266 JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
rest. Daily there were assaults and skirmishes; and on the 3rd 
of November batteries were raised within pistolshot of the fort, 
which, on the 5th, began to play, discharging on that day upwards 
of 200 demi-cannon and whole culverin shot, beside the shot of 
smaller guns.* These batteries completely commanded Mount Stam- 
ford, and flanked the outworks from Oreston Hill. On the first 
day several breaches were made in the fort, and the lieutenant and 
some gunners slain. The ramparts were repaired during the night, 
but there were serious needs that could not be easily supplied. 
Provisions and ammunition alike ran short; and no reinforcements 
came to relieve the garrison, who had been continuously fighting for 
eight days. They held out under another battering until noon of 
the next day, Sunday. The outworks then fell to a general assault ; 
and the captain of the fort having sustained three further attacks, 
having only seven serviceable men left out of thirty-six, no pro- 
visions, and very little ammunition, and having made a signal of 
distress unavailingly for two hours, during which he kept the 
enemy at bay, surrendered on good terms, marching off with 
colours flying, bag and baggage, the best gun—a demi-culverin— 
in the work, and exchange of prisoners. If defeated, therefore, 
he was not disgraced; though the townfolk who did not come to 
his aid are called both faint and false-hearted. . 
So fell Mount Stamford. Its capture was the first and only 
advantage gained by the Royalists during the protracted and often 
revived Siege. It cost nearly three weeks independent leaguer, 
and some scores of lives, including four or five Cavalier captains, 
rumour magnifying the loss of the besiegers to a thousand. While 
its capture did credit to the energy of the Royalists, its surrender 
was no discredit to its immediate defenders. Its importance proved 
to have been monstrously exaggerated. The Royalists thought it 
the key to the position; and on its capture demanded the surrender 
of the town. 
“That you may see our hearty desire of a just peace, we do summon you 
in his Majesty’s name to surrender the town, fort, and island of Plymouth, 
with the warlike provisions thereunto belonging, into our hands for his 
Majesty’s use. And we do hereby assure you, upon the power devised to us 
from his Majesty, upon the performance of a general pardon for what is 
past; and engage ourselves upon our honour to secure -your persons and 
* A demi-cannon carried a 24 1b. ball, a culverin 18 lb., a falcon 61b., a 
saker 51b., 61b., or 81b, a drake 6 lb. 
