Ashanti Medal

 

The War of the Golden Stool 1900.

 

Further relevant historical context can be found at the foot of this entry.

 

 

The Ashanti Medal was a British Empire campaign medal presented for service during the War of the Golden Stool. The medal was instituted in 1901 (the first campaign medal authorized by Edward VII) and was awarded those troops that took part in the Third Ashanti Expedition.

 

This expedition lasted from March 1900 to September 1900, and although the Ashanti were annexed into the British Empire, the final outcome enabled the Ashanti to maintain a degree of independence with little reference to British colonial power.

 

The medal was predominately issued to native troops since most British troops were fighting the Second Boer War in South Africa.

 

 

The medal is circular, is 36mm in diameter and was struck in either silver or bronze. The obverse of this medal bears the head of King Edward VII with the inscription; 'EDWARDVS VII REX IMPERATOR'.

 

The reverse depicts a lion with the sun rising in the background and the inscription; 'ASHANTI' below.

 

The silver medals went to combatants while the bronze version was issued to non-combatants.

 

The ribbon suspender is of the plain straight and swivelling style riveted to the medal.

 

The recipient's details can be found on the medal's rim indented or engraved in capital letters. Some medals were issued un-named.

 

 

 

The ribbon is 33mm wide and is black in colour with two green stripes.

 

 

This medal was issued with the following clasps:-

 

 

Further relevant historical context can be found at the foot of this entry.

 

 

 

* It should be noted that the values quoted above reflect the average price that a medal dealer may expect to sell this medal for - please see the ‘things you should know’ web page for more details about valuing medals.

 

 

The section contains information on:-

 

- The Ashanti Expedition.

- The Siege And Relief Of Kumasi.

 

The Ashanti Expedition - The Ashanti Expedition, also known as the War of the Golden Stool, also known as the Yaa Asantewaa War, the Third Ashanti Expedition, the Ashanti Uprising, or variations thereof, was the final war in a series of conflicts between the British Imperial government of the Gold Coast (later Ghana) and the Empire of Ashanti, a powerful, semi-autonomous African state that fractiously co-existed with the British and its vassal coastal tribes.

 

When the Ashanti began rebelling against British rule, the British attempted to put down the unrest. Furthermore, the British governor, Sir Frederick Mitchell Hodgson, demanded that the Asante turn over to the British the Golden Stool, i.e. the throne and a symbol of Asante sovereignty.

 

The war ended with the Ashanti maintaining its de facto independence. Even though the Ashanti were annexed into the British Empire, they ruled themselves with little reference to the colonial power.

 

However, when the British colony of the Gold Coast became the first independent, sub-Saharan African country in 1957, Ashanti was subsumed into the newly created Ghana. This war was the last conflict in Africa in which one of the sides was commanded by a woman.

 

This information was taken from ‘Wikipedia’. The original article and details of the authors can be found here. It is reproduced on this web-site under the ‘creative commons’ licence which can be found here.

 

The Siege And Relief Of Kumasi - Following a search for the Golden Stool by Captain Cecil Armitage, his force was surrounded and ambushed, only a sudden rainstorm allowing the survivors to retreat to the British offices in Kumasi. The offices were then fortified into a small stockade that housed 18 Europeans, dozens of mixed race colonial administrators and 500 Nigerian Hausas with six small field guns and four Maxim guns.

 

The Ashanti, aware that they were unprepared for storming the fort settled into a long siege, only making one assault on the position on 29 April that was unsuccessful. The Ashanti then continued to snipe at the defenders, cut the telegraph wires, blockaded food supplies, and attack relief columns.

 

As supplies ran low and disease took its toll on the defenders, another rescue party of 700 arrived in June. Recognising that it was necessary to escape from the trap and to preserve the remaining food for the wounded and sick, some of the healthier men were evacuated along with Hodgson, his wife and over a hundred of the Hausas.

 

12,000 Ashanti abrade (Warriors) were summoned to attack the escapees, who gained a lead on the long road back to the Crown Colony and avoided the main body of the Abrade. Days later the few survivors of the Abrade attack, took a ship for Accra, receiving all available medical attention.

 

As Hodgson arrived at the coast, a rescue force of 1,000 men assembled from various British units and police forces stationed across West Africa and under the command of Major James Willcocks had set out from Accra. On the march Willcocks's men had been repulsed from several well-defended forts belonging to groups allied with the Ashanti, most notably the stockade at Kokofu where they had suffered heavy casualties.

 

During the march Willcocks was faced with constant trials of skirmishing with an enemy in his own element and maintaining his supply route in the face of effective guerilla opposition. In early July, his force arrived at Beckwai and prepared for the final assault on Kumasi, which began on the morning of 14 July 1900. Using a force led by Yoroba warriors from Nigeria serving in the Frontier Force, Willcocks drove in four heavily guarded stockades, finally relieving the fort on the evening of the fifteenth, when the inhabitants were just two days from surrender.

 

In September, after spending the summer recuperating and tending to the sick and wounded in captured Kumasi, Willcocks sent out flying columns to the neighbouring regions that had supported the uprising. His troops defeated an Ashanti force in a skirmish at Obassa on the 30 September and also succeeded in destroying the fort and town at Kokofu where he had been previously repulsed, using Nigerian levies to hunt Ashanti fugitives into the forests once the defenders fled after a stiff engagement.

 

Following the storming of the town, Captain Charles John Melliss was awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery in the attack, the only such award of the campaign although a number of other officers received the Distinguished Service Order.

 

This information was taken from ‘Wikipedia’. The original article and details of the authors can be found here. It is reproduced on this web-site under the ‘creative commons’ licence which can be found here.