The Ashantis discharged their muskets hastily as the
first white men showed themselves, but the fire of the leading
files of the column quickly cleared them away. The 42d pushed on
through the village, and then forming in skirmishing line, advanced.
For the first two or three hundred yards they encountered no serious
opposition, and they were then received by a tremendous fire from
an unseen foe in front. The left column had not gone a hundred yards
before they too came under fire. Captain Buckle of the Engineers,
who was with the Engineer laborers occupied in cutting the path
ahead of the advancing column, was shot through the heart. A similar
opposition was experienced by the right.
The roar of the fire was tremendous, so heavy indeed that all
sound of individual reports was lost, and the noise was one hoarse
hissing roar. Even the crack of Rait's guns was lost in the general
uproar, but the occasional rush of a rocket, of which two troughs
with parties of Rait's men accompanied each wing, was distinctly
audible.
The 42d could for a time make scarcely any way, and the flanking
columns were also brought to a stand. Owing to the extreme thickness
of the wood and their ignorance of the nature of the ground these
columns were unable to keep in their proper position, and diverged
considerably.
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