real sympathy had been shown by its electing two of the stoutest Puritan
members, returned to its allegiance to Parliament. With some of the
wisdom that is born of the event, Dr. Gardiner says that “the whole
fortune of the Civil War was in this nameless skirmish.”[120] But the
statement of a biographer of Cromwell,[121] in magnifying the victory,
that “never again did the Newarkers range the country with impunity,” is
plainly false. The “wasps’ nest” itself remained unattacked; and a month
later (June 11) we find Cavendish and his men in Mid-Lincolnshire taking
toll of the household stuff, deer, and cattle of Sir William Armyne, one
of the Grantham members, and “damnifying him” to the extent of £500.[122]
In the same month they had a brush with the enemy at Louth, where the
parish register records the burial of “three strangers, being souldgeres
slaine at a scrimish”; and perhaps this was the occasion when Sir Charles
Bolle of Thorpe Hall, an ardent Cavalier, only escaped capture by hiding
under the bridge near the gaol, over which the Roundhead troopers
galloped in search of him.
Cromwell remained only about a fortnight near Grantham, and was then
ordered to Nottingham to concert measures with the Midland commanders
for the support of the Fairfaxes, who were hard pressed by the Earl of
Newcastle in Yorkshire. He found a concealed traitor in the camp. Within
four days of his defeat at Ancaster (April 15), young Captain Hotham
had opened a correspondence with Newcastle, in the course of which he
volunteered to betray Hull and Lincoln to the King. But he seems to have
been a bad conspirator. When the news arrived of a small success of
Sir T. Fairfax at Wakefield, he persuaded the other commanders to send
Fairfax a message that their help would not now be needed. He began to
correspond directly with the Queen, who arrived at Newark on June 16;
but Cromwell and Colonel Hutchinson, who had long suspected him, procured
an order for his arrest (June 18). He was committed to a guard for
conveyance to London, but on the way succeeded in escaping to Lincoln,
where he evidently had supporters, and whence he wrote to the Speaker to
complain that Cromwell had employed an Anabaptist against him. On June
27 the Queen wrote to the King that she was delaying two days for the
fulfilment of “young Hotham’s” promise to render up Hull and Lincoln;
but, before the two days were over, the conspirator and his father were
both arrested at Hull and sent up by sea to London, where they were
executed on Tower Hill early the next year. Three days later (July 2) the
attempt upon Lincoln was made, and completely failed. Two brothers named
Purefoy, agents of the Hothams, introduced sixty Cavaliers disguised as
“market-folk” into the city, where they were concealed in the Deanery.
In the nick of time a letter from the Mayor of Hull caused the arrest of
the Purefoys, but their accomplices sallied out and endeavoured to secure
the magazine. However, the discharge of a cannon by an inexperienced
countryman killed some of them, and the rest were dispersed or taken.
In the month then opening events followed thick and fast. On the last
day of June the Fairfaxes were badly beaten at Adwalton Moor; and on
July 4 Sir Thomas, whose wife had fallen into the enemy’s hands, arrived
at Barton-on-Humber, hotly pursued and with the enemy in sight, but
fortunately found a vessel to convey him into Hull. The way now lay
open for the advance of Newcastle’s large force of over 6000 men into
Lincolnshire. The town of Gainsborough, which was moderately fortified,
had been occupied by the Earl of Kingston for the King. This nobleman
had long hesitated which side to choose, and in the winter had openly
declared that, when he joined either party, “let a cannon-ball divide me
between them!” He had but just descended on the royal side of the fence,
when Lord Willoughby of Parham, whose home was at Knaith, three miles
from Gainsborough, surprised the town with a small force on July 20, and
made him prisoner, though he fought till his house was in flames around
him. Being a person of importance, he was at once put on board a pinnace
and sent down the Trent to Hull for safe custody. On the way the boat was
challenged by a Royalist party of horse; and upon his showing himself on
deck, “a cannon-bullet,” in Mrs. Hutchinson’s words, “divided him in the
middle, according to his own unhappy imprecation.”[123] Lord Willoughby’s
position, however, was none too secure, for he was threatened not only
by the advance of Newcastle, but by a strong body of the Newark troopers
under Colonel Cavendish. Orders were therefore at once sent to Sir John
Meldrum at Nottingham and to Cromwell in South Lincolnshire to join
forces and advance to the relief of Gainsborough. Cromwell had just been
gaining fresh laurels. He had forced a body of Cavaliers, who had taken
Stamford, to retreat into Burleigh House, and there, after a single day’s
siege (July 19), he received their unconditional surrender, and sent
them under guard to be interned at Cambridge. A week later (July 26), by
executing a forced march from Stamford, he joined the Nottingham troops
at Grantham the same day, and a body from Lincoln at North Scarle on
Thursday, and on Friday (28th) he encountered at Lea the mounted troops
under Cavendish. Thereupon ensued a cavalry action, which, as described
by himself,[124] severely tested the mettle of his newly-trained troops.
The fight took place on a sandy plateau, overlooking a marshy tract of
low land called the Humble Car. Up the steep ascent to the plateau,
which was riddled with rabbit holes, and had to be gained in face of the
enemy, the Lincolners led the van. After a hand-to-hand contest with
the advanced guard, Cromwell routed them; but seeing a large body of
horse under Cavendish in reserve, he kept back part of his men from the
pursuit, and on Cavendish routing the Lincolners, charged him in the rear
and forced him down the steep into a quagmire, where Captain James Berry
slew him “with a thrust under his short ribs.” This description of the
end of the dashing young leader does not sound too chivalrous, and to his
own side his loss was great. His body was conveyed to Newark, where he
was universally lamented.
After bringing a store of powder into Gainsborough, Cromwell drew out
his force to reconnoitre from an adjoining hill, and suddenly found
himself faced by the whole army of Newcastle. His foot regained the town
with some loss; and the retreat of his few squadrons of horse, which
were holding the enemy, was accomplished in masterly fashion by Major
Whalley. As Cromwell’s horse could be of no service behind defensive
works, he at once drew them off and retreated with such speed that his
letter of the following Monday (31st) was dated from Huntingdon. After
his departure Lord Willoughby made but a faint show of resistance, and
surrendered the town on Sunday, the 30th. He had liberty to withdraw his
men, but they were first disarmed—contrary, as he alleged, to the terms
of surrender, though it is difficult to believe that such terms would be
accepted by a far superior force. The Royalist prisoners, on being set
free, began to plunder the town, in which they were joined by Newcastle’s
soldiers against the express orders of their commander, who soon drew
off his army, leaving Colonel St. George as governor of the place. Lord
Willoughby retreated on Lincoln; but he decided that the defences of the
city were too slight for successful resistance, and so retired to Boston,
whence he wrote despairingly to Cromwell:—
“Since the business of Gainsborough the hearts of our men
have been so deaded that we have lost most of them by running
away.... If the enemy get this town, which is now very weak for
defence for want of men, I believe they will not be long out of
Norfolk and Suffolk.”
On receiving this letter Cromwell withdrew his cavalry from Stamford, and
made Peterborough his headquarters; but he stationed some companies of
foot at Spalding as a support to Boston. Lincoln was very soon occupied
by the Cavaliers, who appointed Sir William Widdrington of Blankney
governor, and made Richard Somerby mayor in place of Marshall. The
troopers are said to have plundered the city, and tried to seize Mr.
Reyner, the Sunday lecturer in St. Peter at Arches, but he escaped by the
vestry window.
At this juncture, if Newcastle could have thrown his whole force upon
the Associated Counties in concert with an advance of the King from the
West after the capture of Bristol (July 26), the issue of the war might
have been different. But his Yorkshire levies objected to leaving Hull
unsubdued in their rear. So, after dallying unaccountably during August,
he laid siege to that town on September 2—a fatal error, for it was
impossible to reduce it by blockade, as the Parliament commanded the sea.
On land, however, they were in woeful plight. The town of King’s Lynn, in
the very heart of the Association, revolted against them in August; and
the Earl of Manchester, newly appointed General of the Eastern Army, laid
siege to it and took it on September 16. But all the commanders were in
dire straits for money; and the reasons for adding Lincolnshire to the
six Associated Counties by an ordinance of September 20 were probably in
part financial. The weekly assessment for the county was fixed at £812,
10s., though in the following year this was raised to £1218. The cruelty
of such a tax upon Royalists, who were perhaps secretly supplying the
King with funds and yet had to pay this tax or suffer sequestration of
their estates, is evident enough. Those landlords who were absent with
the King did not escape, for the money was exacted from their tenants who
were to deduct it from the rent. The ordinance was to be administered by
a county committee sitting either at Lincoln or Boston, and consisting
at first of 70, afterwards of 105 members. But the practical work was
done by a “standing committee,” which might meet anywhere—five to be a
quorum and fresh members to be summoned every fortnight.
At the date of this ordinance the hold of Parliament on the county was
most insecure. But a change was at hand. News had come from Hull that
the cavalry of Sir Thomas Fairfax was useless within the walls, and that
their horses were dying from the brackish water. It was determined to
bring this body of twenty-one troops across the Humber into Lincolnshire;
and Cromwell, with Lord Willoughby, executed a daring march through the
Wolds, then infested with Newarkers, to Barton, whither some of the
cavalry were transported on September 18. But it seems to have been
thought inadvisable to bring across the whole body in full view of the
besieging army. On the 23rd both commanders were in Hull, bringing
powder and provision for the garrison; and on the 26th the greater part
of the cavalry were put on shipboard and landed, apparently the same
evening, at Saltfleet Haven. At this old-world seaport there still
stands a manor-house, then the property of Lord Lindsey, but somehow—by
sequestration or otherwise—at the disposal of his kinsman of Parham,
where Cromwell and Fairfax passed the night with their host. It is
full of ancient furniture, and “Cromwell’s bed” is still pointed out
to the credulous. With the dawn the troops were on the move, and had
some difficulty in eluding a force of 5000 Cavaliers, who endeavoured
to intercept them. At Louth, where Cromwell is said to have slept on
the 27th, he would be joined by the contingent from Barton; and here,
perhaps, a few troops were detached with Fairfax for scouting purposes
round Horncastle. On the 28th Cromwell was in Boston, “weeping” that
there was no money for his soldiers, and pushed on to Lynn to hasten the
advance of Manchester and his infantry.
On Monday, October 9, that commander drew out from Boston; and his
advanced guard of foot, under Major Knight, summoned Bolingbroke Castle,
but received for answer that “bugbear words must not win castles and
should not make them quit the place.” That night the foot was quartered
in three detachments at Stickney, Stickford, and Bolingbroke; and in the
morning preparations were made to mount a mortar on Bolingbroke church
tower, which would have rendered the castle untenable. During the day its
defenders fired upon their assailants to some purpose, for some of the
latter were killed, and Quartermaster Vermuyden, son of the famous Dutch
engineer, was bruised by a shot. The cavalry, whose troops were scattered
throughout the neighbouring villages, were ordered by Manchester to
rendezvous at Horncastle; but Fairfax, who commanded that way, had his
outposts at Thimbleby and Edlington driven in. The former troop tried to
get into Horncastle, but found it barricaded by the Royalists; and on
their joining Fairfax at Kirkby, whither Manchester rode that day, the
first order was countermanded, and the rendezvous fixed at Kirkby and
Bolingbroke. On Wednesday the 11th, the foot was drawn up at the latter
place; but the horse under Fairfax and Cromwell—who was unwilling to
fight on account of the hard duty of the last few days—advanced two miles
through Asgarby to the higher ground at Winceby, five miles south-east
of Horncastle. The Cavaliers, under Sir John Henderson, arrived at
the same point from Horncastle by the hill road through High Toynton,
their object being the relief of the besieged castle; and it is said
that neither party expected to meet its opponents so soon. The King’s
troops had seventy-four colours of horse and twenty-one of dragoons,
with some infantry in the rear; and the “rebel” horse were as numerous,
though their companies were fewer. The passwords for the two sides are
variously given as for the King “Cavendish” and “Newcastle,” and for
the Parliament “Religion” and “Truth and Peace.”[125] The armies met on
a high plateau—one of the highest points of the Southern Wolds; on the
north-east was a deep ravine, now called the Ramshaw, which prevented
the free manœuvring of the Royalist cavalry. A strategist like Cromwell
would see his advantage at a glance; and about midday, with the vanguard
singing their battle-psalm, he charged the Royalist left wing under
Henderson, after their dragoons had fired the first volley. He was
received, however, with a second, which killed the horse under him; and
as he rose to his feet he was knocked down by Sir Ingram Hopton,[126]
who called to him to yield. But his assailant was speedily killed in
the rush, while he himself secured another horse from a trooper. The
fight had lasted about half-an-hour, when the Royalist right and centre
under Sir W. Saville were seized with panic at a charge from Fairfax,
and broke in flight. The disadvantage of the ground was now apparent.
The Royalist horse were driven back upon the foot, which had no room
to deploy and let them pass; and tradition says that at the boundary
between Winceby and Scrafield—along what is still known as “Slash Lane”—a
closed gate intercepted their headlong flight, and here the Roundhead
troopers, pressing upon the confused multitude, did terrible execution.
Their victory was complete; and the pursuit was continued, in spite
of the tired horses, beyond Horncastle. Eight hundred prisoners were
taken, and the number of the dead, some of whom were drowned in crossing
the fens, is variously placed between 500 and 1000. The Parliament’s
loss was trifling, and included but a single officer. The affair was
entirely a cavalry action, for Manchester’s foot was not engaged, and
the Royalist infantry seem to have run away without striking a blow. If
the scythes now displayed on the walls of Horncastle Church were carried,
as tradition says, by some of the foot at Winceby, it seems that many of
them were peasant levies, indifferently armed.
The consequences of the victory, for the moment at least, were
far-reaching. A Puritan chronicler[127] could truthfully exclaim:
“Yorkshire is discouraged, Lincolnshire is delivered, Cambridge is
secured.” On the very day of Winceby some of Newcastle’s forts at Hull
were captured by the garrison; and the following day he raised the siege
and retreated to York. On the 20th Lincoln capitulated to Manchester, who
soon after laid siege to Gainsborough.[128] Manchester did his best by
persuasion to win back the county to Parliament; and a number of Royalist
gentry changed sides from a rumour that the King was bringing over an
army of native Irish. The scare of “Popery” was always the Parliament’s
strongest card. Their own alliance at this time with the equally foreign
Scots, which really changed the fortune of the war, aroused no such
feeling. Late in the year a force of 800 Danes, sent by the King’s
uncle, Christian IV., landed on the Lincolnshire coast, and met with a
warmer reception than their pirate forefathers. The trained bands were
called out, and killed about fifty of them, forcing the rest back upon
their ships. Winter set in early, and there was much snow in November.
The force besieging Gainsborough suffered much privation; and an Essex
officer among them writes:[129] “Our lying in the field hath lost us more
men than have been taken away either by the sword or bullet.” He adds
that at the time of writing he had only two shillings, and his troop was
without money, even for shoeing their horses, repairing saddles, &c. The
perseverance of Fairfax, who was in command, was at length rewarded by
the surrender of the town on December 20.
In the following month (January 1644), the Newark people addressed
a “remonstrance” to the King on the condition of Lincolnshire. They
represented that the whole county “is now in possession of the Rebels,”
mentioning in particular “that seditious town of Boston,” and urged
that, unless a diversion was made by his Majesty’s troops elsewhere,
the whole force of the county, which was “above 5000 foot and twenty
troops of horse,” would be “poured down” upon them. About the same time
a hot dispute arose in Parliament about the Lincolnshire command. Lord
Willoughby had much resented his supersession by the Earl of Manchester,
which in his opinion lacked the authority of Parliament. Cromwell, as
usual, was ready with the first blow. He moved that Lord Willoughby cease
to be Major-General in Lincolnshire, as he had abandoned Gainsborough
and Lincoln in the summer without necessity, and had permitted loose
and profane conduct among his soldiers. These charges caused much
ill-feeling. Sir Christopher Wray warmly defended Willoughby, who
challenged Manchester to a duel; and three of Wray’s sons went so far as
to cudgel one of the Earl’s officers. Cromwell’s motion, however, was
carried; and with much difficulty Willoughby was induced to serve under
Manchester. With the Lincolnshire levies he appears to have taken part
in the siege of Newark in March; and, according to Mrs. Hutchinson, the
brilliant feat of Prince Rupert in relieving the place and capturing
most of the besieging force (March 22), was only rendered possible by
the cowardly flight of the Lincoln men. This exploit caused such a panic
that within three days Lincoln, Sleaford, and even distant Crowland
were abandoned by their garrisons, and the defences of Gainsborough were
dismantled. In his remonstrance to the House of Lords on April 8 the Earl
of Essex himself used the words—“Lincolnshire is lost.” Two days before,
however, Crowland had been recovered; and in three weeks Manchester and
Cromwell were advancing against Lincoln. On May 3, with his army drawn
up at Canwick, Manchester summoned the city by trumpet, and, on being
denied, sent two regiments of foot against it, while Cromwell with 2000
cavalry held in check a relieving force. The garrison were expelled from
the lower town and retreated into the Castle, after attempting to set
fire to many houses. The assault on the Castle, which was delayed two
days by heavy rain, took place on Monday, the 6th; and the infantry came
on with such ardour that, despite the slippery state of the hill, the
works were taken in a quarter of an hour. The Royalist loss was 900 in
killed and prisoners—the latter including the governor, Sir Francis Fane,
and Sir Charles Dalison. The upper town, having been taken by storm,
was given over to the soldiers for pillage. It was on this occasion
that the Cathedral suffered most at the hands of Puritanism. Pleading a
recent ordinance of Parliament, the troopers tore up all the sepulchral
brasses, damaged the carvings, and smashed the painted windows. If we
are to believe “Aulicus,” the Oxford newswriter, whose statements are
disputed, they even stabled their horses in the nave. Other churches were
much injured in the assault. St. Swithin’s was destroyed by fire; St.
Martin’s and St. Michael’s were much damaged by cannon; and St. Botolph’s
fell down two years later through the injuries which it now received. Two
extra-mural churches, St. Nicholas’ and St. Peter’s Eastgate, had already
been demolished by Lord Willoughby’s order as interfering with the city’s
defences.
The whole county had now been reoccupied for the Parliament; and
Manchester, throwing a bridge across the Trent at Gainsborough, marched
with the army of the Eastern Association to besiege Newcastle in York.
The victory of Marston Moor on July 2 decided the fate of the North
and East of England. But in the next few weeks the King gained marked
successes in the West; and on the return of Manchester to Lincoln
on August 6, there were divided counsels among the Parliamentary
commanders, which developed later into an open breach between Cromwell
and Manchester. For four weeks the latter lay inactive at Lincoln, though
Cromwell vehemently urged him to besiege Newark. When at length he moved
southwards on September 4, the Newark garrison resumed their activity,
and appeared before Sir Robert Carr’s fortified house at Sleaford, the
defenders of which had to retire upon Lincoln. On October 5 a force of
500 Cavaliers captured and taxed Stamford; and perhaps it was part of
the same band which, a day or two later, once more occupied Crowland for
the King. This daring move brought the Fen men out in strength, though
at the time the pay of the Boston garrison was four months in arrear;
and by October 12 a force of 4000 men of the trained bands, under Sir
T. Fairfax and Fleetwood, had assembled to block up the watery citadel.
But rain fell in torrents, and most of the besiegers had to be sent back
to their counties, although the approaches to Crowland were carefully
guarded. On October 29, the water having subsided, a closer investment
became possible; and a body of horse under Colonel Hacker was detached
to confront a relieving force from Newark. The two bodies came into
collision at Denton, when, in Colonel Hacker’s words, his men “shouted
as if the skies would have fallen” and fell upon the enemy, who fled,
leaving 400 prisoners. Three weeks later another attempt at relief was
frustrated by a Royalist repulse near Grantham; and on November 6 an
ordinance of Parliament provided for the erection of three forts against
Crowland at a cost of £600. In the first week of December the famished
garrison of 275 men, whose besiegers had been subsisting comfortably on
fish and wild fowl, were allowed to march off to Newark without their
arms.
The campaign of 1645 was almost wholly unfavourable to the King. When
the two armies faced each other at Naseby on June 14, for the decisive
struggle, Colonel Rossiter, with the Lincolnshire troops, arrived just
in time to take part in Cromwell’s charge on the Royalist left wing. The
King retreated eastward after his defeat; but in August he was again
approaching the Associated Counties with an army of about 3000 men. In
that month the Newarkers made two raids upon Stamford, and carried off
some of their opponents; and on the 23rd the King himself passed through
the town. But his cause was declining rapidly; and on April 27, 1646, he
left Oxford in disguise to take refuge with the Scots before Newark. The
night of May 3—his last as a free man—he passed at Stamford in the house
of Mr. Wolph; and with the surrender of Newark by his command on May 6,
two days after he reached the Scots, the first Civil War ended.