these works. In the town a small company of foot soldiers under Captain Richard Greaves was stationed. The Lichfield garrison had sent in a troop of horse, but their united strength barely exceeded 200 men. Rupert did not believe that his large body would be opposed by so inferior a force. He therefore sent his Quarter-Master forward to take up his lodgings, and to Battle It was about three in the afternoon that Rupert, to his surprise, found that "the sturdy sons of freedom", as the local historians Hutton and Guest called them, were determined to fight. This determination was opposed to the opinion of the Parliamentarians—not only of the military, but also of the civilians—the ministers of Birmingham, and the leading men of the town; but the "middle and inferior sort" of people, especially those that bore arms, insisted on resisting, so at last they all resolved to fight. Finding such was their case, Rupert gave the order to attack their defences at once. The defences were only a bank of earth, behind which the handful of musketeers was placed. As the Royalists advanced they received so heavy a fire that on reaching the works they could not stand up against it and had to retire. A second attempt met with a similar repulse. Things were getting serious; it would never do for Rupert to be defeated by the inhabitants of Birmingham. Yet there was little chance of carrying the works by a direct attack. Some of Rupert's men saw that it might be possible, by going across the fields, to ride round and get into the rear of the works, and from there charge the defenders. This was tried and proved successful. The defenders of the works could not stand being attacked front and rear, so abandoned the works and fled into the town. Rupert's troopers followed them. From the houses a desultory fire was kept up on the Royalist troopers as they advanced up the street. On this the troopers set fire to the houses from which they had been fired on, and the town was soon ablaze in several places. Pushing on the resistance became less; those who had fought fled and scattered. However the fight was not over. Captain Richard Greaves rallied his troop of horse, and drawing them up at the further (the Lichfield) end of the town, wheeled them round, and charged the