Mid December 1822, a biracial African-British sergeant from the Royal African Corps who acted as the agent between the British and the Asante was said to have shown 'disrespect' to the Asante King Osei Tutu Quamina. Captain Laing offered to retrieve the Sergeant but was denied by MacCarthy. Therefore, at the Kings request, the Sergeant was captured and left in prison in Kumasi until the 1st February 1823, when again at the behest of the King, killed the Sergeant with orders 'to send the jawbone, skull, and one of the arms ... to [Osei]' by the following day from Anomabu, such actions being considered a declaration of war by the British. With this a small British group under the guidance of MacCarthy went ahead to talk with the Ashanti, but instead 10 were killed, 39 wounded and led to a British retreat. The Ashanti then tried to negotiate with MacCarthy over claims for Fante land which as the Fante fell under British protection, such claims were rejected leading to the first Anglo-Ashanti war in 1824. MacCarthy who led the initial British attack of 500–1000 men, died in Accra when the Ashanti with a force of 10,000, won the battle and took MacCarthy's skull, and encrusting it with gold they used it as a spoil of war. After the British victory at the Katamanso War, Accra and British prestige rose in the area, with the British no longer paying rent in the forts. With the MacClean treaty of 1831, all British territory became south of the River Prah. Kwaku Dua I encouraged trade with MacCleans administration but by 1852 disputes between the Ashanti and Fante began anew.
