Conflict: First English Civil War
Combatants: Parliamentarians vs. Royalists
Location: England
Outcome: Royalist victory
After a series of defeats by the Parliamentarian armies, Charles I found himself on the verge of being surrounded in Oxford. Following two feints to confuse the enemy, Charles and his Royalists engaged the Parliamentarians under Sir William Waller at Cropredy Bridge north of Oxford. While Charles was obliged to withdraw before approaching enemy reinforcements, the Royalists had captured 11 Parliamentarian guns and taken negligible casualties. Waller lost 700 men to desertion.
Points of Interest:
Routing the Parliamentarians at Cropredy Bridge allowed Charles I to send cavalry to assist the city of York.
Despite the victory at Cropredy Bridge, the Royalists would be badly defeated at Naseby a year later. Charles I was beheaded in 1649.
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Sources:
Dupuy, Trevor N., Johnson, Curt, & Bongard, David L. (1992). The Harper's Encyclopedia of Military Biography. New York: Castle Books (HarperCollins).
Dupuy, R. Ernest & Dupuy, Trevor N. (1993). The Harper's Encyclopedia of Military History. New York: HarperCollins.
Eggenberger, David (1985). An Encyclopedia of Battles: Accounts of Over 1,560 Battles from 1479 B.C. to the Present. New York: Dover Publications, Inc.