On the 2d of November, however, Colonel Festing again marched out
from Dunquah with a hundred men of the 2d West India regiment,
nine hundred native allies, and some Houssas with rockets, under
Lieutenant Wilmot, towards the Ashanti camp. This time Ammon Quatia
was not taken by surprise. His scouts informed him of the approach
of the column, and moving out to meet them, he attacked them in
the bush before they reached the camp. Crouching among the trees
the Ashantis opened a tremendous fire. All the native allies, with
the exception of a hundred, bolted at once, but the remainder,
with the Houssas and West Indians, behaved with great steadiness
and gallantry, and for two hours kept up a heavy Snider fire upon
their invisible foes.
Early in the fight Lieutenant Wilmot, while directing the rocket
tube, received a severe wound in the shoulder. He, however, continued
at his work till, just as the fight was ended, he was shot through
the heart with a bullet. Four officers were wounded as were thirteen
men of the 2d West India regiment. One of the natives was killed,
fifty severely wounded, and a great many slightly. After two hours'
fighting Colonel Festing found the Ashantis were working round
to cut off his retreat, and therefore fell back again on Dunquah.
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