The Ashanti general was furious, and poured out threats
against his spies in Cape Coast for not having warned him of the
movement, but in fact these were not to blame. So quietly had the
arrangements been made that, until late in the previous afternoon,
no one, with the exception of three or four of the principal
officers, knew that an expedition was intended. Even then it was
given out that the expedition was going down the coast, and it was
not until the ships anchored off Elmina at three in the morning
that the officers and troops were aware of their destination. All
the West Indian troops at Cape Coast had been taken, Captain Peel
of the Simoon landing fifty sailors to hold the fort in case the
Ashantis should attack it in their absence. The expedition consisted
of the Houssas, two hundred men of the 2d West India regiment,
fifty sailors, and two companies of marines and marine artillery,
each fifty strong, and a large number of natives carrying a small
Armstrong gun, two rocket tubes, rockets, spare ammunition, and
hammocks for wounded.
The few Ashantis in the village next to Elmina retired at once
when the column was seen marching from the castle. Ammon Quatia had
taken up his quarters at the village of Essarman, and now advanced
with his troops and took post in the bush behind a small village
about three miles from the town.
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