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92-487: The museum was established in 2000, to mark the centenary of the Yaa Asantewaa War . It aimed to recreate a typical Asante royal residence from ca. 1900. In 2004, the museum was gutted by a fire. Most of its relics that were inside were destroyed, and only a few clay pots remained. As a result of the fire and closure of the museum, tourism within the area significantly decreased. In October 2009, local leaders expressed

184-582: A British resident in Kumasi. The Ashanti King Prempeh I refused to surrender his sovereignty. Wanting to keep French and German forces out of Ashanti territory (and its gold), the British were anxious to conquer the Ashanti once and for all. The Ashanti sent a delegation to London offering concessions on its gold, cocoa and rubber trade as well as submission to the crown. The British however had already made their minds up on

276-459: A Naval Brigade, two native regiments, Royal Artillery , Royal Engineers and Royal Marines . By 29 January, the road was more than half completed and they were close to Ashanti outposts. Skirmishing between the two forces began. Wolseley prepared to fight a battle. The Battle of Amoaful was fought on 31 January. A road was cut to the village and the Black Watch led the way, forming square in

368-585: A desire to refurbish the museum, and in 2016 UNICEF agreed to contribute US$ 10 million towards its reconstruction. The new facility will be constructed on a 14-acre plot of land. This article about a museum in Ghana is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . War of the Golden Stool Inconclusive The War of the Golden Stool , also known as the Yaa Asantewaa War ,

460-658: A fashionable black hat held up his hand to the cheers of the crowd. That noble figure was Nana Prempeh. Third Anglo-Ashanti War British victory The Anglo-Ashanti wars were a series of five conflicts that took place between 1824 and 1900 between the Ashanti Empire —in the Akan interior of the Gold Coast —and the British Empire and its African allies. Although the Ashanti emerged victorious in some of these conflicts,

552-532: A favour Williams had shown him previously. Williams was held prisoner for several months in a hut that also held the severed heads of MacCarthy and Wetherell. MacCarthy's skull was rimmed with gold and was purportedly used as a drinking-cup by Ashanti rulers. An eye-witness stated that he "saw ensign Wetherell, who appeared also to have been wounded, lying close to MacCarthy. Some of the Ashantis were attempting to cut off his head, and had already inflicted one gash on

644-461: A fortified camp would be built with 70 feet (21 m) long huts inside a stockade in an area that had been cleared of trees and undergrowth to provide some protection against hostile natives. Bridges were built across streams using trees, bamboo and creepers for ropes and a major bridge across the 63 yards (58 m)-wide Pra River was built using pre-manufactured pieces brought from Chatham, England . In total, 237 bridges would be built. Some of

736-512: A military solution, they were on their way, the delegation only returning to Kumasi a few days before the troops marched in. Colonel Sir Francis Scott left Cape Coast with the main expeditionary force of British and West Indian troops, Maxim guns and 75mm artillery in December 1895, and travelling along the remnants of the 1874 road arrived in Kumasi in January 1896. Major Robert Baden-Powell led

828-410: A more comfortable clothing for hot climates and in this war had managed to get his troops kitted out in a better uniform. The Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War, also known as the "Second Ashanti Expedition", was brief, lasting only from 26 December 1895 to 4 February 1896. The Ashanti turned down an unofficial offer to become a British protectorate in 1891, extending to 1894. The British also wanted to establish

920-422: A native levy of several local tribes in the campaign. The Asantehene directed the Ashanti not to resist, but casualties from sickness among the British troops were high. Soon, Governor William Maxwell arrived in Kumasi as well. Asantehene Agyeman Prempeh was unable or unwilling to pay the 50,000 ounces of gold so was arrested and deposed. He was forced to sign a treaty of protection, and with other Ashanti leaders

1012-437: A perfect state of preservation." Some weeks later, a larger British force made up of White and Native troops came to a standstill with the same Ashanti army that defeated McCarthy's force. The British army withdrew back to the coast with 176 dead and 677 men wounded. Major Alexander Gordon Laing returned to Britain with news of the defeat. The Ashanti swept down to the coast, but disease forced them back. The new governor of

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1104-570: A report written Commodore Sir James Lucas Yeo of the Royal Navy became public. Yeo as the commander of the West Africa squadron visited the forts of the African Company of Merchants and reported to London that the forts were poorly maintained. Yeo also reported more damagingly that the despite the fact that the slave trade (though not slavery) had been abolished within the British empire in 1807,

1196-643: A separate Crown Colony until it became united as part of the new dominion named Ghana under the Ghana Independence Act 1957 . The Golden Stool had long symbolized governing power for the Ashanti people . On 19 March 1901 British statesman David Lloyd George stated in a Parliamentary session that: "Frederick Hodgson's quest of the Golden Stool was something like the quest of the Holy Grail ". The Member of Parliament of Caernarfon as well as other members of

1288-533: A smaller force had been sent, there would have been bloodshed. Prempeh I was banished to the Seychelles. Eleven years later, the Boy Scouts were started by Baden-Powell. Later still, after Prempeh was released and returned home, he became Chief Scout of Ashanti. The British force left Kumasi on 22 January 1896, arriving back at the coast two weeks later. Not a shot had been fired but 18 Europeans were dead and 50% of

1380-443: A treaty of "perpetual peace and harmony" which declared no "palavers" (an archaic word for disagreements) stood between the signatory powers. However, despite the treaty a major "palaver" still remained, namely the Ashanti claim to be the overlords of the entire Gold Coast and that the British should pay them "notes" (an archaic term for rent) in exchange for being allowed to occupy forts on the coast. The British refused to pay rent to

1472-461: A victory. MacCarthy wrote to the Colonial Secretary, Lord Bathurst his belief that the Ashanti were "blustering" and "they were not prepared for war, but depended solely upon the terror of their name to bring us to seek a compromise, and I suppose to extort from the native people under our fort...a contributions of six hundred ounces of gold". MacCarthy asked for and received permission to have

1564-616: A war against the Fante and their British allies. The Ashanti army won the initial battles but was forced back by guerrilla fighting from the Fante. The Ashanti captured a British fort at Tantamkweri . In the Ashanti–Akwapim War of 1814–16 the Ashanti defeated the Akim-Akwapim alliance. Local British, Dutch and Danish authorities all had to come to terms with the Ashanti. By 1817, the Ashanti were expanding with an army of about 20,000, so

1656-480: Is depicted on the Ashanti flag, had been well hidden and was only discovered by road workers by accident in 1920. King Prempeh I returned from exile in 1924, travelling to Kumasi by a special train. Four awards were made of the Victoria Cross , for Gallantry in the period 1873–74 and two for the 1900 campaign. (See List of Victoria Cross recipients by campaign ) An Ashanti Medal was created for those involved in

1748-669: The Dutch Gold Coast from the Dutch, including Elmina which was claimed by the Ashanti. The Dutch had signed the Treaty of Butre in 1656 with the Ahanta . The treaty's arrangements proved very stable and regulated Dutch-Ahanta diplomatic affairs for more than 213 years. This all changed with the sale of the Dutch Gold Coast. The Ashanti invaded the new British protectorate. General Garnet Wolseley

1840-506: The Ejisu dominion within the Ashanti kingdom) rallied resistance against the British: Now I have seen that some of you fear to go forward to fight for our king. If it were in the brave days, the days of Osei Tutu, Okomfo Anokye, and Opoku Ware, chiefs would not sit down to see their king taken away without firing a shot. No foreigner [Obroni] could have dared to speak to a chief of the Ashanti in

1932-599: The Golden Stool . But, the following year, the British arrested numerous chiefs, including the Queen Mother of Ejisu, Yaa Asantewaa , and exiled them to the Seychelles for 25 years. In that 25-year period many of them died, including Yaa Asantewaa herself in 1921. Kumasi City retains a memorial to this war and several large colonial residences. Ashanti and the former Gold Coast eventually became part of Ghana . The war cost

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2024-683: The Third Ashanti Expedition , the Ashanti Uprising , or variations thereof, was a campaign in 1900 during the series of conflicts between the United Kingdom and the Ashanti Empire (later Ashanti Region ), an autonomous state in West Africa that fractiously co-existed with the British and its vassal coastal tribes. After several prior wars with British troops, Ashanti was once again occupied by British troops in January 1896. In 1900

2116-537: The (British) African Company of Merchants signed a treaty of friendship that recognized Ashanti claims to sovereignty over much of the coast. The African Company of Merchants was dissolved in 1821 and the British government assumed control of the trading forts on the Gold Coast from the merchants. In 1817, a British mission visited the Ashanti capital of Kumasi and concluded with the Asantehene Osei Bonsu

2208-404: The 900 mile distance between the two. On 28 March 1828, Brigadier General Sir Charles MacCarthy arrived at Cape Coast Castle as the new governor with a mandate to shut down some of the more indefensible coastal forts; to ensure that the remaining forts followed the law by only trading with British ships; and to suppress the still flourishing slave trade. MacCarthy was new to the Gold Coast, and

2300-533: The African Company of Merchants was illegally still engaged in the slave trade. In response to Yeo's report, on 7 May 1821 an act of parliament was passed that changed the status of the Gold Coast from a proprietary colony ruled by the African Company of Merchants to a Crown colony to be ruled directly by the British government. Initially the Gold Coast was attached to the Crown colony of Sierre Leone with no thought for

2392-487: The Asantehene for their forts, which led to tensions. On 28 February 1820, another British mission headed by Joseph Dupuis arrived in Kumasi in an attempt to resolve the "palaver". Dupuis signed a treaty that was denounced at the time as "a complete sell-out" that recognised the Ashanti claim to collect tribute from the coastal peoples; renounced the British claim to protect the coastal peoples from Ashanti raids and recognised

2484-403: The Ashanti army appeared and attacked the centre of the British line where the best troops were held, which included some Royal Marines , the militia and a battery of Congreve rockets . The battle dissolved into hand-to-hand fighting but the Ashanti force were not doing well on their flanks whilst they looked like winning in the centre. Then the rockets were fired. The novelty of the weapons ,

2576-461: The Ashanti casualties in the war, noting that the Golden Stool was never captured by the British: "Surely human life was worth some respectful treatment", he said. The Golden Stool was hidden deep in the forests for the duration of the war, with the British continuing to seek it until 1921. Shortly after this, it was accidentally uncovered by a team of labourers who took the golden ornaments that adorned

2668-462: The Ashanti staged an uprising. The British suppressed the revolt and captured the city of Kumasi. Ashanti's traditional king, the Asantehene, and his counselors were deported. The outcome was the annexation of Ashanti by the British so that it became part of His Majesty's dominions and a British Crown Colony with its administration undertaken by a Chief Commissioner under the authority of the Governor of

2760-418: The Ashanti to negotiate. MacCarthy returned from Sierra Leone when he learned of Otetfo's beheading and landed at Cape Coast Castle . Dr. Clardige wrote: "His journey was a triumphal progress. The Anamabos and the people of the other villages through which he passed hailed him with enthusiasm". Despite the way that the force that he sent inland had been annihilated, MacCarthy reported the battle to London as

2852-513: The Ashanti. By the 1820s, the British had decided to support the Fante against Ashanti raids from inland. Economic and social friction played their part in the causes for the outbreak of violence. The immediate cause of the war happened when a group of Ashanti kidnapped and murdered an African serviceman of the Royal African Corps on 1 February 1823. Freeman writes that there is no evidence

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2944-795: The British and retrieve the exiled king. The enraged populace produced a large number of volunteers. As Hodgson's deputy Captain Cecil Armitage searched for the stool in a nearby brush, his force was surrounded and ambushed, but a sudden rainstorm allowed the survivors to retreat to the British offices in Kumasi . The offices were then fortified into a small stockade 50 yards (46 m) square with 12 feet (3.7 m) loopholed high stone walls and firing turrets at each corner that housed 18 Europeans, dozens of mixed-race colonial administrators and 500 Nigerian Hausas with six small field guns and four Maxim guns . The British detained several high ranking leaders in

3036-608: The British and their allies approximately 1,000 fatalities in total; however, according to a statement made by MP David Lloyd George in Parliament in 1901, "the Colonial Office should have had some justification for the foolish policy of the [British] Government in regard to the Golden Stool, that had led to the hundreds and thousands of the corpses of savages festering round the fort of Coomassie"! David Lloyd George further admonished Joseph Chamberlain for his dismissive attitude towards

3128-401: The British force were killed immediately while 20 managed to escape. MacCarthy, Ensign Wetherell, and his secretary Williams attempted to fall back. MacCarthy was wounded by gunfire , however, and killed by a second shot shortly thereafter. Ensign Wetherell was killed while defending MacCarthy's body. Williams was taken prisoner. He was spared death when an Ashanti sub-chief recognised him due to

3220-662: The British ultimately prevailed in the fourth and fifth conflicts, resulting in the complete annexation of the Ashanti Empire by 1900. The British fought three earlier wars in the Gold Coast: In the Ashanti-Fante War of 1806–07, the British refused to hand over two rebels pursued by the Ashanti, but eventually handed one over (the other escaped). In the Ga-Fante War of 1811, the Ashanti sought to aid their Ga allies in

3312-537: The Coast." Furthermore, the treaty stated: "The King of Ashanti guarantees that the road from Kumasi to the River Pra shall always be kept open..." Wolseley completed the campaign in two months, and re-embarked for home before the unhealthy season began. Wolseley was promoted and showered with honours. British casualties were 18 dead from combat and 55 from disease (70% ), with 185 wounded. Some British accounts pay tribute to

3404-566: The European engineers. Even so, the road progressed. By 24 January a telegraph line reached Prahsue. The first troops arrived in late December and on 1 January 1874 started marching along the road to the front, half a battalion at a time. The troops comprised a battalion each from the Black Watch , the Rifle Brigade and Royal Welch Fusiliers , along with the 1st and 2nd West India Regiments ,

3496-496: The Gold Coast . Ashanti was classed as a colony by conquest. The Ashanti lost their sovereignty but not the essential integrity of their socio-political system. In 1935, limited self-determination for the Ashanti was officially regularized in the formal establishment of the Ashanti Confederacy. The Crown Colony of Ashanti continued to be administered in a scheme with the greater Gold Coast but remained, nonetheless,

3588-528: The Gold Coast colony on 1 January 1902, on the condition that the Golden Stool would not be violated by British or other non- Akan foreigners. The Ashanti claimed a victory as they had not lost their sacred stool. In September the British sent flying columns out to visit neighbouring peoples who had supported the rebellion, resulting in a number of skirmishes. The British and their allies suffered 1,070 fatalities in total. The Ashanti casualties are estimated to have been around 2,000. The sacred golden stool, which

3680-401: The Gold Coast, John Hope Smith , started to gather a new army, mainly comprising natives, including Denkyiras and many other traditional enemies of the Ashanti. In August 1826, the governor heard that the Ashanti were planning on attacking Accra . A defensive position was prepared on the open plain about 15 kilometres (10 mi) north of Accra and the 11,000 men waited. On 7 August,

3772-453: The Golden Stool he would be able to govern the country for all time". Hodgson advanced toward Kumasi with a small force of British soldiers and local levies, arriving on 25 March 1900. Hodgson, as representative of a powerful nation, was accorded traditional honors upon entering the city with children singing " God Save the Queen " to Lady Hodgson. After ascending a platform, he made a speech to

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3864-658: The Government has not received the Golden Stool at his hands it will rule over you with the same impartiality and fairness as if you had produced it. The speech was received in silence by the assembly, but the chiefs that were present began war preparations upon their return to their homes. In his book The Golden Stool: Some Aspects of the Conflict of Cultures in Modern Africa the anthropologist Reverend Edwin W. Smith wrote of this: "A singularly foolish speech! An excellent example of

3956-553: The House were extremely concerned about the huge expense that the House was being made to pay for the war. Joseph Chamberlain , then Secretary for the Colonial Office , was questioned extensively as to whether or not Frederick Hodgson had actually been given prior permission to demand the Golden Stool from the Asante people, because he seemed to think that "if he could only get possession of

4048-578: The King of Ashanti was responsible for the attack as it was caused by a dispute between the Sergeant and the Ashanti perpetrators. Sergeant Kujo Otetfo of the Royal African Colonial Corps became involved in a verbal dispute with an Ashanti trader, and in the words of a British doctor, Walton Claridge "grossly abused the King of Ashanti, and it was this insignificant event that provided the spark that set

4140-604: The Queen Ashantuah [sic] ruler of Ofesa, has taken Supreme Command of the insurgent forces. She has under her Command General Asmarah, the Cacique of Esili, and an army of 20,000 warriors, including a battalion of Amazons and 1000 hand picked Soldiers who form a kind of Sacred Band ( Estafette (journal)  [ fr ] Paris)". As Hodgson arrived at the coast, a rescue force of 1,000 men assembled from various British units and police forces stationed across West Africa and under

4232-510: The Rifle Brigade. Although there was another small battle two days later, the Battle of Ordashu , the action had been decisive and the route to Kumasi was open. There were three killed and 165 wounded Europeans, one killed and 29 African troops wounded. The capital, Kumasi , was abandoned by the Ashanti when the British arrived on 4 February and was briefly occupied by the British. They demolished

4324-594: The Royal African Corps redeployed from the Cape Colony (modern south-western South Africa) to the Gold Coast. The Royal African Corps, made up of six companies of white soldiers and three companies of black soldiers, was a "disciplinary corps" of the British Army meant to punish soldiers of "bad character" who been convicted of criminal offenses. The Royal African Corps was not regarded as a high-quality unit, but it

4416-510: The assembled Ashanti leaders. The speech, or the closest surviving account that comes through an Ashanti translator, reportedly read: Your King Prempeh I is in exile and will not return to Ashanti. His power and authority will be taken over by the Representative of the Queen of Britain. The terms of the 1874 Peace Treaty of Fomena , which required you to pay for the cost of the 1874 war, have not been forgotten. You have to pay with interest

4508-532: The attack was carried out under the commands of the War Party and not Asantehene Osei Bonsu as they executed the Sergent for insulting the Asantehene. A small British group was led into a trap which resulted in 10 killed, 39 wounded and a British retreat. The Ashanti tried to negotiate but the British governor, Sir Charles MacCarthy , rejected Ashanti claims to Fanti areas of the coast and resisted overtures by

4600-415: The back of his neck; luckily at this crisis an Ashanti of authority came up and recognising Williams, from whom he had received some kindness, withheld the hand of the assailant. On Williams's recovering his senses, he saw the headless trunks of MacCarthy, Buckle, and Wetherell. During his captivity he was lodged under a thatched shed in the same rooms as the heads which, owing to some peculiar process, were in

4692-706: The bloodless Pig War dispute against the U.S. over the Canadian border. They would team with the U.S. and other colonial powers against realms in Japan during 1863. Additionally, there was a dispute in New Zealand against the Maori. In 1863, a large Ashanti force crossed the Pra River in search of a fugitive, Kwesi Gyana. British, African and Indian troops responded but neither side claimed victory as illness took more casualties on both sides than

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4784-572: The blunders that are made through ignorance of the African mind!" Gaurav Desai quotes this passage and goes on to clarify that the Stool was not seen as a mere physical object and symbol of power but as a metaphysical and spiritual representation of the soul of the Ashanti people as a whole – this misunderstanding being the catalyst for the conflict, coming at a time of already strained relations. In her war speech Queen Mother Yaa Asantewaa I (the Queen Mother of

4876-448: The camps were larger—Prahsue, next to the bridge had a medical hut and a tower on a mound, stores, forge, telegraph office and post office. It was stocked with 400 tons of food and 1.1m rounds of ammunition. The labour was supplied locally. To start the workers did not know how to use European tools and were liable to vanish into the forest if they heard a rumour that the Ashanti were nearby. Sickness, despite taking quinine daily, claimed

4968-443: The clearing with the Rifle Brigade, while flanking columns moved around the village. With the pipes playing " The Campbells Are Coming " the Black Watch charged with bayonets and the shocked Ashantis fled. The flank columns were slow moving in the jungle and the Ashantis moved around them in their normal horseshoe formation and attacked the camp 2 miles (3.2 km) to the rear. The Royal Engineers defended themselves until relieved by

5060-417: The command of Major James Willcocks had set out from Accra . On the march Willcocks's men had been repulsed from several well-defended forts belonging to groups allied with the Ashanti – most notably the stockade at Kokofu , where they had suffered heavy casualties. During the march Willcocks was faced with constant trials of skirmishing with an enemy in his own element while maintaining his supply route in

5152-609: The day of their arrival Lieutenant Colonel Morland also arrived with reinforcements from Nigeria, and further reinforcements consisting of a detachment of Sikhs, half a battalion of the Central African Regiment and then the 2nd Battalion of the Central African Regiment followed. On 22 July Morland attacked Kokofu with a force of 800 men, taking the Ashanti by surprise and resulting in a rout with weapons and supplies being abandoned. In September, after spending

5244-502: The defenders, another rescue party of 700 arrived in June. Recognising that it was necessary to escape from the trap and to preserve the remaining food for the wounded and sick, some of the healthier men along with Hodgson, his wife and over a hundred of the Hausas made a break on 23 June, meeting up with the rescue force they were evacuated. 12,000 Ashanti abrade (warriors) were summoned to attack

5336-439: The direct combat. The Second War ended in 1864 and the result was a stalemate. The Third Anglo-Ashanti War, also known as the "First Ashanti Expedition", lasted from 1873 to 1875. In 1869, a German missionary family and a Swiss missionary had been taken from Togo to Kumasi. They were still being held in 1873. The British Gold Coast was formally established in 1867 and in 1872, Britain expanded their territory when they purchased

5428-531: The engagement quickly after a stiff initial assault. Following the storming of the town, Captain Charles John Melliss was awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery in the attack. Ashanti was annexed into the British Empire; however, the Ashanti still largely governed themselves. They gave little or no deference to colonial authorities. The Ashanti were successful in their pre-war goal to protect

5520-637: The escapees, who gained a lead on the long road back to the Crown Colony, thus avoiding the main body of the Abrade. Days later the few survivors of the abrade assault took a ship for Accra , receiving all available medical attention. On 7 July 1900 The Star newspaper in Guernsey featured an article about Yaa Asenatewaa and her growing support amongst the Ashanti: "The Colonial Office has received disquieting news that

5612-424: The explosions, rocket trails, and grievous wounds caused by flying metal shards caused the Ashanti to fall back. Soon they fled leaving thousands of casualties on the field. In 1831, the Pra River was accepted as the border in a treaty. In 1826, the Gold Coast region got a new governor in John Hope Smith. He had a great reputation with the Fante and married a Fante woman. Smith also held positions in Cape Coast and

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5704-460: The face of an opposing force utilizing unconventional warfare. In early July, his force arrived at Bekwai and prepared for the final assault on Kumasi , which began on the morning of 14 July 1900. Using a force led by Yoruba warriors from Nigeria serving in the Frontier Force, Willcocks drove in four heavily guarded stockades, finally relieving the fort on the evening of 15 July, when the inhabitants were just two days from surrender. On 17 July

5796-410: The first recorded instance of a traction engine being employed on active service. Steam sapper number 8 (made by Aveling and Porter ) was shipped out and assembled at Cape Coast Castle. As a traction engine it had limited success hauling heavy loads up the beach, but gave good service when employed as a stationary engine driving a large circular saw. Before the 1873 war, Wolseley had campaigned for

5888-555: The fort. The Ashanti, aware that they were unprepared for storming the fort, settled into a long siege. They only made one unsuccessful assault on the position, which occurred on 29 April. The Ashanti continued to snipe at the defenders, cut the telegraph wires, blockade food supplies, and attack relief columns. Blocking all roads leading to the town with 21 log barricades six feet high with loopholes to fire through, hundreds of yards long and so solid they would be impervious to artillery fire. As supplies ran low and disease took its toll on

5980-450: The fort. The stockade was besieged and the telegraph wires cut. A rescue party of 700 arrived in June, but many sick men in the fort could not be evacuated. The healthier men escaped, including Hodgson and his wife and 100 Hausas, and meeting up with the rescue party, managed to avoid the 12,000 Ashanti warriors and make it back to the coast. On 14 July, a second relief force of 1,000 made it to Kumasi having fought several engagements along

6072-530: The garrison under cover, and thus drawn out the enemy to explore the precincts. When a good number had come out into the open, 7-pounders and Maxims were turned on them with excellent effect". Willcocks says later in The Great Drama Of Kumasi by Major Wynyard Montagu Hall that "In my opinion the garrison left behind at Kumasi was altogether unequal to the task of holding fort, and nothing less than fear of Ashantis to attack could have saved them not with standing strong fort. I have never seen anything so gruesome as

6164-412: The hard fighting of the Ashanti at Amoaful, particularly the tactical insight of their commander, Amankwatia: "The great Chief Amankwatia was among the killed [...] Admirable skill was shown in the position selected by Amankwatia, and the determination and generalship he displayed in the defence fully bore out his great reputation as an able tactician and gallant soldier." The campaign is also notable for

6256-408: The majority of the force (excluding a garrison of 160 men under the supervision of five British officers and NCOs under the command of Captain Eden ) set off on the return journey to Bekwai carrying their sick and wounded. Once the column had travelled approximately two miles from Kumasi the sound of guns from the city fort could be heard. Willcocks writes that "we afterwards learnt that Eden had placed

6348-409: The news flashed through that Nana Prempeh was not to be seen by anyone, and that he was to land at 5:30 pm and proceed straight away to Kumasi by a special train. Twenty minutes after the arrival of the train, a beautiful car brought Nana Prempeh into the midst of the assembly. It was difficult for us to realise even yet that he had arrived. A charming aristocratic-looking person in a black long suit with

6440-414: The right of the Asantehene to "eradicate from his dominions the seeds of disobedience and insubordination". When John Hope Smith , the governor of the Gold Coast, learned in April 1820 of the treaty that Dupuis had signed when he returned from Kumasi, he repudiated the treaty. The repudiation of the treaty led to Ashanti complaints that the British were dealing in bad faith. A major change occurred when

6532-446: The route, relieving the fort on 15 July when they only had a few days of supplies left. The remaining Ashanti court not exiled to the Seychelles had mounted the offensive against the British and Fanti troops resident at the Kumasi Fort, but were defeated. Yaa Asantewaa , the Queen-Mother of Ejisu, who had led the rebellion, King Prempeh I , and other Ashanti leaders were also sent to the Seychelles. The Ashanti territories became part of

6624-466: The royal palace with explosives, leaving Kumasi a heap of smouldering ruins. The British were impressed by the size of the palace and the scope of its contents, including "rows of books in many languages". The Ashanti signed the Treaty of Fomena in July 1874 to end the war. Among articles of the treaty between Queen Victoria and Kofi Karikari , King of Ashanti were that "The King of Ashanti promises to pay

6716-405: The same angle, before they turned toward the enemy and fired volleys on command, the only African army that was known to do so". The Ashanti generally did have not bullets for their "Long Dane" muskets and used nails instead, which proved to be an effective substitute. Upon hearing that the Ashanti army was on the march, MacCarthy unwisely divided his forces. MccCarthy failed to understand until it

6808-410: The soldiers engaged in the search. The British retreated to a small stockade, 50 yards (46 m) square with 12 feet (3.7 m) loopholed high stone walls and firing turrets at each corner, where 8 Europeans, dozens of mixed-race colonial administrators, and 500 Nigerian Hausas with six small field guns and four Maxim guns defended themselves. The British detained several high-ranking leaders in

6900-485: The stool and left the rest, which was of wood. An Ashanti court sentenced the labourers to death for their desecration, but British officials intervened and arranged for their exile instead. British troops were awarded the Ashanti Medal for service during the war. In 1924, the King was allowed to return. Thousands of people, white and black, flocked down to the beach to welcome him. They were sorely disappointed when

6992-448: The sum of 50,000 ounces of approved gold as indemnity for the expenses he has occasioned to Her Majesty the Queen of England by the late war..." The treaty also required an end to human sacrifice and stated that "There shall be freedom of trade between Ashanti and Her Majesty's forts on the [Gold Coast], all persons being at liberty to carry their merchandise from the Coast to Kumasi, or from that place to any of Her Majesty's possessions on

7084-475: The sum of £160,000 a year. Then there is the matter of the Golden Stool of Ashanti. The Queen is entitled to the stool; she must receive it. Where is the Golden Stool? I am the representative of the Paramount Power. Why have you relegated me to this ordinary chair? Why did you not take the opportunity of my coming to Kumasi to bring the Golden Stool for me to sit upon? However, you may be quite sure that though

7176-442: The summer recuperating and tending to the sick and wounded in captured Kumasi, Willcocks sent out flying columns to the neighbouring regions that had supported the uprising. His troops defeated an Ashanti force in a skirmish at Obassa on 30 September and also succeeded in destroying the fort and town at Kokofu where he had been previously repulsed, using Nigerian levies to hunt Ashanti soldiers. Ashanti defenders would usually exit

7268-414: The troops were sick. Among the dead was Queen Victoria 's son-in-law, Prince Henry of Battenberg , who was taken ill before getting to Kumasi and died on 20 January on board ship, returning to England. In 1897 Ashanti territory became a British protectorate . Technology was reaching the Gold Coast, a railway to Kumasi was started in 1898 but had not progressed far when another war broke out. The railway

7360-451: The unwillingness of the merchants to co-operate with the man who had been sent to replace their rule left him isolated and thus very ignorant of the affairs of the Gold Coast. MacCarthy during his tenure as a governor was more interested in seeking to have the British government buy out the remaining Dutch and Danish forts on the Gold Coast and trying to stop the traders of the forts from doing business with American ships than in relations with

7452-452: The vicinity fort. I expected, with my one thousand seven hundred unarmed native followers and the sick and wounded, some difficulty in coming out; but enemy's being completely dispersed on July 15th seems to have frightened them, as they did not fire a shot for twenty-five miles' march which took three days owing to two days' excessive rain." The column made their arrival in Bekwai on 19 July. On

7544-465: The way the Governor spoke to you chiefs this morning. Is it true that the bravery of the Ashanti is no more? I cannot believe it. It cannot be! I must say this, if you, the men of Ashanti, will not go forward, then we will. We, the women, will. I shall call upon my fellow women. We will fight! We will fight till the last of us falls in the battlefields. She collected men to form a force with which to attack

7636-500: The whole country in a blaze of war". Otetfo taunted the Ashanti by saying "Cormantine and Saturday", referring to the Battle of Cormantine in 1731 that saw the Ashanti king slain, a defeat that was considered so humiliating for the Ashanti that it was a capital offense to even mention the battle within their kingdom. Otetfo was kidnapped by an Ashanti war party a few weeks later, and was beheaded on 2 February 1823. Historian Wilks adds that

7728-423: Was appointed on 13 August 1873 and went to the Gold Coast to make his plans before the arrival of his troops in January 1874. On 27 September 1873, a team of Royal Engineers landed at Cape Coast Castle . Their job was to expand the single file track that led to Kumasi , 160 miles (260 km) away, into a road that was suitable for troop movements. At the end of each day's march, roughly every 10 miles (16 km)

7820-511: Was sent against the Ashanti with 2,500 British troops and several thousand West Indian and African troops (including some Fante) and subsequently became a household name in Britain. The war was covered by war correspondents, including Henry Morton Stanley and G. A. Henty . Military and medical instructions were printed for the troops. The British government refused appeals to interfere with British arms manufacturers who sold to both sides. Wolseley

7912-400: Was sent into exile in the Seychelles . Baden-Powell published a diary of life giving the reasons, as he saw them, for the war: To put an end to human sacrifice. To put a stop to slave-trading and raiding. To ensure peace and security for the neighbouring tribes. To settle the country and protect the development of trade. To get paid up the balance of the war indemnity. He also believed that if

8004-415: Was short-lived. The second battle took place between 1863 and 1864. Peace existed for more than 30 years, with both forces sticking to their side of the border. The factor that frequently sparked Ashanti conflicts was not adhering to understood or established territory borders. In the decade prior, Britain had been in a number of conflicts and skirmishes. In the 1860s alone the crown was actively involved in

8096-572: Was the only British Army unit available for operations in Africa. MacCarthy led an invading force from the Cape Coast in two columns. Moving out to confront the British were an Ashanti force of 10,000 men armed with their "Long Dane" muskets. The Ashanti force were well disciplined as the American anthropologist Robert B. Edgerton noted that the Ashanti: "marched in perfect order, their guns carried at exactly

8188-462: Was to attack Smith’s forces at their strongest point. They were effective in taking down the Royal Marines, Smith’s strongest soldiers, but weren’t ready to defend against attacks on both sides. Once Smith and the British made use of their weaponry, the Ashanti began to suffer major losses before retreating entirely. By 1831, a treaty was established with the Pra River being the empire boundary which

8280-524: Was to be completed in 1903. In the War of the Golden Stool (1900), also known as the "Third Ashanti Expedition", on 25 March 1900, the British representative, Sir Frederick Mitchell Hodgson committed a political error by insisting he should sit on the Golden Stool, not understanding that it was the Royal throne and very sacred to the Ashanti. He ordered a search be made for it. The Ashanti, enraged by this act, attacked

8372-404: Was too late for him that the Ashanti force that he was facing was the main Ashanti army instead of an advance-guard as he assumed. The governor was in the first group of 500, which lost contact with the second column when they encountered the Ashanti army of around 10,000 on 22 January 1824, in the battle of Nsamankow . The British ran out of ammunition, suffered losses and were overrun. Almost all

8464-500: Was very much in favor of Cape Coast being the main defensive point for British interests. He had detractors and even fell out with his predecessor Charles MacCarthy. Smith set up enforcements in Accra where he had heard a rumor that Ashanti was targeting the town. He led 11,000 troops bolstered by Ashanti enemies, the Denkyiras. Smith’s forces met the Ashanti on August 7th. The Ashanti’s tactic

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