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.