An accurate account of Sir Francis Scott's Ashanti Expedition of 1895-96, vividly portraying the killing fields, the treachery and the debauchery that characterised this gold-rich outpost of the Empire, building to the final scenes when King Prempeh had to undergo the ultimate humiliation in the sight of his chiefs and subjects. Even after Kumassi had been occupied by the British troops, the Ashanti continued to proclaim the invincible greatness of their King.
But there could be no more self-deception when the King and the Queen-mother had to kneel before the Governor and embrace his feet. The final denouement followed when Prempeh refused to pay the indemnity that had been owed for more than twenty years, at which point the Royal family was seized, deported to the Coast and exiled to the British colony of Sierra Leone. The lands of Ashanti had been a great barrier to the development of our African territories and the expedition had been a brilliant success in fully accomplishing its object.
Book 1 of the Wars and Words series