page_title: Battle of Tadcaster
section_title: Battle
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Tadcaster / Battle
caption_attribution_description: English: William Cavendish
context_page_description: The Battle of Tadcaster took place during the First English Civil War on 7 December 1642, when a Royalist force attacked the Parliamentarian garrison of Tadcaster, Yorkshire, which was held by between 900 and 1,500 soldiers under the command of Ferdinando Fairfax, Lord Fairfax. Newcastle marched out of York on 6 December, and split his force of 6,000 into two; he took 4,000 infantry down the main York–Tadcaster road to attack the town from the east, while sending a deputy, the Earl of Newport, with a further 1,500 to circle around and trap the Parliamentarians by attacking from the north-west.
  Newcastle's infantry engaged the town on the morning of 7 December, but after some initial minor incursions, the battle settled into an exchange of musket fire. Newport's detachment never joined the battle. Fairfax was nevertheless forced to retreat overnight, as he was running short of gunpowder, and Newcastle occupied the town the following day. He subsequently garrisoned a number of nearby towns, and cut Fairfax off from the West Riding of Yorkshire.
context_section_description: On 6 December, Newcastle approached Tadcaster with two forces totalling around 6,000; he commanded the larger one himself, heading directly down the road from York to attack Tadcaster from the east. At the same time, he sent the Earl of Newport with 1,500 men to circle around through Wetherby and attack Fairfax from the north-west. In the meantime, Fairfax had been preparing Tadcaster's defences: he built a redoubt atop a hill by the River Wharfe overlooking the York road, and drew in additional troops, gathering between 900 and 1,500 soldiers in the town. In the face of the large Royalist army, Fairfax and his commanders held a council of war, and decided to withdraw from the town the next morning, 7 December. However, by the time they had gathered their men to leave, fighting had broken out on the edge of town. The Royalist infantry was attacking the east side of town, still defended by the Parliamentarian rearguard. The attack meant that retreat was no longer possible, and Fairfax sent his men back to join the town's defence.
  The initial Royalist attack was thwarted, but more of Newcastle's infantry managed to break into the town and capture a house near the redoubt, isolating it from the bulk of the defensive garrison. A Parliamentarian counter-attack reclaimed the house, drove the Royalists back out of town, and set fire to some of the houses on the edge of the town to prevent the attackers occupying them. Both sides settled into their positions, and exchanged musket fire for the rest of the day. The planned second prong of Newcastle's attack, under Newport's command, never arrived. The historian David Cooke suggests that it was most likely due to his artillery slowing him down on the poor winter roads. The 18th-century historian Francis Drake claimed that one of the Parliamentarian officers, Captain John Hotham, forged a letter to Newport, purporting to be from Newcastle, ordering him to halt.
  The Parliamentarians, despite holding a defensible position, were running short of gunpowder, and decided to withdraw from the town overnight. They split their force; Fairfax took his men to Selby, and Hotham to Cawood.
caption: The Earl of Newcastle led the Royalist force which captured Tadcaster.
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