Martin's Gate
humbled and defeated. In order to cover his retreat from the
enemy now advancing, my Lord Cleveland, Sir James Hamilton,
Colonel Careless, and some other worthy gentlemen defended
Sudbury Gate, towards which the main body of the Republicans
approached. They held this position a sufficient time to gain
the end for which it was undertaken. But at length the
Republicans, forcing open the gate, marched upon the fort,
defended by fifteen hundred soldiers under Colonel Drummond.
This loyal man refusing to surrender, the fort was speedily
stormed; and he and those of his men who survived the attack were
mercilessly put to the sword.
Dr. George Bate gives a quaint and striking picture of what
followed. "Deplorable and sad was the countenance of the town
after that," writes he; "the victorious soldiers on the one hand
killing, breaking into houses, plundering, sacking, roaring, and
threatening; on the other hand, the subdued flying, turning their
backs to be cut and slashed, and with outstretched hands begging
quarter; some, in vain resisting, sold their lives as dear as
they could, whilst the citizens to no purpose prayed, lamented,
and bewailed. All the streets are strewed with dead and mangled
bodies. Here were to be seen some that begged relief, and then
again others weltering in their own gore, who desired that at
once an end might be put to their lives and miseries. The dead
bodies lay unburied for the space of three days or more, which
was a loathsome spectacle that increased the horror of the
action.
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