3-053-686 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Ashantee War: the decoy giving the signal for the boats to start for the attack on Elmina, 1873. The British in West Africa. 'The acting Governor, Colonel Harley, using the small force of different military corps at his disposal, with the aid of boats and men from the naval squadron, has caused a severe punishment to be inflicted not only upon the invading Ashantees, but also upon the disaffected people of Elmina, whose town has been utterly destroyed. It is situated but eight miles from the town of Cape Coast Castle. We are favoured by Sub-Lieutenant Archibald Clark Kennedy, of the Druid; Sub-Lieutenant Conyers Lang, of the Barracouta; and Mr. W. Read, engineer, of the Decoy, with sketches of this affair. The two engraved show the bombardment of the town, on the 13th June, by the guns of Fort St. George and boats of the squadron, which had moved up the river; secondly, the fight which took place later in the same day, when the Ashantees, some three thousand strong, who attacked the British position at Elmina, were repulsed with heavy loss by our marines and sailors, West India n*gro troops, and Houssas, or African fighting men, employed as a local military police by the British Government'. From "Illustrated London News", 1873.