British governor Sir Charles MacCarthy, after organizing the defenses of Cape Coast, had set out with an expedition of some eighty men of the Royal African Colonial Corps (RACC), one hundred and seventy men of the Cape Coast Militia, and two hundred and forty Fanti tribesmen under their local chiefs.

He is accompanied by a captain and an ensign of the 2nd West India Regiment, as aides-de-camp, a surgeon of the same regiment, and J. T. Williams, his colonial secretary.

This is not the only part of his force; three other groups of infantry are in the region, one of six hundred regulars of the RACC and three thousand native levies, one of one hundred regulars and militia and two thousand levies (under Major Alexander Gordon Laing), and a third of three hundred regulars and militia and six thousand levies.

The plan is for the four groups to converge and then engage the enemy with overwhelming force.

On the night of the 20th, still without having joined forces with the other three groups, MacCarthy's force had camped by a tributary of the Pra River.

The next day, at around 2pm, they encounter a large enemy force of around ten thousand men; believing that the Ashanti army contained several disaffected groups whose chiefs are willing to defect, MacCarthy instructs the band to play the God Save the King loudly.

The Ashanti respond by approaching closer, beating war drums, and his beliefs are swiftly dispelled.

Fighting starts shortly thereafter; the two sides are separated by a sixty foot (eighteen meter)-wide stream, which the Ashanti attempt to cross by felling trees for bridges.

The British at first shoot the Ashanti who try to cross the exposed tree trunks.

However, the British forces are lightly supplied; the bearers bringing the supplies up in the rear, which include most of the gunpowder and ammunition, mostly flee after hearing the firing in the distance and encountering deserters straggling back.

Four cases of supplies arrive; the first is opened and the shot inside is distributed, but the other three are found to contain only macaroni.

As the British run out of ammunition, the Ashanti advance across the river.

Most of the Fante militia flee, and the British who stand and fight are overwhelmed in hand-to-hand combat.

MacCarthy, along with the ensign and his secretary, attempts to fall back; he is wounded by gunfire, however, and kills himself rather than be taken prisoner.

The Ashanti behead MacCarthy's body, then, out of respect for his courage, they cut out his heart and eat it.

MacCarthy's gold-rimmed skull will be later used as a drinking-cup by the Ashanti rulers.

Ensign Wetherell is killed while trying to defend MacCarthy's body, and Williams taken prisoner.

On his return, he will relate that he had only survived through being recognized by an Ashanti chief for whom he had done a small favor, and was spared; he will be held prisoner for several months, locked in a dwelling which he shares with the severed heads of MacCarthy and Wetherell, kept as trophies of war.

A treaty between the Ashanti kingdom and the British Gold Coast in 1831 will lead to thirty years of peace with the Pra River as the accepted border.

European contact with the Ivory Coast region of Africa, beginning in the 1400s, had led to trade in ivory, slaves, and other goods which has given rise to such kingdoms such as that of the Ashanti.

From 1806, the Asante Union has been in a perpetual state of war involving expansion or defense of its domain.

The Asante's exploits against native African forces make it the paramount power in the region.

Its impressive performance against the British also earns it the respect of European powers.

Far less known than its Zulu contemporaries, the Ashanti Empire is one of the few African states to decisively defeat the British Empire in not only a battle but a war.

The British had been drawn into three earlier wars.

In the Ashanti-Fante War of 1806-07, the British had refused to hand over two rebels pursued by the Asante, but eventually handed one over (the other escaped).

In the Ga-Fante War of 1811, the Akwapim had captured a British fort at Tantamkweri and a Dutch fort at Apam.

In the Ashanti-Akim-Akwapim War of 1814-16, the Ashanti had defeated the Akim-Akwapim alliance.

Local British, Dutch, and Danish authorities had all had to come to terms with the Ashanti.

In 1817 the (British) African Company of Merchants had signed a treaty of friendship that recognized Ashanti claims to sovereignty over much of the coast.

The British Gold Coast had been formed in 1821 when the British government abolished the African Company of Merchants and seized privately held lands along the coast.

The first of the Anglo-Asante Wars had begun in 1823 when Sir Charles MacCarthy, rejecting Ashanti claims to Fanti areas of the coast and resisting all overtures by the Ashanti to negotiate, led an invading force.

The Ashanti had defeated this force, killing MacCarthy and one Ensign Wetherall, taking their heads for trophies, and swept on to the coast.

However, disease had forced them back.

Major Alexander Gordon Laing had returned to Britain with news of their fate.

The Ashanti had been so successful in subsequent fighting that in 1826 they again moved on the coast.

At first they fought very impressively in an open battle against superior numbers of British allied forces, including Denkyirans.

However, the novelty of British rockets caused the Ashanti army to withdraw.