Editing Peterloo Massacre (section)

==Cavalry charge==
{{Quote box
|quote=When I wrote these two letters, I considered at that moment that the lives and properties of all the persons in Manchester were in the greatest possible danger. I took this into consideration, that the meeting was part of a great scheme, carrying on throughout the country.{{sfnp|Reid|1989|p=167|ps=none}}
| source = —William Hulton
|width=25em
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[[William Hulton]], the chairman of the magistrates watching from the house on the edge of St Peter's Field, saw the enthusiastic reception that Hunt received on his arrival at the assembly, and it encouraged him to action. He issued an arrest warrant for Henry Hunt, Joseph Johnson, John Knight, and James Moorhouse. On being handed the warrant the Constable, Jonathan Andrews, offered his opinion that the press of the crowd surrounding the hustings would make military assistance necessary for its execution. Hulton then wrote two letters, one to Major [[Thomas de Trafford|Thomas Trafford]], the commanding officer of the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry Cavalry, and the other to the overall military commander in Manchester, Lieutenant Colonel Guy L'Estrange. The contents of both notes were similar:{{sfnp|Reid|1989|pp=166–167|ps=none}}

{{blockquote|Sir, as chairman of the select committee of magistrates, I request you to proceed immediately to no.&nbsp;6&nbsp;Mount Street, where the magistrates are assembled. They consider the Civil Power wholly inadequate to preserve the peace. I have the honour, & c. Wm. Hulton.{{sfnp|Reid|1989|p=167|ps=none}}|sign=Letter sent by William Hulton to Major Trafford of the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry Cavalry}}

The notes were handed to two horsemen who were standing by. The Manchester and Salford Yeomanry were stationed just a short distance away in Portland Street, and so received their note first. They immediately drew their swords and galloped towards St Peter's Field. One trooper, in a frantic attempt to catch up, knocked down Ann Fildes in Cooper Street, causing the death of her son when he was thrown from her arms;{{sfnp|Frow|Frow|1984|p=8|ps=none}} two-year-old William Fildes was the first casualty of Peterloo.{{sfnp|Reid|1989|p=168|ps=none}}

Sixty cavalrymen of the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry, led by Captain [[Hugh Hornby Birley]], a local factory owner, arrived at the house from where the magistrates were watching; some reports allege that they were drunk.{{sfnp|Reid|1989|p=156|ps=none}} Andrews, the Chief Constable, instructed Birley that he had an arrest warrant which he needed assistance to execute. Birley was asked to take his cavalry to the hustings to allow the speakers to be removed; it was by then about 1:40&nbsp;pm.{{sfnp|Reid|1989|p=170|ps=none}}
[[File:Map of Peterloo Massacre.png|thumb|left|300px|A map of St Peter's Field and surrounding area on {{nowrap|16 August 1819}}]]
The route towards the hustings between the special constables was narrow, and as the inexperienced horses were thrust further and further into the crowd they reared and plunged as people tried to get out of their way.{{sfnp|Frow|Frow|1984|p=8|ps=none}} The arrest warrant had been given to the Deputy Constable, Joseph Nadin, who followed behind the yeomanry. As the cavalry pushed towards the speakers' stand they became stuck in the crowd, and in panic started to hack about them with their sabres.<ref name="Poole2006">{{citation |title='By the Law or the Sword': Peterloo Revisited |last=Poole |first=Robert |journal=History |volume=91 |year=2006 |issue=302 |pages=254–276 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-229X.2006.00366.x}}</ref> On his arrival at the stand Nadin arrested Hunt, Johnson and a number of others including John Tyas, the reporter from ''The Times''.{{sfnp|Reid|1989|p=185|ps=none}} Their mission to execute the arrest warrant having been achieved, the yeomanry set about destroying the banners and flags on the stand.{{sfnp|Read|1819|p=5|ps=none}}{{sfnp|Reid|1989|p=180|ps=none}} According to Tyas, the yeomanry then attempted to reach flags in the crowd "cutting most indiscriminately to the right and to the left to get at them" – only then (said Tyas) were brickbats thrown at the military: "From this point the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry lost all command of temper".{{sfnp|Read|1819|p=5|ps=none}}
From his vantage point William Hulton perceived the unfolding events as an assault on the yeomanry, and on L'Estrange's arrival at 1:50&nbsp;pm, at the head of his hussars, he ordered them into the field to disperse the crowd with the words: "Good God, Sir, don't you see they are attacking the Yeomanry; disperse the meeting!"{{sfnp|Walmsley|1969|p=214|ps=none}} The 15th Hussars formed themselves into a line stretching across the eastern end of St Peter's Field, and charged into the crowd. At about the same time the Cheshire Yeomanry charged from the southern edge of the field.{{sfnp|Reid|1989|p=175|ps=none}} At first the crowd had some difficulty in dispersing, as the main exit route into Peter Street was blocked by the [[88th Regiment of Foot (Connaught Rangers)|88th Regiment of Foot]], standing with bayonets fixed. One officer of the 15th Hussars was heard trying to restrain the by now out of control Manchester and Salford Yeomanry, who were "cutting at every one they could reach": "For shame! For shame! Gentlemen: forbear, forbear! The people cannot get away!"{{sfnp|Poole|2019|loc=Ch. 13}}

On the other hand, Lieutenant Jolliffe of the 15th Hussars said "It was then for the first time that I saw the Manchester troop of Yeomanry; they were scattered singly or in small groups over the greater part of the Field, literally hemmed up and powerless either to make an impression or to escape; in fact, they were in the power of those whom they were designed to overawe and it required only a glance to discover their helpless position, and the necessity of our being ''brought to their rescue''"{{Sfnp|Bruton|1921|p=14|ps=none}}   Further Jolliffe asserted that "... nine out of ten of the sabre wounds were caused by the ''Hussars'' ... however, the far greater amount of injuries were from the pressure of the routed multitude."{{Sfnp|Bruton|1921|p=14|ps=none}}

Within ten minutes the crowd had been dispersed, at the cost of 11 dead and more than 600 injured. Only the wounded, their helpers, and the dead were left behind; a woman living nearby said she saw "a very great deal of blood."{{sfnp|McPhillips|1977|pp=22–23|ps=none}} For some time afterwards there was rioting in the streets, most seriously at New Cross, where troops fired on a crowd attacking a shop belonging to someone rumoured to have taken one of the women reformers' flags as a souvenir. Peace was not restored in Manchester until the next morning, and in Stockport and [[Macclesfield]] rioting continued on the 17th.{{sfnp|Reid|1989|pp=186–187|ps=none}} There was also a major riot in [[Oldham]] that day, during which one person was shot and wounded.{{sfnp|McPhillips|1977|pp=22–23|ps=none}}