By Sheer Pluck: A Tale of the Ashanti War

by G. A. Henty

  CHAPTER XIX: THE TIDE TURNED

  From many of the points in the forest held by the Ashantis the sea couldbe seen, and on the morning of the 2d of October a steamer which had notbeen there on the previous evening was perceived lying off the town. TheAshantis were soon informed by spies in Elmina and Cape Coast that theship had brought an English general with about thirty officers. The newsthat thirty men had come out to help to drive back twenty thousand wasreceived with derision by the Ashantis.

  "They will do more than you think," Frank said when Ammon Quatia wasscoffing over the new arrival. "You will see a change in the tactics ofthe whites. Hitherto they have done nothing. They have simply waited.Now you will see they will begin to move. The officers will drill thenatives, and even a Fanti, drilled and commanded by white officers, willlearn how to fight. You acknowledge that the black troops in red coatscan fight. What are these? Some of them are Fantis, some of themare black men from the West Indian Islands, where they are even morepeaceful than the Fantis, for they have no enemies. Perhaps alone theFantis would not fight, but they will have the soldiers and sailors fromon board ship with them, and you saw at Elmina how they can fight."

  The ship was the Ambriz, one of the African company's steamers, bringingwith it thirty-five officers, of whom ten belonged to the Commissariatand Medical staff. Among the fighting men were Sir Garnet Wolseley,Colonel M'Neil, chief of his staff, Major T. D. Baker, 18th Regiment,Captain Huyshe, Rifle Brigade, Captain Buller, 60th Rifles, all of thestaff; Captain Brackenbury, military secretary, and Lieutenant Maurice,R. A., private secretary, Major Home, R. E., Lieutenant Saunders, R.A., and Lieutenant Wilmot, R. A.. Lieutenant Colonel Evelyn Wood, 90thRegiment, and Major B. C. Russell, 13th Hussars, were each to form andcommand a native regiment, having the remainder of the officers as theirassistants.

  The Ambriz had left England on the 12th of September, and had touchedat Madeira and at the various towns on the coast on her way down, andat the former place had received the news of the disaster to the navalexpedition up the Prah.

  The English government had been loath to embark upon such an expedition,but a petition which had been sent home by the English and nativetraders at Sierra Leone and Elmina had shown how great was the perilwhich threatened the colony, and it had been felt that unless an effortwas made the British would be driven altogether from their hold of thecoast. When the expedition was at last determined upon, the militaryauthorities were flooded with recommendations and warnings of all kindsfrom persons who knew the coast. Unfortunately these gentlemen differedso widely from each other, that but little good was gained from theircounsels. Some pronounced the climate to be deadly. Others said thatit was really not bad. Some warmly advocated a moderate use of spirits.Others declared that stimulants were poison. One advised that allexercise should be taken between five and seven in the morning. Anotherinsisted that on no account should anyone stir out until the sun hadbeen up for an hour, which meant that no one should go out till halfpast seven. One said take exercise and excite perspiration. Anotherurged that any bodily exercise should be avoided. One consistentgentleman, after having written some letters to the papers stronglyadvocating the use of white troops upon the coast instead of West Indianregiments, when written to by Sir Garnet Wolseley for his advice asto articles of outfit, replied that the only article which he couldstrongly commend would be that each officer should take out his coffin.

  Ten days passed after the landing. It was known in the Ashanti camp thatthe Fanti kings had been ordered to raise contingents, and that awhite officer had been alloted to each to assist him in this work.The Ashantis, however, had no fear whatever on this score. The twentythousand natives who occupied the country south of the Prah had all beendriven from their homes by the invaders, and had scattered among thetowns and villages on the seacoast, where vast numbers had died from theravages of smallpox. The kings had little or no authority over them,and it was certain that no native force, capable in any way of competingwith the army of the assailants, could be raised.

  The small number of men of the 2d West Indian regiment at Elmina hadbeen reinforced by a hundred and twenty Houssas brought down the coast.The Ashanti advanced parties remained close up to Elmina.

  On the 13th of October Frank accompanied the Ashanti general to theneighborhood of this town. The Ashanti force here was not a large one,the main body being nearly twenty miles away in the neighborhood ofDunquah, which was held by a small body of Houssas and natives underCaptain Gordon. At six in the morning a messenger ran in with the newsthat two of the English war steamers from Cape Coast were lying offElmina, and that a number of troops had been landed in boats. TheAshanti general was furious, and poured out threats against his spies inCape Coast for not having warned him of the movement, but in fact thesewere not to blame. So quietly had the arrangements been made that, untillate in the previous afternoon, no one, with the exception of three orfour of the principal officers, knew that an expedition was intended.Even then it was given out that the expedition was going down the coast,and it was not until the ships anchored off Elmina at three in themorning that the officers and troops were aware of their destination.All the West Indian troops at Cape Coast had been taken, Captain Peel ofthe Simoon landing fifty sailors to hold the fort in case the Ashantisshould attack it in their absence. The expedition consisted of theHoussas, two hundred men of the 2d West India regiment, fifty sailors,and two companies of marines and marine artillery, each fifty strong,and a large number of natives carrying a small Armstrong gun, two rockettubes, rockets, spare ammunition, and hammocks for wounded.

  The few Ashantis in the village next to Elmina retired at once when thecolumn was seen marching from the castle. Ammon Quatia had taken up hisquarters at the village of Essarman, and now advanced with his troopsand took post in the bush behind a small village about three miles fromthe town. The Houssas were skirmishing in front of the column. Theseentered the village which had been deserted by the Ashantis, and set iton fire, blowing up several kegs of powder which had been left therein the hurry of the flight. Then as they advanced farther the Ashantisopened fire. To their surprise the British, instead of fallingback, opened fire in return, the Houssas, West Indians, and nativesdischarging their rifles at random in all directions. Captain Freemantlewith the sailors, the gun, and rockets made for the upper corner of thewood facing them to their left. Captain Crease with a company of marineartillery took the wood on the right. The Houssas and a company of WestIndians moved along the path in the center. The remainder of the forceremained with the baggage in reserve. The Ashantis kept up a tremendousfire, but the marines and sailors pushed their way steadily through thewood on either side. Captain Freemantle at length gained a point wherehis gun and rockets could play on Essarman, which lay in the heart ofthe wood, and opened fire, but not until he had been struck by a slugwhich passed through his arm. Colonel M'Neil, who was with the Houssas,also received a severe wound in the arm, and thirty-two marines andHoussas were wounded. The Ashantis were gradually driven out of thevillage and wood, a great many being killed by the English fire.

  Having accomplished this, the British force rested for an hour andthen moved on, first setting fire to Essarman, which was a very largevillage. A great quantity of the Ashanti powder was stored there, andeach explosion excited yells of rage among the Ashantis. Their generalwas especially angry that two large war drums had been lost. So greatwas the effect produced upon the Ashantis by the tremendous fire whichthe British had poured into every bush and thicket as they advanced,that their general thought it expedient to draw them off in thedirection of his main body instead of further disputing the way.

  The English now turned off towards the coast, marching part of theway through open country, part through a bush so dense that it wasimpossible to make a flank attack upon them here. In such cases as this,when the Ashantis know that an enemy is going to approach through adense and impassable forest, they cut paths through it parallel to thatby which he must advance and at a few yards' distance. Then,
lying inambush there, they suddenly open fire upon him as he comes along. Asno idea of the coming of the English had been entertained they passedthrough the dense thickets in single file unmolested. These native pathsare very difficult and unpleasant walking. The natives always walk insingle file, and the action of their feet, aided by that of the rain,often wears the paths into a deep V-shaped rut, two feet in depth.Burning two or three villages by the way the column reached the coast ata spot five miles from Elmina, having marched nine miles.

  As the Ashantis were known to be in force at the villages of Akimfoo andAmpene, four miles farther, a party was taken on to this point. Akimfoowas occupied without resistance, but the Ashantis fought hard in Ampene,but were driven out of the town into the bush, from which the Britishforce was too small to drive them, and therefore returned to Elmina,having marched twenty-two miles, a prodigious journey in such a climatefor heavily armed Europeans. The effect produced among the Ashantis bythe day's fighting was immense. All their theories that the white mencould not fight in the bush were roughly upset, and they found that hissuperiority was as great there as it had been in the open. His heavybullets, even at the distance of some hundred yards, crashed through thebrush wood with deadly effect, while the slugs of the Ashantis would notpenetrate at a distance much exceeding fifty yards.

  Ammon Quatia was profoundly depressed in spirits that evening.

  "The white men who come to fight us," he said, "are not like those whocome to trade. Who ever heard of their making long marches? Why, if theygo the shortest distances they are carried in hammocks. These men marchas well as my warriors. They have guns which shoot ten times as faras ours, and never stop firing. They carry cannon with them, and havethings which fly through the air and scream, and set villages on fireand kill men. I have never heard of such things before. What do you callthem?"

  "They are called rockets," Frank said.

  "What are they made of?"

  "They are made of coarse powder mixed with other things, and rammed intoan iron case."

  "Could we not make some too?" the Ashanti general asked.

  "No," Frank replied. "At least, not without a knowledge of the thingsyou should mix with the powder, and of that I am ignorant. Besides, therockets require great skill in firing, otherwise they will sometimescome back and kill the men who fire them."

  "Why did you not tell me that the white men could fight in the bush?"

  "I told you that there would be a change when the new general came, andthat they would not any longer remain in their forts, but would come outand attack you."

  A few days after this fight the Ashantis broke up their camp at Mampon,twelve miles from Elmina, and moved eastward to join the body who wereencamped in the forest near Dunquah.

  "I am going," Ammon Quatia said to Frank, "to eat up Dunquah and AbraCrampa. We shall do better this time. We know what the English guns cando and shall not be surprised."

  With ten thousand men Ammon Quatia halted at the little village ofAsianchi, where there was a large clearing, which was speedily coveredwith the little leafy bowers which the Ashantis run up at each haltingplace.

  Two days later Sir Garnet Wolseley with a strong force marched out fromCape Coast to Abra Crampa, halting on the way for a night at Assaiboo,ten miles from the town. On the same day the general sent orders toColonel Festing of the Marine Artillery, who commanded at Dunquah, tomake a reconnaissance into the forest from that place. In accordancewith this order Colonel Festing marched out with a gun and rocketapparatus under Captain Rait, the Annamaboe contingent of a hundred andtwenty men under their king, directed by Captain Godwin, four hundredother Fantis under Captain Broomhead, and a hundred men of the 2d WestIndia regiment. After a three mile march in perfect silence they cameupon an Ashanti cutting wood, and compelled him to act as guide. Thepath divided into three, and the Annamaboes, who led the advance, whenwithin a few yards of the camp, gave a sudden cheer and rushed in.

  The Ashantis, panic stricken at the sudden attack, fled instantly fromthe camp into the bush. Sudden as was the scare Frank's guards did notforget their duty, but seizing him dragged him off with them in theirflight, by the side of Ammon Quatia. The latter ordered the war drums tobegin to beat, and Frank was surprised at the quickness with which theAshantis recovered from their panic. In five minutes a tremendous firewas opened from the whole circle of bush upon the camp. This stoodon rising ground, and the British force returned the fire with greatrapidity and effect. The Annamaboe men stood their ground gallantly, andthe West Indians fought with great coolness, keeping up a constant andheavy fire with their Sniders. The Houssas, who had been trained asartillerymen, worked their gun and rocket tube with great energy,yelling and whooping as each round of grape or canister was fired intothe bush, or each rocket whizzed out.

  Notwithstanding the heavy loss which they were suffering, the Ashantisstood their ground most bravely. Their wild yells and the beating oftheir drums never ceased, and only rose the louder as each volley ofgrape was poured into them. They did not, however, advance beyond theshelter of their bush, and, as the British were not strong enough toattack them there, the duel of artillery and musketry was continuedwithout cessation for an hour and a half, and then Colonel Festing fellback unmolested to Dunquah.

  The Ashantis were delighted at the result of the fighting, heavy astheir loss had been. They had held their ground, and the British had notventured to attack them in the bush.

  "You see," Ammon Quatia said exultingly to Frank, "what I told you wastrue. The white men cannot fight us in the bush. At Essarman the woodwas thin and gave but a poor cover. Here, you see, they dared not followus."

  On the British side five officers and the King of Annamaboe werewounded, and fifty-two of the men. None were killed, the distance fromthe bush to the ground held by the English being too far for the Ashantislugs to inflict mortal wounds.

  Ammon Quatia now began to meditate falling back upon the Prah--the sickand wounded were already sent back--but he determined before retiring toattack Abra Crampa, whose king had sided with us, and where an Englishgarrison had been posted.

  On the 2d of November, however, Colonel Festing again marched out fromDunquah with a hundred men of the 2d West India regiment, nine hundrednative allies, and some Houssas with rockets, under Lieutenant Wilmot,towards the Ashanti camp. This time Ammon Quatia was not taken bysurprise. His scouts informed him of the approach of the column, andmoving out to meet them, he attacked them in the bush before theyreached the camp. Crouching among the trees the Ashantis opened atremendous fire. All the native allies, with the exception of a hundred,bolted at once, but the remainder, with the Houssas and West Indians,behaved with great steadiness and gallantry, and for two hours kept up aheavy Snider fire upon their invisible foes.

  Early in the fight Lieutenant Wilmot, while directing the rocket tube,received a severe wound in the shoulder. He, however, continued at hiswork till, just as the fight was ended, he was shot through the heartwith a bullet. Four officers were wounded as were thirteen men of the2d West India regiment. One of the natives was killed, fifty severelywounded, and a great many slightly. After two hours' fighting ColonelFesting found the Ashantis were working round to cut off his retreat,and therefore fell back again on Dunquah. The conduct of the nativelevies here and in two or three smaller reconnaisances was so bad thatit was found that no further dependence could be placed upon them, and,with the exception of the two partly disciplined regiments under ColonelWood and Major Russell, they were in future treated as merely fit to actas carriers for the provisions.

  Although the second reconnaissance from Dunquah had, like the first,been unsuccessful, its effect upon the Ashantis was very great. Theyhad themselves suffered great loss, while they could not see that anyof their enemies had been killed, for Lieutenant Wilmot's body had beencarried off. The rockets especially appalled them, one rocket havingkilled six, four of whom were chiefs who were talking together. It wastrue that the English had not succeeded in forcing their way through thebush, b
ut if every time they came out they were to kill large numberswithout suffering any loss themselves, they must clearly in the long runbe victorious.

  What the Ashantis did not see, and what Frank carefully abstained fromhinting to Ammon Quatia, was that if, instead of stopping and firing ata distance beyond that which at their slugs were effective, they wereto charge down upon the English and fire their pieces when they reachedwithin a few yards of them, they would overpower them at once by theirenormous superiority of numbers. At ten paces distant a volley of slugsis as effective as a Snider bullet, and the whole of the native troopswould have bolted the instant such a charge was made. In the open suchtactics might not be possible, as the Sniders could be discharged twentytimes before the English line was reached, but in the woods, where thetwo lines were not more than forty or fifty yards apart, the Sniderscould be fired but once or at the utmost twice, while the assailantsrushed across the short intervening space.

  Had the Ashantis adopted these tactics they could have crushed withease the little bands with which the English attacked them. But it ischaracteristic of all savages that they can never be got to rush downupon a foe who is prepared and well armed. A half dozen white men havebeen known to keep a whole tribe of Red Indians at a distance on theprairie. This, however, can be accounted for by the fact that the powerof the chiefs is limited, and that each Indian values his own lifehighly and does not care to throw it away on a desperate enterprise.Among the Ashantis, however, where the power of the chiefs is very greatand where human life is held of little account, it is singular that suchtactics should not have been adopted.

  The Ashantis were now becoming thoroughly dispirited. Their sufferingshad been immense. Fever and hunger had made great ravages among them,and, although now the wet season was over a large quantity of food couldbe obtained in the forest, the losses which the white men's bullets,rockets, and guns had inflicted upon them had broken their courage. Thelonging for home became greater than ever, and had it not been that theyknew that troops stationed at the Prah would prevent any fugitives fromcrossing, they would have deserted in large numbers. Already one of thedivisions had fallen back.

  Ammon Quatia spent hours sitting at the door of his hut smoking andtalking to the other chiefs. Frank was often called into council, asAmmon Quatia had conceived a high opinion of his judgment, which hadproved invariably correct so far.

  "We are going," he said one day, "to take Abra Crampa and to kill itsking, and then to fall back across the Prah."

  "I think you had better fall back at once," Frank answered. "Whenyou took me with you to the edge of the clearing yesterday I saw thatpreparations had been made for the defense, and that there were whitetroops there. You will never carry the village. The English have thrownup breastworks of earth, and they will lie behind these and shoot downyour men as they come out of the forest."

  "I must have one victory to report to the king if I can," Ammon Quatiasaid. "Then he can make peace if he chooses. The white men will not wishto go on fighting. The Fantis are eager for peace and to return to theirvillages. What do you think?"

  "If it be true that white troops are coming out from England, as theFanti prisoners say," Frank answered, "you will see that the Englishwill not make peace till they have crossed the Prah and marched toCoomassie. Your king is always making trouble. You will see that thistime the English will not be content with your retiring, but will inturn invade Ashanti."

  Ammon Quatia and the chiefs laughed incredulously.

  "They will not dare to cross the Prah," Ammon Quatia said. "If theyenter Ashanti they will be eaten up."

  "They are not so easy to eat up," Frank answered. "You have seen how ahundred or two can fight against your whole army. What will it be whenthey are in thousands? Your king has not been wise. It would be betterfor him to send down at once and to make peace at any price."