Marston Moor

Marston Moor, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, 7 miles W. of York, the scene of a great parliamentary victory, 2d July 1644. The royalist army, about 22,000 strong, was led by Prince Rupert; the parliamentary troops numbered 15,000 foot and 9000 horse, consisting of a Scotch army under the Earl of Leven, a Yorkshire army under Fairfax, and one from the eastern counties under the Earl of Manchester, with Cromwell and Crawford. The battle began about seven o'clock in the evening. On the king's left flank the horse under Goring scattered the forces of Fairfax; on his right the troops of the fiery Rupert were broken for the first time by Cromwell's 'Ironsides.' Hastily recalling his men from the chase, Cromwell saved the day by supporting Manchester and the Scotch infantry against the king's foot under Newcastle, and routing Goring's horse flushed with their victory. Before nightfall the success was complete, and the king's army fled in utter rout to York, leaving 4000 men dead on the field; among them all Newcastle's 'Whitecoats.' This victory gave the whole north to the Parliament, and first brought into prominence Cromwell's military genius. See S. R. Gardiner's History of the Civil War (1886), and Edward Lamplough's Yorkshire Battles (1891).