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Summary
The Battle of the Ridge of a Thousand was fought on at a ridge west of Redwall. It was fought amongst the Redwallers, the Rapscallion army, residents of Mossflower Woods, and the Long Patrol.
The Rapscallions, a barbarous army of rats, weasels, stoats, foxes and ferrets, numbered roughly one thousand, an unusually large army. They had recently landed at the southeast coast after suffering a huge defeat by the Long Patrol on the western coast, and came inland led by Damug Warfang.
Fifty Redwallers, a hundred and sixty-three shrews and waterhogs, thirty Mossflower squirrel archers, forty otters and twelve patrolling hares of the Long Patrol had joined up at Redwall Abbey, east of the ridge. Even so, they numbered only about three hundred.
The Long Patrol itself, minus the patroller hares in the Redwall army, numbered about five hundred, and were led by the powerful Lady Cregga Rose Eyes, and were currently marching east from Salamandastron. They had been on a mission to find and destroy the remaining Rapscallion forces.
Originally, Damug was going to attack Redwall Abbey directly. However, Midge Manycoats and Tammo disguised themselves as wandering vermin and infiltrated the Rapscallion camp. There they convinced Damug to move the battle to a different location, because Redwall's Southern Wall had collapsed. The Ridge of a Thousand was actually a place that gave a strategical advantage favoring the woodlanders.
Damug took the initiative in the battle by stealing a march on the Redwallers. But this didn't help him as the Redwallers spotted him in time. Damug first sent five hundred of his force and the Redwallers repelled the first attack with slings and arrows, then mounted a counter charge with spears. After the first wave was repelled several more waves were sent and the Redwallers pushed back from their positions. As night fell, as a last ditch attempt they set a fallen tree afire and pushed it over the ridge, causing havoc in the Rapscallion ranks. Many of the Rapscallions were killed by the tree, but they were still more than a match for the depleted Redwallers. Meanwhile the five hundred hares lead by Cregga saw the burning fire and immediately, after sending gallopers (scouts) began to make their way to the battle site. After the tree had fallen, Damug Warfang then encircled the Redwallers who couldn't see him because they had been blinded temporarily by the burning tree. In a pincer movement Damug sandwiched the Redwallers between ridge's summit and a tall standing rock in the middle of the summit. Then the Long Patrol arrived through a giant rift behind the Rapscallions, and the vermin were sandwiched. Damug was killed fighting Cregga, who he blinded in the fight. The losses were severe. A score and a half of Long Patrol hares perished. The Redwallers and their allies suffered more serious consequences, but nothing compared to the Rapscallions, as they were practically wiped out.
The battle was marked for its bloodiness, and for the boldness of some of the warriors taking part. These included Cregga, Major Perigord Habile Sinistra, Sergeant Torgoch, Rapmark Bluggach, and Gurgan Spearback.
This battle is mentioned in Taggerung, though not by name, by Drogg Spearback as "some ancient battle" in which Cregga was blinded.
Casualties
The following characters are known to have died in battle:
Rapscallions
And presumably