First, the Mayor of Chichester, Robert Exton responded by issuing a Royal Commission of Array, which called upon all able-bodied men to take up arms for the King.

[citation needed] The Governor of Portsmouth, Sir William Lewis sent seven guns and ten barrels of powder to the Royalists in November.

[citation needed] Finally William Morley and Edward Ford, the High sheriff of Sussex, raised a small army and drove Cawley and his Parliamentarian supporters from the city on 15 November.

[2] Waller's force arrived at Chichester on 21 December where he was joined by a contingent of Parliamentary cavalry commanded by Sir Michael Livesey.

After the area was secure, Waller began to move his siege artillery into position while simultaneously calling upon the Royalist garrison to surrender.