The Battle of Bywater

The Battle of Bywater stands as the last battle fought in the Shire, and the only one since the Battle of Greenfields in 1147, away up in the Northfarthing. It was the climactic armed confrontation of the Scouring of the Shire, the final act of the War of the Ring on home soil, fought in S.R. 1419. Though it cost relatively few lives, it earned a chapter to itself in the Red Book, and the names of all who took part were made into a Roll, learned by heart by Shire-historians. At the top of that Roll in all accounts stand the names of Captains Meriadoc and Peregrin, the two hobbits who had returned from the great war to lead their people in throwing off the yoke of Saruman's ruffians.

The Trap on the Bywater Road

The battle was joined when the ruffians came tramping along the East Road, and without halting turned up the Bywater Road, which ran for some way sloping up between high banks with low hedges on top. Round a bend, about a furlong from the main road, they met a stout barrier of old farm-carts upturned, which halted them. At the same moment they became aware that the hedges on both sides, just above their heads, were all lined with hobbits. Behind them, other hobbits pushed out more waggons that had been hidden in a field, blocking the way back. A voice spoke to them from above. 'Well, you have walked into a trap,' said Merry. 'Your fellows from Hobbiton did the same, and one is dead and the rest are prisoners. Lay down your weapons! Then go back twenty paces and sit down. Any who try to break out will be shot.'

The ruffians could not be cowed so easily. A few obeyed, but were immediately set on by their fellows. A score or more broke back and charged the waggons. Six were shot, but the remainder burst out, killing two hobbits, and then scattering across country in the direction of the Woody End. Two more fell as they ran. Merry blew a loud horn-call, and there were answering calls from a distance.

The Fight and the Slaying of the Leader

Behind, the trapped Men in the lane, still about four score, tried to climb the barrier and the banks, and the hobbits were obliged to shoot many of them or hew them with axes. But many of the strongest and most desperate got out on the west side, and attacked their enemies fiercely, being now more bent on killing than escaping. Several hobbits fell, and the rest were wavering, when Merry and Pippin, who were on the east side, came across and charged the ruffians. Merry himself slew the leader, a great squint-eyed brute like a huge orc. Then he drew his forces off, encircling the last remnant of the Men in a wide ring of archers.

At last all was over. Nearly seventy of the ruffians lay dead on the field, and a dozen were prisoners. Nineteen hobbits were killed, and some thirty were wounded. The dead ruffians were laden on waggons and hauled off to an old sand-pit nearby and there buried: in the Battle Pit, as it was afterwards called. The fallen hobbits were laid together in a grave on the hill-side, where later a great stone was set up with a garden about it.

Frodo's Role and the Aftermath

Frodo had been in the battle, but he had not drawn sword, and his chief part had been to prevent the hobbits in their wrath at their losses, from slaying those of their enemies who threw down their weapons. When the fighting was over, and the later labours were ordered, Merry, Pippin, and Sam joined him, and they rode back with the Cottons. They ate a late midday meal, and then Frodo said with a sigh: 'Well, I suppose it is time now that we dealt with the Chief.' Merry replied, 'Yes indeed; the sooner the better. And don't be too gentle! He's responsible for bringing in these ruffians, and for all the evil they have done.'

The very considerable rise in the fame and fortune of the Cottons dates from this time. The battle was a decisive turning point in the Scouring of the Shire, demonstrating that the hobbits, once roused, could defeat their oppressors through courage and clever tactics, and it set the stage for the final confrontation with Saruman at Bag End.