British soldiers come across the the horrific sight and smell of the Ashanti King's slaughtering place. Hundreds of skulls lie in heaps under the trees. The second Ashanti War fought between,1873-74, was between King Kofi Karikari, ruler of the Ashanti (or Asantehene), and the British. Both were trying to secure the coastal town of Elmina on the West Coast of Africa also known as the Gold Coast.