Page 81 - History of War - Issue 25-16

CROMWELL’S REBEL ARMY

not yet won and it continued again the following “Despite the seemingly unstoppable
day. Cromwell had to invest Preston with a
strong garrison and guards for the large number force of the New Model Army in
of prisoners. He now only had 3,000 infantry
and 2,500 cavalry to i ght the remaining Ireland, it was also the only place
10,000 Scottish troops. Luckily for the English,

Hamilton was experiencing his own problems where it sufered a serious beating”
– his men were exhausted, lumbered with wet
ammunition, and many of the hungriest had
gone to Wigan to plunder food. This enabled What tarnished these successes were the in 1649-50. The season was unusually mild
Cromwell to continually harry the Scots as they massacres of enemy soldiers and civilians. and the army used this to procure supplies of
fought a disorganised retreat. Despite making During the storming of Drogheda, about fodder for its horses and draught animals. This
some determined stands at various passes and 3-4,000 soldiers and civilians were killed, allowed Cromwell to renew operations at the
bridges, Hamilton’s army could not withstand many of them in cold blood. Likewise at end of January 1650, rather than having to wait
the disciplined onslaughts from the Ironsides, Wexford a similar number of Irish soldiers and for the spring.
and eventually what was left of the troops civilians were dispatched. In both sieges, the Despite the seemingly unstoppable force of
offered their surrender. massacres occurred when New Model troops the New Model Army in Ireland, it was also the
Once again the New Model Army had went on a frenzied rampage after the towns only place where it suffered a serious beating.
l attened Royalist hopes of victory, and this were stormed. In 17th-century Europe atrocities At the Siege of Clonmel in May 1650, Cromwell
time parliament no longer accommodated such as this were tragically common. attempted his usual tactic of storming the
the king. He was put on trial for treason However horriic the massacres were, town after an artillery bombardment. However,
against his own people, found guilty and they did serve a purpose. Many Irish towns unknown to the army, the breach was internally
publicly beheaded in Whitehall on 30 January subsequently surrendered to Cromwell out surrounded with an enclosed area that was
1649. Cromwell was one of the signatories of fear, not just of the New Model’s military i lled with Irish cannon and musketeers.
to his execution and England was declared a prowess but also to prevent further loss of Two assaults by New Model troops ended
republican Commonwealth with the New Model life. This saved Cromwell time and supplies in in disaster. On both occasions, the English
Army acting as the enforcer of this new state. conducting drawn-out sieges. He also showed became trapped and eventually 1,500-2,500
Fairfax resigned his army command in protest strategic foresight over the following winter soldiers were killed. This was the New Model’s
against the king’s death and Cromwell became
commander-in-chief of the army.
Many others were also outraged by Charles’s
execution, particularly the Royalists and the REVOLUTIONARY
Scots who had not been consulted about their
monarch’s fate. This anger found an outlet in
Ireland, where English Royalists formed an ARMS
alliance with Irish Catholic Confederates and
Ulster Scots against the Commonwealth. So,
in March 1649, parliament commissioned The New Model was a hive of political dissent calling for democratic
Cromwell to invade Ireland with the New Model rights 150 years before the American and French Revolutions
Army. Leaving nothing to chance, he made sure
the men, including some 12,000 veterans, The meritocratic nature of the army
were fully paid and equipped before setting encouraged grassroots political activity
sail. His Irish campaign would be of a different that was unprecedented and strikingly
nature to the ones that came before and after. forward thinking. Common soldiers known
Instead of decisive battles, the army would as ‘Agitators’ were elected in 1647 to
engage in a series of sieges that would whittle demand unpaid wages from parliament,
down Irish resistance. but when this was refused, they arrested
For Cromwell, it would be a militarily brilliant the imprisoned Charles I to use him
campaign, but also one marred by controversy. as a bargaining tool against the army
His tactics centred around massive artillery ‘Grandees’ such as Cromwell. By this
bombardments of fortii ed towns and speedy time, Agitators were co-operating with
marches to surprise neighbouring garrisons. To Levellers – who believed in an extended
save time and men, he would issue generous franchise, individual rights enshrined in
surrender terms, but if the garrison refused a written constitution and a government
to comply, he used shock tactics to persuade answerable to the people, not the king.
others that capitulation was the best option Cromwell agreed to discuss the issues
against the advancing force. at the Putney Debates in October 1647,
The most notorious of these incidents occurred where many soldiers passionately argued
at the Sieges of Drogheda and Wexford, though for universal democratic rights. Colonel
militarily both these were notable successes Rainsborough famously declared: “I think
for Cromwell. At Drogheda, artillery was used that the poorest he that is in England hath
to concentrate i repower into the breaches and a life to live, as the greatest he. I think it’s
Cromwell personally rallied his troops by leading clear that every man that is to live under a
them into the fray. Parliamentarian casualties government ought irst by his own consent
were low, numbering about 150 men. Similarly to put himself under that government.” The
at Wexford, Cromwell skilfully manoeuvred Grandees rejected many of these demands,
around the port and approached it from the which fuelled further discontent. In 1649,
south. This took the garrison by surprise as they Leveller mutinies broke out in the army and
were expecting the army to approach from the were brutally crushed. The radical ideas
north. The town was quickly taken and the army that were espoused by the army rebels
captured ships, artillery, ammunition and tons of were never forgotten and heavily inluenced Above: A Leveller manifesto published in 1649. John
supplies. Once again losses were very low with later revolutions. Lilburne was an Ironside veteran of Marston Moor
casualties of 20-30 men.

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