Battle of Northburn

Battle of Northburn
Part of Riverlandian Conquest of Grythshead King Malcom's War
Date 15th January 1750 Location Northburn, Kingdom of Grythshead Result Inconclusive Grythsheader Strategic Victory
Belligerents
Kingdom of the Riverland Kingdom of Ballaeter	Kingdom of Grythshead
Commanders and leaders
Earl of Tarringway Lady Taewen	Osgood Stanley Sir Jarred Knowton
Strength
35,000 44 guns	20,000 60 guns

The Battle of Northburn was an engagement of King Malcom's War fought on 15th January 1750. Following his victory at Helderny, the Earl of Tarringway pursued the escaped Grythsheader forces of Osgood Stanley. With 13,500 men and a considerable contingent of militia and civilian refugees, Stanley had withdrawn south from Helderny, taking much of the town's military stores with him. At Northburn, a small town ten miles south of Helderny, Stanley had met up with the Grythsheader 5th Division and Sir Jarred Knowton's 1st Foot Guards. Suitably reinforced and posessing a large amount of artillery, Stanley chose to fight at Northburn to prevent Tarringway's advance further into Grythshead.

Background

As the armies which had been fighting in Ballaeter in 1749 settled into winter quarters, the Grythsheader Western Army under Sir Eustace Salter used the opportunity to reinforce his forces at Helderny and plan a grand offensive north into Ballaeter. Informed of this by spies in the Grythsheader camp, the new commander of the Riverlander Army of Ballaeter, the Earl of Tarringway, marched his army south to disrupt Salter's plans. At the Battle of Helderny on 8th January 1750, Tarringway shocked the world by defeating the battle-hardened and entrenched Grythsheaders with his newly-formed and inexperienced troops. The battle was a disaster for the Grythsheaders, who sustained 8,000 casualties (half of those captured) and lost 24 guns, 15 standards, and four generals including Salter.

The Grythsheader 1st and 2nd Divisions, along with the Royal Brigade of Dragoons, had been extracted from the disaster at Helderny by 2nd Division commander General Osgood Stanley. Upon arriving at the town of Helderny, Stanley had called up the local militia, emptied the military stores and destroyed all of the supplies which could not be taken. Before the Riverlanders could encircle the city, he marched south with 13,500 soldiers, 50 cannon and about 4,000 civilians and militia. Though Helderny had been a disaster, Stanley's escape represented a significant break for the Grythsheaders who still had forces available to block Tarringway's path deeper into Grythshead. After a day's hard marching, Stanley's force stopped at Northburn to await reinforcements and organise a defence.

For Tarringway's part, he did not make any serious attempt to pursue Stanley for several days. His army was tired and battered from an afternoon of heavy battle in cold weather and the first priority was to rest in Helderny. When his scouts brought reports of Stanley's halt at Northburn, Tarringway relaxed and decided to remain in Helderny until the 13th. This wait allowed the army to be rested and resupplied and also gave time for the arrival of 500 replacements and Lady Taewen's brigade of Ballaetan light cavalry. True to plan, Tarringway marched his army south on the 13th at a very slow pace, covering only 5 miles a day. Though the Earl wished to engage Stanley before more Grythsheader reinforcements arrived, a desire not to overtire his army in the cold weather kept him from forcing a faster march.

At Northburn, Osgood Stanley had been delighted by the arrival of Colonel Sir Jarred Knowton, who commanded the 1st Foot Guards regiment and was in temporary command of the Grythsheader 5th Division. The arrival represented a significant reinforcement and brought Stanley's force up to a strength to 20,000 men and 60 cannon. Protected by a bend in the River Lochen and with plenty of high ground upon which to situate artillery, Stanley considered Northburn a strong place to fight and decided to hold his position there instead of marching to link up with further reinforcements.

Forces

Grythsheader

General Stanley's army at Northburn was a potent but ramshackle one. Made up of a mixture of troops that escaped Helderny, militia and Sir Jarred Knowton's reinforcements, it numbered a total of 20,000 men including gunners and rear echelon troops. Though smaller than Salter's army had been at Helderny, it possessed far more artillery to the tune of sixty cannon, these were mostly guns taken from the fortifications at Helderny but also included cannon brought along with Sir Jarred Knowton's reinforcements and the galloper guns of Brigadier Crispe's dragoons.

Three infantry divisions made up the core of Stanley's force. These were the 1st (3,800) under Seyward Tillett, the 2nd (3,900) under Stanley himself, and the 5th (3,900) under the temporary command of Sir Jarred Knowton. The infantry was augmented by Knowton's elite 1st Foot Guards (600) and a division of militia (2,000), which was placed under the command of Colonel Matthew Schimmer. Stanley's only cavalry force was the Royal Brigade of Dragoons (1,400) under Geoffrey Crispe. The artillery was split into six batteries and consisted mostly of six-pounder cannons from the Helderny fortifications.

A detailed breakdown is as follows:
Commander-in-Chief: General Osgood Stanley

• Cavalry - 1,400 troopers, 4 guns - Brigadier Geoffrey Crispe
  • Royal Brigade of Dragoons - 1,400 troopers, 4 guns (6pdr) - Brigadier Geoffrey Crispe

• Infantry - 14,200 men
  • 1st Division - 3,800 men - General Seyward Tillett
  • 2nd Division - 3,900 men - General Osgood Stanley
  • 5th Division - 3,900 men - Colonel Sir Jarred Knowton
  • 1st Foot Guards - 600 men - Colonel Sir Jarred Knowton
  • Militia - 2,000 men - Colonel Matthew Schimmer

• Artillery - 56 guns
  • 1st Battery - 8 guns (6pdr)
  • 2nd Battery - 8 guns (6pdr)
  • 3rd Battery - 8 guns (6pdr)
  • 4th Battery - 8 guns (6pdr)
  • 5th Battery - 10 guns (8pdr)
  • 6th Battery - 10 guns (12pdr)

Riverlander

Just as they did at Helderny, Tarringway's Riverlanders significantly outnumbered the Grythsheader army. The Riverlander army had taken three thousand casualties at Helderny and the 1st and 3rd Infantry Divisions, along with the cavalry corps, were still under strength although the arrival of 500 replacements had helped. The arrival of Lady Taewen's brigade of light cavalry had brought Tarringway's army back up to its pre-Helderny strength of 35,000 men but many were still inexperienced and suffering from a lack of battle experience. Also, the 24 cannon captured at Helderny had not yet entered service in the Riverlander army as Tarringway was awaiting the arrival of engineers and experienced gunners. Even without the captured guns, however, Tarringway's artillery was still strong and of higher calibres than the Grythsheader guns.

As at Helderny, the main component of Tarringway's army was the eight infantry divisions and the ad-hoc light and grenadier brigades. The cavalry came under the supervision of General Sarah Fitz-York and the army had forty-four pieces of artillery. The infantry divisions were Alexander Dunham's 1st (3,700), Harold Audley's 2nd (4,000), the 3rd (3,000) under the temporary command of Colonel Geoffrey Ingham, Lady Euphemia Sparrow's 4th (3,300), Sewell Cotton's 5th (2,900), Sir Percival Kent's 6th (3,000), Lord Bedingfeld's 7th (3,600), and Nicholas Yden's 8th (3,600). Also the Grenadier Brigade (800) was led by Colonel Higden and the Light Brigade (750) by the Baronetess Estone. The cavalry were the Brigade of Life Guards (600) commanded by Lord Chernocke, Dennis Beresford's 1st Cavalry Brigade (900), Robert Pen's 2nd Cavalry Brigade (750), and the brigade of lancers (400) led by Major Cambet after Colonel Culpeper was killed at Helderny. Also part of the cavalry was Lady Taewen's brigade (2,500), a strong brigade of irregular light cavalry from Ballaeter. This created a total of 28,650 infantry and 5,150 cavalry.

A detailed breakdown is as follows: Commander-in-Chief: General Lord Michael Fowler, 5th Earl of Tarringway

• Cavalry Corps - 5,150 troopers, 12 guns - General Sarah Fitz-York
  • Brigade of Life Guards - 600 troopers - Colonel Lord Cornelius Chernocke, Marquess of Chernocke
  • 1st Cavalry Brigade - 900 troopers, 4 guns (4pdr) - Colonel Dennis Beresford
  • 2nd Cavalry Brigade - 750 troopers, 4 guns (4pdr) - Colonel Robert Pen
  • Lancers - 400 troopers - Major Cambet
  • Taewen's Brigade - 2,500 troopers, 4 guns (4pdr) - Mairie, Lady Taewen

• Infantry Corps - 30,400 men
  • 1st Infantry Division - 3,700 men - General Alexander Dunham
  • 2nd Infantry Division - 4,000 men - General Harold Audley
  • 3rd Infantry Division - 3,000 men - Colonel Geoffrey Ingham (temp)
  • 4th Infantry Division - 3,300 men - General Lady Euphemia Sparrow
  • 5th Infantry Division - 2,900 men - General Sewell Cotton
  • 6th Infantry Division - 3,000 men - General Sir Percival Kent
  • 7th Infantry Division - 3,600 men - General Lord Archibald Bedingfeld, 4th Viscount Bedingfeld
  • 8th Infantry Division - 3,600 men - General Nicholas Yden
  • Grenadier Brigade - 800 men - Colonel Griffin Higden
  • Light Brigade - 750 men - Major Beatrice Estone, 1st Baronetess

• Artillery - 32 guns
  • 1st Field Battery - 8 guns (12pdr)
  • 2nd Field Battery - 8 guns (12pdr)
  • 1st Siege Battery - 6 guns (24pdr)
  • 2nd Siege Battery - 6 guns (6pdr howtizer)
  • Mortar Battery - 4 guns (12pdr mortars)

Battle

Battle was joined early on 15th January as Tarringway's army drew up for battle on the open plains facing Northburn. The armies were divided by the River Lochen, which bent around Northburn and was crossable at a large stone bridge on the main road from Helderny to Redmalden. The bridge was the only place on the battlefield that the river could be crossed. Stanley's infantry were drawn up in lines around the village of Northburn and his artillery was positioned in large batteries on the plentiful high ground around the village. The first shot was fired at 10:00 when the foremost Grythsheader battery began firing to disrupt Tarringway's deployment. Unlike at Helderny, where high ground was available to both armies, Tarringway had nowhere to hide his reserves and the full force of his army was drawn out in open ground

Lockmann's Bridge

The stone bridge across the Lochen was the most important place on the battlefield as it was the only place where Tarringway could cross the river to engage the Grythsheaders closely. For Stanley's part, he was content to keep the Riverlanders on the far bank and pound away with his artillery. The longer he could keep them from closing the distance, the more damage he could inflict with his guns. Although the Grythsheader guns were not as powerful as those at Helderny, they were plentiful and their lighter weight meant they could be moved quickly to turn their fire. Ammunition was in short supply, however, as Stanley had prioritised evacuating as many guns from Helderny as possible and had destroyed vast quantities of powder and shot to avoid their capture by the Riverlanders.