The Battle of Torrington: February 16, 1646

“God save the King!” heralded the one,

“For God and Parliament!” quothe the other,
But God wrote both into an English pun,
And wove the twain as one together;
Constitutional Monarchy.

Per Scriptum E. Wesley - Mackinac Center Intern

After the gradual and sometimes aggressive political power struggle between the English Crown and Parliament, politics morphed into war in 1641. The cause of King Charles I now hung in the balance, as his son, Prince Charles of Wales, commanded the very topsy-turvy western Royalist army. Lord General Fairfax led in a hot pursuit of Prince Charles that culminated at the Battle of Torrington on the stormy night of February 16, 1646.

As the year 1645 waned, Prince Charles took refuge in the western recesses of Devonshire into the Royalist county of Cornwall, and settled at Truro after the defeat of Lord Goring (see map below). Lord Goring, being most disappointed with the state of the western army, fled to France, causing Prince Charles to appoint Lord Wentworth as commander of western forces. Wentworth stationed the army at Bovey Tracey and awaited a Parliamentarian assault. Meanwhile the Roundhead New Model Army under Fairfax, swooped into Tiverton and surrounded Tiverton Castle with 250 Royalists inside. Providentially, while bombarding the castle, a shell struck the chain holding the drawbridge. The Royalists promptly surrendered. Lieutenant-General Cromwell then arrived, maximizing the potential of Parliamentarian high command. In January of 1646, Cromwell moved on Wentworth's division at Bovey Tracey, routed the Royalist cavalry, and crippled Wentworth completely. Prince Charles switched command to Lord Hopton (horse) and Sir Richard Grenville (foot), while Fairfax completely encircled Exeter by taking Plymouth, Dartmouth, and Powderham. Grenville resisted Hopton's authority, and was accordingly imprisoned at St. Michael's Mount. On February 10, Hopton arrived at Torrington, threw up earthworks around the town, and barricaded the roads in hopes of drawing the Roundheads away from the siege at Exeter. Now it was Fairfax's turn.
Leaving Sir Hardress Waller in charge of the siege, Fairfax marched 10,000 men northwest to Torrington to face Hopton's 2,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry. Arriving on the east side of the town, Fairfax successfully engaged Hopton's dragoons at Stevenstone Park, while Hopton reinforced the position with both infantry and cavalry to cover the withdraw of the dragoons. In the stinging February rain, the night looked less inviting, and Fairfax resolved to wait until morning to push the assault. However, while making an inspection visit, Cromwell heard a great stir behind the Torrington entrenchments as if the whole Royalist camp were preparing to evacuate. He sent a dragoon patrol of his own to discover the strength of the defenses. Soon the top of the defenses flashed and smoked with the defenders' muskets. Fairfax developed the attack, and decided against waiting for morning. Rain steamed in the night, while for two hours the attackers pushed their way through. The battle became personal, as Cavaliers and Roundheads clashed pike ends and musket butts. When Hopton's Cornish infantry could hold no longer, they fled back into the city. Fairfax's troops followed and were met with Hopton's galloping cavalry counter-attack. However, neither Farifax nor Hopton decided the fate of the day. Providence would give Farifax the victory with a spectacular and equally devastating human accident. While the fighting raged in the Torrington streets, a stray spark landed inside the Torrington church where the Royalists had stored their gunpowder. No less than eighty barrels of gunpowder exploded, blowing the roof off, and claiming many Parliamentarian prisoners and nearby Royalists. A shard of debris nearly struck Fairfax himself. As though they had been struck by lightning, Lord Hopton and his men scattered into the night throughout the Cornwall region.

General Fairfax continued southwest unchallenged, and in March, Prince Charles set sail from Falmouth for the Isles of Scilly with Parliamentarian warships in full pursuit. The Battle of Torrington spelled eventual doom for King Charles I, and led to the end of the First Civil War at the Battle of Stow on the Wold. After the First Civil War in which Charles I was captured, the King was executed, sending shock waves throughout Europe. England was doing something different. Cromwell founded the Commonwealth that ended in confusion, questions of succession of power, and the eventual return of monarchy. Without the English struggle between Parliament and the King, the modern phenomenon of separation of powers could not exist. The idea was tested through war.

Sources:
Image of William Shakespeare- The Wounded Cavalier from Wikipedia
Torrington Battle Map from british-civil-wars.com
http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/military/1646-torrington-stow-wold.htm#torrington
http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/content/articles/2008/02/12/battle_of_torrington_feature.shtml
http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/military/1642-edgehill.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:England-Saint-Michaels-Mount-1900-1.jpg