Honor Reclaimed (All About Honor) (38 page)

Chapter 20

A cool gray fog hung over the valley
hiding from view the remains of what had, only the eleven weeks previous, had
been a regal castle and one of the great aristocratic homes not only in Wales,
but
in the whole of the British Isles.
 
Raglan, the strong hold of one of the
king’s most ardent supporters, the Earl of Worcester, was virtually laid to
ruins by the Puritan forces in a siege that was to become one of the turning
points of the English Civil War.

The Earl, like the vast majority of
Welshmen, risked all he had, even his very life, in support of his monarch. It
was general knowledge that Worcester had invested as much as one million pounds
in the King’s cause, not even taking into consideration the vast expense of
maintaining a garrison at Raglan in order that he could hold and defend his
estate in the name of his King.
 
Never was a penny reimbursed to his estate, nor did he truly expect that
it would be.
 

Lord Charles Somerset, younger
brother of the Earl, had been left in charge of the castle while Lord Herbert
himself, as one of the King’s generals, was in the south of Wales with the
King’s army.
 
The Earl had taken
precautions prior to his departure in hopes of withstanding any assault that
might beset them.
 
Trees that might
provide cover for the enemy were chopped down.
 
Cottages that would be in the line of fire were burned to
the ground.
 
Many valuable items
were removed from the castle and sent to various other holdings belonging to
the Earl. A 500-yard battery was built to the northeast of the gatehouse while
the north, south and east sides were protected by a bastioned enceinte.

Despite all these precautions it was
obvious, to those less passionately involved, that the outcome of the proposed
siege had already been determined. The King’s cause had already been lost.
 
The end was clear.
 

Most of the other garrisoned
castles, with the exception of
Pendennis
, had already
surrendered to the inevitable; yet the Earl, a fanatical royalist, refused to
submit to the Parliamentarians.
 
In
fact, it had been boasted that, “Raglan and
Pendennis
,
like winter fruit, hung long on.”

John and his men had reported to the
castle in force four months ago.
 
They had settled in as much as the crowded conditions had allowed.
 
His men had been housed in the great
hall, as an officer he had been given quarters to share with a half dozen other
gentlemen officers.
 

 
They continued their drills, practicing the tactics of
forays, which could inflict causalities on the enemy in small but frequent
intervals.
 
They could not hope to
inflict causalities in large numbers, but with constant attacks they could hope
to inflict enough damage to weaken their numbers and perhaps make the prize
seem not worth the taking.

Lord Charles had seen that the
castle had been well provisioned.
 
Each troop of soldiers had brought with them as much in the ways of
provisions as they could without leaving their own families and estates in want
or need, but eventually those supplies would run out or would spoil.
 
In preparation, months worth of grain,
a small supply of livestock limited by the tight quarters, smoked, salt or
preserved meat were put into storage.
 
Additional grain was needed for the horses, pigs, cows and
chickens.
 
There was a well in one
of the courtyards, but it would really be strained to provide enough water to
meet the needs of the castle’s inhabitants, both two and four legged.
 
Weapons and ammunition had to be
protected and conserved because, while they were initially well equipped, the
supply was not endless.
 

         
John
anticipated that they could hold out at least three months without undue
hardship as they had taken precaution to the best of their abilities and
limited space.
 
Raglan was a large,
well appointed castle, but when you are housing at least eight hundred men,
close to two hundred head of horses, the normal residents of the castle and the
many servants who were their retainers, the space quickly became cramped and
limited.
 

The mote would prevent the enemy
from scaling the walls without sustaining tremendous causalities, but they
could not just sit and wait forever, eventually they would be starved out or
the traditional diseases of war such as dysentery, typhoid, and pneumonia would
run rampant killing enough of the defenders that the enemy could simply saunter
in the gates.

And so it was.
 
The siege was laid and Ragland’s
defenders committed.

They had been under attack for ten
weeks now and there seemed no recourse but eventual surrender.
 
They were bombarded daily with cannon
which made little impression on the immense six sided yellow tower the castle
was so well known for, but did do substantial damage to other areas of the
castle wall leading to significant deaths and injury.
 
Constant vigil was necessary to deflect an invasion through
the damage walls.

In addition to the damage, the
initial force sent to besiege them was made up of a force of about 1,500.
 
Recently the number had increased to at
least 3,500.
 
It was rumored in the
castle that the increase was most likely due to the fall of the city of
Oxford.
 
If this was true then the
war was virtually over and their efforts here were even more for naught.

Eirian had been right.
 
He had forfeited his life for a lost
cause, but he could have done no less.
 
It would be up to Sir Morgan, Galen and Thomas to see to his family, as
the entire garrison was sure to be put to the sword.
 
If they had surrendered early in the siege, they possibly
may have been afforded some concessions, but after a siege of almost eleven
weeks with substantial losses on both sides, there was little chance of that.

All of the senior officers were
being called into a meeting with Lord Charles to discuss the possibility of
surrender.
 
Having been recently
promoted to Colonel John would be expected to attend.
 
At least he would be in position to know what concession
could be arranged for his men who were common soldiers.
 
Perhaps they would be allowed to return
home on parole, or even to be transported for a period of indenture.
 
John was not sure death would not be
preferable to deportation to a hostile unknown country.
 

John reported as scheduled, and was
seated towards the back of the room according to seniority.
 
“Gentleman, I can offer no
assurances.
 
Lord Fairfax is
demanding an unconditional surrender.
 
Generally the troops are shown more mercy than the officers.
 
We could hold out for a week or maybe
two more, but the outcome will be the same.
 
Already our horses are suffering for want of proper feed,
soon it will be necessary to tighten our rations once again as well.”
 
He paused, looking around the room to
judge the reaction of his officers.
 
He half expected them to protest the thought of surrender, but was disappointed
to see only resignation on their faces.
 
“I managed to get a message out to my brother, Sir Herbert, and expect
his response anytime.
 
I feel we
must begin to prepare ourselves for the inevitable.”

They were dismissed with words of
caution not to discuss the matter with their men until word was received from
General Lord Herbert.
 
It was
unlikely that any of the officers would have taken their men into their
confidence at any rate.
 
It seemed
unnecessary to caution
them
as the picture of their future
was pretty clear and just as unsettling.

At last word arrived dispelling any
tiny remaining hope of relief.
 
They were to surrender.
 
General Lord Herbert, Earl of Worcester, had sent a message to General
Sir Thomas Fairfax that read, “So I submit myself and
yourself
to do what you think fitting.”
 
It
was an unconditional surrender.

Now his life and the lives of his
garrison were in jeopardy.
 
Would
they be forced to pay the ultimate price and face execution in punishment for
supporting the losing cause?

John had never felt in less control
of his own fate.
 
If he must die,
he prayed that he would be able to maintain his composure and face his death
honorably.
 
He desperately wished
that he could see his wife and children one more time, but he prayed for a
quick execution and he was glad that they would be spared the ordeal of dreaded
anticipation.

John stood huddled with his men
against the wall on that warm August day as Parliament’s troops poured in
through the gate into the Outward Court.
 
John could clearly see Lord Charles as he stood with his family at the
window of the great hall watching and waiting, as were the other occupants of
the castle, to see what fate awaited them.
 
Charles turned and kissed each member of his family before
leaving the hall to present himself and his sword of Fairfax.

Holding his sword in the flat of
both hands, Charles extended his arms out to Fairfax, “In hopes of preventing
further carnage, I unconditionally surrender this castle to your lordship on
behalf of Parliament’s forces.
 
I
request mercy for my garrison and ask pardon on their behalves.”

Fairfax accepted the sword and
directed Lord Charles to escort him to his office so that they might discuss
the fate of the garrison.

The members of the garrison, now
unarmed, remained against the wall huddled together speculating on their
fate.
 

It was with great relief an hour
later when Lord Fairfax emerged from the office wing to announce that the
common soldiers were to be released to return home and that they would be allowed
to retain their weapons if they would swear allegiance to Parliament never to
take up the sword against them again.
 
The men formed up in units and marched, orderly and with pride, out of
the castle.
 
The officers were to
remain in the castle until arrangements could be made for their
disposition.
 
Their fate was still
not clear, but it appeared that they might not be executed at this time.
 
Generally, if they were to be executed
at all, the execution would be conducted immediately following surrender as it
was difficult to hold that many prisoners for any extended period of time.

The officers, numbering less than
fifty, were herded into the great hall and held under guard without food or
drink for the remainder of the day.
 
Speculation remained high among the group as to what their fate was to
be.
 
“Colonel Lewis, you have not
offered your speculation.
 
Do you
not have an idea of what our fate is to be”, asked young Lieutenant Griffith of
his own unit.
 

“Lieutenant, it would only be
speculation and I see no benefit in that.”
 
John replied.

“Sir, I know you must have an
opinion.
 
I would just ask what
that might be.”
 
Griffith continued
to pressure.

“Well son, I believe that the junior
officers my yet be released.
 
Those
of us ranked Major or above may have a stiffer price to pay.
 
I do not think at this point that they
will execute us.
 
If they intended
to do so I think we would have been put to the sword immediately.
 
I suspect that we might be transported
and placed into indenture.”
 
John
was trying to reconcile himself to leaving Wales and everything he loved behind
not knowing if he would ever return.

“Sir, if I am released, is there
anything I can do for you?
 
Can I
take a message to your wife?”
 
Griffith knew that he should count himself lucky.

“Please tell Mrs. Lewis to be strong
and take care of my family and estate until I can return to her.
 
She knows how I feel about her, but
tell her that she will ever be on my mind until we are reunited.”
 
John heard his voice crack with emotion
but he could not bring himself to be embarrassed.