Battle of Inverkeithing The Battle of Inverkeithing was a battle of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms . It was fought on 20 July 1651 between an English Parliamentarian army under John Lambert and a Scottish Covenanter army acting on behalf of Charles II , led by Sir John Brown of Fordell . Lambert ' s force was a seaborne expedition landed at Fife to get around the main Scottish position at Stirling . The battle resulted in a decisive English victory that gave Oliver Cromwell ' s forces control of the Firth of Forth and outflanked the defensive position of the main Scottish Army under David Leslie . Background . After his victory at the Battle of Dunbar Oliver Cromwell went on to occupy large parts of southern Scotland . David Leslie , commanding the royalist forces , in recovering from the disaster at Dunbar , created a series of defensive redoubts in the centre of the country , effectively preventing the New Model Army from making any further progress in the campaign . Unable to push past Leslie , firmly entrenched at Stirling , Cromwell was quick to realise that Fife , on the northern shore of the Firth of Forth , was now the key of the whole campaign . Once across the Forth the English would be able to march on Perth and cut the Scots lines of communication with their northern hinterland , now essential for both supplies and recruits . A seaborne invasion of Fife was a tricky operation . Early in 1651 the Council of State , the executive authority of the Commonwealth , had ordered the construction of special flat bottomed boats , which arrived in Leith in April . While this would enable men and horses to be ferried in close to the northern shore , it would take time for the army to land in sufficient strength to fight off a counter - attack . Leslie could easily move sufficient forces from his base at Stirling to throw the invaders back into the sea . Or , alternatively , he could wait for enough Englishmen to cross to Fife before falling on the weakened remnant at Edinburgh , and then sweep south towards England . This was a considerable risk ; but the only alternative was another winter of war , which neither the Lord - General nor his men can have viewed with much enthusiasm . Crossing the Forth . The Firth was to be crossed at its narrowest point , between North and South Queensferry , spanned today by the road and rail bridges . A landing here offered another advantage , besides speed : North Queensferry stands on a narrow peninsula , which offered good prospects of building up a defensive bridgehead against an enemy attack . After the local defenses were softened up by a bombardment of the forts at Inchgarvie , Burntisland and Ferryhill , Colonel Robert Overton led an assault party across on the night of 16 / 17 July , landing on the eastern side of the Ferry Peninsula at Inverkeithing Bay . By the morning almost 2000 troops were on the northern shores of the Forth , and Overton at once set about constructing entrenchments . Reinforcements were sent across with Major - General John Lambert two days later , bringing the army ' s strength to about 4500 men by the morning of 20 July . No sooner had the Scots heard of the landing than a force of about 4000 was detached from the main army to counter the threat : 1000 cavalry under the command of James Holborne of Menstrie , Highland infantry under the command of Sir Hector Maclean of Duart and some lowland regiments of infantry and cavalry under the command of Sir John Brown . The detachment was placed under the overall command of Sir John Brown of Fordell . Brown ' s orders were simple : to prevent Lambert breaking out of his bridgehead . It is possible that Cromwell at first saw the Fife operation as no more than a diversion , intended to unlock the Scots ' position at Stirling . While the landings were taking place he approached Leslie ' s camp with his remaining force . Seeing Leslie march off in support of Brown , he then moved quickly across the hills , through Bannockburn and on to the vacated camp at Torwood . A little to his north Cromwell found that his further progress was blocked by the enemy , now occupying a strong position in an area known as the King ' s Park . Unable to make any headway , Cromwell withdrew by nightfall . It was now up to Lambert . The battle . The Ferry Peninsula is separated from the rest of Fife by narrow isthmus , about a quarter of a mile wide . From the low - lying land of the isthmus and the surrounding shore , the centre is dominated by the Ferry Hills , rising two hundred and forty feet above sea level . Beyond the peninsula , to the north - west , the ground rises up again to Castland Hill and its neighbour Meickle Hill , between which the road runs inland through the narrow valley to Dunfermline . These two hills also command the coastal route to Rosyth and the road running towards the village of Inverkeithing . If the Scots occupied this position it would be impossible for the English to make any forward move . The Scots ' army advanced through these hills on the 20th ; but for reasons that are not entirely clear , Brown was attracted down from the heights to the lower ground close to the isthmus , looking across to the English entrenchments on the Ferry Hills . Realising the danger they had placed themselves in , the Scots began to wheel as if to move back slightly on to the higher ground . Lambert at once sent Colonel John Oakey and his dragoons forward to attack their rear . Faced with this threat Brown had no choice but to form a line of battle on the Whins , three eminences rolling outwards from Castland and Meickle towards Inverkeithing Bay , and across the valley in the direction of Rosyth Castle . Lambert made his own dispositions . The ground on his left was difficult and rocky , so he concentrated his greatest strength on the right : his own cavalry regiment , two troops of dragoons and another two troops of horse , all under the command of Colonel Oakey . The infantry were placed in the centre and the left , where they were supported by the remaining dragoons and cavalry . Robert Overton took command of a reserve infantry force stationed to the rear . Lambert waited , expecting to be attacked at any moment ; but for an hour and a half nothing happened . By now he had received news that Cromwell had fallen back on Linlithgow , and that the enemy might at any time receive reinforcements . This was the moment to act . His army moved forward , keeping formation as it squeezed through the bottleneck of the isthmus . The Scots lancers in the valley swept downwards towards the infantry on the left , cutting through the thin ranks with ease . Seeing the danger , Lambert responded by swinging round his infantry reserve , supported by a troop of horse , which thrust into the flank of the advancing Scots before they were able to change front . Against the fire of the musketeers , and the long reach of the English pikemen , the lancers had no chance . Within a quarter of an hour the fight on this side of the field was over . Lambert was now free to concentrate on attacking the main part of the Scottish army around the Whins . Against the ferocious discipline of the New Model Army the green Scottish recruits had little chance . Soon a large part of the army fled in terror , leaving Brown to face the onslaught of the enemy right with only 200 horse and two battalions of infantry . He was completely overwhelmed . Lambert ' s men occupied the heights , and the Scots were driven back to the level ground between Hillfield and Pitreavie . Here , in one of the most heroic episodes of the battle of Inverkeithing , the Clan Maclean of Mull regiment , commanded by their chief , Sir Hector , surrounded by superior enemy forces , fought fiercely in defence of their chief , calling out , " " Fear eile airson Eachainn ! " " ( Another for Hector ! ) , as they sacrificed themselves . Lambert claimed to have killed 2 , 000 of the enemy and captured 1 , 400 . Clan Maclean tradition says that their contingent began the battle with 800 men and only 35 survived . However , Sir James Balfour , a senior officer in the Covenanter army , wrote in his journal that about 800 Scots were killed in total , of whom no more than 100 were from Clan Maclean . Lambert ' s own loss was under 200 men . Four days later Cromwell crossed to Fife in person . For him the victory was " an unspeakable mercy " . Aftermath . Although far smaller than Dunbar , the Battle of Inverkeithing was the decisive encounter of Cromwell ' s Scottish war . It ended a long strategic deadlock , giving the English command of the plains of Fife and the north - east . Leslie was completely outmanoeuvred . By shifting the thrust of his offensive to the northern shore of the Forth , Cromwell deliberately dropped his guard in the south . He reckoned that King Charles could not resist the lure of a march into England ; and once in the open the enemy could be destroyed . Charles obliged and soon began a march that took him south to Worcester and destruction of his army at the Battle of Worcester .