SETTING THE SCENE ROYALISTS Commander – King Charles I, Captain General Royalists Size of Force – 16,000 Other Officers Present Earl of Forth, Lord General of Royalists Prince Maurice, General of the South West Lord Hopton, soon to be General of the Ordinance Lord Percy, General of Ordinance Lord Wilmot, Lieut. General of the Horse Sir Jacob Astley, Sergeant Major General of Foot PARLIAMENTARIANS Commander – Earl of Essex Size of Force – 10,000 Other Officers Present Phillip Skippon, Major General of Foot Sir William Balfour, General of the Horse Lieut. General John Middleton July 1644 was a tumultuous time for Royalist fortunes. It went badly at first with Marston Moor and then picked up when one of the biggest blunders was made by the Parliamentary command. The Earl of Essex had quarrelled with his fellow Parliamentarian subordinate, Sir William Waller, with the result that Essex marched off on his own initiative to the South West. His aim he told Parliament, was to relive the small town of Lyme, but he secretly hoped to restore his own faltering position as Commander-in-Chief by the amazing feat of capturing the Queen. This would make him a hero and also end the King’s resolve to fight, with his wife in custody, thus Essex would get peace, due to the new bargaining power of Parliament having the Queen, which he seemed to secretly want. When on 14th July the Queen took ship and went to France, Essex was left to see his dream shatter. No Queen, no sight of a friendly army, hostile territory with the King’s army at his back and in front of him was Lands End; Essex was hemmed in and the net was closing. Waller’s army was mutinous and sickly and could not help, so all the hope that was left was from the Earl of Warwick’s warships, for the county he was in was staunch Royalist. Nevertheless he had relieved Lyme and Plymouth and he moved onwards through the Royalist landscape towards the end of his road with 10,000 men. The King meanwhile was jubilantly following with 16,000 after being joined by Prince Maurice. Addressing his troops, the King told them rousingly, “If I live not to reward you, I hope this young man, my son and your fellow soldier will.” The young man, was the Prince of Wales and one of a growing brood, for when he entered Exeter on 26th, he found his newly born daughter Henriette, whom the Queen had been forced to leave behind when she left for France. By now the King was on Essex’s heels and he destroyed the bridges over the Tamar to prevent being outflanked by Essex. This trapped Essex now between the sea and the King’s army. After pleading with Parliament for help, he was despatched 2000 horse under Lieut. General Middleton, but that force was defeated on 14th August by the Royalists and fell back. It was at this pre-victorious point that the King encountered villainy. He had sent a message to Essex asking him to join him in making a constitutional peace. A letter signed by all the King’s high command was also sent, backing this request up. Essex refused, telling the King that he should give himself up to Parliament if he wanted peace, but another rogue letter had also been sent to Essex. Lord Henry Wilmot was the Lieutenant General of the Horse in the King’s army and recently he had been showing dangerous tendencies. In a private letter, he proposed that they should both use their influence with each of their leaders to end the war and that he could oust the Royalist commanders and they could both take the King to London to arrange a peace. Decisive Action The King acted decisively and as Wilmot sat at the head of his regiment, to everyone’s surprise, he was arrested in full view. At first his regiment was indignant until the facts came out and Wilmot was allowed to flee to France. Another deadwood officer, Lord Percy who was Wilmot’s friend, was so outraged that he lay down his post of General of the Ordinance and it was given to a much abler man. It was essential now to complete the surrounding of Essex by capturing the strong points and defensive positions. As such on 21st August 1644, Sir Richard Grenville stormed Restormel Castle, held by some men from Devonshire. Without any orders from either Essex or their own commander, the defenders left without any fight. More attacks synchronised during that misty morning and Prince Maurice and Lord Forth occupied Beacon Hill which overlooked Lostwithiel and went on to take Druids Hill without any serious opposition. Using the misty smokescreen, Maurice followed this up and pushed 1000 men forward, taking the hill to the north east of Lostwithiel that stood to the north side of the road to Liskeard. This was not the finish however and towards evening, the King’s foot advanced into the fields on the hillside on either side of this road. Lord Essex was surprised and seemed to have lost all initiative to fight, allowing the encirclement to continue. Like a rat in a trap, he left it until late afternoon to send a force to oppose further advances by Grenville. To prevent foraging for food by the enemy, the King sent 2000 horse and 1000 foot to St. Blazey, while the cavaliers received 100 barrels of powder to re-enforce themselves. With these changes, the King marched towards Fowey where Essex was hiding and while winds were unfavourable to the Parliamentary fleet, captured the outposts above the harbour, thus ending possible intervention by Warwick’s ships. On 31st, Essex saw the hopelessness and ordered his cavalry to cut their way through the King’s men to safety. They managed the feat and escaped from the King through the Royalist over-confidence and only lost 100 men. Meanwhile that morning, the King ordered 1000 men forward to occupy Lostwithiel and planted two guns to train on Phillip Skippon’s rearguard. The King then attacked with his Lifeguards, chasing the Parliamentarians for 2 miles and constantly seeing evidence of a hasty retreat in the ammunition and supplies left tardily in the mud. A Major Brett of the Queen’s troop led the attack and was wounded in the process, but pushed the enemy on. He was riding to get the wound dressed when the King called him over. Both on horseback, Charles knighted him with his sword, before awaiting the Royalist infantry to catch them up. Essex finally organised a counter-attack and made a brave stand, but the sight of the King’s Lifeguard approaching made them fall back again. After an hours fighting in the fields, the Royalist foot supported by the horse pushed the enemy back again, all the way to Castle Dore, but pursued no further. Skippon with his men sent to Essex to know his orders, but none came back, save some advice. Essex took the opportunity to leave his honour behind and fled in a rowing boat to the fleet, leaving his infantry to their fate. Later in his despatch to Parliament, he claimed, “I thought it fit to look to myself, it being a greater terror to me to be a slave to their contempt’s than a thousand deaths.” That night, the opposition commander by contrast was spending the night under a hedge with is men. King Charles was in high spirits and spent the night without any ceremony. Abandoned by their commander and dejected, the Parliamentary men refused to fight and after seeking terms of peace they marched away, allowed to remain free to join another Parliamentary army. Few would make it though, for hunger and the elements killed many off. RESULTS The King had secured thirty-six cannon, ten thousand muskets and pistols and 100 barrels of powder and match and a mortar. Parliament was outraged at the blunder and squabbles threw up over blame, which did nothing to help the cohesion of their war effort. Parliament sincerely thought that God was turning away from them. Back to Table of Contents -- King or Parliament #4 Back to King or Parliament List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2003 by Mark Turnbull. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com