An exact and true relation of the dangerous and bloudy fight, betweene His Majesties armie, and the Parliaments forces, neere Kyneton in the countie of Warwick, the 23 of this instant October sent in a letter to Iohn Pym, Esquire, a member of the House of Commons : which letter was signed by : Denzell Hollis, Ph. Stapleton, Tho. Ballard, William Balfour, Io., Meldrum, Charles Pym, who were then present.

An exact and true relation of the dangerous and bloudy fight, betweene His Majesties armie, and the Parliaments forces, neere Kyneton in the countie of Warwick, the 23 of this instant October sent in a letter to Iohn Pym, Esquire, a member of the House of Commons : which letter was signed by : Denzell Hollis, Ph. Stapleton, Tho. Ballard, William Balfour, Io., Meldrum, Charles Pym, who were then present.

Table of contents

Title page

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SIR,

WE should doe our Army a great deale of wrong, and not discharge our duty of thankfulnesse towards God, if wee tooke not the first occasion to declare his goodnesse, in giving so great a blessing as hee hath now done to the resolute and unwearied endeavours of our Souldiers, fighting for him in the maintenance of his Truth, and for themselves and their Countrey, in defence of their Liberties, and the priviledges of [...]arliament. This makes us give you now a Narration of a blessed Victory which God hath given us upon the Army of the Cavaliers, and of those evill persons, who upon Sunday, the 23. of this instant, ingaged his Majesty in a dangerous and bloody fight against his faithfull Subjects, in the Army raised by Authority of Parliament, for the preservation of his Crowne and Kingdome; Wee marched from Worcester, Wednesday the 19. upon Intelligence that the Army was moved from Shrewesbury, and Bridgenorth, and bending Southward; our Train of Artillery was so unready, through want of draught Horses, and through our omission of Monsieur du Boys, that we were forced to leave it behind to follow us, and with it the Regiments of Colonell Hambden, and Colonell Grantham; and staying for it, wee could advance no further then to a little Market-towne, called Kyneton in Warwickeshire, sixe miles from Warwicke, whither we came the Saturday night, with 11. Regiments of Foot, 42. troops of Horse, and about 700. Dragoones, in all about ten thousand men; there we intended to rest the Sabbath day, and the rather, that our Artillery, and the Forces left with it, might come up to us. In the morning, when we were going to Church, [Page] we had Newes brought us, That the Enemy was two miles from us, upon a high Hill, called Edge-hill; whereupon wee presently marched forth into a great broad field under that Hill, called The vale of the red Horse, and made a stand some halfe a mile from the foot of the Hill, and there drew into Battalia▪ where we saw their Forces come downe the Hill, and draw likewise into Battell in the bottome a great broad company: Their Forces appeared to be much greater then we could possibly have conceived them to be; by the confession of the prisoners wee have taken, they that say least, say fourteene thousand, which is the Earle of Lindsey's[?] Relation, who was their Generall; but others say, eighteen thousand, and above 4000. horse and Dragoones: 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 meanes, before the Battell was done, gained it wholly from them: In our right Wing were three Regiments of Horse,These two Regiments were led by Sir Io. Meldrum, and were of his Brigado. the Lord Generals commanded by Sir Philip Stapleto[?], Sir William Balfore, and the Lord Fieldings, Sir Iohn Meldrums Brigado had the Van, Colonel Essex was in the middle, and Colonell Bullard with the Lord Generalls Regiment, his owne, the Lord Brookes, and Colonell Hollis in the Reare: In the left Wing were 24. troops of Horse, commanded by Sir Iames Ramsey, their Commissary Generall. In this posture wee stood, when th'other Army advanced towards us, the strength of their horse were on their right Wing, opposit to our left Wing; In their left Wing they had but ten troops, but their Foot which appeared to us, divided into nine great Bodies, came up all in front, and after some playing with the Canon 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 by Sir Philip Stapletons and Sir William Balfore's Regiments of Horse, assisted with the Lord Roberts and Sir William Constables Regiments of Foot, who did it so home thrice together, that they forced all the Musquetiers of two of their best Regiments to run in and shrowd themselves within their Pikes, not daring to shoot a shot, and so stood: When our Reare came up, and then charging all together, especially that part of our Rear which was plac'd upon [Page] the right, and so next unto them, which was the Lord Generals Regiment, and the Lord Brooks, led on by Colonell Ballard, who commanded that Brigado, forced that stand of Pikes, and wholly broke those two Regiments, and slew and took almost every man of them: The Earle of Lindsey, his son the Lord Willoughby, and some other persons of note are prisoners, Sir Edmund Varney, who carried the Kings Standard, was slain by a Gentleman of the Lord Generals Troop of horse, who did much other good service that day, and the Standard taken, which was afterwards by the Lord Generall himself delivered unto his Secretary M. Chamber [...], with an intention to send it back the next day unto His Majesty; but the Secretary after he had carried it long in his hand, suffred it to be taken away by some of our Troopers, and as yet we cannot learn where it is: The other two Regiments of our Rear▪ Col. Hollis, and Col. Ballard charged those which were before them, and then the whole Body of the Kings Foot, except two other Regiments ran away▪ by this time it grew so late and dark, and to say the truth, our Ammunition at this present was all spent, that we contented our selves to make good the field, and gave them leave to retire up the hil in the night: But before we come to this, we will give you an account of what passed in the other parts of our Army, before our Reare came up to charge. Our battell at the very first wholly disbanded and ran away, without ever striking stroke or so much as being charged by the Enemy, though Col. Essex himselfe, and others that commanded those Regiments, in chief did as much as men could doe to stay them; but Col. Essex being forsaken by his whole Brigado, went himself into the Van, where both by his direction and his owne execution he did most gallant service, till he received a shot in the thigh, of which he is since dead: Now for our Rear, thus it was, before it▪ towards the out side of it stood our left wing of Horse, advanced a little forward to the top of a hill, where they stood in a Battalia lined with commanded Muskettiers, 400 out of Col. Hollis Regiment, and 200 out of Col. Ballards; but upon the first charge of the Enemy they wheeled about▪ abandoned their Muskettiers, and came running down with the enemies horse at their [Page] heels, and amongst them pell mell, just upon Col. Hollis his Regiment, and brake through it, though Col. Hollis himselfe, when he saw them come running towards him, went and planted himselfe just in the way, and did what possibly he could doe to make them stand, and at last prevailed with 3 Troops to wheele a little about and rally; but the rest of our horse of that wing, and the Enemies horse with them, brake through, and ran to Kineton, where most of the Enemy left pursuing them, and fell to plundring of our waggons, by which many of us have received very great losse, and by name, your servants that now write to you: Notwithstanding their breaking through Col. Hollis his Regiment, it was not dismayed, but together with the other Regiments of that Brigado marched up the hill, and so made all the haste they could to come up to fight, & got the wind of the Enemy, and came on (if we may say it ourselves, but we must do the souldiers right) most gallantly, and charged the enemy, who were then in fight with our Van, and the right wing of our Horse; and as was said before, helpt to defeat the two Regiments forementioned, and made all the rest run, but two other Regiments which retired orderly, and at last made a stand, and having the assistance of Canon, and a ditch before them, held us play very handsomely: And by this time it grew so darke, and our Powder and Bullet so spent, that it was not held fit we should advance upon them; but there we stood in very good order, drew up all our Forces both Horse and Foot, and so stood all the night upon that place where the Enemy before the fight had drawne into Battalia, till toward Morning that the enemy was gon, and retired up the hil: And then we returned also to a warmer place near Kineton, where we had quartered the night before, for we were almost starved with cold in that bitter night, our Army being in extreme want of victuals. And about 9 or 10 of the clock drew out againe into Battalia, and so stood 3 or 4 hours, till the Enemy was cleane gone from the hill, and then we drew again into our quarter, and there have lain this night, and purpose this day, God willing, after we have buried our dead, to march to Warwick to refresh our army, wch is exceedingly wearied with so many [Page] nights watching, & so long a fight which held from noon till dark night: Two particulars must not be omitted, one of Sir Wi. Balfore, who in the beginning of the day broke a Regiment of Foot which had green Colors, beat them to their Canon, where they threw down their Armes and ran away, he laid his hand upon the Canon, and called for nails to nail them up, especially the two biggest which were Demy-Canon, but finding none, he cut the Ropes belonging to them, and his Troopers killed the Canoneers: Then he pursued the flyers halfe a mile upon execution, and after returned to Sir Philip Stapleton, who in the mean time was charging of the red Regiment, where the Kings Standard was, and had charged it home to push of Pike with his single Troope; and they then, together with the helpe of some of the Foot of our Rear, utterly broke it, as you had it before: The other particular was of Sir Phil. Stapleton, who, when five Troops of the Enemies horse returned from pursuit of our left wing, and from plundering some of our waggons and passed by the out side of our Rear upon the left hand, went and charged them with his Troop and made them run; but they finding a gap in the hedge got away, and returned to the rest of their broken Troops[?], where they fallyed and made up a kinde of Body again▪ If we had time we could relate unto you many more observable passages, but what you have here shal serve you til we meet▪ This only wil we say, some of both sides did extreamly well, & others did as ill, and deserve to be hanged for deserting & betraying as much as lay in them their party, but God alone is to be praised who fought with us, & for us, & made it his own work to give the victory unto his Servants: We have lost of note▪ onely Colonell Essex, and we feare the Lord Saint-iohn[?] wha [...] was dangerously wounded; We here send you a George, found in the field by a common Souldier, and bought of him for twenty shillings by one Captane Ski [...]er; We have promised him he shall have it againe; we onely send it you as one of our Trophees that you may see it: we beleeve you will heare of very many of great quality slain on the other side; The Kings foot are either slain, or most of them run away, and are [Page] now very weak, and should have been pursued by us, but that we must of pure necessity refresh our men for three or four dayes, and then we shall, God willing, addresse our selves to finish the work. In the mean time tis very requisite, Letters from the Committee should be writ into the Countryes, which are Southern, to stir them up that they may rise and cut them off, or assist us at least against them; which hoping you will forthwith do;

We rest, Your faithfull and humble Servants.

Denzell Hollis:

Ph. Stapleton:

Tho. Ballard:

William Balfore:

Io: Meldrum:

Charles Pym.

Our Lord Generall went last night to Warwick, and is there very well, and had he been with us, we should not have presumed to have given you the first Advertisement. His Excellence did gallantly adventure himselfe that day in the From against the Enemy, exposing himselfe to more danger then we could have wished.

FINIS.

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An Exact and True RELATION OF The DANGEROUS and BLOUDY FIGHT, Betweene His Majesties Armie, and the Parliaments Forces, neere Kyneton in the Countie of Warwick, the 23 of this instant OCTOBER.

Sent in a Letter to IOHN PYM Esquire, a Member of the House of COMMONS.

Which Letter was signed by Denzell Hollis, Ph. Stapleton, Tho. Ballard, William Balfour, Io. Meldrum, Charles Pym. Who were then present.

ORdered that this Relation be forthwith printed and published.

H. Elsynge, Cler. Parl. D. Dom.

LONDON, Printed for FRANCIS WRIGHT. 1642.

Information about this book

Title statement

An exact and true relation of the dangerous and bloudy fight, betweene His Majesties armie, and the Parliaments forces, neere Kyneton in the countie of Warwick, the 23 of this instant October sent in a letter to Iohn Pym, Esquire, a member of the House of Commons : which letter was signed by : Denzell Hollis, Ph. Stapleton, Tho. Ballard, William Balfour, Io., Meldrum, Charles Pym, who were then present.

Edition statement

1642

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) :

Date

2003-07 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

ID [DLPS]

A38899

ID [STC]

Wing E3618A

ID [STC]

ESTC R16754

ID [EEBO-CITATION]

13033263

ID [OCLC]

ocm 13033263

ID [VID]

96804

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Early English books online.

Notes

(EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A38899)

Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 96804)

Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 738:9)

Source

— An exact and true relation of the dangerous and bloudy fight, betweene His Majesties armie, and the Parliaments forces, neere Kyneton in the countie of Warwick, the 23 of this instant October sent in a letter to Iohn Pym, Esquire, a member of the House of Commons : which letter was signed by : Denzell Hollis, Ph. Stapleton, Tho. Ballard, William Balfour, Io., Meldrum, Charles Pym, who were then present., Holles, Denzil Holles, Baron, 1599-1680., Pym, Charles, Sir, d. ca. 1672., Stapleton, Philip, Sir, 1603-1647., Ballard, Thomas, Lieutenant Colonel to the Lord Grandison., Balfour, William, Sir, d. 1660., Meldrum, John, Sir, d. 1645..

Extent

8 p.

Printed for Francis Wright,. London :: 1642.. (Reproduction of original in the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign Campus). Library.)

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