reason of their being many more than they in number; and the rest being elsewhere engaged and following the chase, Colonel Cromwell with his three Troops followed them in the rear; brake this Regiment; and forced their General, with divers of their men, into a quagmire in the bottom of the Hill. Where one of Colonel Cromwell his men cut General Cavendish on the head; by reason whereof he fell off his horse; and the Colonel's Captain-Lieutenant thrust him into the side, whereof within two hours he died; — the rest chasing his Regiment quite out of the field, having execution of them, so that the field was left wholly unto us, not a man appearing. Upon this, divers of our men went into the Town, carrying in to my Lord Willoughby some of the Ammunition we brought for him; - believing that our work was at an end; saving to take care how to bring farther provisions into the Town, to enable it to stand a siege in case my Lord Newcastle should with his Army to attempt it. draw up - "Whilst we were considering of these things, word was brought us That there was a small remainder of the Enemy's force not yet meddled with, about a mile beyond Gainsborough, with some Foot, and two pieces of Ordnance. We having no Foot, desired to have some out of the Town; which my Lord Willoughby granted, and sent us about Six Hundred Foot: with these we advanced towards the Enemy. When we came thither to the top of the hill, we beat divers Troops of the Enemy's Horse back but at the bottom we saw a Regiment of Foot; after that another (my Lord Newcastle's own Regiment, consisting of nineteen colors) appearing also, and many Horse; -which indeed was his Army. Seeing these there so unexpectedly, we advised what to do. "Colonel Cromwell was sent to command the Foot to retire, and to draw off the Horse. By the time he came to them, the Enemy was marching up the hill. The Foot did retire disorderly into the Town, which was not much above a quarter of a mile from them; upon whom the Enemy's Horse did some small execution. The Horse also did retire in some disorder, about half a mile, — until they came to the end of a field where a passage was; where, by the endeavor of Colonel Cromwell, [of] Major Whalley and Captain Ayseoghe, a body was drawn up. With these we faced the Enemy; stayed their pursuit; and opposed them with about four Troops of Colonel Cromwell's and four Lincoln Troops; the Enemy's body in the mean time increasing very much from the Army. But such was the goodness of God, 1 Original has "his;" and for "General Cavendish" in the foregoing line " him." giving courage and valor to our men and officers, that whilst Major Whalley and Captain Ayscoghe, sometimes the one with four Troops faced the Enemy, sometimes the other, to the exceeding glory of God be it spoken, and the great honor of those two Gentlemen, they with this handful forced the Enemy so, and dared them to their 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, that, in despite of the Enemy, we brought off our Horse in this order, without the loss of two men. "Thus have you a true relation of this notable service: wherein God is to have all the glory. And care must be taken speedily to relieve this noble Lord from his and the State's Enemies, by a speedy force sent unto us, and that without any delay; or else he will be lost, and that important Town, and all those parts; and way made for this Army instantly to advance into the South. Thus resting upon your care in speeding present Succors hither, we humbly take our leaves, and remain, "Your humble servants, "EDW. AYSCOGHE. 2. The Second Letter, the Original of which still exists, is of much greater interest; being from Cromwell's own hand, and evidently thrown off in a quite familiar and even hasty fashion. Written, as would appear, on the march from Lincoln to Huntingdon; no mention precisely where; but probably at the Army's quarters on the evening of their first day's march homewards. In the original the surname of the "Sir John" to whom the Letter addresses itself has been, probably by some royalist descendant (of mixed emotions), so industriously crossed out with many strokes of the pen, that not only is it entirely illegible, but the polite possessor of the Autograph cannot undertake to guess for me how many letters may have been in the word. On other grounds I pretty confidently undertake, nevertheless, to read Wray: Sir John Wray of Glentworth, Member for Lincolnshire, and on the Committee of that County; at present, I suppose, attending his duty in London. 1 Tanner MSS. Ixii. 194; and, with little or no variation, Baker MSS. xxviii. 434. Glentworth House is almost within sight and sound of these transactions; the well-affected Knight of the Shire, for many reasons, may fitly hear a word of them, while we rest from our march. Sir John's Mother, I find by the Dryasdust records1 was a Montague of Boughton; so that " your noble Kinsman" near the end of this Letter will mean my Lord of Manchester, "Sergeant-Major of the Association," a man well qualified to give information. "To my noble Friend Sir John [Wraye], Knight and Baronet : Present these. "[EASTERN ASSOCIATION,] 30th July, 1643. "SIR, The particular respects I have received at your hands do much oblige me, but the great affection you bear to the public much more: for that cause I am bold to acquaint you with some late Passages wherein it hath pleased God to favor us; - which, I am assured, will be welcome to you. "After Burleigh House was taken, we went towards Gainsborough to a general rendezvous, where met us Lincolnshire Troops; so that we were Nineteen or Twenty Troops, when we were together, of Horse and Foot, and about Three or Four Troops of Dragooners. We marched with this Force to Gainsborough. Upon Friday morning, being the 28th of July, we met with a forlorn-hope of the Enemy, and with our men brake it in. We marched on to 2 the Town's end. The Enemy being upon the top of a very steep Hill over our heads, some of our men attempted to march up that Hill; the Enemy opposed; our men drove them up, and forced their passage. By the time we came up, we saw the Enemy well set in two bodies: the foremost a large fair body, the other a reserve consisting of six or seven brave Troops. Before we could get our force into order, the great body of the Enemy advanced; they were within musket-shot of us when we came to the pitch of the Hill: we advanced likewise towards them; and both charged, each upon the other: Thus advancing, we came to pistol and sword's point, both in that close order that it was disputed very strongly who should break the other. But our men pressing a little heavily upon them, they began to give back; which our men perceiving, instantly forced them, - brake that whole body; some of them flying on this side, some on the other side, of the reserve. Our men, pursuing them in great disorder, had the execution about four, or some -- 1 Burke's Extinct Baronetage, § Wray. 2 Means "towards." say six miles. With much ado, this done, and all their force being gone, not one man standing, but all beaten out of the field, we drew up our body together, and kept the field, the half of our men being well worn in the chase of the Enemy. "Upon this we endeavored the Business we came for; which was the relief of the Town with Ammunition. We sent in some Powder, which was the great want of that Town. Which done, word was brought us that the Enemy had about Six Troops of Horse, and Three Hundred Foot, a little on the other side of the Town. Upon this we drew some musketeers out of the Town, and with our body of horse marched towards them. We saw two Troops towards the Mill; which my men drove down into a little village at the bottom of the Hill: when we [we emphatic] came with our horse to the top of that Hill, we saw in the bottom a whole regiment of Foot, after that another and another, — and, as some counted, about Fifty Colors of Foot. Which indeed was my Lord Newcastle's Army; -with which he now besieges Gainsborough. "My Lord Willoughby commanded me to bring off the Foot and Horse which I endeavored; but the Foot (the Enemy pressing on with the Army) retreated in some disorder into the Town, being of that Garrison. Our Horse also, being wearied, and unexpectedly pressed by this new force, so great, gave off, not being able to brave the charge. But, with some difficulty, we got our Horse into a body, and with them faced the Enemy; and retreated in such order that though the Enemy followed hard, they were not able to disorder us, but we got them off safe, to Lincoln, from this fresh force, and lost not one man. The honor of this retreat, equal to any of late times, is due to Major Whalley and Captain Ayscough, next under God. "This Relation I offer you for the honor of God (to whom be all the praise); as also to let you know you have some servants faithful to you, to incite to action. I beseech you let this good success quichen your countrymen to this engagement! It's great evidence of God's favor. Let not your business be starved. I know, if all be of your mind, we shall have an honorable return. It's your own business: a reasonable strength now raised speedily may do that which much more will not do after some time. Undoubtedly, if they succeed here, you will see them in the bowels of your Association! [As] for the time, you will hear it from your noble Kinsman and Colonel Palgrave: if we be not able in ten days to relieve Gainsborough, a noble Lord will be lost, many good Foot, and a considerable Pass over Trent in these parts. - The Lord prosper your endeavors and ours. I beseech you present my humble service to the high Honorable Lady. Sir, I am "Your faithful servant, "OLIVER CROMWELL. "P.S.I stayed [from the chase after our first encounter] two of my own Troops, and my Major stayed his; in all three. There were in front of the Enemy's reserve three or four of the Lincoln Troops yet unbroken the Enemy charged those Troops; utterly broke and chased them; so that none of the Troops on our part stood, but my three. Whilst the Enemy was following our flying Troops, I charged him on the rear with my three Troops; drove him down the Hill, brake him all to pieces; forced Lieutenant-General Cavendish into a Bog, who fought in this reserve: one Officer cut him on the head; and, as he lay, my Captain-Lieutenant Berry thrust him into the short ribs, of which he died, about two hours after, in Gainsborough.” By this Postscript is at last settled the question, Who killed Charles Cavendish? It was "my Captain-Lieutenant Berry ;" he and no other, if any one still wish to know. Richard Baxter's friend once; and otherwise a known man. No. 6. LETTER TWO DAYS PRIOR TO THAT CAMBRIDGE ONE. [Vol. xvii. p. 177.] [To Sir Samuel Luke, - Member for Bedford, leading Committee-man, &c., These.] "[No date of Place] 8 March, 1643. "NOBLE SIR, I beseech you cause Three Hundred Foot, under a Captain, to march to Buckingham upon Monday morning, there to quarter with Four Hundred Foot of Northampton, which Mr. Crew sends thither upon Monday next. There will be the Major-General [Crawford] to command them. I am going for a Thousand Foot more at least to be sent from Cambridge and out of the Associations. If 1 Original in the possession of Dawson Turner, Esq., Great Yarmouth; printed in Papers of Norfolk Archeological Society (Norwich, Jan. 1848), pp. 45-50. |