The Camden daily journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1864-1864, 1864-07-11
"A Battle In Africa



Correspondent of the london ZTm,s rivcs
tho following interesting account OF battle in
which the redoubtablc King Of Dahomcy has
been Defeated
1t may not be uniutcrcstiny to You to learn
from one who is stcaming ON his way home
wards from the West Coast Of Africa that tic
long vauntcd expedition OF the King Of nalo-
tncy against Abbcokuta and the Erlr,s has
been undertaken and has come to Il disastrous
close. OH rccollect, no doubt, that the IL ing
dwclt very stoutly the expedition at the
time when Commodore WiImct paid his last
memorial visit to Abomcy; and lhaL no argu.
ments Of tho gallant commodore could ,lissuade
the royal savage from his determination to pour
forth the walls of his wrath on Abbeoknta: It
would appear that on Monday, tho 18th .ot
March, the Dahonlian army with the King ut
its head, cncamped at Owiwi, which is about
twelve miles from Abbcoknta. Before o'clock
on Tuesday morning the frequent reports of a
gun fired at Aro, one of: the five gates of Ab-
teokuta gave warning to the Egbas that the
Dahomians were iii sight. The "Abashorun''
signifies the principal chief As this word is
curious in composition, may as well explain
that its literal meaning is "a King of Heaven
opening out everything" The enemy ap-
preached boldly enough lIc -h1sl- -tl,soe brtsa
Upon the ,breech Of "Moxico, lsl5.'
- ".lr..nced in column 5000 strong with
in fs,. Is Of the wall OF Abbcokuta, then
suddenly played hie flags. extended his lines,
AM marc apidly towards the wall The Ey-
bas imm.c:ll",'y opened a tremendous fire on
the scrried ~:s, and arrested them at once.
In the advn." ;ng column were Amazons who
fought braveIy and desperately. Many of the
furies climbed the wall, which is more than fi-
teen feet high; but as soon as they had reach
ed the top, the Egbas dragged them over and
slew them. One Of the Amazons, who had one
Of her hands cut off in her efforts to Chamber
over the wall discharged her muskct with the
other hand and shot an Egba. She received
severe blow from sabre, and fell backwards
into the trench. The Dahomians were utterly
defeated. In fact, they have never met will,
such a signal defeat, not even in 1851. They
lost upwards Of 1000 in killed and the number
OF prisoners is said to exceed 1000. The
whole strength of the King is stated to have
been 10000 men and women. The Dahomians
fled in two divisions. In front OF the division
which took first to flight was the doughty King
himself The Egbas pursued both divisions
and slaughtered the fugtives without pause
Seeing the discontinue ofthc King, the ;nhab-
tants of the ncighboring crooms turned out
and joined heartily the general massacre. Out
OF three field pieces, the King had Tie misfor-
tune to leave two in the good keeping Of the
Egbas. may now, perhaps, bo allowed to
tell you that the wall of Abbeokuta is fifteen
miles IN circumference, and that the population
is scarcely less than 100000 souls
The future Express Of mexico has written
and privately printed "Souvcnirs dc Voyage a
bord de la Fantarsic," and "Un Hivcrdans
f1sle de Maderc." The illustrious writer is
granddaughter Of Louis Philippe of France,
daughter Of Leopold Of Belgium, first cousin
Victoria of England, and sistcr-in-law of
Francis Joseph Of Austria. Her names a,e
Maria Charlotte Amea-Auglstc-Vi Victoire- Gle
mentlne-L -Leodoldine and she was born in June.
1890 and married in July 1857. Moreover,
she Is said to be one Of the best looking among
the royal ladies' of Europe.
The New YoRK SEvENTn.-Thc New York
"SeVenth" still keeps ont of harms way, as will
be seen by the following, taken from the New
York Times Of the sth
The 9TH regiment, Colonel Lcffcrts proceeded
yesterday morning to East New York, for field
exercise. Tho men were dressed in fatiguc
uniform and carried one days ratons.