Marston Moor order of battle

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is the order of battle of the armies which fought on July 2, 1644 in the Battle of Marston Moor.

Contents

[edit] Scots and Parliamentarians

[edit] Scottish Army of the Solemn League and Covenant

(2000 Horse, 500 Dragoons, 11000 Foot, 30 - 40 guns)

General Earl of Leven
Lieutenant General of the Horse |Sir David Leslie
Right Wing
Earl of Leven's Regiment (Lieutenant-Colonel Lord Balgonie 8 troops)
Earl of Dalhousie's Regiment (7 troops)
Earl of Eglinton's Regiment (7 troops)
Left Wing
Lieutenant-General Leslie's Regiment (8 troops)
Earl of Balcarres's Regiment (8 troops)
Lord Kirkcudbright's Regiment (8 troops)
Dragoons
Colonel Hugh Fraser's Regiment (6 companies)
Lieutenant General of the Foot William Baillie
Sergeant-Major General of the Foot Sir James Lumsden
The Scottish regiments of foot were brigaded in pairs. Unless stated, each regiment had 10 companies.
Crawford-Lindsay's Fifeshire Regiment (Earl of Crawford-Lindsay)
The Midlothian Regiment (Viscount Maitland)
The Clydesdale Regiment (Lieutenant-General Hamilton)
The Edinburgh Regiment (Colonel James Rae)
The Loudon-Glasgow Regiment (Earl of Loudon)
The Tweeddale Regiment (Earl of Buccleugh)
The Kyle and Carrick Regiment (Earl of Cassillis)
The Nithsdale and Annandale Regiment (William Douglas of Kilhead)
Dunfermline's Fifeshire Regiment (Earl of Dunfermline)
The Strathearn Regiment (Loud Coupar)
The Stirlingshire Regiment (Lord Livingstone)
The Linlithgow and Tweeddale Regiment (The Master of Yester)
The Angus Regiment (Viscount Dudhope)
The Minister's Regiment (Sir Arthur Erskine of Scotscraig: 5 companies present)
The Levied Regiment (Lord Sinclair: unbrigaded, 7 companies present)
General of the Ordnance Sir Alexander Hamilton
not all the guns listed below would have been present at the battle
8 brass demi-cannons
1 brass culverin
3 brass quarter-cannons
9 iron demi-culverins
48 brass demi-culverins
Almost all the senior officers of the Scottish army had experience in the Thirty Years' War, but most of the ordinary soldiers were quite young and inexperienced. The cavalry used smaller and lighter mounts than English units, which meant they had to be placed in the rear of Cromwell's and Fairfax's horse.

[edit] Parliamentarian Army of the Eastern Association

(3000 Horse, 4000 Foot)

Captain General Earl of Manchester
Lieutenant General of the Horse Oliver Cromwell
Earl of Manchester's Regiment (Lieutenant Colonel Algernon Sidney: 11 troops)
Lieutenant-General Cromwell's Regiment (Lieutenant Colonel Edward Whalley: 14 troops)
Vermuyden's Regiment (5 troops)
Charles Fleetwood's Regiment (6 troops)
Dragoons
Lieutenant Colonel John Lilburne
(Strength on the day of battle unknown. Manchester's dragoons had been defeated on July 1 at Poppleton.)
Sergeant-Major General of the Foot Lawrence Crawford
Earl of Manchester's Regiment (Lieutenant Colonel Clifton: 18 companies)
Major-General Crawford's Regiment (Lieutenant Colonel William Hamilton: 8 companies)
Sir Miles Hobart's Regiment (9 companies)
Francis Russell's Regiment (10 companies)
Edward Montagu's Regiment (10 companies)
John Pickering's Regiment (10 companies)
(Russell's, Montagu's and Pickering's regiments were brigaded together. Some of these would have taken heavy casualties at a failed storming of York on June 16)
This army, raised in the Eastern Counties of England, was probably the best trained and administered at Marston Moor. Although there were religious tensions within the army between the Independents, championed by Cromwell, and the Presbyterians who were backed by Manchester and Crawford, there was no argument on the day of battle.

[edit] Parliamentarian Army of the Northern Association

(2000 Horse, 2000 Foot)

General Lord Fairfax
Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Fairfax
Sergeant-Major General of the Horse John Lambert
Lord Fairfax's Regiment
Sir Thomas Fairfax's Regiment
Charles Fairfax's Regiment
Sir Hugh Bethell's Regiment
John Lambert's Regiment
Lionel Copley's Regiment
Francis Boynton's Regiment
Sir Thomas Norcliff's Regiment
George Dodding's Regiment
Sergeant-Major General of Foot (unknown)
Lord Fairfax's Regiment
John Bright's Regiment
Sir william Constable's Regiment
Francis Lascelles's Regiment
Robert Overton's Regiment
Ralph Ashton's Regiment
George Doddington's Regiment
Alexander Rigby's Regiment
The list of Colonels is probably incomplete. It is evident that most regiments were very weak. The troops present at Marston Moor had a high proportion of recent recruits.

[edit] Royalists

[edit] Main Royalist Army

(2500 Horse, 7750 Foot, 14 guns)

General Prince Rupert of the Rhine
Lieutenant General Lord Byron
Sergeant-Major General of Horse Sir John Urry (changed sides shortly after)
Prince Rupert's Lifeguard (140)
Prince Rupert's Regiment (500)
Lord Byron's Regiment
Colonel Marcus Trevor's Regiment
Sir John Urry's Regiment
Sir William Vaughan's Regiment (returned from Ireland)
(Byron's, Trevor's, Urry's and Vaughan's regiments of horse together totalled 1100)
Lord Molyneaux's Regiment (recently raised in Lancashire)
Sir Thomas Tyldesley's Regiment (ditto)
Thomas Leveson's Regiment
(Molyneaux's, Tyldesley's and Leveson's regiments of horse together totalled 800)
Sergeant-Major General of Foot Henry Tillier (captured)
Sir John Girlington's Regiment
Prince Rupert's Regiment
Lord Byron's Regiment
Henry Warren's Regiment (returned from Ireland, previously defeated at Nantwich)
Sir Michael Erneley's Regiment (ditto)
Richard Gibson's Regiment (ditto)
(Erneley's and Gibson's regiments were brigaded together)
Henry Tillier's Regiment (returned from Ireland)
Robert Broughton's Regiment (ditto)
Sir Thomas Tyldesley's Regiment (recently raised in Lancashire)
Edward Chisenall's Regiment (ditto)
Henry Cheator's Regiment
14 assorted field guns
The hard core of this army was Rupert's own regiments of horse and foot, and a small army under Lord Byron from Cheshire and North Wales. To this had been added English regiments recently returned from Ireland, which were said to be full of Puritan sympathisers, and newly raised units from Lancashire, with other small contingents.

[edit] contingent of "Northern Horse"

(3500 Horse, 250 foot)

General of Horse George, Lord Goring
Lieutenant General Sir Charles Lucas (captured)
Commissary General George Porter (captured)
There were too many weak regiments of horse and commanders to list separately. At Marston Moor, they were organised as:
Sir Charles Lucas's Brigade (700)
Sir Richard Dacre's Brigade (800 Dacre was mortally wounded during the battle)
Sir William Blakiston's Brigade (600)
Sir Edward Widdrington's Brigade (400)
Colonel Samuel Tuke's Regiment (200)
Colonel Francis Carnaby's Regiment (200)
Commissary-General George Porter's Troop (50)

[edit] Derbyshire contingent

John Frescheville's Regiment of Horse (240)
Rowland Eyre's Regiment of Horse (160)
Detachments from Frescheville's, Eyre's and John Millward's Regiments of Foot (220)
When Goring marched to join Rupert in Lancashire, he picked up a contingent from Derbyshire en route. The "Northern Horse" already had a reputation for hard fighting but poor discipline.

[edit] Garrison of York (part)

(number of horse unknown, 3000 Foot)

General Marquess of Newcastle
Lieutenant General Lord Eythin
Sir Thomas Metham's "Troop of Gentleman Volunteers"
Sergeant-Major General Sir Francis Mackworth
As with Goring's horse, Newcastle's infantry were from too many weak regiments to list separately. On the battlefield they were formed into seven "divisions".
Newcastle's army was mostly raised in Northumberland and Durham and had already endured a siege of ten weeks, with some hard fighting. Three other regiments (of Sir Thomas Glemham, Sir John Belasyse and Sir Henry Slingsby), totalling 1000 men, were left to hold York.

[edit] References

  • Young, Peter Marston Moor 1644: The Campaign and the Battle (Kineton: Roundwood, 1970)