lashman and the Golden Sword

by Robert Brightwell

  Battle of Nsamankow

  The accounts of Mr Williams and Captain Rickets largely confirm Flashman’s description of this extraordinary action. McCarthy and his allies were convinced that the Ashanti army were divided into around a dozen divisions. When in Assamacow, McCarthy was highly suspicious of local reports that Ashanti forces were approaching his army. Rickets confirms that McCarthy did indeed organise the band of the Royal African Corps to play God Save the King as they heard the Ashanti on the other side of the river. It seems that McCarthy was still entertaining the hope that some of the enemy were planning to defect. Having finally accepted that the enemy was not divided but opposing him in overwhelming force, McCarthy set to with the organisation of a defence across the Pra River.

  The Royal African Corps and the native allies who had not run away at the start of the attack, managed to repel several assaults across the river over makeshift bridges made from cut down trees. However, ammunition was soon in short supply and so the arrival of Brandon with fresh supplies was initially very welcome. Contemporary sources confirm the astonishment of the defenders when it was discovered that most of the barrels contained not desperately needed cartridges, but macaroni. Rickets describes McCarthy as being so angry he would have had his quartermaster hung.

  The Ashanti soon noticed a slackening of fire from the defenders and launched fresh attacks across the tree trunks as well as from both flanks. The final moments of McCarthy were not entirely as described by Flashman, although he was understandably distracted. According to some Ashanti accounts, it seems that McCarthy died by taking his own life with his pistol when it was clear that he was certain to be captured. His heart and head were removed, but this happened post mortem. There were reports that the Ashanti king did use his skull as a drinking vessel and that other parts of his body were taken as tokens by soldiers. The British government spent several years negotiating, unsuccessfully, for the return of McCarthy’s skull.

  Defence of Cape Coast Castle

  There is no detailed account of the defence of Cape Coast Castle against the vast Ashanti attack, which began on 11 July 1824. This is probably due to the fact that the two people from whom we have records – Rickets and Sutherland – were some distance from the main action. Sutherland confirms that the attack was concentrated on the British right, around McCarthy Hill and that the engagement lasted from two in the afternoon until dusk at around six-thirty. He also includes the casualty numbers in his report. With just 103 killed and 448 wounded from a four-hour battle against overwhelming odds, this would indicate that the defenders used their cannon to keep the enemy at bay for much of the time. Sutherland records that the total allied force defending the castle was just over 5,000 with 4,650 of those being from their allied local kings and chiefs.

  Further Ashanti conflicts with the British

  The Ashanti were one of the most powerful kingdoms in West Africa and as this account shows, were able to deal robustly with European powers. They fought a further war with the British fifty years later in 1874, when a road was built to the Ashanti capital and some parts of the city were destroyed. But as Flashman had predicted, the Ashanti had evacuated Coomassie in advance of the British and there was no appetite to place a garrison there.

  The British invaded again in 1896 and this time exiled the Ashanti king to the Seychelles. A British resident was left in the capital with a small garrison. In 1901 he caused great offence by demanding to sit on the Ashanti golden stool. This object is sacred to the Ashanti and appears on their flag to this day. A revolt ensued, the resident was rescued but the British never did get their hands on the golden stool. The Ashanti king was returned from exile in 1924.

  Slavery in West Africa

  The common perception is that white slavers would turn up on the coast, round up some Africans and load them into a ship to take them off into bondage. However, as the facts in this book make clear, that was not usually the case. Any white slaver rounding up people within the Ashanti dominion, for example, was likely to lose their head long before they could get back to their ship. The situation would be the same for many other powerful kingdoms.

  Slavery existed in the region long before the plantations in the Caribbean and Americas. Slaves were also often treated cruelly. It was commonplace for a slave to be killed after their master died to serve their wealthy owner in the afterlife. Indeed, it was not always just slaves who were sacrificed. Bowdich reports that after the death of a member of the Ashanti royal family, most of the nobility made themselves scarce for the funeral as it was the custom to kill one of the mourners to give the deceased a more honoured companion in the next life.

  White settlements on the coast were originally established for trade in items such as gold and ivory. However, as demand for slaves increased on the other side of the Atlantic the European traders were not slow to spot the opportunity. Initially buying from established slave markets, they were soon sending out agents to work with dealers and local chiefs to bring more slaves to the coast. As prices rose, the more powerful African rulers started to view their weaker neighbours as sources of revenue – while warily watching over their shoulder to ensure that some even stronger kingdom was not considering them in the same manner.

  The African Company of Merchants were certainly not paragons of virtue in this period, operating from 1752 to 1821 in the Cape Coast Castle region. They were heavily involved in slave trading and, it would seem, not beyond re-writing treaties after they had been signed and selling out their native allies. There is evidence that they also turned a blind eye to continued slave trading in the region even after its abolition by the British government. This ultimately led to the company being disbanded and the region becoming a crown colony.

  Various well-meaning – and some not so well-meaning – groups did try to return freed slaves back to Africa from the Caribbean, the United States and Canada. One of the leading organisations was the American Colonization Society, co-founded by Bushrod Washington, a nephew of George Washington. These returned settlers suffered high degrees of mortality from fever and struggled to thrive in an unfamiliar country without local support. There was often conflict with existing tribes and in some cases these new settlements disappeared – possibly having been sold back into slavery.

  Settlements established in Sierra Leone and on the Gold Coast during McCarthy’s governorship fared rather better. He was a passionate anti-slavery campaigner and ensured that freed slaves had land grants; he helped them to develop trades and encouraged missionaries to set up schools. Unfortunately, many of these initiatives ceased after his death. In the decade after McCarthy died, the territory had fourteen different governors or acting governors, with many incumbents dying of fever in post. Consequently, there was no consistent policy to develop the territory or support its inhabitants.

  Thank you for reading this book and I hoped you enjoyed it. If so I would be grateful for any positive reviews on websites that you use to choose books. As there is no major publisher promoting this book, any recommendations to friends and family that you think would enjoy it would also be appreciated.

  There is now a Thomas Flashman Books Facebook page and the www.robertbrightwell.com website to keep you updated on future books in the series. They also include portraits, pictures and further information on characters and events featured in the books.

  Copyright © Robert Brightwell 2018

  Also by this author

  Flashman and the Seawolf

  This first book in the Thomas Flashman series covers his adventures with Thomas Cochrane, one of the most extraordinary naval commanders of all time.

  From the brothels and gambling dens of London, through political intrigues and espionage, the action moves to the Mediterranean and the real life character of Thomas Cochrane. This book covers the start of Cochrane's career including the most astounding single ship action of the Napoleonic war.

  Thomas Flashman provides a unique insight as danger stalks him like a persistent bailiff through a s
eries of adventures that prove history really is stranger than fiction.

  Flashman and the Cobra

  This book takes Thomas to territory familiar to readers of his nephew’s adventures, India, during the second Mahratta war. It also includes an illuminating visit to Paris during the Peace of Amiens in 1802.

  As you might expect Flashman is embroiled in treachery and scandal from the outset and, despite his very best endeavours, is often in the thick of the action. He intrigues with generals, warlords, fearless warriors, nomadic bandit tribes, highland soldiers and not least a four-foot-tall former nautch dancer, who led the only Mahratta troops to leave the battlefield of Assaye in good order.

  Flashman gives an illuminating account with a unique perspective. It details feats of incredible courage (not his, obviously) reckless folly and sheer good luck that were to change the future of India and the career of a general who would later win a war in Europe.

  Flashman in the Peninsula

  While many people have written books and novels on the Peninsular War, Flashman’s memoirs offer a unique perspective. They include new accounts of famous battles, but also incredible incidents and characters almost forgotten by history.

  Flashman is revealed as the catalyst to one of the greatest royal scandals of the nineteenth century which disgraced a prince and ultimately produced one of our greatest novelists. In Spain and Portugal he witnesses catastrophic incompetence and incredible courage in equal measure. He is present at an extraordinary action where a small group of men stopped the army of a French marshal in its tracks. His flatulent horse may well have routed a Spanish regiment, while his cowardice and poltroonery certainly saved the British army from a French trap.

  Accompanied by Lord Byron’s dog, Flashman faces death from Polish lancers and a vengeful Spanish midget, not to mention finding time to perform a blasphemous act with the famous Maid of Zaragoza. This is an account made more astonishing as the key facts are confirmed by various historical sources.

  Flashman’s Escape

  This book covers the second half of Thomas Flashman’s experiences in the Peninsular War and follows on from Flashman in the Peninsula.

  Having lost his role as a staff officer, Flashman finds himself commanding a company in an infantry battalion. In between cuckolding his soldiers and annoying his superiors, he finds himself at the heart of the two bloodiest actions of the war. With drama and disaster in equal measure, he provides a first-hand account of not only the horror of battle but also the bloody aftermath.

  Hopes for a quieter life backfire horribly when he is sent behind enemy lines to help recover an important British prisoner, who also happens to be a hated rival. His adventures take him the length of Spain and all the way to Paris on one of the most audacious wartime journeys ever undertaken.

  With the future of the French empire briefly placed in his quaking hands, Flashman dodges lovers, angry fathers, conspirators and ministers of state in a desperate effort to keep his cowardly carcass in one piece. It is a historical roller-coaster ride that brings together various extraordinary events, while also giving a disturbing insight into the creation of a French literary classic!

  Flashman and Madison’s War

  This book finds Thomas, a British army officer, landing on the shores of the United States at the worst possible moment – just when the United States has declared war with Britain! Having already endured enough with his earlier adventures, he desperately wants to go home but finds himself drawn inexorably into this new conflict. He is soon dodging musket balls, arrows and tomahawks as he desperately tries to keep his scalp intact and on his head.

  It is an extraordinary tale of an almost forgotten war, with inspiring leaders, incompetent commanders, a future American president, terrifying warriors (and their equally intimidating women), brave sailors, trigger-happy madams and a girl in a wet dress who could have brought a city to a standstill. Flashman plays a central role and reveals that he was responsible for the disgrace of one British general, the capture of another and for one of the biggest debacles in British military history.

  Flashman’s Waterloo

  The first six months of 1815 were a pivotal time in European history. As a result, countless books have been written by men who were there and by those who studied it afterwards. But despite this wealth of material there are still many unanswered questions including:

  -Why did the man who promised to bring Napoleon back in an iron cage, instead join his old commander?

  -Why was Wellington so convinced that the French would not attack when they did?

  -Why was the French emperor ill during the height of the battle, leaving its management to the hot-headed Marshal Ney?

  -What possessed Ney to launch a huge and disastrous cavalry charge in the middle of the battle?

  -Why did the British Head of Intelligence always walk with a limp after the conflict?

  The answer to all these questions in full or in part can be summed up in one word: Flashman.

  This extraordinary tale is aligned with other historical accounts of the Waterloo campaign and reveals how Flashman’s attempt to embrace the quiet diplomatic life backfires spectacularly. The memoir provides a unique insight into how Napoleon returned to power, the treachery and intrigues around his hundred-day rule and how ultimately he was robbed of victory. It includes the return of old friends and enemies from both sides of the conflict and is a fitting climax to Thomas Flashman’s Napoleonic adventures.

  Flashman and the Emperor

  This seventh instalment in the memoirs of the Georgian rogue Thomas Flashman reveals that, despite his suffering through the Napoleonic Wars, he did not get to enjoy a quiet retirement. Indeed, middle age finds him acting just as disgracefully as in his youth, as old friends pull him unwittingly back into the fray.

  He re-joins his former comrade in arms, Thomas Cochrane, in what is intended to be a peaceful and profitable sojourn in South America. Instead, he finds himself enjoying drug-fuelled orgies in Rio, trying his hand at silver smuggling and escaping earthquakes in Chile before being reluctantly shanghaied into the Brazilian navy.

  Sailing with Cochrane again, he joins the admiral in what must be one of the most extraordinary periods of his already legendary career. With a crew more interested in fighting each other than the enemy, they use Cochrane’s courage, Flashman’s cunning and an outrageous bluff to carve out nothing less than an empire which will stand the test of time.