The Corkbush Field Mutiny (or Ware Mutiny) occurred on 15 November 1647, during the early stages of the Second English Civil War at the Corkbush Field rendezvous, when soldiers were ordered to sign a declaration of loyalty to Thomas Fairfax, the commander-in-chief of the New Model Army (NMA), and the Army Council. When some refused to do this they were arrested, and one of the ringleaders, Private Richard Arnold, was executed. Background After the Putney Debates, the Army commanders Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell were concerned about the strength of support which the Levellers had in the NMA. They decided to impose the Heads of Proposals as the army's manifesto, instead of the Levellers' Agreement of the People. To accomplish this they demanded that every soldier sign a declaration of loyalty, both to Fairfax as commander-in-chief, and to the Army Council, which signified that they accepted the Heads of the Proposals as the Army's manifesto. Many of the men were willing to sign, even if they had Leveller sympathies, because Cromwell and Fairfax promised that Parliament would honour the back payments they were owed. It was suggested that if they did not sign then the army could not present a united front to Parliament and payment could be delayed and that some regiments might be disbanded with no back pay at all. The declaration was a politically astute move because the soldiers were now bound to the Army Council and not the King or Parliament. Incidents The Army Council had agreed at the Putney Debates that Corkbush Field near Ware in the county of Hertfordshire was to be the first of three rendezvous. When Fairfax arrived, most of the soldiers in the seven regiments ordered to be there agreed to sign. The radical Member of Parliament and Leveller agitator, Colonel Thomas Rainsborough tried to present Fairfax with a copy of the Agreement of the People but was ignored. Several officers including Major Scott who refused to sign and encouraged their men not to sign were placed under arrest. Two regiments turned up without orders to do so. They carried copies of the Agreement of the people and stuck pieces of paper in their hatbands with the legend England's Freedom, Soldiers' Rights which was a Levellers' slogan. Colonel Thomas Harrison's regiment of horse arrived first. Fairfax succeeded in talking the mutinous regiment around and they agreed to sign. Colonel Robert Lilburne's regiment