THE STORMING OF SABBAJEE, 1853 THE RELIEF OF CHRISTIANSBORG, 1854.
On March 23rd, 1853, N and N Companies, under Captain A.W. Murray and Lieutenant
Upton, embarked at Port Royal, Jamaica, in the troopship
Resistance, for the relief of the West African
garrisons. On May 17th, the Resistance
arrived at the Gambia with four out of the six companies
forming the relief for the detachments of the three
West India regiments, and reinforcements being urgently
required for the suppression of a hostile movement
amongst the Mohammedans at Sabbajee, they were landed.
On the 25th of May, Lieutenant-Colonel
O’Connor prepared to take the field with a force
of 603 men, consisting of 463 of the 1st, 2nd, and
3rd West India Regiments, 35 pensioners, and 105 of
the Gambia Militia. A field battery, consisting
of 2 six-pounder field-guns and 2 howitzers, was also
organised. On the 30th May, the brigade marched
from Bathurst to Josswung, a distance of eight miles,
where a camp was formed; and on June 1st, the force
advanced to the attack of Sabbajee.
Sabbajee was one of the oldest Marabout
towns in Combo, and boasted the possession of the
largest mosque in that portion of Africa. The
town, more than a mile in circumference, was surrounded
by a strong stockade, double ditches, and outward
abattis; and the inhabitants, who could muster
3000 fighting men, were, from their predatory and warlike
habits, the dread of the surrounding country.
On approaching the town, a strong
body of the enemy was observed stationed round the
mosque, while the stockade was lined with men.
A portion of the stockade presented the appearance
of having been removed, but had in reality only been
laid lengthwise, so as to form a very formidable obstacle;
while a deep trench dug in rear was crowded with men,
who, in perfect security, could fire upon the advancing
British, should they fall into the trap which had
been laid for them, and attempt to carry the town
at this point.
The force was drawn up in three divisions:
the 1st West India Regiment, under Captain A.W.
Murray, forming the centre division; the 2nd West
India Regiment, under Captain Anderson, the right;
and the 3rd West India Regiment, under Captain Brabazon,
the left. At about four hundred yards from the
stockade the field battery opened fire, and with such
precision that after a few rounds the roof of the mosque
and those of the adjacent houses were in flames.
Observing the disorder caused amongst the enemy by
the burning of their sacred building, Lieutenant-Colonel
O’Connor determined to seize the opportunity,
and storm.
The right and left divisions extended
in skirmishing order, the centre remaining in column,
and the whole advanced to the assault. The enemy
kept up a heavy fire from the loop-holes of their stockade,
over which the green flag was flying; but at the same
moment the three divisions, which had in advancing
formed a crescent, rushed at the stockade at three
different points, and, clambering over, got at the
enemy with the bayonet. This was more than they
could stand, and abandoning their stockade, they fled
down the streets and escaped through sally-ports in
the rear of the town.
A strong body of fanatics, however,
still held the mosque, the fire in the roof of which
they had succeeded in extinguishing, and, amid the
beating of war-drums and cries of “Allah”
from the priests, kept up a smart fire upon the troops
as they entered the large central square in which
the mosque stood. To have stormed the building
would have involved great sacrifice of life; the men,
therefore, were directed to occupy the houses enclosing
the square, and open fire, until the rockets could
be brought into play.
The second rocket fired whizzed through
the roof of the mosque, the defenders of which, however,
only increased their drumming and shouts of defiance,
for they were secure in their belief of the local tradition,
which said that the mosque was impregnable and indestructible.
In a very few minutes flames began to appear on the
roof, and, though the enemy worked hard to extinguish
it, it rapidly increased, until the mosque was untenable.
Dozens of the fanatics blew out their brains rather
than surrender, while others threw themselves out
of the windows and passages, and rushed sword in hand,
in a state of frenzy, upon the British. The coolness
and steadiness of the troops was, however, more than
a match for the mad rage of the Mandingoes, who were
shot down one after another, until the whole of the
defenders of the mosque were killed or made prisoners.
The remainder of the enemy, who fled at the storming
of the stockade, had taken refuge in the neighbouring
woods, and, the object of the engagement being accomplished
by the capture of the town, they were not pursued.
The stockade and mosque being destroyed,
the force left Sabbajee on June 4th, and returned
to Josswung, where, by an arrangement with the King
of Combo, a portion of that kingdom, including the
town of Sabbajee, was ceded to the British.
The mosque was a singularly strong
building, and for a day and a half resisted every
effort to pull it down, being eventually reduced to
ruins by blasting the walls with bags of gunpowder.
It consisted of a large central hall, with walls made
of baked clay, three feet in thickness, and an external
corridor running round the whole circumference of
the inner apartment. The roof, conical in shape,
was supported by six masonry pillars.
As the Gambia was still in an unsettled
state, Lieutenant-Colonel O’Connor deemed it
prudent to increase its garrison at the expense of
that of Sierra Leone. N Company of the 1st
West India Regiment was therefore detained at Bathurst,
and on June 8th, N Company, under Captain Murray,
proceeded in the Resistance to Sierra Leone.
On arriving at that station, on June 17th, Captain
Murray assumed the command of the troops.
N Company embarked at Sierra Leone
for Jamaica on June 22nd, arriving at Kingston on
August 5th. On October 18th the Resistance
returned from the West Indies with the remaining companies
destined for the quinquennial relief, and N Company,
embarking in her on October 22nd, reached Jamaica
on November 25th. The West African garrisons were
now as follows: At the Gambia, one company of
the 1st West India Regiment, two of the 2nd, and one
of the 3rd; at Sierra Leone, one of the 1st West India
Regiment, and one of the 3rd.
In the West Indies the following changes
had taken place: Nos. 7 and 8 Companies
had been moved in August from Nassau to Barbados and
Dominica respectively, and, in July, the light company
had proceeded from Nassau to Jamaica. In December,
1853, the distribution of the regiment was then as
follows: 4 companies at Jamaica, 2 at Barbados,
1 at Dominica, 1 at St. Christopher’s, 1 at
Sierra Leone, and 1 at the Gambia.
In September, 1854, the inhabitants
of Christiansborg, a Danish settlement on the Gold
Coast four miles from Accra, which had been recently
purchased by the British, rose in rebellion against
the Colonial authorities. The only armed force
then on the Gold Coast consisted of the Gold Coast
Artillery, recruited from amongst the Fanti tribes,
and this body the rebels blockaded in the Castle of
Christiansborg. On the outbreak of the rebellion,
the Lieutenant-Governor of the Gold Coast at once
sent to Sierra Leone for assistance; and, on the 12th
of October, the following detachments embarked at
Sierra Leone in H.M.S. Britomart and Ferret:
Lieutenant Strachan and 33 men of the 1st West India
Regiment, Captain Rookes and 46 men of the 2nd West
India Regiment, Lieutenant Haneahan and 31 men of
the 3rd West India Regiment. From the Gambia
were also despatched in the Colonial steamer Dover,
on the 24th of October: Ensign Anderson and 25
men of the 1st, Captain Mockler and 70 men of the
2nd, and Lieutenant Hill and 23 men of the 3rd West
India Regiment.
The troops from Sierra Leone and the
Gambia arrived at Christiansborg on the 27th of October
and the 7th of November respectively. Several
small skirmishes had taken place between the Gold
Coast artillery and the rebels without either side
gaining any material advantage; but, on the arrival
of the reinforcement from Sierra Leone, the siege was
raised, and the natives retired inland to some villages
on the plain behind Christiansborg. There, like
all undisciplined bodies, they gradually melted away;
the chiefs, finding their followers abandoning them,
were compelled to ask for terms; and directly negotiations
were opened, the detachments of the three West India
regiments re-embarked to return to Sierra Leone, sailing
from Christiansborg on the 12th of November.