Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand.

[Nathan Ross]

And the one that needs to be discussed again is the cavalry dash.

I enjoyed Duncan Mackay's Echolands a great deal, and generally agreed with a lot of what he said; although, as mentioned above, I wasn't too convinced by the proposed battle site! I was a bit disappointed that he basically went for the 'cavalry dash' scenario though - he renames it a 'relief column', but its basically the same thing. This is despite having admitted that the whole thing was invented by Haverfield and has no real justification. He seems in the end just to like the dramatic appeal of it, which I suppose is as good a reason as any - and he has the infantry catching up with Suetonius by St Albans, which makes it all rather unnecessary.

So this idea clearly still has its supporters, although it's rare for anyone to try and argue its merits. This is because of three main points, which might need restating:

1. Nowhere in any of our sources are we told that Suetonius rode down to London, on reconnaissance or for any other reason. Instead he marched to London 'with wonderful resolution', thinking to establish his forces there 'as a seat of war'. Needless to say, he could not do this with cavalry alone, and certainly not only 120 of them.

2. If he was 'on reconnaissance', why would he need to go to London? He knew what London looked like and what its defences were like. The enemy were not at London. They were at Colchester. Why did he not ride to or towards Colchester?

3. Our source (Tacitus) points out that Suetonius was a careful commander who planned everything thoroughly. That reputation would be totally at adds with this scenario.

As for 'standard Roman military doctrine' - I would disagree. One example you cited has both armies camped very close together, and the cavalry clashing in between. I don't know how Publius Scipio died - was it not in battle? Neither example compares to a commander and provincial governor leaving his troops behind and riding for several days through hostile territory, with very little idea of the position of the enemy, just to visit a town he has already visited several times before.