Battle of Langport

The Battle of Langport was a Parliamentarian victory late in the English Civil War, which destroyed the last Royalist field army, and ultimately gave Parliament control of the West of England, which had hitherto been a major source of manpower, raw materials and imports for the Royalists.

Campaign

Taunton had been captured by the Parliamentarian army under the Earl of Essex in June 1644. After Essex's army was forced to surrender at Lostwithiel in Cornwall in September, the Royalists maintained a Siege of Taunton, although the town was briefly relieved by Sir William Waller in late November.

When determining strategy for 1645, King Charles I had despatched George, Lord Goring, the Lieutenant General of the Horse (cavalry), to the West Country with orders to capture Taunton and other Parliamentarian outposts. Although Goring briefly rejoined the King's main "Oxford Army", tensions between him and Prince Rupert, the King's chief lieutenant and adviser, resulted in Goring's force returning to the West.

Parliament had meanwhile sent a substantial detachment of one cavalry regiment and four infantry regiments from their New Model Army to relieve Taunton. They raised the siege on 11 May 1645, but were themselves besieged by Goring's returning army (although there was no danger of the Royalists storming the town).

On 14 June, the main body of the New Model Army under Sir Thomas Fairfax, with Oliver Cromwell as Lieutenant General of the Horse, won the decisive Battle of Naseby. After the Royalist garrison of Leicester surrendered four days later, the New Model Army was free to march to the relief of Taunton.

The Army marched first south and then west, keeping near the coast so as to keep touch with Parliament's navy. On 4 July it reached Beaminster, where Fairfax learned that Goring had raised the siege and was retreating towards the Royalist stronghold at Bridgwater. Goring's army was outnumbered by that of Fairfax, and its discipline was poor, mainly because a succession of lax Royalist commanders had allowed their men too much license to pillage (which also alienated many of the local people).

Fairfax was joined by the New Model detachment from Taunton, under Colonel Ralph Weldon, and started in pursuit. Goring's army was spread over a front of 12 miles (19 km) along the north of the River Yeo, from Langport to Yeovil. On 8 July, Fairfax captured Yeovil and crossed to the north side of the Yeo. He sent another Parliamentarian force (part of the Army of the "Western Association" under Major General Edward Massey) to deal with an attempted diversion in the direction of Taunton by some of Goring's cavalry under George Porter, a notoriously unreliable officer. Porter's men failed to post proper sentries and outposts, and were taken by surprise by Massey and destroyed at Ilminster in the early hours of 9 July.

Fairfax had meanwhile advanced westward, and encountered Goring's main position at Langport late on 9 July.

The battle

The battle took place the next day. Goring had occupied a strong rearguard position to cover the withdrawal of his slow-moving artillery and baggage. His main force held a ridge running north to south, a mile east of Langport. In front of the ridge was a marshy valley occupied by a stream named the Wagg Rhyne. Only a single narrow lane lined with trees and hedges ran across the stream via a ford, and up to the top of the ridge. Goring placed two light guns in position to fire down the lane, and disposed two raw units of Welsh foot soldiers in the hedges. He hoped that Fairfax would be forced to make time-consuming outflanking moves.

Fairfax was prepared to rely on the superior morale of his cavalry to overcome Goring's position. While his artillery silenced Goring's two light guns, he sent 1500 detached musketeers through the marshes to clear the Welsh infantry from the hedges. He then ordered two "Divisions", i.e. half regiments of horse, to charge up the lane. These two divisions were from regiments (Fairfax's and Whalley's) which had originally been part of Oliver Cromwell's double regiment of Ironsides before being merged into the New Model Army. Most of the troopers were probably veterans, and motivated by Puritan zeal.

The first division under Major Christopher Bethel galloped up the lane four abreast, deployed into line and charged and broke two Royalist cavalry regiments. A third Royalist regiment counter-attacked but the second division of Parliamentarian horse under Major John Desborough charged and routed them. As more Parliamentarian reinforcements streamed up the lane, Goring's men broke and fled the field.

Cromwell halted his well-disciplined cavalry at the top of the ridge until his forces had reformed. Then they moved rapidly in pursuit. Goring had set fire to Langport to delay the pursuers and tried to rally his army two miles further on, but his army dissolved as Cromwell's troopers approached, abandoning their baggage and most of their weapons. Many of the fugitives were attacked by clubmen, local people who had banded together to resist exactions by the armies of both sides in the Civil War.

Results

Goring's army had been the last effective field army available to the Royalists, whatever its quality. Its loss was a major blow.

Fairfax captured Bridgwater on 23 July and stormed the city of Bristol on 10 September, depriving the Royalists of their major manufacturing centre. King Charles had appointed Prince Rupert as governor, but he considered that Rupert had surrendered prematurely, and the two became increasingly estranged.

These Parliamentarian successes isolated the remaining Royalists in the West Country from King Charles forces in Oxford and the Midlands. The Royalists were no longer able to raise effective field forces and First Civil War ended less than a year later, after the Parliamentarians had captured most of the isolated Royalist garrisons.

External links

• British Civil War site

References

• Colonel H.C.B. Rodgers, Battles and Generals of the Civil Wars, Seeley Service & Co. Ltd, 1968, hardback, 327 pages.