This James Woods was the son of the Rev. James Woods, who, as the Nonconformist minister of Chowbent, was imprisoned in 1670. To the appeal of Hoghton, Woods hastily responded, and in his efforts met with ready assistance from two neighbouring pastors, John Walton of Horwich and John Turner of Preston, and they and their volunteers are reported to have done good service to the Hanoverian cause. So enthusiastic was the pastor of Chowbent that he obtained the sobriquet of "General Woods." It seems almost incredible that all this time the commanders of the forces at Preston were unaware of the approaching enemy; yet if they did know of it, they at all events very considerably underrated the strength of General Wills's army. On Saturday, November 12, at daybreak, the vanguard of General Wills's forces arrived at Walton-le-Dale, where the river only separated them from Preston. On this being discovered, Lieutenant-Colonel Farquharson was sent with a detachment of 100 men to defend the Ribble Bridge, but afterwards it was deemed advisable to abandon this position in order that an advantage might be given to the Scotch troops in forcing the invaders to meet them in or near the town instead of near the open plain, where their want of sufficient horse and artillery would, it was thought, tell heavily against them; beside which, they would be able to fight under cover of the barricades which they had hastily thrown up near the centre of the town. Notwithstanding that the Government troops got possession of the houses of Sir Henry Hoghton and Mr. Ayres, the rebels held their position during the whole of the Saturday; but on the following day General Carpenter's troops came up and encamped round the town. The insurgents having discovered that Carpenter and Wills had now made a simple cordon round Preston, and that every avenue of escape was closed, made overtures for surrender. The reply of General Wills was: "I will not treat with rebels! They have killed several of the King's subjects, and they must expect the same fate. All that I can do for you is, that if you lay down your arms and submit yourselves prisoners at discretion, I will prevent the soldiers from cutting you to pieces, and give you your lives until I have further orders; and I will allow you but one hour to consider these terms." To this proposal some of the English were inclined to submit, but the Scotch troops would not listen to it; and there arose a strong division amongst the insurgents, which led to something like a fight between the two parties.