The Battle of Logandème (18 May 1859) was an uprising led by the Serer King Maad a Sinig Kumba Ndoffene Famak Joof, king of Sine, against the French Empire. The battle took place at Logandème (in Fatick) which was a part of Sine at the time. The battle was also a revenge attack against the Serer people after their resounding victory against France at the Battle of Djilass (or Tilas) on 13 May 1859. It was the first time that France decided to employ cannonball in the Senegambia.
Background
After the defeat of Queen Ndateh Yalla Mbooj of Waalo in 1855, Louis Faidherbe decided to launch wars against the Serer kingdoms of Sine and Saloum, and declared all previously signed treaties between the two kingdoms and France null and void and asked for the establishment of new treaties on Faidherbe's terms. According to scholars like Martin A. Klein, that was a huge mistake on the part of the French, because it paved the way for the future Serer kings to use the same tactic against the French, in particular Maad a Sinig Sanmoon Faye, the successor of Maad Kumba Ndoffene Famak in 1871. The revocation of the excessive traditional customs duties paid by the French merchants to the Crown, the Serer kings refusal to have the French buy and own land in Serer countries or to build in masonry (see Maad a Sinig Ama Joof Gnilane Faye Joof) were all contributory factors to this war. However, the Serer resounding victory against the French at the Battle of Djilass on 13 May 1859 was a key factor.
This battle was the first time the French made the decision to employ cannonball in the Senegambia to avenge their humiliating defeat at the Battle of Djilass (13 May 1859). It was also in this battle where governor Faidherbe showed respect to his enemies (the Serer) by saying: "These people, we kill them, but we do not dishonour them." He said to the French commander of Gorée, Pinet Laprade. After Senegal's independence, that quote was taken up by President Léopold Sédar Senghor as the motto of the country's National Army: "You can kill us but you cannot dishnour us."
In May 1859, Faidherbe arrived in Gorée with 200 tirailleurs and 160 marines. He then gathered the Gorée garrison, the people of Gorée, Rufisque and the Lebou people of Dakar to fight against the Serers of Sine in revenge of Kumba Ndoffene and Sanmoon Faye's victory against Pinet-Laprade earlier that year at Tilas. In a letter sent to Paris regarding how he supposedly managed to obtain the support of the Wolofs and the Lebou people, he reports: "I told them that they were French, and that for this reason they had to take arms to join us and had to participate in the expedition that we are going to make against their neighbours to obtain reparations for wrongs those people had done to us." From Rufisque, the French ally forces entered Joal, one of the principalities of the Kingdom of Sine. In Joal, they ran into Maad Kumba Ndoffene Famak's Buumi (heir apparent) – Prince Sanmoon Faye, who was on patrol with some of Sine's forces. Taken by surprise and totally ignorant of what the French forces where doing in Serer country, both sides opened fire. The Sine's patrol force was forced to retreat but two of them were captured by the French, and one of them was entrusted with the task to go and relay to Maad Kumba Ndoffene Famak Joof that the French army would be in Fatick in three days time. Fatick was one of the most important principalities of Sine.
The battle
On the morning of 18 May 1859, the French finally arrived in Fatick and took their positions. The army of Sine, which had been mobilised by junjung, stood guard at Logandème. Around 9 am, the Serer army attacked against the French forces. By 9.30 am, overwhelmed by French military power, Maad a Sinig Kumba Ndoffene Famak Joof and his forces were forced to retreat. Within a few minutes, the king of Sine and his cavalry returned to the battlefield. However, they were unable to break the French ranks and were ultimately defeated. After the French victory, governor Louis Faidherbe gave the order for Fatick and its surrounding villages to be burned to the ground. Faidherbe claimed that 150 Serer-Sine men were: "either killed or wounded, but that the French force had only five wounded".