night, and discovered for the first time, that the stock of ammunition, particularly the musket balls, was nearly exhausted.  Rapid measures were adopted for repairing this disaster; all the leaden and pewter vessels in the town were immediately put in requisition, melted down during the night, and cast into ounce balls.  Yet even this additional supply would have been of little avail, had the enemy renewed the attack on the following day.  But when the dawn returned, the Ashantees were seen in the distance, encamped in stillness, and without exhibiting any disposition to encounter our soldiers again, and as evening began to fall, preparations were visible of an intention to retire from the field, and in a few hours afterwards, the King of Ashantee, despairing of success, retreated with his army under cover of the night.

From this period a cessation of arms followed; but the Ashantees becoming turbulent again, martial law was proclaimed on the 6th of June, 1826.  Affairs were in this position, when the battle of Dodowah was fought on August 7, 1826, between the English, assisted by the native allies, and the Ashantees, with their allies, commanded in person by the king, commonly known by the designation of the Tiger-King.

The ground on which the battle was fought is an extensive plain, the surface of which is occasionally interspersed with clumps of trees and brushwood.  It is distant from Accra, N.E. about seven or eight leagues, and lies four miles S. of a village called Dodowah, from which it takes its name.  The day on which it took place being considered by the Ashantees as favourable to enterprises, was on that account anticipated by us, so that we were enabled to prepare for the action in time.  About eight o’clock in the morning, our scouts brought intelligence that the enemy were already in motion, and the English drums immediately spoke with their fine martial music to our troops, who formed their lines with promptitude, stretching about four miles from E. to W. The variety of costumes, and flags of different nations, exhibited by the European lines, including the native allies, presented a very picturesque and imposing appearance, and invested the scene with a peculiar arid inspiring interest.  For several days previous to the battle, a dispute was maintained between the King of Akimboo, the King of Dunkara, and the Queen of Akim ,[24] as to who should have the honour of attacking the King of Ashantee’s own band.  This point, however, was finally settled by an arrangement which satisfied all parties; it was decided that the King of Akimboo should take the extreme right, while the King of Dunkara and the Queen of Akim should occupy the extreme left.  Their zealous aspirations, notwithstanding their ardour, were disappointed after all, for the King of Ashantee hearing that the white men filled the central position of the European lines, chose that point for his own attack, on account of the great honour which he hoped to acquire by meeting the English in person.