Cromwell had observed that the northern end of the hedge enclosing Sulby parish flanked Prince Maurice's infantry at the point at which it turned westwards. The hedge was both old and substantial, for the fields had probably been enclosed as early as 1428, and in 1547 there were 2,000 sheep being grazed here. It was thus stock-proof and in June would give good cover from sight, though not, of course, from musket fire. The hedge still runs up to the top of Dust Hill ridge from the valley where the stream marking the Naseby-Sibbertoft boundary sluggishly flows, at that time through marshy ground. Okey lost no time in taking his men through the access from the green lane at the south-western corner and northwards to get in range of his enemies. What he may not have known was that the Royalist horse was accompanied by musketeers who could not but have seen the dragoons as they came down the far slope and picked their way across the boggy bottom land before resuming their gallop. As Okey's men dismounted, every tenth man being given charge of the mounts of nine of his comrades, the reins of one over the head of the next, and prepared to attack, the Royalist muskets blazed a volley through the hedge, firing blind. The dragoons fell back some distance down the slope and opened fire on the Royalist horse, which stood some time, as musket-ball finds show, before being forced forwards in some disorder, off the hill, and into the valley where they were able to re-form and launch their change on Ireton's horse. Okey had precipitated the start of the fight. Beyond the hedge the corners of the colonel of the Earl of Northampton's Regiment of Horse can be seen on the right. The corner on the left is that of the Queen's Regiment of Horse, which was taken at Naseby.
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The resolution of the Commons on 11 January stated 'there shall be raised, for this Army, a Thousand Dragoons, to be in Ten Companies.' A preliminary list of colonels approved by the Commons on 21 January makes no mention of the dragoons, either by naming a commander or as a regiment. This was not unusual at the time, as dragoons usually operated as independent companies, sometimes attached to a cavalry regiment. It may, therefore, have been assumed that each of the ten companies would attach to one of the ten regiments of horse initially ordained. On 1 March Sir Thomas Fairfax wrote to the Commons proposing, inter alia, that the dragoons should be formed into a regiment and on 3 March the report of the Commons debates says: 'Resolved, &c. That the Dragooners shall be formed into a Regiment. The Colonel and Officers of the Dragoons were all reported and approved.'
The provenance of the officers is uncertain as two lists, one from the Journals of the House of Lords and the other from Joshua Sprigge's Anglia Rediviva, are available. The latter shows that four officers, including Colonel John Okey, were from Waller's army, four from the Eastern Association and two from elsewhere, unspecified. Thomas Fairfax issued a commission on 1 April 1645 to pay John Farmer £20 towards the raising of a company of dragoons, and his, presumably new, company is shown in pay warrants as having a strength of 105 officers and men shortly before the battle. The strength of Okey's Regiment altogether is given as 676 officers and men.
The dragoon's arming, John Vernon a Parliamentary cavalryman, 'is only offensive, having a good fire lock musket something awider bore then ordinary hanging in a belt by a sweble at his side, with a good sword and ordinary horse, it being only to expedite his march, for he must perform his service on foot...' They rode ten abreast and when they fought nine dismounted, throwing their reins over the neck of the horse next to them so the tenth could hold the horses of a whole rank. The lack of 'defensive arming' meant that these troops were without helmets or body armour.
Okey’s Dragoons at Nasby 1645
One crucial modification was made to the Parliamentarian deployment before the battle began. Probably from the right rear on Mill Hill, Cromwell scanned the field and grasped the advantage presented by the secure barrier of Sulby Hedges. Looking west, he could see the dragoons close by the ammunition train which had made use of the road leaving Naseby on the north-west, leaving the baggage near the windmill, to move to the Parliamentarian left rear Colonel John Okey wrote, 'I was half a mile behinde in a Medow giving my men Ammunition, and had not the Lieutenant Gen. come presently, & caused me with all speed to mount my men, & flank our left Wing, which was the King's right Wing of horse...' Here Okey's text rushes into an account of the attack without pause and his story, like so many others upon which we depend, makes no reference to the lapse of time between separate incidents and must be treated with care.
Okey obeyed Cromwell's order with enthusiasm, moving quickly into the open grazing land west of the Sulby Hedges by way of the access lane at the south-eastern corner. The security of the hedge-line emboldened them to charge forwards, down the hillside and up the gentle slope beyond. They would have been clearly visible to the cavalry on Dust Hill and the musketeers with Maurice's horse made ready for them. Okey reported:
...by the time I could get my men to [a]light, and deliver up their Horses, in a little close, the Enemy drew towards us: which my men perceiving, they with shooting and rejoicing received them, although they were incom-passed on the one side with the King's Horse, and on the other side with Foot and Horse to get the Close...
To what extent the Royalist horse could get at the dragoons is unknown, but clearly the hedge was no defence against a musket and the detected shotfall suggests that incoming fire forced Okey back from the flat top of the hill down the slope to a more sheltered position from which his men laid down heavy fire on Maurice's horse. Slingsby wrote, 'they had possess'd an Hedge upon our right wing wch they had lin'd wth Musqueteers to Gall our horse, (as indeed they did) before we could come up to charge theirs.' John Rushworth, secretary to Fairfax, recorded, 'our Dragoones begun the Battaile Flanking the right wing of the Enemies Horse as they charged...' There is no evidence that at this moment Rupert was anywhere other than his appropriate position: with the king and his staff and reserves. The outbreak of fire on his right was unexpected and he would naturally ride across, a move that needed only a couple of minutes, to appraise himself of the cause. It was clear that the right wing of Royalist horse was unable to stand under this fire and so moved forwards, Rupert with them. As Slingsby continues, 'It fell upon Prince Ruport to charge at ye disadvantage, & many of ye Regiment wound'd by shot from ye hedge before we could joyne wth theirs on yt wing: but so behav'd himself in ye charge, yt he beat ym up upon yt wing beyond ye Hills...'
Sprigge remarks, Upon the approach of the Enemies [Royalist] Right wing of Horse, our Left wing drawing down the brow of the hill to meet them, the Enemy coming on fast, suddenly made a stand...' The pause puzzled Ireton's men and they, too, stood. An explanation that the ground was broken up by pits of water, and other pieces of ditches...' is offered but also it seems that the unplanned move by Maurice was precipitated by Okey's fire and, having for the moment escaped it, the Royalist horse settled back into formation before riding on to meet the advancing Parliamentarian troopers. An arc of shot lies across Broadmoor emanating from the probable position of the dragoons.
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