Keep Your Powder Dry

This Lieutenant General Thomas Hammond must not be confused with Lieutenant General George Hammond, commander of Stargate Command. Hammond's firelocks were the artillery guard of the Eastern Association, not a galaxy traveling special forces unit that was part of Stargate Command. Believed to have been raised at the same time as the artillery train of the Eastern Association, they were most likely present wherever the Eastern Association fought: more specifically they were possibly present at Lincoln, and were certainly at the Siege of York and Marston Moor before continuing the fight at Second Newbury. In 1645 they joined the New Model Army as the Artillery Guard of Firelocks. In their new guise they fought at Oxford, Naseby, Leicester and Bristol. They are described as wearing tawny coloured coats pre NMA, then tawny orange coloured coats lined with white when they were the firelock guard of the NMA. Hammond was paid for two colours in April 1645, but we don't know what the...

Captain Thomas Sandford (sometimes Sanford) most probably raised his independent Company of Firelocks in Shropshire, for service in Ireland.  Thomas was described as a 'colourful character': which seems fairly accurate, as evidenced by his correspondence. One of his letters, addressed to the garrison at Hawarden, began: "Behold the messenger of death, Sanford and his firelocks, who neither use to give, nor take quarter" He had previously been a quartermaster serving with the Earl of Northumberland's Regiment of Foot during the First Bishops' War.  When originally raised the company had a strength of about 60 men. They arrived in Dublin in 1642 and served under Ormonde, where they helped lead the assault on the Confederate forces at Kilrush. Of the men who went to Ireland 50 men returned to Chester in 1643. Once back in England they fought for the King at Hawarden* and Beeston Castles.  At Beeston legend has it that Sandford and eight of his men famously scaled...

James Progers's Regiment of Foot was a Welsh regiment armed with firelocks. They fought at Montgomery Castle and Monmouth in 1644, and were besieged at Abergavenny in 1646. Other than that we know the names of some officers but precious little else. There is some confusion which of the Proger/Progers/Prodger family was the Colonel of the Regiment. There is an article on the Dictionary of Welsh Biography  website which describes the two branches of the family. It mentions Colonel Charles Proger ‘of the Guards’, who had to redeem his estate at £330 for siding with the King in the Civil Wars, and was probably the ‘Col. Progers’ who took part in recapturing Monmouth for the King in 1644 (J. R. Phillips, Civil War in Wales). Sir Henry Proger appears to have been the ‘Lieut. Progers’ who was in Raglan Castle when Fairfax took it in 1646. The article mentions a James Proger who spent time in Spain and was last heard of as constable of Abergavenny Castle in 166...

Sir William Brereton (the same William Brereton whose coffin got washed away in a flood when his body was being returned home for burial) was commander of Parliament's forces in Cheshire. He fielded a regiment of foot, a regiment of horse and a regiment of dragoons. From 1644 the dragoons were often referred to as firelocks - whether this just refers to their weapons, or to them doing their soldiering on foot (with firelocks) we do not definitively know, although the general use of the term at the time meant foot soldiers (with firelocks). From 1645 the regiment appears to have had many in it's ranks who had swapped sides after the battle of Nantwich - including men from Thomas Sandford's and Francis Langley's companies of Firelocks. Again this supports the notion that some of the dragoons at least became foot soldiers. We actually know quite a bit about his regiments - their battle honours, officer lists and so on, but like so many Civil War units we only know...

One of two planned 'commanded shot' units for my Royalist army. Prince Maurice’s Firelocks are believed to have taken part in the Battles of Leicester and Naseby, definitely taking part in the battles of Denbigh Green and Stow-on-the-Wold. None of my commanded shot units carry ensigns, and are probably much too large in comparison to my regiments of foot, as they were most likely only a company or two of musketeers. No coat colours are recorded so I've plumped for red. Maurice was Rupert's younger brother, he was given his first command in 1643 leading an army, reasonably successfully, against Waller in the Welsh borders. Eventually he took command of the King's western army, before surrendering and being banished from England in 1646. In 1648 he joined Rupert in the Royalist navy off the Americas. He was lost at sea during a storm in 1652. Rumours persisted that he had survived and was a prisoner of the Spanish. If you enjoyed reading this, or any of th...

Lieutenant General James Wemyss’ Regiment of Foot were firelocks serving as artillery guard to Waller’s Army of the Southern Association. Raised in 1643 they participated at the Siege of Arundel Castle, Cheriton, Cropredy Bridge, and Second Newbury before being disbanded in 1645. The Regiment is believed to have taken considerable losses at Cropredy. The regiment wore blue coats in 1644. Like all of my firelocks/commanded shot units they do not carry an ensign. Wemys (rhymes with teams) was a Scot who was a 'master gunner of England' and 'general of the artillery in Scotland': he was captured at Cropredy. He was held captive for many months before being exchanged in a prisoner swap. His uncle invented a leather gun for field work, which James improved the design. The pair had an inventing workshop in London before the outbreak of war. Re-instated as 'master gunner of England' by Charles II, a post he held until 1666, after which he returned to ...