Through Three Campaigns: A Story of Chitral, Tirah and Ashanti

While the troops were waiting, a runner came in and reported that heavy firing had been heard round Coomassie. On the evening of the 30th of June, news came that Colonel Willcocks would start the next morning. He would have but a small escort of fighting men, but a very large number of carriers, to bring in the stores intended for Coomassie.

Colonel Willcocks reached Fum on the night after leaving the Prah. As the supplies were failing at Kwisa, and another post, Captain Melliss took down a convoy to them, with twenty days' rations, and succeeded in doing so without opposition.

Colonel Willcocks pressed on, leaving all baggage behind. The defeat of the Dompoasis had its effect, and the little column joined Colonel Burroughs's men unopposed. The combined force then pushed on, until they arrived at a town under the sway of the King of Bekwai.

Next morning they marched to Bekwai. Here it was decided to evacuate Kwisa, for a time, and bring up the garrison that had been left there.

The next march was laborious, and wet, as usual. The troops marched into the little village of Amoaful, where Sir Garnet Wolseley had fought the decisive battle of his campaign, and saw many relics of the fight. Signal guns were heard, at various times, acquainting the enemy of our advance. The column stayed here for three days, which both soldiers and carriers enjoyed greatly, for the fatigues of the march had fairly worn out even the sturdy and long-enduring British troops.

Colonel Willcocks went forward with his staff to Esumeja, where the three companies, of which the garrison was composed, had already suffered sixty casualties. The Pioneers, some carriers with hatchets, and some of the Esumeja were sent out, a hundred yards down the road to Kokofu, to cut the bush on each side and build two stockades. This was done to deceive the garrison, there, into the belief that we were about to advance on the place by that road.

The ruse succeeded admirably. The general there sent information to the commander-in-chief of the Ashanti army, and the latter at once despatched a considerable number of men to reinforce the garrison. Thus the resistance along the main road was greatly reduced; and the Kokofu, standing on the defensive, did not harass the force upon its march.

On the evening of the 11th, a starving soldier made his way down from the fort with this message:

"Governor broke out, seventeen days ago. Garrison rapidly diminishing by disease, can only last a few more days, on very reduced rations."

Six star shells were fired, that night, to let the garrison know that help was coming, but they never saw them.

At midnight, the last contingent from Northern Nigeria, the Kwisa garrison, and an escort of two companies of the West African contingent arrived. This brought the force up to the regulation strength of one battalion, on its war footing. At sunset the officers were called, and orders were given for the next day's work.

The direction of the march was, even at that moment, a profound secret. The column was to be kept as short as possible, and only two carriers allowed to each officer. Only half rations were to be issued.

At daybreak the advance sounded, and the force moved out. It consisted of a thousand rank and file, sixty white men, seventeen hundred carriers, six guns, and six Maxims. The rain fell in ceaseless torrents. The road was practically an unbroken swamp, and the fatigue and discomfort of the journey were consequently terrible. The Ordah river was in flood, and had to be crossed on a felled tree.

The distance to Pekki, the last Bekwai village, was fifteen miles. It did not lie upon the main road, but that route had been chosen because a shorter extent of hostile country would have to be traversed, and the march thence to Coomassie would be only eleven miles; but it took the relief force nineteen and a half hours to get in, and the rear guard some two hours longer. Darkness fell some hours before they reached their destination and, thence forward, the force struggled on, each holding a man in front of him.

Nothing broke the silence save the trickling of water from the trees overhead, and the squelch of the mud churned up by marching columns. At times they had to wade waist deep in water. The exhausted carriers fell out by dozens, but their loads were picked up and shouldered by soldiers, and not a single one was lost.

The men got what shelter they could in the huts of the village and, in spite of wet and sleeplessness, all turned out cheerfully in the morning. The start was made at eight o'clock, in order that the men might recover a little from the previous day's fatigue.

The enemy's scouts were encountered almost on the outskirts of the village and, in a short time, the advance guard neared the village of Treda. It was a large place, with a very holy fetish tree. It stood on the top of a slope and, long before the rear guard had fallen out at Pekki, it was carried by a brilliant bayonet charge, by the Yorubas and the Sierra Leone frontier police. The enemy fought stubbornly, in the village; but were driven out with only some half-dozen casualties on our part.

Thirty sheep were found in the village, and they were a Godsend, indeed, to the troops. As in every other place, too, numbers of Lee-Metfords, Martinis, and Sniders were found.

Treda was burnt by the rear guard. The Ju-ju house, which was the scene of the native incantations, was pulled down, and the sacred trees felled. The enemy, however, were not discouraged; but hung upon the rear, keeping up a constant fire. Some of them proceeded to attack the Pekki people.

Fighting went on at intervals throughout the day, and it was decided to spend the night in a village that had been taken, after some resistance. This place was less than halfway on the road from Pekki to Coomassie. During the night a tropical deluge fell, and the troops and carriers were, all the time, without shelter.

Late that evening Colonel Willcocks called the white officers together and, for the first time, told them of the plan formed for the advance. He said that, after marching for an hour and a half, they would reach a strong fetish stronghold, where a fierce resistance might be looked for; but the final battle would be fought at the stockades, two hundred yards from the fort. He intended to attack these without encumbrance. A halt would therefore be called, at a spot some distance from the stockades; which would be hastily fortified, with a zereba and a portion of the troops. Here all the carriers and stores would be placed. Then the fighting force would take the stockades, return for the transport, and enter Coomassie. By this means there would be no risk of losing the precious stores and ammunition.

So determined was Colonel Willcocks to reach the forts, at all costs, that he gave orders that, if necessary, all soldiers killed should be left where they fell.

At four o'clock next morning the bugle sounded and, at the first streak of dawn, the column moved off. The march was maintained under a heavy skirmishing fire but, to the general surprise, the fetish town of which Colonel Willcocks had spoken was found deserted. Night was approaching, so that the plan proposed overnight could not be carried out. The troops, therefore, went forward hampered by the whole of the carriers and baggage of the column.

At four o'clock action began, at the point where the Cape Coast and Pekki roads converged towards Coomassie. The Ashantis had taken up a position on slightly rising ground–a position which was favourable to the assailants, as it tended to increase the enemy's inclination to fire high. Each of the roads was barred with massive entrenchments, which stretched across them into the bush, and flanked with breastworks of timber. These obstacles had been originally intended to envelop the garrison. Consequently, the war camps were on the British side of the stockades.

The battle began by a heavy fire, from the bush, upon both flanks of the rear guard. The attack on the left was soon successfully repulsed. On the other side, however, the roar of musketry never ceased, the enemy moving along abreast of the column, protected by a stockade expressly prepared; until they approached the main stockade, where they joined their companions. About fifty yards from the stockades, which were still invisible, a fresh path diverged towards the left; and the officers commanding the scouts were discussing what had best be done, when the enemy poured in a terrific volley from their fortified position in front, slightly wounding one officer and four soldiers. The rest immediately took shelter behind a fallen tree, which was lying across the path.

Colonel Wilkinson, commanding the advance guard, ordered up the guns. These were massed in a semicircle behind the fallen trees, and opened fire on the unseen foe; while the Maxims poured their bullets into the adjacent bush. The reply of the enemy was unceasing and, for an hour and a half, the battle raged, the distance between the combatants being only forty yards. Then Colonel Willcocks gave the order to cease firing and, in a minute, a strange silence succeeded the terrible din. The Ashantis, too, stopped firing, in sheer surprise at the cessation of attack; but soon redoubled their fusillade.

The leading companies moved up and formed in line, to the front and rear flank. Then came the inspiring notes of the charge and, with a cheer, the whole of the advance guard sprang forward into the bush. The dense undergrowth checked the impetus, as the soldiers had to cut their way with their knives but, as they did so, they maintained their deep-toned war song. As they got more into the open, they rushed round and clambered over the stockade; and the enemy, unable to stand the fury of their charge, fled in panic.

As a prolonged pursuit was impossible in the bush, and as daylight was fading, the troops were recalled at once. The first thing to be done was to pull down the stockade along the fetish road, to enable the transport to pass. When this was done, Colonel Willcocks collected the troops nearest to him and moved forward, at their head, along the broad road.

Their delight, when they emerged into the open and saw Coomassie ahead of them, was unbounded. Keeping regular step, though each man was yearning to press forward, they advanced steadily. The silence weighed upon them; and a dread, lest they had arrived too late, chilled the sense of triumph with which they had marched off. At last, the faint notes of a distant bugle sounded the general salute, and a wild burst of cheering greeted the sound. The bugles returned the call with joyous notes. Then the gate opened, and Captain Bishop, Mr. Ralph, and Dr. Hay came out, followed by such few of the brave little garrison as still had strength to walk.

Just at this moment, a great glow was seen in the distance. The flying enemy had fired the Basel Mission. A company therefore started at once, at the double, to drive them off.

The relieving force had, indeed, arrived only just in time. The means of resistance had all been exhausted, and another day would have seen the end. The garrison had held out desperately, in the hope that Colonel Willcocks would be able to fulfil the promise he had sent in, that he would arrive to relieve them on the 15th of July; and he had nobly kept his word to an hour, at the cost of an amount of hard work, privation, hardship, and suffering such as has fallen to the lot of but few expeditions of the kind.

The Ashanti rising was the result of long premeditation and preparation. On the 13th of March, the governor of the Gold Coast, accompanied by Lady Hodgson, left Accra to make a tour of inspection. On his way up country he was received with great friendliness at all the villages and, when he arrived at Coomassie on the 25th, he found a large number of Ashanti kings, who turned out in state to meet him. A triumphal arch had been erected, and a gorgeous procession of kings and chiefs marched past. There was no sign of a cloud in the horizon.

Several days passed quietly, and Sir Frederick Hodgson had several meetings with the chiefs about state matters. Gradually the eyes of the governor's followers, accustomed as they were to savage ways, saw that all was not right; and a wire was despatched, asking for reinforcements of two hundred men. These arrived on the 18th of April.

Captains Armitage and Leggatt, with a small party of soldiers, went out to the neighbouring village to bring in the golden stool. This was regarded by the natives with considerable veneration, and was always used as the throne of the king, as the sign of supreme authority. When they reached the village the party were fired upon, the two officers being wounded; and had to retire without having accomplished their purpose.

It was clear now that rebellion was intended. The native kings were all sounded, and several of them decided to side with us, among them five important leaders. On the 25th the Basel Mission servants were set upon, and several of them killed. The Ashantis then attacked and captured the villages in which the friendly natives and traders lived, and set fire to these and to the cantonment. The refugees, to the number of three thousand five hundred, with two hundred children, crowded round the fort, imploring the mission to allow them to enter.

It was wholly beyond the capacity of the fort to accommodate a tenth of their number. Troops were therefore ordered down from the barracks, and formed a cordon round the fugitives. The fort gate was closed, and a rope ladder led down one of the bastions. In this way, only one individual could enter at a time, and the danger of a rush was obviated.

Close round the walls, huts were erected to shelter the fugitives, who were exposed to all the inclemency of the weather. Thus passed some wretched days and worse nights, sleep being constantly interrupted by alarms, due to the fact that the rebels were in possession of all the buildings in the place, except the fort, many of which they loopholed.

On the 29th a determined attack was made, the enemy advancing boldly across the open, and fighting long and obstinately. Captain Marshall, however, with his two hundred and fifty native troops and friendly levies, taught them such a lesson that they never again tried fighting in the open. A hundred and thirty corpses were found and buried, and many more were carried off, while the fighting was going on.

That evening Captain Apling came in with his little column, but without food and with little ammunition. Aided by these troops, the outlying official buildings were occupied; and the friendly natives lodged in huts a little farther from the fort.

Things remained quiet until the 15th of May, when Major Morris arrived with his force. He too was short of food and ammunition, and famine already began to stare the beleaguered garrison in the face. Meanwhile the enemy had been busy erecting stockades, to bar every outlet from Coomassie. Many attempts were made to take these entrenchments; but they always failed, as they could not be pushed home, owing to want of ammunition; and the troops became, to some extent, demoralized by want of success.

Although the food had been carefully husbanded, it was running perilously low. Rations consisted of one and a half biscuits, and five ounces of preserved meat, per day. Five ponies, brought up by Major Morris, and a few cows kept at the Residency were killed and eaten. A few luxuries could still be bought from the native traders, but at prodigious prices. A spoonful of whisky cost 2 shillings, a seven-pound tin of flour 6 shillings, a box of matches 2 shillings, and a small tin of beef 2 pounds, 16 shillings.

The refugees fared much worse. They had no reserve of food, and foraging was next to impossible. As a result, they died at the rate of thirty and forty a day.

When only three and a half days' rations were left, it was decided that something must be done, and a council of war was called. It was then agreed that those who could walk should make a dash for it; and that a garrison of three Europeans, and a hundred rank and file, should be left behind. For these twenty-three days' rations could be left.

Major Morris, as senior officer, was to command the sortie. The direct road down to the Cape was barred by a great force of the rebels, and he therefore chose the road that would lead to the Denkera country. If that could be reached, they would be in a friendly country. The line to be taken was kept a profound secret, and was not revealed until ten o'clock on the evening before starting. The force consisted of six hundred soldiers, with a hundred and fifty rounds of ammunition a man, seven hundred carriers, and about a thousand refugees.

There was a mist in the morning, and the garrison who were to remain made a feint, to direct the enemy's attention to the main road. The column was not engaged until it reached a strong breastwork, at Potasi. This was taken after a severe fight; and Captain Leggatt, who commanded the vanguard, was mortally wounded. Four men were also killed, and there were nine other casualties.

A part of the stockade was pulled away, and the force moved forward. It was constantly attacked on the way and, on one occasion, Captain Marshall was seriously wounded in the head. Numbers of soldiers, refugees, and carriers fell out from exhaustion, and had to be left behind. Nearly all the carriers threw away their loads, and the men who carried the hammocks of the two ladies found themselves unable to support the weight.

The night was spent at Terrabum, eighteen miles from Coomassie; some two thousand human beings being crowded into the village, in a deluge. The soldiers were posted round the camp, in the form of a square.

The second day was a repetition of the first–heavy rain, muddy roads; dying soldiers, carriers, and refugees; attacks by the enemy. Twelve miles farther were made that day.

Thus seven days were passed. Captains Marshall and Leggatt both died. The ladies bore their trials wonderfully, as they had to tramp with the rest, along the miry track. At last Ekwanter, in the friendly Denkera country, was reached, and the force rested for two days. They then set out again and, after a terrible march, in the course of which they had to cross many swollen rivers, they arrived, two weeks after they had left Coomassie, half starved and worn out, on the coast.

In the meantime the three white officers, Captain Bishop of the Gold Coast Constabulary, Assistant Inspector Ralph, Lagos Constabulary, and Doctor Hay, medical officer, remained behind, with a hundred and fifteen Hausas, few of whom were fit for the task of holding the fort. After the departure of the column, the Ashantis swarmed down on the fort, thinking that it was entirely evacuated. They were met, however, with a heavy fire from the Maxims, and soon withdrew.