page_title: Battle of Dunbar (1650)
section_title: Prelude
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Dunbar (1650) / Prelude
context_page_description: The Battle of Dunbar was fought between the English New Model Army, under Oliver Cromwell, and a Scottish army commanded by David Leslie, on 3 September 1650 near Dunbar, Scotland, and was decisively won by the English. It was the first major battle of the Third English Civil War, which was triggered by Scotland's acceptance of Charles II as king of Britain after the execution of his father, Charles I on 29 January 1649.
  After Charles I's death, the English Rump Parliament established a republican Commonwealth in England. When their erstwhile ally, Scotland, recognised Charles II as king of all of Britain on 1 May 1650, and began recruiting an army to support him, the English dispatched the New Model Army, under the command of Cromwell. It crossed into Scotland on 22 July, with a force of over 16,000 men. The Scots withdrew to Edinburgh, stripping the land of provisions. Cromwell attempted to draw the Scots out into a set piece battle, but they resisted, and Cromwell was unable to break through their defensive line. At the end of August, with his army weakened through disease and lack of food, Cromwell withdrew to the port of Dunbar.
context_section_description: Once the Treaty of Breda had been signed, the Scottish Parliament started levying men to form a new army, under the command of David Leslie. Their aim was to increase their forces to 36,000 men, but that number was never achieved; by the time Cromwell entered Scotland, Leslie had some 8,000–9,500 infantry and 2,000–3,000 cavalry, although these numbers fluctuated during the course of the campaign. The government instituted a commission to purge the army of anyone suspected of having supported the Engagement, as well as other men considered sinful or undesirable. This was opposed, unsuccessfully, by much of the Scottish nobility and the experienced military leaders, including Leslie. This purge removed many experienced officers, and the bulk of the army was composed of raw recruits with little training or experience.
  Leslie prepared a defensive line of earthworks between Edinburgh and Leith, and employed a scorched earth policy between that line and the Borders. He then allowed Cromwell to advance unopposed. Lack of supplies, and the hostility of the local people towards the English invaders, forced Cromwell to rely on a seaborne supply chain, and he captured the ports of Dunbar and Musselburgh in order to facilitate this. Operations were hampered by persistent bad weather, and the adverse conditions and a shortage of food caused much sickness in the English army, substantially reducing its strength.
  Cromwell attempted to bring the Scots to battle at Edinburgh. He advanced on Leslie's lines on 29 July, capturing Arthur's Seat and bombarding Leith from Salisbury Crags. Cromwell was not able to draw Leslie out, and the English retired for the night to Musselburgh; their rest was disturbed by a party of Scottish cavalry raiding their camp in the early hours. Cromwell's attack coincided with a visit by Charles II to the Scottish army, where he was warmly received. Members of the Covenanter government, concerned that their Godly war would be corrupted by feelings of personal loyalty to the King, asked Charles II to leave. They then ordered a new purge, which was quickly enacted in early August, removing 80 officers and 4,000 of Leslie's men, damaging morale as well as weakening the army's strength.
  Throughout August Cromwell continued to try and draw the Scots out from their defences so as to enable a set piece battle. Leslie resisted, ignoring pressure from the secular and religious Scottish hierarchy to attack Cromwell's weakened army; he reasoned that the persistent bad weather, the difficult English supply situation, and the dysentery and fever that had broken out in the English camp would force Cromwell to withdraw back into England before winter set in.
  
  On 31 August Cromwell did withdraw; the English army reached Dunbar on 1 September, having taken two days to march the 17 miles (27 km) from Musselburgh, harassed day and night by the pursuing Scots. The road was left littered with abandoned equipment and the men arrived, according to one of their officers, Captain John Hodgson, as a "poor, shattered, hungry, discouraged army". The Scottish army outflanked the English, blocking the road to Berwick and England at the easily defended Cockburnspath Defile. Their main force encamped on the 177-metre-high (581 ft) Doon Hill, 2 miles (3 km) south of Dunbar, where it overlooked the town and the coastal road running south west from the town. The hill was all but invulnerable to direct assault. The English army had lost its freedom of manoeuvre, although they could supply themselves by sea and, if needs be, evacuate the army the same way. On 2 September Cromwell surveyed the situation, and wrote to the governor of Newcastle warning him to prepare for a possible Scottish invasion:
  We are here upon an engagement very difficult. The enemy hath blocked up our way at the pass at Copperspath, through which we cannot get without almost a miracle. He lieth so upon the hills that we know not how to come that way without great difficult; and our lying here daily consumeth our men who fall sick beyond imagination.
caption: Oliver Cromwell, commander of the English forces
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