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Updated: May 7, 2025
It was now agreed that nothing could be done, and the force marched back to Fumsu. They recrossed the river, by means of a rope stretched from bank to bank, and arrived long after dark. Next day it was determined to make another trial but, for a long time, no one was able to suggest where a crossing of the swollen river might be effected.
By eight o'clock they reached Fumsu, which was held by a company of soldiers under Quartermaster Sergeant Thomas; who informed them that all the troops ahead were perilously situated, short of food and ammunition, and crippled with casualties. He tried to dissuade them from going farther, saying: "You are simply walking into a death trap. It is not fighting, it is murder.
Colonel Wilkinson telegraphed orders to a force, which had started two days before, to halt at Fumsu until he joined them with the newly-arrived contingents.
Colonel Willcocks now had four hundred and fifty men, under Captain Hall, at Kwisa and Bekwai; Captain Slater a handful of men at Kwisa; Colonel Wilkinson a company at Fumsu; Colonel Carter the two hundred soldiers just landed on the line of march, and three hundred men from Northern Nigeria. Nine hundred reinforcements were known to be on their way.
No resistance was met with, as far as Fumsu; but it was found that a foot bridge that had been thrown across the river was washed away, and communication with the other bank was thus cut off. To the disgust of the officers and men, they were called out to a false alarm and, when dismissed, went back to bed grumbling.
One end of the raft was then attached to this wire, by a noose that worked along it; and this contrivance enabled the swiftest streams to be triumphantly crossed, the loads of rice, meanwhile, being kept dry. The success of the experiment created a general feeling of relief. On that day, an escort of fifty soldiers and some more ammunition came in, to reinforce the little garrison at Fumsu.
A company was sent to Kwisa to guard the main road, which was now reopened for traffic. Convoys went up and down along the entire route, bringing up supplies of all sorts; but those going north of Fumsu still required strong escorts. Large parties went out foraging, almost daily, to villages and farms for miles round.
Captain Wilson was, unfortunately, killed in the engagement. His body was put into a hammock and taken to Fumsu, a march of thirty-three miles. The force then returned to the Prah with the wounded, leaving only a small garrison of fifty men, under a British corporal. It was a terrible march.
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