In 1867 Wauchope went to Hythe, where he passed in the Military School of Instruction first-class in musketry, and in June of that year was promoted to be lieutenant. So proficient was he found in the matter of drill that, in spite of his youth, he was appointed to the important position of adjutant to the regiment in 1870, though still retaining the rank of lieutenant, a position which he held with the utmost credit for the next three years. During this time he served successively with the 42nd in garrison duty at Edinburgh, Aldershot, and Devonport.
Leaving Edinburgh in 1869 by the transport _Orontes_, from Granton to Portsmouth, the regiment reached Aldershot camp on the 12th November, and was stationed there for two and a half years. After taking a part in the Autumn Manoeuvres at Dartmoor in August 1873, they were stationed for a few months at the Clarence Barracks, Portsmouth. His duties during all these years were of the { 39} most arduous and trying description, but his singularly lovable and attractive nature made him so many friends that difficulties disappeared before his cheerful countenance. Speaking of this period in his career, Colonel Bayly, afterwards his commanding officer, says--'It was very early in his subaltern career that Wauchope was voted for the appointment of adjutant, and he made one of the best that had ever been appointed. His charm of disposition enabled him to gain the love of his men, whilst his tact and firmness enabled him to enforce the necessary discipline.'
On the outbreak of the Ashanti war on the west coast of Africa in the autumn of 1873, young Lieutenant Wauchope found his first opportunity, in active foreign service, of showing the metal of which he was made.
The king of Ashanti--Koffee Kalcallee--the head of a strong warlike kingdom on the north of the Gold Coast, had long asserted his authority over the neighbouring provinces of Akim, Assin, Gaman, and Denkira, down to the very coast where the Dutch and English had settlements. The transfer, in 1872, of the Dutch possessions adjoining Cape Coast Castle to Great Britain for certain commercial privileges, gave King Koffee of Ashanti the opportunity for asserting what he considered his lawful authority over the Fantees or adjoining coast tribe. This, however, was only a covert excuse for striking a blow at British rule on the Gold Coast, and in January 1873 an army of 60,000 warriors--and the Ashantis, though cruel, are brave and warlike--was in full march upon Cape Coast Castle and Elmina. The British force on the spot under Colonel Harley was only a thousand men, mainly West India troops and Haussa police, with a few marines; and though the neighbouring friendly tribes, whose interest it { 40} was to remain under the British protectorate, raised a large contingent for their own defence, this was a force that could not be relied on. By the month of April the Ashantis had crossed the river Prah, the southern limit of their kingdom, and were within a few miles of Cape Coast Castle, and matters were looking serious. With the aid of a small reinforcement of marines, the enemy were fortunately kept at bay until the 2nd October, when a strong force arrived from England, which turned the tide against King Koffee, and ultimately swept him and his warriors back upon his capital. This expedition, under Major-General Sir Garnet Wolseley, with his staff and a body of five hundred sailors and marines, not only held their own, but by the end of November, after much hard preliminary work, had forced the king to retreat to Kumasi. Wolseley, finding the expedition a more arduous one than was at first expected, had meantime asked for further reinforcements, and on the 4th December the Black Watch, accompanied by a considerable number of volunteers from the 79th, left Portsmouth, arriving on 4th January 1874 at their destination. Sir Garnet had now at his disposal a force consisting of the 23rd, 42nd, and 2nd Battalion Rifle Brigade, detachments of Royal Artillery, Royal Engineers, and Royal Marines, which, with native levies, formed a small but effective army wherewith to advance into the enemy's country.