Marston Moor order of battle

This is the order of battle of the armies which fought on 2 July 1644 at the Battle of Marston Moor.

Scots and Parliamentarians

Scottish Army of the Solemn League and Covenant

(2000 Horse, 500 Dragoons, 11000 Foot, 30 - 40 guns)

General Earl of Leven

Lieutenant General of the Horse Sir David Leslie

Right Wing

Earl of Leven's Regiment (Lieutenant Colonel Lord Balgonie 8 troops)

Earl of Dalhousie's Regiment (7 troops)

Earl of Eglinton's Regiment (7 troops)

Left Wing

Lieutenant-General Leslie's Regiment (8 troops)

Earl of Balcarres's Regiment (8 troops)

Lord Kirkcudbright's Regiment (8 troops)

Dragoons

Colonel Hugh Fraser's Regiment (6 companies)

Lieutenant General of the Foot William Baillie

Sergeant Major General of the Foot Sir James Lumsden

The Scottish regiments of foot were brigaded in pairs. Unless stated, each regiment had 10 companies.

Van

Crawford-Lindsay's Fifeshire Regiment (Earl of Crawford-Lindsay)

The Midlothian Regiment (Viscount Maitland)

The Clydesdale Regiment (Lieutenant-General Hamilton)

The Edinburgh Regiment (Colonel James Rae)

Main Battle

The Loudon-Glasgow Regiment (Earl of Loudon)

The Tweeddale Regiment (Earl of Buccleugh)

The Kyle and Carrick Regiment (Earl of Cassillis)

The Nithsdale and Annandale Regiment (William Douglas of Kilhead)

Dunfermline's Fifeshire Regiment (Earl of Dunfermline)

The Strathearn Regiment (Loud Coupar)

The Stirlingshire Regiment (Lord Livingstone)

The Linlithgow and Tweeddale Regiment (The Master of Yester)

Rear (conjectured)

The Angus Regiment (Viscount Dudhope)

The Minister's Regiment (Sir Arthur Erskine of Scotscraig: 5 companies present)

The Levied Regiment (Lord Sinclair: unbrigaded, 7 companies present)

General of the Ordnance Sir Alexander Hamilton

not all the guns listed below would have been present at the battle

8 brass demi-cannons

1 brass culverin

3 brass quarter-cannons

9 iron demi-culverins

48 brass demi-culverins

Almost all the senior officers of the Scottish army had experience in the Thirty Years' War, but most of the ordinary soldiers were quite young and inexperienced. The cavalry used smaller and lighter mounts than English units, which meant they had to be placed in the rear of Cromwell's and Fairfax's horse.

Parliamentarian Army of the Eastern Association

(3000 Horse, 4000 Foot)

Captain General Earl of Manchester

Lieutenant General of the Horse Oliver Cromwell

Commissary General Bartholomew Vermuyden

Earl of Manchester's Regiment (Lieutenant Colonel Algernon Sidney: 11 troops)

Lieutenant General Cromwell's Regiment (Lieutenant Colonel Edward Whalley: 14 troops)

Commissary General Bartholomew Vermuyden's Regiment (5 troops)

Charles Fleetwood's Regiment (6 troops)

Dragoons

Lieutenant Colonel John Lilburne

(Strength on the day of battle unknown. Manchester's dragoons had been defeated on 1 July at Poppleton.)

Sergeant-Major General of the Foot Lawrence Crawford

Earl of Manchester's Regiment (Lieutenant Colonel Clifton: 18 companies)

Major General Crawford's Regiment (Lieutenant Colonel William Hamilton: 8 companies)

Sir Miles Hobart's Regiment (9 companies)

Francis Russell's Regiment (10 companies)

Edward Montagu's Regiment (10 companies)

John Pickering's Regiment (10 companies)

(Russell's, Montagu's and Pickering's regiments were brigaded together. Some of these would have taken heavy casualties at a failed storming of York on 16 June)

This army, raised in the Eastern Counties of England, was probably the best trained and administered at Marston Moor. Although there were religious tensions within the army between the Independents, championed by Cromwell, and the Presbyterians who were backed by Manchester and Crawford, there was no argument on the day of battle.

Parliamentarian Army of the Northern Association

(2000 Horse, 2000 Foot)

General Lord Fairfax

Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Fairfax

Sergeant-Major General of the Horse John Lambert

Lord Fairfax's Regiment

Sir Thomas Fairfax's Regiment

Charles Fairfax's Regiment

Sir Hugh Bethell's Regiment

John Lambert's Regiment

Lionel Copley's Regiment

Francis Boynton's Regiment

Sir Thomas Norcliff's Regiment

George Dodding's Regiment

Sergeant-Major General of Foot (unknown)

Lord Fairfax's Regiment

John Bright's Regiment

Sir William Constable's Regiment

Francis Lascelles's Regiment

Robert Overton's Regiment

Ralph Ashton's Regiment

George Doddington's Regiment

Alexander Rigby's Regiment

The list of Colonels and regiments is probably incomplete. It is evident that most regiments were very weak. The troops present at Marston Moor had a high proportion of recent recruits.

Royalists

Main Royalist Army

(2500 Horse, 7750 Foot, 14 guns)

General Prince Rupert of the Rhine

Lieutenant General Lord Byron

Sergeant Major General of Horse Sir John Urry (changed sides shortly after the battle)

Prince Rupert's Lifeguard (140)

Prince Rupert's Regiment (500)

Lord Byron's Regiment

Colonel Marcus Trevor's Regiment

Sir John Urry's Regiment

Sir William Vaughan's Regiment (returned from Ireland)

(Byron's, Trevor's, Urry's and Vaughan's regiments of horse together totalled 1,100)

Lord Molyneaux's Regiment

Sir Thomas Tyldesley's Regiment

Thomas Leveson's Regiment

(Molyneaux's and Tyldesley's regiments were recently raised in Lancashire. Molyneaux's, Tyldesley's and Leveson's regiments of horse together totalled 800)

Sergeant-Major General of Foot Henry Tillier (captured)

Sir John Girlington's Regiment

Prince Rupert's Regiment

Lord Byron's Regiment

Henry Warren's Regiment

Sir Michael Erneley's Regiment

Richard Gibson's Regiment

(Warren's, Erneley's and Gibson's regiments had returned from Ireland in late 1643 or early 1644, and had suffered heavy losses at the Battle of Nantwich. Erneley's and Gibson's regiments were brigaded together)

Henry Tillier's Regiment

Robert Broughton's Regiment

(Tillier's and Broughton's regiments had returned from Ireland in early 1644).

Sir Thomas Tyldesley's Regiment

Edward Chisenall's Regiment

(Tyldesley's and Chisenall's regiments were recently raised in Lancashire).

Henry Cheator's Regiment (raised in Cumberland, joined Rupert's army at Skipton at the end of June)

14 assorted field guns

The hard core of this army was Rupert's own regiments of horse and foot, and a small army under Lord Byron from Cheshire and North Wales. To this had been added English regiments recently returned from Ireland, which were said to be full of Puritan sympathisers, and newly raised units from Lancashire, with other small contingents.

Contingent of "Northern Horse"

(3,500 Horse, 250 foot)

General of Horse George, Lord Goring

Lieutenant General Sir Charles Lucas (captured)

Commissary General George Porter (captured)

Newcastle's cavalry escaped from York shortly after the start of the siege and moved through Derbyshire to link up with Rupert near Bury in Lancashire. The "Northern Horse" already had a reputation for hard fighting but poor discipline. There were too many weak regiments of horse and commanders to list separately; also, it is not certain whether any given regiment was present at Marston Moor, or was elsewhere (with a force under Colonel Clavering, or in various garrisons). At Marston Moor, Newcastle's cavalry were organised as:

Sir Charles Lucas's Brigade (700)

Sir Richard Dacre's Brigade (800) (Dacre was mortally wounded during the battle)

Sir William Blakiston's Brigade (600)

Sir Edward Widdrington's Brigade (400)

Colonel Samuel Tuke's Regiment (200)

Colonel Francis Carnaby's Regiment (200)

Commissary-General George Porter's Troop (50)

Derbyshire contingent

When Goring marched to join Rupert in Lancashire, he picked up a contingent from Derbyshire en route.

John Frescheville's Regiment of Horse (240)

Rowland Eyre's Regiment of Horse (160)

Detachments from Frescheville's, Eyre's and John Millward's Regiments of Foot (220)

Garrison of York (part)

(number of horse unknown, 3,000 Foot)

General Marquess of Newcastle

Lieutenant General Lord Eythin

Sir Thomas Metham's "Troop of Gentleman Volunteers"

Sergeant-Major General Sir Francis Mackworth

As with Goring's horse, Newcastle's infantry were from too many weak regiments to list separately. On the battlefield they were formed into seven "divisions".

Newcastle's army was mostly raised in Northumberland and Durham and had already endured a siege of ten weeks, with some hard fighting. Three other regiments (of Sir Thomas Glemham, Sir John Belasyse and Sir Henry Slingsby), totalling 1000 men, were left to hold York.

References

• Young, Peter (1970). Marston Moor 1644: The Campaign and the Battle. Kineton: Roundwood. ISBN 1-900624-09-5.