S3E17: The First Anglo-Ashanti War Part 2: The Rockets' Red Glare

Painting depicting the battle of Katamanso

After the Battle of Nsamankow, Osei Bonsu passed away in 1824. He left control of the kingdom to his younger brother Osei Yaw, better known by his nickname Osei Yaw Akoto. This nickname pokes fun at the king's skin condition that made his face glow with a reddish hue, as well as his insecure demeanor, as akoto refers to both a tree used for red dye manufacturing and the verb "to beg for approval" in Twi. 

Osei Yaw Akoto attempted to finish his brother's war against the British, despite Osei Bonsu's dying wish for his brother to arrange for a peace settlement. At first, the war went well for Osei Akoto, as he led his armies to multiple victories and even captured the British colonial capital at Cape Coast. However, the aggressiveness of Osei Akoto's campaigns southward, as well as his decision to pursue a retreating British army east to Anomabu, frightened one of the Ashanti's allies. The city state of Accra, long an Ashanti ally, feared that the Ashanti would try to conquer their city if they won the war. So, they sided with the British. The British army was also joined by fresh reinforcements from their Caribbean colonies, as well as local militias from the Akwapim, Akyem, Denkyira, Wasa and Fante people.

During the Battle of Katamanso in 1826, the Ashanti initially appeared to be winning. The Ashanti's initial encirclement attempt was stonewalled, but the Ashanti forward guard successfully pushed the British back, pushing them into a vulnerable position. Ammunition began to run low on both sides, and the British started to rely on bayonet charges as the Ashanti began to make use of their akrafena. The turning point of the battle occurred when the British launched a battery of Congreve rockets at the Ashanti. Congreve rockets were a technology that the British first encountered several decades earlier. The Indian kingdom of Mysore invented the rockets to use against the British during the Anglo-Mysorean War. The British adopted the weapon's design and began to use it in their own army. The loud screech of the rockets shattered the remaining morale in the embattled Ashanti forward guard, and the Ashanti soldiers began to flee. Morale dissolved completely when Osei Yaw Akoto himself began retreating from the battlefield, resulting in an Ashanti defeat.

src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhfHMfm7OM18d6iIZE354ZBuScl3QvZiVSOTdzzSTOobmvGTTVTxtwc4QocC5Qt7kCRPzyF0pE2YXYT_rjy9LKdV3uruD6nZTa_HYT6nA_mfB-7KKwRT7MhlF5i-A004NuDw4oB-idgRYbfb0oXLEC18iZmqrsGYZvKRonvbr_gZqBCG-GlbdFPdg__=w124-h320" width="124" />Mysorean soldier using an iron rocket as a flagpoleAfter the defeat at Katamanso, the Ashanti recovered and maintained an occupation over much of the southwestern coast. However, both the British and Ashanti were hit with deadly smallpox outbreaks, and a peace agreement was signed in 1831. Both the British and Ashanti were forced to make concessions to the other. The Ashanti withdrew their armies north of the Pra and Birim rivers. Meanwhile, the British recognized the Ashanti's independence, pledged to give the Ashanti merchants unimpeded access to the coast during peacetime, and pledged to extradite Ashanti fugitives. 

You could argue that the British and Ashanti both emerged from this war as victors. The true losers of the conflict were the British's African allies, the Denkyira, Akyem, Ga, and Fante. In exchange for their sacrifices in the war, these people and kingdoms saw their autonomy eroded and incorporated into either the Ashanti Empire or as a British protectorate. While, in theory, British protectorates remained independent in domestic affairs, the British commanded their foreign policy in entirety and dictated a creeping degree of influence in these countries' economies. 

Map of Ghana after the First-Anglo Ashanti War

The First-Anglo Ashanti War also devastated the kingdoms of the Ghanaian coast. These weakened kingdoms became easy pickings for the British's rivals in the region. Eager not to let the British monopolize the region, the Danish negotiated a deal with the Ashanti in which they'd receive territories in the southeast, while the Dutch engaged in a gruesome war of conquest over the Ahanta people of the southwest. The asanthene endorsed this conquest, as it would further ensure easy Ashanti access to their Dutch allies, and even offered to send soldiers to militarily support the Dutch.

Osei Yaw Akoto has had a mixed record in his early reign, but it will get much worse from here. Scarred from his traumatic defeat at Katamanso, the asantehene will fall down a rabbit hole of depression and alcoholism, and will prove himself as one of the worst asantehenes of all time.