri packed
as closely together as possible outside the houses, but within the
stockade. The carriers slept in the street of the village, where
so thickly did they lie that it was impossible for anyone to make
his way along without treading upon them.

News came in that night that Captain Butler with the Western Akims
had arrived within two days' march of Amoaful, but that without
the slightest reason the king and the whole of his army had left
Captain Butler and retired suddenly to the Prah. At the same time
they heard that the army of the Wassaws under Captain Dalrymple
had also broken up without having come in contact with the enemy.
From the rear also unpleasant news came up. The attack upon Quarman
had been no isolated event. Fomana had also been attacked, but the
garrison there had, after some hours' fighting, repulsed the enemy.
Several convoys had been assaulted, and the whole road down to the
Prah was unsafe. The next morning, after waiting till a large convoy
came safely in, the column marched at nine o'clock, Gifford's scouts,
Russell's regiment, and Rait's battery being as usual in front. The
resistance increased with every step, and the head of the column
was constantly engaged. Several villages were taken by Russell's
regiment, who, full of confidence in themselves and their officers,
carried them with a rush in capital style. It was but six miles
to the Dab, but the ground was swampy and the road intersected by
many streams. Consequently it was not until after being eight hours
on the road that the head of the column reached the river, three
hours later before the whole of the troops and their baggage were
encamped there.

CHAPTER XXIII: THE CAPTURE OF COOMASSIE

Upon the afternoon of the arrival of the English column upon the
Dah the king made another attempt to arrest their progress, with a
view no doubt of bringing up fresh reinforcements. A flag of truce
came in with a letter to the effect that our rapid advance had much
disconcerted him, which was no doubt true, and that he had not been
able to make arrangements for the payments claimed; that he would
send in hostages, but that most of those whom the general had
asked for were away, and that he could not agree to give the queen
mother or the heir apparent. These were, of course, the principal
hostages, indeed the only ones who would be of any real value.
The answer was accordingly sent back, that unless these personages
arrived before daybreak the next morning we should force our way
into Coomassie.

The Dah is a river about fifteen yards wide and three feet deep at
the deepest place. The Engineers set to work to bridge it directly
they arrived, Russell's regiment at once crossing the river and
bivouacking on the opposite bank.

It was unfortunate that this, the first night upon which the troops
had been unprovided with tents, should have turned out tremendously
wet. The thunder roared, the lightning flashed, and the rain came
down incessantly. Tired as the troops were there were few who slept,
and there was a general feeling of satisfaction when the morning
broke and the last day of the march began.

The rain held up a little before daybreak, and the sky was clear
when at six o'clock Wood's Bonny men, who had come up by a forced
march the evening before, led the advance. Lieutenant Saunders with
one of Rait's guns came next. The Rifles followed in support.

Before the Bonny men had gone half a mile they were hotly engaged,
and the combat was for two hours a repetition of that of Amoaful.
Saunders advanced again and again to the front with his gun, and
with a few rounds of grape cleared the sides of the path of the
enemy. At last, however, the Bonny men would advance no farther,
and Lieutenant Byre, the adjutant of Wood's regiment, was mortally
wounded.

Lieutenant Saunders sent back to say it was impossible for him to
get on farther unless supported by white troops. The Rifles were
then sent forward to take the Bonny men's place, and slowly, very
slowly, the advance was continued until the clearing round a village
could be seen fifty yards away. Then the Rifles gave a cheer and
with a sudden rush swept through to the open and carried the village
without a check. In the meantime the whole column had been following
in the rear as the Rifles advanced, and were hotly engaged in
repelling a series of flank attacks on the part of the enemy. These
attacks were gallantly persevered in by the Ashantis, who at times
approached in such masses that the whole bush swayed and moved as
they pushed forward.

Their loss must have been extremely large, for our men lined the
road and kept up a tremendous Snider fire upon them at a short
distance. Our casualties were slight. The road, like almost all
roads in the country, was sunk two feet in the center below the
level of the surrounding ground, consequently the men were lying in
shelter as behind a breastwork, while they kept up their tremendous
fire upon the foe.

The village once gained, the leading troops were thrown out in a
circle round it, and the order was given to pass the baggage from
the rear to the village. The operation was carried out in safety,
the path being protected by the troops lying in a line along
it. The baggage once in, the troops closed up to the village, the
disappointed foe continuing a series of desperate attacks upon
their rear. These assaults were kept up even after all had reached
the cleared space of the village, the enemy's war horn sounding
and the men making the woods re-echo with their wild war cry. The
Naval Brigade at one time inflicted great slaughter upon the enemy
by remaining perfectly quiet until the Ashantis, thinking they had
retired, advanced full of confidence, cheering, when a tremendous
fire almost swept them away.

It was six hours from the time at which the advance began before
the rear guard entered the village, and as but a mile and a half
had been traversed and Coomassie was still six miles away, it
was evident that if the Ashantis continued to fight with the same
desperation, and if the baggage had to be carried on step by step
from village to village, the force would not get halfway on to
Coomassie by nightfall.

The instant the baggage was all in, preparations were made for a
fresh advance. Rait's guns, as usual, opened to clear the way, and
the 42d this time led the advance. The enemy's fire was very heavy
and the Highlanders at first advanced but slowly, their wounded
straggling back in quick succession into the village. After twenty
minutes' work, however, they had pushed back the enemy beyond the
brow of the hill, and from this point they advanced with great
rapidity, dashing forward at times at the double, until the foe,
scared by the sudden onslaught, gave way altogether and literally
fled at the top of their speed.

War drums and horns, chiefs' stools and umbrellas, littered the next
village and told how sudden and complete had been the stampede. As
the 42d advanced troops were from time to time sent forward until
a despatch came in from Sir A. Alison saying that all the villages
save the last were taken, that opposition had ceased, and that the
enemy were in complete rout. Up to this time the attack of the enemy
upon the rear of the village had continued with unabated vigor, and
shot and slug continually fell in the place itself. The news from
the front was soon known and was hailed with a cheer which went
right round the line of defense, and, whether scared by its note
of triumph or because they too had received the news, the efforts
of the enemy ceased at once, and scarcely another shot was fired.

At half past three the baggage was sent forward and the headquarter staff
and Rifle Brigade followed it. There was no further check. The 42d
and several companies of the Rifle Brigade entered Coomassie without
another shot being fired in its defense. Sir Garnet Wolseley soon
after arrived, and taking off his hat called for three cheers for
the Queen, which was responded to with a heartiness and vigor which
must have astonished the Ashantis. These were still in considerable
numbers in the town, having been told by the king that peace
was or would be made. They seemed in no way alarmed, but watched,
as amused and interested spectators, the proceedings of the white
troops.

The first thing to be done was to disarm those who had guns, and
this seemed to scare the others, for in a short time the town was
almost entirely deserted. It was now fast getting dark, and the
troops bivouacked in the marketplace, which had so often been the
scene of human sacrifices on a large scale.

Their day's work had, indeed, been a heavy one. They had been
twelve hours on the road without rest or time to cook food. Water
was very scarce, no really drinkable water having been met with during
the day. In addition to this they had undergone the excitement of
a long and obstinate fight with an enemy concealed in the bush,
after work of almost equal severity upon the day before, and had
passed a sleepless night in a tropical rainstorm, yet with the
exception of a few fever stricken men not a single soldier fell
out from his place in the ranks.

Nor was the first night in Coomassie destined to be a quiet one.
Soon after two o'clock a fire broke out in one of the largest of
the collections of huts, which was soon in a blaze from end to end.
The engineers pulled down the huts on either side and with great
difficulty prevented the flames from spreading. These fires were the
result of carriers and others plundering, and one man, a policeman,
caught with loot upon him, was forthwith hung from a tree. Several
others were flogged, and after some hours' excitement the place
quieted down. Sir Garnet was greatly vexed at the occurrence, as
he had the evening before sent a messenger to the king asking him
to come in and make peace, and promising to spare the town if he
did so.

Although Coomassie was well known to Frank he was still ignorant of
the character of the interior of the chiefs' houses, and the next
day he wandered about with almost as much curiosity as the soldiers
themselves. The interiors even of the palaces of the chiefs showed
that the Ashantis can have no idea of what we call comfort. The
houses were filled with dust and litter, and this could not be
accounted for solely by the bustle and hurry of picking out the things
worth carrying away prior to the hurried evacuation of the place.
From the roofs hung masses of spiders' web, thick with dust, while
sweeping a place out before occupying it brought down an accumulation
of dust which must have been the result of years of neglect. The
principal apartments were lumbered up with drums, great umbrellas,
and other paraphernalia of processions, such as horns, state chairs,
wooden maces, etc. Before the door of each house stood a tree, at
the foot of which were placed little idols, calabashes, bits of
china, bones, and an extraordinary jumble of strange odds and ends
of every kind, all of which were looked upon as fetish. Over the
doors and alcoves were suspended a variety of charms, old stone axes
and arrow tips, nuts, gourds, amulets, beads, and other trumpery
articles.

The palace was in all respects exactly as the king had left it. The
royal bed and couch were in their places, the royal chairs occupied
their usual raised position. Only, curiously enough, all had been
turned round and over. The storerooms upstairs were untouched, and
here was found an infinite variety of articles, for the most part
mere rubbish, but many interesting and valuable: silver plate,
gold masks, gold cups, clocks, glass, china, pillows, guns, cloth,
caskets, and cabinets; an olla podrida, which resembled the contents
of a sale room.

In many of the native apartments of the palace were signs that human
sacrifice had been carried on to the last minute. Several stools
were found covered with thick coatings of recently shed blood, and
a horrible smell of gore pervaded the whole palace, and, indeed, the
whole town. The palace was full of fetish objects just as trumpery
and meaningless as those in the humblest cottages. The king's private
sitting room was, like the rest, an open court with a tree growing
in it. This tree was covered with fetish objects, and thickly hung
with spiders' webs. At each end was a small but deep alcove with
a royal chair, so that the monarch could always sit on the shady
side.

Along each side of the little court ran a sort of verandah, beneath
which was an immense assortment of little idols and fetishes of
all kinds.

From one of the verandahs a door opened into the king's bedroom,
which was about ten feet by eight. It was very dark, being lighted
only by a small window about a foot square, opening into the women's
apartments. At one end was the royal couch, a raised bedstead with
curtains, and upon a ledge by the near side (that is to say the
king had to step over the ledge to get into bed) were a number of
pistols and other weapons, among them an English general's sword,
bearing the inscription, "From Queen Victoria to the King of Ashanti."
This sword was presented to the predecessor of King Coffee. Upon
the floor at the end opposite the bed was a couch upon which the
king could sit and talk with his wives through the little window.

In the women's apartments all sorts of stuffs, some of European,
some of native manufacture, were found scattered about in the
wildest confusion. The terror and horror of the four or five hundred
ladies, when they found that their husband was about to abandon his
palace and that they would have no time to remove their treasured
finery, can be well imagined.

In almost every apartment and yard of the palace were very slightly
raised mounds, some no larger than a plate, others two or even three
feet long. These were whitewashed and presented a strong contrast
to the general red of the ground and lower walls. These patches
marked the places of graves. The whole palace, in fact, appeared
to be little better than a cemetery and a slaughterhouse in one.
A guard was placed over the palace, and here, as elsewhere through
the town, looting was strictly forbidden.

All day the general expected the arrival of the king, who had sent
a messenger to say he would be in early. At two o'clock a tremendous
rainstorm broke over the town, lasting for three hours. In the evening
it became evident that he was again deceiving us, and orders were
issued that the troops, in the morning, should push on another three
miles to the tombs of the kings, where he was said to be staying.
Later on, however, the news came that the king had gone right away
into the interior, and as another storm was coming up it became
evident that the rainy season was setting in in earnest. The
determination was therefore come to, to burn the town and to start
for the coast next morning.

All night Major Home with a party of Engineers was at work mining
the palace and preparing it for explosion, while a prize committee were
engaged in selecting and packing everything which they considered
worth taking down to the coast. The news of the change of plan,
however, had not got abroad, and the troops paraded next morning
under the belief that they were about to march still farther up the
country. When it became known that they were bound for the coast
there was a general brightening of faces, and a buzz of satisfaction
ran down the ranks. It was true that it was believed that a large
amount of treasure was collected at the kings' tombs, and the prize
money would not have been unwelcome, still the men felt that their
powers were rapidly becoming exhausted. The hope of a fight with
the foe and of the capture of Coomassie had kept them up upon the
march, but now that this had been done the usual collapse after
great exertion followed. Every hour added to the number of fever
stricken men who would have to be carried down to the coast, and
each man, as he saw his comrades fall out from the ranks, felt that
his own turn might come next.

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