Dear Anne,

I write in haste; we with the Regt of Col Hampden are ordered to march west, and reinforce the regts of Col Holles and Lord Brooke at Brentford, which Prince Rupert (we have certain intelligence) means to attack, as a Preliminary to an assault on London.

The Trained-Bands of London are Mustered in their Battle-array, and posted at Kingston and Acton as well as Brentford, and the Earl of Warwick is raising an additional seven Regiments for the defense of London. Perhaps there will be another battle Soon, one that will I pray, as we all pray, will end this War; but if not, then we will fight on. For your Question, Sarah and I after we Married spent only a year in the Bay-colony; we then moved south, to the fort at Saybrook (a colony settled by Patent of the Earl of Warwick and named for Lord Saye and Lord Brooke), and then later to Wethersfield. It was there that Sarah was taken by the Savages.

I will write more when Able; in the meantime please Pray for me, and please greet my Father.

In Camp, after the first day's March, some twenty miles south of Warwick. I have a letter from Anne; she has obtained blankets &c from Mother and the wife of Sgt Kilmister has Helped with Cooking, and some Cleaning; father Well, she says.

She asked me of America, at which I immediately Experienced the unease regret that occurred when I invited her to ask me of it. It may be in all Innocence. But I do not know what she knows. I do not know what anyone here knows. What all know, at least, is this, which is what Winthrop and the others wrote: Sarah taken/murdered, Mystic, the harrying of the Pequots, the Mohegans, &c.

But I do not know if it’s known here, these things: that is, why I uprooted us from the Bay, and to Lord Say’s settlement in Connecticut (kate); that I brewed beer; that the miscarriages God’s just judgment on me but why would He so afflict her; that the day Sarah taken I could not be found for six Hours and

Dear Mother,

It is past midnight, and I write to tell you that by the time you receive this letter, we may well have joined battle with the King and the issue of this War decided.

It happened that Capt Cromwell, with myself, came in possession of near-certain knowledge that the King is nearby, and that there are Traitors among our army.

Capt-General Essex has called for a general muster at Kineton, about a half-day’s ride before us, to gather the Army so strung out along these sodden Ruts of roads.

Col Hampden has ordered our Troop to ride swift to Essex with this Intelligence, even as he gathers the best of the Foot and the Artillery-train, and follows as quick as the roads and weary men will bear.

Mother, battle is near, blood will be spilled in England, with much grief, but which may bring a Resolution to these Troubles, and allow my return home. Please remember me in your prayers, as you are constantly in mine; and please give my greetings to Father, and to Anne.

Edmund

Dear Mother,

I’ve written Anne at the Rectory, to say you could make her a Loan, better a Gift, of the Blankets resting unused in the Chest in my room. I do realize such Generosity will violate Sydney’s policy of allowing Father Sustenance enough to prevent outright Starvation, and ensure abject Misery; nevertheless, for the love of Christ, please do this for me; I shall with that Wretch in my own time. And please, Allow her, whatever she may Request from the Monies I have deposited with you; it is for Father, and Sydney be damned. I will send more as I draw Pay.

We are now east of Worcester, bearing toward (we are fairly certain) Banbury, or perhaps Castle Warwick, on wretched Roads, churned to a Morass by the rain, and by the passage of men and horse and wagons. We are part of the Escort for the Trains of Artillery and Baggage, with the regiment of Col Hampden (who sends greetings); the Van of the Army is about a day's march ahead.

Dear Anne,

I thank you for your Letter – God’s blessings on you for sending it, with news of Father, and of you. Regarding the Weather, there are Blankets, at my Mother’s house in Huntingdon; they are in a trunk in the room where I slept. I will ask that she send them to you. Also Sergeant Kilmister says, that my wretch of a Brother (Sydney) kept the Loom-works well-supplied with Sea-Coal, for the comfort of the Weavers against the Cold Winters of the Fen; but since these Craftsmen are now Troopers of Captain Cromwell, that Surplus can be spared for you and Father! Mrs Kilmister will act as your agent, and keep you well-supplied. And please, with the Money I have left for you with Mother, buy a Coat, and a Cloak and Hat; I pray you will do so; your good health is precious, to my Father, and to others besides.

Ordered two days ago with part of the regt of Col Holles, toward Bridgnorth, on reports Charles plans advance along Severn; today we withdraw back to Worcester. Essex believes Bridgnorth too exposed to potential attack by Prince Rupert "and of course the merest stench of the princeling enough to reduce an army of Davids to merest stubble," said Capt Cromwell with great disgust. So to Worcester with its sink of alehouses, whores, &c; some soldierly sacked the cathedral, it would seem; Capt Cromwell hath made it clear again any crimes against Property to be punished by Hanging.

Dear Anne,

I write from Worcester, where the troop of Capt Cromwell has arrived; I believe we are to be under the command of Lord Brooke but it's not known yet. There is tumult here; some soldiers whipped for stealing, another hung for murder. They are far different from the men Capt Cromwell has raised in the Fen. There are some desertions but less I think than tumor will have it.

I write to advise you that I have instructed my Mother, Mrs Holyfen in the High-Street, Huntingdon, to pay to you the sum of £5 per month -- more when it becomes available to me. As I swore to you, I will not let you go hungry, nor my father. Your care for him, when all have abandoned him, is a blessing, truly Christlike.

Mrs Kilmister, the wife of Sergeant Kilmister, will also visit when she can, and assist with cooking and care for Father and whatever else you might need.

Today (as yesterday and the day before and as will be tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow; I welcome if truth be known the work and the exhaustion) we drill; we rise as the Moon wanes, and break our camp in Cedric’s fields; baggage secure, we ride and I think I see, or probably what’s more likely false and wicked sinner that I am, Anne watching me from the walls of the Rectory, the rising sun behind us, toward St Ives, and Huntingdon, and Cambridge.

The Dark Guest came first when I was young; if I remember correctly, a day when I saw Sarah; she not the cause, but the occasion, that is, her skirt, draped over her hips, swaying beneath them as she walked. A thing in itself good and lovely; even in memory my heart stalls, my breath quickens, as then; but not her, that is the temptation not resident in her but

The Dark Guest as a Fencing-master, to strengthen us against the wiles of Satan. Placed in us by God? Made constituent to us by God? For our own benefit. Temptations of our Lord in the Desert: did not begin his Ministry until Dark Guest conquered. But external to him, being blameless; inherent in us, the seed of corruption, of fallen. But through grace (perseverance) and through the practice of prayer, etc; that is the organization and direction of the will a force, a storm, a tremendous gale.

In the Bishop’s palace, £1000 of plate, and gold; with twenty barrels of powder, and one hundred muskets, etc., but no Bishop Wren, the bird having flown, as Kilmister said. Four men with the plate, arms, etc, to Holyfen, to guard in the brickworks; and we rode to Cambridge, and there found Capt Cromwell, with the rest of the troop, surrounding St John’s, where a Mr Russell had been attempting to execute the King’s commission of array, that is raise a troop among the Scholars. He in a terrible manner burst into St John’s, and we took prisoners, including several doctors of divinity, and the college masters Beale (St Johns), Martin (Queens), and Stern (Jesus), and sent them in chains to London.