By Sheer Pluck: A Tale of the Ashanti WarHenty, G. A. (George Alfred)
General
By Sheer Pluck: A Tale of the Ashanti War
Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)
Ashanti war, 1873-1874 -- Juvenile fiction
Amoaful was a town capable of containing two or three thousand
inhabitants. Great quantities of grain and coarse flour were found here.
These were done up in bundles of dried plantain leaves, each bundle
weighing from five to fifteen pounds. This capture was of great service
to the commissariat, as it afforded an abundant supply of excellent food
for the carriers. The troops were in high spirits that night. They had
won a battle fought under extreme difficulty, and that with a minimum
of loss in killed. There were therefore no sad recollections to damp the
pleasure of victory.
Frank had been twice struck with slugs, but in neither case had these
penetrated deeply, and he was able to sit round the camp fire and to
enjoy his glass of rum and water. Two kegs of rum were the only stores
which that night came up from the rear, thanks to the consideration of
a commissariat officer, to whom the soldiers felt extremely grateful for
providing them with an invigorating drink after their long and fatiguing
labors of the day.
At about a mile and a quarter from Amoaful lay the town of Bequah,
the capital of one of the most powerful of the Ashanti kings. Here a
considerable force was known to be collected before the battle, and here
many of the fugitives were believed to have rallied. It would have been
impossible to advance and leave this hostile camp so close to a
station in our rear. Lord Gifford was therefore sent out at daybreak
to reconnoiter it. He approached it closely, when twenty men sprang out
from the bush and fired at him, fortunately without hitting him. When he
returned and made his report the general determined to attack and burn
the place, and orders were issued for a column, consisting of Russell's
regiment, Rait's battery, and the Naval Brigade, supported by the 42d
and commanded by Colonel M'Leod, to start at one o'clock.
The march was not opposed through the bush, but as the scouts entered
the clearing a heavy fire was opened upon them. Lord Gifford and almost
the whole of his party were more or less severely wounded when the
sailors rushed in to their support. For a short time the enemy kept up a
heavy fire from the houses, and then fled, leaving about forty of their
number dead on the ground. The town, which was about twice the size of
Fomana, was burned, and the column returned to the camp.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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