By Sheer Pluck: A Tale of the Ashanti War

by G. A. Henty

  CHAPTER XXII: THE BATTLE OF AMOAFUL

  Two days after the arrival at Fomana the remaining members of the Germanmission, two males, a female, and two children, were sent in by the kingwith a letter containing many assurances of his desire for peace, butmaking no mention of the stipulations which Sir Garnet Wolseley had laiddown. The advance was therefore to continue. The rest of the troops cameup, and on the 25th Russell's regiment advanced to Dompiassee, Wood'sregiment and Rait's battery joining him the next day. That afternoon thefirst blood north of the Prah was shed. It being known that a body ofthe enemy were collecting at a village a little off the road the forcemoved against them. Lord Gifford led the way, as usual, with his scouts.The enemy opened fire as soon as the scouts appeared; but these, withthe Houssa company of Russell's regiment, rushed impetuously into thevillage, and the Ashantis at once bolted. Two of them were killed andfive taken prisoners.

  The next halting places of the advance troops were Kiang Bossu andDitchiassie. It was known now that Ammon Quatia was lying with theAshanti army at Amoaful, but five miles away, and ambassadors arrivedfrom the king finally declining to accept the terms of peace. Russell'sand Wood's regiments marched forward to Quarman, within half a mile ofthe enemy's outposts. The white troops came on to Insafoo, three milesbehind. Quarman was stockaded to resist an attack. Gordon with theHoussa company lay a quarter of a mile in advance of the village,Gifford with his scouts close to the edge of the wood. Major Home withthe engineers cut a wide path for the advance of the troops to within ahundred yards of the village which the enemy held.

  Every one knew that the great battle of the war would be fought nextmorning. About half past seven on the morning of the 81st of January the42d Regiment entered the village of Quarman, and marched through withouta halt. Then came Rait's artillery, followed by the company of the 23dand by the Naval Brigade. The plan of operations was as follows. The42d Regiment would form the main attacking force. They were to drive theenemy's scouts out of Agamassie, the village in front, and were thento move straight on, extending to the right and left, and, if possible,advance in a skirmishing line through the bush. Rait's two littleguns were to be in their center moving upon the road itself. The rightcolumn, consisting of half the Naval Brigade, with Wood's regiment, nowreduced by leaving garrisons at various posts along the road to threecompanies, was to cut a path out to the right and then to turn parallelwith the main road, so that the head of the column should touch theright of the skirmishing line of the 42d. The left column, consisting ofthe other half of the Naval Brigade with the four companies of Russell'sregiment, was to proceed in similar fashion on the left. These columnswould therefore form two sides of a hollow square, protecting the 42dfrom any of those flanking movements of which the Ashantis are so fond.The company of the 23d was to proceed with the headquarter staff. TheRifle Brigade were held in reserve.

  Early in the morning Major Home cut the road to within thirty yards ofthe village of Agamassie, and ascertained by listening to the voicesthat there were not more than a score or so of men in the village.Gifford had made a circuit in the woods, and had ascertained that theAshanti army was encamped on rising ground across a stream behind thevillage.

  Frank had been requested by Sir Garnet Wolseley to accompany the 42d, ashis knowledge of Ashanti tactics might be of value, and he might be ableby the shouts of the Ashantis to understand the orders issued to them.The head of the 42d Regiment experienced no opposition whatever untilthey issued from the bush into the little clearing surrounding thevillage, which consisted only of four or five houses. The Ashantisdischarged their muskets hastily as the first white men showedthemselves, but the fire of the leading files of the column quicklycleared them away. The 42d pushed on through the village, and thenforming in skirmishing line, advanced. For the first two or threehundred yards they encountered no serious opposition, and they werethen received by a tremendous fire from an unseen foe in front. The leftcolumn had not gone a hundred yards before they too came under fire.Captain Buckle of the Engineers, who was with the Engineer laborersoccupied in cutting the path ahead of the advancing column, was shotthrough the heart. A similar opposition was experienced by the right.

  The roar of the fire was tremendous, so heavy indeed that all sound ofindividual reports was lost, and the noise was one hoarse hissing roar.Even the crack of Rait's guns was lost in the general uproar, but theoccasional rush of a rocket, of which two troughs with parties of Rait'smen accompanied each wing, was distinctly audible.

  The 42d could for a time make scarcely any way, and the flanking columnswere also brought to a stand. Owing to the extreme thickness of thewood and their ignorance of the nature of the ground these columns wereunable to keep in their proper position, and diverged considerably. TheAshantis, however, made no effort to penetrate between them and the42d. For an hour this state of things continued. The company of the23d advanced along the main road to help to clear the bush, where theAshantis still fought stubbornly not two hundred yards from the village,while two companies of the Rifle Brigade were sent up the left hand roadto keep touch with the rear of Russell's regiment.

  When the fight commenced in earnest, and the 42d were brought to a standby the enemy, Frank lay down with the soldiers. Not a foe could be seen,but the fire of the enemy broke out incessantly from the bushes sometwenty yards ahead. The air above was literally alive with slugs anda perfect shower of leaves continued to fall upon the path. Sobewilderingly dense was the bush that the men soon lost all idea of thepoints of the compass, and fired in any direction from which the enemy'sshots came. Thus it happened that the sailors sent in complaints to thegeneral that the 23d and 42d were firing at them, while the 42d and 23dmade the same complaint against the Naval Brigade. Sir Garnet, who hadtaken up his headquarters at the village, sent out repeated instructionsto the commanding officers to warn their men to avoid this error.

  For two hours the fight went on. Then the column to the left foundthat the Ashantis in front of them had fallen back; they had, however,altogether lost touch of the 42d. They were accordingly ordered to cut aroad to the northeast until they came in contact with them. In doingso they came upon a partial clearing, where a sharp opposition wasexperienced. The Houssas carried the open ground at a rush, but theenemy, as usual, opened a heavy fire from the edge of the bush. TheHoussas were recalled, and fire was opened with the rockets, which soondrove the Ashantis back, and the cutting of the path was proceeded with.

  In the meantime the 42d was having a hard time of it. They had foughttheir way to the edge of the swamp, beyond which lay an immense Ashanticamp, and here the fire was so tremendously heavy that the advance wasagain completely arrested. Not an enemy was to be seen, but from everybush of the opposite side puffs of smoke came thick and fast, and aperfect rain of slugs swept over the ground on which they were lying.Here Rait's gun, for he was only able from the narrowness of the path tobring one into position, did splendid service. Advancing boldly in frontof the line of the 42d, ably assisted by Lieutenant Saunders, he pouredround after round of grape into the enemy until their fire slackened alittle, and the 42d, leaping to their feet, struggled across the swamp,which was over knee deep. Step by step they won their way throughthe camp and up the hill. Everywhere the dead Ashantis lay in heaps,attesting the terrible effect of the Snider fire and the determinationwith which they had fought.

  Beyond the camp, upon the hills the bush was thicker than ever, andhere, where it was impossible for the white soldiers to skirmish throughthe bush, the Ashantis made a last desperate stand. The narrow lane upwhich alone the troops could pass was torn as if by hail with the showerof slugs, while a large tree which stood nearly in the center of thepath and caused it slightly to swerve, afforded some shelter to themfrom the storm of bullets which the 42d sent back in return. Here Raitbrought his gun up again to the front and cleared the lane. The bush wastoo thick even for the Ashantis. The gun stopped firing and with a rushthe regiment went up the narrow path and out into the open clearingbeyond. For a short time
the Ashantis kept up a fire from the houses,but the 42d soon drove them out, and a single shot from the gun down thewide street which divided the town into two portions, bursting in themidst of a group at the further end, killed eight and drove all furtheridea of resistance in that direction from their minds.

  It was now about twelve o'clock; but although the Ashantis had losttheir camp and village, and had suffered terribly, they were not yetfinally beaten. They had moved the principal part of the forces whichhad been engaged upon our left round to the right, were pressing hardupon the column there and the 23d, and were cutting in between thelatter and the 42d, when a fortunate accident enabled us to meet thisattack more effectively. The left column had cut its path rather toomuch to the east, and came into the road between the 42d and 23d,forming a connecting link between them; while the right column, havingat last cut away the whole of the brush wood in which the Ashantis hadso long wedged themselves between them and the road, were now in directcommunication with the 23d. They had been reinforced by a company of theRifle Brigade. Our front, therefore, was now entirely changed, and facedeast instead of north. The Ashantis in vain tried to break the line, butdesisted from their efforts.

  The firing died away, and it was thought that the battle was over, whenat about a quarter to one a tremendous fire broke out from the rear ofthe column, showing that the Ashantis were making a last and desperateeffort to turn our flank, and to retake the village from which we haddriven them at eight in the morning. So near was the rear of the columnto the village that the slugs fell fast into the reserve who werestationed there. Three companies of the Rifles were sent up tostrengthen the line, and for three quarters of an hour the roar of themusketry was as heavy and continuous as it had been at any time duringthe day. Then, as the enemy's fire slackened, Sir Garnet gave the wordfor the line to advance, sweeping round from the rear so as to drive theenemy 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 beenon the defensive, now raised their shrill war cry, and slinging theirrifles and drawing their swords--their favorite weapons--dashed forwardlike so many panthers let loose. By their side, skirmishing as quietlyand steadily as if on parade, the men of the Rifle Brigade searchedevery bush with their bullets, and in five minutes from the commencementof the advance the Ashantis were in full and final retreat. The battleended at about half past one, having lasted five hours and a half.

  The Ashantis were supposed to have had from fifteen to twentythousand men in the field. What their loss was could not accurately becalculated, as they carry off their dead as fast as they fall; but whererushes were made by our troops, as they had not time to do this, theylay everywhere thick on the ground. By the most moderate computationthey 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 theking's chief executioner was also pointed out by some of the prisoners.They fought with extraordinary pluck and resolution, as was shown bythe fact that although wretchedly armed, for upwards of five hours theyresisted the attack of troops armed with breech loaders, and supportedby guns and rockets. Their position was a good one, and they had, nodoubt, calculated upon coming down upon us from the rising ground,either on the flank or rear, with advantage, should we succeed inpushing forward.

  Upon our side the loss in killed was very slight, not exceeding eight orten. The 42d out of a total of four hundred and fifty had a hundred andfour 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 engineerlaborers twenty were wounded; while of their five officers CaptainBuckle was killed, Major Home and Lieutenant Hare wounded, together withseveral of their white soldiers. Altogether our casualties exceeded twohundred and fifty. Fortunately but a small proportion of the wounds wereserious.

  While the battle was raging at one o'clock Quarman was attacked by astrong body of Ashantis coming from the west, probably forming part ofEssarman Quatia's force. Captain Burnett, who was in command, havingunder him Lieutenant Jones of the 2d West Indian regiment, andthirty-five men of that corps and a few natives, conducted the defense,and was well seconded by his men. Although the attacking force was verygreatly superior, and took the little garrison by surprise--for they didnot 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 detachedparty--the garrison defended itself with great gallantry and completesuccess, not only beating off the enemy whenever they attacked, butsallying out and assisting to bring in a convoy of stores which wasclose at hand when the attack began.

  Amoaful was a town capable of containing two or three thousandinhabitants. Great quantities of grain and coarse flour were found here.These were done up in bundles of dried plantain leaves, each bundleweighing from five to fifteen pounds. This capture was of great serviceto the commissariat, as it afforded an abundant supply of excellent foodfor the carriers. The troops were in high spirits that night. They hadwon a battle fought under extreme difficulty, and that with a minimumof loss in killed. There were therefore no sad recollections to damp thepleasure of victory.

  Frank had been twice struck with slugs, but in neither case had thesepenetrated deeply, and he was able to sit round the camp fire and toenjoy his glass of rum and water. Two kegs of rum were the only storeswhich that night came up from the rear, thanks to the consideration ofa commissariat officer, to whom the soldiers felt extremely grateful forproviding them with an invigorating drink after their long and fatiguinglabors 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 aconsiderable force was known to be collected before the battle, and heremany of the fugitives were believed to have rallied. It would have beenimpossible to advance and leave this hostile camp so close to astation in our rear. Lord Gifford was therefore sent out at daybreakto reconnoiter it. He approached it closely, when twenty men sprang outfrom the bush and fired at him, fortunately without hitting him. When hereturned and made his report the general determined to attack and burnthe place, and orders were issued for a column, consisting of Russell'sregiment, Rait's battery, and the Naval Brigade, supported by the 42dand commanded by Colonel M'Leod, to start at one o'clock.

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

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

  At one of the villages there was a large camp, where about a thousandmen were assembled to make a stand. The defense was, however, feeble inthe extreme, and it was evident that
they were greatly demoralized bytheir 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 fewshots were fired at other places, but no real resistance took place.On reaching the village of Agamemmu, after having taken six hours ingetting over as many miles, the column halted, and orders were sent forthe baggage to come on from Amoaful. The troops were set to work to cutthe bush round the village, which was a very small one, and a breastworkwas thrown up round it. The troops were in their little tentes d'abripacked as closely together as possible outside the houses, but withinthe stockade. The carriers slept in the street of the village, where sothickly did they lie that it was impossible for anyone to make his wayalong without treading upon them.

  News came in that night that Captain Butler with the Western Akimshad arrived within two days' march of Amoaful, but that without theslightest reason the king and the whole of his army had left CaptainButler and retired suddenly to the Prah. At the same time they heardthat the army of the Wassaws under Captain Dalrymple had also brokenup without having come in contact with the enemy. From the rear alsounpleasant news came up. The attack upon Quarman had been no isolatedevent. Fomana had also been attacked, but the garrison there had, aftersome hours' fighting, repulsed the enemy. Several convoys had beenassaulted, and the whole road down to the Prah was unsafe. The nextmorning, after waiting till a large convoy came safely in, the columnmarched at nine o'clock, Gifford's scouts, Russell's regiment, andRait's battery being as usual in front. The resistance increased withevery step, and the head of the column was constantly engaged. Severalvillages were taken by Russell's regiment, who, full of confidencein themselves and their officers, carried them with a rush in capitalstyle. It was but six miles to the Dab, but the ground was swampy andthe road intersected by many streams. Consequently it was not untilafter being eight hours on the road that the head of the column reachedthe river, three hours later before the whole of the troops and theirbaggage were encamped there.