The Battle of Stow on the Wold: March 21, 1646

Yet now, division reigns over England,

And no sword can be pulled from hardest stone,
To softly quiet storms before death’s lean hand
Slays the rights of Englishmen, and claims the throne
As military anarchy.

What stains the English cross deepest scarlet?
The sword of feathered capped Cavalier riding;
Or steel helm of Roundhead in night star net;
Or Covenanter’s blood dipped pen writing;
For or against the hierarchy?

Until on the wold north of village Stow,
A battle raged to end the First Civil War.
The King’s knights Astley and Lucas met their woe
With the charge of Brereton on the moor,
And fled the stow like a lark free.

Into the town the Royalists sped fast.
They moored where no moor lay to grace their stand.
And in the market square they stood their last;
Beneath the cross, Astley cast his sword from hand,
And surrendered honorably.

Per Scriptum E. Wesley - Mackinac Center Intern

The Battle of Stow on the Wold was the Royalists' last hopeful stand during the First English Civil War. After the Battle of Torrington and the resulting disbanding of the last Royalist army in western England, Lord Astley's Welsh and Midlands army became the last real resistance to Parliament. Astley made his way to the wold one mile north of Stow. There, he was met by the combined Parliamentarian forces under Sir William Brereton, Colonel John Birch, and Colonel Thomas Morgan. Parliamentarian victory at Stow on the Wold opened the path to King Charles I's vulnerable position at Oxford.

Before the battle, Astley moved from Bridgnorth to Worcester in an attempt to join forces with the King's 1,500 horses at Oxford (see map below). Astley had 700 English veteran cavalry and 3,000 troops from Wales and the Midlands under his command. In an attempt to cut Astley off, Col. Morgan and Col. Birch joined forces at Gloucester, and marched on with a force of 2,300. Avoiding the Parliamentarian outpost at Evesham, Astley slyly slipped around his enemies, crossed the Avon river near Bidford on a boat bridge, and continued south. While Astley was busy meandering, Sir William Brereton and 1,000 horse moved south to close in from the east. At Cotswolds, Astley's march was slowed by Parliamentarian skirmishers, but Morgan wished not a begin a full scale assault until Brereton closed in. On March 20th, Astley halted his troops at Donnington village about two miles away from Stow. That night, Morgan was finally joined by Brereton, and Astley moved his army to a steep hillside one mile north of Stow. Morgan, Birch, and Brereton formed up to face the hill.
At dawn, the organization of both armies could clearly be seen. Lord Astley held the Royalist center infantry, with Sir Charles Lucas's cavalry on the right flank and Sir William Vaughan's cavalry on the left. On the Parliamentarian left flank opposing Lucas was Col. Morgan's cavalry, and Sir William Brereton's horses on the right faced Vaughan. Col. Birch would oppose Astley directly with his center infantry. Morgan began the attack, but was thrown back twice by Lucas's counter-attacks. The Royalists were using the hill effectively to their advantage. Col. Birch launched his infantry at Astley's center, but could get nowhere. The bloody stalemate was finally broken when Brereton's horses overwhelmed and routed Vaughan's outnumbered cavalry. Brereton then turned in and fell on Astley. Lucas then decided to flee, leaving Astley the only option of a retreat back to Stow. Fighting to the last, Astley and his men made a valiant stand in the market square. It was too late of course, and being overrun, Astley surrendered seated beneath the cross in the market as if in judgment. Astley's sense of Christian honor was so true that he did not lift his sword against the Parliamentarians even during the Second English Civil War. Col. Birch described the victory in his Military Memoirs with these words (in original spelling), "And here, certainely, was a more then ordinary hand of God, which could not pass by without observance, being the last battle fought in England. a Nowe only remaynd to take in the garisons..."

This last battle led to the surrender of all the Royalist garrisons, and the New Model Army laid siege to the King's forces at Oxford. The King fled to Newark in Nottinghamshire in a servant disguise, and surrendered to the Scottish Covenanters in order to divide the Scots and Parliamentarians. Although the Royalists waged two more civil wars, they could never muster the momentum that had been so titanic during the First Civil War. The War had been long and bloody, and ended in a rather headlong, unstable fashion. Although Parliament seemed in control during the Commonwealth, it was really the New Model Army that became the pawn mover until the Restoration of Charles II in 1660. As in every revolution except the American War for Independence, the Army seized power until Parliament agreed to share power with Charles II. Col. Birch was correct to assert the hand of God in the development of these affairs. Through war, England inadvertently steered its way toward a government system of separation of powers.

Sources:
Image of William Shakespeare- The Wounded Cavalier from Wikipedia
Stow on the Wold Battle Map from british-civil-wars.com
http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/military/1646-torrington-stow-wold.htm
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/conBattleField.38
http://www.battlefieldstrust.com/resource-centre/civil-war/battleview.asp?BattleFieldId=43
http://www.archive.org/stream/militarymemoir00camduoft/militarymemoir00camduoft_djvu.txt
http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/timelines/restoration.htm