I have just published a study of the formative years of Oliver Cromwell’s career, up until the end of the Great Civil War in 1646 when he was established as the leading cavalry commander of the victorious Long Parliament, and as such one of its main agents in the military victory over King Charles I. In selecting what might have been his finest hour in that period, it is easy to think first of the moments of triumph in his greatest battles, at Marston Moor or Naseby, when the charges of his horsemen decided the issue. I would however focus on an earlier and much smaller battle, at Winceby on 11 October 1643.

It was Cromwell’s first full-scale battle, and the first for a new regional parliamentarian army, based in East Anglia and commanded by the earl of Manchester, which had linked up with the cavalry from Parliament’s army of the north. The mission of the combined units was to regain Lincolnshire from the royalists who had conquered it in August, and so raise the siege of Parliament’s most important seaport on the north-eastern English coast, Hull. Cromwell was Manchester’s most distinguished horse officer, commanding his largest regiment and having led two successful charges in local actions during the summer. In practice, though not officially, he commanded the earl’s cavalry, while the much more famous Sir Thomas Fairfax led the northern horsemen. The plan was to besiege a royalist fortress in Lincolnshire and so tempt the local royalists to come to its aid, so enabling Manchester, Fairfax and Cromwell to break their strength in battle and lay open the county to reoccupation. The strongpoint chosen was the nearest in enemy hands, Bolingbroke Castle, on the edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds, and this was duly invested on 10 October.

Sir Thomas Fairfax

The plan worked almost too well, because the royalists struck faster and harder than expected, attacking that very night and taking Manchester’s cavalry by surprise in its quarters. Cromwell and the earl managed to rally and retrieve most, but in the morning Oliver advised against fighting again as his men were worn out. He was overruled, and Manchester ordered his army to advance, with the cavalry half a mile ahead of the foot soldiers to locate the enemy. Once more the royalists appeared with unexpected speed, and they launched themselves onto the opposing horsemen to destroy them before their supporting infantry could arrive, in the large open fields of the village of Winceby. Cromwell was leading the advance guard, and so bore the brunt of the attack. He saw the royalist skirmishers, the dragoons, dismount and fire a volley at his men to soften them up, and impetuously led a charge down on them before they could reload. He underestimated them, for they got off a second round at close range before he could close them down. His horse was shot dead under him, his men thrown into confusion, and at that moment the main front line of enemy horsemen rode in to kill him and rout his troopers. He himself was knocked flat. It should have been the end of Cromwell’s story.

That it was not was due to the remarkable discipline and loyalty he had instilled into his regiment. They rallied to rescue and remount him, and held their ground unflinchingly, fighting their attackers to a standstill and pinning down the whole body of cavalry until Fairfax could lead his northern horsemen round into a flank attack. This broke the royalists, who began to turn and flee, leaving their own foot soldiers and dragoons to be cut down. The defeated riders were chased for miles, and many killed or captured, leaving the lanes strewn with their bodies. It was a striking victory at a time when Parliament desperately needed one, freeing Hull from siege and delivering Lincolnshire, including Lincoln itself, back to parliamentarian keeping. The effect on Cromwell and his troopers must have been even more sensational: at a moment when all the tactical circumstances of warfare should have ensured their defeat and his death, they had proved capable of turning them round and emerging victorious. Their self-confidence, the bonds between them, and (as deeply religious evangelical Christians) their sense of a special mission from God, would all have been greatly enhanced. It was a natural step from that to the famous victories which, with numbers and ground now firmly on their side, they would achieve in the years to come.

Ronald Hutton is the author of The Making of Oliver Cromwell, published by Yale University Press.

Aspects of History Issue 4 is out now.