In 1821 the British Company of Merchants at Cape Coast handed its forts on the Gold Coast (Cape Coast, Anomabu, Accra, Beyin, Dixcove, Kommenda, Winneba, Sekondi, Prampram and Tantamkweri), like those in the Gambia, to the British Crown as represented by the Governor of Sierra Leone. The Governor there at this time was Sir Charles MacCarthy, who sailed to Cape Coast at once to survey his new responsibilities. MacCarthys mandate was to impose peace and to end the slave trade. He concluded that British interests in the Gold Coast required the crushing of the powerful Ashanti (Asante) Empire. In 1824, after the Ashanti executed a Fante serving in a British garrison for insulting the asantehene(king of the Ashanti), the British responded with a military expedition into the Ashanti Empire. A 10,000 man Ashanti force massed near Bonsaso to face the British expeditionary force. At the battle of Nsamankow (January 22, 1824) the Ashanti not only outnumbered the British but also used superior tactics. MacCarthy was killed, and most of his force was wiped out. By a strange chance, that same day (January 21, 1824) the asantehene, Osei Bonsu, died in Kumasi, and was succeeded by Osei Yaw Akoto. The new king maintained Ashanti resistance to the British by demanding that the latter give up Kwadwo Otibu of Denkyera, their ally and an enemy of the Ashanti. At another battle at Efutu a joint Denkyera and British force was defeated. But the Ashanti had now reached the highest point of their success. When they tried to storm the strongly fortified British headquarters at Cape Coast, they failed.
Posted on: Mon, 21 Oct 2013 11:03:09 +0000
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