3-065-737 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Ashantee War: Lord Gifford and advance scouts storming a village, from a sketch by our special artist, 1874. Third Anglo-Ashanti War - the British Army in West Africa. '...a shout of triumph rent the air, which told us that Lord Gifford was in the village. The native company I was with was then persuaded to rush forward. So I arrived in the village of Becquah just as the enemy were compelled to leave it. Almost immediately afterwards the Naval Brigade, the Marines, and part of the 42nd Highlanders arrived to complete the rout of the enemy. The Ashantees, as usual, took to the bush, and opened a heavy fire upon us in the village. But, not long after this Colonel M'Leod, who was in charge of the attack, ordered the village to be burnt. Only those who have beheld such a scene will or can imagine its grandeur. The thatched roofs, being very dry, burned with wonderful rapidity".' From "Illustrated London News", 1874.