The First Anglo-Ashanti War is waged from 1823 to 1831.

In 1823 Sir Charles MacCarthy, rejecting Ashanti claims to Fanti areas of the coast and resisting overtures by the Ashanti to negotiate, leads an invading force from the Cape Coast.

He is defeated and killed by the Ashanti, and the heads of MacCarthy and Ensign Wetherall are kept as trophies.

Major Alexander Gordon Laing returns to Britain with news of their fate.The Ashanti sweep down to the coast, but disease forces them back.

The Ashanti are so successful in subsequent fighting that in 1826 they again move on the coast.

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

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

In 1831, the Pra River is accepted as the border in a treaty, and there ensues thirty years of peace.