Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-08-29
HISTORY.
The Battle of BosscortA Field


The Battle of BosscOsth Field
After few flights Of arrows the con-
test became hand to hand, as was GUS
tomary in those days, and ragged for an
hour without any great advantage to
either party, when it is recorded that
Oxford closed up his ranks, and gave
Richards army chance Of outfanking
him and at that moment, Stanley, who
had outfanked both, threw his men into
Richmond's forces. Richard, shouting
out "Treason treasonp called on his
attendants to follow him where Henry
was, and they almost cut their way to
within short distance Of him, but not
till the King fell, literally covered with
wounds. His white horse was killed.
Catesby had met him calling out:
horse, a horse! my kingdom for horse!
Catesby-
Withdraw, my Lord, III help you to horse.
King Richard
oidVt, nave set LILY lllc upou q coot3
And will stand the hazard of the die.
think there be six Richmonds in the field;
Five have slain to-day instead Of him;
horsel horse! my kingdom for horse.
From the time when Richard galloped
out of his ranks to the time when he fell
can only have been some fifteen min
utes, but how full Of import they were to
England The house of the Plantage-
nets was extinguished, the Barons'
power was reduced to name, and the
church, then more powerful and wealthy
tLan either, might have heard its own
knell in the Leicester chimes that rang
in the coronation of the first of the Tu-
doris. The crown was found near haw-
thorn bush after the battle, and placed
on Henry's head by Sir William STAN
ley; hence the crown in a bush" on
his monument at Westminster. A slope
down to the spring-which rises, how
ever, nearly to the level Of the land
makes it convenient drinking place for
cattle. There is a stone over the well
with the following inscription "Aqua
ex hoe puteo hausta sitim sedayit,
Ricardus tertius Rex Angli@ cum Hen
rico comite de Rishmondin acerime
atque infensissime prolians, ct vita
pariter, &C sceptro, ante noctem cariturus
iii. Kul. Sept. A. D. MCCCLXXXV.
The country people always used to
say that the well ran water tinged
with blood, and would not drink from
it. But the truth is, as we often see In
marshy lands, there is some tinge of a
red-ochrous character in the soil which
colors the water. Yet this belief ap-
pears, stated as matter of fact, in q
history of England that is very ex-
tensively used in schools. Mr.. Hutton
says that old chroniclers have pointed
out how the Tudors wished to cast ig-
nominy on Richards character and
physical shortcomings, and dubbed the
hills where he addressed his troops,
Dickens Nook, and the well, King
Dicks Well. These names they bear to
the present. Indeed, when the writer
asked rustic the way to Richards
Well, he corrected him politely enough
by saying King Dicks. Some of the
spoils that have been dug up, such as
the steel parts Of a cross-bow and sp,1rs,
that are preserved in the church at Bos-
worth and in the Liverpool Museum,
are engraved in Hutton's work !; and SO
beautiful is the design that they would
obtain prizes in any exhibition in Eu-
rope. Burton mentions arrow heads
of great size and weight, but those
have seen are spear heads. Spearmen
seem to have played a considerable part
in the strife. "Look that my slaves be
sound and not too heavy" are Richards
words on the night before the battle, as
he went to his broken sleep.