418 African Tribes. — Tht Ashanlees, S^c [Oct. 



were again advancing in a hostile manner to the coast, left England in 

 July, accompanied by Major Ricketts, and other officers ; but before 

 he reached the Gold Coast a decisive battle had been fought by the 

 British and their native allies, the whole being under the command of 

 Lieutenant-Colonel Purdon. This battle took place in a plain, with 

 small clumps of trees and underwood at intervals, about twenty-four 

 miles north-east of British Accra, near to a village named Dodowah. 



On a IMonday, the day reckoned prosperous by the Ashantees, the 

 king's drum was distinctly heard, beating the war march; and the 

 allies, estimated at about eleven tliousand, of whom only three hundred 

 and eighty had muskets, formed a line to oppose them, extending about 

 four miles east and west. " Our men," says Captain Ricketts, " were 

 decorated with large sea shells, suspended from their necks and shoul- 

 ders, before and behind, or were decked with a strip of white calico, 

 to distinguish them from the enemy. Many of them fought with the 

 cloth hanging from the barrels of their muskets, which added to the 

 novelty and singularity of the scene." After some dispute between the 

 Kings of Akimboo and Dinkera, and the Queen ofAkim, who should attack 

 the King of Ashantee, hand to hand, the former by agreement took up 

 a position on the extreme right, and the two latter on the left, the centre 

 being composed of a few Europeans, some of the Royal African Corps, 

 and the European residents, with their servants and volunteers. " The 

 attack commenced from right to left, at about half-past nine o'clock. 

 Several of the natives came insulting and r.busing the centre as cowards ; 

 which being represented to the commanding-officer, he directed them 

 to advance about four hundred yards, when a heavy and destructive 

 fire took place. They went steadily forward amid the work of death, 

 the enemy slowly and sulkily giving way. No prisoners were taken by 

 the natives, but as they fell they were put death : happy were they 

 whose sufferings were short ; in vain the gentlemen implored them to hold 

 their hands, or at least kill them out-right ; some were ripped up, and 

 cut across the belly, when plunging their hands in, they took out the 

 heart, and poured the blood on the ground, as a libation to the good 

 fortune of the cause : others, when they saw their own friends weltering 

 in their blood, would give them a blow on the breast or head, to put an 

 end to their misery. In many instances they dragged each other from 

 the opposite ranks, and wrestled and cut each other in pieces ; and 

 fortunate was he whose knife first found out the vital part in his foe 

 during the deadly grapple, though perhaps in his turn to be laid low 

 by the same means. So hard were the enemy pressed at this moment, 

 that a captain of consequence blew himself up, neai-ly involving some of 

 the Europeans in destruction." 



Notwithstanding this successful effort in the centre, the battle had 

 nearly been lost through the cowardice of the people from Dutch and 

 Danish Accra, who gave way, and allowed the Ashantees to penetrate 

 between the centre and the left. " The centre were now obliged to fall 

 back and relinquish every advantage, sustaining a galling fire in flank, 

 and closely pressed with the mass of the enemy, who evidently were 

 making a bold push to seize or bring down the whites. This was the 

 crisis of the battle ; Colonel Purdon advanced with the reserve, and the 

 rockets, a few of which throAvn among the Ashantees, occasioned the 

 most dreadful havoc and confusion : the hissing sound, when thrown, 

 the train of fire, the explosion, and frightful wounds they inflicted. 



