“His two sons had Commands, but His Brother, though he had no Command, by reason of the weakness of his body; yet he was never from My Lord when he was in action, even to the last; for he was the last with my Lord in the Field in that fatal Battel upon Hessom-moor,[111] near York; and though my Brother, Sir Charles Lucas, desired My Lord to send his sons away, when the said battel was fought, yet he would not, saying, His sons should shew their Loyalty and Duty to His Majesty, in venturing their lives, as well as Himself”.
[111] Marston Moor was sometimes called Hessom Moor.
The three Generals of the Roundhead army state in their official dispatch that the Royalists lost “all their ordnance to the number of 20 (pieces), their ammunition, baggage, about 100 colours and 10,000 arms”. Whitelock says (89): “From this battle and the pursuit, some reckon were buried 7,000 Englishmen, all agree that above 3,000 of the Prince’s men were slain in the battle, besides those in the chace and 3,000 prisoners taken, etc.”
To the “chace,” as Whitelock calls it, an end was put by darkness. Rupert escaped being taken prisoner by dismounting and hiding in a field of standing beans. Afterwards he succeeded in getting into York, as also did Newcastle. Just outside the town Newcastle met Rupert, to whom he exclaimed: “All is lost!” As well he might. Marston Moor was a defeat from which the Royalist cause never recovered, and it was one of the greatest battles ever fought on English soil.
There was little disgrace in being overcome, after an exceptionally hard-fought battle, by such a General as Cromwell, to whom the honours of Marston Moor are chiefly due. And Newcastle can scarcely be considered a defeated General in this case, for Rupert was in supreme command. His was the defeat. Newcastle had been opposed to risking the engagement; yet, finding himself in it, although against his will, he exhibited exceptional courage as also did his men.
But Marston Moor saw the destruction, almost the annihilation, of his army, the loss of his prestige, the blasting of his hopes, the ruin of his fortunes.