Retrace the unfortunate steps of a band of rebellious locals who got lost on the Somerset Levels in the last battle on English soil. <\/p>
The Battle of<\/strong> Sedgemoor, on 6 July 1685, was the last pitched battle on English soil. It was a fiercely-fought but one-sided contest which saw a rebel army of Protestant West Country peasants, equipped with a motley array of weapons from pitchforks to old firearms, squaring up to the disciplined, professional soldiers of the Catholic Stuart<\/a> King James II.<\/strong><\/p> The brilliant John Churchill \u2013 the future Duke of Marlborough and owner of Blenheim Palace \u2013 was the redcoats\u2019 deputy commander.<\/p> The rebels had taken up their ancient arms in support of another James \u2013 James Scott, Duke of Monmouth \u2013 the handsome but feckless illegitimate son of Charles II, who, from his Dutch exile, plotted to take the throne from his unpopular uncle and undo James\u2019s attempts to return England to the Catholic Faith.<\/p> On 11 June, Monmouth invaded Dorset, landing at Lyme with three ships and some 300 supporters to stake his shaky claim to the throne.<\/p> The sturdy ploughmen of Dorset <\/a>and Somerset<\/a> flocked to \u2018King Monmouth\u2019s\u2019 blue banner, but after marching rather aimlessly around the West Country for four weeks, they were brought to bay by the king\u2019s men on the Somerset Levels outside the town of Bridgwater.<\/p> Though still slightly superior in numbers (4,000-3,000) to the royal army, Monmouth knew that his inexperienced rabble would stand no chance in a conventional battle with well-drilled soldiers. He planned, however, to overcome this disadvantage by mounting a surprise night attack and rout the king\u2019s army before they awoke to their peril.<\/p> He was aided by a local man, Richard Godfrey, who offered to guide the duke\u2019s army through the drainage ditch \u2018rhynes\u2019 criss-crossing Sedgemoor.<\/p> After spying out the lie of the land from the tower of Bridgwater church, Monmouth ordered his men \u2013 with the infantry divided into colour-coded units called the red, yellow regiments and so on \u2013 to march towards the royal camp behind the 15m (50ft) wide Bussex Rhyne outside the village of Westonzoyland.<\/p> Leaving between 10pm and 11pm, the rebels were under strict orders to move silently, with each man empowered to stab his neighbour if he made the slightest sound. Despite such precautions, Godfrey lost his way in the mist and they were heard by a royal sentry as they crossed the Langmoor Rhine, still a mile short of the camp.<\/p> A pistol was fired and messengers galloped off to warn of the rebel approach.<\/p> With all surprise lost, Monmouth ordered his cavalry forward in a desperate general assault. His horsemen were stymied by the wide Bussex Rhine before they could get to grips with the now thoroughly awakened royal army. The unequal contest was soon over.<\/p> Monmouth\u2019s peasants were cut down by volleys of musket fire, and royal dragoons pursued the stragglers, cutting them down with their swords. Survivors were herded into Westonzoyland church, and many were hanged on gibbets along the Sedgemoor tracks.<\/p> Monmouth himself fled the battlefield by horse, but was found hiding in a ditch near Ringwood, Hampshire, two days later. He was brought to London where, despite abjectly grovelling for mercy before his uncle, he was beheaded on Tower Hill. But James\u2019s vengeful triumph was short-lived.<\/p> Three years later, in 1688, a more competent commander than Monmouth \u2013 William of Orange \u2013 also invaded the West Country from Holland, with a professional Dutch army. William of Orange was not only the nephew of James II, but also his wife Mary was the protestant daughter of James II <\/p> The royal army defected en masse to William\u2019s Glorious Revolution, led by John Churchill, ironically the man who had helped defeat Monmouth at Sedgemoor, and James\u2019s brief and cruel reign was over. <\/p> William and Mary are the only monarchs who have reigned jointly – and after their reign Mary’s sister Anne took to the throne – the last Stuart monarch as she had no children. <\/p> But the Stuarts fight for the throne wasn’t overJames II grandson, Bonnie Prince Charlie led his supporters – the Jacobites<\/a> – in a bid to take the crown. Ultimately, however, it was defeated at the Battle of\u00a0Culloden<\/a>\u00a0in April 1746.<\/p>Where did the Battle of Sedgemoor take place?<\/h2>
Who won the Battle of Sedgemoor?<\/h2>
What happened to the Duke of Monmouth?<\/h2>
What happened to James II?<\/h2>