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<DATE>2012-11-26</DATE>
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<NAME>John Pas</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B121012.pdcc.</ITEM>
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<STC T="T">E284_11</STC>
<BIBNO T="umi">99860862</BIBNO>
<VID>112988</VID>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>A GREAT VICTORIE OBTAINED Again&s;t the Enemy, at the rai&s;ing of the Siege from before TAUNTON, on Sunday la&s;t, May 11.</P>
<P>WITH The manner of the &s;everall Fights; and what was lo&s;t on both &s;ides: How the Enemy di&s;per|&s;ed them&s;elves, 20. Colonels, Majors and Captains &s;lain, and 300. common Souldiers in the &s;iege, and many wounded.</P>
<P><HI>Certified by two Letters: the one from Colonell</HI> Weldens <HI>Quarters, to Sir</HI> Thomas Fairfax <HI>his Quarters, and the other from Sir</HI> Thomas Fairfax <HI>his Quarters, to a per&s;on of note with the Parliament.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Publi&s;hed according to Order.</HI></P>
<P>With a Letter of thanks to be &s;ent to Sir <HI>Thomas Fairfax</HI> for his care, and another to Colonell <HI>Welden,</HI> &amp;c. for their good Service to the Publike.</P>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed for <HI>R. Au&s;tin.</HI> 1645.</P>
</DIV1>
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<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="letter">
<PB REF="2">
<PB N="1" REF="2">
<HEAD>The Copie of a Letter, &s;ent from Petmi&s;ter, from our quarters there, to Sir <HI>Thomas Fairfax</HI> his Army, which was then at Whit|church, about <HI>12.</HI> miles from Newbery.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>SIR,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>_BY this inclo&s;ed Copie you may under&s;tand the happy newes of the reliefe of Taunton, with that part of our Army which Sir <HI>Thomas Fairfax</HI> &s;ent thither. And we (which were another party of the Army with Sir <HI>Thomas Fairfax</HI>) are come back to Whitchurch, which is our Head-Quarters. This night wee heare, that <HI>Goring</HI> is upon his march; &s;ome of his Forces are al|ready at Bath, and is him&s;elfe upon his march after with his Ar|my &s;peeding We&s;tward.</P>
<CLOSER><DATELINE>Whitchurch, <DATE>13. May. 1645.</DATE></DATELINE></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="letters">
<HEAD>Here followeth the collection of the Letters inclo&s;ed, which were &s;ent from Petmi&s;ter to Sir <HI>Thomas Fairfax</HI> his Quarters, and deli|vered at Whitchurch.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Honourable Sir,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>BLe&s;&s;ed be name of God, who hath given to us this cau&s;e of joy, which may come unexpected to you, and indeed all good people have cau&s;e to rejoyce, that we have &s;uch happy newes to write to you, which makes me &s;alute you with the&s;e joyfull (though rude) lines.</P>
<PB N="2" REF="3">
<P>On Thur&s;day the 8.th of this pre&s;ent May, we marched from our quar|ters neer Blanford towards Taunton, but the &s;ouldiers being incouraged by our Officers, were &s;o earne&s;t upon their march, (though many of then had &s;carce &s;hooes with any &s;oales for them to tread upon) for the reliefe of poore Taunton, that they were ready to advance early in the morning, and having &s;ome additionall forces to come from the Countrey, &s;o doubled the courage of our men, expre&s;&s;ing great joy at the hearing of their com|ing; wee quartered that night between Birdport and Bemi&s;ter, our &s;trength being then in all about 6000. Hor&s;e and Foot, we called a Coun|&s;ell of Warre about ordering our bu&s;ine&s;&s;e in falling upon the enemy, being re&s;olved if they &s;tayed till we came up, to fight with them, &s;ome di&s;putes there was whether Col. <HI>Graves</HI> commands of the hor&s;e, or Col. <HI>Welden</HI> of foot &s;hould have the guide of the bu&s;ine&s;&s;e, &s;ome delivered their opin|ions for the one, &s;ome for the other, but laying all &s;elf-ends a&s;ide, they be|ing re&s;olved that the worke &s;hould not be neglected not regarding who had precedency, &s;o it was effected, the next morning early they were again upon their march.</P>
<P>On Friday the 9.th of May, we marched by Pelli&s;den Pen, and Bur<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">oeke, and &s;o on towards Chard, which is about 10. miles from Taunton, where we had an intent to quarter that night, and about 3. or 4. houres before night after that we had pa&s;&s;ed Ford, and were come over the bridge, and &s;o upon our march, never di&s;overing one Scout of theirs all the way, untill we came neere Winchan in Kingsbury Hundred within 3. miles of Chard, where we received notice that the enemy were &s;till before Taunton, and that the town was much &s;traitened by them, and in great danger to be lo&s;t, if we did not &s;peedily relieve them; &s;o we marched on, and quartered at Chard that night, no enemy all this while appearing to us.</P>
<P>On Saturday May the 10:th the enemy faced us with a &s;mall party of hor&s;e, not above 300. in &s;ight, others between them and Taunton, a|cting what they could to hinder our going on, we drew out upon them,
<PB N="3" REF="3">and made them to retreat, but by rea&s;on of the Inlands they by con&s;tant oppo&s;ition, did &s;o trouble us that they hoped to out-vapour our intents, but were deceived; we drove them back by &s;everall charges upon them, all the way between Chard and Petmi&s;ter, which is about 3. miles &s;hort of Taunton in the way of Wellington, on our march by parties charging each other, there were &s;ix pri&s;oners taken, and one killed of the enemies partie; and foure pri&s;oners taken, and one killed on our partie. The enemy continued facing of us &s;till, and the &s;iege was continued before Taunton, (as wee under&s;tood afterwards) but we went &s;till on, following, and driving them back, till w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> came betweene Trull and Orchard, within a mile of Taunton, and there we &s;hot off a warning-peece, to give them notice in the towne of our being there: but (it &s;eemes they had but little &s;tore of powder in the towne, for) there was no an&s;wer made to us. but night being come, we could not go any further with|out great danger: and therefore bettook our &s;elves to our quar|ters, &s;etting a &s;trong watch about us; and indeed wee re&s;ted but little that night; for all the Army generally thought i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> long till morning came, that they might be upon their work, all being re&s;olved to force the enemy to ri&s;e, or to fight with them. And then making inquiry into the &s;tate of the enemy, and what had been done that day, as al&s;o inquiring into their &s;trength, and ad|vi&s;ing how to manage the next dayes bu&s;ine&s;&s;e. There was de|clared unto us by tho&s;e that we had taken pri&s;oners, that they were confident that we would not have been &s;o &s;oon with them; but tooke our Army to be their friends, and that ours was <HI>Go|rings</HI> Army that was come up to &s;trengthen them, they won|dring why wee fought with them; &s;o for that night wee re&s;ted in our quarters at Pitmi&s;ter, Pounsford, and Trull, intending the next morning to fall upon the enemy, who (as wee heard) were about foure or five thou&s;and.</P>
<PB N="4" REF="4">
<P>On the next morning (which was the Lords Day, May it.) we drew our &s;elves into a po&s;ture to fight with the Enemy; but the enemy had &s;o blocked up the way with trees, timber, and o|ther combu&s;tible matter, that we could not pa&s;&s;e; &s;o that we were faine to make our way, which we did with what &s;peed could be; and when we came before the towne, the enemy was gone; and therefore in the next place I &s;hall certifie you further certifie you what is declared to me concerning the proceedings of the enemy before the towne, and how they now marched off from thence.</P>
<P>The enemy have made many a&s;&s;aults upon the town, and have been gallantly repul&s;ed: Colonell Blake the Gouernour, and di|vers other Officers, with the &s;ouldiers, having (during all the &s;iege) &s;hewed &s;o much gallantry in the defence thereof, that they were re&s;olved to fight it out in the defence of that place, while they had any power left to defend them&s;elves withall.</P>
<P>On Thur&s;day the eight of this pre&s;ent May the enemy had &s;tormed the town with great violence, but were gallantly repul|&s;ed, and divers were hurt and killed on both &s;ides: and although the town was in &s;o great di&s;tre&s;&s;e (and the enemy had taken a hou&s;e from them which commanded one of their Works) and that they were not certaine of &s;peedy reliefe, yet (tru&s;ting in God) they were re&s;olved &s;till to &s;tand out, notwith&s;tanding the enemy played hard upon them.</P>
<P>On Friday the enemy very de&s;perately &s;tormed the towne a|gaine, and were againe as valiantly repul&s;ed from the Garri&s;on, to the great lo&s;&s;e of the enemy. That which Colonell <HI>Blake</HI> mo&s;t wanted in the town (be&s;ides hor&s;e-meat) was match, where|by they were forced to burne their bed-cords in &s;tead of it. And they began to be &s;traitened of powder; they played upon them all this day, and got &s;o clo&s;e up to the towne, that they burne 20 hou&s;es; but could do no good of it for all that: the towne &s;till held out, and oppo&s;ed them.</P>
<PB N="5" REF="4">
<P>On Saturday the enemy was not &s;o furious, yet made &s;ome &s;hot again&s;t the towne againe; it is conceived that they &s;tayed in expectation of <HI>Gorings</HI> coming up to them; and that by their owne Scouts mi&s;taking, they took our Army for <HI>Gorings,</HI> as it &s;eemes they did when they met them at Chard; and &s;o lay &s;till till <HI>Goring</HI> came to them.</P>
<P>On the Lords day they did not much trouble the towne, by rea&s;on of our mens coming upon them, which found them work enough for that day: and in the night the enemy drew off their Cannon, and rai&s;ed the &s;iege, taking the opportunitie of the night to fly by; and they divided them&s;elves &s;everall wayes, one part went towards Wellington, in the way to Exeter, and the other towards Bridgewater, marching away very di&s;orderly, we have made &s;ome charges upon &s;everall parties in their Reare, and killed and taken &s;ome: but by rea&s;on of the in-land coun|trey, and mo&s;t of all for the great need that Taunton &s;tands in of pre&s;ent releefe; as al&s;o, for that the Souldiers have marched them&s;elves almo&s;t off of their legs, they could not without great prejudice (many wayes) de&s;ert the carrying in of releefe &s;peedily into Taunton, to follow the enemy. It is beleeved, that the enemy will be &s;uddenly on our skirts, and &s;hould the&s;e Forces be drawne away, they would &s;oone lay &s;iege before the towne againe, e&s;pecially when <HI>Goring</HI> is come up to them.</P>
<P>There are in Taunton about 200 wounded men, and about 50 (I heare) have been &s;laine during this &s;iege: Colonell <HI>Blake</HI> is very well, and there hath not many Officers been lo&s;t: what the particulars are of the enemies lo&s;&s;es, wee cannot certainly learne for the pre&s;ent; but there is much lamentation on their part, for the lo&s;&s;e of divers gallant men, that were of the Kings be&s;t Souldiers; they have had many Colonels, Majors, and Captaines, and other Officers of note, at the lea&s;t 20 &s;laine: and it is beleeved, that at lea&s;t two or three hundred men have beene
<PB N="6" REF="5">killed of theirs: and they have abundance of wounded men. They have had many notorious Iri&s;h Rebels there, but &s;till they having the buriall of their owne dead, wee &s;hall &s;carce have all the particulars of their lo&s;&s;e. But ble&s;&s;ed be the Lord, that hath given to us the victorie again&s;t tho&s;e bloudy Papi&s;ts, and wic-Incendiaries, that care not what mi&s;chiefe they do among&s;t ho|ne&s;t godly Prote&s;tants.</P>
<P>It is beleeved, if the Army continue in tho&s;e parts, that there will be a good addition of the Countrey-men, who are very much enraged again&s;t the enemy, by rea&s;on of their cruell and barbarous carriage towards them.</P>
<CLOSER><DATELINE>Dated at <HI>Pitmi&s;ter</HI> <DATE>May 12. 1645.</DATE></DATELINE>
<POSTSCRIPT>
<P>It is ordered by the Hou&s;e of Commons in Parliament, that a Letter of thanks be &s;ent to Sir <HI>Thomas Fairfax</HI> for his care, and another to Colonell <HI>Welden,</HI> Colonell <HI>Graves,</HI> and the re&s;t of the Officers and Souldiers, for their good &s;ervice in the re|leeving of Taunton.</P>
</POSTSCRIPT></CLOSER>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
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