S3E30: The War of the Golden Stool

 Part 1:

Fort Kumasi in 1900

In the spring of 1900, the majority of Ashanti nobility and bureaucrats drank to the spirits, an Ashanti social event that symbolized an unbreakable vow. Together, they vowed that they would sooner die than allow the British to seize the Golden Stool and humiliate their nation. On April 3rd, the British arrested the suspected ringleaders of the meeting, including Opoku Mensa, which set the war into motion the next day. The Ashanti notables each raised militias, an unorganized but united front against the British. The largest militia was commanded by the former army officer Kwasi Boadu, while the closest person that the Ashanti had to a universally recognized leader was Ejisuhemaa Yaa Asantewaa. The war started when Ashanti militias began to attack the occupying British armies, forcing the unprepared British to fall back to either Cape Coast or Fort Kumasi. Fort Kumasi and its surrounding neighborhoods were soon the last part of Asanteman under British control. The governor, who himself was now trapped in Fort Kumasi, sent out a telegram at the very last minute before the Ashanti cut the fort's cable. 

The Ashanti set to work constructing large stockades throughout the country. These stockades were usually between 8 to 12 feet (2.4-3.6 meters) high, with the largest defenses stretching in a zig-zag pattern for several kilometers. The most impressive things about these stockades were their battlefield effectiveness and the speed of their construction. Despite stretching for such long distances, the stockades were built using a quick engineering method of lashing logs together with rope and telegraph wire, using bamboo to construct areas for marksmen to stand inside, and then filling the rest with straw and leaves. This internal structure gave the stockades unusual flexibility that made them extra resistant to artillery and mortar barrages.

Image showing the edge of an Ashanti stockade during the war, showcasing its internal structure.

    Early in the war, the Ashanti clearly held a surprising advantage. The British colonial government did not receive the reinforcements they expected due to the British military being occupied with wars in South Africa and China. Meanwhile, early fighting revealed that the typical British tactic of the period, an artillery and machine gun barrage followed by an infantry charge, was ineffective against Ashanti stockades. The successful infiltration of Kumasi by an isolated British force in northern Ghana had allowed the trapped garrison in Fort Kumasi some breathing room in terms of supplies. But after a failed breakout attempt that resulted in the death of many British soldiers and officers, Governor Hodgeson was forced to resign to peace talks.

    However, the Ashanti leadership made at least one enormous mistake during negotiations: they allowed the British to receive food and supplies from local merchants during the ceasefire. This essentially conceded any leverage that the Ashanti had while allowing the British to extend their holdout in the fort. In May, the Ashanti resumed fighting when Asantewaa and Boadu suspected that Hodgeson was simply stalling.

Part 2

The British officers, Nigerian soldiers, and Ashanti collaborators trapped within Fort Kumasi were in increasingly desperate shape in the summer of 1900. With food supplies running low, they were often forced into eating leather clothing, rats, grass, and old bones. To keep order, some of the officers even resorted to giving people hot water, which they called "soup" to make people think it was food. 

To alleviate the siege, the recently arrived British colonel James Willcocks attempted a major offensive at the city of Kokofu, the site of one of the largest and best-engineered stockades. After an unsuccessful artillery and machine gun barrage, the Nigerian soldiers were ordered to fling themselves at the undamaged stockade. The result of the battle was an enormous British defeat. The neutral king of Adansi, fearing that his neutrality would not bear well with the imminently victorious Ashanti, decided to join their fight against the British. His forces joined the militia of Opoku Mensa. Meanwhile, the king of Bekwai, a collaborationist omanhene who had allied with the British, decided to end support for the British in favor of neutrality.  

The Bekwaihene meeting with British soldiers before the battle of Kokofu

The turning point of the war, however, came after Governor Hodgeson orchestrated a desperate and shocking escape attempt from Fort Kumasi. Choosing an indirect route that veered northwest before turning south, the governor and a large entourage of fellow escapees managed to narrowly avoid the pursuing Ashanti (though several dozen carriers and soldiers likely died in the chase)

Hodgeson pictured at the end of the war

With the pressure to lift the siege no longer a factor, the British armies in southern Ghana could now more thoroughly plan their attacks. Willcocks and Meliss, no longer constrained by time, planned out more intricate tactics to overcome Ashanti stockades. These included deceptive maneuvers to make the Ashanti think that they were making camp right before an attack, as well as maneuvers that sent units around the stockades to attack weaker stockades at the rear.

The Ashanti militias, which were not centralized or coordinated enough to mount a successful counterattack, were gradually divided and picked off. A few leaders, including Yaa Asantewaa managed to keep up the fight into the autumn and early winter, but even they eventually fell. Most of the ringleaders were exiled to Sierra Leone, while a few like Asantewaa were exiled to Seychelles.

Yaa Asantewaa's cell in Seychelles

While the War of the Golden Stool ended in a military victory for Britain, the Ashanti had not fought in vain. The war had convinced the British government that it had to use more tact when dealing with traditional African monarchies in the future, especially the Ashanti. As a result, the British would develop a reputation of allowing the continuation of a surprisingly high number of local African monarchies compared to their fellow European colonizers. Asanteman remained especially autonomous. In 1920, when a British work crew stumbled upon the location of the Golden Stool, threats from the Asantemanhyiamu (then reorganized as the "Kumasi Council of Chiefs") were enough to convince the British government to end the project. Although they lived under colonial rule, it's readily obvious that the Ashanti were never willing to accept being a powerless people. After decades of lobbying, Asantehene Prempeh was allowed to return to Kumasi a few years later and was even built a new palace by the British. By now, the British had realized that colonialism in Ghana would be more effective if they collaborated with local pre-colonial elites, rather than trying to crush their social authority. While Prempeh ruled under the diminished title of "Kumasihene", his nephew, Prempeh II, convinced the British to let him restore an informal Ashanti state. Asanteman remained a British colony, but Prempeh II oversaw the preservation of many traditions and reinvigorated many of the old governing institutions. The current Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, continues to live and work in Kumasi. 

Asantehene Otomfuo Osei Tutu II.

Even though the state no longer exists, the legacy of the Ashanti Empire can still be felt throughout modern Ghana. Ghana, despite some bumps in the road, has generally maintained a path of peaceful, constitutional government, ranking far higher in terms of governmental stability and political democracy than other West African states. This success can in part be attributed to the legacy of the Ashanti state, itself a constitutional state governed by the rule of law and independent institutions. Even in a direct sense, the current asantehene has played a role in preventing and mitigating conflict within his home country. In 2002, the asantehene played a pivotal role in negotiations to end a brewing conflict in Dagbon.

Even when the empire is gone, the great tree still shades his people from the harsh sun.

Thank you for listening, and thank you for enjoying this podcast throughout its third season. We now move on to a special episode about the Sokoto Jihad, before moving to our next long-term area of study, Madagascar.