In the 1820s, the British decided to support the Fante against Ashanti raids from inland. Economic and social friction played a part in the causes of the outbreak of violence.
The immediate cause of the war happened when a group of Ashantis kidnapped and murdered an African serviceman of the Royal African Corps on 1 February 1823. 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’s claims to Fanti areas of the coast and resisted overtures by the Ashanti to negotiate.
MacCarthy led an invading force from the Cape Coast in two columns. 10,000 Ashanti armed with “Long Dane” muskets confronted MacCarthy’s force.
The Ashanti troops were well-disciplined: American anthropologist Robert B. Edgerton noted that the Ashanti “marched in perfect order, their guns carried at exactly 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 muskets and used nails as instead, which proved to be an effective substitute. Upon hearing that the Ashanti army was on the march, MacCarthy unwisely divided his forces.
He did not realize that what he was facing was the main Ashanti army, not an advance guard. 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 the British forces were killed immediately; only 20 escaped.
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 recognized him due to a favor 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 the Ashanti rulers. An eye-witness stated 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 the back of his neck; luckily at this crisis, an Ashanti of authority came up and recognizing 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 a perfect state of preservation.”
