Corkbush Field mutiny The Corkbush Field Mutiny ( or Ware Mutiny ) occurred on 15 November 1647 , during the early stages of the Second English Civil War at the Corkbush Field rendezvous , when soldiers were ordered to sign a declaration of loyalty to Thomas Fairfax , the commander - in - chief of the New Model Army ( NMA ) , and the Army Council . When some refused to do this they were arrested , and one of the ringleaders , Private Richard Arnold , was executed . Background . After the Putney Debates , the Army commanders Oliver Cromwell and Fairfax were concerned about the strength of support which the Levellers had in the NMA . They decided to impose the Heads of Proposals as the army ' s manifesto , instead of the Levellers ' " Agreement of the People " . To accomplish this they demanded that every soldier sign a declaration of loyalty , both to Fairfax as commander - in - chief , and to the Army Council , which signified that they accepted the Heads of the Proposals as the Army ' s manifesto . Many of the men were willing to sign , even if they had Leveller sympathies , because Cromwell and Fairfax promised that Parliament would honour the back payments they were owed . It was suggested that if they did not sign then the army could not present a united front to Parliament and payment could be delayed and that some regiments might be disbanded with no back pay at all . The declaration was a politically astute move because the soldiers were now bound to the Army Council and not the King or Parliament . Incidents . The Army Council had agreed at the Putney Debates that Corkbush Field near Ware in the county of Hertfordshire was to be the first of three rendezvous . When Fairfax arrived , most of the soldiers in the seven regiments ordered to be there agreed to sign . The radical Member of Parliament and Leveller agitator , Colonel Thomas Rainsborough tried to present Fairfax with a copy of the " Agreement of the People " but was ignored . Several officers including Major Scott who refused to sign and encouraged their men not to sign were placed under arrest . Two regiments turned up without orders to do so . They carried copies of the " Agreement of the people " and stuck pieces of paper in their hatbands with the legend " England ' s Freedom , Soldiers ' Rights " which was a Levellers ' slogan . Colonel Thomas Harrison ' s regiment of horse arrived first . Fairfax succeeded in talking the mutinous regiment around and they agreed to sign . Colonel Robert Lilburne ' s regiment of foot arrived a little later . ( Robert was the brother of John Lilburne , a famous agitator ) . They stoned and wounded one of Fairfax ' s officers when he approached them . With sword drawn Cromwell and some of his officers rode into their ranks and ordered them to take the papers from their hats . Cromwell had eight or nine of the more truculent of Lilburne ' s troopers arrested . They were tried at an improvised court - martial and found guilty of mutiny . Three ringleaders were sentenced to death and , having cast lots , Private Richard Arnold was shot on the spot as an example . At the other two rendezvous , at Ruislip Heath and Kingston , the other regiments were ordered to show support for Fairfax which they all agreed to do . Thus the army remained under the control and intact , so it was able to take the field when in July 1648 the Second English Civil War started . Aftermath . The issues raised did not go away and over the next year civilian " agitators " ( as the Levellers called themselves ) were active promoting the ideas in the " Agreement of the People " . As the impossibility of reaching agreement with Charles I became clear , many of the officers in the army who had not been in favour of the Levellers ' suggestion that the King be removed , supported the regicide of Charles on 30 January 1649 and had to reconsider their political positions . This allowed the Levellers to regain support in the army . The next Leveller mutiny in the New Model Army was the Bishopsgate mutiny in April 1649 .