Battle
On Saturday, 29 June, Charles's army began marching north along the east side of the River Cherwell. Waller's forces proceeded to shadow the king's movements on the other side of the river, the two armies little more than a mile apart and in sight of each other, but neither prepared to cross under the fire of enemy guns.
As they approached Cropredy, Charles ordered a small detachment of dragoons to seize the bridge over the Cherwell there. At this point, he received a warning that 300 additional horsemen were approaching from the north to join Waller's army, and he ordered his army to hasten its march to cut off this detachment. The Royalist army became strung out. The vanguard and main body had crossed a stream at Hay's Bridge (near the present-day village of Chipping Warden), leaving a rearguard of only two cavalry brigades under the Earl of Cleveland and the twenty-year old Earl of Northampton, with some infantry, south of Hay's Bridge.
Waller, seeing his opportunity, sent Lieutenant General John Middleton across Cropredy Bridge with two regiments of horse (those of Sir Arthur Haselrig and Colonel Jonas Vandruske) and nine companies of foot to isolate the Royalist rearguard, while he himself led 1,000 men across Slat Mill Ford, a mile to the south of the bridge, to catch the Royalist rear in a pincer movement.
The Royalist dragoons holding Cropredy Bridge were soon overpowered. As Middleton's force streamed towards Hay's Bridge, they themselves became strung out and vulnerable. At Hay's Bridge, Middleton's cavalry was checked by Royalist musketeers who had overturned a carriage to block the bridge, while the Earl of Cleveland charged the Parliamentarian foot and artillery behind them. Meanwhile, Northampton's brigade charged downhill against Waller's men, and forced them back across the Slat Mill Ford.
The King was alerted that his rearguard was engaged, and ordered his army to turn about. He also sent his own Lifeguard of Horse under Lord Bernard Stewart back across Hay's Bridge to aid Cleveland. With their help, Cleveland made a second charge which forced Middleton back across Cropredy Bridge, abandoning eleven guns. (Waller's Major General of Ordnance, Sir James Wemyss, was also captured).
The bridge itself was held by two Parliamentarian regiments of foot, Colonel Ralph Weldon's Kentish Regiment and the Tower Hamlets regiment. The Royalists tried to recapture the bridge but were repulsed. Waller's remaining artillery continued to fire from their vantage point on Bourton Hill, forcing the Cavaliers to fall back from the river.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Cropredy Bridge
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