Editing Oliver Cromwell (section)

== English Civil War begins ==
{{Main|English Civil War|First English Civil War}}
Failure to resolve the issues before the Long Parliament led to armed conflict between Parliament and Charles I in late 1642, the beginning of the [[English Civil War]]. Before he joined Parliament's forces, Cromwell's only military experience was in the trained bands, the local county militia. He recruited a cavalry troop in Cambridgeshire after blocking a valuable shipment of silver plate from Cambridge colleges that was meant for the King. Cromwell and his troop then rode to, but arrived too late to take part in, the indecisive [[Battle of Edgehill]] on 23 October 1642. The troop was recruited to be a full regiment in the winter of 1642–1643, making up part of the [[Eastern Association]] under [[Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Manchester|Edward Montagu, Earl of Manchester]]. Cromwell gained experience in successful actions in [[East Anglia]] in 1643, notably at the [[Battle of Gainsborough]] on 28 July.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Plant |first=David |title=1643: Civil War in Lincolnshire |url=http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/military/1643-lincolnshire.htm#gainsborough |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211003401/http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/military/1643-lincolnshire.htm#gainsborough |archive-date=11 December 2008 |access-date=27 November 2008 |publisher=British-civil-wars.co.uk}}</ref> He was subsequently appointed governor of the [[Isle of Ely]]<ref>{{Cite web |date=7 December 2006 |title=Fenland riots |url=https://www.elystandard.co.uk/ely-life/fenland-riots-as-country-slides-into-civil-war-1-258647 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190113003832/https://www.elystandard.co.uk/ely-life/fenland-riots-as-country-slides-into-civil-war-1-258647 |archive-date=13 January 2019 |access-date=12 January 2019 |website=www.elystandard.co.uk}}</ref> and a [[colonel]] in the Eastern Association.<ref name=bcw/>

=== Marston Moor, 1644 ===
By the time of the [[Battle of Marston Moor]] in July 1644, Cromwell had risen to the rank of [[Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom)|lieutenant general]] of horse in Manchester's army. His cavalry's success in breaking the ranks of the Royalist cavalry and then attacking their infantry from the rear at Marston Moor was a major factor in the Parliamentarian victory. Cromwell fought at the head of his troops in the battle and was slightly wounded in the neck, stepping away briefly to receive treatment but returning to help secure the victory.{{Sfn|Fraser|1973|pages=120–129}} After Cromwell's nephew was killed at Marston Moor, he wrote a letter to his brother-in-law, [[Valentine Walton]]. Marston Moor secured the north of England for the Parliamentarians but failed to end Royalist resistance.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Battle of Marston Moor |url=http://bcw-project.org/military/english-civil-war/northern-england/battle-of-marston-moor |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150430050811/http://bcw-project.org/military/english-civil-war/northern-england/battle-of-marston-moor |archive-date=30 April 2015 |access-date=21 June 2015 |publisher=British Civil Wars}}</ref>

The indecisive outcome of the [[Second Battle of Newbury]] in October meant that by the end of 1644 the war still showed no sign of ending. Cromwell's experience at Newbury, where Manchester had let the King's army slip out of an encircling manoeuvre, led to a serious dispute with Manchester, whom he believed to be less than enthusiastic in his conduct of the war. Manchester later accused Cromwell of recruiting men of "low birth" as officers in the army, to which he replied: "If you choose godly honest men to be captains of horse, honest men will follow them ... I would rather have a plain russet-coated captain who knows what he fights for and loves what he knows than that which you call a gentleman and is nothing else".<ref>Letter to Sir William Spring, September 1643, quoted in Carlyle, Thomas (ed.) (1904 edition). ''Oliver Cromwell's letters and speeches, with elucidations'', vol I, p. 154; also quoted in {{Cite book |last1=Young |first1=Peter |url=https://archive.org/details/englishcivilwarm00youn |title=The English Civil War |last2=Holmes |first2=Richard |date=2000 |publisher=Wordsworth |isbn=1-84022-222-0 |page=107}}</ref> At this time, Cromwell also fell into dispute with Major-General [[Lawrence Crawford (soldier)|Lawrence Crawford]], a Scottish [[Covenanter]] attached to Manchester's army, who objected to Cromwell's encouragement of unorthodox Independents and Anabaptists.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sermons of Rev Martin Camoux: Oliver Cromwell |url=http://trinitychurchsutton.org.uk/Sermons/Sermon_999.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090516110059/http://trinitychurchsutton.org.uk/Sermons/Sermon_999.htm |archive-date=16 May 2009}}</ref> He was also charged with [[Familia Caritatis|familism]] by Scottish Presbyterian [[Samuel Rutherford]] in response to his letter to the House of Commons in 1645.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/survspiva00ruth |title=A Survey of the Spirituall Antichrist Opening the Secrets of Familisme and Antinomianisme in the Antichristian Doctrine of John Saltmarsh and Will. del, the Present Preachers of the Army Now in England, and of Robert Town |date=1648}}</ref>

=== Battle of Naseby, 1645 ===
[[File:Charles Landseer Cromwell Battle of Naseby.JPG|thumb|Cromwell in the [[Battle of Naseby]] in 1645 as depicted in a portrait by [[Charles Landseer]]]]
At the critical [[Battle of Naseby]] in June 1645, the [[New Model Army]] smashed the King's major army. Cromwell led his wing with great success at Naseby, again routing the Royalist cavalry. At the [[Battle of Langport]] on 10 July, Cromwell participated in the defeat of the last sizeable Royalist field army. Naseby and Langport effectively ended the King's hopes of victory, and the subsequent Parliamentarian campaigns involved taking the remaining fortified Royalist positions in the west of England. In October 1645, Cromwell besieged and took the wealthy and formidable Catholic fortress [[Basing House]], later to be accused of killing 100 of its 300-man Royalist garrison after its surrender.{{Sfn|Kenyon|Ohlmeyer|2000|p=141}} He also took part in successful sieges at [[Bridgwater]], [[Sherborne]], Bristol, [[Devizes]], and [[Winchester]], then spent the first half of 1646 mopping up resistance in [[Devon]] and [[Cornwall]]. Charles I surrendered to the Scots on 5 May 1646, effectively ending the [[First English Civil War]]. Cromwell and Fairfax took the Royalists' formal surrender at [[Oxford]] in June.<ref name=bcw/>