A year later we find the King once more passing through Evesham. This time he left a garrison in charge of the town under Colonel Legge. But Evesham was too important a place in this conflict, being a connecting link between the "loyal cities" of Worcester and Oxford, to be left in the hands of the King's party unchallenged. Almost immediately, in the same month of May, 1645, Colonel Massey, Governor of Gloucester, with a troop of horse and foot collected from the neighbouring counties, attacked the town, and after vainly calling upon Colonel Legge to yield, they assailed the fortifications at the bridge and in five other places at the same time. After a short but hard fought encounter the Royalists surrendered, and until the end of the struggle Evesham remained in the hands of the Parliament.
On the 29th of May the House of Commons ordered the Speaker to convey their thanks to the colonel and his officers in acknowledgment of their great service.
CHAPTER IX
THE RIVER
There is a willow grows aslant a brook,
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;
There with fantastic garlands did she come,
Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples.
—SHAKESPEARE: Hamlet.