Relation of Both Battles, Account – Letter 2
A moſt true Relation of the Battell fought by his Excellency and his Forces againſt▪ the bloudy Cavalliers.
THe two and twentieth of October, being Saturday, his Excellency the Earl of Eſſex came with twelve Regiments of Foot, and two and forty Troops of Horſe, and a part of the Ammunition and Artillery, to Keynton, a little Market-Town, almoſt in the mid-way between Stratford upon the Avon, and Banbury, there being three Regiments of foot, and nine or ten Troops of horſe, with ſeven Pieces of Cannon, and good ſtore of Ammunition coming after, together with ſix Companies of Dragooners: The Dragooners, and two of the Regiments of Foot, with the Cannon, and nine or ten Troops of horſe, came to Keynton on Sunday night, a little before the day went down: The Regiment, viz. the Lord Rochfords, came not into the Army till Monday in the afternoon. The Kings Army was lodged on Saturday night, about Cro…reds and Edgeco…, ſome 6 or 7 miles from Kenyton; And having, no doubt, got intelligence that part of our Army, and Artillery, with a great part of our Ammunition was behinde us, they thought they could not have a better opportunity to fight with our Army, eſp…cially if they could get the advantage of the hill before us, it being a very high and ſteep aſſent, which if they were put to the worſt might ſerve them for a Retreat, as it did, it being that which ſaved them, their Carriages, and the Colours of their Regiments of foot that ran away; for of thoſe that fought it out, we took moſt of them, excepting onelyonly thoſe two Regiments that ſtood it out till night, and went off with their horſe in an orderly way. The enemy having reſolved to give us Battell, and no whit doubting of the Victory, they being more then we were, both in horſe and foot (a conſiderable Brigado of our Army being behinde) and having a great opinion of the reſolution of their Souldiers, wherein they were partly deceived, and partly not, as it hapned alſo on our ſide: They returned back towards Edge-hill, and made all poſſible ſpeed to gain the hill before us (which they did, by reaſon that his Excellency had not timely intelligence of their deſigne, otherwiſe we were much neerer the hill, and might have been poſſeſſed of it before them) And by that time our Army was drawn out of the Town about a mile and half towards the hill, the Dragooners, and ſome of the enemies Foot were coming down the hill; Their horſe having gotten down moſt of them on their right hand, and placed themſelves in a fair Meadow, at the bottom of the hill; Their Cannon and Ammunition, with the Rere of th…ir foot, were ſomething long ere they came down. And if we had charged them before their Cannon and all their Foot were come down, we might have had a great advantage: but they got all down in…o the Meadow at the foot of the hill, and there drew up their Army very handſomely, their horſe being on their right Wing for the moſt part, and their Dragooners, and ſome few Troops of horſe on their left Wing; ſome of their priſoners ſaid they had four Regiments of horſe on that wing alſo; but I could never ſpeak with any of our Army, that either ſaw any ſuch number of horſe, or could tell what they did, unleſſe they went directly to Keynton, to plunder the Carriages without charging our Army at all.
For our Army, it was drawn up upon a little riſing ground, and being amongſt the horſe, I could not well diſcern how the foot were drawn up; onelyonly I know they were moſt of them a good ſpace behinde the horſe, when we began to charge: but for the horſe, there were three Regiments on the right Wing of our Army, viz. The Lord Generalls Regiment, commanded by Sir Philip Stapleton; Sir William Belfores Regiment, Lievtenant Generall of the horſe; and the Lord Fieldings Regiment, which ſtood behinde the other two, in the way of reſerve.
On the right Wing of our Army, was Sir James Ramſey, with ſome 24 Troops, for many of our Troops were not in the Field that d…y. The Armies being thus placed one againſt another with no great oddes of winde or ground (but what there was of winde the enemies had it, the ground b…ing reaſonable indifferent on both ſides) after m…ny ſhot of Cannon, which did very little hurt amongſt us, and very much amongſt them, their foot advancing for the moſt part againſt our right Wing, and their horſe againſt the left Wing of our army. Their horſe had the better of our horſe that were on our left Wing, and routing them, drove them back upon our foot, and amongſt the reſt, upon Colonell Hollis his Regiment, which was in the Rere, and they brake through it, yet they ran not away, nor ſeemed to be at all diſmayed at it; but four other Regiments ran away, and fought not at all, and many of them caſt away their Colours, and ſo the enemy took them np, having ſcarce got ſo much as one Colour or Cornet of thoſe Regiments or Troops that fought, whereas all the Colours that we got from them, and the Kings Standard, which we had a long time in our poſſeſſion, were taken out of the midſt of their beſt Regiments that fought it out very reſolutely: Our left Wing being thus put to the worſt, the day was very deſperate on our ſide; and had not God clearly fought for us, we had loſt it; for had the enemies horſe when they had routed the left Wing, fallen upon the Rere of our right Wing, in all probability the army had been wholly defeated: But they made directly to the Town, and there falling upon our Carriages, moſt barbarouſly maſſacred a number of poor Waggoners and Carters that had no arms to defend themſelves, and ſo fell to pillaging and purſuing thoſe that ran away, ſo long, till they met with Colonell Hampden, who with the other Brigado of the Army (which came with the Artillery and Ammunition which was behinde) was by this time come neer to Keynton, and the enemies Troops falling upon him as they purſued our men that ran away, he gave them a ſtop, and diſcharging five pieces of Cannon againſt them, he ſlew ſome of them; whereupon they returned in ſome fear and diſorder: But when they came back into the Field, they found all their Infantry, excepting two Regiments, cut in pieces or defeated and run away; for it pleaſed God to put ſuch courage into four or five of our Regiments of foot, and two Regiments of horſe, the Lord Generalls, commanded by Sir Philip Stapleton, and Sir William Belfores, that they defeated all their Regiments of foot, except two. Sir William Belfores Regiment of horſe charged a Regiment of the enemies foot, before any foot came up to aſſiſt him, and breaking into it, cut moſt of it off; and after, by the aſſiſtance of ſome of our foot, he defeated another Regiment, and ſo we got up to the greateſt part of the enemies Ordnance, and took them, cutting off the Geers of the horſes that drew them, and killing the Gunners under the Carriages, but were forced to leave them without any to guard them, by reaſon we were fain to make good the day againſt ſeſeverall Regiments of foot that ſtill fought with a great deal of reſolution; eſpecially that which was of the Kings Guard, where his Standard was, cloſe by which Sir William Belfores Regiment rode when they came from taking the Ordnance; and they taking us to be their friends, and we them ſome of our Company, ſhook hands with ſome of them, which was the cauſe that after riding up towards the Lord Generals Regiment of horſe, they gave fire upon S. William Belfores Regiment, and diſcerning each other to be firends, we joyned Companies; and ſo with half the Lord Generalls Regiment, which his Excellency himſelf led up, charging the Kings Regiment, we defeated it, took the Standard, took the Generall of the Kings Army, the Earl of Lindley▪ and his ſon, and Colonell Vavaſor, who was Lievtenant Colonell of that Regiment, and killed Sir Edward Varney upon the place (who carryed the Standard) Colonell John Munroe, and divers others: In this charge, and generally throughout the day, the Lord Generalls Troop, conſiſting moſt of Gentlemen, carried themſelves moſt valiantly; and had all our Troops, or our left Wing been made of the ſame metall, the enemy had not made ſo eaſie an impreſſion into them. And what is ſaid of my Lord Generalls Troop, may moſt truely, and to his high praiſe, be ſaid of himſelf; and alſo that noble Earl, the Earl of Bedford, Generall of the horſe, for both of them rode all day, being in the heads of the ſeverall Troops and Regiments, to give them directions, and to bring them on upon the enemy, hazarding their perſons as far and further then any particular Souldier in the Army. By this time all the enemies foot being diſperſed and gone, excepting two Regiments, they retiring themſelves, found their Ordnance behinde them without any Guard, and there they made a ſtand, and made uſe of their Cannon, ſhooting divers ſhot at us; at which time our Regiment of foot began to want Powder, otherwiſe we had charged them both with horſe and foot, which in all probability would have utterly ruined their Infantry, for thoſe two Regiments were the onelyonly ſt…ke which they had now left in the hedge: But partly through want of Ammunition, and partly being tyred with fighting all the day (the whole brunt of the Battell having been ſuſtained by two Regiments of horſe, and four or five of foot) we made no great haſte to charge them, ſo that the enemies horſe that had been pillaging at Keynton had leiſure to come about, ſome on one hand of us, and ſome on the other, and ſo joyned with their foot: Yet as they came back on our left hand, Sir Philip Stapleton, with his Troop, went out to charge ſome 4 or 5 Troops of them, which went away from him as faſt as they could upon the ſpur to the reſt of their Company, and their foot that ſtood by their Ordnance, moſt of the enemies horſe being gathered to their foot, moſt of our horſe alſo gathered to our foot, and ſo we ſtood horſe and foot one againſt the other till it was night. Our Army being thus poſſeſſed of the ground that the enemy choſe to fight upon, ſtood there all night; the enemy having withdrawn their Army to the top of the hill for more ſecurity to themſelves, where they made great fires all the night long, whilſt we in the mean time drew backe ſome of our owne Ordnance, which they had once in their poſſeſſion, and ſome of theirs which they had left behinde.
The next morning, a little before it was light, we drew back our Army towards the Town to our other Brigadoe and Artillary and Ammunition that was come and lodged there, and the enemy drew out their horſe in the morning upon the ſide of the hill, where ſtaying till towards night, whil'ſt their foot was retyring behinde the hill and marching avvay, at length a little before night, their horſe alſo marched avvay; and about an houre after, our horſe alſo marched tovvards their Quarters, the Foot and ſom… horſe ſtaying all night in their Quarters, in and before Keynton; and the next day the vvhole Army both horſe and foot marched tovvards Warwicke to refreſh themſelves; inſtead of vvhichwhich, if they had marched tovvards Banbury, they vvould have found more victuals, and had in all probabilities diſperſed all the foot of the Kings Army, and taken his Canon and Carriages, and ſent his horſe farther off to plunder, vvhereas novv becauſe vve did not follovv them though they quitted the field to us which we fought on, and left their quarter before us the next day, yet they begin to queſtion who had the day: It is true, there were Colours and Canon taken on both ſides, without any great difference in the numbers, but for the number and quality of men ſlaine and hurt, it is verily believed, they loſt foure times as many at the leaſt as vve did, and in ſaying foure times as many, I am confident I ſpeake much belovv the truth. There vvere ſlain on their ſide the Earle of Lindſey Generall of their Army, the Lord Aubigney brother to the Duke of Richmond, Sir Edward Verny Colonell, John Mourſe and divers other gentlemen and Commanders, and very many hurt. Of our ſide vvere ſlaine the Lord St. John, Colonell Charles Eſſex, Lievtenant-Colonell Ramſey, and none other of note, either killed or dangerouſly hurt that I can heare of; they acknovvledge that they loſt 1200 men, but it is thought they loſt 2000: and vvhereas they report vve loſt divers thouſands, vvhere one man judgeth that vve loſt 400, ten men are of opinion that vve loſt not 200 Souldiers, beſides the poore Waggoners and Carters.
Theſe Perſons undervvritten vvere all of the Right vving and never ſtirred from their Troops, but they and their Troops fought till the laſt minute.
The Lord Generalls Regiment.
Sir Philip Stapleton.
Captain Draper.
Serjeant Major Gunter.
Lord Brookes.
Captain Sheffeild.
Captain Temples.
Captain Cromwell.
Sir William Belfores Regiment.
Sir William Belfore.
Serjeant Major Hurrey.
Lord Grey.
Captain Nathaniell Fiennes.
Sir Arthur Haſilrigge.
Captain Longe.
A LETTER, Purporting the true relation of the Skirmiſh at Worceſter.
SIR,
I Would not have troubled you with the relation of the fight that hapned betwixt our Troops and thoſe under the conduſt of Prince Rupert neer Worceſter ſo long after the action, but that I underſtand you have ſtill many falſe reports concerning it at London, to the diſadvantage of the publique and of particular perſons: And though I ſhal not undertake (nor is it poſſible for any one man) to give an exact accompt of all particulars, yet ſo far forth as I ſhall make a relation of the buſines I ſhall make a true one according to that which I either ſaw my ſelf or received by credible information from others.
He that commanded in chief in this action was Collonel Brown, who being at Alceſter with his Regiment of Dragoones and two Troops of Horſe, under the command of Captain Nathaniell, and Captain John Fiennes, he went to my Lord Generall, and as it ſhould ſeem ſuggeſted to his Excellency that with addition of ſome more Horſe, he might do ſome ſervice in ſurrounding the City of Worceſter, before his Excellency came thither with his Army, and in keeping all ſupplies from going into the Town, and thoſe Troops from going out that were already in it. So Collonel Sands with his Regiment of horſe, and three Troops more being ſent to Collonel Brown to Alceſter, (though they had marched ten miles that day) yet they were permitted only to refreſh themſelves an houre or two, and to give their horſes a little hay in a meddow
End of the text · Nathaniel Fiennes, Relation of Both Battles (1642)