246 



DAHOMEY. 



DELAWARE. 



slugs and broken glass, and then passing them 

 back and receiving freshly loaded muskets. The 

 female warriors were much braver and more effi- 

 cient than the others. They took part only in 

 battles where a large portion of the King's army 

 was taken into action. In the fight of March 4 

 the Dahomeyans rushed in close order across the 

 open space from their concealment in the palm 

 groves upon the earthworks. The men, who 

 fought nearly naked, were driven back into the 

 woods by a hot fusillade of musketry in their 

 faces and the raking fire of the cannon and 

 grape-shot from the cruiser anchored near the 

 shore. The women, in sleeveless tunics, short 

 skirts, and trousers of blue or white cotton, came 

 on the run over the plain, faltered not when a 

 deadly volley was poured into their compact 

 ranks at 200 yards, reached the fort in spite of 

 the rattling fire of repeating rifles, and began to 

 scale the walls, some falling among the troops, 

 pierced with bayonet wounds. They would have 

 captured the w'ork if other troops, disengaged 

 by the flight of the male warriors, had not come 

 to the support of Lieut. Comperat, the com- 

 mander, who, with one of his white sergeants, 

 had been wounded by the Amazons, who fired 

 their worthless trade guns as they rushed with 

 wild yells to the assault. The fire of the re-en- 

 forcements caused them to break and run ; yet, 

 as soon as they were out of close range, their 

 savage courage, due in part to alcoholic stimu- 

 lation, rose again, and they formed for a fresh 

 assault ; but their ranks melted under the in- 

 fantry fire of the strengthened garrison, and be- 

 fore reaching the fort they turned and fled. The 

 troops pursued them into the woods, avoiding 

 the wounded and dying women, who tried to 

 seize and stab them as they passed. The bodies 

 of 200 women were found on the plain, one third 

 of which lay directly under the rampart. On 

 April 20 the Dahomeyans attempted again to 

 crush the French force at Porto Novo in a gen- 

 eral battle, in which, as before, the women sol- 

 diers bore the brunt of the fighting. The French, 

 to the number of 400, went out to meet them, 

 and, when 6 miles from Porto Novo, were at- 

 tacked on the open plain at Atchupa by 7,000 

 men and 2,000 women. Drawn up in a hollow 

 square, with their modern rifles and three canon, 

 they repelled eight furious charges of the enemy, 

 whose old muskets, badly handled, were nearly 

 as useless as their bows and swords. After two 

 hours of sharp fighting 'the French retreated in 



Cl order, and for half the distance to Porto 

 o were followed by the Dahomeyans, who 

 left 300 dead on the field. The French loss was 

 61 killed and wounded. Two weeks afterward 

 the King recalled all his troops, except 1,000 

 men, and entered into fresh negotiations. 



A New Treaty. On May 2, King Benezin 

 exchanged for hostages held by the French the 

 captive white men, and they returned to Why- 

 dah, with the exception of one, a missionary 

 priest, who died from ill usage, bearing a mes- 

 sage in which he offered to make peace on con- 

 dition that Lieut. Bayol's head should be sent 

 to him, and that his officials at Kotonu should 

 be set free and reinstated. On May 12 he sent 

 from his camp at Canna Gumey a letter ad- 

 dressed to President Carnot, in which he de- 

 fended his right to punish the native ruler of 



Porto Novo, who had begun the troubles by 

 massacring Dahomeyans, and demanded as a 

 basis of peace that the French should relinquish 

 all political rights and retire from their occu- 

 pied positions in Dahomey, in return for which 

 he would grant them, as heretofore, complete 

 freedom of trade. The retirement of Benezin's 

 forces was occasioned by dangers from his native 

 enemies. In June he marched against Egbas, 

 defeating him and taking 1,000 prisoners, suffer- 

 ing a defeat at Ketu, and finally destroying his 

 enemy's army, burning all his villages, butcher- 

 ing the children, and carrying off thousands of 

 men into slavery and of women to be sacrificed. 

 One or two nocturnal skirmishes took place at 

 Kotonu in August. A person named Siciliano, 

 connected with the trading establishments, un- 

 dertook to bring about a peace. Admiral de 

 Cuverville, commanding the French squadron 

 in the south Atlantic, who directed the political 

 affairs, declined his mediation, fearing that it 

 would lead to new complications, and through 

 another emissary concluded a treaty in Septem- 

 ber, under which the French continue their oc- 

 cupation of the harbor of Kotonu and are con- 

 firmed in the protectorate of Porto Novo, while 

 Whydah is to belong to Dahomey. 



DELAWARE, a Middle Atlantic State, one 

 of the original thirteen ; ratified the Constitu- 

 tion Dec. 7, 1787; area 2,050 square miles. The 

 population, according to each decennial census, 

 was 59,096 in 1790 ; 64,273 in 1800 ; 72,674 in 

 1810 ; 72,749 in 1820 ; 76,748 in 1830 ; 78,085 in 

 1840; 91,532 in 1850; 112,216 in 1860; 125.015 

 in 1870 ; 146,608 in 1880 ; 168,493 in 1890. 

 Capital, Dover. 



Government. The following were the State 

 officers during the year : Governor, Benjamin T. 

 Biggs (Democrat) ; Secretary of State, John F. 

 Saulsbury ; Treasurer, William Herbert ; Audi- 

 tor, John H. Boyce: Attorney-General, John 

 Biggs; Insurance Commissioner, Isaac N. 

 Fooks; Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, 

 Joseph P. Comegys ; Associate Justices, Igna- 

 tius C. Grubb, John W. Houston and John H. 

 Paynter, who died June 21 and was succeeded 

 by Charles M. Cullen ; Chancellor, Willard Sauls- 

 bury. 



Finances. On Dec. 31, 1888, the balance in 

 the State treasury to the credit of the various 

 funds was $87,988.04 ; the total receipts for the 

 year ensuing were $335,890.14; and the total 

 expenditures $344,787, leaving a balance on Dec. 

 31, 1889, of $79,091.18. The sinking fund is de- 

 rived from the revenue accruing from the oyster 

 fund. The balance, after deducting the expense 

 of collecting the fund and maintaining the State 

 oyster navy, is applied to the payment of the 

 bonded debt of the State. Among the receij ' 

 of the general fund were $74,799.46 from the 1 

 on railroads, $24,000 from interest on securii 

 held by the State, $55,353.56 from clerks of 

 peace for licenses, $6,146.05 from the collat 

 inheritance tax, and $75,000 from new boi 

 sold. The disbursements from the general i't 

 included "$10,472 for the executive depart mn 

 $36,597.50 for interest on the State debt, $6,C 

 for colored schools, $25,000 for free schools, " 

 400 for militia, $14,000 for the State Insane 

 Asylum, $10,900.27 for the encampment of ilio 

 militia, $20,142.12 for expenses of the General 



