THE HISTORY OF DUNBAR from the Earliest Records to the Present Time-1859.
by James Miller
3rd Sept 1650 THERE TOOK PLACE THE BRUNT OR ESSENTIAL AGONY OF THE BATTLE OF DUNBAR - THOMAS CARLYLE
The man whom Milton eulogised, and of whom Waller sung, must have been a talented personage; and of him we have now to speak. On the commonwealth of England, which now held the reins of government, receiving intelligence that the sons of Charles I, had taken refuge among the Scots, preparations were made for an inevitable war; and Oliver Cromwell, a gentleman of a good private family, who by his talents and intrigues had gained the sway of the parliament, was sent to Scotland with an army of 16,000 men.
On Friday, the 26th july 1650, he marched from Cockburnspath (pronounced Coe-burns-path) to Dunbar, which he found the principal inhabitants had abandoned, and none between the ages of seven or seventy remained; everything in the shape of leaf or ear, root or branch, was removed. The murderous proceedings of the English in Ireland had inspired the people with terror; and it was believed that it was the intention to cut off the right hands of all Scotsmen capable of bearing arms, and burn with hot irons the breasts of all women capable of bearing children.
On the arrival of the English, an alarm being given that the Scots were approaching, they drew up in a field near the town.
This alarm, however, proved false, and next day the Amity and other ships arriving from Newcastle with a supply of provisions, the Protector departed to Haddington (approx 10miles West).
The command of the Scottish army in the meantime had devolved upon Leslie, an experienced officer, who had entrenched himself in a fortified camp between Edinburgh and Leith; and as it was his policy to remove from the Merse and Lothian everything that might serve for subsistence to the invaders, Cromwell found himself straitened for want of provisions, and on 6th August he had again to return to Dunbar, where on the 17th his army received a supply of tents and provisions from the ships. He now found the people in such a deplorable state from starvation, that the iron front of war was smoothed, and the commissioners were ordered to distribute pease and wheat to the value of L.240 among the inhabitants.- note; ( Whitelock says " the inhabitants of Dunbar were in such want of provisions, that they picked the beans from the horses off the ground, and ate the sheeps guts which were thrown away by the soldiers" )
Two days were then spent in prayers and exhortations to the army, after which they advanced to Edinburgh.
Cromwell endeavoured in vain to draw Leslie from a strong position he occupied near Arthur's Seat, and having shipped his sick at Mussleburgh, he retreated to Haddington, while the Scots hung on his right flank. "Here we staid", says Captain John Hodgson, "till about ten o'clock, when after prayer had been made in several regiments, we marched, a poor, shattered, hungry, discouraged army", to Dunbar.
This place they entered on Sunday the 1st September.
Cromwell drew up in a field near Dunbar, "full of swamps and bogs," while the Scots flanked him on the hills on the right.
Their army was computed at 27,000 men, and that of the English at 12,000.
Threatened with famine, he was on the eve of sending his foot and artillery by sea to England, and of breaking through the Scots party on the borders at all hazards with his cavalry, when he was spared this disgrace by the wild enthusiasm of the clergy, who, like those of Switzerland at the battle of Sempach, had joined the patriotic standard. The Scots army, instead of being under the control of it's general, was regulated by a committee of these enthusiasts; and afterwards, amongst Cromwells prisoners, we find Gallespy and Wargle, ministers. These worthies having cleared the army of about four thousand profane persons and Sabbath-breakers, believed that there remained a remnant of invincible saints.
Night and day had they been wrestling with the Lord in prayer; and revelations, they imagined, had been made to them, foretelling that the sectarian and heretical army, together with Cromwell, the modern Agag, should be delivered into their hands.
Leslie had encamped in an admirable position on top of Doonhill, an eminence four or five hundred feet high, about two miles south from Dunbar; and while from it's summit he had an excellent opportunity of observing the motions of the enemy, the gentle declivities of the Lammermoors immediately behind it, were admirably fitted to conceal and shelter the army.
He had also taken care to possess himself of the pass of Pease, the only road which led from Dunbar to Berwick. But the indiscreet zeal of his pious partisans, notwithstanding the remonstrances of the general, compelled him to descend, and gave battle to the enemy.
On Monday evening, Leslie increased his right wing of horse with two-thirds of his left, and edged down towards the sea, while his infantry and artillery inclined to the right. When Cromwell observed this movement, he ordered three regiments and a half of foot to march to the van, whilst the brigade under Colonel Monk, and that under Colonels Pride and Overton, with the two remaining of horse, brought up the cannon and rear.
They however stood in battalia all the day.
A great ditch or ravine, formed by Spott water, from Brands-mill westward, lay between both armies, offering much disadvantage to those who should first attempt to pass it. During the night the English drew as close to the ravine as possible, with their field-pieces planted in each regiment. Before dawn on Tuesday the 3rd September, Cromwell despatched three regiments of horse and two of foot, to force the pass of Pease, whereby they might the more readily get round upon the Scots. This dispute was effected in about an hour.
At sunrise the Protector, standing on a gentle eminence east from Broxmouth House, still called Cromwell Mount, reconnoitred with his telescope the Scots camp in motion. "They are coming down" he exclaimed, " the Lord hath delivered them into our hands !"
Both armies had now assumed the canting style of the times. the watchword of the Scots was, -
"The Covenant;" that of the English, " The Lord of Hosts."
About six o'clock the battle became general. The Scottish lancers coming gallantly down the hill, were as bravely repulsed. Two regiments of the English foot deployed below Broxmouth House towards the sea, and fell upon the Scottish flank, at the eastern extremity of their line, with pike and musket.This attack was well sustained, till a troop of the enemy's horse coming up, cut the Scots down in all quarters, and left them to the mercy of the infantry. ................ to continue press Next Page.