Gezo had tried to appease the British by moving away from the slave trade. However, he had soon reinstituted Dahomey’s man-selling traditions, among other things. This was done to restore Dahomey’s economy, but international events, as well as happenings among customer nations, set slavery well on the path to extinction. Dahomey’s failure to adapt would lead to its decline and justify its conquest by an even greater imperial power.
Chapter V: The Fall of Dahomey
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| Glele represented as a lion (Wikimedia) |
Attempt at
Resurgence
The
resurgent slave trade out of Ouidah proved short-lived. With the United States
sundered by civil war over the issues pertaining to slavery, Britain found a
more amenable anti-slavery party in the Republican-led Union. A new treaty
prevented slavers from using the United States flag as protection. As it
happens the last slave ship to sell in America, the Clotilda, came out of Ouidah. It arrived in Mobile Bay, Alabama, in
1860. At the same time the Spanish colony of Cuba was pressured to stop
purchasing human lives. Despite these closing markets, Dahomey still found many
places abroad to sell its human goods.
On the positive side, Dahomey revitalized their trade in agricultural exports. Though not as profitable as slaves or palm oil, agricultural goods did compensate for lower sales of these two economic staples. With the palm oil trade recovering in the mid-1860s, buyers from anti-slavery nations, foremost Britain, were drawn to Dahomey’s ports. European business firms competed with ex-slaving Brazilians and Portuguese for control of the agricultural trade. The firms had the advantage of secure financial backing.
Overseeing
these developments was Gezo’s son and successor Glele. Glele sought not just
economic resurgence, but vengeance. Within West Africa he targeted Dahomey’s
enemies with a continuance of slave raids. He also sought to avenge the 1851
disaster outside the walls of Abeokuta. He would start by attacking Ishagga,
where the chief had practically led Dahomey’s army to its defeat. In March
1862, Dahomey silently surrounded the town. Then the Agojie, who remembered the
1851 battle as their worst hour, started the assault before dawn. They killed
1,000 people and took 4,000 prisoner. The Dahomey leaders strung the heads of
Egba chiefs to their horses. They also seemed to have special hatred for
Christians, as they crucified one captured convert in Abomey. Oba Koko, one of
the chief engineers of Abeokuta’s victory, was beheaded. His executors boiled
his skull and embellished it with brass. Then they placed a helmet with a
drinking cup on it. The rest of the prisoners were to either be sold into
slavery or ritually sacrificed.
In
March 1863 the Dahomeans destroyed the town of Ibara and camped in sight of
Abeokuta, but lacked the nerve to attack it. It was in 1864 that Glele finally
went for the big prize. Like his father, he told a British man, Wilmot, of his
plans to “punish” Abeokuta and once again the foreigner sympathized with the
Egba and gave them a warning. Also by this time Abeokuta had become larger city of 100,000 people. Glele’s force
was roughly the same size as his father’s, with 10-12,000 soldiers. He tried a
more circuitous march to surprise the defenders, but Wilmot had put them on
high alert.
The
Egba, reinforced by several Yoruba allies, waited at the wall with three
field-guns bought from the British. On March 14-15 the approaching foe rested
at the Ogun River. Using morning fog as cover, they got close to the wall in
three columns and charged. One column went for the Aro gate, and the others
went to the left. This time the field guns added to the musketry, causing high
casualties among the attackers. The Agojie traversed the ditch and attempted to
scale the wall. They fired their muskets and threw stones. Those who reached
the parapet used their left hands to brush aside the Egba musket barrels and
then slash with machetes in their right hands. They managed to plant three
banners on the wall. One by one the defenders threw the climbers back into the
ditch, shooting them off or in some cases running the through or dismembering
them with their swords. Other Agojie discovered holes in the wall. The Egba had
constructed these to enable sorties against besieging forces and were aware
that the Dahomeans might try them. They waited at the other side with swords
and decapitated every female soldier who came through. Seeing her male peers
fall back, a disgusted woman sat in front of the wall with her back to the
enemy, smoking a pipe. This sign of contempt was met with many bullets, but all
missed. Finally a hunter took his time to aim and “slew the warrioress with his
first shot.” A total of four women made it past all the defenses where they
were cut down by musket fire.
As
in 1851, the Dahomeans retreated. Further clashes at Ibara and Ishagga created
a rout in which Glele lost his tent, sandals, and throne. Dahomean losses were
2,000 killed and 1,000 taken prisoner. The Egba claimed to have lost 50 killed
and 100 wounded. There would be no further assault on the city itself. Dahomey
would raid the outlying villages, prompting various battles until 1891.
Glele’s Rule
Glele proved unpopular with many of his subject. Traders at Ouidah stewed over heavy taxes on their various trades. This included foreign-born traders, who increasingly paid more and more to the king for the honor of doing business in Ouidah. The De Souza family had seen its fortunes wane with the decline of the slave trade. Now Glele sent his soldiers to seize their properties. When the De Souzas angrily protested, executions followed. Soon all the members were dead or gone. Free citizens tried to escape both taxes and Glele’s constant wars to supply the domestic slave market. By shifting more resources to the slave wars during his reign, Glele, deprived his other major exports of labor and cultivation. The slaves themselves realized that if they could make their way to a British port such as Lagos, they could find freedom.
Glele
also targeted the British. When he officially announced the resumption of the
slave trade. Like his predecessor, Glele asked the British not to intercept
slave ships “near his beach” and as usual the Royal Navy ignored him. He then
targeted the British Methodist Mission in Ouidah. The mission had been
tolerated as a way to keep good relations with Britain when Gezo tried to
reform his country more to the Europeans’ liking. Glele disdained Christianity.
Its teaching “forbids killing, selling [slaves[ and the worship of Fetish…If my
people be allowed to hear the word of God they will be changed and become
cowards and they will not serve the Fetish with me neither will they go to
war.” If tensions with Britain erupted into war, Glele instructed that the
missionaries be the first to be targeted. The Methodist mission withered, while
a newly established French Catholic mission remained.
Glele
appointed Ahanhanzo as his heir. Kondo, another son, challenged this. Their
main difference was their attitude towards Europeans. Ahanhanzo preferred
compromise and good relations with the Europeans, while Kondo wanted to resist
further changes. In 1876 Kondo won his case and became the heir apparent.
France Takes
Primacy
Trouble
stirred in the same year when Brazilian Jacinto da Costa Santos refused to sell
a certain type of cloth to Kondo on the grounds that he had none. A rival,
Juliao Felix de Souza, informed Kondo (or possible lied) that Santos had the
cloth in stock. Glele ordered an investigation which resulted in the seizure of
Santos’ property. Santos was actually working for a British firm. The British
demanded the return of property, and when Glele refused the British Navy boldly
proclaimed a fine 250 tons of palm oil on Dahomey for recompense. Glele of
course did not agree to this foreign demand. The British Navy began a 10 month
blockade.
The
blockade resulted in an anti-British backlash in Dahomey. After it was lifted,
those from the British isles never saw business in Ouidah again. In fact
Dahomey was able to partially revive the Trans-Atlantic slave trade by
exploiting a “contract worker” loophole. With one of their main colonial rivals
no longer interested in the region, France saw an opportunity to play a more aggressive
role. It could justify doing so, as Dahomean slave raids often intruded near
the ports they did business in. Trying to ward off French territorial
ambitions, Dahomey sought Portuguese support. Portugal agreed, turning Dahomey
into a protectorate in September 1885. This was the period of the Scramble for Africa, in which various European powers competed with each other by gobbling up the continent's lands. They justified these conquests on the moral grounds of civilizing non-whites, and holdout slaver kingdoms such as Dahomey were convenient targets.
Meanwhile
the constant invasions of neighbors continued. Glele’s army struck the Mahi,
but moreso the various Yoruba peoples to the north. One notable action was the
second conquest of Ketu in 1885. Ketu had fallen two years earlier and this
time its inhabitants were more prepared. A direct assault floundered in a
ditch, where half of the attackers were shot. Attempts to scale the wall or
force the gate open met with similarly heavy casualties. The Dahomeans
transitioned into a siege. Three months led to starvation, and Ketu’s chiefs
agreed to come out for a meal and negotiations. When they did so they were
seized and tied. The treacherous Dahomeans unleashed an attack that quickly
took the town, slaughtering or enslaving all within.
Dahomey’s
links with Portugal ended in 1887. It was believed that a local trader, Juliao
de Souza, who had helped facilitate the deal, had been imprisoned and executed
by Glele. Several prominent Dahomeans alleged that Juliao had been setting up
Dahomey for Portuguese conquest. With Portugal out of the way, France claimed
Cotonou as its own. Dahomey would not recognize this, with Glele telling the
French, “Absolutely no one, not even the king of Dahomey, ever gives his
possessions to any other nation.” The king backed up his words, ordering the
arrest and execution of officials who had signed away Cotonou.
1887
also saw Dahomey attack a village with a French trading post run by a
Senegalese. The Senegalese assured those within the post that Dahomey would respect
the French flag. Instead the attackers entered, killing and wounded everyone.
They dragged the Senegalese before their commander, who told him, “So you like
this French Flag? Eh bien, it will serve you.” He then had a female warrior
behead him and wrap the head in the French flag. A female captive, the
Senegalese’s own wife, was forced to carry the head to Glele.
Tensions
further flared thanks to domestic politics. One of Glele’s sons, Sasse Koka,
challenged Kondo’s position as heir. Sasse Koka opposed Kondo’s staunch
anti-French stance and called for an agreement with the Europeans. His
opposition would not bear any fruits. In December of 1889, Glele died. Kondo
took the throne and renamed himself Behanzin. His staunch anti-European stance,
along with his kingdom’s continued refusal to let go of slave-trading, set the
stage for Dahomey’s last days.
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| Benhazin Monument (Wikimedia) |
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| Behanzin portrayed as a shark-man |
The First Franco-Dahomean War
The
last straw for Dahomey came on March 4, 1890 in Cotonou. The French arrested several
Dahomean officials, driving home the point that they were the masters of
Cotonou. The French garrison, mostly black Senegalese and Gabonese troops,
grew. Kondo declared war and sent an army against the city. At first there were
small skirmishes throughout the countryside. Then over 3,000 Dahomeans
approached Cotonou. They used their usual tactics, sneaking up to the
defenders’ perimeter before dawn and then unleashing a loud assault. The Agojie
started it at 5 AM, going for a log stockade. They pried the wooden stakes
apart so they could thrust their barrels in and fire. Hand to hand fighting
began. Dahomeans experienced bayonets for the first time, many dying to them.
One Agojie, Nansica, made her way to the chief gunner and decapitated him. She
was killed in turn. One Gabonese soldier disarmed a woman, only for her to tear
into his throat with her teeth. No matter how fiercely the Agojie fought,
French firepower was too much. A gunboat off the coast fired shells into the
Dahomean ranks. The French found 127 dead Dahomeans along their line and many
more in the plains and woods. They suffered 8 killed and 26 wounded.
The
next battle came at Atchoupa on April 20. The French were no longer on the
defensive, having received reinforcements. 400 French-led soldiers, along with
3 field guns, planned to head off a 9,000 strong Dahomean force near Porto
Novo. King Tofa of Porto Novo contributed a 500 man unit to help out. At 7 AM
the Dahomeans opened fire on Tofa’s contingent, killing the royal prince. Their
attack, however, failed to break the line and the French organized their force
into a square. The Dahomeans launched multiple attacks on this formation. Each
time they closed in, advanced, breech loading rifles and artillery tore into
them. The Dahomeans still had muzzle-loading flintlocks, so they could not tear
unto the French ranks from afar as they were badly outranged.
They then tried to get around the French and cut them off from Porto Novo. The square simply withdrew, pausing to deliver deadly volleys into the Dahomean ranks. Only the Agojie were able to reach the square. It was hand-to-hand combat, which usually would have favored the women. But the French and their Africans proved able to defend themselves with their bayonets. Thanks to the length of the barrels to which the bayonets were attached, they actually outranged the Dahomeans in this form of combat as well. At 10 AM the square came within sight of Porto Novo. The Dahomeans fell back, with casualties numbering from 600 to 1,500. It was a lopsided victory for the French and Tofa’s soldiers with only 8 dead and 57 wounded. Furthermore a large portion of these losses came from the initial action in which the Dahomeans sparred with Tofa’s 500. Not one man in the French square was killed.
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| Behanzin smoke a pipe |
In light of this horrific defeat, Behanzin conceded defeat. On October 3 the victorious French gained acceptance of Cotonou as theirs. In turn they would give annual payments of 20,000 Francs. This peace deal left Ouidah as Dahomey’s only major link to the sea. Behanzin and others were not ready to accept this, however. The king planned for another war which would restore Dahomey’s lost territory. In 1891 it worked to upgrade its arsenal. Soldiers received breech-loading rifles from Europe and America. Behanzin further sought out Krupp artillery pieces and machine guns. He increasingly grew confident of a victorious rematch.
The Second Franco-Dahomean
War
In
March 1892 Dahomey incurred French wrath by once again raiding Porto Novo
lands. Victor Ballot, a Frenchman, went upriver on the gunboat Topaze to investigate. Dahomeans
attacked the ship, wounding 5 soldiers. War had started again, and Behanzin was
very confident. “The first time I was ignorant of how to make war, but now I
know.” Unlike the first war with France, which was over the rights to a port
city and its environs, this one had much higher stakes. France had been on the
defensive the first time. Now it would go on the offensive.
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| Dahomeans fire on the Topaze |
For the invasion of Dahomey France chose Colonel Alfred-Amedee Dodds, who was part black (one of my sources said one-eighth, another one-quarter), as the commander. He arrived in May to preside of a force that included Foreign Legionnaires, marines, engineers, mounted Senegalese spahis, Senegalese tirailleurs (infantry), and various local African riflemen who had no love for Dahomey. Altogether he counted 2,164 men, 930 of them Africans (there was likely much more Africans then were listed). 2,600 Porto Novo porters were to accompany them with their goods.
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| Alfred-Amedee Dodd was a seasoned veteran, having fought at the Sedan in the 1870-1871 Franco-Prussian War. |
On June 15 the French navy blockaded the coast. Gunboats went on the Oueme River and shelled villages on July 4. The actual invasion began on September 14 when Dodd’s forced assembled on the Porto Novo-Dahomey border. Five days later 4-5,000 Dahomeans attacked at Dogba. After six attacks in 3 hours, they retreated, leaving hundreds of their dead. The French Lebel rifles had the ability to penetrate palm trees, depriving their foes of reliable cover. One Senegalese spahi had the misfortune to be captured. The Agojie slowly tortured and mutilated him. One French officer said that fighting the Agojie was “neither very chivalrous nor very French,” but stoked the soldiers’ excitement and curiosity. Battle accounts often played up encounters with these Amazons in comparison to other foes. For many the sight of women would be unpleasant, especially when they found dead Agojie torn up by Lebel bullets.
The French moved 15 miles north, then turned west towards Abomey. On October 4 they clashed with 10,000 Dahomeans at the Battle of Poguessa. A group of Agojie burst out of the bushes on the flank, right into a company of Hausa allies. Senegalese infantry came to the rescue, halting the women’s momentum with their bayonets. One of the warriors aimed for a French cavalry captain, striking his horse instead. The woman ran up to the officer and tried to pull him in for a blow of her sword, but a Senegalese corporal stopped her with his own sword. In another part of the battle a female warrior bit off the nose of a French marine prior to being shot. Having weathered a couple attacks, the French executed a bayonet charge that proved highly successful. The long blades, attached to long rifles, outranged Dahomey swords. After this the bayonet charge became their favorite tactic of the war. The Dahomeans fled again, this time leaving 200 of their dead on the field. The French force suffered 42 casualties. A good number of the casualties came from Agojie wielding repeating Winchester rifles. Another battle at Adegon saw another bayonet charge drive back the Dahomeans with large losses. The Agojie suffered terribly here, with only 17 out of 434 warriors returning.
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| Illustrated article on the Battle of Poguessa |
Desperate to halt the French and unable to break their lines in assault, the Dahomeans began to dig out fox holes and trenches. These actions did not prevent the French from moving closer and closer to Abomey while inflicting more bloody defeats. Attempts to sneak on the French met with failure. In one of these actions the Agojie actually burst into the French camp and surrounded Colonel Dodds’ tent. If Dodds was inside, then he was saved by a Senegalese bayonet charge. In another incident women tried to creep up on French having lunch in a bean field. The soldiers found out what was happening and mowed them down.
The big battle occurred at Cana from November 2-4. Behanzin gathered 1500 soldiers for what he had to know was his last stand. His reduced force was supplemented with slaves and convicts. He distributed gin among the troops to get their courage up. On November 3 he ordered an all-out assault on the French camp. Commander Dodds credited the Dahomeans for their audacity, though one historian disdainfully wrote that he could not distinguish “bravery from alcohol,” referencing Behanzin’s distribution of gin. Indeed, empty or half-full bottles liquor bottles littered the field. Female elephant hunters entered the fray with instructions to aim for French officers. Overall, November 4 was “one of the most murderous” days of the Franco-Dahomean War, once again favoring the French in terms of casualties inflicted.
On
November 5 a French bayonet charge secured another victory at the village of
Diokoue. This was the last battle of the war. The next day a Dahomean group
came to the French under truce. A peace could not be reached. Dodds ordered a
march on Abomey on the 16th. Defiant to the end, Behanzin had his
capital evacuated, but not before ordering that it be burned down. The French
entered the next day, raising the flag over the still mostly intact palace. This
palace is still around today, a reminder of Dahomey’s glory days.
Overall
Dahomey suffered 2-4,000 killed, depending on the source. Franco-African forces
ended up at 85 killed and 440 wounded. The number of dead rose to 292 when
counting those who succumbed to dysentery, malaria, and other diseases. Behanzin
avoided capture until 1894. In January of that year his brother Goutchili
became the puppet king of Dahomey. Behanzin came out of hiding to surrender and
went into exile with fives wives in Martinique. Goutchili did not get to reign
for long. In 1900 France ended the monarchy and substituted direct rule under
white colonial authorities.
Ouidah
was at first comfortable with the French conquest. To the merchants there
Dahomey had always been an unwelcome authority. From their perspective they had
simply traded one foreign dominator for another, and at that one that could be
much more profitable and absent of the less pleasant aspects of the Dahomean
kings. They were disappointed. The French did not restore the property seized
by their former rulers. They also preferred to continue their investment in
Cotonou and Porto Novo. This resulted in Ouidah’s decline.
Legacy
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| The Door of No Return remembers the many unfortunates shipped off to slavery across the Atlantic |
Early in the 20th Century the Dahomeans might still have had no feelings of guilt and shame over their involvement in the slave trade. In 1908 the French destroyed one of the European built forts. There was no practical reason, so this seen as a way of destroying a symbol of their complicity in human trafficking. The locals, however, protested, claiming the fort was an important marker of their history. Whether this was out of a sense of preserving history or a longing for their former role as a power player is not clear. In fact Benin studied the effects of the slave trade on those who profited from it rather than the victims. To them contact with the Europeans brought prosperity and benefits of western civilization.
 |
| Another monument remembering the slave trade with an admittedly creepy visual of a gagged captive. |
Regardless, monuments stand in Ouidah calling attention to the hundreds of thousands of unfortunate victims who were sold off to European and American buyers. Thanks to the all-female warrior units, Dahomey has received considerable attention in western fiction. Following France’s conquest of Dahomey, popular shows focused on female warriors (but almost never using actual real ones), toured Europe. Of the novels written, the most well-known is Bruce Chatwin’s The Viceroy of Ouidah. The story focuses on a fictionalized version of Francisco Felix de Souza who seeks to make his fortune in the slave trade in the early 19th Century.
German director Werner Herzog adapted Chatwin’s novel, though he greatly altered the story by resetting it in the late 19th Century. He even retitled it Cobra Verde (1987). This time the protagonist is charged with resuscitating the slave trade in Dahomey, which he does successfully. Like most Herzog works, however, the main character’s ambitions are undone. 35 years later Hollywood released the Woman King (of which I did a review). Like many works on Dahomey it was focused on the female Agojie warriors. Controversially it sought to turn them into heroes while finding ways to downplay Dahomey’s less savory aspects. This controversy has brought more attention to the history of Dahomey amidst various contemporary debates and wars over racial politics, gender ideology, and blame for slavery.
Dahomey
was just one of numerous small kingdoms throughout Africa. Thanks to a
combination of the slave trade, female warriors, Vodun religion, and human
sacrifices, it has found its own notable niche in African history, appealing to
westerners’ fascination with the exotic while also casting more light on the universality
of the sin of slavery.
Sources
Akinjogbin,
I.A. Dahomey and it’s Neighbours: 1708-1818. Cambridge University
Press, 1967.
“Alfred-Amedee
Dodds.” https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alfred-Amedee-Dodds.
Alpern, Stanley
BB. Amazons of Black Sparta: The Women Warriors of Dahomey. New
York: New York University Press, 1998.
Asiwaju, A.I.
“Dahomey, Yorubaland, Borgu and Benin in the nineteenth century” in General
History of Africa Vol. VI: Africa in the Nineteenth Century. UNESCO, 1989:
699-723.
Davidson, Basil
(ed.). The African Past: Chronicles from Antiquity to Modern Times.
Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1964.
Herskovits,
Melville J. Dahomey: An Ancient West African Kingdom. New York:
J.J. Augustin, 1938.
“Kingdom of
Dahomey,” https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Kingdom_of_Dahomey.
Law,
Robin. Ouidah: The Social History of a West African Slaving ‘Port,’
1727-1892. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2004.
Ronen,
Dov. Dahomey: Between Tradition and Modernity. Ithaca: Cornell
University Press, 1975.
Wexler, Ellen. “These Descendants Never Forgot the Story of the Last American Slave Ship.” https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/Descendant-documentary-clotilda-africatown-last-slave-ship-180980978/#:~:text=For%20historians%2C%20the%20Clotilda%20holds,in%20what%20is%20now%20Benin.
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