The Battle of Barton Hall, September 1644, has a smaller Royalist force taking up a defensive position against a slightly larger Parliamentarian force who are advancing into the East Midland region.
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| Battle map and deployments |
Royalist forces took up positions with Barton Hall in their centre, cavalry on the left, and dragoons pushed up into the fields on the right flank. Parliament moved up into their positions, cavalry on the right flank to mirror their counterparts, infantry positioned around Barton Hall Road, and dragoons pushed out near the boggy ground.
Having deployed his forces by mid morning the Parliamentarian commander then pushed forward his centre infantry and dragoons. The centre wood split the Parliament line and was proving an impediment for the issuing of commands issues.
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| Early moves |
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| More untis become engaged in the fighting |
Orders eventually reached Parliamentarian cavalry who moved forward slowly towards the Royalist cavalry, who decided the best defence was to counter charge and a cavalry melee was soon underway. On the other flank both sides were taking losses and the fight remained in the balance.
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| Parliament cavalry advance |
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| A view of the battle at its height |
While Royalist cavalry put up a good fight the weight of numbers began to tell. This was the same story on the other flank where Royalist infantry began retiring and consolidating for a last defence at Barton Hall.
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| The cavalry engagement rages on |
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| Royalist forces retire around Barton Hall. |
As the battle moving into the afternoon a depleted Parliament cavalry claimed victory as the last Royalist cavalry left the field of battle. At this point Royalists had lost more than half their units and could not make any attacking moves. While still in good defensive position around Barton Hall, this was not going to be their day and they began to retire. Handing a minor victory to Parliament who as a result will gain control of the East Midlands.
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| Parliament cavalry win the melee. |
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| Battle movements |
The gain of another region is important to Parliament who had suffered a few unexpected reversals of fortune during 1644. With only two months left in 1644 we will have to see if Royalist forces are able to mount another campaign move before the end of campaigning this year.
This battle result was a surprise! I figured it would be closely contested but the Roundheads dominated on this day. Your table looks splendid.
ReplyDeleteCasualties were pretty even on both sides, being smaller in units the Royalist army resolve limit was reached first. I was debating whether to call this battle a draw, but decided to give the edge to Parliament who still had formed cavalry who could go one and harass the supplies.
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