Star.
London, England, 1824-10-06 00:00:00

teonstruct;on and swist 'floors (mud thickly plastereti
Over strung laths) of the ]cooties resisting the tirtitilt Of
fire, there was mach less loss ofproperty thin could.
have been supposed; goods, furkkure, and even gun.„,
powder; having been found untottgbod,,in some of them,
alter their thatch bad been cunsenta.
In concluding this communication, I beg leave to ea.
press my best acknowledgments for the cordial co-ope-
ration and prompt assistance rendered to me through-
out the most critical portion of this period by Captain
Scott, Acting Commander of his Majesty's ship Victor,
which had arrived a few days before, and was the only
man of war cn the Gold Coast. Captain Scott not only
repeatedly landed the seamen and marines of his bwn
ship, but as often procured volunteers from the crews of
the merchant vessels in the roads, to assist the garrison
in case of attack, and with great celerity fitted up and
equipped three gunboats, to scour the approaches by the
beach, and flank such of the defences as were in them-
selves weakest ; and I sincerely hope his Officer-like exer-
tions, on all occasions, will be rewarded as they justly
merit.—l must also mention my sense of the services of
Lieutenant W. 0. Aitcheson, Royal Marine Artillery,
in terms of the warmest approbation. This Officer
having heard of the recent disastrous defeat of our
forces, that the Officers were all sickly, and that there
was no Artillery Officer on the Coast, being actuated
by. feelings and zeal which always characterise the true
solJier, immediately volunteered his services from As-
cension, where he was stationed, arrived in the Victor,
on the 10th instant, and has ever since been indefatiga-
ble in getting up, mounting, and placing guns on the
works to most advantage, in arranging the ordnance
stores and magazines, and in performing other import-
ant duties, which, as Superintendant of Artillery and
Military Engineer, have been assigned to him, and I
trust your Lordship will permit me to recommend him
strongly to your notice.

W. SUTHERLAND,
Lieut. Col. 24 West India Meat. commanding the Forces.
Cape Coast Castle, July 17, 1824.

When my dispatch of the 30th ultimo was written,
this Settlement was nearly surrounded by the Ashantees,
who were encamped within three or four miles of it,
ravaging the country, and burning the villages. I have
now the honour to inform your Lordship, that since
then these barbarians have been defeated ; their army
is now dispersed, and they are, by all accounts, retiring
in small parties to their own country, in the best way,
and as fast as they can.
Eat'', this month, the advance of a body of auxi-
liaries, which had been collected, with infinite trouble
and difficulty, about Accra, and countries in that di-
rection, and, I suppose, the arrival of his Majesty's ship
Thetis, on the 4th instant, from England, with troops,
induced the enemy to recal his detachments, for the
purpose of concentrating his army, part of which, on
the 7th, was distinctly seen defiling in great force over
a hill, by several paths, towards some heights which he,
occupied near the left of his position, where we could
perceive the King's tent.
On the Bth, the Accra Auxiliaries, who had arrived
on the 6th, and been supplied with arms and ammuni-
tion, as far as our very limited means would permit,
were, with the Cape Coast people, placed in position on
a strong and commanding chain of heights (opposite to
the enemy), round the town and fort, and busily em-
ployed until the 11th in clearing away the bush, forti-
fying their posts, and watching the motions of the
Ashantees, with whom there was occasionally some skir-
mishing, and who were busy cutting paths towards us.
On the 11 tit (Sunday), soon after day-light, the enemy
was seen descending in several masses of great strength
into, and forming his line across, the valley leading to
the right of our position, which was about half a mile
from the town ; and about two in the afternoon his ad-
vance having been fired upon by our skirmishers, a
general engagement was brought on, which at dusk,
half-past six r. as. I am happy to say, terminated in his
being defeated at all points, and obliged to retire; two
camps on the right of his position, which he had weak-
ened to reinforce his left, having been burnt and plun-
dered by part of our unorganized forces, whn, although
daily driven out of town to their posts, at the point of
the bayonet, to do them justice, fought on this occasion
for four hours with great courage, particularly on the
right, against which the utmost efforts of the enemy,
who fought bravely, were directed, and which he re-
peatedly advanced in masses to turn and to attack,
without however making the least frpression.
Our loss In killed and wounded (as per annexed re-
turn), lam sorry to say, has been considerable. One
Officer, Lieutenant Swanzy, Royal African Colonial
Corps, a most zealous and promising young man, and
twice slightly wounded before the fatal shot took effect,
and 103 men killed, and 448 wounded ; but it is matter
of great satisfaction, and a proof of how well the action
must have been sustained,although fought in thick bush,
that the enemy, by his own account, has not to boast of
having cut off a single head from our killed, or of having
taken even one pi isoner from us of any description, a
circumstance the more remarkable, if the numerical
disparity of the contending bodies is considered ; ours,
in position, where a strong reserve was always kept, not
exceeding 19 Officers, and 5,053 rank and file, of whom
only '285 were regulars (vile margin);* whilst the
Ashantee force, as seen during the morning, cannot be
estimated at less than 16,000 fighting men. Their loss
in killed acrd wounded on this day could not be ascer-
tained; but their dead are very numerous on the scene
of action, and numbers of pi isoners and deserters
brought in since, state it to be great, and that many
Chiefs, or Captains, were killed or wounded.
On the 12th, the enemy again appeared drawn up in
the valley, apparently with the design of making an-
other attempt on our positions; and, in order to draw
him into some movement that rni%ht expose his inten-
tions, I twice or thrice or dered a body of skirmishers to
creep up to, open a tire on him, and then retirc
This fire was each time returned with great anima-
tion from the enemy's whole line for about halt an
hour (his divisions, it is said, and as I thought at the
time, firing on each other), after our skirmishers had,.
agreeably to their orders, retired unobserved. But as
he made no demonstration of advance up to two in the
afternoon, I directed a few random shot from a field
piece to be fired through the bush in his direction, on
which he retired towards the head of the valley, where
he still remained on the 13th, during the night of which