The effects of civil war are suffered most horrifically by the ordinary men, women, and children involuntarily caught up in it. Such was the fate of the citizens of Chester, who for almost 4 years found themselves at the center of the battle between King and Parliament. Chester's inhabitants withstood the terrors of bombardment and the rigors of starvation in one of the most fiercely contested sieges of the Civil War. This is the story of their brutal introduction to the realities of war and their gallant defence of Chester. John Barratt also provides insight into the role of Chester's women as they worked alongside their men under enemy fire.