Reliquiæ Baxterianæ, or, Mr. Richard Baxters narrative of the most memorable passages of his…

At this time Col. Mitten, and other Shropshire Gentlemen, resolved to settle a Garrison at Wem, a little Town in their own Country, eight Miles from Shrewsbury, and Mr. Mackworth, Mr. Hunt, &c. were earnest with me to go with them because it was my Native Country. I was desirous to be near my Father if I could any way relieve him, and to be absent a while from Coventry, (there being some Difference between the Earl of Denbigh and the Committee, which went high): so I consented to go with them only for a few weeks, and to return: Their Design was to get some of my Neighbours thither, who they knew would follow me; and about thirty or forty of them joined in Colonel Mackworth's Troop and went.

At this time Col. Mitt•n, and other Shropshire Gentlemen, resolved to settle a Garrison at Wem, a little Town in their own Country, eight Miles from Shrewsbury, and Mr. Mackworth, Mr. Hunt, &c. were earnest with me to go with them because it was my Native Country. I was desirous to be near my Father if I could any way relieve him, and to be absent a while from Coventry, (there being some Difference between the Earl of Denbigh and the Committee, which went high): so I consented to go with them only for a few weeks, and to return: Their Design was to get some of my Neighbours thither, who they knew would follow me; and about thirty or forty of them joyned in Colonel Mackworth's Troop and went.

As soon as we came thither, and they began to fortify Wem, the Lord Capel brought his Army from Shrewsbury against them; where (Sir William Brereton bringing the Cheshire Trained Bands to assist the little handful at Wem) the two Armies lay within a Mile of each other two or three Days, and after some little Skirmishing the Lord Capell drew off, and marched into Cheshire to Nantwich, being assured thereby to draw off, the Cheshire Men, and then resolved the same Night to return and Storm the Town; and his Plot took according to his Contrivance; for that Night he plundered all the Villages about Nantwich, and at Midnight marched back another way: The Cheshire Men were quickly on their March, when they heard that the Enemy was plundering their Country: and by that time they came to Nantwich the Lord Capell was got back again to Wem. There was nothing about the Town but a Ditch little bigger than such as Husbandmen enclose their Grounds with, and this not finished; and the Gates, new made, had no Hinges, but were reared up, and there was but very few Men in the Town; especially under the Command of Col. Hunt (a plain hearted, honest, godly Man, entirely beloved, and trusted by the Soldiers for his Honesty): I went with the Cheshire Men to Nantwick; when they came thither, they understood the Stratagem of the Lord Capell, and heard that they were storming Wem; and Sir William Brereton would have had his Men march after them presently, to relieve Wem; but the Soldiers were all Commanders, and seeing their own Country plundered in their Absence, and being weary, they all resolved that they would not go; and so Wem was given up as lost; but in the Morning about three or four a Clock, when we thought they had been asleep, their Minds all changed, and to Wem they would then go; but they marched so slowly, and halted by the way, that the Lord Capell's Army had twice stormed Wem, and being beaten back, drew off just as the Cheshire Men came upon them, and secured their Retreat by Lee-bridge and the Darkness of the Night, and the Ignorance of their Fears and Disorders in the Army that pursued them. When we came to Wem, we found that the Lord Capell had been twice repulsed with much loss; Col. Win slain, and Col. Sir Tho. Scriven mortally wounded, and little Hurt done to any in the Town.