WEST AFRICA. 



769 



vance of the different detachments with great 

 pertinacity. Capt. Hall with the first detachment 

 of the relieving force got as far north as Esii- 

 meja, 10 miles from the capital, and was forced 

 to retire when he found Kokufu on his right 

 flank held by 8,000 Ashantis. Col. Borroughs, on 

 attempting to advance by way of Kokofu, lost 

 72 men killed or wounded, and had likewise to 

 fall back. The advance detachments of Col. Will- 

 cocks's force were accompanied by thousands of 

 native auxiliaries. Capt. Hall went to Bekwai 

 with his force, Col. Carter followed to Kwisa, and 

 Capt. Melliss halted at Fumsu, having found his 

 way blocked by rebels who gave him a hard battle 

 at Dunpoassi. The rebels took the offensive 

 against the advanced guard and several severe 

 battles were fought. Col. Carter was compelled 

 to fall back from Kwisa. The loyal Bekwais 

 alone stopped the advance of the rebels. 



The arrival at Kumassi of Major Morris and 

 his men gave to the garrison an able commander 

 and an accession of brave soldiers, but this was 

 not sufficient to raise the siege, and only added 

 to the difficulties of the situation, because am- 

 munition and food were running low. Recon- 

 noissances in force revealed the enemy in strong 

 force at every stockade that was attacked. Re- 

 lief from the coast was constantly expected, but 

 when rations were reduced until the soldiers got 

 only a biscuit and a half a day and five ounces 

 of meat, when the native traders who obtained 

 10s. apiece for biscuits and 3 for a can of corned 

 beef had no more to sell, and when 30 or 40 of 

 the native civilians and camp followers died daily 

 of starvation, the situation became desperate. 

 Major Morris directed the reconnoissances to the 

 discovery of a track by which he could get out 

 of town. On June 23, when there were only three 

 days' minimum rations for the entire garrison left, 

 he led the greater part of the besieged out in 

 a heavy mist at early dawn. The force was 600 

 Hausas of all ranks, with 800 noncombatants, 

 escorting the Governor and his wife and the other 

 British civilians, and followed by 1,000 native 

 civilians. One of the stockades was forced by 

 hard fighting, and during the day's rapid march 

 of 18 miles bands of Ashantis were encountered 

 continually. The march through swamps and 

 deep rivers was more deadly than the enemy after 

 the first two days. Major Morris managed to 

 throw the pursuing Ashantis off the track by 

 making a rapid march to the west after deluding 

 the besiegers into the belief that he intended to 

 strike for the coast by the direct route. The car- 

 riers lost their loads, and every one was near a 

 collapse when the column reached Cape Coast on 

 July 11. During the march the casualties were 

 2 officers killed, 1 wounded ; 80 men killed, and 37 

 wounded. 



The force left to hold the fort under Capt. 

 Bishop was 100 men with provisions for twenty- 

 four days. The advance of the main relief column 

 under Sir J. Willcocks was extremely arduous 

 and slow, as the rivers were in flood and rains 

 were incessant. Before he encountered the enemy 

 in force Col. Willcocks knew of the departure of the 

 Governor, and could plan his march so as to reach 

 Kumassi before the food in the fort was entirely 

 exhausted. Col. Willcocks could not start from 

 the coast until he had enough carriers. Thou- 

 sands were sent from Sierra Leone and other colo- 

 nies, but thousands more were needed to trans- 

 port the stores and ammunition. The natives of 

 the Gold Coast refused to go at any price. The 

 labor ordinance requiring them to work for the 

 Government was put into force. The men then 

 ran away, and the authorities impressed the wom- 

 VOL. XL. 49 A 



en into the service. The main force did not set 

 out until June. The chiefs of all the loyal tribes 

 were required to put as many levies into the 

 field as they could raise. The force that advanced 

 on Kumassi under the immediate command of 

 Col. Willcocks was composed of 700 Yorubas and 

 Hausas of the West African frontier force, 230 

 of the West African regiment from Sierra Leone, 

 and 49 of the frontier police, with 3 15-pounder 

 and 4 7-pounder guns and a plentiful equipment 

 of Maxims. There were also 200 natives allies, 

 who were to act as scouts, but their guns were 

 taken away from them because when they first 

 saw the enemy they fired wildly among the car- 

 riers in their excitement. Col. Willcocks deceived 

 the enemy by spreading a report that he intended 

 to march through Kokofu, northeast of Kumassi, 

 and would attack that place on July 13. This 

 drew a large part of the rebel force in that direc- 

 tion, and they were building stockades in the 

 paths on that side while he took his column 15 

 miles to the west, and marched upon Kumassi by 

 way of Ekwanta. Before entering the hostile dis- 

 trict his road went through the country of the 

 Bekwais, old enemies of the Kumassis, without 

 whose aid the British could not have accomplished 

 their pui-pose. The march into the enemy's coun- 

 try was made in a torrential rain through 

 swamps where the water was waist-deep. The 

 hostile villages were taken at the point of the 

 bayonet. There was no severe fighting until the 

 stockades guarding the approach to Kumassi were 

 reached, built directly across the path, yet hidden 

 in the trees, having pits behind them in which 

 men reloaded the rifles of the combatants who 

 lined the breastworks, and having paths leading 

 back into the jungle to afford a safe line of re- 

 treat. The bush was so dense that the men had 

 to cut their way through with machetes in order 

 to charge. When the British commander suc- 

 ceeded in locating the first of the hidden stock- 

 ades and opened fire with his guns, the rebels 

 replied from every direction with rifle fire. They 

 had places built high in the trees to fire from. 

 They had also felled trees and placed brush en- 

 tanglements to impede the advance of the British 

 troops, but their fire was not destructive, because 

 as soon as it opened from any quarter the Maxims 

 soon cleared the place of rebels. Four such 

 stockades along the road and one large one across 

 the road were taken by successive charges after 

 a heavy bombardment, and the shells had done 

 such terrible work that no one opposed further 

 the entry of the relieving force, which Col. Will- 

 cocks led into the fort at sunset on July 15, the 

 very day that he had promised. Out of 3,400 

 native soldiers employed during the hostilities 

 850 and out of 200 British officers 55 were killed 

 or wounded. 



Col. Willcocks left 150 men in the fort and 

 brovight away the sick and famished garrison that 

 could not possibly have resisted an onset of the 

 Kumassis if these had attacked. From his base 

 at Bekwai he sent Col. Morland, on July 21, with 

 800 men to take Kokofu. The place was surprised 

 and the stockade carried without loss. On Aug. 4 

 lie dispatched 750 troops to Kumassi to destroy 

 the stockades near the town. When the road was 

 opened between Bekwai and Kumassi living col- 

 umns were sent out in various directions, which 

 scoured the country and cleared away all signs of 

 hostility for miles about Kumassi. Capt. Wilcox 

 met with a check early in September near Bo- 

 hankra, 15 miles east of Kumassi, which was 

 retrieved by Major Reeve, who with 400 men in- 

 flicted punishment on the district. The Ofensus 

 tried to surround the force sent to occupy their 



