Battle of Cheriton

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The Battle of Cheriton was a major victory for Parliamentary troops in the English Civil War . It took place on March 29, 1644 and resulted in King Charles I being on the defensive for the rest of the year.

campaign

At the beginning of 1644, Sir William Waller's parliamentary army and Lord Hopton's loyal army faced each other in southern England . After a few withdrawals the previous December, which eventually ended in the Battle of Alton , Lord Hopton had withdrawn to Winchester . There he wanted to reorganize and strengthen his troops. A division of the Royal Oxford Army under the command of the Earl of Forth joined him there. The earl unwillingly took command of the army at the same time. The Earl and Hopton planned to march east in March.

Waller's Army of the Southern Association had also been reinforced by branches of the Earl of Essex's main parliamentary army and the London Traines Bands. She marched westward from her winter quarters near Arundel . The Earl of Forth and Hopton planned to take New Alresford and thus get between Waller's army and London. After driving off Sir William Balfour and his horsemen, they occupied the city on March 27th. On March 28, the royal troops cautiously approached Alresford. A Guard unit under Sir George Lisle occupied in the evening an outpost near Cheriton Wood and announced the withdrawal of the parliamentary forces.

The battle

The parliamentary troops were really in retreat at this point, but their commander Waller changed his mind overnight and advanced again against the royal troops. Hopton, who had meanwhile advanced to Lisle's outpost, realized that one had to withdraw from there and took up his army on a slope north of the outpost, where he awaited Waller's attack. Hopton tried to reoccupy the outpost with 1000 musketeers and a battery of cannons under the command of a Colonel Appleyard. After a brief hard fight, the parliamentary troops left Cheriton Wood.

Forth and Hopton initially decided to wait further, but an impatient cavalry commander, Sir Henry Bard , launched an attack with his regiment against the horsemen on the left parliamentary wing. These were the heavily armed cuirassiers of Sir Arthur Haselrig , also known as "London's lobster". Bard's regiment was repulsed. The other royal cavalry from the right wing tried to rush to his aid, but had to attack along narrow streets and were also repulsed.

Hopton then sent the royal cavalry under Sir Edward Stawell forward to launch a better prepared attack, but they too were repulsed. Haselrig's regiment now attacked the royal infantry, which had also been sent to support, and repulsed them. On the royal left wing, now without cavalry support, parliamentarians also launched an attack that led to the retaking of Cheriton Wood. The royals withdrew to the slope. Hopton and Forth realized that they had nothing more to do against an attack the next day and retired to Basing House that evening.

Result

The complete fragmentation of Forth and Hopton's armies allowed the parliamentary armies of Essex and Waller to concentrate on the king at Oxford . Although Karl was able to make the strategic situation more positive in the course of the year through victories at Cropredy Bridge and Lostwithiel , he was never able to go on the offensive again in southern England.

Left

swell

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

Coordinates: 51 ° 3 '35 "  N , 1 ° 8' 48"  W.