NOTWITHSTANDING that in this part was born that individual of the family
of Plantagenet, whose assumption of the throne plunged the country, for
half a century, into the civil wars which nearly exterminated the ancient
nobility; yet had the soil here been unstained by the blood so profusely
shed. Partaking, in common with all, the miseries of the land, it seemed
peculiarly exempted from beholding those contentions of the houses of
York and Lancaster which sprung from the elevation of Henry of
Bolingbroke to the sovereignty of England. It was however otherwise when
the usurpation of unlimited power on the part of Charles the first had
urged a war between the people and the king. As peculiar circumstances
of policy and interest had brought the military operations into these
parts, it will be necessary in their detail to revert to the conduct of
the parties opposed in the opening of the war.
No sooner had the commons demanded concessions from the royal
prerogative, as the only security against the repeated encroachments
which had been made on the privileges of the people, than they were
impelled, by the insincerity of the monarch, to protect the interest of
the subject by every possible means. The right of the sword was looked
upon as the exalted claim of the patriot alone; but as either party
considered themselves influenced by the sacred love of their country,
both made gradual advances to an appeal: the one to protect the liberties
of the people; the other, those general interests which seemed connected
with upholding the authority of the king. As the commons were sensible
that the monarch would seize the first favourable opportunity to
reinstate himself in the former excess of his power, the earliest
precautions were taken in regard to the military establishments of the
country. Amongst these was secured the important fortress of Hull,
containing the arms of all the forces which had been levied against the
Scots: with these the parliament also assumed to themselves the disposal
of the militia, a force indeed collected, but totally untried in the
conduct of war. The king, on erecting his standard, opposed to this, as
a resource of strength, his Commission of Array. The call of the monarch
was obeyed by each county, as the political inclinations of individuals
led them, or in submission to the influence and example of those men of
fortune, with whose interests that of their tenantry was intimately
connected. {13}
The contest carried on in the south and in the west with vigor, already
appeared favorable to the royal cause. In the north, however, it
sustained a decided check, by the strong hold which the parliament
possessed in the garrison of Hull, then commanded by Lord Fairfax, who,
unable to maintain the field against the Marquis of Newcastle, had there
retired, determined to repel a siege with courage and ability; and to
diminish the strength of his enemy by sudden incursions.
The disposable forces of the parliament, not immediately required for the
defence of Hull, were too inconsiderable to oppose the march into the
south. Notwithstanding this, the affairs of the king were ruined by
confining the efforts of a powerful army to investing this fortress;
while the active enemy, though few in number, acquired by their boldness
and intrepidity, an effective strength in the field. When Oliver
Cromwell, then beginning to signalize himself as the companion in arms of
the young and gallant Sir Thomas Fairfax, had by a signal victory at
Gainsborough, routed the royal troops; the Marquis of Newcastle,
beholding his brother Cavendish dead, amid the noblest and bravest of his
soldiers, seemed as if awakened by the calls of vengeance to the
necessity of more extensive exertions. He therefore suddenly decided on
harassing his opponents, while weak and inefficient, by dispatching a
competent force into the heart of Lincolnshire. Cromwell, though a
conqueror, was obliged to make a precipitate retreat; and as Lincoln was
not defensible, he hastened on the day succeeding his victory to Boston;
intending there, with the young Sir Thomas Fairfax, who was proceeding
with additional horse from Hull, to concentrate their forces with those
of the Earl of Manchester. {14a}
The division of the royal army, destined for these parts, was entrusted
to the command of Sir John Henderson, an old and valiant soldier, and to
Sir William Widdrington, who was appointed governor of Lincoln. As these
leaders were anxious to requite themselves for the defeat which had so
recently crowned the conquerors with the applause of heroism, they
determined to draw the enemy to an engagement before their reinforcements
should arrive: ere this however could be effected, Manchester, upon
advice of their intention, after possessing himself of the strong
fortress of Lynn, had advanced with the disposable part of the army of
the associated counties. Such appeared to be the mutual disposition of
affairs in the north, at the beginning of October 1643, in the first year
of the civil war.
The army of the parliament, about six thousand foot, and thirty-seven
troop of horse being concentrated at Boston, it was determined that
companies should be distributed into such parts as might secure their
early co-operation, whensoever occasion should require. Bolingbroke,
defended by a castle held by the partizans of the king, called forth into
exertion their vigor and the alacrity of their courage. {14b} This they
decided upon as the place of military operation; whilst as the
neighbourhood promised the most favorable circumstances for a field, they
would there invite the enemy on to battle. Accordingly ten companies,
commanded by Major Knight, an officer under Sir Miles Hobart, were
disposed of at this place. A regiment was quartered at Stickford, {14c}
about two miles distant; and three companies of the Earl of Manchester’s
own at the village of Stickney. The cavalry were all distributed into
the country round, for about eight or ten miles distance.
In the evening after their arrival, the castle of Bolingbroke, was
summoned. The answer in effect was, that “the commander need not expect
that the demands of arrogance alone should win the castle.” From this
determined reply promising a strenuous defence, dispositions were
immediately taken to acquire it by a regular siege. The church and a
neighbouring house were occupied by the assailants, earth works were
thrown up, and the assault commenced, but without much effect.
During this time, the royalists, bold, eager, and trusting that a
generous heroism would nerve them for victory, waited only the
opportunity for attack. Upon learning the arrival of the Earl of
Manchester, they lost no time in drawing out all their military from the
several garrisons of Lincoln, Newark, and Gainsborough, still stimulated
by an undaunted resolution to find out the enemy and advance to the
combat. Hastening on, they arrived, early on the day previous to the
battle, at the out-posts of the parliamentary forces.
No sooner had a detachment from the king’s army, advancing on the western
road, been observed at Edlington, reconnoitring the lines of their enemy,
than word came to Sir Thomas Fairfax, the commandant of the cavalry at
Horncastle, that a surprize was expected. Information was accordingly
dispatched to the Earl of Manchester: it found him at East Kirkby hill,
with Colonel Cromwell, and the Lord Willoughby of Parham, intently
observing the progress which the besiegers made against the castle of
Bolingbroke, and assiduously ordering the dispositions of attack. Roused
at this communication, Cromwell immediately hurried to collect the troops
dispersed around. Fairfax was still every where distributing horsemen
for the purpose of enquiry, cautious to ascertain and forward such
accounts as might be obtained of the progress and number of the royal
forces; who though eager for battle, were careful to deliberate on the
promises of success. As the party who caused the alarm, suspecting
themselves seen, had drawn off with such intelligence as they gathered,
there seemed reason to suppose that the main body of the royalists were
yet at a considerable distance: Fairfax therefore about sun set, learning
nothing additional, proceeded to the quarters at East Kirkby, to confer
on the measures proposed for the expected conflict. In the mean time the
Earl of Manchester, with Lord Willoughby and some other officers, had
with the like object hastened to Horncastle, previously appointing that
at that place the forces should be immediately collected; where being
drawn together, the most effective resolutions might be taken for
ensuring a victory, or lessening the calamities of a defeat.
It was not until the dusk of the evening that the royal army, under Sir
John Henderson, moved rapidly on to the station of their enemy. They had
judged that the dubious light would serve to conceal their true numbers;
and that as nothing was known of them with certainty, but their anxious
readiness for the encounter; so their opponents, whether few or many,
deeming them prepared for every casualty, might by their indecision leave
an easy conquest to their arms.
The out-posts were surprized by the precipitate advance of these hostile
forces; and in the unprepared circumstances of those who maintained them,
and the disparity of their numbers, there was afforded them no means of
encountering their difficulties, but the hardihood of a cool intrepidity.
This indeed was a stern calmness which always pervaded the breast of a
Puritan who was a soldier. He did not untremblingly bare his bosom to
the steel because, like a Roman, he abstractedly considered fear
inconsistent with the nobler qualities of human nature; but because the
factitious enthusiasm of his religion had taught him to look with
indifference on temporal things. If the general good required the
sacrifice of his life, the particular calamities of his family were
dismissed with scarce a thought beyond a pious supplication. It was this
feeling which finally rendered the parliament victorious in their
contest. However in this unlooked-for state the soldiers at the
out-posts were exposed to much perplexity, and many were the dangers
recited amongst them on the morning of the gathering of their strength
for the field of battle. Some finding themselves surrounded,
out-numbered, and in all the perilous circumstances of desperate warfare,
were obliged to supply by politic conduct the helplessness of their
condition. These therefore, hastily mounting their horses, agreed with
much resolution to break through the opposing ranks, sword in hand, with
the words of mutual encouragement, “Come on! come on! all is our own,”
thinking that the enemy, by these ambiguous shouts, fearing an ambuscade,
would leave to them an easy passage by the sudden confusion of their
alarm. In this manner about four companies encountered two thousand
cavalry, with the loss of only three men.
Though these warriors, taking the advantage of the darkness of the
evening, were enabled by their resolute conduct to overcome these
difficulties; yet as the royal army had already advanced onward to
Horncastle, in strong and numerous detachments, they were exposed in
their retreat thither to fresh and obstinate encounters. Perceiving, as
they approached the town, that they had come up to another party of the
enemy’s horse, they determined, after saluting them as friends, to hurry
onward as if destined for some urgent duty. They had, however, scarce
passed them, when flushed with the success of their stratagem, and
feeling the pride and bravado of soldiers, who deemed their individual
preservation as of little value to their common strength, if purchased
without the blood of their enemy, they turned to the attack of the unwary
royalists. “For whom are ye?” said they. “For the king.” “We are for
the king and parliament.” Scarcely had these declarations been
interchanged, when rushing precipitately on the unsuspecting enemy, and
throwing them into disorder, they fled towards the town, deeming
themselves secure in the quarters of their comrades, and considering
their valour rewarded in the acclamations that would greet them from
their friends. But Horncastle, surprized at the approach of numerous
hostile forces, had been evacuated by the detachment of horse which
possessed it; and the inhabitants, as soon as the town was seized by the
troops of the king, having secured the entrances and roads through it, by
forming barriers with carts and timber; the cavalry found themselves
again obliged to exert their unyielding valor in turning upon their
pursuers. Desperately therefore they burst through them with the full
energy of their courage, sustaining the loss of some few men, among whom
was a cornet; but bringing away prisoners as the evidence of their perils
and their triumph. {17}
At this period of hurried confusion, and the setting in of the night, the
Earl of Manchester reached the town. He heard the rejoicings of the
troops, thus victorious in the dangers of their retreat; taunting the
enemy with their shouts, as they drew off undefeated from their toils.
Finding now that the place designed for the assembling of his forces was
already possessed by the enemy, he hastily recalled the orders for the
general rendezvous at Horncastle, and appointed Bolingbroke in its stead.
Thither at night repaired the dispersed soldiery of the parliament,
except three or four troops of horse, who in the difficulties of
retreating before superior forces, had been obliged to proceed by the
circuit of Tattershall, and did not arrive until the next morning.
At Bolingbroke, Manchester designed to wait for the enemy; but Cromwell,
actuated by prudence, urged the delaying of the battle, since the troops,
upon whose prowess and exertion success depended, were wearied, and
little able to sustain the ardour of the fight. {18} The royal army were
however too eager to secure the promises of a victory, to permit their
adversaries to renew their strength by avoiding the contest. As soon as
the morning had dawned and the silence of the surrounding country assured
them that their enemies were withdrawn from near them, and were
assembling together at Bolingbroke, they arrayed themselves for the
encounter. Before the middle of the day they marched out, in strength
about seventy-five troops of horse, and five thousand foot, to meet the
soldiers of the parliament. Foreboding with certainty that this would be
their determination, Manchester was constrained to the resolution of
giving them battle, and immediately advanced towards them.
The spot upon which the contending armies engaged was a gently rising and
broadly extended eminence, at a village called Winceby, midway between
Horncastle and Bolingbroke. It commands an extensive prospect of the far
stretched fen-lands of the county; whilst to the westward is seen those
cliffs, on the summit of one of which magnificently rises the cathedral
of Lincoln. This the royal army had contemplated as a district, which by
victory was either to be restored to the authority of the king; or by
defeat to afford an effectual check to the military operations in the
north, and to be ensured as a further resource to the parliament. The
noon was already passed when the armies came in sight of each other. The
royalists trusting with confidence to their mutual ardor, rejoiced when
they beheld the adverse soldiers advancing to meet them, though amid the
wild chant of hymns for mercy and for victory. In the fields immediately
before them they fixed the order of their battle: formed into closely
compacted lines, the cavalry was placed in the advance, and covered the
infantry. The left wing of this array, was commanded by the general Sir
John Henderson. {19a}
The Earl of Manchester, pressed for ground in the marshalling of his
forces, presented alone his cavalry to the fight; the infantry, headed by
himself, being stationed so far in the rear that they were unable to
second the exertions of their horsemen. {19b} The disadvantages arising
from fatigue, with the closeness of ground, and inequality of numbers
were apparent to the warriors of the parliament. In the doubtful
promises of the contest, their leaders sought to replenish their
strength, and supply their situation by words and by actions, infusing
into them an energy and martial ardour rivalling their own. Fairfax, who
knew by experience that the undaunted intrepidity of a few was more
efficient in its achievements than the impetuosity of those who relied
for security on their numbers, pointed to his men the imposing array of
his adversaries, exclaiming “Come let us fall on; I never prospered
better than when I fought with my enemies three or four to one.”
Cromwell, by the apparent bravery with which he was animated, promised
them that examples of heroism should not be wanted, whilst life was given
him to lead them. {19c}
On the other hand, the commander of the royal forces did not lose the
opportunity which was afforded him of reminding his fellow soldiers that
vengeance was yet due for the defeat at Gainsborough; and that now was
supplied them a time to requite themselves for the blood of the
illustrious brother of Newcastle. He set before them the necessity of
strenuous exertions and important sacrifices, by pointing to the example
of one, who exalted amidst the mighty of the land, lately fighting among
them, did not hesitate to devote himself to death for the cause of his
sovereign. At the moment therefore when the armies were ready to engage,
the royalists raised the cry of “Cavendish! on for Cavendish!” which was
as loudly answered by the enthusiastic shout of “Religion!” the zeal
which animated those who proclaimed it, by inspiring them with hopes of
immortality, rendered death less to be dreaded than the misfortunes of a
defeat. {20a}
Scarce had the words of onset been given, when the divisions of cavalry,
under the command of Cromwell and Fairfax, were led to the charge by
Vermeydun, a soldier of valour, who headed the first detachment as a
forlorn hope, aspiring to the honour of directing his comrades on to
victory. Already the horsemen of the royalists, with a well directed
precision, had vigorously poured into their ranks the second discharge of
their fire arms. These did some execution among them; and Cromwell thus
early had his horse shot under him. A minute had elapsed before the
parties fiercely met in the close encounter, arm to arm. Cromwell for a
time was compelled to grapple on foot with his enemies, entangled amid
the trappings of his dying charger. Though felled to the ground as he
attempted to extricate himself from this perilous situation, he rose
uninjured. This singular man, bold and intrepid, animated by zeal,
foremost in the fight, struggling with disasters, seemed peculiarly
preserved in all his dangers, to fill that situation in the page of
history, where, though elevated by violence, he powerfully commands our
admiration by his success, his prudence, and the daring of his genius.
Sir Ingram Hopton, who at this moment had attempted to seize him, was
killed. {20b} Cromwell, now recovering a horse from a soldier near him,
bravely led on his companions to the combat, strengthening their stern
courage by the most signal proofs of his personal bravery.
Not with less valor was the conflict sustained on the part of the
royalists. Sir John Henderson, the hardy veteran of former battles, firm
as a rock amid the rushing of the waves, resisted every impetuous
assault. His adversaries were driven back in disorder; but these men,
not readily to be repulsed, returned, with a cool bravery and redoubled
vigor to the attack. For half an hour, firm and undecided, continued the
contest, sword against sword, and fortitude repelling courage. The
resolute warriors, who sustained the furious charges of Fairfax and
Cromwell, (for the whole were not engaged,) relinquished not a portion of
their ground. At last, a division commanded by Sir William Saville
wavering, though reluctant to give way, became routed and completely
disordered. Yielding they struck confusion into the other bodies of
their own horse; and these again were hurled with precipitance upon the
mass of their infantry. All being alike borne down in this part of the
field, none were left to second the broken and disordered in again
advancing to the combat. The division of Sir John Henderson and Lord
Ething alone maintained itself unyielding and unsubdued. The exulting
army of the parliament, now taking advantage of the discomfiture of the
other troops, and the tumult of the infantry, assailed with a desperate
charge the yet unrepulsed. In vain did the royalist commander exhort his
men to be resolute and undismayed; but no prudence could uphold the
advantages which valor must lose. Their fortitude was giving way to
despair; and the successful, elated with the promises of victory, found
no equal disputants in men dismayed by the certainty of a defeat.
Perplexed amid the various and ineffectual efforts of the other bodies of
the royal troops, the disheartened defenders of the field yielded beneath
the shock of the adverse weapons. The victorious soldiers now fiercely
plunging in amidst the routed dragoons, many of whom at this time were on
foot and in the most appalling confusion, saw them quickly disappearing
beneath the havoc of their swords and the fury of their horses. The
infantry were for the most part destroyed; for being intercepted by a
body of cavalry, scarce a man survived the carnage. {21a} There was now
no safety but in a dishonorable flight. The pursuit continued beyond
Horncastle with unremitting fury; and along the road were strewed the
horse and the rider, the dead and the dying. {21b}
The soldiers under the command of Manchester, who as yet had partaken in
no respect in the glory of the blood-shed, reserved their efforts for
securing the prisoners, and assisting the scarce breathing wounded of the
enemy, who were scattered about the field in groups. Such partisans as
had recently been embodied by the commission of array were pitiably
supplicating the mercy of their conquerors. Cursing with deep execration
that little regard which had hurried them to the fight, without a feeling
of interest in its issue, they cried out that the commission of array had
brought them thither against their wills, and blessing the cause of
liberty and religion, added “We die as true servants of the parliament as
any in England, and woe be to those who were the cause that Lincoln and
York became the prey of such a war.” {22a}
Though the battle was fought with determined obstinacy; yet, whilst the
parties maintained their ground, the loss was comparatively small: the
havoc that ensued was among the routed and the flying. There were killed
but few on the side of the parliament. Those of rank who were slain of
the royal forces were Sir George Bolles, and Sir Ingram Hopton. The
prisoners, about one thousand in number, were the wounded on the field,
and those parties of the dispersed fugitives, who to avoid the
overwhelming carnage of their pursuers had secreted themselves amongst
the rugged and winding banks of a neighbouring river: many indeed were
taken whilst seeking refuge in the very waters, where some had already
perished, bleeding and wearied in their armour, overcome in their
inability to recover themselves from the deeper parts of the stream. The
trophies which the conquerors obtained in the fight of Winceby field,
were arms for fifteen hundred men, and thirty-five standards. {22b}
Returning from the pursuit, the exhausted cavalry rested for the night in
the villages around Horncastle. The infantry occupied quarters in the
town, where they found two hundred horses left by their fugitive enemy.
Of the wounded, the Earl of Manchester ordered especial care to be taken,
whilst the dead were hastily consigned to the nearest graves. The body
of Sir Ingram Hopton was brought to Horncastle and buried in the church:
for Cromwell who did not permit his political resentment to render him
callous or insensible to the generous feelings of a soldier, experienced
some sympathy for the individual whose ardor in attempting his
destruction, for what was deemed the welfare of his country, had cost the
sacrifice of his own life; he therefore, upon his arrival in the town,
commanded the inhabitants to fetch the body of Sir Ingram Hopton, and
inter it with the honors due to his rank; observing that though an enemy,
he was a gentleman and a soldier. {23a}
Of those royalists who escaped the slaughter, there were scarce a
thousand efficient for the field; and these were destined to sustain
another overthrow at the battle of Lincoln close, which completed the
warfare in this county. Bolingbroke castle had already yielded; and this
with Tattershall, the principal places of defence in this neighbourhood,
were soon after devoted to the dismantling policy of the parliament,
which doomed them with the noble edifices of the country, to that
destruction which left them but ruins in silent and lingering decay.
Although this victory afforded a cause for so much rejoicing to the
friends of the parliament; yet were its consequences mightier for the
interests which it strengthened, by the defeat, on the same day, {23b} of
the Marquis of Newcastle before the fortress of Hull. The Lord Fairfax
and Sir John Meldrum, making a desperate sortie, had completely
overthrown the royalists with much slaughter; forcing them, though
protected behind strong entrenchments, to abandon the siege with the loss
of all their cannon. The impolicy of the royalist commander was now
perceptible too late. This ruin of the affairs of the king seemed at
once to have obliterated all the generous services which the faithful
Newcastle had made in the cause of his sovereign; and shortly after these
disasters he retired to the continent, {23c} where he spent a life of
indigence, until the restoration gave again the royal authority to
Britain. These actions, though inconsiderable in themselves, were yet
great in their effects. The expectations of the royalists in Yorkshire
were now nearly blasted: Lincolnshire, after the occupation of its city,
escaped the further deluge of blood; and the defeats served to assist in
hastening the fight of Marston Moor, where the hopes of Charles were
reduced to that one gleam of hope, which was finally extinguished at the
battle of Naseby.