V. THE SOFAS OF DOBADAGU...SAMORI'S ARMY
The army with which the Alamamy confronted his new enemy was of a type unique to West Africa and perhaps to all of the continent. It had its origins in the warrior traditions of the Mandingo and the organizational abilities of the Muslim Dyula.
Samori Toure, the Alamany, as a young man.
But the old Mandingo "militia' was replaced by an organized standing army. Squads of 10 men were formed into permanent companies (or "bolos") of 200 men, each commanded by a mounted officer known as 'bolokuntigi'. Horsemen were organized in troops ("sere") of about 50 men. Eventually, the Alamasy augmented these forces with trained companies of 'sharpshooters' (known as 'sofas") containing 150 Ben. These basic forces were mobilized and stationed throughout the Empire in field armies.
The central nucleus (commanded by the Alamamy himself) was in an area known as the Foroba (or "great field', referring to the 200 sq. kms. near Bissandugu laid out in stateowned agricultural plantations). Within the Foroba Sasori maintained 8,000-10,000 veteran troops, Surrounding this nucleus were up to five provinces, each with its own field army averaging 5,000 troops commanded by a 'general' known as a "Keletigi."
These armies were recruited from many sources. Canquered warriors were given their freedom for enlisting in the army, but the heart of each army was always an elite of regular (and eventually trained and uniformed) Mandingo troops. Each army had a large proportion of soldiers in the "bolo" formations, but it was the "sofa" organization that was unique.
This was essentially an infantry force though its elite bore the paradoxical name of 'sofa' (meaning 'horse father'). The term case from the Sudanese military tradition in which each warrior was a cavalryman or at least a groom for such a trooper. By Sasori's time, however, a "sofa' was in essence a soldier armed with a gun. Sofas in Sasori's army were trained, uniformed and armed in European fashion supported by cavalry, and when possible (which was rarely) by artillery.
Sasori's state provided modern weapons, uniforms, ammunition, training and horses for the army, a feat no sere tribal coalition was ever able to do. Each of these factors so unique to African warfare is worth discussing. Sofas of Dobadagu: Samori's Army Dress, Uniforms, and Equipment Unit Formations of European Type
The early Samorian army like all of those of old Africa, ignored uniforms. It is easy to be misled in reading contemporary French accounts since for French readers the very idea of organized troops without uniforms was inconceivable. In describing the so-called "uniform" of the "sofas' one French source wrote, 'the clothing for the foot soldiers consisted of a cap, a narrow smock made out of domestic yellow fabric divided diagonally by a red cord holding the saber, large pants narrowing at the ankles and sandals.
The costume of horsemen was made up of a large hat adorned by a tuft of leather strips set on a turban, a yellow smock with black stripes spangled with amulets, worn over a large red smock, wide Arab blue pants, leg gaiters, copper or steel spurs and sandals. The saddle in use by thee is a reduction of the Arab saddle."
This description is quite accurate since the author had seen a parade given in his honor at Bissandugu. But the interpretation that this was a 'uniform' is incorrect. An infantry soldier or horseman in Samori's early armies had to pay for his own clothes as he did for the ones needed by his servants. Consequently, each soldier did not follow any rules except the ones dictated by custom.
Nevertheless troops of a "bolo", set-up by its commander in a specified garrison, necessarily had to deal with the same dyers and tailors for their clothes. This resulted in a certain casual uniformity.
Simple Soldier
The simple soldier (for economic reasons) chose strong domestic fabrics normally dyed dark yellow or light brown. This was the color of warriors and hunters. For the chiefs, all horsemen, the use of European fabrics, or luxury local dyes, allowed a vast variety of colors. Chiefs, for example, were the only ones who could use white as an embroidery background. If the quality of fabrics varied a great deal, the pieces of clothing nonetheless were almost always the sate. Almost all chiefs as a matter of custom had their heads shaved.
In the areas at the forest edge the pagan animists wore their hair braided in three little queues, one an each temple and one on the occiput. Braids were cut-off the heads of prisoners and volunteer but not from the enlisted men of the 'reserve'.
The Sofas themselves didn't have their head completely shaved like their chiefs. They had a most peculiar hair- do consisting of a small tuft of hair on top of the head decorated with amulets, another tuft on each side of the head and one at the nape of the neck.
Many of the men and all of the chiefs following Samori's example covered their eyelids with antimony (Kale') to give depth to their look. They wore small gold earrings at the edge of their ears, rings and a leather strap around their necks holding amulets.
The hair styles, however, were rarely visible since the head was invariably covered with a conical hat (donibali) or a white cotton bag which hung on the side like a Phrygian cap. The Muslim skull-cap was not generally in use, although many people at the court of the Alamasy wore red fezzes. Only chiefs wore turbans around their head. These turbans were normally red or some other bright color. Black was forbidden for use since this color was reserved for the Alamamy.
The universal headgear was the well-known conical hat so dear to Sudanese. This hat often closely resembled a Chinese 'coolie" hat, although its shape varied slightly, with the brim somewhat widened and the cone deeper. Its structure was fairly uniform throughout the region with a wicker frame held together by a leather edge which was often decorated on the fringe and at the top. The top was adorned either by a tuft of leather straps or sometimes by feathers. A large chinstrap enabled the wearer to attach it under the chin or let the hat fall behind the neck.
A few chiefs also wore the tutu-tutu, a tall stiff cylindrical cap or bonnet entirely covered with long rectangular leather sacks, sometimes adorned with metal trims, containing amulets. This head-dress, often worn by traditional chiefs, was rarely seen at the court of the Alamasy, although some of his sons wore it.
The dorokes or smocks commonly worn all had the same large neck-line but their length varied a great deal. Footmen's smocks stopped at aid-thigh and horsemen's stopped at aid-calf. Some were superbly embroidered and of course reserved for chiefs. Those for foot-soldiers were made of strips of rough cotton material and covered with amulets sewn into square leather sacks.
The Sudanese pants (kursi) were well-known for their huge bottom and the legs cut over the knee. Problems with these pantaloons in combat caused Sasori to make his first decision regarding a true uniform for his soldiers. During the fight of Day Kaba in 1881 he observed that the wide pants had prevented the sofas from properly running and saneauvering. He, therefore, ordered that the footmen be equipped with kursis without sagging bottoms or with tight pants coming down to the ankle (zarabu). Tradition insists that the Sovereign's will was strictly obeyed in the Foroba and that Sasori provided such pants, but it doesn't appear that the same thing was true in all the armies.
The footmen had bare legs and for extended marches wore cow-hide sandals (sabara). the less fortunate horsemen added leg gaiters of leather. Others wore boots of Moorish pearl style. The richest insisted that their boots be magnificent as a sign of their prestige. Cavalrymen strapped on steel or brass spurs, according to their means, while the poorest riders attached thee to their naked feet.
Elite Troops
As his armies grew Samori began to impose real a uniform at least for his elite troops. This initiative, if not always successful aesthetically, is nevertheless significant because it was the starting point of a vast effort to imitate European military techniques. Sometime prior to 1882 Samori began to dress his elite sofas in blue cotton pants, green jackets, and a fez made from a wool blanket dyed in red (but actually turned into a dirty rust color).
It was probably between 1882 and 1886 that the Sovereign gave his guards a better dress of a dark blue uniform with a red chechia (fez) and red belt or sash. The same men got the first modern arms as soon as they were available to their master and were quickly trained in the European manner, This uniform was then adopted by the sofas of Dabadugu, an outgrowth of the Guard, and then became the model for elite formations in all of Saeori's armies.
Although the red fez, dark blue tunic and white or blue trousers were widespread, not all foot troops wore that uniform. After 1893 an increasing number of sofas were regimented in companies dressed and maneuvering in the European style.
Sasori's armies also contained large numbers of less well-trained and equipped infantry. Without imposing a specific uniform on thee, it seems that the Alamamy wanted thee to dress as such as possible like the white men. Thus the French account of a parade seen in 1897, "four companies of sofas marching four by four, a rifle on their shoulder. They are given orders in French by their leaders and present arms as they pass. Their equipment is often laughable. They wore European clothes of all shapes, morning coats, frock coats, and other formal wear. Their headgear consisted of chechias, native caps, or felt hats. Their pants, white or blue, are tailored in a native fashion."
An Englishman seeing a similar parade in 1897 described the soldiers as 'a motley crowd, gaudily attired in old military uniforms tolerably well kept.'
Weapons
Although rifles, such sought after, were the primary Weapon of the Sasorian soldier, they remained generally rare unless provided by the state. Therefore, they did not eliminate other offensive weapons.
The Sasorians had no defensive arms, unless one considers the "magic' of their amulets. It is clear that the spread of firearms brought about the quick disappearance of shields because of their ineffectiveness against bullets. In the entire southern Sudanese region, where the rifle had been known for several centuries, defensive shields existed only in the most remote areas.
Bows and arrows were still frequently used for hunting. For numerous tribes of western Africa, and not only strictly isolated paleo-Negra groups, bows and arrows remained the only means to strike from a distance. In the entire southern Sudanese region arrows were poisoned with strophantus, a vegetable preparation. Use was common among the people of the southern border (Kisi, Tama and Guerze), as well as along the Senufo. In 1888, when Sasorian forces under Tyeba found themselves without gunpowder a great deal of their defense was assured by very skillful archers. The Samorians reverted back to these old methods of warfare again on the Volta in 1895-97 where they were very effective.
Although bladed weapons were widely used, we should note the differences between infantry and cavalry "swords.' The former wore a knife (suru) attached to his belt and a saber (fa, suru-ba, or basuru) hanging from a shorter strap, usually a red straw card. This weapon, wide , curved and quite short, was not very sharp. It was particularly defensive and used more often for chores during halts than for combat. It was useful to clean up the bivouac and for cutting firewood, to build huts and to fortify a position. For hand to hand combat infantrymen resorted to the javelin whose role was similar to the bayonet.
Cavalry
Horsemen could be more heavily loaded so they added to the arms mentioned above. Cavalrymen carried both the lance of about two meters in length, made of a large blade mounted on a 'latanier' handle, and a strong, sharp hook whose handle was a little shorter than a lance. This was used to unhorse an enemy.
As did all the chiefs, the cavalry always substituted a more noble arm for the foot soldiers' saber. This was a short, sharp, double-edged sward (sirawa). None of these accessory weapons were costly. Their acquisition was the responsibility of the soldier, except in the case of captives who had been turned into sofas by the "keletigi.'
Horsemen also provided their own horse's equipment, which was, conversely, very expensive. The Sasorians' horses were not as heavily harnassed as those from Bbrnu or Hausa. They were only covered with a saddle rug and sosetimes had a breast-piece, Two satchels hung ahead of the saddle, which contained various objects including a stake and a lead. The saddle rugs were often brightly colored and sometimes embroidered.
The horseman's pride, however, was his saddle and spurs. He displayed his wealth or expectations through their quality as well as that of his garments. The red or yellow saddle was often embellished in a style similar to his boots. The spurs had large flat soles which were either very plain, side out of steel, or made of brass crafted using the lost-Nax method and delicately ornate.
An English observer in 1890 described 'brightly caparisoned horses, with red being the dominant color, men Nearing bright red, dark blue or wide white robes which looked even sore exotic billowing in the wind.'
Besides all of these individual items which expressed the personality of the warrior, the Alamamy or his representatives were responsible for providing two essential elements: firearms and horses.
Samori was the first ruler of the Upper Niger ever able to provide rifles to essentially all of his men. The resulting tactical superiority insured his preponderance over all but the best organized opponents. These weapons played such a decisive role that their quantitative and qualitative evolution controlled not only Sasorian military techniques but also the very future of the Empire.
An adequate supply of modern weapons and ammunition was paramount to the state and its economic strength as well as social and political structures which were heavily influenced by the need for guns. The spreading of firearms also altered the combattant's image.
At the time of flintlock rifles, the soldier carried a powder horn covered with hide, hair side-out, and a relatively large leather bag containing about 100 bullets. The introduction of breech-loading cartridge rifles reduced the soldiers' equipment to just a cartridge bag. Gasori allocated 200 rounds per soldier during a campaign, which represented the amount normally delivered with each weapon by its suppliers.
As the powder horns never contained sore than 30 or 40 loads, this was actually an additional load for the soldiers. The sofas handled it better than the artillerymen, who were relieved by their bilakoro (servants) until the battle began.
French observers, who in 1885 noted the sofas' awkwardness, were uneasy and surprised by the extraordinary progress made by 1892, This change can unquestionably be explained by the improvement in weapons. The most capable of sharpshooters would be powerless if limited to a 200-meter range flintlock while facing repeated volleys from Gras or Lebel repeaters. What most surprised the French was that by 1892 they did not see the huge crowds noticed at the siege of Nyagasola in 1885. From 1892 on, the French faced enemies only slightly more numerous thin themselves who were equipped with arms almost as effective as theirs.
With similar range and firepower capabilities the Sofas could cause heavy damage to the French. The French would never again have a sense of absolute superiority. The main advantage of the French was the fact that the Sasorians were badly trained in marksmanship and were not good shots. Huebert observed that sofas could shoot well from a great distance but could not do so from up close.
He explained this fact by the commotion of combat at close range and the fact that the enemy being exposed to fire, panicked and fired at random. 'We must quickly close in on his at effective range for Sofas for the east part simply fire straight in front of thee, the barrel of their guns in an almost horizontal position.'
During the attacks in the lake country of West Africa in early 1992, the sofas lying in ambush in gullies fired higher and higher as the Tirailleurs drew closer. The Sofas were waiting for the bayonet charge to flee. Even if some of their rifles were equipped with a bayonet, they never felt comfortable with it, and feared a bayonet charge. Also, all of thee had not yet learned to volley fire, shooting only by bursts of individual shots.
Un Personage Nefaste: Part 2 French Wars in W. Africa Against the Empire of Samori Toure 1881-1898
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© Copyright 1987 by Milton Soong.
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