Stock Photo - Colonel Francis Worgan Festing (1833û1886), rescuing the body of Lieut. Eardley-Wilmot during the Ashanti War (1873-74) from a sketch by the officer of the expedition. Eardley-Wilmot was shot down by the Ashantees whilst cheering on his men(the Houssa Artillery) in the second engagement near Dunquah, Ghana. Under heavy fire, Col. Festing dashed forward, lifted Wilmot into his arms and bore him to saftey, sustaining a severe wound in the hip. The stick in the Colonel's hand is a stout blackthorn, which is always carried for the purpose of 'encouraging' the men. In 1873, after decades of an uneasy relationship between the British and the Acing people of central Ghana, the British attacked and virtually destroyed the Asanti capital of Kumasi, and officially declared Ghana a crown colony on 24 July 1874.