The Emperor captured by Captain Gouraud was a sick grey-bearded man, old beyond his years. Seasons of warfare and deprivation and the nightmarish retreat into the constant rain and tangled forests of the Dan Mountains had left his emaciated and in rags. Shortly after his capture, a French officer asked Samori how he felt about the loss of his kingdom. The Alamamy only complained about the loss of his trousers during his capture. Despite promises that he would be allowed to return to his birthplace, the French determined that even as a sick old man, Samori was still too dangerous to leave among his Mandingo clansmen. In late 1898 (after a failed attempt at suicide), Samori was exiled to the French colony of Gabon. There he died of pneumonia on June 2, 1900. Shortly before his death, Samori prophesized that his progeny would fight on after he died. The old man was right, but in a context he say not have forseen. One of his sons, Adjutant Mandiou Toure, was killed during WW I (in 1915) on active service in the French army in the Dardanelles, while another son, Ahmadu Toure, was killed fighting in the French army in action against Abdel Krim in Morocco. Finally, in 1958, Samori Toure's homeland gained independence from France as the new nation of Guinea. Its first President was Sekou Toure, another decendent of the Alamamy. Perhaps Allah had not, after all, favored the French. BIBLIOGRAPHY Crowder, Michael (Ed.), WEST AFRICAN RESISTANCE: THE MILITARY RESPONSE TO COLONIAL OCCUPATION, Hutchinson University, London, 1971. Forde, D., and Kaberry, P. M. (Eds.), WEST AFRICAN KINGDOMS IN THE 19TH CENTURY, Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, 1969. Gifford, P., and Louis, W. R. (Eds.), FRANCE AND BRITAIN IN AFRICA, Yale University Press, 1971. Hargreaves, John D., WEST AFRICA PARTITIONED, University of Wisconsin Press, 1974. Heduy, Philippe, HISTOIRE DE L'AFRIQUE, Societe de Production Litteraire, Paris, 1985. Isichei, Elizabeth, HISTORY OF WEST AFRICA (SINCE 1800), Africana Publishing, 1977. Kanya-Forstner, A. S., THE CONQUEST OF THE WESTERN SUDAN, Cambridge Univ. Press, Boston, 1969. Legassick, Martin, 'Firearms, Horses, and Samorian Army Organization, 1870-1898,' JOURNAL OF AFRICAN HISTORY, Vol. VII, No. 1, 1966. Obichere, Boniface, WEST AFRICAN STATES AND EUROPEAN EXPANSION, Yale Univ. Press, 1971. Person, Yves, SAMORI; UNE REVOLUTION DYULA, Memoires de L'Institut Fondatental D'Afrique Nord, Ifan-Dakar, No. 8, 3 volumes, 1968. Rosiere, Pierre, SPANIS: LES SARDES D'HONNEUR, Editions Richer, Paris, Volume 10, 1984. UNIFORMES Magazine, No. 71, "Les Chasseurs d'Afrique', No. 78, "L'Aventure Coloniale', No. 83, 'Les Tirailleurs Senegalais", No. 88, "Le Marsouin', No. 92, 'Au beau temps de la Coloniale, 1871-1914.' Windrow, Martin, UNIFORMS OF THE FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION 1831-1981, Blandford Press, Poole, 1981. Un Personage Nefaste Part 3: French Wars in W. Africa Back to Table of Contents -- Savage and Soldier Vol. XIX No. 3 Back to Savage and Soldier List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2004 by Milton Soong. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com