England
Battle of Towton, 1460
On 13 March, Edward led an army in pursuit of the royals. Bolstered by reinforcements that were pouring into the city, he had good reason to hope for success, but knew only by destroying the main Lancastrian forces could he hope to keep power (and his head).
On 28 March the Yorkist army arrived at Pontrefact, on the River Aire, a few miles from the city of York (England's second-largest city and only other archbishopric) and near the village of Towton. A band of mounted archers under Lord Clifford held the bridge for Lancaster, but he failed to destroy it before Edward arrived. Crossing on the remaining beams, the Yorkist army engaged Clifford. Meanwhile, Lord Fauconberg had led a cavalry contingent up river to a ford. The Lancastrians were trapped and destroyed, and Lord Clifford was killed.
It was the dead of winter. As Edward positioned his army in the darkness (the main Lancastrian force was nearby), snow and hail made it a miserable night.
The next morning, both armies formed up. Even allowing for the exaggerations of the chroniclers, it was a big battle—perhaps 50,000 men or more. Both sides waited in formation for hours as their commanders waited for some sort of opportunity. It began to snow, reducing visibility.
Around 11am, Edward ordered an advance. Lord Fauconberg commanded the archers. These he ordered to draw close to the enemy, fire one arrow each, and then withdraw. They obeyed. The one volley caused the Lancastrians to reply, but the wind was blowing in their faces. They couldn't see very well, and the wind shortened their range. They shot volley after volley until they ran out of arrows, but caused little damage. Fauconberg then advanced his archers again. They fired with deadly effect, gathering up spent Lancastrian arrows as they went.
Somerset now led a Lancastrian charge. They had the high ground, which gave them an advantage, and the York forces in front of them broke, but over on the wing Northumberland's charge was thrown back. The fight now turned into a melée of dismounted men.
In the afternoon, the Duke of Norfolk's forces began arriving, and the battle turned steadily in Edward's favor. Even so, fighting lasted into the evening, which comes early in that time of year. It was still snowing, and there was no moon, so the blackness was absolute. Despite all this, the Lancastrian army did not break apart until around 10pm. That's almost twelve hours of combat in wind and cold.
Pursuit lasted the rest of the night and into the following morning. Edward again added to his reputation for ferocity by hunting down every fleeing noble he could (commoners weren't worth the effort). Many men, cold and exhausted, drowned trying to cross the river. Corpses were scattered across a bloody swathe that was three miles wide and six miles long.
Even so, both Somerset and the royal family managed to escape. Lancaster was broken, but not destroyed. Henry VI was led back to Scotland.