Notwithstanding that in this part was born that individual of the family of Plantagenet, whose assumption of the throne plunged the country, for half a century, into the civil wars which nearly exterminated the ancient nobility; yet had the soil here been unstained by the blood so profusely shed. Partaking, in common with all, the miseries of the land, it seemed peculiarly exempted from beholding those contentions of the houses of York and Lancaster, which sprung from the elevation of Henry of Bolingbroke to the sovereignty of England. It was however otherwise when the usurpation of unlimited power on the part of Charles the first had urged a war between the people and the king. As peculiar circumstances of policy and interest had brought the military operations into these parts, it will be necessary in their detail to revert to the conduct of the parties opposed in the opening of the war.
No sooner had the commons demanded concessions from the royal prerogative, as the only security against the repeated encroachments which had been made on the privileges of the people, than they were impelled, by the insincerity of the monarch, to protect the interest of the subject by every possible means. The right of the sword was looked upon as the exalted claim of the patriot alone; but as either party considered themselves influenced by the sacred love of their country, both made gradual advances to an appeal: the one to protect the liberties of the people; the other, those general interests which seemed connected with upholding the authority of the king. As the commons were sensible that the monarch would seize the first favorable opportunity to reinstate himself in the former excess of his power, the earliest precautions were taken in regard to the military establishments of the country. Amongst these was secured the important fortress of Hull, containing the arms of all the forces which had been levied against the Scots: with these the parliament also assumed to themselves the disposal of the militia, a force indeed collected, but totally untried in the conduct of war. The king, on erecting his standard, opposed to this, as a resource of strength, his Commission of Array. The call of the monarch was obeyed by each county, as the political inclinations of individuals led them, or in submission to the influence and example of those men of fortune, with whose interests that of their tenantry was intimately connected. [11a]
The contest carried on in the south and in the west with vigor, already appeared favorable to the royal cause. In the north, however, it sustained a decided check, by the strong hold which the parliament possessed in the garrison of Hull, then commanded by Lord Fairfax, who, unable to maintain the field against the Marquis of Newcastle, had there retired, determined to repel a siege with courage and ability; and to diminish the strength of his enemy by sudden incursions.
The disposable forces of the parliament, not immediately required for the defence of Hull, were too inconsiderable to oppose the march into the south. Notwithstanding this, the affairs of the king were ruined by confining the efforts of a powerful army to investing this fortress; while the active enemy, though few in number, acquired by their boldness and intrepidity, an effective strength in the field. When Oliver Cromwell, then beginning to signalize himself as the companion in arms of the young and gallant Sir Thomas Fairfax, had by a signal victory at Gainsborough, routed the royal troops; the Marquis of Newcastle, beholding his brother Cavendish dead, amid the noblest and bravest of his soldiers, seemed as if awakened by the calls of vengeance to the necessity of more extensive exertions. He therefore suddenly decided on harassing his opponents, while weak and inefficient, by dispatching a competent force into the heart of Lincolnshire. Cromwell, though a conqueror, was obliged to make a precipitate retreat; and as Lincoln was not defensible, he hastened on the day succeeding his victory to Boston; intending there, with the young Sir Thomas Fairfax, who was proceeding with additional horse from Hull, to concentrate their forces with those of the Earl of Manchester. [11b]
The division of the royal army, destined for these parts, was entrusted to the command of Sir John Henderson, an old and valiant soldier, and to Sir William Widdrington, who was appointed governor of Lincoln. As these leaders were anxious to requite themselves for the defeat which had so recently crowned the conquerors with the applause of heroism, they determined to draw the enemy to an engagement before their reinforcements should arrive: ere this however could be effected, Manchester, upon advice of their intention, after possessing himself of the strong fortress of Lynn, had advanced with the disposable part of the army of the associated counties. Such appeared to be the mutual disposition of affairs in the north, at the beginning of October, 1643, in the first year of the civil war.
The army of the parliament, about six thousand foot, and thirty-seven troop of horse, being concentrated at Boston, it was determined that companies should be distributed into such parts as might secure their early co-operation whensoever occasion should require. Bolingbroke, defended by a castle held by the partizans of the king, called forth into exertion their vigor and the alacrity of their courage. [12] This they decided upon as the place of military operation; whilst as the neighbourhood promised the most favorable circumstances for a field, they would there invite the enemy on to battle. Accordingly ten companies commanded by Major Knight, an officer under Sir Miles Hobart, were disposed of at this place. A regiment commanded by Colonel Russel, was quartered at Stickford, about two miles distant; and three companies of the Earl of Manchester’s own at the village of Stickney. The cavalry were all distributed into the country round, for about eight or ten miles distance.
In the evening after their arrival, the castle of Bolingbroke was summoned. The answer in effect was, that “the commander need not expect that the demands of arrogance alone should win the castle.” From this determined reply promising a strenuous defence, dispositions were immediately taken to acquire it by a regular siege. The church and a neighbouring house were occupied by the assailants, earth works were thrown up, and the assault commenced, but without much effect.
During this time, the royalists, bold, eager, and trusting that a generous heroism would nerve them for victory, waited only the opportunity for attack. Upon learning the arrival of the Earl of Manchester, they lost no time in drawing out all their military from the several garrisons of Lincoln, Newark, and Gainsborough, still stimulated by an undaunted resolution to find out the enemy, and advance to the combat. Hastening on, they arrived, early on the day previous to the battle, at the out-posts of the parliamentary forces.
No sooner had a detachment from the king’s army, advancing on the western road, been observed at Edlington, reconnoitring the lines of their enemy, than word came to Sir Thomas Fairfax, the commandant of the cavalry at Horncastle, that a surprize was expected. Information was accordingly dispatched to the Earl of Manchester: it found him at East Kirkby hill, with Colonel Cromwell, and the Lord Willoughby of Parham, intently observing the progress which the besiegers made against the castle of Bolingbroke, and assiduously ordering the dispositions of attack. Roused at this communication, Cromwell immediately hurried to collect the troops dispersed around. Fairfax was still every where distributing horsemen for the purpose of enquiry, cautious to ascertain and forward such accounts as might be obtained of the progress and number of the royal forces; who though eager for battle, were careful to deliberate on the promises of success. As the party who caused the alarm, suspecting themselves seen, had drawn off with such intelligence as they gathered, there seemed reason to suppose that the main body of the royalists were yet at a considerable distance: Fairfax therefore about sun set, learning nothing additional, proceeded to the quarters at East Kirkby, to confer on the measures proposed for the expected conflict. In the mean time, the Earl of Manchester, with Lord Willoughby and some other officers, had with the like object hastened to Horncastle, previously appointing that at that place the forces should be immediately collected; where, being drawn together, the most effective resolutions might be taken for ensuring a victory, or lessening the calamities of a defeat.
It was not until the dusk of the evening that the royal army, under Sir John Henderson, moved rapidly on to the station of their enemy. They had judged that the dubious light would serve to conceal their true numbers; and that as nothing was known of them with certainty, but their anxious readiness for the encounter; so their opponents, whether few or many, deeming them prepared for every casualty, might, by their indecision, leave an easy conquest to their arms.
The out-posts were surprized by the precipitate advance of these hostile forces; and in the unprepared circumstances of those who maintained them, and the disparity of their numbers, there was afforded them no means of encountering their difficulties, but the hardihood of a cool intrepidity. This indeed was a stern calmness which always pervaded the breast of a Puritan who was a soldier. He did not untremblingly bare his bosom to the steel because, like a Roman, he abstractedly considered fear inconsistent with the nobler qualities of human nature; but because the factitious enthusiasm of his religion had taught him to look with indifference on temporal things. If the general good required the sacrifice of his life, the particular calamities of his family were dismissed with scarce a thought beyond a pious supplication. It was this feeling which finally rendered the parliament victorious in the contest. However in this unlooked-for state the soldiers at the out-posts were exposed to much perplexity, and many were the dangers recited amongst them on the morning of the gathering of their strength for the field of battle. Some finding themselves surrounded, out-numbered, and in all the perilous circumstances of desperate warfare, were obliged to supply by politic conduct the helplessness of their condition. These therefore, hastily mounting their horses, agreed with much resolution to break through the opposing ranks, sword in hand, with the words of mutual encouragement, “Come on! come on! all is our own,” thinking that the royalists, by these ambiguous shouts, fearing an ambuscade, would leave to them an easy passage by the sudden confusion of their alarm. In this manner about four companies encountered two thousand cavalry, with the loss of only three men.
Though these warriors, taking the advantage of the darkness of the evening, were enabled by their resolute conduct to overcome these difficulties; yet as the royal army had already advanced onward to Horncastle, in strong and numerous detachments, they were exposed in their retreat thither to fresh and obstinate encounters. Perceiving, as they approached the town, that they had come up to another party of the royalist’s horse, they determined, after saluting them as friends, to hurry onward as if destined for some urgent duty. They had, however, scarce passed them, when flushed with the success of their stratagem, and feeling the pride and bravado of soldiers, who deemed their individual preservation as of little value to their common strength, if purchased without the blood of their enemy, they turned to the attack of the unwary royalists. “For whom are ye?” said they. “For the king.” “We are for the king and parliament.” Scarcely had these declarations been interchanged, when rushing precipitately on the unsuspecting royalists and throwing them into disorder, the assailants fled towards the town, deeming themselves secure in the quarters of their comrades, and considering their valour rewarded in the acclamations that would greet them from their friends. But Horncastle, surprized at the approach of numerous hostile forces, had been evacuated by the detachment of horse which possessed it; and the inhabitants as soon as the town was seized by the troops of the king, having secured the entrances and roads through it, by forming barriers with carts and timber; the cavalry found themselves again obliged to exert their unyielding valor in turning upon their pursuers. Desperately therefore they burst through them with the full energy of their courage, sustaining the loss of some few men, among whom was a cornet; but bringing away prisoners as the evidence of their perils and their triumph. [15a]
At this period of hurried confusion, and the setting in of the night, the Earl of Manchester reached the town. He heard the rejoicings of the troops, thus victorious in the dangers of their retreat; taunting the royalists with their shouts, as they drew off undefeated from their toils. Finding now that the place designed for the assembling of his forces was already possessed by the enemy, he hastily recalled the orders for the general rendezvous at Horncastle, and appointed Bolingbroke in its stead. Thither at night repaired the dispersed soldiery of the parliament, except three or four troops of horse, who, in the difficulties of retreating before superior forces, had been obliged to proceed by the circuit of Tattershall, and did not arrive until the next morning.
At Bolingbroke, Manchester designed to wait for the royalists; but Cromwell, actuated by prudence, urged the delaying of the battle, since the troops, upon whose prowess and exertion success depended, were wearied, and little able to sustain the ardour of the fight. [15b] The royal army were however too eager to secure the promises of a victory, to permit their adversaries to renew their strength by avoiding the contest. As soon as the morning had dawned and the silence of the surrounding country assured them that their enemies were withdrawn from near them, and were assembling together at Bolingbroke, they arrayed themselves for the encounter. Before the middle of the day they marched out, in strength about seventy-five troops of horse, and five thousand foot, to meet the soldiers of the parliament. Foreboding with certainty that this would be their determination, Manchester was constrained to the resolution of giving them battle, and immediately advanced towards them.
The spot upon which the contending armies engaged was a gently rising and broadly extended eminence, at a village called Winceby, midway between Horncastle and Bolingbroke. It commands an extensive prospect of the far stretched fen-lands of the county; whilst to the westward is seen those cliffs, on the summit of one of which magnificently rises the cathedral of Lincoln. This the royal army had contemplated as a district, which by victory was either to be restored to the authority of the king; or by defeat to afford an effectual check to the military operations in the north, and to be ensured as a further resource to the parliament. The noon was already passed when the armies came in sight of each other. The royalists trusting with confidence to their mutual ardor, rejoiced when they beheld the adverse soldiers advancing to meet them, though amid the wild chant of hymns for mercy and for victory. In the fields immediately before them they fixed the order of their battle: formed into closely compacted lines, the cavalry was placed in the advance, and covered the infantry. The left wing of this array, was commanded by the general Sir John Henderson. [16a]
The Earl of Manchester, pressed for ground in the marshalling of his forces, presented alone his cavalry to the fight; the infantry, headed by himself, being stationed so far in the rear that they were unable to second the exertions of their horsemen. [16b] The disadvantages arising from fatigue, with the closeness of ground, and inequality of numbers, were apparent to the warriors of the parliament. In the doubtful promises of the contest, their leaders sought to replenish their strength, and supply their situation by words and by actions, infusing into them an energy and martial ardour rivalling their own. Fairfax, who knew by experience that the undaunted intrepidity of a few was more efficient in its achievements than the impetuosity of those who relied for security on their numbers, pointed to his men the imposing array of his adversaries, exclaiming “Come let us fall on; I never prospered better than when I fought with my enemies three or four to one.” Cromwell, by the apparent bravery with which he was animated, promised them that examples of heroism should not be wanted, whilst life was given him to lead them. [17a]
On the other hand, the commander of the royal forces did not lose the opportunity which was afforded him of reminding his fellow soldiers that vengeance was yet due for the defeat at Gainsborough; and that now was supplied them a time to requite themselves for the blood of the illustrious brother of Newcastle. He set before them the necessity of strenuous exertions and important sacrifices, by pointing to the example of one, who exalted amidst the mighty of the land, lately fighting among them, did not hesitate to devote himself to death for the cause of his sovereign. At the moment therefore when the armies were ready to engage, the royalists raised the cry of “Cavendish! on for Cavendish!” which was as loudly answered by the enthusiastic shout of “Religion!” the zeal which animated those who proclaimed it, by inspiring them with hopes of immortality, rendered death less to be dreaded than the misfortunes of a defeat. [17b]
Scarce had the words of onset been given, when the divisions of cavalry, under the command of Cromwell and Fairfax, were led to the charge by Vermeydun, a soldier of valour, who headed the first detachment as a forlorn hope, aspiring to the honor of directing his comrades on to victory. Already the horsemen of the royalists, with a well directed precision, had vigorously poured into their ranks the second discharge of their fire arms. These did some execution among them; and Cromwell thus early had his horse shot under him. A minute had elapsed before the parties fiercely met in the close encounter, arm to arm. Cromwell for a time was compelled to grapple on foot with his enemies, entangled amid the trappings of his dying charger. Though felled to the ground as he attempted to extricate himself from this perilous situation, he rose uninjured. This singular man, bold and intrepid, animated by zeal, foremost in the fight, struggling with disasters, seemed peculiarly preserved in all his dangers to fill that situation in the page of history, where, though elevated by violence, he powerfully commands our admiration by his success, his prudence, and the daring of his genius. Sir Ingram Hopton, who at this moment had attempted to seize him, was killed. [18] Cromwell, now recovering a horse from a soldier near him, bravely led on his companions to the combat, strengthening their stern courage by the most signal proofs of his personal bravery.
Not with less valor was the conflict sustained on the part of the royalists. Sir John Henderson, the hardy veteran of former battles, firm as a rock amid the rushing of the waves, resisted every impetuous assault. His adversaries were driven back in disorder; but these men, not readily to be repulsed, returned, with a cool bravery and redoubled vigor to the attack. For half an hour, firm and undecided, continued the contest, sword against sword, and fortitude repelling courage. The resolute warriors, who sustained the furious charges of Fairfax and Cromwell, for the whole were not engaged, relinquished not a portion of their ground. At last, a division commanded by Sir William Saville wavering, though reluctant to give way, became routed and completely disordered. Yielding, they struck confusion into the other bodies of their own horse; and these again were hurled with precipitance upon the mass of their infantry. All being alike borne down in this part of the field, none were left to second the broken and disordered, in again advancing to the combat. The division of Sir John Henderson and Lord Ething alone maintained itself unyielding and unsubdued. The exulting army of the parliament, now taking advantage of the discomfiture of the other troops, and the tumult of the infantry, assailed with a desperate charge the yet unrepulsed. In vain did the royalist commander exhort his men to be resolute and undismayed; but no prudence could uphold the advantages which valor must lose. Their fortitude was giving way to despair; and the successful, elated with the promises of victory, found no equal disputants in men dismayed by the certainty of a defeat. Perplexed amid the various and ineffectual efforts of the other bodies of the royal troops, the disheartened defenders of the field yielded beneath the shock of the adverse weapons. The victorious soldiers now fiercely plunging in amidst the routed dragoons, many of whom at this time were on foot and in the most appalling confusion, saw them quickly disappearing beneath the havoc of their swords and the fury of their horses. The infantry were for the most part destroyed; for being intercepted by a body of cavalry, scarce a man survived the carnage. [19a] There was now no safety but in a dishonorable flight. The pursuit continued beyond Horncastle with unremitting fury; and along the road were strewed the horse and the rider, the dead and the dying. [19b]
The soldiers under the command of Manchester, who as yet had partaken in no respect in the glory of the blood-shed, reserved their efforts for securing the prisoners, and assisting the scarce breathing wounded of the royal army, who were scattered about the field in groups. Such partizans as had recently been embodied by the commission of array, were pitiably supplicating the mercy of their conquerors. Cursing with deep execration that little regard which had hurried them to the fight, without a feeling of interest in its issue, they cried out that the commission of array had brought them thither against their wills, and blessing the cause of liberty and religion, added “We die as true servants of the parliament as any in England, and woe be to those who were the cause that Lincoln and York became the prey of such a war.” [19c]
Though the battle was fought with determined obstinacy; yet, whilst the parties maintained their ground, the loss was comparatively small: the havoc that ensued was among the routed and the flying. There were killed but few on the side of the parliament. Those of rank who were slain of the royal forces, were Sir George Bolles, and Sir Ingram Hopton. The prisoners, about one thousand in number, were the wounded on the field, and those parties of the dispersed fugitives, who to avoid the overwhelming carnage of their pursuers, had secreted themselves amongst the rugged and winding banks of a neighbouring river: many indeed were taken whilst seeking refuge in the very waters, where some had already perished, bleeding and wearied in their armour, overcome in their inability to recover themselves from the deeper parts of the stream. The trophies which the conquerors obtained in the fight of Winceby field, were arms for fifteen hundred men, and thirty-five standards. [20a]
Returning from the pursuit, the exhausted cavalry rested for the night in the villages around Horncastle. The infantry occupied quarters in the town, where they found two hundred horses left by their fugitive enemy. Of the wounded, the Earl of Manchester ordered especial care to be taken, whilst the dead were hastily consigned to the nearest graves. The body of Sir Ingram Hopton was brought to Horncastle and buried in the church: for Cromwell, who did not permit his political resentment to render him callous or insensible to the generous feelings of a soldier, experienced some sympathy for the individual whose ardor in attempting his destruction, for what was deemed the welfare of his country, had cost the sacrifice of his own life: he therefore, upon his arrival in the town, commanded the inhabitants to fetch the body of Sir Ingram Hopton, and inter it with the honors due to his rank; observing, that though an enemy, he was a gentleman and a soldier. [20b]
Of those royalists who escaped the slaughter, there were scarce a thousand efficient for the field; and these were destined to sustain another overthrow at the battle of Lincoln close, which completed the warfare in this county. Bolingbroke castle had already yielded; and this with Tattershall, the principal places of defence in this neighbourhood, were soon after devoted to the dismantling policy of the parliament, which doomed them with the noble edifices of the country, to that destruction which left them but ruins in silent and lingering decay.
Although this victory afforded a cause for so much rejoicing to the friends of the parliament; yet were its consequences mightier for the interests which it strengthened, by the defeat, on the same day, [20c] of the Marquis of Newcastle before the fortress of Hull. The Lord Fairfax and Sir John Meldrum, making a desperate sortie, had completely overthrown the royalists with much slaughter; forcing them, though protected behind strong entrenchments, to abandon the siege with the loss of all their cannon. The impolicy of the royalist commander was now perceptible too late. This ruin of the affairs of the king seemed at once to have obliterated all the generous services which the faithful Newcastle had made in the cause of his sovereign; and shortly after these disasters, he retired to the continent, [21] where he spent a life of indigence, until the restoration gave again the royal authority to Britain. These actions, though inconsiderable in themselves, were yet great in their effects. The expectations of the royalists in Yorkshire were now nearly blasted: Lincolnshire, after the occupation of its city, escaped the further deluge of blood; and the defeats served to assist in hastening the fight of Marston Moor, where the hopes of Charles were reduced to that one gleam, which was finally extinguished at the battle of Naseby.
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