The Battle of Pont du Feneau was the last battle of the siege of Saint-Martin-de-Ré by the English forces that had come to help the Huguenot rebellions of La Rochelle. It took place on 8 November 1627. The English lost the battle, and this final failure forced them to withdraw back to England.
Before the battle
English side
The English forces, having been defeated earlier that day at the siege of Saint-Martin, pulled back to the village of Loix, where their ships were anchored. Because of bad food, many soldiers in their army were sick. The army was commanded by George Villiers, the first duke of Buckingham, and was composed of 12 infantry regiments and 4 cannons, as well as several volunteer rochelais protestants, all covered by the cavalry, consisting of about 68 horses.
Not having seen the French forces since their retreat from Saint-Martin, Buckingham's troops thought the French would not attack and, growing reckless, were neither walking in closed or open ranks. They arrived at the wooden bridge of the Feneau that they had built when they first landed on the island, that linked the island of Loix to the rest of l'île de ré.
French side
The French troops were commanded by the Maréchal Henri de Schomberg who, informed of the English retreat by Jean Caylar d'Anduze de Saint-Bonnet, had reassembled his army and begun pursuing the English. The French cavalry was commanded by Louis de Marillac.
The battle
The English vanguard marched towards Loix. Two English battalions, commanded by colonels Sir Edward Conway, Sir Peregrine Barty, Sir Henery Spry, had crossed the bridge. Another battalion, led by Colonel Sir Charles Rich, the brother of the count of Holland Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland and half brother of Mountjoy Blount, 1st Earl of Newport, Sir Alexander Brett and the lieutenant of Sir Thomas Morton (he being sick), were getting ready to cross the bridge with the four cannons. The two last battalions, that had not yet engaged themselves on the bridge, were commanded by Colonel Sir William Courtney, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Edward Hawley and Sir Ralph Bingley.
The Maréchal de Schomberg, having crossed the village of La Couarde, was informed by Marillac of the English position. The English vanguard started to engage itself, slowly, because of the narrowness, on the bridge of Feneau. Judging the time to be right, the Maréchal ordered the cavalry captain Bussi-Lamet to charge the English rearguard with his squadron. He was followed closely by Marillac and Schomberg himself, leading the rest of the cavalry. The English cavaliers retaliated but were defeated. Many English were killed, including Sir William Cunningham, and others were captured, including Mountjoy Blount, 1st Earl of Newport, colonel of the English cavalry, and half-brother of Sir Charles Rich and the count Holland, Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland. The English infantry intervened but also was defeated. Two regiments of the French infantry, the Piémont regiment, commanded by François Duval de Fontenay-Mareuil, and the Champagne regiment commanded by Pierre Arnaud arrived in the melee. An important part of the English forces was violently pushed in the many muddy ditches in the area. The two English battalions before the bridge were defeated. A few rochelais protestants managed to cross the bridge. The French then started crossing the bridge, killing everyone in their way, notably Sir Charles Rich and Sir Alexander Brett, that tried to defend it. There are two different versions of the outcome of the battle.
English version
After having crossed the bridge, the French forces, guided by Marillac, confronted Sir Thomas Fryar and Lieutenant-Colonel Hackluit commanding 40 pikes and 20 musketeers guarding the artillery and munitions. They were rapidly assisted by Sir Piers Crosby, commanding an Irish regiment. The French then panicked and withdrew to the bridge, disobeying the orders of Marillac. They then rallied and the count of Saligny, with a group of pikemen, charged again. They were, however, repelled and lost a commander. They charged a final time, were repelled again and withdraw from battle and crossed the bridge back, chased by the English. While routing the French made Marillac fall from his horse. The English put an end to the chase and crossed the bridge back to the island of Loix. The guarding of the bridge was given to Sir Piers Crosby. A few days later, when the sailing conditions became better, Crosby burned the bridge, and the surviving English forces embarked on their ships.