Battle of Babylon Hill

Prelude

The day after the siege had been lifted, Hertford sent Hopton with around 350 men—150 horse (both cavalry and dragoons) and 200 foot soldiers—to scout the enemy's movements in Yeovil. On their approach to Yeovil, Hopton established himself on Babylon Hill, which he identified as a suitable location to watch the town, due to hedge-lined gullies which allowed his troops to climb the hill unobserved. Wary of attack, Hopton set musketeers and dragoons along the approaches to the summit, where he gathered his cavalry and remaining musketeers. Bedford had posted a guard, consisting of both infantry and artillery, on Yeovil Bridge, which spanned the River Yeo. Hopton's men had a good view of this guard and for over an hour his musketeers shot down at the guards with little effect.

Battle

As evening approached, Hopton consulted with his commanders and decided to retire to Sherborne for the night, and at 6:00 pm, around half an hour before sunset, began withdrawing the infantry while the cavalry and dragoons covered the rear. Before all of the infantry had left Babylon Hill a Royalist officer, Colonel Lawdy, spotted an enemy party approaching over the fields by "a secret way". Rather than climb the hill via the gullies which Hopton had defended, the Parliamentarians cut straight through the fields, avoiding Hopton's ambushes. According to a Parliamentarian account of the battle, the Royalists had set "six musketeers on each side the way to entertain us, but they missed us all". In his memoirs of the war, Hopton states that he had twenty musketeers guarding the right-hand gully, and all of his dragoons hidden in the hedges on the left-hand gully.

Hopton summoned the infantry back, and brought his cavalry into battle formation to face the approaching Parliamentarians. The historian Richard Brooks described the ensuing fight as "more muddle than battle". Hopton sent two troops to charge the approaching Parliamentarians, the first led by Captain Edward Stowell, and the second (Hopton's troop) by Captain Henry Moreton. According to Hopton, Stowell was successful in routing the approaching enemy, but his inexperienced cavalry was outnumbered and themselves routed, their flight causing panic and retreat among Moreton's men as well. The Parliamentarian account of the battle said that the first of their three cavalry troops to reach the Royalists was commanded by Captain Aiscogh, and it "charged one of the troops through and through, and charged the second, but then was glad to wheel about". The account records that when Captain Tomson's cavalry reached the fighting things got chaotic, which concurs with Hopton's recollection that "in very short time, all the horse on both sides were in confusion."

Another group of Parliamentarians had made it to the top of the hill by going up one of the gullies on the right of Hopton's forces, which had been left unguarded after the musketeers had been recalled: Hopton blamed Sir Thomas Lunsford, who commanded the infantry for "having forgotten to put a party of musketeers as before". In total, the Parliamentarians committed a similar number, around 350 men, to the fight as the Royalists. In a letter written by the prominent Royalist, Sir Edward Nicholas, he described how on reaching the summit, the Parliamentarian captain—a son of William Balfour, Parliament's lieutenant-general of horse—"rode out single from his troop brandishing his sword, as if he would dare somebody to combat with him". John Stowell rode to meet the challenge, and after Balfour shot his pistol from a distance, Stowell held his fire until he was close enough to be accurate; he shot Balfour in the chest and finished him off with his sword. Hopton's description of the incident differs slightly, suggesting that another Royalist soldier, James Colborne, shot Balfour with a fowling piece, simultaneous to Stowell's lone charge. In either case, Balfour was disabled and his troop routed. Royalist reports claimed that Balfour had been killed in the fight, but the Parliamentarian dispatch does not mention him, saying only that "all but one of the slain are of Captain Aiscogh's troop". In his account of the battle, the historian Robert Morris suggests that Balfour was only stunned, and was active in later engagements that year. Seizing upon the confusion, Hopton chose to withdraw his infantry again, "covered by a few gentlemen", and in the darkness, the entire Royalist detachment was able to make good their retreat.

As the Royalists made their way off the hill, Hopton records that they came across around 16 of the Parliamentarians who had earlier been routed. His men killed a few of the soldiers, but most were taken prisoner, and escorted by the Royalists back to Sherborne. It is difficult to ascertain the losses for either side; Royalist propaganda claimed that they had killed between 100 and 140 while only losing 16 men, a figure which included one officer who was taken prisoner. In contrast, the Parliamentarians suggested that only three of their men had died, and that as many as 60 of Hopton's soldiers had been killed. In his history of Somerset during the civil war, David Underdown suggests that the Parliamentarians lost five, and the Royalists around twenty. Another historian, Tim Goodwin, provides higher estimates, quoting losses of 15 or 16 for the Parliamentarians, and 50 to 60 for the Royalists. Among the Royalist losses were two infantry officers; Lieutenant Hall and Captain Hussey, the latter of whom was said to have gone into the battle "clad in plush".

Aftermath

As described by Hopton, the Earl of Bedford withdrew his army from Yeovil to Dorchester. The Royalist forces remained at Sherborne for almost two weeks after the battle, before learning that Portsmouth had been captured by the Parliamentarians. Hertford, against the advice of Hopton, decided to retreat to Minehead where they would escape by boat to Wales. The Royalists suffered heavy desertions during the long march through country predominantly sympathetic towards Parliament, during which they were chased by Bedford's army. At Minehead, they found that there were only two boats, and so Hertford sailed with the infantry and artillery to Wales, while Hopton and around 160 horse escaped through north Devon to Cornwall.

Both sides tried to claim victory in the propaganda war; on Parliament's side, a pamphlet entitled Happy newes from Sherborn said that "God cast upon the cavaliers a spirit of fearfulness, that they ran like mice into every hole." In contrast, Hopton said that after the battle "the enemy liked their bargain so ill, that they marched clear away from Yeovil". Brooks summarises the skirmish as "pretty much a draw", though he lists the Parliamentarians as winners, as does Stephen Manganiello in his encyclopedia of the war. The engagement was heartening to the Parliamentarians, showing that the Royalist cavalry could be beaten, and that their leaders were not infallible.