The Sun.
London, England, 1824-06-23 00:00:00

• MI MOILANDUM.—CoIoniaI Office, 17th June.—lt has
been ascertained that the
beration of Mr. Williams has been
effected.

sively bad, in consequence of which we did not arrive till a late
hour in the evening at Bansno, much fatigued. -
We remained at Bansoo the whole of the next day, the 10th,
waiting for the native force to join, which they did not do until
late in the day; the next morning, .the 11th, his Excellency
marched off with the combined force of regulars and militia,
and desired I- would remain till every thing was sent forward.
This I found the greatest difficulty in accomplishing, as I
could not get carriers, the people who had brought the things
from Djuquah having run away. I was therefore obliged to
send a party of the rear guard to press every person they could
find, women as well as men ; and after a considerable delay,
we succeeded in getting a sufficient number of carriers, and
proceeded; but a number of' them, as they found opportuni-.
ties, flung their loads into the woods, and ran off. .We.ar-
rived at a village on the banks of the Boosom-pra, called
Ihimin, late in the evening of that day, having marched
eighteen miles; where we 'remained till six o'clock. the next
when we marched foranother village,
morning, the Nth,
about seventeen miles lower down on the banks of the Boosom-
pra, named Darabooassie, which, from the extremely bad
state of the path, being frequently obliged to pass swamps
which took us much higher than above our knees, we did not
arrive at till very late in the day, every person excessively
fatigued ; the active force at this time kept a considerable dis-
tance in our rear.

About seven o'clock in the morning of the 13th, we com-
menced crossing the rivet Boosom-pra, about two hundred yards
wide, in small canoes (eight in number), which could only carry
two men at a time besides the person who paddled ; as soon as
the company of regulars, under the command of Ensign Ers-
kine, crossed the river, his Excellency, who was one of the first
that had passed over, proceeded with them on the march to-
, wards Assamacow, in the Wassaw country, distant about 20
miles from the river. To give a description of this road is be.
yond my ability; suffice it to say that, in my opinion, I think
it impossible that there can be any thin, worse in the shape of
a path; we had to cross numerous smalrrivers, some of which,
from their extreme depth, as well as the numerous swampy
places we had to pass over, considerably delayed us, and we
were only enabled to reach a small village called Guah that
night, where we slept. The next morning, the 14th, ,his Ex.
cellency proceeded in advance with the company of the Royal
African Colonial Corps, anti desired I would bring up the rear ;
we did not find this path so bad as was expected, dwe arrived
at Assamacow at about half-past two in the afternoon, where
we halted and remained five days, waiting for the native force
to come up ; we' found Mr. Brandon, the Acting Ordnance
Storekeeper (Cape Coast) at this place, where he, had arrived
several days before with ammunition, &c. having come in the
Colonial schooner to Succondee, ten Itours march, to Assama.
cow, which was truly welcome now to us, as our men (the re.
(,gulars and militia) had only twenty rounds each man, a great
deal of which, from the badness of the paths, the crossing of
rivers, and the rain which fell on our march, was damaged and
which was immediately replaced ; at this place we found pro-
visions very scarce. During our stay at Assamacow we were
informed that the Wassaws and Dinkeras were retreating be-
fore the Ashantees, and were in distress for provisions. Sir
Charles, therefore, immediately -on _the arrival of part of our
native force, dispatched , 11Ir. Tasker Williams, the Colonial
Secretary and AdjutankGeneralof militia, with 12 volunteers,
to assure the Wassaws "and the Dinkeras 'that he would; in a
day or two, march forward with the force- under his command
to Join them, and that he expected. the division of the army
under Major Chisholm, and numerous parties ofnatiVes, would
soon form a junction with us • and then we should have-suffi.
cient force to • meet the Ashantees; hut Mr., Williams found
them retreating, and it was with the greatest difficulty he per-
suaded them (they having crossed the small river Adoomansom
to halt on its bank, and make some preparation for defence till
Sir Charles should join with his force; this was on the 20th, on
the morning of which I arrived with the company of the Royal
African Colonial Corps; the company of volunteers, and the
three companies of militia already alluded to, -having, by di
rection of his Excellency, marched from Assamacow on the
19th. On my way to the Wassaws and Dinkeras I met a very
great number of women and children, and sorry I am to say
men • I asked -the men where they were going ? They told
me they were going to look for previsions and would soon re-
turn ; on my arrival on the borders of the aforesaid river Adoo-
mansoo, on the morning of the 20th, having been, from .the
extreme bad state of the paths the mud in sum places reach-
ing to the middle of our bodies, obliged to sleep one night in
the bush : from Assamacow to this river I should suppose is
distant about 24 miles.

Shortly after my arrival with the troops, Mr. Williams, Ad-
jutant-tiencral of Militia, informed me that he could not get
any of the people to cut the bush for the camp. I accord-
ingly went to the Chiefs of the Wassaws and Dinkeras, and told
them the necessity there was for the knish about the place, in-
tended for a camp, to be cleared, and which ought to be done im-
mediately ; they promised to send people over to the opposite
hank of the river, where we expected the Ashantees to attack
us, and to have all the wood cleared immediately : shortly
after. this the Wassaws mustered their force, and were moving
off with every thing they had. I inquired where they were
going ? They said they were going to clear the wood on the
other side of the river. I stopped where they had to cross over,
for a considerable time, to see if they really intended to go over ;
but at last I could plainly see their intention was to retreat ; I
therefore put a strotg guard of militia to prevent their doing so,
tall Sir Charles should arrive. I then sent for the Chiefs or
Headmen, and asked them what they intended to do,- whether
they intended to fight or not ? they said they intended to fight.
At this moment an_ alarm was given that the Ashantees were ad-
vancing, and everyone went to his station, where we remained
for about five hours, exposed to a most tremendous shower' of
rain ; it being by this time nearly dark, and as it is a rule with
the Ashantees never to fight at night, we called in the troops,
leaving sentries where necessary. Immediately on the alarm
being given, I dispatched a messenger to his Excellency to re.
quest he would send all the assistance he could ; at this time
it was supposed his Excellency was at a croom with two huts,
about four or five miles from us. Both officers and men slept
this night without any covering, as there was not time to erect
huts, and the men were much fatigued ' • next morning the 21st
his Excellency arrived with about 200 of Applies people and
40 of the Natives of Cape Coast; the Commendas having halted
on the way, I acquainted him with the manner the NVassaws
had behaved. After he had taken a little rest he sent for the
Chiefs of the Wassaws and Dinkeras ; but before he had got
half through the palaver, the alarm was given, and every per-
son repaired to his station. His Excellency then went round
with me to see how the men were posted.
About two o'clock the Ashantees, 10,000 in number,marehed
up to the opposite bank of the river, when the action commenced
with determined vigour on both sides, and lasted till nearly half
past four o'clock ; it was reported before four o'clock that the
regulars, volunteers, and militia, hat no ammunition left, only
20 rounds per man having been previously issued to them, on
which immediately . went to the Ordnance Storekeeper, Mr.
Brandon, who had received his Excellency's positive orders al-
ways to have 40 rounds for each man packed up in kegs,and which
were always to accompany him ; but he acquainted me that he
only had with him one small keg of ball and one of powder,
which was immediately issued to the men, but which, it may be
supposed, did not last very long. The enemy perceiving that our
fire had become slacker, attempted to cross the river and suc-
ceeded ; they had frequently attempted the same thing before,
but were repulsed with great slaughter ; they at the same time
sent a very considerable force round our flanks to cut off our
retreat, which they completely succeeded in doing, from their
superior numbers. The whole now became one scene of con-
fusion, the enemy having intermixed with us. In my retreat I
observed his Excellency a considerable distance before me, soon
after which some guns were fired from the direction in which he
was going, and there was a general rush back of the people who
were following him, but after which I saw no more of his Ex-
cellency ; the people took different directions, and a number
of the wounded men followed me into the thickest parts of the
woods, through which, with the assistance of a Wassawman,
who undertook for a reward to guide us, we travelled the whole
of that night and half the next day, 'frequently going a con-
siderable distance through a stream of water, for the purpose of
hiding our track. When we got into the wood leading to
Assamacow, and proceeded about five miles, a party of the
enemy was reported to be before us ; we therefore retreated and
got into another path leading to the same place ; but we had not
proceeded above three miles when we had again to retreat as a
party ,of the enemy was just before us. Just about sunset I for-
tunately fell in with a party of Wassaws, who were in search of
their wives and children, whom the Ashantees bad taken ; they
said they were going towards the Boosom-pra, and that they
would conduct me over to it. We however slept in the woods,
and about three o'clock in the morning we commenced our
march. We observed a number of infants lying in the bush
gasping for breath, the Ashantees having taken their' mothers
to carry their plunder, and obliged them to throw 'their children
away ; we, however, recovered a number of the women, and