The Battle of Edgehill
Sir Philip Warwick, King's Lifeguard of Horse

October 1642

It was not long after he had obtained this victory upon Sandys, that he fought the great battle at Edgehill, where the noble Earle of Lindsey, (a man of undaunted courage, and of a good experience in soldiery; for he and the Earl of Essex had been Comrades and Commanders in foreign wars, though they were now Generals of opposite armies) was made a General, the King being Generalissimo himself; the old General Ruthen, a Scot, an experienced Commander, and a man of naturel courage, and purely a soldier, and of a most loyal heart, (which he had many occasions to show before the war was ended, and which his Country-men remembered; for they used both him and his Widow, a Swedish Lady, with all extremity afterwards) was Adjutant in the command of the Horse; and Sir Jacob Ashley (who in every thing deserves Ruthen's character) was Major-General of the Army under the Earl of Lindsey; who, before the charge at the battle at Edgehill, made a most excellent, pious, short and soldierly prayer: for he lifted up his eyes and hands to heaven, saying, "O Lord! thou knowest, how busy I must be this day: if I forget thee, do not thou forget me." And with that, rose up, crying out, March on Boys! for the King had given order, that until the enemy should first have shot their cannon at our body of men, ours should not engage. In this battle Prince Rupert commanded the right wing of the Horse, and the Lord Wilmott the left; and the Lord Digby commanded one reserve of Horse and the Lord Byron the other.

But as if a fate had attended all we did, though Prince Rupert entirely routed the left wing of Essex's Horse, which being perceived, Wilmott had very little to do with the right: (for he that marks Wilmott's whole progress through this war, shall find him much affected to be an umpire of peace; which had been well done, if he had quitted the King's army, and gone into his Council than a decider of the contest by the sword; though the Gentleman wanted no courage nor experience, nor, I hope, loyalty) but both reserves pursuing the chase, contrary to all discipline of war, left the King and his Foot so alone, that it gave Essex a title unto the victory of that day; which might have been his last day, if they had done their parts, and stood their ground. And it was the more stange, that the reserves would thus precipitately engage themselves, when they saw the King had given leave unto his own Volunteer-Guard of Noblemen and Gentlemen, who with their attendance made two such Troops, as that they consisted of about three hundred Horse: for a vanity had possest that Troop, (upon a little provocation, or for a word of distaste the day before, or being called, The Troop of Show) to desire this honour of being engaged in the first charge; and I had the honour to be of the number, and to be one of the most inconsiderable Persons of it; and when we valued the estates of the whole troop, we reckoned there was 100000 £ per ann. in that Body, staked that day in that engagement against men of very disproportionable quality.

This was our first and great military misadventure; for Essex by his reserves of Horse falling on the King's Foot, pressed on them so hard, that had not some of our Horse returned in some season unto the relief of our foot, we had certainy lost the day, which all circumstances considered, we as certainly won. But the next day gave us the assurance of our victory; for the evening parting us, we found the Lord of Essex was retreated with his army into Warwick town and castle: and we advanced to the town of Banbury, which with its castle was garrisoned; and though Warwick was very nigh Banbury, yet we took in the town and castle, and made prisoners the regiment quartered there; and so the King marched to Oxford, which he garrisoned. Whilst he refreshed his men, Essex stole by other roads as many of his army to London, as he could....

Philip Warwick. Memoirs. (1702), pp. 228-232.