Battle of Sedgemoor The Battle of Sedgemoor was fought on 6 July 1685 and took place at Westonzoyland near Bridgwater in Somerset , England . It was the final battle of the Monmouth Rebellion and followed a series of skirmishes around south west England between the forces of James Scott , 1st Duke of Monmouth and the crown he was trying to take . The royalist forces prevailed and about 500 troops were captured . Monmouth escaped from the battlefield but was later captured and taken to London for trial and execution . Many of Monmouth ' s supporters were tried during the Bloody Assizes . Many were transported abroad , while others were executed by drawing and quartering . Background . It was the final battle of the Monmouth Rebellion between the troops of the rebel James Scott , 1st Duke of Monmouth who was attempting to seize the English throne from his uncle James II of England . James II had succeeded to the throne on the death of his brother Charles II on 2 February 1685 ; James Scott was Charles ' illegitimate son . After Monmouth landed from the Netherlands at Lyme Regis in Dorset , there had been a series of marches and skirmishes throughout Dorset and Somerset . Eventually Monmouth ' s poorly equipped army was pushed back to the Somerset Levels , becoming hemmed in at Bridgwater on 3 July , and ordered his troops to fortify the town . The force was made up of around 3 , 500 , mostly nonconformist , artisans and farmer workers armed with farm tools ( such as pitchfork s ) : The royalist troops led by Louis de Duras , 2nd Earl of Feversham and Colonel John Churchill were camped behind the Bussex Rhine at Westonzoyland . The infantry forces included 500 men of the 1st Regiment of Foot ( Royal Scots ) , two battalions of the 1st or King ' s Royal Regiment of Guard ' s ( Grenadier Guards ) led by Henry FitzRoy , 1st Duke of Grafton , 600 men of the Second Regiment of Guards and five companies of the Queen Consort ' s Regiment ( Kings Own Royal Border Regiment ) . The Horse and Foot , the Royal Train of Artillery was camped along the road to Bridgwater . The Royal Cavalry , with seven troops , 420 men of the Earl of Oxfords , the Kings Regiment of Horse ( Blues and Royals ) , the King ' s Own Royal Dragoons and three troops of the King ' s Horse Guards ( Lifeguards ) made up the army . The battle . The Duke eventually led his untrained and ill - equipped troops out of Bridgwater at around 10 : 00 pm to undertake a night - time attack on the King ' s army . They were guided by Richard Godfrey , the servant of a local farmer , along the old Bristol road towards Bawdrip . With their limited cavalry in the vanguard they turned south along Bradney Lane and Marsh Lane , and came to the open moor with its deep and dangerous rhyne s . There was a delay while the rhyne was crossed and the first men across startled a royalist patrol . A shot was fired and a horseman from the patrol galloped off to report to Feversham . Lord Grey of Warke led the rebel cavalry forward and they were engaged by the King ' s Regiment of Horse which alerted the rest of the royalist forces . The superior training of the regular army and their horses routed the rebel forces by outflanking them . Capture and aftermath . Monmouth escaped the battlefield with Grey and headed for the southern coast , disguised as peasants . They were captured near Ringwood , Hampshire . He was taken to the Tower of London , where he was , after several blows of the axe , beheaded . A letter written by the 1st Earl of Shaftesbury in 1787 provides more detail as to Monmouth ' s capture : After the battle about 500 of Monmouth ' s troops were captured and imprisoned in St Mary ’ s Parish Church in Westonzoyland , while others were hunted and shot in the ditches where they were hiding . More were hung from gibbets erected along the roadside . The royalist troops were rewarded with Feversham being made a Knight of the Garter , Churchill promoted to Major - General and Henry Shires of the artillery receiving a Knighthood . Other soldiers , particularly those that had been wounded , received allowances ranging from £5 to £80 . Some of the wounded were amongst the first to be treated at the newly opened Royal Hospital Chelsea . The king sent Lord Chief Justice Jeffreys to round up the Duke ' s supporters throughout the south west and try them in the Bloody Assizes at Taunton Castle and elsewhere . About 1 , 300 people were found guilty , many being transported abroad , while some were executed by drawing and quartering . Daniel Defoe , who would later write the novel " Robinson Crusoe " , had taken part in the uprising and battle . He was heavily fined by Jeffreys , losing much of his land and wealth . Two brothers Benjamin Hewling , a commander of a troop of horse , and William Hewling , lieutenant of foot , were among those condemned to death . Benjamin Hewling was hanged rather than drawn and quartered following a payment of £1000 by his sister . James II was overthrown in a " coup d ' état " three years later , in the Glorious Revolution . The Battle of Sedgemoor is often referred to as the last battle fought on English soil , but this depends on the definition of battle , for which there are different interpretations . Other contenders for the title of last English battle include : the Battle of Preston in Lancashire , which was fought on 14 November 1715 , during the First Jacobite Rebellion ; the Second Jacobite Rebellion ' s Clifton Moor Skirmish , near Penrith , Cumberland , on 18 December 1745 ; and the skirmish known as the Battle of Graveney Marsh in Kent on 27 September 1940 . The Battle of Culloden fought on Drumossie Moor to the north east of Inverness on 16 April 1746 was the last pitched battle fought on British soil . Cultural references . The Battle of Sedgemoor is depicted in detail at the climax of plot in Arthur Conan Doyle ' s historical adventure novel " Micah Clarke " . The Battle also appears in Blackmore ' s Lorna Doone , where the hero arrives on the battlefield as the battle is finishing and then has to go to London to face Jeffries . Likewise , " The Royal Changeling " , ( 1998 ) , by John Whitbourn , describes the rebellion with some fantasy elements added . The Battle of Sedgemoor both opens and concludes the novel . The Sealed Knot re - enactment society have re - enacted important parts of the rebellion ' s campaign , on the 300th anniversary in 1985 , and again in 2005 . For the first re - enactment , the folk trio Strawhead produced an album of various songs from the time and written especially , entitled ' Sedgemoor ' . This album is often regarded as one of their finest . A collection of poems ( " Sedgemoor " ) exploring this crucial , but neglected , episode in English history was written by poet and academic Malcolm Povey and published by Smokestack Books in 2006 . The poems move between 1685 and the present , from England to Kosovo and Iraq , highlighting " the continuing cruelties of empire and hierarchy " . Povey ' s book received widespread praise , especially for its originality : " Not many poets try something as different and ambitious as this . It deserves to be widely read . " The battle is commemorated in Val Wake ' s poem Dead Willows Mourn . Val Wake , the Australian born journalist and author lived in Westonzoyland from 1973 to 1979 . A mural depicting the battle can be found on display at Sedgemoor motorway services on the North carriageway of the M5 . Events surrounding the battle occupy the first few chapters of Rafael Sabatini ' s novel Captain Blood . The battle is also included / mentioned in the beginning of the 1935 movie Captain Blood starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland .