 He was joined by Major-General Rowland Laugharne, his district commander, and Colonel Rice Powell.After the failure of his pre-emptive strike against the small Parliamentarian army of Colonel Thomas Horton at the Battle of St. Fagans, Laugharne retreated with what was left of his army to join Colonel Poyer at Pembroke.Colonel Horton marched his 3,000 well disciplined troops, about half of which were dragoons, west to Tenby and laid siege to Tenby Castle which was held by about 500 Royalists under the command of Colonel Rice Powell.