The fen country about Boston was most devoted to the cause of Parliament. Even at the end of July a band of volunteers was diligently training in the fields near Boston; and that town, so “eminent in disloyalty,”[116] sent reinforcements to Sir John Hotham at Hull. On August 29 the Boston troops seized a Royalist sloop, which had put into a creek near Skegness with arms and stores—Sir William Ballingdon and ten other Cavaliers who were in charge being taken. The King’s party threatened revenge upon Boston, and King’s Lynn sent over for its defence five pieces of ordnance and 1000 volunteers, but no attempt was made upon the town. A month later (September 30) Lord Willoughby received orders from Parliament to arrest and bring to London sixteen of the Royalist gentry, who are described as “divers Popish and ill-affected persons, who have armed and assembled themselves within the city and county of Lincoln.” Of these all but three had been signatories of the Lincoln Petition in July; but many of them were out of reach, having armed their dependants and joined the King’s forces. Lord Willoughby was directed to disarm all “Popish recusants”; he was also to requisition tents, waggons, horses, &c., from all “dangerous and ill-affected persons, as well clergymen as others,” who had sent money and stores for the King. The Lord-Lieutenant’s exertions kept him so long in the county that he was too late for the battle of Edgehill (Sunday, October 23), in which he should have commanded a troop of horse. The general of the King’s army was at first a Lincolnshire peer, the Earl of Lindsey; but as Charles foolishly exempted Prince Rupert and the cavalry from his orders, he declined the position, telling his friends that he would lead his own regiment “and there find his death.” His forecast was too true, for he was mortally wounded and died the next day. A Lincolnshire knight, Sir Gervase Scrope of Cockerington, who commanded a troop by his side, received sixteen wounds and was left for dead upon the field from Sunday afternoon to Tuesday evening, when he was found by his son, tended by the famous Dr. William Harvey, and conveyed to Oxford, where he wonderfully recovered.
During the winter following this indecisive battle, the air was full of rumours of peace; but neither side was disposed to yield upon the real points at issue. On January 9, 1643, Parliament appointed Lord Willoughby Sergeant-Major-General for the county, and ordered the removal of the prisoners in Lincoln Castle to the Bishop’s Palace for greater security, placing the Castle in the keeping of the Earl of Lincoln. Early in the year a stand was made for the King in the heart of the Parliament’s country. The men of Crowland, who were royal tenants, set to work in January to fortify their watery stronghold. They were undeterred by a friendly warning sent them by Mr. Ram, the Puritan minister at Spalding; and, being unmolested for two months, they made a raid on March 25 upon the defenceless town of Spalding, and carried off their censor and two or three more as prisoners to Crowland. Mr. Ram, in his account of the proceedings, shows much ill-feeling towards his captors, and not without reason if his statements can be trusted. When the prisoners were brought into the place, all the people were gathered together to triumph over them, “which put me in mind of Samson’s entertainment when he was taken by the Philistines.” Mr. Ram has to admit that their “usage was indifferent good” during their five weeks’ imprisonment, but complains of some “insolencies” that were offered them. The chief officers of the garrison were Captain Stiles and a Captain Cromwell (one of Oliver’s cousins); but Parson Stiles of Crowland, a very zealous Royalist, himself held command on the western front. On April 13 some Parliamentary forces beleaguered the place, and the prisoners were carried to the point of attack and pinioned in the line of fire. This is said to have happened more than once, but they were not hit, although the bullets flew fast about their ears. Many of the garrison were armed with “hassock knives, long scythes, and such-like fennish weapons”; and a “great water, broad and deep,” surrounded the works, except where it was crossed by three approaches or banks. On the failure of the first attack, the besiegers retired; and the garrison assembled in the Abbey Church to return thanks for their success. But on April 25 a much larger force appeared under the command of Colonels King, Dodson, and Oliver Cromwell, and attacked the town on three sides. Heavy rains, which made the place unapproachable, delayed their success for the moment; but the assault was renewed on the 27th, and next day the garrison laid down their arms. It was scarcely worthy of Mr. Ram to accuse his foes of using “poisoned bullets”; no charge of the kind seems to have been preferred against the leaders, who “were clapt in prison” at Ipswich, Colchester, and other places.
Near the western border of the county the important fortress of Newark was held by Sir John Digby for the King; and it proved a thorn in the side of Parliament throughout the struggle. Early in February a combined attack upon it was made by the forces of Notts, Derbyshire, and Lincolnshire; and, according to Mrs. Hutchinson,[117] this was only foiled by the suspiciously half-hearted conduct of one Ballard, who commanded the Lincolnshire contingent of 1000 men. He refused to follow up the first successes of the besiegers, and ordered a retreat when the other two counties were anxious to attack. We may perhaps see here an indication of the unwillingness of the Lincolnshire troops to take service beyond the borders of the county. Encouraged by this success, the Newark garrison, about a month later, decided to take the offensive. Among their number were some troops of horse commanded by Colonel Charles Cavendish, a brave cavalry officer and a general favourite. On March 22 he appeared before Grantham, which yielded to his summons; he took 360 prisoners (with officers) and three loads of ammunition. This exploit opened the way into the county for the King’s Commissioners of Array, who had spent an inactive winter at Newark. On April 4, with a military escort, they left that place for Stamford, and held another session on April 11 at Grantham. Here, while business was proceeding, a “rebel” force was reported to be approaching, and Colonel Cavendish drew out his troops and faced them half a mile from the town with the river between. The enemy, who had 800 horse and 200 dragoons (a kind of mounted infantry) were in superior strength; but Cavendish, leaving three troops to cover the town, crossed the Witham by a neighbouring bridge and forced the enemy to retreat. On Ancaster Heath, five miles from Grantham, they made a stand, dismounting their dragoons and drawing up the horse in three divisions. But on Cavendish charging with his best cavalry, the dragoons threw down their arms and begged for quarter. Thereupon the horse took to flight, and were pursued for six miles, over 300 prisoners with twelve officers being taken. The Royalist pamphleteer[118] says that they were commanded by Captain Hotham (son of Sir John), who had arrived at Lincoln the previous day from Yorkshire with four troops of “grey-coats,” and had boasted that he would surprise Grantham and capture the King’s Commission. If this were so, it can hardly be true (as stated) that Lord Willoughby of Parham was present and escaped only by the speed of his horse; for, as his rank was higher than Hotham’s, he would necessarily have been in command.
This skirmish probably had two important results. It hastened the arrival of Cromwell in West Lincolnshire, and it impelled Hotham, whose influence over his father was unbounded, to meditate treachery to the Parliament. On May 3 Cromwell, who had been scheming for a combined movement with Lord Grey of Groby and others against Newark, wrote from Stamford to the Lincoln Committee, entreating them to send their forces for that purpose to rendezvous at Grantham. But his efforts were fruitless. Lord Grey was anxious to protect Leicester, and the Lincoln troops were slow to move. Early in May Colonel Cavendish gained another small success near Grantham, surprising the “rebels” in their quarters and taking many prisoners; but within a week he suffered a reverse at the hands of Cromwell and his newly-trained cavalry, though they had but twelve troops to his twenty-five. The encounter took place on the Grantham and Newark road, and is thus described by Cromwell himself:—
“After we had stood a little above musket-shot, the one body from the other, and the dragoons had fired on both sides for the space of half an hour or more, they not advancing towards us, we agreed to charge them. And advancing the body after many shots on both sides, we came on with our troops at a pretty round trot—they standing firm to receive us, and our men charging fiercely upon them, by God’s providence they were immediately routed and ran all away, and we had the execution of them two or three miles. We took forty-five prisoners ... and rescued many prisoners whom they had lately taken of ours, and we took four or five of their colours.”[119]
One consequence of this fight seems to have been that Grantham, whose real sympathy had been shown by its electing two of the stoutest Puritan members, returned to its allegiance to Parliament. With some of the wisdom that is born of the event, Dr. Gardiner says that “the whole fortune of the Civil War was in this nameless skirmish.”[120] But the statement of a biographer of Cromwell,[121] in magnifying the victory, that “never again did the Newarkers range the country with impunity,” is plainly false. The “wasps’ nest” itself remained unattacked; and a month later (June 11) we find Cavendish and his men in Mid-Lincolnshire taking toll of the household stuff, deer, and cattle of Sir William Armyne, one of the Grantham members, and “damnifying him” to the extent of £500.[122] In the same month they had a brush with the enemy at Louth, where the parish register records the burial of “three strangers, being souldgeres slaine at a scrimish”; and perhaps this was the occasion when Sir Charles Bolle of Thorpe Hall, an ardent Cavalier, only escaped capture by hiding under the bridge near the gaol, over which the Roundhead troopers galloped in search of him.
Cromwell remained only about a fortnight near Grantham, and was then ordered to Nottingham to concert measures with the Midland commanders for the support of the Fairfaxes, who were hard pressed by the Earl of Newcastle in Yorkshire. He found a concealed traitor in the camp. Within four days of his defeat at Ancaster (April 15), young Captain Hotham had opened a correspondence with Newcastle, in the course of which he volunteered to betray Hull and Lincoln to the King. But he seems to have been a bad conspirator. When the news arrived of a small success of Sir T. Fairfax at Wakefield, he persuaded the other commanders to send Fairfax a message that their help would not now be needed. He began to correspond directly with the Queen, who arrived at Newark on June 16; but Cromwell and Colonel Hutchinson, who had long suspected him, procured an order for his arrest (June 18). He was committed to a guard for conveyance to London, but on the way succeeded in escaping to Lincoln, where he evidently had supporters, and whence he wrote to the Speaker to complain that Cromwell had employed an Anabaptist against him. On June 27 the Queen wrote to the King that she was delaying two days for the fulfilment of “young Hotham’s” promise to render up Hull and Lincoln; but, before the two days were over, the conspirator and his father were both arrested at Hull and sent up by sea to London, where they were executed on Tower Hill early the next year. Three days later (July 2) the attempt upon Lincoln was made, and completely failed. Two brothers named Purefoy, agents of the Hothams, introduced sixty Cavaliers disguised as “market-folk” into the city, where they were concealed in the Deanery. In the nick of time a letter from the Mayor of Hull caused the arrest of the Purefoys, but their accomplices sallied out and endeavoured to secure the magazine. However, the discharge of a cannon by an inexperienced countryman killed some of them, and the rest were dispersed or taken.
In the month then opening events followed thick and fast. On the last day of June the Fairfaxes were badly beaten at Adwalton Moor; and on July 4 Sir Thomas, whose wife had fallen into the enemy’s hands, arrived at Barton-on-Humber, hotly pursued and with the enemy in sight, but fortunately found a vessel to convey him into Hull. The way now lay open for the advance of Newcastle’s large force of over 6000 men into Lincolnshire. The town of Gainsborough, which was moderately fortified, had been occupied by the Earl of Kingston for the King. This nobleman had long hesitated which side to choose, and in the winter had openly declared that, when he joined either party, “let a cannon-ball divide me between them!” He had but just descended on the royal side of the fence, when Lord Willoughby of Parham, whose home was at Knaith, three miles from Gainsborough, surprised the town with a small force on July 20, and made him prisoner, though he fought till his house was in flames around him. Being a person of importance, he was at once put on board a pinnace and sent down the Trent to Hull for safe custody. On the way the boat was challenged by a Royalist party of horse; and upon his showing himself on deck, “a cannon-bullet,” in Mrs. Hutchinson’s words, “divided him in the middle, according to his own unhappy imprecation.”[123] Lord Willoughby’s position, however, was none too secure, for he was threatened not only by the advance of Newcastle, but by a strong body of the Newark troopers under Colonel Cavendish. Orders were therefore at once sent to Sir John Meldrum at Nottingham and to Cromwell in South Lincolnshire to join forces and advance to the relief of Gainsborough. Cromwell had just been gaining fresh laurels. He had forced a body of Cavaliers, who had taken Stamford, to retreat into Burleigh House, and there, after a single day’s siege (July 19), he received their unconditional surrender, and sent them under guard to be interned at Cambridge. A week later (July 26), by executing a forced march from Stamford, he joined the Nottingham troops at Grantham the same day, and a body from Lincoln at North Scarle on Thursday, and on Friday (28th) he encountered at Lea the mounted troops under Cavendish. Thereupon ensued a cavalry action, which, as described by himself,[124] severely tested the mettle of his newly-trained troops. The fight took place on a sandy plateau, overlooking a marshy tract of low land called the Humble Car. Up the steep ascent to the plateau, which was riddled with rabbit holes, and had to be gained in face of the enemy, the Lincolners led the van. After a hand-to-hand contest with the advanced guard, Cromwell routed them; but seeing a large body of horse under Cavendish in reserve, he kept back part of his men from the pursuit, and on Cavendish routing the Lincolners, charged him in the rear and forced him down the steep into a quagmire, where Captain James Berry slew him “with a thrust under his short ribs.” This description of the end of the dashing young leader does not sound too chivalrous, and to his own side his loss was great. His body was conveyed to Newark, where he was universally lamented.
After bringing a store of powder into Gainsborough, Cromwell drew out his force to reconnoitre from an adjoining hill, and suddenly found himself faced by the whole army of Newcastle. His foot regained the town with some loss; and the retreat of his few squadrons of horse, which were holding the enemy, was accomplished in masterly fashion by Major Whalley. As Cromwell’s horse could be of no service behind defensive works, he at once drew them off and retreated with such speed that his letter of the following Monday (31st) was dated from Huntingdon. After his departure Lord Willoughby made but a faint show of resistance, and surrendered the town on Sunday, the 30th. He had liberty to withdraw his men, but they were first disarmed—contrary, as he alleged, to the terms of surrender, though it is difficult to believe that such terms would be accepted by a far superior force. The Royalist prisoners, on being set free, began to plunder the town, in which they were joined by Newcastle’s soldiers against the express orders of their commander, who soon drew off his army, leaving Colonel St. George as governor of the place. Lord Willoughby retreated on Lincoln; but he decided that the defences of the city were too slight for successful resistance, and so retired to Boston, whence he wrote despairingly to Cromwell:—
“Since the business of Gainsborough the hearts of our men have been so deaded that we have lost most of them by running away.... If the enemy get this town, which is now very weak for defence for want of men, I believe they will not be long out of Norfolk and Suffolk.”