The Fall of the Asante Empire (46 page)

An Asante warrior stripped for battle holds a long musket, his primary weapon.
The Asante had a near monopoly on guns among the Gold Coast Africans which gave them an enormous advantage over their neighbors in fighting the British.
Their muskets, “long Danes,” were, however, vastly inferior to British weapons; some of them had been used by the French at Waterloo.
(Basel Museum)

Dense undergrowth characterized the Asante forest.
Walking through the clearing pictured above, soldiers would have been unable to see anything on either side, making them vulnerable to ambush.
(Doran Ross)

The terrain determined the fighting style of the Asante and British.
In this drawing, taken from The Illustrated London News, the Asante are waiting in ambush, unable to see more than a few feet in front of them.
Peering through the brush at top center, one can see Africans approaching.
NonAsante Africans always preceded die British columns, scouting for Asantes.
The Asante preferred to save their ammunition for British soldiers but, for the most part, battles began suddenly when the Asante collided with the scouts in the thick forest.
(The Illustrated London News)

The 42nd Highlanders, or “The Black Watch” as this Scottish regiment was commonly called, was one of the most famous in the British army.
They had a reputation as the toughest regiment and accounted for most of the British casualties in this campaign.
(The Illustrated London News)

Here, the African allies of the British are scouting in advance of the British army.
Lord Gifford, left of center in the front line of soldiers, is leading the scouts into an Asante village.
Asante huts line their path on either side and the furniture clustered around the tree indicates where Asantes cooked and ate their meals.
Twenty-three and handsome, Lord Gifford was not only unbelievably brave but also incredibly lucky.
Though he served in the exceptionally dangerous position of chief scouts officer during the Asante war of 1873—4, he was never wounded.
He was also the only British soldier who didn’t contract malaria in this campaign.
(The Illustrated London News)

After the British defeated the Asante in battle outside the capital city of Kumase in 1874, they took over the city itself and its largest architectural structure, the king’s palace.
In the conversation taking place in the palace courtyard pictured above, the British are trying to convince the king’s emissary to surrender.
Not long after, the British burned down the palace.
(The Illustrated London News)

The British retreat from Kumase to the African coast with their wounded and war dead.
Had they waited any longer, they would have had too many people to carry.
The victorious Asante panicked when they thought they saw another army approaching—it was only a negligible column of soldiers.
They chased after the retreating British and signed a treaty promising to pay them an indemnity of fifty thousand ounces of gold.
(The Illustrated London News)

When the Asante rebelled in 1900, the British locked themselves up in their fort at Kumase while the Asante tried to starve them out.
Down to little ammunition and no food, the British, in true Victorian style, carried their women out of the fort.
A combination of sheer luck and the stupidity of an Asante officer saved them.
While the Asante soldiers were busy looting British luggage which, in their weakened state, the British porters were forced to leave behind, the prisoners all but strolled to safety.
(Armitage and Montanaro)

This log stockade, one of dozens surrounding Kumase built during the war of 1900, was probably a quarter of a mile long and the product of much labor.
Most of the war was fought with the Asante firing at British troops from behind the walls of a stockade.
This method of defense was extremely effective until the British learned to blow them up with artillery and charge them with bayonets.
(Armitage and Montanaro)