In a letter passing news of Marston Moor a Mr. Ogden mentioned that: "the Earl of Manchester's blew coats wch fought under the bloody colours are cut off..." (IN P.Young Marston Moor 1644 p217)
Although he was not himself an eyewitness to this, Ogden lifted his information from another letter written by a Royalist cavalry named as "Dr. Lewins". Circumstantial evidence points to the likelihood of his being Captain Robert Lewins, who rode in the Northern Horse under Colonel Robert Branding. (A List of Indigent Officers).
Although this reference appears to have been generally overlooked, identification of the "blew coats" is actually quite straightforward. Six Eastern Association infantry regiments fought at Marston Moor, deployed in three brigades. According to James Lumsden's invaluable map two of those brigades were posted on the left of the front line, and the other on the right of the third line. The figures which Lumsden quotes for most of the formations depicted on his map are pretty round ones, but for Manchester's infantry they are very precise.
The two brigades standing in the front line totalled 2666 men, which agrees remarkably well with the combined July muster figure of 2657 for the four regiments involved. With 1053 men Manchester's own regiment constituted a brigade by itself, while Montagu's, Pickering's and Russell's formed the second. However Lumsden's figure of 1333 men for the third brigade is 130 higher than the combined July total for the remaining two regiments. (C. Holmes The Eastern Association in the English Civil War p238). The discrepancy is easily explained for both this brigade and the Scots one standing next it were overrun by Langdale's cavalry during the battle.
This was presumably what Captain Lewins was referring to. The two regiments concerned were Colonel Lawrence Crawford's and Sir Miles Hobart's. Since we know that Hobart's were "Norfolk Redcoats", it therefore follows that Crawford's must be the "blew coats wch fought under the bloody colours."
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