3-065-735 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Ashantee War: wounded officer of the 42nd borne from the field by native hammock-men, 1874. Third Anglo-Ashanti War - the British Army in West Africa. 'In the long day's battle at Amoaful, on Jan. 31, when so many British officers and soldiers were killed or wounded, we see the means by which they were carried off the field. Our Artist says of this: "The manner in which the native hammock-men worked yesterday, at the big fight, when shot and slugs were flying all round them, was very much to their credit. My sketch shows the arrival of a wounded officer of the 42nd, in a hammock, and the men running forward to see who it is that is wounded. The energetic medical officer of the Naval Brigade, when not engaged with his own men, always first approached the wounded to ascertain the nature of the case, and walked beside the hammock to the temporary field hospital. He was, without doubt, one of the most active. The hammock-bearers, having delivered their charge, again returned, in the most courageous manner, to the scene of fighting in the bush'. From "Illustrated London News", 1874.