After much fighting and suffering great casualties, the British Expedition Force Advance take Benin City late in the evening.
Extract from A DIARY OF A SURGEON WITH THE BENIN PUNITIVE EXPEDITION' By FELIX N. ROTH, M.R.C.S., and L.R.C.P.
On February the 18th we left Awako, with the whole force, our black troops leading. We marched from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. without stopping, being fired on continually in the dense bush, which we returned with volleys from rifles and Maxims. At 1 p.m. we came to a clearing in the path, and about a mile ahead was the city. We put some rockets and seven-pounder shells into the place, and then started off again. Again and again we were fired into, and then suddenly diverged from the dense bush into the main thoroughfare leading into Benin, which is about 60 yards broad here. The firing was very hot. Then the enemy collected on the opposite side of the road in the bush and trees, and kept up a hot fire, killing and wounding a lot of our men. They had made a sort of embankment which, owing to the dense bush, could not be seen; they fired over this and then dropped down, so that until some of our troops passed this place and the natives were afraid of being cut off, they peppered us fearfully. I was in the middle of it, and feeling most uncomfortable, dressing the men's wounds, and stopping their bleeding to the best of my ability. I did not like it at all, as I then noticed, by the ping of the bullets, that the natives must be using repeating rifles, the firing being so heavy and quickly delivered. I have never seen anything like it before; the grass was in patches only about two feet high, and I was obliged to crawl with my black boy Charles from one wounded to another. Luckily the very severely wounded had been carried under cover by their comrades, and although I found several slightly wounded, with a little persuasion I managed to get them to crawl under cover by themselves, my stretcher party having disappeared, with the hammocks and stretchers, as soon as the firing commenced. Poor Captain Byrne and his company of 60 men were the ones that suffered most, the former being severely wounded in the spine, and sixteen of the latter killed and wounded. There was no naval doctor with these men, and as I was just in front, and seeing how they got bowled over, I was obliged to fall back and do my best for them. Ultimately I got under cover myself. While attending to the wounded I was informed that several more were lying out in the road, and as nobody volunteered to bring them in, I told my black boy Charles to do so. I could not go myself, as I was too busy tying up wounds, so Charles went out and brought in a wounded carrier. Shortly afterwards he again went out, followed by Lieutenant Beamish, and brought in a wounded marine. It was lucky neither of them was hit, as the natives tried to pot them from the ambush. All of us agreed that Charles behaved splendidly; he was very cool, and did not seem to mind the bullets at all, although they were hitting the ground and throwing up the sand around him. While under cover I noticed three of the men in a dying condition; others were shrieking, cursing, and damning the natives. One man implored me to let him have his revolver back, that he might shoot himself, the agony he suffered being so great. As I was leaning over him, trying to relieve his pain, unseen by me he pulled my loaded revolver out of its case, but I was just in time to knock it out of his hand. Afterwards he tried to get hold of a marine's rifle. The poor chap must have been suffering agonies, while all around him the wounded and dying were shrieking for water, blaspheming the natives, and crying for help ; others, again, were helping one another, tying up their wounds, and trying to staunch the bleeding. It was a curious sight to see the unwounded, with their arms round the necks of the wounded, talking to them in tender, womanish words. Every now and again I could hear one man saying to another softly—" All right, don't give way, I'll look after you—I won't let the natives get at you—I'll kill and revenge those brutes," etc., etc. All these expressions, intermingled with oaths, but in a nice way, trying to soothe the wounded. I wish I could express here what I saw the men must have felt for one another. The whole thing was most heartrending. In the meantime the main column had rushed up the big thoroughfare, but what happened I cannot tell you, as I stayed behind with the wounded. Shortly afterwards the rear of the main column came up to us, and the poor, wounded men felt somehow safe again. By this time the head of the column had rushed the king's compound. After dispersing the natives with Maxims and volley firing, Benin City was ours. When the expedition started the authorities had only a slight idea of the position of Benin City. The fetish, too, being very strong in the Bini country, it was impossible for us to get any guides, and we had to rely for the path which led to Benin on two human beings—one being a dumb man and the other a small slave boy, as already mentioned. Between these two there was generally a discussion as to which was the direct and shortest road to the city. We always took our chance, and relied mostly on the man, and luckily hit off the right road the whole way.
References
1) Bacon, R. H. Benin City of Blood, 1897
2) Bacon, R. Admiral Sir, Benin Expedition, A Naval Scrap-Book, First Part, 1877 – 1900: 197 – 207
3) Boisragon, A. The Benin Massacre,1897
4) Roth, H. L. 1903 appendix 11 cited Roth N. F. A DIARY OF A SURGEON WITH THE BENIN PUNITIVE EXPEDITION'
Extract from A DIARY OF A SURGEON WITH THE BENIN PUNITIVE EXPEDITION' By FELIX N. ROTH, M.R.C.S., and L.R.C.P.
On February the 18th we left Awako, with the whole force, our black troops leading. We marched from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. without stopping, being fired on continually in the dense bush, which we returned with volleys from rifles and Maxims. At 1 p.m. we came to a clearing in the path, and about a mile ahead was the city. We put some rockets and seven-pounder shells into the place, and then started off again. Again and again we were fired into, and then suddenly diverged from the dense bush into the main thoroughfare leading into Benin, which is about 60 yards broad here. The firing was very hot. Then the enemy collected on the opposite side of the road in the bush and trees, and kept up a hot fire, killing and wounding a lot of our men. They had made a sort of embankment which, owing to the dense bush, could not be seen; they fired over this and then dropped down, so that until some of our troops passed this place and the natives were afraid of being cut off, they peppered us fearfully. I was in the middle of it, and feeling most uncomfortable, dressing the men's wounds, and stopping their bleeding to the best of my ability. I did not like it at all, as I then noticed, by the ping of the bullets, that the natives must be using repeating rifles, the firing being so heavy and quickly delivered. I have never seen anything like it before; the grass was in patches only about two feet high, and I was obliged to crawl with my black boy Charles from one wounded to another. Luckily the very severely wounded had been carried under cover by their comrades, and although I found several slightly wounded, with a little persuasion I managed to get them to crawl under cover by themselves, my stretcher party having disappeared, with the hammocks and stretchers, as soon as the firing commenced. Poor Captain Byrne and his company of 60 men were the ones that suffered most, the former being severely wounded in the spine, and sixteen of the latter killed and wounded. There was no naval doctor with these men, and as I was just in front, and seeing how they got bowled over, I was obliged to fall back and do my best for them. Ultimately I got under cover myself. While attending to the wounded I was informed that several more were lying out in the road, and as nobody volunteered to bring them in, I told my black boy Charles to do so. I could not go myself, as I was too busy tying up wounds, so Charles went out and brought in a wounded carrier. Shortly afterwards he again went out, followed by Lieutenant Beamish, and brought in a wounded marine. It was lucky neither of them was hit, as the natives tried to pot them from the ambush. All of us agreed that Charles behaved splendidly; he was very cool, and did not seem to mind the bullets at all, although they were hitting the ground and throwing up the sand around him. While under cover I noticed three of the men in a dying condition; others were shrieking, cursing, and damning the natives. One man implored me to let him have his revolver back, that he might shoot himself, the agony he suffered being so great. As I was leaning over him, trying to relieve his pain, unseen by me he pulled my loaded revolver out of its case, but I was just in time to knock it out of his hand. Afterwards he tried to get hold of a marine's rifle. The poor chap must have been suffering agonies, while all around him the wounded and dying were shrieking for water, blaspheming the natives, and crying for help ; others, again, were helping one another, tying up their wounds, and trying to staunch the bleeding. It was a curious sight to see the unwounded, with their arms round the necks of the wounded, talking to them in tender, womanish words. Every now and again I could hear one man saying to another softly—" All right, don't give way, I'll look after you—I won't let the natives get at you—I'll kill and revenge those brutes," etc., etc. All these expressions, intermingled with oaths, but in a nice way, trying to soothe the wounded. I wish I could express here what I saw the men must have felt for one another. The whole thing was most heartrending. In the meantime the main column had rushed up the big thoroughfare, but what happened I cannot tell you, as I stayed behind with the wounded. Shortly afterwards the rear of the main column came up to us, and the poor, wounded men felt somehow safe again. By this time the head of the column had rushed the king's compound. After dispersing the natives with Maxims and volley firing, Benin City was ours. When the expedition started the authorities had only a slight idea of the position of Benin City. The fetish, too, being very strong in the Bini country, it was impossible for us to get any guides, and we had to rely for the path which led to Benin on two human beings—one being a dumb man and the other a small slave boy, as already mentioned. Between these two there was generally a discussion as to which was the direct and shortest road to the city. We always took our chance, and relied mostly on the man, and luckily hit off the right road the whole way.
References
1) Bacon, R. H. Benin City of Blood, 1897
2) Bacon, R. Admiral Sir, Benin Expedition, A Naval Scrap-Book, First Part, 1877 – 1900: 197 – 207
3) Boisragon, A. The Benin Massacre,1897
4) Roth, H. L. 1903 appendix 11 cited Roth N. F. A DIARY OF A SURGEON WITH THE BENIN PUNITIVE EXPEDITION'