Editing New Model Army (section)

==Civil War campaigns==

The Army took the field in late April or May, 1645. After an attempt to raise the [[siege of Taunton]] was abandoned, the Army began a [[siege of Oxford]], sending a detachment of one regiment of cavalry and four of infantry to reinforce the defenders of Taunton. After the Royalists captured [[Leicester]], Fairfax was ordered to leave Oxford and march north to confront the King's army. On 14 June, the New Model destroyed King Charles' smaller but veteran army at the [[Battle of Naseby]]. Leaving the Scots and locally raised forces to contain the King, Fairfax marched into the [[West Country]], where they destroyed the remaining Royalist field army at [[Battle of Langport|Langport]] on 10 July. Thereafter, they reduced the Royalist fortresses in the west and south of England. The last fortress in the west surrendered in early 1646, shortly before Charles surrendered himself to a Scottish army and hostilities ended.{{Sfn|Royle|2004|p=393}}

===Revolutionary politics and the "Agreement of the People"===
Having won the [[First English Civil War|First Civil War]], the soldiers became discontented with the [[Long Parliament]], for several reasons. Firstly, they had not been paid regularly – pay was weeks in arrears – and on the end of hostilities, the [[Small-c conservative|conservative]] MPs in Parliament wanted to either disband the Army or send them to fight in Ireland without addressing the issue of back pay. Secondly, the Long Parliament refused to grant the soldiers [[amnesty]] from prosecution for any criminal acts they had been ordered to commit in the Civil War. The soldiers demanded indemnity as several soldiers were hanged after the war for crimes such as stealing horses for use by the cavalry regiments. Thirdly, seeing that most Parliamentarians wanted to restore the King without major democratic reforms or religious freedom.{{efn| Under the influence of the [[Committee of Both Kingdoms]] which joined English and Scottish Covenantor causes Parliament was inclined to installation of Presbyterianism across England while the NMA tended towards the [[Independent (religion)|Independent]] cause of freedom of religion. }}

Two representatives, called Agitators, were elected from each regiment. The Agitators, with two officers from each regiment and the Generals, formed a new body called the [[Army Council (1647)|Army Council]]. At a meeting ("rendezvous") held near [[Newmarket, Suffolk]] on 4 June 1647 this council issued "A [[Solemn Engagement|Solemne Engagement]] of the Army, under the Command of his Excellency Sir Thomas Fairfax" to Parliament on 8 June making their concerns known.{{sfn|Fairfax|General Council of the New Model Army|1647}}

[[Image:Agreement of the People (1647-1649).jpg|thumb|right|Agreement of the People (1647–1649)]]
Having come into contact with ideas from the radical movement called the [[Levellers]], the troops of the Army proposed a revolutionary new constitution named the [[Agreement of the People]], which called for almost universal male suffrage, electoral boundary reform, power to rest with a Parliament elected by the people every two years, religious freedom, and an end to imprisonment for debt.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.marxists.org/history/england/english-revolution/may-day.htm|title=An agreement of the free people of England April 30 1649|website=www.marxists.org}}</ref>

Increasingly concerned at the failure to pay their wages and by political manoeuvrings by King Charles I and by some in Parliament, the army marched slowly towards London over the next few months. In late October and early November at the [[Putney Debates]], the Army debated two different proposals. The first was the ''Agreement of the People''; the other was the ''[[Heads of Proposals]]'', put forward by Henry Ireton for the Army Council.{{sfn|Smith|1994|p=132}}

===Second English Civil War===

The army remained under control and intact, so it was able to take the field when the [[Second English Civil War]] broke out in July 1648. The New Model Army routed English royalist insurrections in [[Surrey]] and [[Kent]], and in [[Wales]], before crushing a Scottish invasion force at the [[Battle of Preston (1648)|Battle of Preston]] in August.{{sfnp|Chisholm|1911}}

Many of the Army's radicals now called for the execution of the King, whom they called "[[Charles Stuart, that man of blood]]". The majority of the Grandees realised that they could neither negotiate a settlement with Charles I, nor trust him to refrain from raising another army to attack them, so they came reluctantly to the same conclusion as the radicals: they would have to execute him. After the Long Parliament rejected the Army's ''Remonstrance''{{efn|Full title: "Remonstrance of his Excellency Thomas Lord Fairfax, Lord Generall of the Parliaments Forces. And of the Generall Councell of Officers Held at St. Albans the 16. of November, 1648"}} by 125 to 58, the Grandees decided to reconstitute Parliament so that it would agree with the Army's position. On 6 December 1648, Colonel [[Thomas Pride]] instituted [[Pride's Purge]] and forcibly removed from the House of Commons all those who were not supporters of the [[Independent (religion)|religious independents]] and the Grandees in the Army. The much-reduced [[Rump Parliament]] passed the necessary legislation to try Charles I. He was found guilty of high treason by the [[List of regicides of Charles I|59 Commissioners]] and [[Decapitation|beheaded]] on 30 January 1649.{{sfn|Hibbert|1968|p=280}}

During 1649, there were three mutinies over pay and political demands. The first involved 300 infantrymen of Colonel [[John Hewson (regicide)|John Hewson]]'s regiment, who declared that they would not serve in Ireland until the Levellers' programme had been realised. They were cashiered without arrears of pay, which was the threat that had been used to quell the mutiny at the Corkbush Field rendezvous.{{sfn|Wallace|2013|p=105}}

In the [[Bishopsgate mutiny]], soldiers of the regiment of Colonel [[Edward Whalley]] stationed in [[Bishopsgate]], in London, made demands similar to those of Hewson's regiment. They were ordered out of London.{{sfn|Wallace|2013|p=105}}

Less than two weeks later, there was a larger mutiny involving several regiments over pay and political demands. After the resolution of the pay issue, the [[Banbury mutiny|Banbury mutineers]], consisting of 400 soldiers with Leveller sympathies under the command of Captain [[William Thompson (leveller)|William Thompson]], continued to negotiate for their political demands. They set out for [[Salisbury]] in the hope of rallying support from the regiments billeted there. Cromwell launched a night attack on 13 May, in which several mutineers perished, but Captain Thompson escaped, only to be killed in another skirmish near the [[Diggers]] community at [[Wellingborough]]. The rest were imprisoned in [[Burford]] Church until three were shot in the Churchyard on 17 May.{{sfn|Manganiello|2004|p=83}}

====Regiments added before or during the Second Civil War====
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Type
! Colonel
! Origin
! Notes
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| Horse
| [[John Lambert (general)|John Lambert]]'s Regiment
| Army of the Northern Association
| Raised in 1645. Originally commanded by [[Sydnam Poyntz]]. Taken over by Lambert in July 1647.{{sfn|Rogers|1968|p=270}}
|-
| style="text-align-center;"| Horse
| [[Robert Lilburne]]'s Regiment
| Army of the Northern Association
| Raised in Durham in 1644{{sfn|Rogers|1968|p=271}}
|-
| style="text-align-center;"| Horse
| unknown
| Army of the Northern Association
| Raised in Nottinghamshire in 1642{{sfn|Rogers|1968|p=271}}
|-
| style="text-align-center;"| Foot
| Charles Fairfax's Regiment
| Newly raised
| Raised in the West Riding of Yorkshire in the spring of 1648{{sfn|Rogers|1968|p=271}}
|-
| style="text-align-center;"| Foot
| Colonel Bright's Regiment
| Army of the Northern Association
| Raised in Yorkshire in 1643{{sfn|Rogers|1968|p=271}}
|-
| style="text-align-center;"| Foot
| Colonel Maleverer's Regiment
| Army of the Northern Association{{sfn|Rogers|1968|p=271}}
|
|-
| style="text-align-center;"| Foot
| Colonel Tichborne's Regiment
| Newly raised
| Originally raised to garrison the [[Tower of London]]. Establishment increased to field regiment 15 April 1648 and Tichborne replaced by Colonel Needham{{sfn|Rogers|1968|p=271}}
|}

===Ireland===
{{See also|Plantations of Ireland#Cromwellian land confiscation (1652)}}
Later that year, on 15 August 1649, the New Model Army landed in Ireland to start the [[Cromwellian conquest of Ireland]]. At Kilkenny, in March 1650, the town's defenders skilfully beat back numerous Parliamentarian assaults before being forced to surrender.{{sfn|O'Siochru|2008|p=122}} Shortly afterwards, about 2,000 soldiers of the New Model died in abortive assaults against a breach defended by veteran Ulstermen in the [[siege of Clonmel]]. These bloody scenes were repeated during the [[siege of Charlemont]] Fort later that year.{{sfn|Bagwell|1909|p=236}}

The Army was also constantly at risk of attack by Irish guerrillas called ''[[Rapparee|tóraithe]]'' ("tories" in English), literally meaning "pursuer".{{Sfn|Joyce|1883|pp=49–50}}

Overall, around 43,000 English soldiers fought in the Parliamentarian army in Ireland between 1649 and 1653.  In addition, some 9,000 Irish Protestants also served.{{sfn|O'Siochru|2008|p=206}}

The Army generally performed well when storming fortifications, for example at the [[siege of Drogheda]], but paid a heavy price at [[siege of Clonmel|Clonmel]] when Cromwell ordered them to attack a well-defended breach.{{sfn|Wheeler|1999|pp=151–158}}

===Scotland===
[[File:Cromwell at Dunbar Andrew Carrick Gow.jpg|thumb|''[[Cromwell at Dunbar]]'' by [[Andrew Carrick Gow]], 1886]]
In 1650, while the campaign in Ireland was still continuing, part of the New Model Army was transferred to Scotland to fight Scottish [[Covenanters]] at the start of the [[Third English Civil War]]. The Covenanters, who had been allied to the Parliament in the First English Civil War, had now crowned [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] as King. Despite being outnumbered, Cromwell led the Army to crushing victories over the Scots at the battles of [[battle of Dunbar (1650)|Dunbar]] and [[battle of Inverkeithing|Inverkeithing]]. Following the Scottish invasion of England led by Charles II, the New Model Army and local militia forces soundly defeated the Royalists at the [[Battle of Worcester]], the last [[pitched battle]] of the English Civil Wars.{{sfn|Fraser|2012|p=24}}