Battle of Marston Moor 1644
Jul 2 Parliamentarian troops had started to move south towards Tadcaster in case Rupert marched south from York, but realised that the moors behind them were filling up with Royalist horsemen. They then had to turn back and take up positions south of the road.

 
Rupert (uncharacteristically!) delayed the start of the battle. Newcastle's foot were slow to appear. Much of the day was spent with both armies deploying regiments as they arrived. The siege of York had been lifted and they had run out of the town searching for food and drink. many got drunk and some refused to march as they had not been paid.
Both armies lined up in the traditional way with foot in the middle and cavalry on both flanks. The brown line shows a ditch which had a hedge along the side.

The darker colours indicate cavalry.
Royalist :

Left : 2000 horse drawn up in two lines. Lord Goring in the front line and Sir Charles Lucas in command of the 2nd. Companies of musketeers supported the first line.

Centre : Lord Eythin was in overall command of 11000 infantry arranged in 3 lines. Colonel Tillier commanding the front line, Newcastle's Whitecoats formed part of the second and all of the third under the command of Sir Francis Mackworth. Smaller groups of cavalry were placed behind the second line (Blakiston), with Rupert's 140 lifeguard and Widdrington's 400 cavalry at the rear.

Right : 2600 horse drawn up by Sir John Hurry  in two lines. Lord Byron commanded the front line, Lord Molyneux the second. Groups of musketeers were interspersed between these lines.

 Eythin objected to Rupert's placement of his troops being too near the enemy...and he also objected to fighting that day.

A hedge-lined ditch lay a few hundred feet north of the road. The Royalists formed up behind this as it would impede any enemy charge.
Parliament :

Left : Cromwell's 3700 cavalry in two lines and a Scottish regiment of 800 horse under David Leslie forming a third line. Musketeers interspersed between the lines.

Centre: 6 brigades of foot in the front line - 2 from Manchester's army on the left under Crawford, 2 in the centre from Lord Fairfax's army, and two from the Scots army under Lt-Gen. William Baillie on the right. The second line was all Scots under James Lumsden except for a brigade from Manchester's army on the left. Another Scottish brigade formed a reserve line behind.

Right : Sir Thomas Fairfax's 2000 cavalry supported by 800 Scottish horse commanded by the Earl of  Eglington. Musketeers interspersed

 25 guns were placed behind the centre lines and fired over their heads.

Lord Leven acted as commander in chief.

Much of the Parliamentarian force, although they had the advantage of higher ground, were positioned in fields of standing and sodden rye.
2 pm Some time after 2pm, Lord Eythin brought the infantry from York as the Roundhead foot were taking up positions after their aborted march to Tadcaster.

An exchange of cannon started - making Byron move his cavalry back a little.
4 pm Both sides had finally deployed all their forces.
7 pm Rupert decided there would be no attack that day and instructed his men to cook food and prepare for the night. Lord Leven would have seen the Royalists off their guard, and the fact that he had superior numbers - and so prepared for a tactical surprise.
7.30 pm A sudden hail and thunder storm. The Roundhead armies started advancing down the slope towards the enemy lines..

 

 The storm helped the Roundhead advance as it caused many misfires from the Royalist musketeers - causing fewer casualties.
The infantry in the centre  advanced to the ditch which they crossed after a short struggle with the 'forlorn hope' and then went on to engage the Royalist front line.

Newcastle's Whitecoats pushed in to join the hand-to-hand fighting. The Parliamentary foot started to fall back. When Blakiston charged in with his brigade of horse it almost turned into a rout. He charged across the road as far as the Roundhead third line.

The Roundhead left were more successful as they wheeled to the right, turning in on the Royalists.

 The clashing armies 'made such a noise with shot and clamour of shouts that we lost our ears, and the smoke of powder was so thick that we saw no light but what proceeded from the mouth of the guns'
Fairfax on the Parliamentary right, charged across difficult terrain (hedges, ditches, gorse) and came under effective fire from the Royalist musketeers. He managed to get about 400 of his men over the ditch, but came under such heavy fire he had to charge Goring's troops straight away. The Royalist front line were scattered, but Fairfax had lost a lot of men in the process.

He pursued the fleeing Royalists westwards for a while, but when he turned back, he found himself among a large number of enemy horsemen who had charged the Parliamentarian second rank. In fact Goring's horsemen charged right through to plunder the baggage at the top of the hill.

 Fairfax himself was wounded in this action and his horse was shot. His brother Charles was killed.
The second line of Royalist cavalry, under Sir Charles Lucas, then turned in to attack the right flank of the Parliamentarian infantry. The Scots infantry withstood the charges of the cavalry by kneeling and placing the butts of their pikes on the ground.

On the left, Cromwell's cavalry charged.

Byron, against Rupert's instructions, made the mistake of advancing to meet the charge head on. This masked the fire of the musketeers and also landed his men in some very marshy ground, which would have served better to defend him. The Royalist front line was quickly routed.

Rupert saw what had happened and counter-attacked with his reserves, his life-guard and the men from the broken ranks that he could rally.

 Cromwell received a slight would in his neck at the start of this engagement. He probably left the field to get it dressed leaving the cavalry under Leslie's command.

Cromwell returned to his troops later for the second cavalry action.
The attack halted Cromwell's advance for a while but when Leslie attacked the Royalist flanks with his third line of horsemen, Rupert and his men were sent fleeing northwards.

Cromwell's disciplined horsemen did not pursue the enemy but reformed ranks on the battlefield.

 

 It is said that Rupert had to hide in a beanfield to avoid capture. His pet dog 'Boy' who had been with him in his imprisonment in Linz and who often rode into battle with him was killed - which pleased the Parliamentarian propagandists.
The middle of the battle. The Royalists were winning on their left but losing on their right...but they had broken through in the centre.
8.30 pm At this point, the centre and right of the Parliamentary army had been routed. Leven thought the day was lost and fled to Leeds. Fairfax also left and made for Hull.

The day gave way to a clear night with a bright full moon.

 News of a Royalist victory reached York where bells were rung.
Fierce fighting was still going on in the centre as Crawford's foot battled with Newcastle's Whitecoats.

Cromwell had reformed his horsemen and he and Leslie were taking on Widdrington's horse.
On the Royalist left, Sir Charles Lucas, whose cavalry had been attacking the enemy flanks, had been unhorsed and taken prisoner.

Goring was trying to gather as many of his dispersed horsemen as he could.

 
Fairfax, who had returned from chasing towards York, met up with Lambert, but finding themselves surrounded by Royalists, removed their white ribbons from their hats and proceeded to ride northwards behind the rear of the enemy and met up with Cromwell. They persuaded him to move round the rear of the Royalists to attack Goring, the only Royalist horse left on the battlefield.

Goring found himself having to turn and face an attack from the north. The Royalist horse were soon driven from the field and Cromwell spared some men to chase them towards York.

Cromwell then turned and helped in the destruction of the Royalist foot, who by now had been completely turned into a north-south position. They were completely surrounded by the Roundhead forces, and with Cromwell attacking them in the rear, stood little chance. The last resistance was from Newcastle's Whitecoats who refused to surrender and fought to the last man.

 The Parliamentarian troops had been wearing white ribbons in their hats at the battle to distinguish themselves from the Royalists.
The end of the battle. Newcastle's Whitecoats, named after their undyed wool uniforms continued fighting until all but 30 of them were killed or wounded.
9.30pm The battle was over - it had lasted two hours.
11 pm Manchester rode round his regiments thanking them and asking them to thank God for victory.
Midnight All fighting had subsided by midnight.
Cromwell after the battle of Marston Moor
Jul 3 Rupert, Newcastle and Eythin met up in York.

Newcastle left for Holland, taking with him Eythin, Mackworth, Widdrington and several other senior Royalists.

Rupert rode out of York with what troops he could find (no more than 6000), but he collected stragglers on his way. He met Montrose at Richmond who asked him for troops to attack Scotland. Rupert turned him down and led his troops to Chester.

 

 When Rupert asked Newcastle to stay and prepare to fight again he replied 'No, I will not endure the laughter of the court'.
Jul 16 The allied armies did not pursue Rupert. Instead they returned to their positions outside York. Sir Thomas Glemham had no alternative but to yield the city, which he did on July 16th. Lord Fairfax replaced him as the governor of York.

The surrender of York to the Roundheads

Local people buried 4150 Royalist dead.
1500 Royalist prisoners had been taken, including Colonel Henry Tillier, Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Porter.

It is suggested that the Parliamentarians lost only 300 men.

 
As a direct result of the battle, York fell and the north of England was under the control of Parliament.

Marston Moor, the biggest and bloodiest battle that had been fought on English soil,  was a decisive Parliamentarian victory and the first major one. It showed Cromwell to be a great cavalry commander, and it was the first time that Rupert had really tasted defeat.