The following account is another installment in a series of eyewitness accounts which THE COURIER will carry from time to time. The accounts will stress tactical details from all periods presented by eyewitnesses. They will thus be either historically significant or important from a wargaming standpoint. In the latter case, the accounts will provide information about weapons, formations, and tactics. I would like to solicit contributions from all readers. The English Civil War saw Royalists and Parliamentarians war against one another from the year 1642 to 1646. The earlist large scale battle witnessed King Charles, with about 11,000 men, clash with Essex, who had about 13,000 (on October 23, 1642 at Edgehill). The battle was indecisive, although the Royalists held the field at nightfall. The following account, submitted by Nick Nascati, is taken from Parliament's official account of the battle. it is interesting that the account underestimates the strength of the Parliamentarians by 1,000 while vastly over estimating the strength of the opposition by 3,000 to 7,000, a common occurrence throughout military history. Also of tactical note is the maneuvering for the wind advantage. As has been described during the previous year in these pages, the period featured an interplay between pike, musket, and sword. Alert to this tactical melange, let us interrupt the pious Parliamentarians who the account assures us, are attending church, and travel to pastoral England and the slopes of Edgehill: We had news brought us that the enemy was 2 miles from us, upon a high hilt called Edgehilt- whereupon we presently marched forth into a great broad field, under that hill, called The Vale of the Red Horse, and made a stand some half a mile from the foot of the hill, and there drew into Battalia, where we saw their Forces come down the hill; and drew likewise into battle in the bottom.... the wind was much for their advantage, and they endeavoured to get it more; which to prevent, we were inforced to draw out our Left Wing to a great breadth, and by that means, before the Battle was done, gained it wholly from them. In our Right Wing were three regiments of Horse, Sir John Meldrum's Brigade had the Van, Col Essex was in the middle, and Col. Ballard's with Hollis in the rear. In the Left Wing were 24 Troops of Horse In this posture we stood when the other army advanced towards us; the strength of their Horse was on their right wing opposite to our left, in their left wing they had but 10 Troops; but their Foot, which appeared to us, divided into nine great bodies, came up all in front, and after some playing with the cannon on both sides, that part of it which was on their left, and towards our right wing, came on very gallantly to the charge, and were as gallantly received, and charged . . . that they forced all the Musqueteers, of two of their left regiments, to run in and shrowd themselves within their Pikes, not daring to shoot a shot, and so stood when our rear came up; and the charging altogether ... forced that Stand of Pikes, and wholly broke those two Regiments, and slew and took almost every man of them ... Two particulars must not be omitted, one of Sir William Balford, who in the beginning of the day broke a Regiment of Foot which had green colours, beat them to their cannon, where they threw down their arms, and ran away; he laid his hand upon the cannon, and called for nails to nail them up, especially the two biggest, which were Demy-Cannon; but finding none, he cut the ropes belonging to them, and his troopers killed the canoneers; then he pursued the fliers half a mile upon execution; and after returned to Sir Philip Stapleton, who in the mean time was charging of the Red Regiment, where the King's Standard was, and had charged it home to push of pike with his single troop; and they then, together with the help of some of the foot of our rear, utterly broke it. Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. IV #1 To Courier List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1982 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com