CROMWELL IN THE EASTERN ASSOCIATION
1643
At the opening of the campaign of 1643, the strength of the Royalists
had greatly increased, and before its close the advantage had passed to
the King. In almost every county, towns and castles were garrisoned, and
rival leaders, raising troops for King or Parliament, waged war against
each other with varying fortunes. In the north and in the west of
England, the Royalists rapidly gained the upper hand, and these local
successes exercised a decisive influence on the course of the general
war.
In April, 1643, Essex with sixteen thousand foot to three thousand horse
advanced towards Oxford and captured Reading (April 27th). Hampden urged
him to follow up this advantage by besieging Oxford, which was weakly
fortified and ill provisioned. But Essex’s army was mutinous for want of
pay, and decimated by a great sickness which broke out in his camp after
the fall of Reading. He did not resume the movement on Oxford till June,
and in the meantime the King had been strongly reinforced. With his
diminished numbers, Essex was unable to invest Oxford, and in the small
encounters which took place round it his troops were generally worsted.
At Chalgrove Field, on June 18th, Hampden was mortally wounded, and his
death a week later was as great a blow to his party as the loss of a
battle. “Every honest man,” wrote a fellow officer, “hath a share in the
loss, and will likewise in the sorrow. He was a gallant man, an honest
man, an able man, and, take all, I know not to any living man second.”
In his short military career, he had shown an energy, a decision, and a
strategic instinct which seemed to mark him out as a future general.
After Hampden’s death, Essex fell back from Oxford and remained
inactive, permitting the King to effect a junction with the Royalists of
the north and the west. In the north, the Marquis of Newcastle had
overrun the greater part of Yorkshire and cooped up Lord Fairfax and his
son Sir Thomas in the West Riding. On June 30th, he routed the two
Fairfaxes at Adwalton Moor, near Bradford, and forced them to take
refuge in Hull—the only fortress which the Parliament now held in
Yorkshire. The Queen had landed at Bridlington in February, and these
successes enabled her to march south and join Charles at Oxford with
arms, ammunition, and reinforcements.
In the west, during the same period, a little army of Cornishmen under
Sir Ralph Hopton won victory after victory over the Parliamentarians. At
Bradock Down, on January 19, 1643, Hopton defeated General Ruthven; at
Stratton, on May 16th, he beat Lord Stamford. Then, joined by Prince
Maurice and the Marquis of Hertford, he advanced into Somersetshire and
fought a drawn battle with Sir William Waller at Lansdown, near Bath, on
July 5th. Followed by Waller, Hopton continued his march towards Oxford,
and was blocked up in Devizes with his infantry by his pursuer. But the
retreat of Essex had enabled the King to move freely, and had left
Waller unsupported. On July 13th, the very day when the Queen reached
Oxford, Wilmot and a body of horse sent from Oxford routed Waller’s army
at Roundway Down, and rescued Hopton’s hard-pressed army.
Thus by the end of July the Royalists were masters in the field, and
Charles could take the offensive. The King’s original plan had been that
he should hold Essex in check, whilst Newcastle advanced from the north
into Essex, and Hopton made his way through the southern counties toward
Kent. All three were then to close in upon London, and strike down
rebellion in its headquarters. But now Newcastle’s army refused to march
southwards whilst Hull was uncaptured, and the western army hesitated to
advance farther whilst Plymouth was not taken. Local feeling was too
powerful to be neglected, and Charles was forced to complete the
subjugation of the west instead of advancing upon London.
[Illustration:
JOHN HAMPDEN.
(_From Nugent’s “Life of Hampden.”_)
]
On July 26th, Bristol, the second port in the kingdom, surrendered to
Prince Rupert. Gloucester was besieged on August 10th, and though
vigorously defended by Colonel Massey it seemed certain to fall, for the
Parliament had no army available to relieve it. “Waller,” exulted the
Royalists, “is extinct, and Essex cannot come.” Once more Pym and the
Parliament appealed to the City, and London responded with a zeal which
no disasters could chill. The citizens closed their shops, six regiments
of London train-bands joined the shattered army of Essex, and with
fifteen thousand men at his back the Earl marched for Gloucester. Vainly
Rupert and the King’s horse strove to delay his progress; at his
approach, the besiegers drew off their forces without fighting, and
Gloucester was saved.
As the Parliamentarians returned to London, the King barred their way at
Newbury, and forced them to cut their way through or perish (September
20th). This time the parliamentary horse fought well, but it was the
firmness and courage of Essex’s infantry which preserved the army. The
London train-bands, whom the Cavaliers had derided, “stood as a bulwark
and rampire to defend the rest,” and received charge after charge of
Rupert’s horse with their pikes as steadily as if they had been drilling
on their parade ground. Long training in military exercises had given
them a “readiness, order, and dexterity in the use of their arms,” which
compensated for their inexperience of actual war. Step by step the
parliamentary army gained ground, till the failure of the King’s
ammunition obliged him to retreat and leave the passage free. Essex
re-entered London in triumph. Gloucester was safe, and his army was
safe, but Reading, the one trophy of his year’s fighting, was abandoned
again to the Royalists.
The year 1643 closed gloomily for the Parliament. Except Gloucester,
Plymouth, and a few ports in Dorsetshire, all the west was the King’s;
the north was his except Hull and Lancashire, and in the midlands the
Parliamentarians held their own with difficulty. Only in the eastern
counties had the Parliament gained strength and territory, and it was to
Cromwell more than any other man that this isolated success was due. At
the close of 1642, Parliament had passed an ordinance associating the
five counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridge, and Hertfordshire
for the purpose of common defence (December 10, 1642). The Eastern
Association, as it was termed, was completed by the accession of
Huntingdonshire (May 26, 1643) and finally of Lincolnshire (September
20, 1643). Cambridge was its headquarters and Cromwell was from the
first its guiding spirit. On his march from London in January, 1643,
Cromwell seized the royalist high sheriff of Hertfordshire as he was
proclaiming the King’s commission of array in the market-place of St.
Albans, and sent him up to London (January 14th). In February, he was at
Cambridge busily fortifying the town and collecting men to resist a
threatened attack from Lord Capel. In March, he suppressed a royalist
rising at Lowestoft, taking prisoners many gentlemen and “good store of
pistols and other arms.” A few days later, he disarmed the Royalists of
Lynn; in April, those of Huntingdonshire shared the same fate, and on
April 28th he recaptured Crowland where the King’s party had established
a garrison. Whenever royalist raiders made a dash into the Association,
or disaffected gentry attempted a rising, Colonel Cromwell and his men
were swift to suppress them. “It’s happy,” he wrote, “to resist such
beginnings betimes,” and he never failed to do so.
[Illustration:
The
EASTERN ASSOCIATION.
_B. V. Darbishire, Oxford 1899._
]
Meanwhile the notion which Hampden had thought impracticable was rapidly
becoming a fact. Cromwell’s one troop of eighty horse had become the
nucleus of a regiment. By March, 1643, he had five troops, and by
September, ten. When the New Model army was constituted, his regiment
had become a double regiment of fourteen full troops, numbering about
eleven hundred troopers. Above all they were men of the same spirit as
their colonel. His original troop had been carefully chosen. “He had a
special care,” writes Baxter, “to get religious men into his troop;
these men were of greater understanding than common soldiers ... and
making not money but that which they took for public felicity to be
their end, they were the more engaged to be valiant.” The new additions
were of the same quality. “Pray raise honest, godly men and I will have
them of my regiment,” Cromwell promised the town of Norwich. “My troops
increase,” he told a friend a few weeks later; “I have a lovely company;
you would respect them did you know them; they are no Anabaptists, they
are honest, sober Christians.”
The officers were selected on the same principle. “If you choose godly,
honest men to be captains of horse, honest men will follow them; and
they will be careful to mount such,” wrote Cromwell to the Committee of
Suffolk. When he could get gentlemen he preferred them, but godliness
and zeal for the cause were the essentials.
“I had rather have,” said he, “a plain russet-coated captain that
knows what he fights for and loves what he knows, than that which
you call ‘a gentleman,’ and is nothing else. I honour a gentleman
that is so indeed.... It may be it provokes some spirits to see such
plain men made captains of horse. It had been well that men of
honour and birth had entered into these employments—but why do they
not appear? But seeing it was necessary the work must go on, better
plain men than none.”
What struck observers first was the rigid discipline which Cromwell
enforced not only in his own regiment but in all men under his command.
No plundering was permitted, reported a newspaper; “no man swears but he
pays his twelvepence; if he be drunk he is set in the stocks or worse.
How happy were it if all the forces were thus disciplined!” The next
notable fact was that they were better armed than other regiments, as
well as better disciplined. Besides the sword, each trooper had a pair
of pistols, but not carbines or other firearms. For defensive arms, they
had simply a light helmet or “pot,” and a “back and breast” of iron.
Thus while adequately protected they were lighter and more active than
fully equipped cuirassiers, and while adequately armed they had no
temptation to adopt the tactics of mounted infantry or dragoons.
Moreover, from the beginning, Cromwell’s men were taught to charge home,
and to rely on the impact of their charge and the sharpness of their
swords. They were well mounted and many of them owned the horses they
rode, being, as Whitelocke says, “freeholders or freeholders’ sons, who
upon matter of conscience engaged in this quarrel.” Others were provided
from the stables of Royalists, and one of Cromwell’s letters is a
defence of an officer who had seized the horses of “Malignants” to mount
his troop. A great lover of horses and arms himself, Colonel Cromwell
made his men keep both in good condition. “Cromwell,” says a royalist
writer, “used them daily to look after, feed, and dress their horses,
and, when it was needful, to lie together on the ground; and besides
taught them to clean and keep their arms bright and to have them ready
for service.” Men of such a spirit, armed, mounted, drilled, and
disciplined with care, soon proved their superiority both to the King’s
troops and to those of Essex and Waller.
“That difference,” says Clarendon, “was observed shortly from the
beginning of the war: that though the King’s troops prevailed in the
charge, and routed those they charged, they never rallied themselves
again in order, nor could be brought to make a second charge again
the same day, whereas Cromwell’s troops if they prevailed, or though
they were beaten and routed, presently rallied again, and stood in
good order till they received new orders.”
In May, 1643, Essex ordered the forces of the eastern counties and the
east midlands to unite in order to relieve Lincolnshire, and if possible
to penetrate to Yorkshire and assist the Fairfaxes. Cromwell was eager
to carry out his orders, but first one then another local commander
declined to leave his particular locality unprotected. “Better it were
that Leicester were not,” said Cromwell, “than that there should not be
found an immediate taking of the field by our forces to accomplish the
common ends.” He himself set out for Lincolnshire, and at Grantham on
May 13th defeated a royalist force twice the size of his own. The
Royalists were beaten mainly through their inferior tactics. Their
commander had twenty-one troops and some dragoons to Cromwell’s twelve,
but he never attempted to charge. The two bodies of horse stood about
musket-shot from each other, and their dragoons exchanged shots for
about half an hour.
“Then,” says Cromwell’s despatch, “they not advancing toward us we
agreed to charge them ... we came on with our troops at a pretty
round trot, they standing firm to receive us: and our men charging
fiercely upon them, by God’s providence they were immediately routed
and ran all away, and we had the execution of them two or three
miles.”
Ten days later, Cromwell reached Nottingham and joined the forces of
Lincolnshire and Derbyshire, but with all his eagerness he could get no
farther. The three commanders quarrelled, and one of them, Captain John
Hotham, was secretly in correspondence with the Royalists. To add to
Cromwell’s difficulties, some of his soldiers were unpaid and mutinous,
though he wrote urgently for money. It was a trouble continually
recurring in his letters throughout this campaign, because parts of the
Association were always behindhand in paying the men they raised.
“Lay not too much,” he appealed to one defaulter, “upon the back of
a poor gentleman, who desires, without much noise, to lay down his
life and bleed the last drop to serve the cause and you. I ask not
your money for myself; if that were my end and hope—viz: the pay of
my place—I would not open my mouth at this time. I desire to deny
myself, but others will not be satisfied.”
Till the end of June, Cromwell stayed at Nottingham, defeating the
Newark garrison in skirmishes, and hoping at least to bar the Queen’s
march south, but his fellow commanders left him, and so he was obliged
to fall back into the Association, and leave the Fairfaxes to be crushed
at Adwalton Moor.
Now came the hour of danger for the Association. Backed by Newcastle’s
army, the Royalists of the neighbouring counties began to press over its
borders. One party threatened Peterborough, and garrisoned Burleigh
House near Stamford. Another body besieged Lord Willoughby, the
commander of the Lincolnshire Parliamentarians, in Gainsborough.
Cromwell came to the rescue with his usual speed, captured Burleigh
House and its garrison on July 24th, and, gathering what force he could
get from Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire, hurried to the relief of
Gainsborough. Colonel Cavendish faced him with a body of royalist horse
posted on the edge of a sandy plateau outside the town, and Cromwell’s
men had to mount it before they could attack. Before they were
completely formed, the royalist horse advanced, but Cromwell would not
wait to receive their charge.
“In such order as we were,” says he, “we charged their great body.
We came up horse to horse, where we disputed it with our swords and
pistols a pretty time, all keeping close order, so that one could
not break the other. At last they a little shrinking, our men,
perceiving it, pressed in upon them, and immediately routed the
whole body.”
Part of the Parliamentarians followed the chase five or six miles, but
Cromwell halted three troops of his regiment as soon as he could, and it
was well he did so; for in the meantime Cavendish and his reserve beat
the Lincoln troops forming the parliamentary second line, and were hotly
pursuing them when Cromwell with his three troops fell on their rear,
and drove them down the hill and into a bog. Cavendish was killed by
Cromwell’s lieutenant, and his regiment scattered to the winds. Powder
and provisions were thrown into the besieged town, and the van of the
Parliamentarians were actively engaged in attacking a body of Royalists
discovered on the other side of Gainsborough, when Newcastle’s army
arrived, fifty companies of foot, “and a great body of horse.” To fight
was hopeless. There was nothing left for the Parliamentarians but to
retreat if they could. The foot drew off with some confusion and took
refuge in the town; the horse, under Cromwell’s command, were withdrawn
in good order from position to position. Four troops of his regiment
under Major Whalley, and four Lincoln troops under Captain Ayscough,
alternately retiring and facing the enemy, covered the withdrawal.
“They with this handful faced the enemy, and dared them to the teeth
in, at the least, eight or nine several removes, the enemy following
at their heels; and they, though their horses were exceedingly
tired, retreating in order near carbine shot of the enemy, who thus
followed them, firing upon them; Colonel Cromwell gathering up the
main body and facing them behind those two lesser bodies.”
In this order he effected his retreat to Lincoln without loss.
Without a greater force it was impossible to drive Newcastle back, and
in announcing his victory Cromwell appealed for reinforcements.
“God follows us with encouragements.... They come in season; as if
God should say, ‘Up and be doing, and I will stand by you and help
you.’ There is nothing to be feared but our own sin and sloth.... If
I could speak words to pierce your hearts with the sense of our and
your condition I would.”
Two thousand foot must be raised at once if they meant to save
Gainsborough. “If somewhat be not done in this you will see Newcastle’s
army march up into your bowels, being now, as it is, on this side Trent.
I know it will be difficult to raise thus many in so short a time: but
let me assure you, it’s necessary and therefore to be done.”
Parliament realised the imminence of the danger. On the day of
Cromwell’s victory at Gainsborough, it had appointed him Governor of the
Isle of Ely. A week later, he received the special thanks of the House
for his “faithful endeavours to God and the kingdom,” and was voted
three thousand pounds for his troops. On August 10th, an ordinance
passed authorising the Associated Counties to raise ten thousand foot
and five thousand horse to be commanded by the Earl of Manchester. It
seemed, however, as if the eastern counties would be overrun before the
new army could be raised. Gainsborough was taken, Lincoln was abandoned,
all Lincolnshire except Boston fell into the power of the Royalists. In
Norfolk, Lynn raised the King’s standard. However, Newcastle turned back
with the bulk of his forces to besiege Hull, and while Manchester with
all the foot he could get together besieged Lynn, Cromwell with his
cavalry made a bold march into Lincolnshire. Sir Thomas Fairfax, who was
shut up in Hull with his father, had with him twenty-one troops of
horse, useless for the defence of the town, but capable of changing the
fortune of the campaign if added to Cromwell’s force. Fairfax shipped
them down the Humber in boats to Saltfleet in Lincolnshire, thus evading
the attempts of Newcastle’s cavalry to intercept him, and effected his
junction with Cromwell. Both then joined Manchester, who had by this
time captured Lynn, and in October the joint army set about the
reconquest of Lincolnshire.
The Cavaliers of Lincolnshire and part of Newcastle’s cavalry, headed by
Lord Widdrington and Sir John Henderson, fought them at Winceby on
October 11th. Cromwell led the van, seconded by Sir Thomas Fairfax.
“Immediately after their dragooners had given the first volley,”
says a parliamentary narrative, “Colonel Cromwell fell with a brave
resolution upon the enemy; yet they were so nimble, as that within
half pistol shot, they gave him another; his horse was killed under
him at the first charge, and fell down upon him; and as he rose up
he was knocked down again by the gentleman who charged him; but
afterwards he recovered a poor horse in a soldier’s hands, and
bravely mounted himself again. Truly this first charge was so home
given, and performed with so much admirable courage and resolution
by our troops, that the enemy stood not another; but were driven
back upon their own body which was to have seconded them; and at
last put them into a plain disorder; and thus in less than half an
hour’s fight they were all quite routed.”
Thirty-five colours, and nearly a thousand prisoners were the trophies
of the victors; Lincoln and Gainsborough fell into their hands a few
weeks later. Moreover, on the very day of the victory of Winceby, Lord
Fairfax sallied forth from Hull, beat Newcastle from his trenches, and
forced him to raise the siege in disorder. Thus the Association was
secured from invasion, Lincolnshire conquered, and the Parliament’s hold
on Yorkshire maintained.
So closed Cromwell’s second campaign. He had shown a skill in handling
cavalry very rare amongst the courageous knights and squires who “rode
forth a-colonelling.” He kept his promise to Hampden,—raised men of such
a spirit that they never turned their backs to the enemy, and
disciplined them so that they were an example to all the troops of the
Parliament in camp or in battle. The general recognition of his great
services was shown by two facts. On February 16, 1644, Parliament
appointed a new committee for the management of the war, called, because
it included representatives of Scotland, the Committee of Both Kingdoms.
Cromwell had not been a member of the Committee of Safety appointed when
the war began, but he was from the first a member of this new one. The
second fact was Cromwell’s appointment as Lieutenant-General of the army
of the Eastern Association. He had been practically Manchester’s second
in command since the army was formed, and on January 22, 1644, he
received his commission. The appointment had important results,
political as well as military. Manchester himself, “a sweet, meek man,”
says the Presbyterian Baillie, “permitted his Lieutenant-General to
guide all the army at his pleasure.” Of Cromwell he adds: “the man is a
very wise and active head, universally well-beloved as religious and
stout; being a known Independent most of the soldiers who loved new ways
put themselves under his command.” Thus Cromwell’s influence spread to
the whole army of the Eastern Association, and officers and men became
permeated by the spirit of his regiment. By March, 1644, Manchester’s
army was reported to be fifteen thousand strong.
[Illustration:
EDWARD MONTAGUE, EARL OF MANCHESTER.
(_From Birch’s “Heads of Illustrious Persons.”_)
]
“Neither,” said a newspaper, “is his army so formidable in number as
exact in discipline; and that they might be all of one mind in religion,
as of resolution in the field, with a severe eye he hath looked into the
manners of those all who are his officers, and cashiered those whom he
found to be in any way irregular in their lives or disaffected to the
cause.”
[Illustration:
CROMWELL CREST.
]
[Illustration]