‘Is Cromwell there?’ Rupert asked a Parliamentary straggler who had been taken prisoner earlier that day. Cromwell was indeed present, with 2,500 cavalry, backed by a reserve of 800 Scots on Parliament’s left.

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Rupert had about 17,000 troops. On his right were some 2,600 cavalry under Maj. Gen. Sir John Urry (or Hurry), a many-times deserter from both sides. It is strange that on this vital day he was Rupert’s main cavalry commander, but he did his work professionally, interspersing blocks of 50 musketeers with the squadrons of horse. This was a popular Swedish idea, intended to break up an enemy charge before it came within sword-slashing range. Lord John Byron commanded the first line and Sir Richard Molyneux the second. There was no reserve, apart from Rupert’s personal guard of ‘Bluecoats.’In the Royalist center were Newcastle’s ‘Whitecoats,’ so-called because of their coats of undyed wool. These were the men who had borne the brunt of the fighting for York, and this day they would die by the thousand for a lost cause. On the left was Lord George Goring’s cavalry of some 2,000 to 3,000 troopers. Goring was a heavy drinker who did not get along with the other Royalist leaders, but at Marston Moor he would nearly win them the battle.

In the Parliamentary center were six infantry brigades in the first line, two each under Manchester and Lord Fairfax and another two of Scots under Lt. Gen. William Baillie. In the second line, all the infantry were Scots except for another of Manchester’s brigades. On the right were 2,000 to 3,000 cavalry under Sir Thomas Fairfax.

The Roundheads had about 23,000 men, according to recent research, not the 27,000 once reported. They certainly outnumbered the Royalists, but not so much that Rupert, being reinforced by the York garrison, was afraid to meet the enemy. The two armies were only about 400 yards apart, separated by a ditch and the track running from the village of Long Marston to Tockwith. Along the Parliamentary front were 25 cannons, which were more irritating than murderous. The most efficient artillery of the time was the large siege cannon, which was too cumbersome for battlefield use.

After the Roundheads had chanted their evening psalms, it was generally believed that there would be no fighting that day. The Parliamentary infantry stood in a field of wet rye. Just after 7 p.m., where was a rain shower, and Rupert went off to have his dinner. ‘We’ll charge them in the morning,’ he said to Newcastle, who retired to his coach to smoke a pipe. At 7:30 p.m., however, a thunderclap smote their ears and, as if on signal, Cromwell charged.

We do not know what Cromwell had said at a hurried conclave on Marston Hill a little earlier, but now the entire Roundhead army moved forward, ‘like unto so many thick clouds,’ as Manchester’s chaplain Simeon Ash put it. The Roundhead scoutmaster who was with Cromwell described the onrush of the left wing: ‘In a moment we were past the ditch into the moor, upon equal grounds with the enemy, our men going in a running march.’

From those descriptions it seems that Cromwell’s horse hit the Royalists in well-ordered squadrons. There was no sudden tearing through the enemy such as Rupert loved to do. By unified weight the Roundheads heaved back the Royalist right. Lord Byron did not help by advancing to meet the charge head-on and getting in the way of the musketeers.

As soon as he heard the sound of battle, Rupert leapt into the saddle and charged into the fray at the head of his reserve of Bluecoats. They fought furiously and punched back the crust of Cromwell’s cavalry. At about that time, Cromwell was slightly wounded in the neck and withdrew for some minutes to have the cut patched. Someone ordered up the Scottish reserve and Cromwell soon returned to urge it on in person. Suddenly, the Parliamentary weight prevailed, and Rupert’s horse was flying back along the road to York.

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