John Lambert (general) - Civil War

Civil War

In September 1642, Lambert was appointed a captain of horse in the Parliamentary army of the English Civil War, commanded by Ferdinando, Lord Fairfax. Within a year, he was colonel of a cavalry regiment, and distinguished himself at the siege of Hull in October, 1643. Early in 1644 he did good service at the battles of Nantwich and Bradford. At Marston Moor (2 July 1644) Lambert's own regiment was routed by the charge of Goring's horse; but he cut his way through with a few troops and joined Oliver Cromwell on the other side of the field.

When the New Model Army formed in the beginning of 1645, Colonel Lambert was appointed to succeed Sir Thomas Fairfax in command of the northern forces, with the title of commissary-general. Fairfax was soon replaced by Sydnam Poyntz, and under this officer Lambert served in the Yorkshire campaign of 1645, receiving a wound before Pontefract. In 1646 he was given a regiment in the New Model, serving with Sir Thomas in the west of England, and he was a commissioner, with Cromwell and others, for the surrender of Oxford in the same year. "It is evident that he was from the first regarded as an officer of exceptional capacity and specially selected for semi-political employments".

When the quarrel between the Army and Parliament began, Lambert supported the Army's cause. He assisted Henry Ireton in drawing up the addresses and remonstrances issued by the Army, both men having had some experience in law. Early in August 1647 Lambert was sent by Fairfax as Major-General to take charge of the forces in the northern counties. His management of affairs in those parts is praised by Whitelocke. He suppressed a mutiny among his troops, kept strict discipline and hunted down the moss-troopers who infested the moorland country.

At the start of the Second English Civil War Lambert now a young general of twenty-nine, was more than equal to the situation. He had already left the sieges of Pontefract Castle and Scarborough Castle to Colonel Edward Rossiter, and hurried into Cumberland to deal with the English Royalists under Sir Marmaduke Langdale. With his cavalry he got into touch with the enemy about Carlisle and slowly fell back, fighting small rearguard actions to annoy the enemy and gain time, to Bowes and Barnard Castle. Langdale did not follow him into the mountains, but occupied himself in gathering recruits and supplies of material and food for the Scots. Lambert, reinforced from the Midlands, reappeared early in June and drove him back to Carlisle with his work half finished. About the same time the local horse of Durham and Northumberland were put into the field by Sir Arthur Hesilrige, governor of Newcastle, and under the command of Colonel Robert Lilburne won a considerable success (30 June) at the River Coquet.

This reverse, coupled with the existence of Langdale's force on the Cumberland side, practically compelled Hamilton to choose the west coast route for his advance, and his army began slowly to move down the long couloir between the mountains and the sea. The campaign which followed is one of the most brilliant in English history. When the Scottish army under the James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton invaded England in the summer of 1648, Lambert was obliged to retreat; but Lambert continued to harass the invaders till Cromwell came up from Wales and the Scottish army was destroyed in the three days' fighting at the Battle of Preston fought largely at Walton-le-Dale near Preston in Lancashire. After the battle Lambert's cavalry headed the chase, pursuing the defeated army, and finally surrounded it at Uttoxeter, where Hamilton surrendered to Lambert on 25 August 1648. Lambert then led the advance of Cromwell's army into Scotland, where he was left in charge on Cromwell's return. From December 1648 to March 1649 he was engaged in the successful siege of Pontefract Castle; Lambert was thus absent from London at the time of Pride's Purge and the trial and execution of King Charles I.

When Cromwell was appointed to the command of the war in Scotland (July 1650), Lambert went with him as major-general and second in command. He was wounded at Musselburgh, but returned to the front in time to take a conspicuous share in the victory of Dunbar. He himself repulsed a surprise attack by the Covenanters at the Battle of Hamilton on 1 December 1650. In July 1651 he was sent into Fife to get in the rear and flank of the Scottish army near Falkirk, and force them to decisive action by cutting off their supplies. This mission, in the course of which Lambert won an important victory at Inverkeithing, was so successful that Charles II, as Lambert had foreseen, made for England. Lambert's part in the general plan of the resulting Worcester campaign was carried out brilliantly (including his capture of Upton-Upon-Severn), and in the crowning victory of Worcester he commanded the right wing of the English army, and had his horse shot under him. Parliament granted him lands in Scotland worth £1000 per annum.