Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand.

[Renatus]

There are two aspects to this that seem to me to have received little or no attention.

First, if Suetonius had made a cavalry dash to London, having then decided that he did not have the forces to defend it, he would have been at pains to get back to his army as quickly as possible: a cavalry dash in reverse.  Yet, he offered the citizens of the town the opportunity to accompany him.  This might have been possible if they were to keep pace with infantry but not if they were having to keep up with fast-moving cavalry.  It would have been an empty gesture.

Secondly, we need to consider when he first heard of the revolt and what he knew about it.  The citizens of Colchester evidently had some warning of the threat to the colony, as they were able to get a request for help to Catus Decianus and he had time to cobble together his ill-equipped force and send it out.  Similarly, warning had clearly been sent to Petilius Cerialis in Lincoln.  It seems almost certain that a similar notification was sent to Suetonius.  I calculate that, with sufficient remounts and relief riders and some hard riding, word could have got to him within 24 hours.  His first instinct, then, would be to take troops to the relief of the colony.  This would inevitably been a much greater force than his bodyguard, i.e., the 14th Legion.  He would probably have been well on his way before news of the fall of Colchester and the defeat of Cerialis reached him and, as Nathan suggested above, he diverted to London.  Now having some idea of the extent of the danger, he would surely have taken his full force with him, particularly if he was thinking of making a stand there.