to fight out the battle
hand to hand, Edward, at six o'clock in the morning, ordered his
trumpets to blow, and, after firing a few shots, advanced through the
mist to attack the enemy. His misconception as to Warwick's position,
which had saved his troops from the effects of the cannonade during the
night, was now disadvantageous to him, for the Earl's right so greatly
outflanked his left that when they came into contact Hastings found
himself nearly surrounded by a vastly superior force. His wing fought
valiantly, but was at length broken by Oxford's superior numbers, and
driven out of the field. The mist prevented the rest of the armies from
knowing what had happened on the king's left. Edward himself led
the charge on Warwick's centre, and having his best troops under his
command, pressed forward with such force and vehemence that he pierced
Somerset's lines and threw them into confusion.

Just as Warwick's right had outflanked the king's left, so his own
left was outflanked by Gloucester. Warwick's troops fought with great
bravery, and, in spite of the disaster to his centre, were holding their
ground until Oxford, returning from his pursuit of the king's left, came
back through the mist. The king's emblem was a sun, that of Oxford
a star with streaming rays. In the dim light this was mistaken by
Warwick's men for the king's device, and believing that Oxford was far
away on the right, they received him with a discharge of arrows. This
was at once returned, and a conflict took place. At last the mistake was
discovered, but the confusion caused was irreparable. Warwick and
Oxford each suspected the other of treachery, and the king's right still
pressing on, the confusion increased, and the battle, which had been so
nearly won by the Earl, soon became a complete defeat, and by ten in the
morning Warwick's army was in full flight.

Accounts differ as to the strength of the forces engaged, but it is
probable that there was no great inequality, and that each party brought
some fifteen thousand men into the field. The number of slain is also
very uncertain, some historians placing the total at ten thousand,
others as low as one thousand; but from the number of nobles who fell,
the former computation is probably nearest to the truth. Warwick, his
brother Montague, and many other nobles and gentlemen, were killed, the
only great nobles on his side who escaped being the Earls of Somerset
and Oxford; many were also killed on