INTERVIEW: Civil War Arms and Armour

CRAY visited the National Army Museum in Chelsea to meet English Civil War expert Julian Farrance.  Julian told our group about the evolution of weapons during the English Civil War and the use of personal and portable firearms in the conflict. Julian asked Lotte, Rachel and Rakhmat to help him demonstrate the arms and armour commonly used.  Other members of the group filmed the demonstration so that we could share it on the Crayford History website.

Cavalryman

The main group of General Fairfax’s New Model Army soldiers who set off in pursuit of the Royalist Kentish rebels from Crayford were cavalrymen. These were soldiers who fought on horseback.  Julian asked Lotte to demonstrate the uniform and arms of a New Model Army cavalryman of 1648.

Cavalry would have constituted one of the main weapons of the New Model Army in the clashes that followed the muster on Crafyord Heath on May 31 1648. At the initial clash with the rebels at Northfleet three troops (troop was around 100 men) of cavalry under its Roundhead commander Major Husband attempted to outflank the Royalist rebels by fording the River Ebbsfleet to get behind the rebels who had fortified a position on Stone Bridge Hill.  This was thwarted by plough harrows hidden on the river bed which forced Husband to mount a full frontal attack.  We asked Julian to describe for us how these cavalrymen would have been armed.

Using Lotte as his model, Julian described how the New Model Army cavalry were lightly armoured but heavily armed, carrying a mixture of swords and guns. Ruby asked Julian about the skills that were needed to be a cavalryman. Julian described how the cavalry would have to be able to shoot and swordfight on horseback, often travelling at great speed. Sometimes, like at Northfleet, the cavalry had to perform complicated manoeuvres on horseback.  A cavalry charge involved riding close together, starting slow and speeding up. As they approached their enemies, cavalrymen fired shortened muskets called carbines from a distance. As they clashed with their enemies, they would fire their pistols at close range, then continue to fight with swords. The Horses themselves were used as weapons, trampling enemies underfoot.  During the 1648 rebellion, the Parliamentarian cavalry was a formidable force of veterans and far stronger than their royalist opponents.

Julian told us that earlier in the English Civil War the cavalry had tended not to wear uniforms. In order to tell their own side and enemies apart, the cavalry would wear distinguishing items like a sash with the Roundheads favouring Orange and the Royalists red.

What equipment did they use?

Carbine

Julian demonstrated the cavalry musket, which was known as a carbine.  This was a shortened form of the standard musket A carbine shot further than a pistol but not as far as a musket. It fired a round lead bullet called a ball. Carbine balls were heavier than pistol balls. A cavalryman would fire the carbine in the early stages of a cavalry charge. The carbine would be worn around the shoulder hanging from a belt.

Pistols

Julian showed us a cavalryman’s pistol which was about 18 inches/50cm long. The pistols were kept in holsters in the horse’s saddle. The pistols were not very accurate. In order to kill or wound, a cavalryman had to get within touching distance of their enemies. Julian told us that cavalrymen would have carried two pistols and would often only fire one, keeping a loaded one spare to protect himself if the battle went badly and he was forced to flee the battlefield.

Buff coat

Julian asked Lotte to model a Cavalryman’s leather armour called a buff coat. A good buff coat could protect the owner from a sword or knife. Sometimes the coat would be worn underneath metal armour, but mostly cavalrymen only wore the buff coat.

Breastplate and back plate

Lotte felt that it must have been hard for a cavalryman to move as the buff coat was so stiff.  Julian told her that this was to protect against sword cuts. He then asked her to put on two connected pieces of armour to protect the upper body called a breastplate and a back plate. Julian said that as the war progressed much of the plate armour was discarded.  He showed us a cuirass (breast plate) that had been penetrated by a musket ball. Expensive armour could stop a bullet but would have been very heavy to wear. He told us that if armour was worn cavalrymen opted for lighter versions.

Broadsword

CRAY heard how the sword would have been the main weapon used by the cavalryman at the clash at Northfleet and later at Maidstone. The sword Julian demonstrated was a broadsword, a large slashing weapon. Apparently, Royalist cavalry greatly preferred the sword to the pistol.

Pot helmet

Lotte then had to put on a cavalryman’s pot helmet. Using Lotte as a model Julian showed CRAY how the pot helmet provided full protection for the head and the back of the neck. The face was guarded by up to three metal bars. These could block a sword slash and still provide the space for the cavalryman to see clearly on the battlefield. A good pot helmet could stop a bullet.

Gorget

Julian told us that although many cavalrymen discarded the full body armour they retained a gorget or throat guard as this protected the neck from a fatal sword blow.

Gauntlet

An armoured glove called a gauntlet would be worn on the left hand. This would be the hand used to control the reigns of the horse. As the cavalryman handled the reigns, his left hand would be exposed to sword cuts. The gauntlet would protect the hand. The right hand would be gloveless as the cavalryman would need greater freedom in his fingers and joints to handle and fire carbines and pistols.

Pike man

Julian switched CRAY volunteers to describe how the New Model Army used their pikemen to great effect at the close-quarters fighting that took place at the Battle of Maidstone on June 1^st 1648.  Rachel agreed to be dressed as a pikeman. Pikemen were used to defend musketeers against the cavalry. They were also useful to push against the enemy when victory was in sight. They were often placed in the middle of the infantry, with musketeers on either side of them. Rachel was told that as a pikeman she would have been in the front line of conflict. Julian told her she would need to have been drilled to defend against different types of attacks.  For example, they had to lower their pikes to prevent a cavalry charge from breaking their ranks. The cavalrymen’s horses would be injured by the pike and would fall to the ground unseating his rider who would then be an easy target for the musket men or for the sword. If the army was surrounded, then the pikemen would form a circle and lower or raise their pikes to provide a ‘hedgehog’ of cover.

What equipment did they use?

Pike

Julian told us that the Pike was one of the most commonly used weapons on the Civil War battlefield. He showed Rachel how to correctly hold a pike which was a long wooden pole with a steel point on the end. The pike that Rachel was given was eighteen feet in length.  She found it quite difficult to carry.  Julian told us that this was how many pikemen felt about this ungainly weapon. They often sawed a few feet off the ends to make them easier to carry.  However, Julian told us that those who did often ended up losing their lives to enemies who used a full-length version. The long wooden stave was made of ash and tapered to a point at the end to improve the weapon’s balance.  Long steel plates were fixed onto the thinnest end to protect it from being hacked off. At the very end of the pike was a sharp steel blade that could inflict terrible wounds.

Armour

At the beginning of the war, Pikemen wore heavy armour that protected them from neck to knee; a breast and back plate, a pot helmet, tassets that covered the thighs and a gorget to protect the throat. This pikeman has removed his tassets which were uncomfortable to march and fight in. Later in the war, this heavy armour fell out of use completely.

Red Coat

Julian told us how the New Model Army red jacket eventually became the standard colour of the uniform of the British soldier.  He asked Rachel to model the red wool jacket and described how the colour was not chosen for any aesthetic reason but simply because a lot of cheap red cloth was available at the time

Morion helmet

These helmets were quickly and cheaply made in two pieces and joined together with a comb down the middle. They had a brim all around which was angled up at the front to help protect the soldier from sword blows.

Sword

A short sword called a tuck was carried for hand-to-hand combat. Infantry swords were of lesser quality than those carried by the cavalry and used as a last resort.

Postures

Julian showed Rachel the ‘postures’ a pike men would have used at the Battle of Maidstone.  This was the correct way of handling the pike for different kinds of fighting. For instance, to defend against cavalry attack a pikeman would crouch down, brace the bottom of the pike shaft against his foot and point the head of the pike at the horse’s breast

The Musket

Rakhmat volunteered to model the uniform and equipment used by a musketeer. Julian described with her help as a model, the two types of musket in use; the matchlock and the flintlock, which could be as long as five feet and had a firing range of up to 300 yards. Julian told us that the matchlock was by far the most common type of musket as it was less technologically advanced. Both types of muskets were loaded in the same way; gunpowder was poured into the barrel and packed in hard with a stick. Then the lead ball would be put in followed by wadding to hold the ball in place.

Julian demonstrated how to fire the matchlock, the most common type of musket, the soldier would empty gunpowder into a pan and cover it to protect it. He would then press a lighted piece of flax into a metal trigger called the serpent. When the gun was fired the lighted flax in the serpent would come down into the pan and light the gunpowder. The flame from this would then enter the barrel of the gun and ignite the gunpowder that had been poured into it and the lead ball would be fired. Julian told us that the musketeer kept the flax, his match, lit at both ends as if the light went out it was complicated to relight it in the days before matches.

Flintlock

To fire the flintlock was slightly easier but more expensive. The pan would be filled in the same way but the serpent contained a piece of flint which, when it struck the pan, would produce a spark which would ignite the gunpowder.

Both weapons were dangerous and clumsy to use. Some of the longer muskets needed a rest to balance the barrel on because they were too heavy to hold. They were impossible to reload quickly and were most effective when a group of musketeers fired a volley of shots at the enemy.