Battle of Cotonou
On March 4, a Dahomey army of several thousand charged the log stockade around Cotonou at approximately 5 in the morning. This was usual for the Fon army of Dahomey that almost always marched at night and attacked just before dawn. Prying apart the stakes and shoving their muskets through, the Fon fired into the enclosure. Some even managed to surmount the 800-meter perimeter inflicting casualties within the walls. After four hours of intense fighting, often occurring hand-to-hand despite withering French firepower and even gunboat shells, the Fon force withdrew. The French sustained few losses, but the Fon suffered several hundred dead (129 within the French lines).
Read more about this topic: First Franco-Dahomean War
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