my coming aboard the Gallions were run on ground near the shore and their men some swimming others in their boats began to forsake their ships I was then bold to say to my Lord of Essex that it was high time to send his small shipping to board them for otherwise they would be fired by their own men which his Lordship found reasonable presently sent his directions accordingly and in the mean time sent Sir William Constable with some long boats full of souldiers which his Lordship had towed at his stern since the first imbarquing to have landed in the Caletta But notwithstanding he made all haste possible before he could get to the Gallions two of them were set on fire and the other two by this means saved and taken utterly forsaken of their men who retired through the fennes to porto Saint Maria. The Spanish fleet thus set on ground the prosecution of that victory was committed to and willingly undertaken with the sea-forces by a principall officer of the fleet And because longer delay would increase the difficulty of landing our forces by the resort of more people to Calis it was resolved forthwith to attempt the putting of our men on shore and to that end commandment was given that all the men appointed for that purpose should be imbarqued in the long boats and that my Lord of Essex should first land with those men which could be disembarqued and then my Lord Admirall to second and repair to the Generall who the better to be known would put out his flag in his boat The troops that were first to land were the regiments of the Generalls my own that of Sir Christopher Blunt Sir Thomas Gerrard and Sir Conniers Clifford On the right hand in an even front with a competent distance betwixt the boats were ranged the two regiments first named the other three on the left so that every regiment and company of men were sorted together with their Colonels and chief officers in nimble pinnaces some in the head of the boats some at stern to keep good order the Generall himself with his boat in which it pleased him to have me attend him and some other boats full of Gentlemen-adventurers choice men to attend his person rowed a pretty distance before the rest whom at a signall given with a drum from his boat the rest were to follow according to the measure and time of the sound of the said drum which they were to observe in the deeping of their oars and to that end there was a generall silence as well of warlike instruments as otherwise Which order being duly followed the troops came all together to the shore betwixt Puntall and Calis and were landed and severall regiments imbattelled at an instant without any encounter at all the Spaniards who all the day before had shewed themselves with troops of horse and foot on that part as resolved to impeach our landing being clean retired toward the town The number of the first disembarquing was not fully two thousand men for diverse companies of those regiments that had put themselves into their ships again could not be suddenly ready by reason the boats to land them belonged to other great ships Calis on that side was walled as it were in a right line thwart the land so as the sea on both sides did beat on the foot of the wall which strength together with the populousness of the town in which besides the great concourse of Gentlemen and others upon the discovery of our fleet and alarm of our Ordnance there was an ordinary Garrison of souldiers had taken from us all thought of forcing it without battery and therefore being landed we advanced with the troops to finde a convenient place to encamp till my Lord Admirall with the rest of the forces and the Ordnance were landed Being advanced with the troops half the breadth of the neck of the land which in that place is about half a mile over we might perceive that all along the sea-shore on the other side of this neck of land men on hors-back and foot repaired to the town which intercourse it was thought necessary to cut off And therefore because the greatest forces of the enemies were to come from the land it was resolved on to lodge the better part of the army in the narrowest of the neck which near Puntall is not broader then an ordinary harque-bush-shot To which streight Sir Conniers Clifford was sent with three regiments viz. his own Sir Christopher Blunts and Sir Thomas Gerrards there to make a stand to impeach the Spaniards from coming to the town till he received further order for the quartering and lodging of his men Which done the Lord Generall with the other two regiments and his company of adventurers which was of about two hundred and fifty worthy Gentlemen in all not fully a thousand men advanced nearer the town the better to discover the whole ground before it And as we approached a far off we might perceive the enemy standing in battel under the favour of the town with cornets and ensignes displayed thrusting out some loose horse and foot toward us as it were to procure a skirmish I marking their fashion conceived hope of a speedier gaining the town then we intended and were then about and said to his Lordship at whose elbow I attended that those men he saw standing in battel before the town would shew and make the way for us into the town that night if they were well handled and at the instant I propounded the means which was to carry our troops as near and covertly as might be towards the town and to see by some attempt if we could draw them to fight further from the town that we might send them back with confusion and disorder and so have the cutting them in pieces in the town-ditch or enter it by the same way they did His Lordship liked the project and left the handling thereof to me I presently caused the troop to march towards the other side of the neck of land because the ordinary and ready way to the town lay on that side low and inbayd to the foot of the hilly downs so as troops might march very closely from the view of the town Then I chose out two hundred men which were committed to the conduct of Sir Iohn Wingfield a right valiant Knight with order that he should march on roundly to the enemy where they stood in battel and to charge and drive to their battels the skirmishers but if the enemy in grosse profered a charge he should make an hasty and fearfull retreat to their judgement the way he had gone till he met with his seconds that followed him and then to turn short and with the greatest speed and fury he could to charge the enemy The seconds were of three hundred men led as I remember by Sir Matthew Morgan who were to follow the first troop a good distance and so as both of them till
at the least four hours till I came to an open heath which was from the bridge about some five or six English miles sending in the mean time messenger upon messenger to the Count Maurice and the Count Hollock for more troops And it pleased Sir Robert Sidney himself who also came up to me and looked on the enemy when he saw the fair occasion to ride back to procure more forces But all this while none came not so much as any principal officer of the armie to see what I did On the left hand of this heath which is little lesse then three miles over were woods and inclosed fields coasting the way the enemy was to take in distance some musket-shot and a half Along these I caused my muskettiers to advance and as they could from the skirts of the heath to play upon the enemy which was more to shew them and our men that were behinde by hearing the shot that we had not forsaken the enemy then for any great hurt we could do them My self with some thirty or fourty horse that were come up to me to see the sport following them aloof off The enemy seeing no grosse troop to follow them began to take heart put themselves into order in four battalions their horsmen on their wings advancing their way easily When we had in this manner passed half the heath our horsmen in sixteen troops for they were so many began to appear behinde us at the entry of the heath not the way we had passed but more to the right hand coasting the skirts of the heath a good round pace This sight made the enemy mend his pace and gave us more courage to follow them so as now we omitted no endeavour which might hinder their way falling again into skirmish with them For they fearing more those that they saw afar off then us that followed them at their heels being a contemptible number to them that might see us and tell us mended still their pace I therefore sent messengers to those horsmen for of our footmen there was no help to be expected to tell them that if they came not with all speed possible the enemy would get into the streight and fast countrey in which there could be no good done on them They were not above two musket-shot from the mouth of the streight when the Count Maurice with six companies of horse came near unto us that followed the enemie in the tail The other horsmen because they fetched a greater compasse and came more upon the front and right flank of the enemie were further off I sent to the Count to desire him to give me those horsmen And in the mean time to give the enemie some stay I made a round proffer to charge the rereward under the countenance of that second with those horse and foot I had which took good effect for they knowing no other but that all the troops were also ready to charge made a stand and seeing our horsmen on the right wing to grow somewhat near put themselves into a stronger order My messenger returning from the Count Maurice told me he would speak with me to whom I made haste and as the time required in few words having delivered my minde he gave me three companies of horse to use as I should see cause with which I went on the spur for the enemie was now marching again and was come even into the entry of the streight The other horsmen with the Count Hollock seeing me go to charge did the like also so that much about one instant he charged on the right corner of their front and on their right flank and I with my troops on the rereward and left flank so roundly that their shot after the first volley shifted for themselves for their pikes being ranged in four battels stood one in the tail of another not well ordered as in that case they should have been to succour their shot and abide the charge of the horsmen and so charged their pikes not breaking through them at the first push as it was anciently used by the men of arms with their barded horses but as the long pistols delivered at hand had made the ranks thinne so thereupon the rest of the horse got within them so as indeed it was a victory obtained without fight For till they were utterly broken and scattered which was after a short time few or none died by handy-strokes The footmen defeated our horsmen disordered as they had been in the charge and execution followed the chase of their horsmen and baggage which took the way of Herentalls I foresaw that the enemies horse that had with-drawn themselves in good order and untouched of us at the beginning of the fight would soon put to rout those disordered men and therefore made all the haste that I could to the mouth of the streight there to stay them Where finding the Count Hollock I told him he should do well to suffer no more to passe so riding forward on the other end of the streight where it opened on a champain I overtook Sir Nicholas Parker who commanded the three companies of English horse under me who had some thirty souldiers with the three Cornets with these I stayed on a green plot just in the mouth of the streight having on either hand a roade washy way with purpose to gather unto me those that came after me and relieve our men if the enemie chased them I had no sooner placed the troop but I might see our men come back as fast and as disordered as they went out passing the streight on either hand of me not to be stayed for any intreaty The most of our men passed and the enemy approaching Sir Nicholas Parker asked me what I meant to do I told him attend the enemy with our troop there Then saith he you must be gone with the rest and so almost with the latest the enemy being upon us I followed his counsel and so all of us great and small were chased through the streight again where our troops gathering head and our foot appearing we held good and the enemy without any further attempt made his retreat There were taken between fourty and fifty ensignes and slain and taken of the enemy near three thousand and their Generall Signieur de Ballancy and Count de Warras died on the place THE BATTEL AT NEVPORT A.D. 1600. The Battel at NEWPORT IN the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred the enemies forces being weak and in mutinies and his affairs in disorder the States resolved to make an offensive warre in Flanders as the fittest place to annoy the enemy most and to secure their own State if they could recover the Coast-towns which was the scope of their enterprise As this action was of great importance so were the meetings and consultations about it many To which though unworthy my self was called where amongst other things the facility of the execution coming in question it was
by most affirmed that the enemy was not able nor durst adventure to meet us in the field which I not onely opposed in opinion but more particularly made it appear that within fourteen dayes after our landing in Flanders they might and would be with us to offer us fight as afterwards it fell precisely out The army imbarqued with purpose to have landed at Ostend but finding the wind contrary when we came into Zeland upon a new consultation it was resolved to disembarque upon the coast of Flanders lying on the river of Skelde and accordingly by a small fort called the Philippines we ran our vessels which were flat bottomed after the manner of that countrey aground at a high-water which the ebbe coming lay on dry ground and so with much ease and readinesse we landed both horse and foot Our army consisted of about twelve thousand footmen and three thousand horse and was divided into three parts commited to severall Commanders viz. the Count Ernest of Nassaw the Count Solmes and my self my troop consisting of one thousand six hundred English men and two thousand five hundred Frisons and ten Cornets of horse with which troop I took my turn of vanguard battel and rereward as it fell out We marched through the countrey to Eckelo and Bruges and so to Oldenburgh a fort of the enemies not farre from Ostend which the enemy had abandoned as also some other of lesse strength by which means the passage to Ostend was open and free The army encamped and rested there two or three dayes to refresh us with victuals especially drink whereof the army had suffered great want the water of the countrey we had passed being for the most part very troubled and moorish It was again consulted where the army should be first imploied either in taking the forts the enemy held in the low and broken grounds about Ostend or in the siege of Newport the latter being resolved on the States who had all this while marched and abode with the army departed to Ostend as the fittest place to reside in And the Count Solmes with his part of the army was sent the direct way to Ostend to take in the fort Albertus and open the passage betwixt that town and Newport The Count Maurice with the rest of the army leaving the fort of Oldenburgh and the others which the enemy had forsaken well guarded as was behoovefull because without forcing them the enemy could not come to us but by fetching a great compasse marched by Hemskerk towards a fort called the Damme upon the river that goeth to Newport but finding the countrey weak and moorish and not able to bear the weight of our carriages and artillery returned to a small village not farre from Hemskerk and lodged there Thence we crossed through the meadows towards the sea-side filling many ditches and laying bridges to passe the waters whereof that countrey is full And so with much adoe we got to the Downs by the sea-side and incamped about some Cannon-shot from the fort Albertus which was before rendered to the Count Solmes In the morning early we marched upon the sea-sands towards Newport and at the ebb waded the river on that side that maketh the haven of that town and so incamped and spent two or three dayes in quartering and intrenching our selves in places of best advantage for our own safety and the besieging of the town laying a stone-bridge over the narrowest of the haven for our carriages and troops to passe to and fro at all times if occasion required In the mean time the Count was advertised from those of Ostend and those of Oldenburgh that the enemy with good troops of horse and foot were come and lodged near the fort whereupon consulting the opinions were diverse the most agreeing that it was onely a bravado made of Rivas who before we had heard had gathered between three and four thousand men together near the Sluys to divert us from our enterprise and that upon our remove towards him he would make his retreat to the Sluys again But this falling out jump with the calculation I had before made I insisted that it was the grosse of their army and that it was needfull for us without delay to march thither with our army also lest that fort and the rest fell into the enemies hands who might then come and lodge at our backs and cut off the passage to Ostend to the extream annoyance of the army that in using diligence to prevent the enemie's taking these forts we might at once block up and besiege those the enemy held on the low and drowned lands which enterprise had been in question and debated as of equall importance with that of Newport Notwithstanding that my reasons seemed well grounded the Count Maurice was as he is naturally slow in resolving so as for that time no other thing was done The same night came messenger upon messenger first that the enemy had Cannon then that they of the fort were summoned in the Archdukes name after that it was yielded upon conditions And thrice that night was I called from my rest upon these severall alarms which confirmed me in my former opinion upon which I still insisted with this change that whereas my first purpose was to stop the enemies passage under the savour of those forts now that occasion lost we were to march to the hither mouth of the passage our selves had made through the low grounds and to occupy the same which was the shortest and readiest way the enemy had to the Downs and sea-side The Count Maurice liked it well and resolved to send forthwith the Count Ernest with two thousand five hundred footmen and five hundred horsmen with some artillery also and provision to intrench upon the same passage saying he would follow and second them with the rest of the army in due season which course I could not approve nor allow of shewing my reasons how this dividing of forces might endanger the whole for I knew the enemy would in all likelihood use all possible diligence to get through this passage and might well doe it with his vanguard and part of his forces before the arrivall of these men which being so few in number would not be able to make resistance whereas our whole army marching if the enemy had been fully passed the low grounds we had our forces united to give them battell according to the resolution taken if he sought us or came in our way if part of his army were onely passed which was the likeliest the shortnesse of time the hinderance of the night and the narrownesse of the way considered then we had undoubted victory if we were there before him the passage was ours About midnight the Count had his dispatch and order to take of those troops that were with the Count Solmes as readiest for that service The rest of the army was commanded to march down to the havens side by the break of day to passe with the
first ebb It was my turn then to have the vanguard which made me carefull not to be wanting in my duty so as in due time my troop was at the place appointed And because the water was not yet passable I went my self to the Count Maurice to know his further pleasure whom I found by the bridge with most of the chief officers of the army whither not long after news was brought unto him that the enemy was passed the Downs and marching towards us which strook him into a dump I told him that all possible speed must be used to passe the forces before the enemy was possessed of the other side of the haven that therefore I would go to my troop to take the first opportunity of the tide desiring him to give me his further order what I was to do when I had passed the haven he willed me to do in all things as I saw cause my self calling to him the Count Lodwick of Nassaw who then commanded the horse as Generall he bad him go along with me and follow my directions So I left the Count Maurice and went to my troop and so soon as the tide served I passed my men as they stood in their battalions The souldiers would have stripped themselves to have kept their clothes dry as I had willed them when I crossed the haven first but then I thought it not expedient the enemy being so near at hand And therefore willed them to keep on their clothes and not to care for the wetting of them for they should either need none or have better and dryer clothes to sleep in that night When the troop of the vanguard was passed I left the footmen standing ranged in their order betwixt the Downs or sand-hills and the sea and with the horse advanced towards the enemy whom we might discover afar off coming towards us by the sea-side not to engage a skirmish or fight but to choose a fit place to attend them in which was now the onely advantage we could by industry get of the enemy for by the situation of the countrey that skill and dexterity we presumed to excell our enemies in which was the apt and agile motions of our battalions was utterly taken from us For the space betwixt the sea and the sand-hills or Downs was commanded by the said hills which are of many heads reared and commanding one another containing so much breadth in most places that our troops could not occupy the whole and every where so confusedly packt together so brokenly and steeply that the troops could neither well discern what was done a stones-cast before them nor advance forward in any order to second if need were And on the other side of the Downs towards the firm land if the whole breadth were not possessed the enemy might passe to the haven of Newport where our bridge and most of our shipping yet lay on the dry ground and spoil and burn them in our view All which inconveniences I was to prevent Finding therefore a place where the hills and Downs stood in a manner divided with a hollow bottom the bottom narrower and the hills higher to the sea-side and North then towards the in-land and South which ran clean thwart from the sea-sand to the in-land the Downs also there being of no great breadth so that we might conveniently occupy them with our front and command as well the sea-shore as the way that lay betwixt the low in-land and the foot of the Downs In that place on the hither side of that bottom I resolved to attend the enemy and therefore having caused my troop to advance I drew from the whole vanguard about one thousand men viz. two hundred and fifty English-men the Count Maurice his guard and of such other companies as usually marched with it two hundred fifty and of the Frisons five hundred which were all muskettiers the other two troops consisting of shot and pikes The English and fifty of the Counts guard I placed on the top of a hill that lay more advanced then the rest which being steep and sandy was not easily to be mounted and in the top so hollow that the men lay covered from the hills on the other side and might fight from it as from a parapett Just behinde this hill about one hundred paces was another far more high on the top of which also I placed the other two hundred men of the troop of the guard on which also with a little labour of the souldier they lay at good covert These two hills were joyned together with a ridge somewhat lower then the foremost hill which end-wise lay East and West and broad-wise looked towards the South or in-land and commanded all the ground passable on the out-side very steep loose sandy and ill to be mounted within hollow in which I placed the five hundred Frison-muskettiers giving charge to the Officers to bestow their shot onely to the Southward when time should serve which was directly on our right side and flank as we then stood turned towards the enemy Betwixt those two hills on the left hand or flank looking towards the sea I placed in covert in places for the purpose so near the sea-sand that they might with ease and good order in an instant break into it two of the four troops of the English making about seven hundred men ranged with their faces to the Northvvard looking directly from our left flank If the enemy adventured to passe by us to the other troops I meant to leave them in his eie Upon the sands more Easterly then the inmost of the two hills I ranged in a front with a space betwixt them the other two troops of the English and a pretty distance behinde them more to the seaward the Frisons in four battalions two in front with a space to receive betwixt them one of the other two battalions that stood behinde them the files and spaces betwixt the troops as close as might be conveniently to leave the more space for the ranging the other troops with a competent distance betwixt each troop so as one troop shadowed not another but all might be in the enemies eie at one instant And thus the vanguard occupied about one third part of the downs leaving the rest to be manned as occasion should serve by the other troops and on the left hand uttermost to the sea and more advanced I placed the horsmen I had scarce done this work when the Count Maurice with the chief Commanders of the army came to the head of my troops where on hors-back and in the hearing of all standers by which were many he put in deliberation whether he should advance with his army towards the enemy or abide their coming Those that spake as in such cases most men will not seem fearfull counselled to march forward for that they thought it would daunt the enemy and make the victory the more easie whereas in attending him he would gather courage out of the
opinion of our fear or take the opportunity of our stay to fortifie upon the passage to Ostend to cut off our victuals and retreat I alleadged that their army that had been gathered in haste brought into a countrey where they intended no such war could neither have provision of victuals with them for any time nor any magazines in those parts to furnish them nor other store in that wasted countrey and in that latter end of the year to be expected so as fear there was none that they should seat themselves there to starve us that had store of victuals in our shipping and the sea open to supply us with all sailing winds And as for the vain courage they should get by our supposed fear after so long a march with climbing up and down those steep sandy hills in the extreamity of heat wearied and spent before they could come to us and then finding us fresh and lusty and ready to receive them in our strength of advantage it would turn to their greater confusion and terrour They persisted and as it were with one voice opposed so as in the end I was moved to say that all the world could not make me change my counsel The Count Maurice was pleased to like of it resolving not to passe any further towards the enemy and for the ordering of things reposed so much trust in me as that he believed they were well without viewing the places or examining the reasons of my doings but returned to give order to the rest of the army which as the water ebbed he enlarged to the sea-ward next the which the horsmen were placed and six piece of Ordnance advanced into the head of the vanguard In this order we stayed and the enemie though still in the eie moved not forward for the space of two hours and then rather turning from us then advancing they crossed the downs rested other two hours at the foot of them towards the land which confirmed their opinions that held he would lodge But we found reasons out of all their proceedings to keep us from wavering For it was probable to us that the enemy over-wearied tired with that night and dayes travell and seeing us passed the haven of Newport wherein to have hindered and prevented us was the greatest cause of his haste whilest he saw us stirring and ordering our selves might hope that we that were fresh now passed and engaged to fight would advance the rather to have the help of our troops with the Count Ernest if perchance he were retired to Ostend which the nearer the fight were to that place might be of most use to us or else if we had heard of their defeat vve vvould be dravvn on vvith revenge But vvhen they savv that vve held our place not moving forvvard being out of that hope and not provided to make any long stay for the reasons before mentioned they might resolve to refresh themselves and then to advance towards us for which that side was more convenient then the bare sea-sands Withall we considered that their chief trust resting in their footmen which were old trained souldiers and to that day unfoiled in the field they would the rather attend the growing of the tide which was then at the lowest that the scope of the sands might be lesse spacious and serviceable for horsmen About half-floud they crossed again the downs to the sea-sands and marched forward sending some light-horsmen far before the troop one of which as we supposed suffered himself to be taken who being brought to the Count Maurice told him aloud that Count Ernest was defeated and that he should presently have battel augmenting the number bravery and resolution of their men The losse of our men we understood before and therefore were carefull to have few present at the hearing of the prisoner whose mouth being stopped by the Count Maurice his order the rest that heard it bewrayed it either in vvord or countenance to the souldier The enemy grovving nearer and nearer and their horsmen coming in the head of their troops in a competent distance to have been dravvn to a fight I vvould very vvillingly have advanced the horsmen of the vanguard near to them and vvith some choice and vvelmounted men have beaten in their carabins skirmishers to their grosse vvith purpose if they had been charged again to have retired in haste with the said vanguard of horse betwixt the sea and the vanguard of foot and having drawn them from their foot under the mercy of our Ordnance and engaged to the rest of our horse to have charged and followed them resolutely This advise could not savour to that young Nobleman that was not well pleased with the power the Count Maurice had given me over his charge and therefore was not by him put into execution who chose rather as the enemy advanced leasurely so he in like sort to recuil towards the foot This counsel of mine taking no better effect and their horsmen now come within reach of our Cannon I made the motion to have them discharged which was well liked and so well plied that we made them scatter their troops and in disorder flie for safety into the downs which had doubtlesse given us the victory without more adoe if our horsmen had been ready and willing to have taken the benefit of that occasion Their footmen out of our reach kept on their way alongst the sands and the sooner to requite us advanced their Ordnance a good distance before them and shot roundly at us and did some hurt The water now grew very high so as both we and they were forced to streighten our front and the enemy whether of purpose as aforesaid to fight with more advantage as he took it with his foot in the downs or to avoid the shot of our Ordnance for he could not be so carelesse as to be surprised with the tide and so driven to this sudden change put all his forces as wel horse as foot into the downs which his horse crossed to the green way betwixt the low-lands and the downs All our horsemen stood with our rereward hereupon our vanguard altering order our battel and rereward passed into the downs and in the same distances backward sidewise as they had been on the sands on my left hand before ranged themselves so as the front of the three bodies of foot filled the breadth of the downs all the horsmen being placed on the green way betwixt the low-land and the foot of the downs not in any large front but one in the tail of another as the narrownesse of the passage enforced I found a fit place on the top of a hill from whence the green way on the inside of the downs might be commanded with Ordnance on which by the Count Maurice his order two demi-Cannons were presently mounted The enemy growing very near I told the Count it was time for me to go to my charge asking him whether he would command
me any more service he said no but to do as I saw cause willing us the Chiefs that stood about him to advise him in what part of the army he should be personally whereunto we all answered that for many reasons he was to keep in the rereward of all which he yielded unto So I went to the vanguard and after I had viewed the readinesse and order of the severall troops the enemy now appearing at hand I the better to discover their proceedings and for the readier direction upon all occasions as also with my presence to encourage our men in the abiding of the first brunt took my place in the top of the foremost hill before mentioned where I resolved to abide the issue of that dayes service as wel because the advantages of the ground we had chosen were to stand upon the defence as also for that in that uneven ground to stirre from place to place as is usuall and necessary in the execution and performance of the office of a Captain where the countrey is open and plain I should not onely have lost the view of the enemy upon whose motions in such cases our counsels of execution depend but of my troops and they of me which must needs have caused many unreasonable and confused commandments The enemies forelorn-hope of harquebuziers having gotten the tops of the hills and places of most advantage on the other side of this bottom before mentioned began from thence to shoot at us whilest their vanguard approached which now growing near at hand five hundred Spanish pikes and shot mingled without ensignes or precise order gave upon the place where my self was and very obstinately for the space of a great half-hour laboured to enter and force it favoured with more store of shot from the tops of their hills the grosse of their vanguard standing in some covert from the shot with me on the other side of the bottom In the mean time the vanguard of their horse advanced along the green way so often mentioned betwixt the low-inland and the Downs towards our horse that stood more backward against the flank of our battel Our two pieces of Ordnance were discharged from the top of the hill to good effect and well plyed and when they came nearer and thwart our right flank the five hundred Frison-muskettiers who as I have before said were onely destined to bestow their shot that way did their part and so galled them that upon the first proffer of a charge which our horsmen made they were put to a disordered retreat even to their troops of foot our horsmen following them in the tail who were fain there to give them over At the same instant I gave order that a hundred men should be sent from the foremost troop of foot I had layed as aforesaid in the Downs to have given upon the left flank of the enemy if he attempted to passe by us upon the sands and as covertly as they could to approach and give upon the right flank of those that were in fight with me When they were come up and at hands with the enemy I sent from the hill where I was by a hollow descent some sixty men to charge them in front which amazed the enemy and put them to run our men chasing and killing them till they had passed the bottom and came to the grosse of their vanguard from which were disbanded anew the like number as before who followed our men and seized on some heights that were in the bottom somewhat near us covering their pikes under the shadow of the hills and playing with the shot from the tops upon our disbanded and skirmishing men I sent to drive them from thence being loth they should gain ground upon us one of the same troops from whence I had drawn the hundred men before mentioned with order onely to make that place good This was a bloudy morsell that we strave for for whilest our men and theirs were not covered with the hanging of the hills as they advanced or were chased they lay open to the shot not onely of those that were possessed of those little hills but of the other higher which poured in greater tempests upon them so as the souldiers that I sent hasted as for their safety to get the side of the hill and the enemy for like respect abode their coming with resolution so as in an instant as the hill was round and mountable the men came to handy-blows upon the whole semicircle of it with much slaughter on both sides till in the end the enemy was forced to retire In the mean time the battel of the enemies foot were come up to the grosse of the vanguard which as it had taken the right hand of the Downs so the battel with some distance betwixt them though even in front having been well welcomed with our shot from the tops of the hills stayed in as good covert as the place would afford sending fresh men to beat ours from those grounds of advantage in the bottom so as ours beginning to give back I sent a new supply to make good the place in this bottom sometimes getting and sometimes losing ground The fight was still maintained with new supplies on both sides wherein I persevered though with losse of men because the advantage the ground gave me to beat as well upon their grosse as their loose fighting men made the losse farre greater on their side my design being to engage their whole force upon my handfull of men which I employed sparingly and by piece-meal so to spend and waste the enemy that they should not be able to abide the sight of our other troops when they advanced The horsmen of their battel and ours encountered but somewhat more advanced toward the enemy our men having gotten courage with the first successe so as our fore-mentioned Frison-muskettiers could not so well favour them but our horsmen being put to retreat the enemy in the pursuit being saluted by them were stopped and drew back Their rereward now come up even with the other two bodies for so I term them because their ensignes remained together though most of the men were drawn from them and in fight and the ensignes barely attended advanced on the left hand of the battel and spreading the breadth of the Downs they were to my troop rather on the corner of the right flank then a front and our battel and rereward upon which they directly fronted a musket-shot behinde my troop toward which it seemed they intended to advance First we gave as much to them as we could spare from our hills but when they began to open upon my Frison-muskettiers which as before is said could onely bestow their shot on our rigthtflank and till that time had done no service but against their horse they were exceedingly galled so as they staid suddenly and amazed or ashamed to go back seeing none to chase them in a bottom of some small covert bestowed themselves
sending out some skirmishers along the Southermost part of the Downs against which some loose men were sent from our bodies but our muskettiers that shot standing and without fear from their rests galled them most The horsmen of the rereward shewed themselves on both sides and some little bickering there was and so they retired out of the footmens reach This was a strange and unusuall fight for whereas most commonly in battels the successe of the foot dependeth upon that of the horse here it was clean contrary for so long as the foot held good the horse could not be beaten out of the field though as it fell out they might be chased to them All this while the fight continued without intermission hotter and hotter betwixt the other two troops of the enemies and me both of us sending fresh supplies as occasion required to sustain the fight Insomuch as the whole troops of the English were engaged to a hand-fight in the foresaid bottom saving those few that were placed on the hills and on the enemies part also few were idle And now I saw was the time to give the enemy a deadly blow his grosses being disbanded as well in occupying places of height and advantage to annoy us as by those that were sent to dispute the places in question For their onely strength now consisted in their loose men which any few horse charging on a sudden in that bottom would have put to flight and being followed pesle-mesle with our foot would never have had means to have rallied gathered themselves together again On the other side I knew that without further succours their numbers would weary and eat us up in the end I therefore at once sent to the Frison-footmen of the vanguard to advance and to the Count Maurice to tell him how things stood and to desire him to send me part of the horse of the battel and because I saw the enemy presse gain upon our men more and more I sent again messenger upon messenger In the mean time to give our men the more courage I went into the bottom amongst them where riding up and down I was in their eyes both doing the office of a Captain and souldier and with much adoe we entertained the fight though the enemy encroached and got upon us At my first coming I got one shot through my leg and a quarter of an hour after another through the same thigh which I then neither complained nor bragged of nor so much as thought of any Chirurgeon for I knew if I left the place my men would instantly quail I therefore chose not having been used to have my troops foiled to try the uttermost rather then to shew them the way to flee hoping still for the coming of the Frisons and the horse I sent for But their haste was so small that my men overlaid with number forsook the place notwithstanding my best endeavour to stay them hasting along the sands towards our Cannon the enemy following them hard I was forced seeing them all going to go for company with the last uneasily and unwillingly God knows and in the way my horse fell dead under me and upon me that I could not stirre I had neither Officer Gentleman nor servant about me to give me help Sir Robert Drury by chance came and a Gentleman being a servant of his called Higham drew me from under the horse and set me up behinde his Master which help came very seasonably for the enemy being near at hand when I fell by this means I was saved out of their clutches Thus I rode to the Ordnance where I found my brother Horace and the most of the officers that were living with some three hundred foot I made them stand from before the Ordnance and willed the Cannoniers to discharge upon the enemy that now swarmed upon the sands and at the same instant my own companie of horse and Captain Balls coming thither I willed them to go to the charge and my brother with the foot to advance and second them home This small number of horse and foot made an exceeding great change on a sudden for the enemy in hope of victory followed hard and being upon the sands where horse might serve upon them were soon routed most cut in pieces they rest saving themselves by flight as they could in the downs our men both horse and foot followed them Their battels where their ensignes remained began to stirre and rouse themselves rather for defence then to revenge their followes for they advanced not Our men from the top of the hills who had kept their places from the beginning having by this means a fair mark plyed them with shot our English souldiers on all hands with new courage resorted to the fight and finding these battels very small thin by reason of the men they had sent to supply the fight especially of shot which in these uneven places were of most service pelted them with our shot and pressing upon them made them recuile The Count Maurice seeing things on these termes caused the battel to advance and his horsmen to make a proffer upon the enemies upon which sight without attending any strokes the enemy routed and was chased out of the field In this last charge I followed not for seeing the successe upon the sands and knowing that my directions in the prosecution of the victory would be executed I could easily judge that the work of that day was at an end And therefore began to care and provide for my self who all this while having been undressed the bloud leaking from me at four holes together with a dangerous disease that had long held me had made me extream weak and faint The enemy lost above one hundred and twenty ensignes most of his foot slain not many of his horse lost On our side in a manner the whole losse fell upon English of which near eight hundred were hurt and slain eight Captains slain the rest all but two hurt and most of my inferiour Officers hurt and slain In the rest of the army there was no losse at all to speak of especially amongst the foot I dare not take the whole honour of the victory to the poor English troop of one thousand six hundred men but leave it to be judged by those that may give their censure with lesse suspition of partiality I will onely affirm that they left nothing for the rest of the army to do but to follow the chase and that it hath not been heard of that by so small a number in a ground so indifferent whereof the onely advantage was the choice and use of the same without help of spade or other instrument or engine of fortifying so great and so victorious an army as the Archdukes had been so long wrastled withall and so far spent Yet this victory had been as assured with lesse losse and touch of reproach if to give ground to a stronger may be subject to a disgracefull imputation
the enemy were engaged might not at once appear to them and to advance with all diligence when the troop before them did retire to meet them charge the enemy enter the town with them peslemesle With the rest of the forces his Lordship and I followed The place served well for our purpose being covert and of no advantage for their horsmen and the directions were so well observed that the enemy was engaged in following our first troop before they discovered the rest and so in hope and assurance of victory being beyond expectation lively encountered they fled in disorder towards the town so nearly followed of our men that most of the horsmen forsook their horses and saved themselves some by the gates others clambering over the walls as did also their footmen our men following them at the heels to the very gate which they found shut against them and men standing over it and upon the walls to resist us The ditch was very hollow but dry out of which was raised a massy rampier with two round half bulwarks the one towards the one sea the other towards the other for height and thicknesse in their perfection but not steeped and scarped so as it was very mountable lying close to the old wall of the town which somewhat overtopped it no higher then in many places a man might reach with his hand To the top of this rampier our men climbed who being for the most part old and experienced souldiers of the Bands I brought out of the Low-countries boldly attempted to climbe the wall from which they beat with their shot the defendants wanting no encouragements that good example of the chiefs could give them the Generall himself being as forward as any Whilest it was hard stroven and fought on that side I sent a Captain and Countrey-man of mine called Upsher with some few men alongst the ditch to see what guard was held along the wall toward the Bay-ward and whether any easier entrance might be made that way or no willing him to bring or send me word which he did accordingly though the messenger came not to me He found so slender a guard that he entred the town with those few men he had which the enemy perceiving fled from the walls and our men entred as fast on the other side My Lord of Essex was one of the first that got over the walls followed by the souldiers as the place would give them leave and such was their fury being once entred that as they got in scatteringly so they hasted towards the town without gathering any strong and orderly body of men as in such case is requisite or once endeavouring to open the gate for more convenient entry for the rest of the troops I therefore foreseeing what might ensue of this confusion held the third body of the men together and with much adoe brake open the gate by which I entred the town and so keeping the way that leads from the gate towards the town joyned to my foot those men I met withall scattered here and there Not farre from the Market-place I found my Lord of Essex at a stand with fourty or fifty men whence I might see some few of the enemy in the Market-place which made me advance towards them without attending any commandment who upon my approaching retired themselves into the Town-house whither I pursued them broke open the gates and after good resistance made by the Spaniards in the upper rooms of the house became Master of it in which I left a guard and went down into the Market-place and found my Lord of Essex at the Town-house-door I humbly intreated his Lordship to make that place good and give me leave to scoure and assure the rest of the town which I did accordingly And though I was but slackly and slenderly followed by reason of our mens greedinesse of spoil yet such Spaniards as I found making head and coming towards the Market-place I drove back into the Fort Saint Philip and the Abby of Saint Francis Those of the Abby yielded to the number of two hundred Gentlemen and others and being disarmed were put into a Chapel and there left guarded Those of Saint Philip it being now in the evening cryed to us that in the morning they would render the place Before which also having put a guard and understanding by some prisoners that there was no other place of any strength but the old town near the Market-place I repaired to my Lord of Essex whom I found in the Market-place and my Lord Admirall with him And after I had made report on what terms things stood where I had been I went to the said old town to visit the guards which were commanded by Sir Edward Conway with part of the forces landed with my Lord Admirall and from thence to that part of the town where we entred And thus all things in good assurance returned to the market-place where the rest of the forces were being held together to be readily imployed upon all occasions Their Lordships went up to the Town-house and there gave God thanks for the victory and afterwards all wounded and bloudy as he was yet undressed gave the honour of Knighthood to Sir Samuel Bagnall for his especiall merit and valour in that dayes service The losse was not very great on either side for as the Spanish troops that stood ordered without the walls got into the town confusedly and disorderly before we could mingle with them so every one as he was counselled by fear or courage provided for his own safety the most flying to the old town and Castle Those that made head after the first entrance being scattered here and there our men as they followed with more courage then order so encountered them in the like scattering manner falling streight to hand-strokes so as it seemed rather an inward tumult and town-fray then a fight of so mighty nations The next day the old town and the Fort of Saint Philip were delivered unto us and the people that were in them except some principall prisoners were suffered to depart with great courtesie shewed especially to the women of better sort There went out of the town Gentlemen and others likely men to bear arms betwixt four and five thousand the brunt of this exploit was born with lesse then a thousand men We could have no help of Sir Conniers Clifford who mistaking his directions went with his troops to the bridge called Punto Zuarro about three leagues distance And my Lord Admirall notwithstanding his Lordsh. used all possible diligence in the landing his men arrived not till we were in a manner full Masters of the town It was long disputed whether the town should be held or no. I offered with four thousand men to defend it till her Majesties pleasure might be known My Lord of Essex seemed to affect to remain there in person which the rest of the Council would not assent unto but rather to abandon and set it on fire
Michael I sent up to the steeple Sir William Constable and some other Gentlemen then about me to see what they could discern who all agreed that they saw troops and as they guessed some Ensignes I willed Sir William Constable to hasten to his Lordship and tell him what he had seen I had yet remaining with me about five hundred souldiers of these I sent out sixty whereof thirty shot were to go as covertly as they could to a Chapel a great musket-shot from the town on the way the enemy was discovered with order upon the enemies approach to give their volley and suddenly and in haste to retire to the other thirty that were placed half way betwixt them and the town and then all together in as much haste and shew of fear as they could to come to the town where I stood ready with the rest of the men in three troops to receive them and repulse and chase those that should follow them This order given my Lord of Essex with the Earl of Southampton and some other Lords and Gentlemen came to the Market-place where he found me with the troops His Lordship enquired of me what I had seen I said I had seen no enemy but what others had seen his Lordship had heard by their own report and might if it pleased his Lordship send to see if the sentinell continued to affirm the same His Lordship made no answer but called for Tobacco seeming to give but small credit to this alarm and so on horseback with those Noblemen and Gentlemen on foot beside him took Tobacco whilest I was telling his Lordship of the men I had sent forth and order I had given them Within some quarter of an hour we might hear a good round volley of shot betwixt the thirty men I had sent to the Chapel and the enemy which made his Lordship cast his pipe from him and listen to the shooting which continued I told his Lordship it were good to advance with the troops to that side of the town where the skirmish was to receive our men which his Lordship liked well and so went a good round pace expecting to encounter our men who unadvisedly in lieu of retiring in disorder maintained the place which the enemy perceiving and supposing some greater troop to be at hand to second held aloof with his main force for the high-way to the town lay by the Chapel and no other passage for a troop by reason of the strong fence and inclosure of the fields but sent out light men to skirmish Thus perceiving that our men held their ground we stayed our troops in covert in the end of two lanes leading directly to the high-way Those of the Island as we were certainly enformed could make three thousand fighting men well armed and appointed besides the ordinary Garrison of the Spaniards Of that number we supposed them because they had sufficient time to gather their strength together and for that they came to seek us and therefore as on the one side we were loth to discover our small number to them unlesse they provoked us by some notable disorder or necessity in the defence of our selves so we thought it not good to lessen our men by imbarquing of men till the night was come that silence and darknesse might cover our retreat And for these reasons I opposed their heat that propounded to charge the enemy and their haste that would needs have the men shipped without delay In the beginning of the evening which ended the skirmish keeping our sentinels in the view of the enemy his Lordship began to imbarque some troops and so continued till about midnight that the last troop was put into the boat his Lordship seeing all imbarqued before he went aboard but those forelorn men which made the last retreat which were committed to Sir Charles Percy with whom I imbarqued without any impeachment of the enemy or shew to have discovered our departure His Lordship made the young Noblemen and some other principall Gentlemen Knights as Sir William Evers Sir Henry Dockwray Sir William Brown and a Dutch Gentleman that accompanied me that voiage in my ship We were no sooner aboard but that the wind blew a stiff gale so as some were fain to forsake their anchors and with this wind we put for England which continuing vehement drave us to the leeward of our course towards the coast of Ireland I got in my ship an extream leak which kept both my pumps going without intermission many dayes and nights before I got to harbour wherewith my company were much wearied and discouraged even to despair which made me keep aloof from the other ships lest the hope of their own safety might make them neglect that of the ship The fleet kept no order at all but every ship made the best haste home they could which as it might have proved dangerous if the Spanish fleet which was then bound for our coast had not been scattered by the same weather so it was in some sort profitable to us for some of our smaller shipping which were driven most leeward toward the coast of Ireland met with two or three of the Spanish ships full of souldiers which they took by which we not onely understood at our coming to Plymmouth their purpose to have landed at Falmouth with ten thousand men but saw the instructions and orders of the sea-fights if they had met with us which was so full of perfection that I have ever since redoubted their sufficiency in sea Cases The fleet arriving thus weather-beaten at Plymmouth his Lordship posted to the Court leaving my Lord Thomas now Earl of Suffolk my Lord Mountjoy and the rest of the Officers there and shortly came provision of monie with Commission to the said Lords Sir Walter Raleigh and my self to see the same issued and distributed by common advise for the repairing victualling and sending about the fleet to Chattham and entertaining of the thousand men I had brought out of the Low-countreys which were then disposed along the coast of Cornwall and after sent into Ireland Which businesse dispatched I passed by post to London and near Mary-bone-parke I met with Sir William Russell in his coach who being my honourable friend then newly returned from Ireland where he had been Deputy I lighted to salute him with much duty and affection who stepping out of his coach received me with the like favour with whom whilest I stood bare-headed being in a sweat I got cold which held me so extreamly that for three weeks after I could not stirre out of my lodging I understood my Lord of Essex was at his house at Wanstead in great discontentment to whose Lordship I gave presently knowledge of my arrivall as also that I would forbear to attend his Lordship til I had been at Court which then I hoped would have been sooner then it fell out my sicknesse would permit For I supposed at my coming to Court her Majesty after her most gracious
charge and who were Competitours to succeed me he plainly said that he had given my Lord Sidney his promise to procure him a Regiment in the States service I answered that the command of the Nation belonged to me by Commission that there was as little reason for my Lord to be under my authority as for me to yield my authority to him that in respect of his Government he was as uncapable of that charge as my self By this again I found his Lordships care to hold me back notwithstanding my Lord Sidney had soon made an end of his suit But my Lord Gray stuck longer to it and was earnester insomuch as there passed speeches in heat betwixt him and me and yet in the end such was the favour of the Prince that I enjoyed both the one and the other charge In the same year one thousand five hundred ninety seven about the latter end of September I passed into the Low-countreys took and gave the oaths that are usuall betwixt those of Holland the Governour and Townsmen of the Briell and so was established in that Government The action at TVRNHOVLT THat winter one thousand five hundred ninety and seven the enemy lying at Turnhoult an open village with four thousand foot and six hundred horse one day amongst other speeches I said to Mounsieur Barnevelt that they did but tempt us to beat them which it seemeth he marked for shortly after the States resolved to make an attempt on them and gave order to the Count Maurice to that end to gather his forces together which at one instant shipped from their severall garrisons arrived with great secresie at Gertrudenberg in all to the number of six thousand foot and one thousand horse whereof some two hundred came from Flushing with Sr Robert Sidney which troop because he desired should march with the rest of the English in the love and respect I professed and truly bare to him I made offer to him to command one of the two troops the English forces were then divided into which he refused not THE ACTION NEAR TVRNHOVLT The night was very cold insomuch as the Count Maurice himself going up and down the quarter with straw and such other blazing stuff made fires in some places with his own hands by the corps-du-guard Sir Robert Sidney and I got us into a barn thronged with souldiers to rest because there was no sleeping by the Count Maurice who was disposed to watch whence I was also called to attend him In the morning we set forward and by break of day came within a faulcon-shot of Turnhoult where the troops were put in battel whence sending some light horse towards the town to discover word was brought that the enemy had caused his baggage to march all night and that now the rereward of their troops were going out of the town whereupon the Count Maurice caused our vanguard to advance to the town with which he marched By that time we were come to the town the enemy was clear gone out of it and some musket-shot off on the way to Herentalls beyond a narrow bridge over which one man could onely go in front they made a stand with some of their men and galled our scouts which followed on the track The Count Maurice made a halt half way betwixt the bridge and the town where I offered to beat the enemy from this passage if he would give me some men alleadging that this was onely a shew of the enemy to amuse us whilest he withdrew the body of his forces and therefore this required a speedy execution Hereupon he appointed me two hundred muskettiers of his own guard and the other Dutch companies with Officers to receive my commandments saying that he would second me according as occasion should serve with which I went directly towards this bridge near which I found the Count Hollock who that journey commanded the horse He told me of an easier passage over that water and offered me guides but the distance agreed not with the necessity of the haste and therefore I excused my self of altering my way which he took in very ill part insomuch as not long after he wrote unto me a letter of expostulation as if I had failed in the acknowledgment of his authority which he pretended by an ancient Commission to be Lieutenant-Generall of Holland and consequently of all the forces which I answered in good and fitting terms to his contentment And so placing my men in the best places of advantage to command the bridge I made them play at the enemy who soon forsook the bridge being so narrow as afore-said and of a good length I durst not adventure at the first to passe my men over it the rather for that the countrey on the other side was very thick of wood but after a little pause I thrust over some few foot and by a foard adjoyning though very deep and difficult I sent some few horse to discover vvhat the enemy did and causing mine own horse to be led through the said foard went my self over the bridge from which some half a harquebush-shot I found a small fort of pretty defence abandoned into which I put my footmen which were first passed and sent for the rest to come with all diligence In the mean time taking my horse I rode with some few officers and others after the enemy whom we soon espied some whiles marching otherwhile standing as if they had met with some impediment before them which we thought was caused by the number of their carriages The way they marched was through a lane of good breadth hemmed in with thick underwoods on both sides fit as I thought to cover the smalnesse of the number of my men Whereupon as also on the opinion the enemy might justly conceive that the rest of our troops followed at hand I took the boldnesse and assurance to follow them with those two hundred muskettiers which I put into the skirts of the vvood So as betvvixt them and the high-vvay in vvhich the enemy marched there vvas a vvell-grovvn hedge My self vvith about some fifteen or sixteen horsmen of mine ovvn follovvers and servants kept the high-vvay advancing tovvards the enemy giving in the mean time the Count Maurice advise vvhat I savv vvhat I did and vvhat an assured victory he had in his hands if he vvould advance the troops I vvas not gone tvvo musket-shot from this fort but some choice men of the enemy whom they had appointed to make the retreat discharged on us and our men again ansvvered them and pressing upon them put them nearer to their hindermost body of pikes under the favour of vvhich they and such as from time to time vvere sent to refresh them maintained skirmish vvith us When they marched I follovved vvhen they stood I stayed and standing or marching I kept within reach for the most part of their body of pikes so as I slew and galled many of them and in this manner held them play
had the succours of horse or the foot I called for come sooner to us wherein I will charge and accuse none but the messengers of their slacknesse An Account of the last charge at NEWPORT-battel by Sir John Ogle Sr. IOHN OGLE Lieutenant Colonel to Sr. Francis Vere In this retreat of ours there wanted no perswasions as well by Sir Francis Vere himself as some others to move our men to stand and turn for we saw a kinde of faintnesse and irresolution even in those that pursued us nearest And it is certain if we may call any thing certain whose effects we have not yet seen that if then we had turned and stood we had prevented that storm of fortune wherein we were after threatned at least we had saved many of our mens lives But such apprehensions of fear and amazement had laid hold of their spirits as no perswasion of reason could for that time get any place with them Sir Francis Vere with his troop formerly mentioned took his way towards the Cannons along the sands where he by his Chirurgeon they by their fellows might hope for succour I being faint and weary through heat and much stirring took some few with me and crossed into the downs there awhile to rest me till I should see how the succeeding events would teach me to dispose of my self either by direction or adventure I was no sooner come thither but I met with Captain Fairfax and young Mr. Gilbert who soon after was slain near unto us there we consulted what we should do but the time and place affording no long deliberation taught us to resolve that the best expedient for our safety was to endeavour the speedie increase of our little number which we had with us I think they were thirty men having brought which to a reasonable competency our further purpose was to give a charge when we should finde it most expedient that so with our honours we might put an end to those uncertainties the fortune of that day had to our judgements then thrown upon us It was not very long ere that our little body was multiplied to better then an hundred men for the loose and scattered begun of themselves without labour to rally unto us so much prevails union even in a little body for whilest to it the broken and disbanded ones do willingly offer themselves for safetie and protection they themselves by adding of strength to that body not onely increase the number thereof but do give and take the greater security to themselves and others We were all this while within lesse then musket-shot of a grosse of the enemy which stood in a hollow or bottom within the downs the hills about it giving good shelter against the drops of our shot for the showers of them as also of the enemies were spent and fallen before but neither were they so high nor so steep that they could forbid entry and commodions passage of charging either to our horse or foot This grosse had not many wanting of two thousand men in it and spying as it should seem our little handfull which at the first they might peradventure neglect or contemn in regard it was so small a number now begin to gather some bulk and strength thought it not unfit to prevent a further growth and to this end sent out an hundred and fifty men with colours closely and as covertly as they could along the skirt of the downs next the inland and South-ward with purpose to charge on the flank or back of us which they might very conveniently do as we then stood These men were advanced very nigh us ere we descried them when lo just upon the time of their discovery and our men ready to fall upon them comes Sir Horace Vere on horsback from the strand it should seem from the pursuit of the enemy whom the horse had scattered mentioned by his brother Sir Francis Vere and with a troop of some two hundred men marched along the downs towards us In this troop there were with him Captain Sutton his own Lieutenant-Colonell Lowel that commanded Sir Francis Vere's foot-company and some Lieutenants Morgan also came to us about the time that Fairfax and I joyned unto him and these were the officers that were afoot in the last charge The disbanded troops of the enemy seeing us strengthened with such supplies thought it their fittest course to hasten them the same way they came forth towards us Captain Fairfax and I would have charged but Sir Horace Vere willed us to joyne our troops with his and said we should go together and give one a good charge for all upon that great troop which we saw stood firm before us We had now with us our troops being joyned about some five ensignes amongst which was mine own which after was lost in the charge but recovered again by my officer The vigilant judicious eie of Prince Maurice his Excellency was it should seem upon our actions and motions all this while for as I have been enformed he seeing us make head said to those that stood about him Voyez Voyez Les Anglois qui tournent a la charge and thereupon gave present order to Dubois then Commissary-generall for the Cavallierie to advance some of the horse to be ready to attend and fortifie the events that might happen upon this growing charge This I have not of knowledge but from such hands as it were ill beseeming me or any man to question the credit of one of that ranke qualitie and reputation Our troop now the disbanded troop of the enemies marched both towards this grosse almost with equal pace saving that their haste was a little greater according to the proportion of their danger if they had fallen into our clutches being then much too strong for them ere they recovered the shelter of their own grosse yet such haste they could not make but that we were with them before they had wholly cast themselves into their friends arms who opening to receive them facilitated not a little of our charge the passage who then fell in pesle-mesle together amongst them Much about this time came in the horse namely the troops of Vere Cecill and Ball who rushing in with violence amongst them so confounded and amazed tâ—em that they were presently broken and disjoynted which being done the slaughter was great to them on their side as the execution easie to us on ours This rupture also of theirs was not a little furthered by the Archdukes own troop of Harquebusiers which having advanced somewhat before this grosse on the skirt which lay betwixt the inland and the higher downs was so encountered by Cecil and his troop who had as then received order by Dubois from his Excellency to charge that they were forced with confusion to seek succour amongst their foot Cecil following them in close at their backs Vere and Ball as I take it charged at the front by us having crossed into the downs from the sands and
North-side towards the sea It should seem that having broken and scattered the enemie who as Sir Francis Vere himself relateth were by them driven into the Downs and seeing Sir Horace Vere also to have taken his way thither they thought it perhaps convenient to hover thereabouts and to hold an eye upon ours and the enemies actions the rather because they might discern Sir Horace Vere now making a new head and so seeing us charge charged also with us which was not disagreeable to their first directions given and mentioned by Sir Francis Vere And this by all probable conjecture must also be the cause why Sir Francis Vere in his discourse maketh no mention of Sir Edward Cecil for he not having his direction from him to charge but from his Excellency as himself hath told me Sir Francis Vere being ignorant thereof and himself likewise not at the charge in person whereby he might take notice of any mans presence would not as appears expose himself to interpretations by making any further relation touching particulars then what might receive credit either from his own eyes or commandments This charge through the hand and favour of God gave us the day what followed is before already set down by that great and worthy Captain Sir Francis Vere CLement Edmonds that learned and judicious Remembrancer of the City of London in an observation of his on the sixth book of Cesars Commentary making it his designe to draw the exact effigies of a good General though he could not be far to seek for an exemplar while he had Cesar so nigh him yet found reason to borrow the best lineaments of his piece out of the actions of Sir Francis Vere And to say truth the whole picture there drawn is so like him that it does most lively represent him with at least a three-quarter-face which is more then the painter it seems could do And lest you should any longer doubt whether it be his picture you shall finde his very Motto expressed in it But because it casts so strong a reflection upon this battel of Newport without reference to which Sir Robert Naunton thought neither he nor his Noble Brother could be taken to the life I have thought good here to give the Reader a copie of it I Have already handled this practice of a pretended fear which the History doth so often recommend to our consideration and have shewed the inconvenience of over-light credulity leading such easie weeners to a disappointment of their hopes and consequently to the hazzard of their fortune I will now proceed to that which is further implied in this relation and respecteth the chiefest duty of a chief Commander and that is what specially is required of a Generall in the carriage and direction of a battel Concerning which point as there is nothing more materiall to the effecting of any businesse then opportunity of time conveniencie of place and an orderly disposition of the MEANS according to TIME Place so in question of encounter or waging battel the duty of a Leader may be included in these three circumstances Concerning the qualitie of the place as the chiefest and first respected in the choice of a judicious directour the whole scope of the Romane discipline from the time of their first Kings even to the last of their Emperours did alwayes aim at the advantage of place as a necessary help for the obtaining of victorie which I have already noted in the Helvetian action Yet forasmuch as the wisedome and experience of those times did deem it a circumstance of such importance give me leave once again to inforce the use thereof by these examples Habetis milites saith Labienus in this place quam petiistis facultatem hostem iniquo atque impedito loco tenetis praestate eandem nobis ducibus virtutem quam saepenumero Imperatori praestitistis Ye have fellow-souldiers that opportunitie which ye desired c. Whereby he cleareth himself of all imputation of ill direction as having performed the uttermost duty of a Commander and given such helps by the advantage of the place as are requisite to an easie victory leaving the rest to the execution of the souldiers Cesar at the losse he received at Dirrachium cleared himself to his souldiers in this sort Quod esset acceptum detrimenti cuivis potiùs quà m suae culpae debere tribui locum securum ad dimicandum dedisse c. The damage that was received was to be attributed to any body rather then him he had chosen them a safe place of fighting c. And as it followeth in the seventh Commentary being imbattelled upon the side of a hill right over against the army of the Galles which stood likewise in a readinesse to entertain the Romane valour he would not suffer his men to hazzard themselves in the passage of a bogge of fifty foot in breadth lying between both the armies but rather perswaded his souldiers disdaining the confrontment of the enemie to endure their contumely rather then to buy a victory with the danger of so many worthy men and patiently to attend some further opportunity Which passage of Cesar even in the said terms as it is there related was urged to good purpose by Sir Francis Vere in the year one thousand six hundred at a consultation before the battel of Newport For the army of the Netherlanders being possest of the Downs which are small swelling hils rising unevenly along the sea-shore upon the coast of Flanders and the enemy making a stand upon the sands at the foot of those hils and so cutting off the passage to Ostend it was disputed by the Commanders whether they should leave the Downs and go charge the enemy where he stood imbattelled upon the sands or attend him in the fastnesse of the Downs whereof they were possest The whole Council of war were earnestly bent to forsake the Downs and to hazzard the fight on equall terms as impatient that their passage and retreat to Ostend should be cut off But Sir Francis Vere well knowing how much it imported the businesse of that day to hold a place of such gain and advantage perswaded Count Maurice by many reasons and specially by this of Cesar which I last alledged not to forgo the help of the Downs but to expect the enemy in that place and so make use of that benefit upon the first encounter rather then to adventure the successe of the battel in worse terms in hope of clearing the passage and shewing also many probable conjectures that the enemie would not continue long in that gaze Wherein as his opinion then prevailed so all that were present were eye-witnesses both of the truth of his conjecture and the soundnesse of his judgement For the enemy within a while after coming on to charge the troops of the States was received with such a counterbuff from the hils and were violently beaten back in such rude manner as our men had the execution of them for the space of a
was to be subject to their Ordnance and the seege of the sea such that no shipping could lie there unbroken At my landing Monsieur Vandernood Governour gave me the keyes In the town I found about thirty companies of Netherlanders which made sixteen or seventeen hundred newly divided into two Regiments whereof Monsieur Vandernood had the one and Monsieur de Utenburgh had the other and my eight companies might make eight hundred men The enemy had thirty pieces of Cannon placed on the West-side the most within a harquebuse-shot of the town and six on the East-side with which they shot much into the town and did great harm to the buildings and men Their army judged at twelve thousand men The three parts on the West-side quartered near Albertus a great Cannon-shot from the town commanded by the Archduke himself The other part upon the top of the Downs on the East-side next the Geule Those of the town before my entrance had made a sally on the West-approaches from which they were repulsed with the losse of three hundred men slain and hurt The town to the land was well flanked and high rampierd but with a sandy and mouldred earth The old town supposed free from battery was rather strong against sudden attempts by Palisadoes and such helps then by rampier and flanks to abide the fury of the Ordnance and force of approach which notwithstanding was held the strongest part of the town as well for the reasons above-said as for that it was hemmed in on the one side with the Geule not passable and on the other with the haven which was passable onely some four hours in a tide The rest of the town besides the ditch which was broad and deep of water was environed with a royall counterscarp with ravelines of good capacity and defence against the Cannon covering all the bulwarks of all the town but that which they called the Peckell or East-bulwark which needed not that help as lying directly upon the Geule and not to be assailed by any approach Upon the South South-east and South-west of the town there is a plot of ground in the māner of an Island environed on the East-side with the Geule to the Southward with a chanel that runneth into the Geule from the said Geule directly Westward into the river that in former times passed through the old haven and now had his course in the furthest place from the town not in distance above a harquebuse-shot to the Westward by the old chanel of the said river by which it passed into the haven which was now separated from the ditch of the counterscarp by a low dam near the Poulder-bulwark This plot of ground covering the town from the said bulwark to the Spanish-bulwark which lieth upon the Geule had upon the South-west angle which is where the chanel from the Geule mingleth with that of the river to the haven a little redoubt open behinde and of no force to resist the Cannon To the Southward of this Poulder-bulwark the countrey is broken with many creeks not passable nor habitable for an army but by forced means in spring-tides for the most part overflown on the West-side the ground for a harquebuse-shot from the river that runneth due West from the said Poulder lay low and subject to the like overflowing at the spring-tides but all the waters more passable having fewer and shallower creeks From this bottom the ground towards the Downs goeth higher Betwixt these West-Downs which near the town are more low and levell then the East and the Porc-espic which is a raveline in the counterscarp that closeth the new town on that side by which the old haven passeth into the town there lyeth a Down on which the haven beateth on the one side and the water of the ditch of the counterscarp on the other being the onely place about that town by which an approach might be made on firm ground to the wall of the town and therefore was held the most weak and dangerous place But the cutting of the foresaid Damme and letting the sea-water into the ditch of the counterscarp was held a sure and sufficient means to prevent the enemy on that side so as indeed nothing was so much to be doubted as the enemies passing into this piece of ground before mentioned called the Poulder by which means he might notwithstanding our best endeavour in short time drain the ditches of the counterscarp and the town-ditch and so make his way to the rampier My first care therefore was to fortifie and secure the said Poulder against the enemy and to make a safe place for our shipping to unlade such provisions and commodities as from time to time should be brought unto us which I readily and easily performed by opening a passage in the counterscarp near the West Poulder of the Spanish-raveline by which means the water from the Geule flowed into the town-ditch in which with their masts stricken down I have often seen above one hundred vessels lie safe from the annoyance of the enemies great shot which haven through the entry grew more dangerous by the enemies approaches which in processe of time they with much cost labour and art advanced for it lay within the high water-mark on which they raised new batteries and was used during the siege as the better in-let Albeit after to avoid the great harm the enemy did to our shipping at their going out I made another cut betwixt the East-raveline and the mount called the Moses-table looking Northward and directly into the sea which served the turn and saved many ships When my twelve companies which I expected from Bergh were arrived I began one night to entrench a piece of ground higher and firmer then the rest about it lying nearer to the low Damme before mentioned which separated the river that by the old chanel had passed into the haven from the ditch of the counterscarp which piece of ground stretched out in the form of a Geometrical oblique or oblong towards the West had a watered ditch such as in those parts they use for inclosures and the whole plot of continent sufficient to receive eight or nine hundred men This field I entrenched taking the water-ditch to advantage without giving it any other form usuall in fortifications so as for the form and seat it was called the West-square because the Westermost face of it was well flanked from the West-bulwark and the West-raveline and the face South-west from the angle of the Poulder where the chanel of the Geule and the chanel of the old haven meet but chiefly to hold as much room as I could For I expecting large numbers of men doubted more I should want means in that town hemmed in with so many waters and ditches to sally and use them abroad as occasion should require for which purpose this place served fitly then bodies to guard that which I intrenched The morning after I had begun this work the enemy turned diverse pieces from
the top of the Downs upon it which notwithstanding my best industry did much hurt amongst my men till the work was raised and thickened This plot put in reasonable defence and part of the supplies of the men granted by her Majestie now arrived I began to cast up a redoubt upon the like piece of ground for firmnesse but not fully half so big as the former lying about half a harquebuse-shot Southwest from the angle of the Poulder close to the river that passeth from the said angle Westward which served well to covert the Poulder on that side and to flank the West-face and South-flank of the West-square The Poulder thus assured from sudden attempts I began to raise in the said Poulder a rampier to resist the Cannon on the in-side of the old chanel from the ditch of the Poulder-ravelin of the counterscarp to the angle aforesaid of the Poulder which broad-wayes lay due West and end-ways North and South and the redoubt upon the said angle I raised of a good height Cannon-proof in the form of a Cavallier to command over the said rampier of the Poulder All this while the enemy lying still without making any approaches or intrenchments or attempting to hinder my works otherwise then by his Cannon-shot of which he was no niggard Having as I supposed in this manner well provided for the safe defence of that quarter I was desirous to draw some of the enemies from the sand-hils to dwell by us in that low watery ground to the South-west and South of the river that runneth from the West to the Poulder which I knew would cause great expence great labour and much losse and consumption of men on which besides the plots of ground I had taken no trench nor approach nor lodging could be had but such as was forced onely about a harquebuse-shot Westward from my redoubt on that side and upon the same river was a pretty round height of ground on which sometimes they of the town of Ostend had held a redoubt to the South-west South environed with a plashie moor into which by the creeks the water flowed so as the greatest part of the tide it was not passable From this plot of ground I could discover the back of their approaches on the Downs and from it with Cannon could annoy them as wel there as in their shipping and boats by which their army was supplied from Bruges and other ports of the countrey If they suffered me to take this height and fortifie it I had gotten two speciall advantages the annoying of them and the securing of my works on that side which after I might have maintained with fewer men if I were impeached by their sudden planting of Ordnance and batteries I knew they would possesse the ground and piece-meal engage themselves more and more in those drownd lands which was the other of my drifts This piece of ground to move and provoke them the more upon St. Iacques day being the Saint the Spaniards as their Patrone do most superstitiously reverence in the forenoone I first sent as it were to view and discover and anon after I sent for men and set them on work and drew down in a readinesse under the favour of my outermost redoubt two hundred souldiers to make head if the enemy came down to the other side of the river to hinder my workmen with his shot The enemy no sooner perceived my men to work but he turned certain pieces of Ordnance upon them from the Downs and shot at us as did also those of the fort of Grootendorst But being farre of the plot small and the men observing the shot bowing their bodies in the hollownesse of the old trench did little harm Their foot-men in a great rage as it seemed to me of themselves kindled with zeal without direction or order from their Chiefs came down towards the river side amain not armed men in battel and troops but shot scatteringly as every one could first and readiliest take his furniture others with faggots in their hands whereof they had store in their approaches began here and there in confused manner to raise a trench from the Downs to the river for other trench and covert they had none so as they were a fair marke for our artillery from the town and our muskettiers from the West-square and the South-west redoubt which spared no powder Besides the two hundred muskettiers I had placed with me under the favour of smal banks on the edge of the river held them back when they came nearer hand so as after much shooting and hurt done the most of the day being spent they gave over molesting us And that night I put the place into so good defence against the attempts of handy-strokes that I left a guard in it and workmen to add more strength to it In the morning betimes the enemy began to batter it with two Cannons which the same night they had planted on a little height of ground on the other side of the plash directly West and about the fourth part of the way to their fort called Grootendorst from whence they also shot with a couple of demiculvering and thus they continued the whole day insomuch as our new work to them-ward was laid flat and our men forced for safeguard to make hollow trenches in the said redoubt About an hour before sun-set troops were seen to march from Albertus towards Grootendorst which I gathered was to make an attempt upon the said redoubt in the beginning of the evening before the breach could be repaired for which purpose the water being ebbed the time served very fitly I saw by their earnest proceeding that there was no striving to keep and maintain that plot and therefore resolved to give way but so as I would seem to be forced from the place And therefore as I did set men on work in the beginning of the evening to repair the breach to have confirmed the enemy if he had forborn his attempt that night in the opinion that I would maintain the place so I gave order to the Officer I left in it with some eighty men to hold good watch on the side of the plash if the enemy attempted to passe to shew himself on the brink of the said-plash with his shot and discharge upon them leaving his pikes by the fort with order if they advanced to make his retreat to the South-west redoubt and there to hold good Which directions were not well observed for the Officer forthwith when he had sight of the enemies approach which was about two houres within night leaving his pikes in the redoubt he with the shot made for the plash-side and discharged at the enemy who being strong in number and resolved continued their way the Officer still retiring hard to the redoubt and skirmishing with him as if his purpose had been rather to have drawn the enemy into some danger then to save himself and his troop by a timely retreat Which is